Students with Riverbank Unified School District will begin the new 2021-22 school year on Thursday, Aug. 5 with in-person instruction. To prepare for the new school year students were invited to attend freshman orientation and Bruin Day at Riverbank High School and Round-up at Cardozo Middle School.
Unfortunately, the new school year festivities did not happen for the students during the 2020-21 school year due to the pandemic. The schools were closed so students adjusted to remote learning.
This new school year the students will return to campus and the district will also offer remote learning for those that do not return. Students will have to wear masks indoors on all campuses.
Link Crew Day, which is also known as freshmen orientation, took place on Thursday, July 29 on the RHS campus. Phys Ed Teacher Cassi Ross is the Link Crew Coordinator and has 35 Link Leaders that assisted in making the orientation day a success for freshmen. The leaders all wear a blue T-shirt to make it easy for students to identify who they are and ask for help if needed.
“They are all such great kids and they work so hard,” stated Ross regarding the Link Crew members. “They called every kid and invited them personally. It is a great program. Probably one of the best programs I have seen for freshmen to transition into high school.”
The program was started at the high school about five years ago and is designed to welcome incoming freshmen and help them transition into high school. The Link Leaders apply for the program and must be juniors and seniors. The coordinator has to have formal training and the students will go through an interview process. When the students are selected they go through a two-day training which was done last week. Ross added that the participation in the program looks good on the college application.
They break up the freshmen into groups with two link leaders in each group that will stay with the students throughout the year. The Link Crew set up the classrooms and the prepared the activities for the ninth graders.
The students participated in a variety of activities and took a tour of the campus to familiarize themselves prior to the first day of school.
“Our Link Crew program is our first official time to meet our new freshman students and let them get a general idea of what Riverbank High is all about,” said RHS Principal Greg Diaz. “It’s a fun day full of ‘getting to know each other’ activities. Ms. Ross and her Link leaders did a great job familiarizing our new students to RHS and our school culture.”
Cardozo Middle School has a similar program to help the fifth graders transition into middle school during Round-Up. The students in sixth, seventh and eighth grades stopped by campus last week to receive their schedules, PE clothes, yearbooks, and meet the staff.
