For many students, starting at a new school can bring discomfort. Within
Mt. Pleasant Public Schools, the experience moving from elementary school to middle school is inclusive of attending a new building, with new teachers, additional new students, new routines, and more.
To help alleviate the tension of that transition, Mt. Pleasant Middle School has the WEB program—short for “Where Everybody Belongs”—made possible by grant support from the Saginaw Chippewa Indian Tribe.
Not only does the program help welcome and support sixth graders into their new environment, it encourages eighth graders to lead with confidence and compassion as well.
Now in its second year of the program, WEB kicked off Aug. 18 during the sixth grade orientation, which welcomed over 240 sixth grade students.
Epicenter Mt. Pleasant spoke with the lead of the program, Julie Wright, NCC, dean of students and whole child coordinator at Mt. Pleasant Middle School, to learn more in this Q&A.
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Courtesy Julie Wright / Mt. Pleasant Middle School
Epicenter Mt. Pleasant: To someone who hasn't heard of “Where Everybody Belongs” (WEB), how would you describe it to them?
Julie Wright: The WEB program is a nationally recognized middle school orientation and transition program that welcomes 6th graders and makes them feel comfortable throughout the first year of their middle school experience. Built on the belief that students can help students succeed, the program trains mentors from our 8th grade class to be WEB Leaders who guide the 6th graders to discover what it takes to be successful during the transition to middle school!
Using 8th graders as leaders for 6th graders, WEB intentionally and structurally supports all 6th graders. On the first day, the 6th graders experience an interactive and powerful orientation where WEB Leaders begin to provide information, a sense of connection to their new school and someone to whom the 6th graders can turn in order to feel a sense of safety. The program then continues throughout the year with a series of follow ups where WEB Leaders and their 6th graders connect both inside the classroom and out. WEB Leaders, who have walked in the shoes of 6th graders just a couple of years earlier, are able to provide the support adults cannot due to the fact that pre-teens turn to one another for advice and information about how to live in the middle school world.
From the first moment they set foot in middle school, we want 6th graders to feel confident, comfortable, and like they absolutely belong in our school family! Creating this strong sense of belonging from the first day to the last day of their 6th grade year is our ultimate goal, and we are so excited to be able to make this happen for our students!
Epicenter: What was the feedback from last year that led you to continuing the program again this school year?
Wright: In our first year, it was amazing to see how 8th graders were empowered to be positive role models and leaders to 6th graders, as well as any new student who enrolled throughout the school year. The relationships that were formed were inspiring. Leaders became a regular part of social and academic support for 6th graders, and we knew we only wanted to continue to grow and improve!
This year, we built in time during orientation for our students to practice walking through the school lunch line and enjoy a meal in our cafeteria. Our cafeteria setup is different from what they experienced in elementary school, and having the chance to practice this while also enjoying a free meal really made a difference in helping our students navigate the cafeteria this week as we started school. Students appeared so much more confident and comfortable, and we believe this was because they had the chance to practice before the first day of school.
We also added about 45 minutes of extra time during orientation for practicing combinations on lockers and walking student schedules in the building. This practice made such a difference in these first 2 days of school! Students seemed more comfortable knowing where they were supposed to go, and they knew to find a WEB leader in a pink shirt if they needed help.
Epicenter: How many sixth graders will benefit from the program this school year? How many eighth graders will be participating as well?
Wright: This program is for ALL 6th grade students, and we currently have 242 enrolled in our building, most of whom attended orientation! We have 45 WEB leaders who are a diverse representation of our student body. The goal is to have roughly a 1:5 ratio, and to really try to create an opportunity for every student to “see themselves” in the leaders.
Epicenter: How did the orientation go on Monday, Aug. 18?
Wright: It was a great day! There were large and small group activities, lunch, tours, an Oiler t-shirt for every student, a chance to practice lockers and ask questions, to laugh and to “rule the school” for a day! We had a great group of WEB leaders and our WEB advisors did an amazing job making it all come together! (We have 3 staff members who are WEB advisors: Macie Russell, Craig Surbrook, Samantha Royce. These teachers train the WEB leaders the week before orientation over the course of two 5-hour training sessions. I have the pleasure of overseeing this program, but these three make it all happen!)
Epicenter: What opportunities will there be for students throughout the school year thanks to this program?
Wright: Our WEB leaders meet daily in their advisory classroom with the staff advisors. At least 1 day / week is dedicated to WEB support. They will survey students every few weeks and identify those who need some extra support (academic, social, or other). Last year, we ran a tutoring session with 6th graders 2 days / week. We had WEB leaders walk students to class who were struggling with doing this on their own. WEB leaders joined new students and 6th graders at lunch throughout the year, and pushed-in to advisory classes throughout the year to lead team building activities.
We plan to do these things again this year, and more! We have a great group of WEB leaders who have really stepped up, and we can’t wait to see what they will accomplish this year!