Gallery • 4 Photos

River Ferguson

Seniors Eri Fatimilehin (left) and Madison Hall (right) smile with their group of middle schoolers. They led the students around campus for their eighth-grade orientation.

Stress, planning, organization: all things that the PPCHS Student Government Association (SGA) class has experienced the past few months while planning the incoming freshman orientation and school tour.

On Feb. 3 and 4, the SGA class hosted the three PPCS middle schools–West, Central, and Academic Village’s eighth-grade classes to tour the high school. 

On the other hand, incoming freshmen felt excitement, cluelessness, and a hint of fear before their tour. Most students were scared to visit their future school as it seemed so vast compared to their middle school campuses. Yet, many were excited to see their friends who had moved on to high school or even friends from the other middle school campuses. 

Sophomore Armani Hernandez in the SGA class notes, “For the 8th grade orientation, our SGA class truly had to all come together to contribute and make sure that everyone did their part.”

The morning bell rings, and the middle school students head to the bus to go to the high school. After exiting the bus, they are greeted by their tour guides, who are SGA students and some National Honor Society (NHS) members who collaborated on the project. The band played upbeat music as the incoming freshmen entered the school. 

The middle schoolers walked up the steps to the River of Grass Auditorium to attend a presentation. Several clubs and teams, such as Dance, Latin dance, K-pop dance, band, and cheer performed. Club introductions followed, when students were introduced to athletic teams, administrators, and activities that are available at the high school. 

After the performances and presentations concluded, the students were broken up into tour groups and were shown around the school. Their tour guides brought them to all of the buildings and introduced them to teachers and students.

While touring the school, eighth grader Melanie Palacio from Central campus comments, “I feel like this school is very student-involved. I like that since I am such a social person and high school feels like a community, and everyone knows each other.”

Once the tour concluded around high school lunch time, students began to head back to the bus while being waved goodbye by SGA and NHS. 

Eighth-grader Ryan Towers from West campus comments, “I loved the orientation because it was really entertaining, we got to see some amazing performances, and see what high school is really like. I learned so much and will take this experience and bring it into high school with me.”