Seniors eat Breakfast with Freshman During AcLab

On Tuesday, August 22, the Senior Men and Women met with freshmen during Academic Lab at the Senior-Freshmen Women breakfast while the Senior Men traveled to academic labs to share their experiences at Parkway North with the freshman class of 2016.

The Senior-Freshman Women breakfast has been at North for decades. Within the past couple of years, however, Senior Women sponsors Melody Barger and Julie Parks decided to change the format of the breakfast.

“[The breakfast] has been around forever,” said Parks, “However, it used to be in the courtyard before school and not a lot of students showed up. It was more of a ‘Grab-and-Go’ idea.”

Because there are No-Travel Labs during the first few weeks of school, moving the breakfast to Academic Lab allowed more students to attend and time to meet new people without interfering with their schedule. During the breakfast, the senior women took time to share their thoughts on high school, offer advice about teen issues, and make themselves available to the freshmen if they needed help.

“We set a mission for everyone and we want Senior Women to set the tone for Parkway North,” Barger said, “The Senior Women will really become role models for the freshmen.”

While the Senior-Freshmen Women breakfast has evolved over the years, the Senior Men started a new tradition this year that is very similar to the breakfast. While the women gathered in the commons to talk about high school, grades, teachers, time management, school involvement, and even boys; the Senior Men traveled to Freshmen Academic Labs to meet and discuss similar topics.

“[It’s so important for the seniors to get to know the freshmen because] it builds a sense of community,” said Senior Men sponsor Mike Hazelton, “If you know people in other classes, you’re less likely to bully and less likely to be bullied. When you feel safe at school, you perform at a higher level.”

Overall, the breakfast and lab meetings were informative and helpful for the freshmen and the seniors found it very rewarding.

“I think the breakfast went very well,” said senior Samantha Jespersen, “For us to pass on our knowledge to the freshmen so they can learn from both our mistakes and our accomplishments is important to me. I’m glad it went so well.”

This breakfast was just the first of many events hosted by the Senior Men and Women. Though more details have yet to come, students can look forward to tailgates, the PowderPuff Game, and many others.

Written by Jo Treadway