To help incoming freshmen navigate the challenges of high school, Turner County High School’s One Mind Leadership Team has received training sessions through Communities In Schools of Turner County.

The leadership team developed a freshmen orientation that includes a chance to meet the principal, a tour of the high school, classroom simulation and a tutorial on how to open a locker.  During the school year members of the leadership team go into freshman classes twice each semester to teach a variety of subjects such as the important of keeping good grades, encouraging positive peer-to-peer relationships and how to manage emotions in a healthy way. To ensure the leadership team was fully trained to teach the freshmen, CIS of Turner County provided team members with training on how to lead a class and speak in front of a group.

Jennifer Cano, a senior at Turner County High School, sees the importance of the One Mind Leadership Team, the training sessions and what it has done to help her fellow students. “I believe that being a member of the One Mind Leadership Team has shaped me into the person I am today.  I have learned the importance of being active in my community, reaching out to my fellow students and giving them advice and trying to be a role model,” said Cano.

The program, which is in its second year, not only helps freshmen make an easier transition to high school, it encourages improved student-to-student relationships through each grade level.  Upperclassmen that have already experienced being a freshman are able to relate their experiences and provide life lessons to future classmates.

Freshman Logan Hancock is appreciative of the One Mind Leadership Team and how it helps the transition to high school.  “I would definitely like to be a part of the leadership team.  They helped me so much during my freshman year I would like to give back to upcoming freshmen classes,” Hancock said.

For more information on CIS of Turner County initiatives, please visit www.cisturnerconnection.org.