Link Crew welcomes incoming first-years to Miramonte. Led by Counselor Ellen Conners and teachers Katie Watson and, as of this year, Emmery Lewellyn, Link Crew aims to help make the transition to high school easier. This year, Link Crew is being further developed through the new Ninth Grade Brigade.
At the beginning of each school year, these three teachers and Commissioners help train another batch of students called Link Leaders. At the end of every year, teachers suggest students who would make good Link Leaders—typically based on supportive and dedicated attitudes to encourage Link Crew’s theme around building a friendly and connected community. Link Crew students might then move on to become Commissioners, whom the Link Crew Staff specially selects to help train another group of Link Leaders.
“Link Crew helps create a more peer-to-peer relationship, with new and existing students, where you definitely feel more comfortable when first coming into Miramonte,” Link Crew Commissioner and senior Mitch Reichenbach said.
Starting this year, Cassi Porter, the leadership teacher, and many other staff on campus have worked tirelessly to design an initiative to further strengthen the connections between ninth-graders and Link Leaders: the Ninth Grade Brigade. This Brigade is designed to support incoming first-years onto campus and further include them in the Miramonte community. “Link Crew has been looking for ways to further embed itself into the ninth-grade experience for so many years, and so this just seemed like the perfect opportunity for us to partner together and find a way to help create stronger bonds and connections between students with something that is truly centered around fun,” Link Crew Coordinator Conners said.
This Ninth Grade Brigade will host more frequent activities throughout the year, including check-ins during Academy, where ninth-graders will meet with their designated Link Crew group.
During the first check-in on Sep. 6, Link Leaders inquired first-years about fun memories or possible challenges that may have arisen during their first weeks of high school.
In addition, Link Leaders also discussed the book that all ninth-grade English classes are reading. With the help of the English department, which wanted to include different extension activities surrounding the literature read in class, Link Crew was encouraged to discuss ideas from the graphic novel Family Style by Vietnamese author Thien Pham, highlighting how food connects culture and community. “Family Style puts an interesting perspective on the importance of food, especially because food can allow a community to come together and spend time together,” first-year Sam Reidenbach said.
On Sep. 23, Link Crew has set up a potluck on the field, extending from 5th period to lunch. Students will even get to meet the author of Family Style, who lives in San Jose! During the last academy meeting, students decorated paper crabs that will be part of a scavenger hunt at the potluck.
Link Crew plans to host an event every month, including their annual Linksgiving and the eighth-grade visit in the spring. It also aims to include an extensive service project after winter break. The Brigade has created a project for all ninth-graders to participate in volunteer service, including field trips to different philanthropic organizations. “The service project is the activity I’m most excited for…it may be the most work but will be really impactful and meaningful,” Porter said.
In the future, the staff hopes to build off the Ninth Grade Brigade and involve students of all grades – not just ninth graders – and especially those not already a part of the Lamorinda school system, such as transfer students. “If we can continue to reach these ninth graders as they come on campus, then it will create this really strong sense of community, warmth, and inclusiveness that hopefully new students coming in for the first time will feel and be more easily included,” Porter said.
