By Bonnie Washuk,Staff Writer

AUBURN – Before Edward Little freshmen begin high school next fall, each of the nearly 300 teenagers will receive a phone call from an upperclassman.

The seniors and juniors will personally welcome the freshmen to Edward Little.

That call will be powerful, Assistant Principal Steve Galway predicted. “Students really want to hear from their peers,” Galway told the Auburn School Committee on Wednesday.

The upperclassmen outreach is part of a new Kickoff Transition Program to help eighth-graders transition to high school.

Like most high schools, Edward Little offers a one-day orientation for freshmen on their first day of school. The freshman-only orientation day this year will be Aug. 30.

But this year orientation will be more comprehensive. And for the first time the orientation will be planned and run by upperclassmen who have become student mentors.

Some 150 juniors and seniors applied to be mentors. Of those, 84 were picked. Each will be assigned three freshmen, Galway said.

On orientation day, the mentors will wear bright orange shirts and help students with “the three L’s: lockers, lunch and the lost look,'” Galway said.

In addition, the mentors will meet with their three freshmen once or twice a month throughout the school year to see how they’re doing and offer advice. “This is not just a one-day event. It’s a year-long event,” Galway said. It’s important to support freshmen, he said. “We don’t want to lose any of them.”

Student mentors Victoria Tanous and Tanya Gagne, who both serve as school committee student representatives, said they were excited about being mentors.

The 84 have had training and have adopted the motto: “Failure is not an option for my freshman,” Tanous said. She called the responsibility “a little scary,” and said mentors all want their freshman to succeed. Otherwise the mentors would see themselves as failures, Tanous said.

Gagne said her brother is a freshman, and she’s excited about seeing him and other freshmen become more connected to school.

More support for freshmen will pay off, Galway said. Being successful at graduation time “depends on the beginning,” he said.

National research shows that with this kind of support freshmen grade point averages rise. Meanwhile, freshmen anxiety, truancy, suspensions, hazing and dropout rates go down, he said.

Often students decide to drop out of high school within three weeks of school, he said. Dropping out doesn’t just mean leaving school, he said. It also covers students who are chronically absent or don’t work to their potential. “They’re there, but they’re not connected.” The new effort will help ensure more students are connected to Edward Little, Galway said.

Edward Little received a $37,000 grant covering three years of the program, he said.

Parents will also be offered their own orientation by seasoned high school parents. On Aug. 30, there’ll be a parent orientation in the morning and again in the evening.

On the Net: www.koprogram.com/default.asp

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