School Rolls Out Red Carpet for Newcomers

PANORAMA CITY —  A shy smile crept across Debbie Martinez’s face as she read letters written to her by upperclassmen at St. Genevieve’s High School.

The ninth-grader received the personal notes during a Thursday morning assembly intended to ease first-day-of-school jitters among freshmen at the Roman Catholic school on Roscoe Boulevard.

For the second year in a row, school administrators, faculty and students threw a party for incoming ninth-graders to make them feel welcome and to break down barriers among students that could lead to tragedy.

“High school years can be cruel and unforgiving years,” said Principal Dan Horn, who came up with the idea for the assembly after last year’s shooting rampage at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colo. The teenage gunmen, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, were described as outcasts, loners and social misfits, shunned by most of their classmates.

“We want to change the face of high school and the way we look at each other within the hierarchy of high school,” Horn said. “Why do we have to wait for a tragedy before we learn a lesson?”

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In the days following the massacre that killed 15, Horn said he was moved by the outpouring of support shown by students and staff at Chatfield High School in Colorado, where Columbine students finished the school year.

At the time, Horn said he vowed to make St. Genevieve’s a “safe and friendly place for everyone.”

Still, Horn said he knew he would have a tough time selling his plan to older students who believed freshmen didn’t deserve the time of day.

“I went to the football team first, because in the Columbine case, the jocks were singled out by the shooters,” Horn said.

Eventually, Horn persuaded the athletes, class presidents and other student leaders to plan an assembly for last year’s freshman class, including encouraging letters, songs, skits and a pancake breakfast.

“At first, they didn’t want to be bothered because no one had done it for them,” Horn said. “But then they began to feel that this was the gift they were giving the younger students. They began to feel like this was their legacy.”

Sophomore Alejandra Martinez, 14, said last year’s assembly took the edge off of starting at a new school.

“It was so intimidating,” she said, referring to the first day of high school. “But so many people were welcoming me. I felt that it wasn’t going to be that bad.”

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The tradition continued Thursday as the upperclassmen served the younger students hot dogs and sodas, sang “You’ve Got a Friend” and offered words of wisdom during the two-hour assembly in the school auditorium. And the varsity football team stopped the show with a Motown-style song-and-dance routine.

“When I was a freshman, I didn’t get this, and I wanted to give them something,” said Eyson Concepcion, 17, a running back on the football squad, as he came off stage.

The Class of 2004 got into the school spirit as they chatted with their new classmates, grooved to the school’s Less Than Nothing rock band and tried not to mangle the words of the school song.

“I was really nervous and everything because I only knew a few kids,” said Debbie, the ninth-grader. “Now, the pressure has eased up. They made me feel really welcomed.”