WEB, which stands for Where Everyone Belongs, is a new program at Valley Middle School that helps incoming sixth graders enjoy a smoother transition.

We have four WEB Coordinators that you may know: 6th-grade teachers Mrs. Pelinka, Mrs. Schulz, Ms. Goldman, and Mrs. Holman. These teachers had to go through a three-day camp for teachers. They learned what it is like to be an incoming student to a new school who might not know anyone at school. All four coordinators are really positive about this new program. “I think that it is a good thing to have WEB at Valley, because it helps all of the sixth graders throughout the school year,” Mrs. Schulz said.

Student WEB Leaders, who are all 7th graders this year, went through a selection process. First, they had to do an interview with each one of the coordinators. Then, after waiting about two weeks, they went to Mrs. Schulz’s room to pick up a decision letter and had to wait to open it until they were off of school grounds. If they were selected, the letter included a schedule of training dates. If not, the letter encouraged them to apply next year.

The first training for WEB Leaders was a spring play day, when they did a bunch of fun activities and met and talked with many different WEB leaders who they maybe didn’t know or didn’t talk to before. The next training day was almost a full day, and they had to do a lot of fun activities and learn what activities they could do with their future group of sixth graders. The last day of training was basically going through the activities and meeting their WEB partners and deciding what activities they wanted to do exactly.

WEB Leaders were assigned jobs on the first day of school. The jobs were welcoming the sixth graders, seating the sixth graders, helping the sixth graders find their names, etc. Then they sat with the sixth graders as the coordinators introduced them to middle school and the program. When that was done, the leaders met with their assigned group of 6th graders.

WEB Leader Gus Gotter had great things to say about the program. “My favorite part of being a part of WEB is just seeing how they grow and get more comfortable in the school.” It wasn’t just the leaders who had positive things to say about WEB. Sixth grader Courtney Olbricht also had positive things to say about WEB and the people involved. “My favorite part about WEB is the leaders,” she said.