‘Tailgate’ Helps Show New Wheeling Park Students the Way
Derek Redd Trending
WHEELING -- New students at Wheeling Park High School got a chance to navigate the halls, find classrooms and learn more about what goes on inside those walls before the first bell rings next week.
WPHS held its Freshman and New Student Tailgate on Thursday evening. The event has been a staple at the school for about a decade, Principal Meredith Dailer said, and has grown into an essential part of Park's start-of-school activities.
"It's one of our more well-received activities here at the high school," Dailer said. "It's a great way for our freshmen to be able to ease some of that anxiety as they're coming to a new, large building."
The school held two sessions, broken down alphabetically. New students were able to get their schedules and pick up other supplies. Unique Murphy, Wheeling Park's Communities In Schools site coordinator, was stationed at the main entrance to inform students and parents about adjustments to the WPHS attendance policy.
Students and parents walked the halls, finding the classrooms on their schedule in a more relaxed atmosphere. Along the way, "freshman mentors" -- upperclassmen who volunteer to show new students the ropes -- walked with them, answering questions as they arose.
"I think the freshman mentors are the greatest piece of success to the freshman tailgate," Dailer said, "because it's kids walking kids around the building and sharing their experiences and telling them all about the little tricks of the trade to finding their classes."
Those mentors will be out and about around the school during the first days of class as well, Dailer said. They'll be clad in the t-shirts they wore Thursday, offering a kind voice and friendly face to new students still getting used to the school.
Parents appreciated Thursday's opportunities just as much as their children. Johnny Haught brought his incoming freshman daughter Willow to the tailgate. As she found her way through the halls, it put his mind at ease. Having a chance to get her bearings Thursday should cut into the stress of the real first day of school.
"I just want her to experience this with positivity at first," he said. "I don't want her coming home upset and stressed out. You know, it's going to happen either way. We're going to have a week where she's going to be stressed, but I want that transition from middle school to high school to be as easy on her as possible."
There were some school-opening happenings for Ohio County's staff as well Thursday morning. More than 700 professional and service staff members packed the J.B. Chambers Performing Arts Center at WPHS to hear from guest speaker Dennis Snow, a full-time speaker, trainer and consultant who is an expert in customer service, employee development and leadership. Snow spent two decades working for Walt Disney World and is the author of a pair of books on customer service and organization building.