Entering into high school, a freshman might expect to get shoved into a locker, receive a “swirly” from an upperclassmen, or plainly to be squished in between giant jocks in the hallways. In reality, high school is not what movies make it out to be. That said, high school is undoubtedly a huge jump for an incoming freshmen coming from middle school.

Here at York High School, the administration developed a program mandatory for all freshmen, Freshmen Orientation and Guidance, also known as FOG; FOG is meant to help all freshmen adapt to high school, as well as teach them many important life concepts. Life lessons about drugs, college, bullying and other similar topics are reviewed in FOG. Twice a week, freshmen students use half of their lunch period to attend FOG classes with their counselors. Once a week, upperclassmen, know as freshmen mentors, come in to aid the freshmen along with the counselor.

Freshmen Jeffery Grace benefits tremendously from FOG.

“I find FOG very helpful,” Grace said. “It teaches us life lessons and helped me figure out on my schedule. It prepared me for my next years in high school.”

Unlike Jeffery, many students dislike FOG, many quoting that FOG is a “waste of time.” In fact, about half the students interviewed believed this.

“FOG is a waste of time,” an anonymous freshman said. “Every kid is trying to maintain good grades and taking away half our lunch is hindering us from having time to get our work done.”

Additionally, many freshmen find FOG repetitive.

“FOG has not helped me because I have already learned everything from previous years and it’s repetitive,” freshman Emma Chael said. “The ‘don’t do drugs’ message for example, has been repeated so many times and I’ve already got it wired in my brain.”

However Mrs. Goldman, leader of the FOG program and counselor, argues that FOG sets up a good path for high school as freshmen settle into York.

“[FOG] is an opportunity to acclimate freshmen to York,” Mrs. Goldman said. “Through the FOG curriculum, freshmen begin to understand what they do in high school can help them achieve long term goals.”

Upperclassmen spoke out about whether or not the goal of FOG, to acclimate students and help them understand importance of high school actions, was met throughout their personal high school experiences.

“Although I was only a freshman, FOG helped me to have a clear understanding of what I hoped to accomplish freshman year that would impact the rest of my high school career,” junior Doodly Garcia said. “I also found out what I was both passionate and interested in doing. This helped me to pick classes that would challenge me and that would ultimately help me be successful.”

Undoubtedly, it is important for students to discover their passions during high school to help them in the future. Like Garcia said, FOG gives students a “clear understanding” of what has to be done in high school in order to correspond with future interests.

Even current freshmen who have not yet experienced the full benefit of FOG understand planning for the future is crucial. Current freshman Grace Maniola has a mixed opinion on FOG, but she believes for the most part it was a productive use of part of her lunch period.

“I liked making our 4 year plan and learning how to calculate our gpa,” Maniola said. “Also, learning about naviance was helpful, but other things covered in FOG are boring.  I enjoy it when we do things to plan for our next four years and beyond.”

Besides planning for the future, many enjoy the experience of having freshmen mentors.

“Our freshman mentors really encouraged us to be involved at York, which caused me to join Key Club and go to other club meetings,” senior and freshman mentor Katherine Tomaska said. “Also, I think it’s beneficial to just have a place where you can ask questions about high school that you might not know where else to ask.”

In modern day, high schoolers are highly encourage to join many activities. When freshmen enter high school, they often don’t know much information about clubs/sports offered. As Tomaska said, freshmen mentors encourage students to get involved in activities throughout the school.

Not only do freshmen mentors provide students with information on clubs/sports, they also inform students on events throughout the school.

“ Mentors also helped me figure out when the important events are, what they are, how to act, and what to wear to them,” senior Erin Davies said. “In addition, my mentors were always there to help our class so it let us knew that we always had someone to go to if we had questions we needed to ask.”

When students know more information, it makes high school a whole lot simpler. When students minds are filled with fear and confusion, their high school experience tends to be miserable.

“I think it’s good for mentors to teach a lot of the lessons because they talk about their experiences throughout high school, which I can relate to,” freshman Emily Ebsen said. “They explain certain tips about relieving stress, trying to organize yourself, and getting good grades.”

Important information was provided to freshmen from their mentors on different topics.

“I thought it was helpful to get advice from the upperclassmen on mentor days,” freshman Lily Crow said. “They were helpful because they told us a lot of valuable information about the school and events throughout the year.”

Obviously, the freshman mentor program used in FOG is successful and enjoyed by students. However, students believe FOG would improve if there was change. With counselor meetings for next year being kicked into high gear, counselors need to keep FOG in mind. Incoming freshmen will be getting to meet with their counselor within the month of February.With a new set of freshman coming in, the FOG is being assessed. The current freshmen ended FOG after first semester, and were asked to take surveys assessing FOG.

“Every year the counselors re-evaluate the FOG curriculum based on feedback from the freshmen, mentors, and counselors and make changes based on this feedback,” Mrs. Goldman said.       

Current freshman’s opinions are vital in order to aid Mrs. Goldman and the other York Counselors in updating and hopefully improving the program. After talking to many freshmen, many seem to believe FOG needs great improvement.

“I think there’s certain things that make FOG worth it but I don’t think it should be a semester long course but instead only a couple weeks,” freshman Simon Krukowski said. “I think the most important part is the four year plan, the first couple days explaining how York works, and how finals work,”

Other students have recommendations for FOG, most being to shorten it.

“Honestly Freshmen Day would be a good way to cover FOG,” freshman Kessler Dayton said. “Additionally, instead of FOG I think adding a day or two to talk to your counselor about any questions would be beneficial.”

“There could be other alternatives to FOG,” freshman Taylor izzo said. “For example FOG could be once a month and could be a general assembly about things like gpa and finals.”

Whether or not students enjoyed FOG, all students could agree that they took at least one significant lesson out of FOG. All in all, students should remember to thank the administration, especially Mrs. Goldman, for caring enough about the student body enough to put a program in place to help us succeed.