On Wednesday, October 15th, all of the 8th grade students from the district took a field trip up to EHHS for the 8th grade preview day to discover clubs and classes, and to learn about the high school experience. The event was primarily organized by Assistant Principal Mrs. Maria Pompano, and it took place in the Library Media Center and the gym, where there were also games.
Many EHHS students signed up as representatives for clubs and classes where they earned community service hours for running information tables and giving tours. During the event, EHHS student representatives set up tables for a collection of clubs and classes.
Mrs. Pompano said that eighth graders don’t usually know about the opportunities at EHHS and don’t know everything about the school. Many of them come to our school without knowledge about our clubs or elective classes, and they don’t know what the high school experience will be like. She says that she noticed more freshmen are joining clubs and electives, and 8th graders seem more excited about coming to EHHS since their discovery of all of the fun classes here.
The club fair was in the LMC, with tables set up for every club in the school. Student representatives ran the tables and they talked to the 8th grade students as they walked around and answered questions. 8th grade students had a “passport” which required them to ask questions to each club representative and write down the answers. They also had to get a signature from the club representative. Mrs. Pompano says that, “They’re shy. They’re eighth graders. They don’t know what to say; they don’t know how to interact with random high school kids.”
In the gym, there was a dual enrollment and electives fair where representatives had tables set up for elective and dual enrollment classes to highlight the opportunities at EHHS. We have many classes that fall outside of normal academics, of course everyone knows about art and music classes, but we have many other opportunities at EHHS that middle schoolers and even EHHS students may not know about. Some great examples are fashion classes, drone and pilot classes, culture based classes, computer science, music production, and even the EHHS Comet Newspaper Workshop!
In the LMC, they also had a panel of current freshmen students to talk with the 8th graders. 8th graders were able to ask questions and learn about the high school experience through the freshmen. This allows them to learn what the high school experience will be like as a freshman and how to survive high school. Similarly, there was a tour run by EHHS students going around the high school. The tour highlighted the different wings of our school, the different classes offered, and all of the CTE class opportunities that EHHS has to offer. Down in the woodworking, automotive, and manufacturing area, representatives from the classes were stationed to talk about the classes and their capstone pathways throughout the tour.
The 8th graders spent half their day here at EHHS to learn about all of the opportunities to come. The future can sometimes be scary, but when you have a day to guide you through it, it can be a little easier. We can’t wait to see the 8th graders, soon to be freshmen, at EHHS!
