The third term of the school year has started at Somerset Berkley and soon freshmen will be participating in the pilot of a new program designed to help students succeed in high school and beyond. Throughout the rest of the year, freshmen will participate in the freshmen seminar, a set of two-week modules that will teach the students more about the opportunities that they have at Somerset Berkley and will help them develop the skills that they need to succeed during and after high school.
The program will start on February 14th and run throughout the end of the year. Some weeks, students will participate in the modules ran by teachers, administrators, and guidance counselors; freshmen teachers will be assigned classes that students will be randomly placed in and the staff running these modules will visit each of these classes by the end of the year. These modules will not run every week of the school year. Some weeks, students will have the ability to participate in Blue Raider Blocks more similar to what they have come to expect during the first semester of the year and will be given the opportunity to travel to other teachers for extra help or to makeup missed assignments.
This type of program has been in the works for a long time now at Somerset Berkley. Even before the pandemic, it had been the goal of the school’s administration to create new ways of easing the transition from middle school to high school for freshmen as well as providing opportunities for students to start thinking about their futures outside of Somerset Berkley even before they become upperclassmen. In these modules, students will learn more about Somerset Berkley, what opportunities they have, and how to be successful both in school and in life. Modules will cover topics like self awareness, self management, social and relationship skills, study skills, grade point averages, student transcripts, areas of student strength and interest, career interests, and technology skills.
After this year’s pilot program, freshmen seminars will take place during the first semester of each school year, helping students to get acclimated with Somerset Berkley as soon as they enter the school. Guidance is currently developing a new four-year program (that freshmen seminars will be a part of) to help students succeed at Somerset Berkley and be fully prepared for their post-high school plans.
