McKean upperclassmen help build a better student body

Rolling flattened newspaper pages tightly together, a classroom of freshmen at Thomas McKean High School struggles to fit the makeshift pipes into a frame, then stretch sheets across the frames. They are trying to figure out how to construct shelters with just newspaper and tape.

It’s a team building exercise, one of the more light-hearted lessons taught by upperclassmen in the school's Wednesday advisory classes. The lessons are coordinated by McKean teacher Katie Kravitz, site director for Communities In Schools, an Alexandria, Va., program that aims to reduce the high dropout rate plaguing public schools today.

It is McKean's second year using the curriculum, and the result appears to be positive.

More ninth-graders are taking an interest in school in the last two years than previously, and their state test scores in the first year of the program were higher than they were the previous year, says Principal Sherry Gross.

Whether the students are practicing study skills or doing a fun activity, the intent is always the same: to engage freshmen through mentoring and make them feel more connected to school.

The student advisory program eases the transition from middle to high school, Gross says. Getting advice “from a junior or senior is a little bit different than hearing it from an adult.”

After the Feb. 4 lesson, freshman Justice Dixon is awarded "best student leader" by seniors Jon Margis and Victor Tran, for leading a team that included Erik Ozoria, Eliel Tovar and Mayra Saavedra.

Normally, Dixon is one of those students who sits in her desk, head in her hand, says Tran, of Mill Creek.

“Even in the beginning of class she was like, ‘Why do you want to make me move?’” he says. “I was like, ‘Come on. It’ll be fun today. I promise.’ She ended up directing the whole winning team. It was a nice surprise.”

Dixon, of Wilmington, says she is starting to appreciate the program.

“They’re just showing us … that we can do anything we put our mind to,” she says.

Upperclassmen want the underclassmen to know them on a personal level, be able to come to them with any questions, and give them the building blocks that older students had to learn along the way.

In addition to good study habits, student advisors stress the importance of sports and clubs, says junior C.J. Perez, who swims and plays lacrosse. But to participate in extra-curricular activities, they’ve got to keep their grades up.

“We go over their report cards in class after every marking period,” says Perez of Pike Creek. “Maybe you got a C; you want to improve to a B or an A next marking period.”

Freshmen Francis Dundon, Tyler Workman and James Hoffmeyer watch as their structure collapses onto the floor, reflective of the overall effort the team put in. Yet Dundon, of Wilmington, sees the benefits of the program.

“It helps us get to know people we didn’t know before,” Dundon says. “They help us with knowing ourselves and better study skills.”

But it doesn't work for everyone. Hoffmeyer, of Mill Creek, says he doesn’t really get anything out of the program, and would rather take an earlier lunch.

“Get rid of it,” he says.

Margis says not all freshmen “quite get it” and every class has jokesters. 

“You can’t really help everyone if they don’t want to take your advice. But there’s always a handful that actually listen to your advice and use it,” says Margis, who is considering a career as a teacher because of this experience.

Saavedra, of Newport, recognizes the merits, because it’s hard being a freshman.

“They went through that, too,” she says. “They tell us we can do stuff when we think we can’t.”

Steven Paparazzo, one of the teachers who observes the student-taught classes, said the student advisors are leaders who play sports and maintain good grades. That rubs off on the younger students.

“If you were to chart from the start of the program to now, some of these kids have broken out completely with their peers,” he says. “They are communicating with other group members. That is just a phenomenal growth from where they maybe said two words the first two months of school.”

Tran, a swimmer and tennis player says he hopes that the success of the program goes a long way toward vanquishing an unfair perception of McKean.

“It shows seniors helping freshmen instead of picking on them," he says.