On Tuesday, Oct. 6, LHS held the annual Link Crew Conference in the main gym for the first time. It was periods 1-6 for the leaders of Link Crew.
Any school with a Link Crew program can offer to host the conference. Last year, Student Activities Director Mrs. Jennifer Uliks brought the idea of holding the conference to the building-level administrators. This consists of Principal Dr. Marina Scott; Assistant Principals Dr. Ray Albin and Mr. Eric Maroscher; Director of Student Services Mr. Ole Stevens; and Athletic Director Mr. Briant Kelly. After approval, the calendar committee helped to officially schedule the conference.
LHS has participated in the conference for five years, since Link Crew first started here. Business Education teacher and Link Crew coordinator Mr. Bill Reichert has attended all five of the conferences.
Eight schools, including our own, attended the conference. There were up to 240 students attending from schools all over the area, and some from Wisconsin. This year the conference was completely sold out, according to Mr. Reichert.
Usually, there are around 15 students from LHS who attend the conference. This means that normally there are not enough leaders gone to cancel Link Crew during the conference so Link Crew is still held during this time. However, this year, up to 40 attended due to the easy accessibility of it being at LHS as opposed to another school. Because of the large number of absences, Link Crew was cancelled for the day. There are 150 Link Crew leaders in all.
It was not mandatory for the Link Crew leaders to attend; they did not have to miss class if they didn’t want to. However, for those who attend, it helped to shape them into leaders for Link Crew, according to Mr. Reichert. Another purpose was to help the leaders see their importance in school by helping freshman to acclimate properly.
At the conference, there was a professional moderator, as well as the heads of Link Crew from each school, and representatives from the Link Crew Parent Organization there to help guide the leaders that chose to attend. It was, essentially, one rotating game. One morphs into the next, into the next, and so on, without any breaks.
“At first, everybody kind of kept to themselves. But by the end, people were super close and exchanging numbers,” said Link Crew leader Maddie Ryan, a senior.
They started with a game where they formed a large circle and walked around until the mediator said stop. They then spoke with the person in front of them about a subject given to them. It helped them to get to know more people. This helped to transition into a game where they would similarly walk around a circle but would speak about things they have in common with the person they stopped in front of.
“I loved the Link Crew conference. I met so many new friends and it made Link Crew more exciting; now that I know how fun it can be,” said Link Crew leader Laura Johnston.
Added Mr. Reichert: “Link Crew leaders who stay around for another year, like those who were accepted as juniors and attended the conference, say it’s one of the best experiences you can have in high school.”
