"Failure is NOT an option" for incoming ZHS freshmen

ZHS FRESHMEN GET THEIR VERY OWN UPPERCLASSMAN MENTOR. Amy Johnson, Kick-Off Trainer, tells ZHS upperclassmen about the origins of Kick-Off Mentorship program Thursday. Kick-Off Mentorship Program was birthed "out of necessity" by Lee Lonzo during his 19-year term at Carmel High School in Carmel, IN. Involved in leadership training, high school transition orientations, risk management and school safety throughout his career in education, Lonzo's Kick-Off program has spread to more than 300 schools nation wide.

Jennifer Fleming

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The crème de la crème of this fall’s Zachary High School juniors and seniors gathered for a mentorship training session at ZHS Thursday, June 4. Seventy-four upperclassmen were carefully chosen and showed up during their summer break for the leadership training class.

Amy Johnson, Louisiana's Kick-Off Program Trainer, presented the students with though provoking situations, asked tough questions, and provided tools the students would need to aid incoming freshmen acclimate to high school life at ZHS.

Donna Kline, ZHS's Coordinator of the Freshman Academy, brought the Kick-Off Program to campus this year. "This is a quality leadership program and I'm excited we are able to implement it at Zachary High this fall," Kline said. Last year, the school day did not accommodate the mentorship program activities, but this year, says Kline, the mentors will have time during the school day to lead 20 to 30 minute “Break-Out Sessions.”

Nicole Thomas and Nicole Congine, ZHS teachers, stated they too were excited about the program and wish it had been around when they were in high school.

Kick-Off Program is a leadership and mentoring “club” developed by Lee Lonzo during his 30 year stint at Carmel High School, the largest high school in Indiana. He introduced the Kick-Off Program at CHS in 2000. Lonzo saw a need for a freshmen mentoring program especially after the tragic incidents at Columbine High School the year before. At that time of the program’s birth, Carmel High School had about 1,200 incoming freshmen each year and a student body of approximately 5,000. Zachary High School is expecting a total enrollment of about 1,300 with the incoming freshmen class accounting for just under 400 of that number, but ZHS’s need for the KOP program is just as great. According to Kyle Lonzo, Kick-Off has worked with more than 250 schools across the nation start a Kick-Off program, 25 of which are in Louisiana high schools.

The Kick-Off Program was born to replace the largely ineffective freshmen orientation. Johnson said KOP will substitute orientation led by peer mentors for the more traditional talking heads orientation to make incoming students feel more welcome and help them to identify more with the speaker. KOP was developed “out of necessity” based on the realization that freshmen are more influenced by their peers than by lectures from teachers, administrative staff or coaches, Johnson said. With KOP, upperclassmen mentors run the show. Orientation is turned over to the best students in the school who go on to develop relationships with “their” freshmen. The KOP presses the upperclassmen to be better role models as they’re given leadership tools and opportunities which enable the mentors to take each newbie under their wing. The main goal of the KOP is to “make freshmen feel welcome and reduce anxiety about high school,” Johnson said. Upperclassmen mentors are encouraged to take ownership in their “little brother’s” and “little sister’s” success by developing those relationships using KOP tools and opportunities.

The Kick-Off Program structure is based upon teams. Each mentoring team, composed of six upperclassmen mentors, is assigned to a freshman homeroom class. Each ZHS homeroom class holds approximately 30 freshmen for a favorable five freshmen to upperclassman mentor ratio. Instead of the teachers and administrative staff being the only ones charged with the success of the incoming ninth grade class, the hope is that as upperclassmen step in to help develop a larger positive sphere of influence, the high school dropout and failure rate will be decreased and perhaps even eliminated at ZHS.

The ninth grade year is the most difficult school year for most students. The Kick-Off Mentors will help freshmen wade in the bigger high school pond and keep their heads above the waters.

The first two weeks of a freshman’s high school career are the most vital. According to Kick-Off Program research, a student decides within the first two weeks of their freshman year whether they will drop out or not; 75% of freshmen who fail English I will drop out, and it’s a documented fact that the freshman class has the highest numbers of failing and multiple failing grades which has a tendency to lead to a sense of failure and to a high dropout rate. Johnson continued by telling ZHS upperclassmen that Kick-Off research has found freshmen are the group with the highest levels of disciplinary referrals, suspensions and expulsions. High school freshmen have the highest numbers of chronic absenteeism. They are victims of bullying, hazing, low self-esteem, eating disorders, depression and even suicide. And they’re the group who commit anger-based school violence such as the terrible incidents at Columbine High School and others across the nation.

These statistics don’t have to be a part of freshmen life at ZHS. With each mentor keeping to the Kick-Off Program’s motto, “Failure is NOT an option for MY freshmen,” the fear a freshman has to face upon entering high school will be largely removed. Kick-Off Mentors will engage freshmen, help them to “plug-in” and focus on their education instead of worrying quite so much about the extras that come with being the new guy at a much larger school. Freshmen will “fit in” even before they set foot on campus and will know they do not have to face high-school-culture-shock on their own, as each mentor will be personally involved in the freshman’s school life. Having an upperclassman who knows your name and who is approachable or who will simply smile at you as you pass each other in the hall during class changes can have a significant effect upon the quality of your freshman year. That’s the hope that’s offered by the Kick-Off Program.

Official Kick-Off Day for incoming freshmen will be held July 29, during which mentors will personally welcome each of “their” freshmen brothers and sisters to Zachary High School.