The transition from middle school to high school can be an overwhelming change for many students. The goal of Freshman Advisory at HHS is to help ease the transition for these students and to facilitate a comfortable environment in which students can learn about the expectations, opportunities, and responsibilities that correspond with their matriculation into the high school. 

In recent years, the Mentor Program has worked alongside Freshman Advisory to provide freshman students with experienced and reliable peers at the high school so that they can learn from them and ask questions about aspects of the high school that they may have concerns or confusion over. Together, the freshman advisors and the mentors create a welcoming community at the high school. The freshmen can ask their mentors or freshman advisors for academic, athletic, or social support or advice at any time. Current Freshman Beckett Williams explained, “Freshman Advisory is a lot of fun and I definitely think it’s beneficial for academics. I ask my mentor a lot of questions and she is really helpful.”

Numerous freshmen bond with their advisors and mentors, creating relationships that will last their entire high school experiences. Mentor Lauren Walker described, “Personally, I truly enjoy being a mentor to freshmen and I have built so many bonds with my freshmen. I’m friends with many of them. I see them in the hallways and say hi to them, and many of them have reached out to me for advice because we have many common interests.” Especially being new to a school and going from being the oldest in the middle school to the youngest in the high school, many freshmen appreciate seeing a friendly face in the hallways, whether that is a freshman advisor or a mentor. They appreciate having people to look up to, to set an example, and to reach out to if they have questions. 

Additionally, besides the community building and bonds created between advisors, mentors, and students, Freshman Advisory is used to teach freshman valuable lessons and skills that they can use throughout their high school experiences, and hopefully continue to use these skills throughout their lives beyond school. Freshman Advisory teaches students how to write a proper email, how to confront teachers, and how to develop overall positive relationships and communicative skills. Dr. Struzziero, a freshman advisor at HHS, described his perspective on the Freshman Advisory program, “In times that I think it’s been especially helpful is like when we do a how to get ready for midyears lesson. Also, right around the time that grades came out in term one we did a lesson about checking X2 and taught the freshmen how to reach out to their teachers if they needed help or had a question about a grade. So yeah, I think there are a lot of things that we talk about that are not necessarily covered in academic classes. I just wish we could do it more!”