The start of the school year can be intimidating and difficult for any student, especially those starting it out at a new school. ASB’s Wellness Committee has been tasked with helping new CdM students adjust and feel welcome. The New Student Lunch that was held on August 31st was one of the events they have put on.

All of the new students were sent handwritten invitations to the lunch. At the lunch, there was pizza, soda, and ice cream served to the students. The Wellness Committee, comprised of Freshman Michelle Nguyen and commissioners Karissa Beltran-Jimenez and Addie Briggeman, did an ice breaker with everyone where they introduced themselves. “Sometimes students might not be very enthusiastic to meet people that they don’t necessarily know. Just to get them started and we as ASB started off just to get everyone a little bit more comfortable with [sharing their name],” stated Beltran-Jimenez. They then encouraged the students to talk amongst themselves and the committee went around to each table to get to know each of the students. Sophomore Allison Zhang just moved to CdM from China and she has found the new student activities “very informational and helpful.”

At the event, the students were also informed about all the events happening at CdM. Students were encouraged to go to all the upcoming home-games and the play in the fall. ASB is also hosting events every month for the first quarter. The first one is at the neon-night football game on September 9th at Harbor High School. All new students are invited to help ASB set up and then hang out with them at the spirit station during the game. “I know it’s scary to go to the events alone. So I think, hopefully, with a bunch of people who are going alone, it will be a lot more comfortable,” Nguyen responded.

Beltran-Jimenez had some advice for current CdM students to make newer students feel more welcome. “I think if you’re a long term student, or even if you’ve only been here for a year, you know more than people who are just getting here…You don’t have to be friends with everyone you see, but if you see someone that is sitting alone at lunch or you just see someone alone in the hallway…just make an effort to just talk to as many people as you can. Offer to help people find classes, because if you see someone looking lost, most of the time, they are lost and they need help. They just don’t know where everything is. We have a ten minute passing period, so you can take two minutes out of your time to help them out. [ASB] is working on promoting that the ASB room is an open room. You can always be here. People are always in the ASB room anyway, whether it’s ASB students, Dobyns, just people looking to hang out, or people who want to be in there for the mere fact that there is AC.”