The West Bend Current

Ninth graders are growing up a little faster this year.

Student leaders of CREW, a group of juniors and seniors at the West Bend High Schools who help guide ninth graders through their first year, had their final meeting with their assigned homebase group on Monday morning, as opposed to previous years where meetings continued through the entire school year.

This decision was made by the team of CREW advisors, Jared Kiesow, Mindara Krueger-Olson and Corey Murphy, all staff members at WBHS.

“Since CREW is designed to be a ‘transition program,’ most of the transition to high school will take place at the start of the year,” Kiesow said on behalf of the CREW advisory team. “By the second semester, the idea is that new students are settled into the routines and structures of the high school.”

Despite CREW members’ meetings with ninth grade homebases coming to a close sooner than usual, this does not mean that the assistance and support they offer lessens.

“Although we phase out the homebase visits at this time, the idea is that the mentoring that goes on between these leaders and their homebase members can continue in more organic ways,” Kiesow said.

Instead of focusing the attention of CREW on ninth graders, the second semester now provides more time for CREW members to shift their focus to the current eighth graders as they transition to high school. CREW supports these students through events like Gearing Up for High School Night and campus tours in order to help incoming students and families feel comfortable with the programs, expectations and layout at WBHS.

“This change allows freshmen to continue developing independence while still knowing support systems are in place when needed,” Kiesow said. “It also allows CREW advisors and leaders to focus their time and energy on preparing the next group of students for a successful transition to high school.”

Although the meeting happened three weeks into the second semester, it was originally scheduled for the last Monday of first semester. The date change occurred due to the senior graduation meeting being at the same time. With the majority of CREW leaders being seniors, rescheduling was necessary to provide ninth graders with ample support.

West senior Lillian Tyvela is a CREW leader for Alexandra Ehlke’s homebase, and although her meetings with Ehlke’s group have ended, she knows that her mission as a CREW leader doesn’t stop here.

“After the homebase meetings end, I will continue to support my freshmen any way I can,” Tyvela said. “If they need help on anything, school work or otherwise, I’ll do whatever I can to help. Another thing that goes far is simply just saying hi to them in the hallways whenever I see them.”

Although Tyvela was sad to have to say her goodbyes early, she recognizes the importance of the change and how it helps CREW as an organization to support as many students as possible.

“I do believe that moving CREW to focus on the incoming eighth graders will be beneficial,” Tyvela said. “At this point in the school year, the freshmen have a good sense of how everything works and don’t need the monthly support from us anymore, from what I can tell. This way we can switch our focus on starting to prepare the eighth graders now to help ease the transition into next year even more.”

It is not only CREW leaders who will miss these homebase meetings, but those they mentored as well.

West ninth grader Saleem Soden is sad to see his CREW leaders go, but feels that he will bring their mentorship on as he completes his second semester of high school.

“CREW leaders have benefited me because when we met I got to ask them for help on homework and I also got to figure out what I should do for future classes,” Soden said. “Sometimes I’m unsure what class I should’ve taken and they would help me figure out what I should do.”

Although he felt that CREW leaders were a very helpful resource, Soden said that more frequent meetings may be another good implementation for the future to help maximize the support from CREW leaders.

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Photos courtesy of the CREW advisers.