Most students at Silver Creek have the same first-day experience: New Student Orientation. New Student Orientation Day is one of the biggest days for the Raptor Leadership Crew (RLC), where they run the entire event welcoming new students to Silver Creek High School. This day is when RLC leaders show new students around the school and introduce them to the teachers and other activities that take place at Silver Creek.
“It makes the freshman’s first days here at Silver Creek so much smoother,” advisor and teacher Anne Torkelson explained “It also helps them familiarize themselves in a new environment, builds a community, and helps them adjust to a new environment,”
Running the New Student Orientation isn’t the end of RLC’s work as they go into new student advisory classes every other Wednesday. In these meetings, RLC leaders work with new students to get acclimated to the school and to further build a community within Silver Creek.
Working with new students is a task that has a lot of caveats and requires a lot of attention. Senior Dillon Rankin has been in RLC for two years and has worked with freshmen during that time.
“If you put in effort and show enthusiasm when you work with your freshman, they’ll see that and respond to that. If you don’t they’ll pick up on it as well and mirror that lack of effort,” said Rankin.
As the year comes to a close and the seniors in RLC are about to graduate and leave the school, the program looks for new students to join. Senior Benjamin Dolan, who has also been in RLC for two years, explains who he thinks should join the program
“The best candidates for RLC are people who want to connect with the Silver Creek community and people who are comfortable with getting to know new people.”
Wanting to get to know and connect with new students is important as well as being a role model for how students should act in school. As Torkelson and the other advisor Elizabeth Neill, look at the future of the club they look to the characteristics they want in their club.
“We always look for students who are strong leaders, strong moral character, who are very reliable and responsible,” said Torkelson.
On May 8, during advisory, RLC will welcome its new members to the club and will say goodbye to the seniors who have been in the club. The new members of RLC will have the task of hosting the last event of the year: The Freshman Barbecue.
“We host the Freshman Barbecue to remind the students that they are part of the Silver Creek community. Also, it is a place for them to feel connected to other students and just enjoy those around them,” said Torkelson.
Having events all year round has been a point that RLC has tried to practice to grow the community at Silver Creek. The Freshman Barbecue is hosted by RLC in the commons on May 21 after finals conclude that day and available to freshmen students.