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Franklin High students describe peer-mentor program aimed at easing freshman transition
Summary
Franklin High School students and staff told the Franklin Board of Education that an advisory-and-peer-mentor model has helped improve freshmen engagement, citing weekly advisories, summer transition days and peer mentors who lead small groups and support academic and social adjustment.
Franklin High School students and staff presented the district’s freshman transition work to the Franklin Board of Education on Feb. 4, describing an advisory model and a peer-mentor program designed to help ninth graders acclimate to high school.
Mike Veil and other high‑school staff said the district aligns college- and career-readiness indicators with a broader 'profile of a graduate' and that the freshman-year focus is on teaching skills linked to persistence, attendance and course achievement. They said the high school tracks data weekly and used an end-of-quarter celebration to recognize improvements in average GPA, tardiness and engagement metrics.
Three student peer mentors — senior Rama Mahan, senior Paige Walker and junior George — told the board they serve as accessible, nonteaching points of contact for freshmen, run small-group advisory discussions and participate in summer transition days. "I feel like they come to me because I understand them more in other ways that teachers may not," Rama said. Paige described the peer mentor role as a way to "help the young freshmen engage and become stronger students," and George said being a familiar face reduced anxiety for students coming from other schools.
Board members asked how mentors establish connections and what training they receive; the students and staff said counselors provide training (counselor Miss Cluck was named as a trainer) and mentors are embedded in the freshmen home-base advisories to meet with the same groups regularly. Board members also questioned how mentors handle difficult questions; students gave examples ranging from practical help (tutoring, daily logistics) to aspirational questions (how to get into selective colleges).
Administrators said the program complements evidence-based interventions the district already uses, such as Check and Connect, and that the peer-mentor approach aims to improve both life-readiness skills and measurable college-and-career indicators. Dr. Poe later noted the model is part of broader transition work across grade moves and that the district is seeing more programming to support pivotal years.
The presentation concluded with board appreciation for student presenters and a brief photo opportunity. The board took no formal action on the presentation itself.
