Freshman at Morgan are being introduced to a revived Mentorship program that is to help them branch out, grow and learn through experiences and advice from upperclassmen. Guidance Counselor Nicholas Grasso pushed the decision to bring back the Morgan Mentors to provide support and guidance for students as they navigate through many new experiences in their first year of high school.
Earlier this month, students had their first session with mentors where they talked about the phone policy at Morgan and how they could steer away from using them at school. The mentors used a slideshow and kahoot to keep the freshman engaged and to get their point across on this new rule.
Grasso explained, “The goal is that the freshmen have two or three upperclassmen they have in their advisory period that they could look up to.”
While Morgan used to have a mentor program, it ended in 2023 after the head advisor of the mentors left Morgan. Now, two years later, the program is back. “We’re trying to get it back up and running with similar goals.” Grasso said.
The mentors selected by Grasso and Assistant Principal Christopher Luther are a group of upperclassmen chosen based on their outgoing personalities and leadership skills. According to Grasso, the mentors will “go into an advisory class and lead an activity, discussion, or presentation on certain topics so that the freshman would be able to see a consistent face and hopefully get to know some upperclassmen.”
The mentors will visit the freshmen’s advisory once a month, prepared lessons made by Luther and designated time to answer any questions. Senior mentor, Anadaly Lopez, said she joined because “from freshman year to senior year, I’ve become way wiser, and I know so much about this school that I could share.”
The goal for this program is to strengthen the Morgan community by building bonds with underclassmen and upperclassmen while providing reliable advice and support. Being largely student-run and the mentors having flexibility with lessons, Lopez thinks the program should offer “more interactive and hands on lessons” to keep the freshmen involved and engaged.
Similar to Morgan’s STEP program, which helped freshmen gain confidence and ease their worries coming into high school, this program will give the students a consistent group of seniors and juniors to turn to for guidance. After meeting some of the freshmen at STEP, Lopez shared, “I want to teach them how to be involved because I feel like this year there wasn’t really that much excitement.” She hopes to turn this idea into a reality in one of the advisories.
While it’s good that the program returns for the class of 2030, the current sophomores and juniors have missed out on these valuable lessons given by older students. Sophomore Cassidy Pluck reflected, “I think it would have been useful since the mentors have already gone through years of high school, I would trust their advice over anyone else’s.”
As Morgan welcomes back the mentor program, both staff and students hope it will create stronger connections amongst all grades at Morgan and create more of a sense of community. Morgan mentors may once again become a defined part of the high school experience, making the students feel seen, supported and successful.
