THOUSAND OAKS : Students Link Up for School Year Support

As she toured the Westlake High School campus Thursday morning, 14-year-old Jamie Ghattas felt dwarfed by the tall white buildings and hordes of new faces.

“It’s a big school,” the wide-eyed freshman said, gazing at the grassy courtyard filled with students attending orientation. “I’m used to a really small school with people you know.”

To ease Jamie’s introduction to high school--and that of about 400 other new students--the Westlake High student government class organized an orientation day Thursday.

Freshman and transfer students were divided alphabetically into small groups with two student leaders each, who tried to alleviate the anxieties of their younger classmates.

“It gives people a chance to meet other people,” said 16-year-old Marci Davis, the leader of Group 10. “We will keep in contact throughout the year to get them active in activities.”

The students-teaching-students orientation--called Link Crew--was created by Norman Hull, a motivational speaker who addressed the Westlake students Thursday before they broke up into groups.

“The bottom line is when kids get introduced to their school it is going to be a positive introduction,” Hull said of the program, in its second year at Westlake High.

Activities Director Maribeth Freeman agreed.

“It used to be when you had freshman orientation, the first thing someone did was throw a freshman in a trash can,” she said. But with Link Crew, Freeman said, “upperclassmen are big brothers and sisters rather than the enemy.”

Some students attending Thursday’s four-hour orientation were not interested in having school siblings, however.

“It’s all pretty corny,” said 16-year-old Russ Bauer, sitting on a bench away from the scattered groups of students.

Russ, a sophomore in his first year at Westlake, said his main interest is taking auto safety when classes start on Sept. 8. “That way I can drive,” he said.

But ninth-grader Anthony Archie enjoyed the student-led orientation.

“It will probably be helpful because I don’t know my way around,” the 14-year-old said. “I’m not scared, I’m just going into it with a happy face.”