Closed doors shutting her in a triangular-shaped building, sophomore Emily Veno could find only one close friend three stories above the ground.

The Freshman Center made its debut in 2005 with the Class of ’09. Last school year, the Freshman Center Growth and Development Committee administered two surveys—the first in December 2006 to all sophomore SRT classes and the second in March 2007 to all freshmen SRTs—to gauge how well the Freshman Center was meeting the needs of its students. 682 students responded to the 37-question survey based on a 5-point response option. Although there was no single overwhelming majority answer, students overall answered positively in favor of the Freshman Center.

“The charge of the Growth and Development Committee included assessing how well the Freshman Center was preparing students in regards to transition from eighth to ninth grade and from ninth to tenth grade, the challenge of academic rigor, and community, feelings of belonging to the Freshman Center and CHS as a whole,” Amy Winkler, chairperson of the Freshman Center Growth and Development Committee and a Freshman Center counselor, said.

Veno said she thought that the Freshman Center succeeded in many of its goals. “I thought that it was nice to have all my classes in the same general area,” she said. “The Freshman Center was a nice way to transition (students) from middle school to high school, and I feel prepared academically for all my classes next year.”

However, according to Veno, the Freshman Center concept does not allow for enough interaction between the floors and with the main building. She said that she would have preferred to be more mixed in with upperclassmen “because it is easier to get involved in extracurricular activities if you know upperclassmen, and it becomes less intimidating to be in the main building.

“I didn’t really feel like a CHS student; I felt like a Freshman Center student,” Veno said. “Although I liked my freshman year a lot, I don’t feel that I will have truly experienced high school until I’m not separated (from the main building).”

Many other students agreed with Veno’s sentiment. On the survey, 35 percent of students disagreed and 32 percent of students strongly disagreed to the statement “as a freshman, I felt that I belonged to CHS as a whole” while 34 percent disagreed and 29 percent strongly disagreed that the Freshman Center made them feel more connected to CHS as a whole.

It is these types of data that will help the Freshman Center administration better serve its students. Winkler said, “The survey results provided a lot of useful information. The Growth and Development Committee reviewed the results of both surveys and compiled a list of recommendations that were presented to the (Freshman Center) administration for further review.

“Some of the results indicated that some of the things we are already doing are working. However, we are always striving to improve so we can best meet the needs of students as well as we can. It is important to keep in mind that so far we have only one year of data. It is the committee’s intention to administer the surveys annually. While the results of this past year’s surveys have generated some new ideas, it will be very valuable to collect data over a longer period of time to monitor trends.”

According to Veno, the only aspects of the Freshman Center that she will miss this year are the “newer, prettier hallways, rooms and lockers.”

“I had to climb stairs to the third floor of the Freshman Center every day (last year),” Veno said. “But, I anticipate that it’ll be a lot more walking (this year), so hopefully I will be able to get to my classes on time.” She paused, looking down.
“I don’t know. I guess we’ll see.”