Left, Lehman High School Assistant Principal Nikki Dickerson (left) and Counselor Margarita Moreno will be heading up the Lobo Freshman Center, set for its inaugural opening this month. The school anticipates somewhere in the neighborhood of 559 students. Right, the new Hays High School Freshman Center’s (left to right) Secretary Adelita Salinas, Counselor Jeannette Bockholt and Assistant Principal Rob Hensarling flash the smiles that will greet incoming 9th-graders at the Rebel campus this fall. (Photo by Jim Cullen)
by JIM CULLEN
The “something special” factor is afoot this fall at both Hays and Lehman high schools as the two offer freshman centers to incoming 9th-grade students for the first time. It’s all part of a concerted effort by the district to provide the best possible transition for students leaving their middle school settings for the new world that is high school.
Elsa Hinojosa, Hays CISD Executive Director for Secondary Performance, has her finger on the pulse at both sites. “As the 2011-2012 school year draws near, it is exciting to feel the positive energy on both comprehensive high schools in regards to the opening of our freshman centers. Rob Hensarling at Hays High School and Nikki Dickerson at Lehman High School are excellent at building relationships with students ,” Hinojosa says, adding her prediction that both “will do a phenomenal job leading the centers.” Hensarling will be assisted by counselor Jeannette Bockholt and Dickerson will team with counselor Margarita Moreno.
Hays Assistant Principal Hensarling is promoting incoming freshman (and their parents) attendance at the Hays High School Rebel Round-up, set for Thursday, August 11, 3-7 p.m. Students will be allowed to take their ID picture, receive their schedule, and tour the newly-renovated campus.
Lehman’s Nikki Dickerson encourages her incoming freshmen to bring their parents to the Lobos’ schedule pick-up, set for Thursday, August 11, 11 a.m.-7 p.m. or Friday, August 12, 8 a.m.-4 p.m. Lehman additionally offers an immunization clinic both days. Dickerson also announces a Lehman Freshman Parent’s Night Tuesday, August 16, 6:30-8 p.m. in the Lobo cafeteria. Counselors, administrators and the 9th-grade staff will all be on hand for orientation, tours, scheduling information and everything else freshman-related.
Both Hays and Lehman continue to advise parents to cut down on wait times by using the district’s online registration, available at the district’s website homepage, www/hayscisd.net.
Hensarling says the new freshman initiative was “brought forward by our Strategic Planning process,” and was something his Hays peers had been looking toward for a couple of years. “So, with strong support, we were able to bring the plan together rather quickly,” he says. He notes “special thanks” to the district’s Maintenance Department, which converted a workroom into an assistant principal and counselor’s office – all in less than a month.
What the Hays High School AP says is being offered in the initiative is a group of “teachers and staff dedicated to personalizing the learning experience through purposeful planning and focused interventions – all tailored to each student’s strengths and needs.” His Lehman counterpart, Dickerson, echoes that assessment and adds that she and Moreno are both very excited about focusing their energies on the single class and that they are planning class events for the year, as well as two days of Lobo Camp during the first week of school.
Their respective principals underline their support for the initiative. Hays High’s David Pierce calls it “a great thing for our students,” facilitating the students’ transition to high school and predicting that it will increase their level of success. He calls the freshman year “one of the most critical a student will experience” in Texas schools and says, “we want to make it one of the best for them.” Lehman’s Don Ruisinger says he is “tremendously excited” and predicts big help for what he terms the “often turbulent” transition to high school for many. Like Pierce, Ruisinger points to the dedication of the APs and counselors heading up the program, as both do for the select faculty members assembled for the new centers.
