Is TOPS At The Bottom?
New changes and differing opinions turn this freshman orientation program into a controversy
September 21, 2015
Everybody knows that all freshmen have to take TOPS. But the real question is, is the class helpful?
TOPS has been taking place at WAHS for a long time and there have been many changes throughout the years. Most recently, 2015 has brought about a new TOPS schedule. After convening every day for the first two weeks, TOPS now meets every Wednesday for the rest of the quarter.
Alex Kingsley is a senior in Leadership who teaches TOPS. Ms. Lohr has been overseeing TOPS in her classroom on and off for thirteen years. “Teaching TOPS is definitely a challenge,” Kingsley explained. However, Kingsley thinks that it is important to teach this information about Western. From her experience, “TOPS made for a smoother transition into high school.”
Kingsley stresses that learning about the “unspoken rules” is a very important part of the curriculum. “I wouldn’t have been able to recognize the social codes of Western without that,” the senior says. Seeing pictures of all the faculty and learning their roles can also be very important when it comes to knowing who’s who.
One of the more difficult tasks is trying to keep the students interested. The TOPS leaders are trying their best to get the kids involved in these exercises. Kingsley remarked, “…it’s difficult to get the students engaged. Maintaining the attention of the freshmen and presenting the information in a way that’s interesting and understandable are both hard tasks.”
Even though freshman might not like the fact that TOPS is continuing longer into the year, Kingsley thinks that it is very helpful, saying, “I think that our new TOPS system is the most effective we’ve had…The weekly check-ins will help create a closer relationship with the students in the class.”
Ms. Lohr agrees. She thinks it’s helpful that “students are going to have a mentor for a longer period of time.”
When asked if there was anything she would change, Ms. Lohr said it’s hard to tell how things may go, but she would like to include more festivities during TOPS. She thinks that having “more of the fun stuff” would be an improvement.
