Lakeridge High–Teacher Kate Thomason works with Link Crew so that the freshman have an upper classman to look up to and to have a jump start to their high school careers.

The class of 2019’s first experience as a Lakeridge Pacer came through their experience with their Link Crew groups.

Annika Siddons, a freshman, said that her Link Crew leader was fairly depressing because her  leader shared that she “missed a ton of school last year and had to go to summer school.”

Her leader served as a cautionary tale on why you shouldn’t miss lots of school.

When it comes to how helpful everyone’s individual leader is, it’s a mixed bag.

Hunter Daskalos said that his leader was ‘Thoughtful and helpful,” while Carter Pew said that his leader wasn’t as helpful.

New this year to the Link Crew program is an ongoing class for leaders. In the class, the students identify needs and try to create interventions and programs to address the problems.

“I love how the link crew leaders have a sense of self initiative,” said Link Crew Teacher Thomason. “It’s like, during a period, I can ask a kid to work on this one item and they say they already did it an hour ago.”

Link Crew isn’t like any other class at Lakeridge, not only it’s only available to juniors and seniors, it’s a semester long, allowing for students to join the class at the semester.

As the end of this school year, students will be selected to join the crew for next year.

Not everyone is up to the challenge.

“I’m worried that (Link Crew) will take up time in my already busy schedule over the summer,” said sophomore Neil McCarthy.