Someday, years from now, members of Kamiak High School’s class of 2014 will open old yearbooks. They’ll find the giant “K”.
They’ll think back to a spring morning in their freshman year. They’ll remember standing, more than 500 of them closely packed, on the lawn of the Mukilteo campus.
On Tuesday, a helicopter carrying a photographer swooped over the group to capture an image of the shape they formed — K for Kamiak.
The outdoor spectacle was the finale of Link’d Day, a morning of activities aimed at uniting Kamiak’s freshman class. The picture-perfect ending capped a program that dared to let kids acknowledge experiences that fall well short of perfection.
High school is hard. Academic challenges can be the least of teens’ troubles.
Tuesday’s events were put on by Link students at Kamiak. A national movement, Link Crew pairs junior and senior student leaders with freshmen. The program’s goals are to ease the transition from middle school, and to help ninth-graders shed insecurities and make friends.
Students apply to be Link leaders and some take a semester-long Link class.
Erin Langdon, a 16-year-old junior, was one of the organizers of Link’d Day, which began with an assembly in the gym. When Erin started at Kamiak, she already knew her older brother’s friends. Even so, she has regrets about not being more involved.
If she had freshman year to do over, she said, “I would have gone to more football and basketball games. I would have enjoyed my freshman year more.”
“I didn’t get involved in the school until my sophomore year, and I wish I had known how fun it is,” said junior Olivia Parker, 17. “I want the freshmen to feel welcome and comfortable enough to get involved in clubs and sports.”
At the assembly and in small groups, a prevailing message was that no one is alone.
Link leaders told hundreds of freshmen that they hoped to tackle an enemy that’s as hard on kids as bullying. That enemy is insecurity.
A photo montage of classmates was accompanied by anonymous quotes gathered from Kamiak students. “I feel bad about myself in so many ways,” one student said. Others shared doubts about their clothes not being stylish and about not measuring up in sports.
Several students spoke to the crowd about painful episodes in their lives, and how they managed to grow and thrive.
Junior Lauren Luke spoke of having no photos of herself as a baby or toddler because her biological mother had been in and out of jail on drug charges. After several sad years in foster care, she was adopted by a great-aunt and great-uncle and moved to Washington. A varsity soccer player, she was befriended by teammates. Now, she said, she has heard from Gonzaga University about a soccer scholarship.
Gabby Vasquez, who was born in Mexico, said at the assembly that she ran with a tough crowd and got into fights after being ridiculed for speaking Spanish. She credits a teacher for helping her become a better student and a mentor to others.
Another student leader, Jim Melnick, said it dawned on him after he made fun of another boy that he wasn’t living up to his own values. “Set high standards for yourself,” he told the crowd.
In small groups, freshmen joined in activities highlighting how feelings of being an outsider aren’t unique. Anonymously, they filled in a “Kamiak Social Pyramid,” showing groups such as seniors and “jocks” at the top, and showing where they fit in.
Asked to list a few things they like about themselves, kids in one small group struggled. Girls, especially, listed clothing or aspects of appearance, answering “my shoes” or “my hair.” Only one or two in a group of more than a dozen said they liked the fact that they did well in school.
Rachel Johnson, who teaches Kamiak’s Link class, said students planned all the day’s events. Money for the Link program paid to rent a helicopter to shoot the photo. Copies of that picture are being sold to offset the cost, Johnson said.
The fun day for freshmen wasn’t school time lost. It coincided with science testing required for older students, but not ninth-graders.
Freshmen aren’t the only ones who benefit from Link partnerships. “For the older kids, I think it’s just as powerful,” Johnson said. “When they’re given a chance to lead, they step up.”
Alex Jubie, a junior Link leader, shared with his small group that he had battled with his parents and other problems before getting help.
“We are all imperfect, and all united under one roof,” he said.
Julie Muhlstein: 425-339-3460, muhlstein@heraldnet.com.
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