“Bridge” Built Between 8th & 9th Grades

Before 14-year-old Ansonia resident Kayden Gill starts his freshman year at High School in the Community, he wants to first learn more about New Haven, get to know some of his new classmates, and hear from current high schoolers.

All of those boxes were checked off for Gill thanks to the school district’s summer bridge programming for incoming ninth graders at all nine high schools this year.

Gill and 24 other incoming HSC freshmen have spent this week participating in the school’s annual bridge program, which, for the first time this year, was extended to a full week of introducing the new students to all things high school.

New Haven Public Schools (NHPS) has organized bridge programs for each of its nine high schools for the first time this year. In the past some high schools organized their own bridge programming while others did not.

Assistant Superintendent Keisha Redd-Hannans told the Independent Thursday that offering bridge programming at all nine schools was an attempt to engage as many incoming freshmen as possible. ​“The consistency is for the purpose of equity,” she said.

The program also serves as an opportunity to help students transition from middle school to their first year at high school, given that ninth graders historically have some of the highest rates of chronic absenteeism.

Each school’s program for first-year students prioritized relationship building, parental engagement, introducing high school academics, and college exposure. The programming included hosting at least one family engagement event during the week and organizing a college tour for students.

On Thursday Gill and his peers — a dozen first-year students and a dozen bridge ambassadors, who were current students mentoring the new students —spent an hour visiting the Canal Dock Boathouse to learn about rowing and opportunities to take up the sport around New Haven. The students and staff walked in order to expose the group to as much of New Haven as possible on foot, and they had visits to Gateway and Yale earlier in the week.

HSC had a total of 25 incoming ninth graders and 21 bridge ambassadors for its bridge program this year. Redd-Hannans said that the district will try to engage even more incoming ninth graders in the coming years, as some students struggled to attend every day of the week-long program because of work or other summer programming.

Rowers Darby Pethrick and Rachel Liu helped the HSC group use indoor rowing machines known as ergs. The students worked in duos to correct their form and then do 100-meter relay races against their peers.

“Use your legs, that’s where your power comes from,” Pethrick told the group.

Having grown up in Ansonia, Gill had been looking forward to a week of getting to know New Haven.

He said he’s so far met new friends and learned that he can join the basketball team of one of the comprehensive high schools. He added that he loves the small school setting, and that the program also helped him learn the layout of the school building before his first day.

Gill enjoyed Thursday’s field trip and said that having more of them during the school year would help him focus better in school.

Sophomores Emiliana Torres and William Lopez and junior Nicholas Velez told this reporter Thursday that HSC has taught them the importance of being student leaders — that’s why they became program ambassadors.

The trio first met last year when Velez was again an ambassador, but this time for Torres and Lopez’s bridge programs. Then, bridge programs were just two days.

Velez said that being an ambassador was important to him because he saw the importance of ​“properly being introduced to a place for the first time. Just coming to this helps you to make friends, build community, and feel more comfortable,” he said.

Torres added that for both the first-year students and the ambassadors, the program has helped everyone ​“broaden our skills and grow,” particularly in leadership.

​“It’s really scary to go to a new level of growth and change, so this helps lessen those first day nerves,” Lopez said.

Velez added that when you know people on your first day, the transition is a whole lot easier.

The trio concluded that because the ambassadors organized the bridge program, the ninth graders would have a good start. ​“We know what they want because we were like them once,” Torres said.

Tenth-grader and ambassador Amaia Loayza described the bridge program as a ​“magical experience.” She said Thursday’s trip introduced her to the boathouse, and the program introduced her to an incoming freshman from Ecuador who she helped translate for this week.

“It feels really nice when I get to help around, even when it’s small,” Loayza said.

She concluded that because the transition from middle to high school is often characterized as hard and stressful, the bridge program ​“helps you loosen up a little” and be less nervous during the first days.

The advice she’s offered to the freshmen? Do your work, don’t skip class, and don’t fool around.