Video: Freshman Day at Shepard

Researchers know that those who perform well as freshmen in high school tend to find success in later years of school; the reverse holds true. Freshman year operates as a gateway.

Shepard High School, as well as all in District 218, invest great time, thought, and resources in helping new students with the transition to high school. Freshmen will attend Shepard by themselves on Monday, while all students attend Tuesday.

“Freshman Day is an opportunity for our new student to get a head start of getting acclimated with high school expectations and resources, the layout of the building, classroom locations, potentially making a new friend from a different community,” said Assistant Principal Carleton Rolland.

During Freshman Day, students complete abbreviated forms of their academic schedules, meet their teachers and counselors, and learn the layout of their new school.

“It is also an introduction for many of them, of all of our activities and athletic teams through a fair. Finally getting to meet their teachers for the first time, in a smaller setting, before the upperclassmen arrive. Hopefully the students will leave the day with a sense of belonging, and an idea that they can be successful,” Rolland said.

Here’s what freshmen experience at the Activities Fair: