Latest / Inside the OSD / S3 E1 - Getting Ready for Freshman Year Ft. Mr. Ashmore, Ellie Warfield, & Hans Kiesau

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S3 E1 - Getting Ready for Freshman Year Ft. Mr. Ashmore, Ellie Warfield, & Hans Kiesau · Inside the OSD

• 0:03
  [Ambient hallway sounds, bell ringing]
• 0:07
  SPEAKER1: Welcome to season three of Inside the OSD.
• 0:10
  As we near the end of summer, the minds of families and students turn to the new school year.
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  While it's a time of anticipation for everyone, it's especially so for our students who will be starting high school.
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  In this episode, we will talk with high school Associate Principal Mr.
• 0:28
  Ashmore and a couple of our veteran students about what to expect freshman year.
• 0:35
  SPEAKER2: Welcome to this episode of Inside the OSD podcast, where it's all about the kids.
• 0:40
  Here is your host, lifelong educator, and our superintendent, Doctor Leslie Bergstrom.
• 0:49
  SPEAKER1: This is a topic on the minds of incoming ninth graders and their families, who start high school in a few weeks.
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  So thanks for talking with us today.
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  And let's start with our introduction to Mr.
• 1:00
  Ashmore.
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  SPEAKER3: Good morning, I'm Brad Ashmore.
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  I'm one of the associate principals here at Oregon High School.
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  I serve students O through Z with the last name, and one of the best parts of my job is each year, as we're getting ready for the school year, I get to plan
• 1:15
  and coordinate the freshman orientation for our incoming freshmen.
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  So super exciting time of the year.
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  SPEAKER1: Awesome. I bet that is exciting and it's such a big transition for people.
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  So what would you say to families and students who have that nervous feeling about starting high school?
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  SPEAKER3: Well, one of the things that I think we do really well at the high school is coordinating plans of support for kids and for families.
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  So right now, you know, we've been receiving just lots and lots of emails in a positive way about, "hey, can kids come in and see the building?" I know one of
• 1:46
  the things for incoming freshmen that is sort of daunting can be the size of the building and finding classes.
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  So so we're open on what, you know, one of the responses that we always give "We're open 8 to 4.
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  Come into the building.
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  Walk your schedule with your student.
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  Ask any of our associate principals or counselors for help." We're always here to help, to make sure that kids get off to a really good start.
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  SPEAKER1: Oh that's fantastic.
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  So every student has a different schedule based on the classes they selected.
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  But can you share a little bit about the common parts of the day that students might experience?
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  SPEAKER3: Yeah, absolutely. So again it's an eight period day.
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  So we really recommend that freshmen take between 6 and 7 academic classes.
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  And then you know there's lunch times.
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  We have two lunches.
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  So a lot of times students will find that they've got some friends or different people in their lunch, which is really, I think, an important part of the day of
• 2:39
  connecting and just having that downtime.
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  Um, there's study halls, you know, every kid will take a learning resource where they can receive some academic supports.
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  But, you know, throughout the the time -- Wednesdays are Connections days.
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  So that's a really important part of what we do to where each Wednesday they'll have the same class and the same group to come together with, to learn, you
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  know, different types of curriculum.
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  The ninth grade curriculum is called High School 101.
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  So we talk a lot about organization and GPA and goal setting and different things like that.
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  So those are some common times in the day where kids are are meeting together.
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  SPEAKER1: I just want to make it clear for the listeners.
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  A freshman doesn't have to have a study hall or a learning resource.
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  Correct. Correct? Okay.
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  Some of them have chosen to fill their entire day.
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  Yeah, but it's very common for students to have at least one learning resource.
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  Right. Agreed.
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  SPEAKER3: We would recommend, I think that the students have at least one resource within the day to work on homework.
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  It's always an hour or two where we can reach out if things are -- if students are struggling for some reason, we have a lot of really good universal supports
• 3:44
  here. So that can be an hour where we help them to get a little more help or support.
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  But like you said, there's a lot of kids that come through here and they take a full schedule all the way from their freshman year to their senior year.
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  And they do it that way.
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  There's just lots of different options and lots of different potential.
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  SPEAKER1: Absolutely. Because some students start high school with a very strong plan.
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  They know exactly what they want, and they're creating schedules in a four year plan to meet that goal.
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  And other students really don't have any idea yet.
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  And both pathways are fine.
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  SPEAKER3: Absolutely. But by the time students get to be juniors and seniors, we do really take a lot of pride in trying to make sure that every kid here has a plan, or at
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  least has some ideas of what they want to do.
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  Again, within Connections each Wednesday, the Junior Connections curriculum is called College and Career Readiness.
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  And we talk a lot within Xello doing some research for the future for kids.
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  So it's not always perfect, but we really do try to work hard to make sure that kids do have a plan by their junior or senior year, and we help them to the best
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  that we can to to achieve that plan.
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  SPEAKER1: That's wonderful. So you mentioned this a little bit already, but how can students get help if they need support with classes or their homework or even
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  socially? Yeah.
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  SPEAKER3: So our counseling team here is absolutely amazing.
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  We have a neighborhood system where there's three associate principals and three counselors set up.
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  We have school social workers.
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  We have a mental health specialist.
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  We're just extremely well resourced, which is really good.
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  So when kids have struggle or they need things, we try to build relationships with every one of our kids.
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  That's what the idea of the neighborhood system is.
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  And so we always encourage kids, please reach out, let us know if there's anything that we can do.
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  And we also hope that we can open that line of communication with families, too.
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  SPEAKER1: And I think you do a great job with that, because I know that in our school perceptions data, the parents of our ninth graders, interestingly, were the most
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  satisfied with their experience.
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  That's really good. So I think it speaks to how well prepared the high school is to meet students where they are in ninth grade.
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  We have a
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  SPEAKER3: lot of programing and a lot of possibilities.
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  And again, that makes me feel really good because our philosophy is making sure that while we're 1,360 or, you know, close to 1,400 students, we want to make
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  sure that kids feel like they have an adult here they can connect with.
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  And we work hard at that.
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  SPEAKER1: That's super important.
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  And it doesn't always happen through classes.
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  Sometimes it happens through co-curricular.
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  So a number of students in freshman year are involved in co-curricular activities.
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  As a matter of fact, that's an area of focus for us also to get kids connected.
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  So what should students know if they need to leave school early for a co-curricular event?
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  SPEAKER3: Well, I think working with a teacher is super important.
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  Our teachers, again, I think are super flexible and very supportive of making sure that kids are, you know, developing as a whole child.
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  So one of the things that I think you're going to hear today is the more you can reach out and communicate the needs that you have with your teacher or the
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  person that's there, the more they're going to help and support you, that's a huge piece of advocating for what you need.
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  SPEAKER1: Thank you. That is super important.
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  And so Freshman Jumpstart orientation is coming on August 21st.
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  I saw the pink t shirts.
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  Yes. They're all over the place right now.
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  They look great. Thank you.
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  That's what all of our Pride Crew wears, right?
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  Yep. Okay. So why should freshmen attend and what can they expect?
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  SPEAKER3: Well, we have, so we've been able to grow our Pride Crew over the last six years.
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  We have 84 incoming seniors that are have either been nominated for their leadership or have wanted to step up to help be a leader for our incoming
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  freshmen.
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  SPEAKER1: That's insane. 84?!
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  84. I mean, we
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  SPEAKER3: started with like 22, six years ago, and now it's just something that kids always step forward.
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  Like "I want to help." So we've got 84 kids ready.
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  Uh, students come in that day, they're going to get their Chromebook.
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  They're going to get their schedule.
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  I think probably one of the most important pieces of the day is just having them walk around the building, getting some tours from the Pride Crew and then
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  the ability to go into small groups and ask questions and ask, you know, getting some advice and some suggestions and ideas from our Pride Crew is a
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  really important part. And then what's really good is that the Pride Crew then continue to work with our freshmen and Connections each Wednesday.
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  So it's just sort of a person that I've had a lot of people say they've they've really kind of developed friendships throughout or like had emails with the
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  person like, "hey, I'm struggling." So Pride Crew is actually been a huge support for all of our freshmen.
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  SPEAKER1: Well, and I think that's why you have 84 kids who want to be a part of it is because they had people who helped them, and they want to be able to emulate
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  that, and that's really cool.
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  SPEAKER3: We're lucky that way. Yeah.
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  SPEAKER1: What tips for success do you have for our new ninth graders?
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  SPEAKER3: Again, I think just really coming in and being able to, you know, set some goals, try to do the very best that you can in your classes.
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  When you're struggling, reach out and ask for help and support.
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  Um, but you know, like experience things, try a lot of different things.
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  At Oregon High School, we have amazing classes and courses with a lot of options and a lot of electives.
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  There's I think one of the best parts about our school is there's just so many different types of classes.
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  I would encourage people to try it all, get involved.
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  You know, like we promote 100% engagement.
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  We would love for all of our students to be a part of an activity or a sport or a club, anything that they're interested in, because it just makes the high
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  school experience so much better when you're actively engaged in a lot of things.
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  SPEAKER1: Thank you. That's really important.
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  And I think we're going to hear something very similar from our veteran students who are here to give their perspectives on all of this.
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  So can each of you please introduce yourselves to our listeners?
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  SPEAKER4: I'm Ellie Warfield, and I'm a class of 2027.
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  Thank you.
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  SPEAKER5: I'm Hans Kiesau I'm a senior this year.
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  Class of 2025.
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  SPEAKER1: Thank you both. And you're wearing your t shirt from freshman year?
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  Yeah. To show that it's a class of 2025 t shirt he got back when he was a freshman.
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  That's really cool too.
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  SPEAKER5: Somehow it still fits.
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  I don't
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  SPEAKER1: know. So both of you have successfully gone through freshman year and you've transitioned to high school.
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  So can you describe what that transition was like?
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  SPEAKER5: Um, I think it was a pretty seamless transition, considering that my eighth grade year was a Covid year, and I didn't really have a middle school experience
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  per se.
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  Um, so I was kind of like stepping from online school right into high school.
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  So much of the curriculum was like online based.
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  So it was very it wasn't as much of a step from like, say, intermediate school to middle school.
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  But I would say that it's it was definitely a it was definitely different.
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  But it was it was made easier by the, by the curriculum that was already in place.
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  SPEAKER1: That's great. How about you, Ellie?
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  SPEAKER4: I was at first when I transitioned, i was really scared because, I don't know, eighth grade was just like a lot like smaller there.
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  And just I don't really know how to explain it, but when I got here it was way more bigger.
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  There was way more like grades combined.
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  Like, it was really scary because there were seniors, juniors, just like so many upperclassmen.
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  Right? And I was scared of, like, getting lost and, like, bumping into people and new teachers, new classes.
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  I didn't know if I would be, like, smart enough for the classes.
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  So it was like a really big jump for me personally.
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  SPEAKER1: You know, I think what you described, though, is what a lot of students feel when they start high school.
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  So thank you for sharing that.
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  What was your favorite thing about ninth grade?
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  And we'll go back to you first.
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  SPEAKER4: Um, even though there was a lot of change, it was good change, I think.
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  Um, I got involved in like a lot of clubs and like sports after school activities, and I got to meet a lot of new people and try new things that I
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  wouldn't have been able to try if I was still in middle school.
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  So I like, think that I just got a lot more opportunities here.
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  And they were really fun.
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  SPEAKER1: Is there anything that surprised you?
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  SPEAKER4: Um, I'm not really sure.
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  SPEAKER1: Well, you can come back to that.
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  You think about it, and then we'll go to Hans.
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  How about you? What was your favorite thing about ninth grade?
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  SPEAKER5: Um, I really liked the the jump into a more independent role as a student because, like, in middle school, you're kind of like, I don't know, like,
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  coddled by your teachers.
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  And then once you become a ninth grader, you're, you're pretty much you're taking into account you're taking responsibility for your own education.
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  And, uh, I really like that, um, that responsibility as a student.
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  And I know that some students don't like that.
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  And that's why we have such a good framework in place for people who need extra support.
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  SPEAKER1: Thanks for mentioning that.
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  Because you're right.
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  I think your attitude about really being ready for the independence, I think a lot of kids don't feel ready for it.
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  So thanks for mentioning that there are supports.
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  Is there anything that surprised you about ninth grade?
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  SPEAKER5: Surprised me was like, I thought the high school was way bigger and that I would not be able to find any classes.
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  But I think one one thing that you have to realize is that you don't have to know where every classroom is, and every teacher is.
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  You only need to know where eight are.
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  So. Okay, that was like that was like a realization that I -- that I realized, like, you only need to know where your classes are.
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  And then eventually, just by being and walking the halls, you eventually learn where teachers are, where your friend's classes are, and everything like that.
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  So it's --
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  SPEAKER1: Okay. That's super practical.
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  Thank you. Ellie, did you think of anything that surprised you?
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  SPEAKER4: I think of like, how quick I caught on, like the first week.
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  I was like, I'm like, really scared.
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  But by the end of the week, I was like, oh, like, this class is here.
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  Like, I know this teacher's name.
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  I made some friends.
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  So I think that just like asking around and like asking for help from like students or teachers, it really helped me.
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  SPEAKER1: Thank you. That's that's a great thing for other people to know is that by the end of the first week, even you felt better.
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  So if you could go back, is there anything you would do differently?
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  Whomever wants to start this one, go right ahead.
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  SPEAKER4: Um, I feel like I would get involved more.
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  I feel like freshman year I was just really, like shy and didn't want to like talk much.
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  But reaching out to more clubs and sports, like after school activities, doing community service even, or just like talking to your teachers, making new
• 14:00
  friends. It really helped.
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  Like, I wish I would have done that more because I feel like I would have been, I don't know, like my shell could have cracked like more if I was out and about.
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  Like getting to know more people.
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  SPEAKER1: Do you think you've cracked your shell by now?
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  SPEAKER4: I think so, yeah. I got like at the middle of the year.
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  Like towards the end, I got way better.
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  SPEAKER1: That's wonderful.
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  How about you, Hans?
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  SPEAKER5: Um, one thing I could have done differently, I think reaching out to my teachers and making more connections with my teachers.
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  Because, like, you only get four sets of teachers in high school.
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  So the more connections you make throughout high school, I mean, you can go back to a freshman year teacher and ask them for a letter of recommendation for
• 14:37
  college if you really have a good connection with them.
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  So I think it's it's really important to like if you're stuck in a class, just like I wish I would have done this more just reaching out to them asking like,
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  "is there any extra practice that I can do?
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  Is there any extra things that I can do?
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  What does this mean? What does that mean?" Just like anything like that.
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  SPEAKER1: Well, in our earlier conversation, you mentioned something that teachers said.
• 15:00
  A teachers have said the best students do this.
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  Oh, yeah.
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  SPEAKER5: The best students are the ones that ask the questions in class that raise their hand, that are confused.
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  But then but then take that step to nullify that confusion.
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  SPEAKER1: Exactly. Because it's normal to be confused.
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  It's a part of the learning process, right?
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  The in the way out of it is asking questions.
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  And that's so hard for kids because they haven't made the connection yet.
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  They don't feel confident enough yet.
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  But I think both of you have pointed out how important it is to do that.
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  Mhm. So is there a piece of advice you would give our new freshmen?
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  SPEAKER5: I would say just go out of your way to make the high school transition as comfortable as possible.
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  Like take risks, talk to people if you're in a sport.
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  Like just embrace that sport.
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  Embrace that culture.
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  If you're in a club, embrace that culture.
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  And, um, yeah, just try like specifically try to make that high school transition as a freshman from eighth grader to a
• 16:05
  freshman as as smooth and as comfortable as possible and just fun.
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  SPEAKER1: Yeah. Like the stuff you described that was.
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  That's fun stuff, right?
• 16:12
  Definitely. Okay, great.
• 16:13
  How about you, Ellie?
• 16:14
  SPEAKER4: I agree with that a lot.
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  Like, take risks because I feel like high school was going by really fast.
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  So get out there, do what you can.
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  And I also feel like staying on top of your work.
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  When I first got into high school, I wasn't really trying to stay on top of it, but then it like bit me in the butt.
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  Later I was like, oh God, like I got like a bad test score.
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  Like I need to like, study more.
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  I need to ask, like, help from the teachers and like, just ask more questions if I'm confused.
• 16:37
  And I also feel like I just had something and it just, like, went away.
• 16:42
  I don't know, I forgot. It's all right,
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  SPEAKER1: because you've already given some pretty great advice.
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  As a matter of fact, both of you have, and I really hope that students listen to you on the podcast or listen to this type of advice
• 16:56
  during the jump start, because I think it'll really make a difference if students hear it coming from you, people who've just been through it, people
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  they can relate to, and you're saying things that are really, really wise.
• 17:10
  So thank you so much.
• 17:11
  Oh, I want to hear it.
• 17:12
  What did you remember?
• 17:14
  SPEAKER4: I feel like so many people get into high school and they try to be followers and get, like, stuff they shouldn't be doing, and that's like bad and bad for them.
• 17:21
  Bad for the school. So just don't try to, like, be a leader.
• 17:24
  Be yourself. Don't try to change for anybody else.
• 17:26
  SPEAKER5: Yeah, I think the best leaders know when to follow.
• 17:29
  SPEAKER1: Oh, wow. Okay.
• 17:31
  You two are amazing.
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  And we're ending it on that note.
• 17:34
  That was awesome.
• 17:36
  Thanks for tuning in this week.
• 17:38
  As you prepare for the school year, make sure your student is registered for the 24-25 school year.
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  You can find the registration information on our school district website, OregonSD.org and in an email sent to all families from the District
• 17:54
  Registrar on August 8th.
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  Remember that all students, both new and returning, must go through the online registration process each year.
• 18:04
  We hope you enjoy your last weeks of summer, and can't wait to welcome you to the 24-25 school year.
• 18:12
  Remember that you can find links to all episodes of Inside the OSD and submit topic ideas on our website at OregonSD.org
• 18:21
  /podcast.
• 18:23
  You can find this podcast anywhere you can find podcasts.
• 18:27
  Make sure to subscribe if you're listening on one of these apps to get notifications on the most recent episodes.
• 18:33
  We'll see you next time on Inside the OSD, where it's all about the kids.