Staples offers interactive touring experience to incoming freshmen

Paige Tighe ’24, Editor in Chief|June 14, 2022

Hannah Conn ’23

Along with a tour of the school, Staples provided Bedford and Coleytown middle school eighth graders with a club fair to get involved in extracurriculars, before their arrival in the fall.

As an incoming freshman, walking into a large school full of unknown faces, hallways, classrooms and teachers can be isolating. But when you see that one friend you haven’t seen in years or a new friend you met through Link Crew, there is a sense of community. 

Staples tries to encourage this community among its students by taking eighth graders on a tour of Staples with  a highschool student.

On Wednesday June 1, the eighth graders from Bedford and Coleytown Middle School toured Staples High School. Upon entering the school, there was an assembly held in the autoritorium for the students where they were able to listen to the voices of graduating seniors. Also, Link Crew led tours of Staples, including the Field House, where the eighth graders were able to partake in a club fair.

According to Emma Asiel ’26, an eighth grader at Coleytown Middle School, the tour was beneficial as it familiarized her with what she can expect as an incoming freshman.

“Before the tour, I was nervous and unsure about my first day of high school,”Asiel said. “But getting the opportunity to walk around the building and get a sense for the layout and the overall dynamic definitely calmed my nerves.”

This year, eighth graders had an interactive experience when visiting Staples. Opposed to past years, like 2020 and 2021, where due to COVID-19, the incoming freshman did not have the chance to see the school in a live setting. 

As explained by Daisy Chung ’25, touring Staples prior to enrollment in freshman year is exciting. However, Chung claimed that the tour she was provided with did not justify what the Staples atmosphere is really like.

“I was not prepared nor used to the environment of the crowded hallways and the hundreds of upperclassmen,” Chung said. “Taking the tour with the school filled would have given me such a better understanding of what high school was like.”

As a result of minimal COVID-19 restrictions within Staples, this year, the incoming freshmen were able to see the school with Staples students and staff in it, learn about clubs by their presidents face-to-face, get to know their Link Crew leader and talk to graduating seniors about their time at Staples.

 “I also really liked hearing more about Staples from the graduating seniors who talked to us [during the assembly],”Asiel ’26 said. “They discussed a few things to look forward to in high school.”