On Tuesday, April 13, eighth graders from both Central Kitsap and Ridgetop Middle School visited the CKHS campus for a tour, along with activities hosted by Associated Student Body Officers. At the beginning of the tour, the class of 2030 received a speech from Executive President Sophia Chun and CKHS Principal Alex Chertok, briefing them on how the day would look. Aiming to make the transition into high school easier, the ASB team, along with staff members, focused on making the day a positive experience for the future freshmen.

“I just think it’s a cool way to expose kids to our culture, associate our school building with fun and nice, kind people, and make their first moments in our building a positive one,” ASB Advisor Daniel Sullivan said.

Aiding the ASB team, Cougar Crew was also there to help the day go well for the incoming

class. While ASB was in charge of the base planning, Cougar Crew was in charge of building the relationships and participating in the activities such as trivia and relay tic-tac-toe with the eighth graders. These activities were a strategy used to build a community with them early on.

“They are going to find a better community, and they’re [going to] feel welcomed so they’re [going to] be excited for high school in the years to come,” Cougar Crew Member Emily West said.

With this tour, students followed Cougar Crew leaders around the building, learning about the multitude of classes available to them when they get to high school. The eighth went to every corner of the building, entering a handful of class rooms to learn about the courses available to them. When visiting the science hall, chemistry teacher Paul Birkenfeld put on a science experiment demonstrating the reaction between lycopodium powder and heat, showing the new class what they could do if they decided to take a chemistry class.

“[I’m] most excited for all the new opportunities to take more electives and different

kinds of electives,” RMS student Danielle Farrales said.

This type of event is relatively new for CKHS, so the event is still being ironed out for the years to come. Improving this event for future 8th graders can help create a better experience that suits the new students coming in. This can look like tailored activities or more prizes for winners of the games played.

“Well, I think that the kids really resonate with these prices,” Sullivan said. “I think you get everyone walking out of here with something tangible, you know, maybe [we] ramp that up a little bit.”

As the day came to a close, the ASB team and Cougar Crew joined the 8th graders for a lunch period in the school cafeteria. During this, the high school leaders talked with them about what they are excited for, giving them advice about high school from a student perspective.

“I would say high school is way easier than middle school socially, but harder with the workload and the classes,” West said. “So my suggestion to them would be to try and stay true to themselves, but also be kind to others no matter what happens.”