North Penn Launches 'Link Crew' To Help Students Transition To High School

LANSDALE, PA – North Penn High School (NPHS) proudly introduced a new transition program for the class of 2019 at this year’s sophomore orientation held on Monday, August 30, according to a press release from the school.

Kyle Berger, Student Government Co-Advisor and Jon Fluck, Sophomore Class Advisor joined together with 160 junior and senior students along with district administrators to form what’s known as the “Link Crew” at North Penn High School, the release states.

“We’re given an interesting challenge at North Penn by welcoming over 1,000 new students into our building each year,” said Berger. “We’re committed to building school culture and community here at NPHS.”

District administration along with staff members at North Penn High School recently formed a “transition committee” to help with this challenge. It was through this committee that Berger suggested the Boomerang Project as a transition program for sophomores entering North Penn High School, the district said.

According to information from North Penn, the Boomerang Project is a high school transition program that reaches over 4,500 schools and 15,000 educators who are united in a single purpose: to make schools great, safe and connected places for kids to learn.

Built on the premise that students can help students succeed, the Boomerang Project trains educators to facilitate peer mentorship at their schools using leadership and group development methodologies, the district said.

Berger and Fluck hit the ground running with this project, spending nearly four days at a training seminar to learn more about the Boomerang Project and gear up for the 2016-17 school year, the release states.

After three and a half days of vigorous training, they returned to North Penn excited to bring the Boomerang Project’s transition program to the high school.

Students at NPHS couldn’t wait to get involved. By May of 2016, the first ever Link Crew, consisting of over 160 current juniors and seniors, was formed. The Link Crew gathered for a “Development Day” in May where they learned about the mission and purpose of their role as Link Leaders, according to the district.

The group met again in mid-August for two training sessions to learn how to conduct the transition games and icebreakers scheduled for sophomore orientation later that month, the release states.

“The games and exercises that we did with the students at orientation were more than just your typical, first-day-of-school icebreakers,” said Berger. “Each of the exercises had a message behind them that translated to life at North Penn. Jon and I were given a lot of training at our conference about how to effectively communicate these messages and make them relevant to students. At the training sessions with our Link Leaders in August, teaching them the same strategy was our top priority.”

Image courtesy North Penn School District.