Web Of Support Students Help Newcomers Adjust To Life At Junior High

Facing a sea of unfamiliar faces. Zits. Showers after gym class. Eating lunch alone. Welcome to middle school. A 12-year-old’s worst nightmare.

Middle school is wearing flared hip huggers, when everyone else knows it’s cargos. It’s all the wrong clothes on the most important day of your life (so far).

This year at Bowdish Junior High School, an unlikely ally will help new students face that nightmare. A new pilot program is matching ninth-graders with incoming students to help them deal with the fears and uncertainty of middle school life - from finding a classroom to finding someone who will listen.

Teachers Margie Tibbits and Liz Wardsworth started last week to get 45 student leaders ready to welcome the seventh-graders. They spent two half-day sessions practicing silly get-acquainted games and talking about other ways to help the new students feel welcome.

The ninth-graders will be paired up to mentor a group of about eight of the younger students throughout the year.

“Wouldn’t it be great if everyone felt welcome? Wouldn’t it be great if everyone succeeded? And why not set it up so they can?” said Wardsworth.

Wardsworth and Tibbits sought out the new program for Bowdish Junior High after hearing about it from Tibbits’ sister, who is also a teacher.

Called WEB, for Welcome Every Body, it was developed by educational consultant Phil Boyte. Boyte, founder of Learning for Living in Northern California, also started the related high school program called “Link Crew.” Both are used at schools across the nation.

Tibbits said they wanted to bring the new approach to Bowdish because there were too many young students “slipping through the cracks.” She was disturbed by the ever-increasing number of seventh-graders who were failing more than three classes.

“If they are not successful here, they are going to be at risk in high school,” Tibbits said.

The training for the WEB program was expensive - almost $2,000 for each teacher. Tibbits and Wardsworth stumped for money at schools throughout the district and the community to pay their way. But it was worth every dime, Tibbits said.

Teachers have long recognized that the physical, emotional and social changes during the middle school years can derail even the brightest kids. Teachers and counselors have tried various ways to welcome students and tell them what to expect, but this is the first time at Bowdish the students will be taking the lead.

“This is the most exciting thing I’ve seen in my 28 years as a teacher,” Tibbits said. “What I like about it … is that it is totally peer driven. And this is such a peer-influential time in their lives, as we all know.”

Bowdish Junior High is one of just two middle schools in Eastern Washington using WEB. Two high schools in the Spokane area, Ferris and Mt. Spokane, use the Link Crew program.

The ninth-grade leaders at Bowdish meet their charges today at a school orientation. After a short assembly, they’ll welcome the seventh-graders with crazy ice-breakers and name games. Then WEB leaders will help the new students find their lockers and classes.

“I know what it’s like to come into seventh grade and have nobody to talk to,” said Michael-Paul Grondel, who switched schools midyear, leaving his friends behind.

Like the other students training last week to be WEB leaders, he got involved because he wanted to help people.

“I think it will help bring everyone together,” Melissa Little said.

“Yeah,” added Jenifer Tiffany. “Not only with the seventh-graders, but also with this class.”

Teachers and other school administrators nominated the ninth-graders they thought would be best for the program. Then the students were invited to apply for the positions. Tibbits said about 80 people applied, out of a class of 140.

Tibbits said the ninth-graders will be mentors for the entire year. The student leaders might put a card on the locker of the seventh-graders to help celebrate their birthday, decorate their lockers on Halloween, invite them to a movie night at school. They will even give them a gentle prod when their math grades slip.

“It’s an academic mentoring as well as social mentoring,” Tibbits said The WEB leaders will work closely with Tibbits and Wardsworth to arrange any tutoring for a younger student or talk about any problems.

Like any school program, Tibbits and Wardsworth said, there will be students who refuse the help. But they have high hopes for the others.

The teachers envision that mentoring will give the seventh-graders the confidence to try more extracurricular activities and ask for help when they’re struggling with classes. Fewer students will fail and the school won’t have as many discipline problems.

“They are going to make a difference,” Wardsworth said, looking around the room at the new WEB leaders. “They are.”

Classes at Central Valley and West Valley schools begin next Wednesday. East Valley students returned to class on Wednesday.