Quality Bonding Time with the Freshies!

 By Min-Song Ko

The seniors were given the opportunity to share, listen, and serve the freshmen on Wednesday, the 9th of September. The lunch line was crowded with an unusual mix of students, hungry for food. The seniors walked into the overcrowded gym with an excited heart to meet their arranged freshman partners, sitting patiently at their table. With their innocent eyes, the freshmen seemed nervous to listen to what story awaited them. 

At first, it took a lot of courage to bring up a conversation, striving to cut the awkward silence filling the area. Students showed their habits of grinding their teeth, biting off their nails, or scratching their scalp repeatedly every time the conversation went silent. While the seniors were hesitant, looking down at their lunch and showed signs of helplessness. The thought of an idea popped up. Grasping the white activity paper in between their lunch trays, the seniors thought of playing several games with their partners.

A few minutes in, slowly but surely, the mood lightened without even noticing as the seniors became comfortable with the freshmen. Slamming his deck of cards on the table, Seung Hwan Kim (12) asked, “Do you guys want to play a round of poker?” He then began to shuffle the cards with his tedious hands. 

While some of the tables considered playing games to lighten the mood, the others mostly gave back and forth advice to each other, building up their relationship as the conversation progressed to another. As the freshmen were asked about their dreams, Rhys Hofer (9) said with a face of uncertainty, “I want to major in music.” 

Sitting next to Rhys, Noah Brooks (9) smiled in response to the complicated question and said, “I still have no clue!”

Encouraging the young teens who are clueless about their current interests, the seniors nodded to their noticeable reactions, telling them not to worry. After all the serious talk was over, the focus shifted back to playing hangman and tic-tac-toe, where laughter filled the table again. 

This senior and freshman bonding wasn’t merely there to learn and teach, but it provided the time to be comfortable and stress-free while creating new friendships. Overall, it was a unique environment for us, seniors, to demonstrate the willingness to show leadership and bravery to the freshmen. Once again, we must be thankful for the ability to communicate and build relationships as it helped us improve not only as a teacher but also as a friend.