Having assisted over 100 freshmen through their transition from middle school to high school, AV Mentors, a club at Amador Valley, offers various tools and resources to help out incoming students.

The AV Mentors team, Carol Xu (‘23), Aditi Karthik (‘23), Lucie Bernard (‘23), Jessie Chan (‘23), and Myra Quin (‘23), have expressed their devotion to helping freshmen ease their way into a new school.

“High school is like a journey, because it has its ups and downs, just like how a rollercoaster has high points and low points. A lot of people throw up after a roller coaster ride, so we’re hoping that we can act as a seatbelt for the freshman, so that their high school journey will be smoother so they can have a positive experience, because the transition between that is not always easy. There is a big difference, especially in the workload and amount of classes you’re taking, it gets a little bit overwhelming,” said Xu (‘23).

One of the club’s most valuable assets is their mentorship program, in which freshmen are paired up with a mentor who will guide them through the challenges of high school by offering advice.

“Freshmen have access to an upperclassmen who they can reach out to and who has already gone through the process of being a freshman. The mentors know how everything works, so the freshman have someone they can talk to,” said Karthik (‘23).

In addition to the mentors, the club provides several academic services for freshmen to help them learn and work more efficiently as they adjust to the rigorous change.

“We host workshops where we give tips on things like studying, note-taking, finals, self-care, scheduling, and finding internship opportunities, and such… This is our first year of doing our club, but because we’ve been doing it online, we’ve been able to hold a variety of different workshops through Zoom, which has allowed us to meet a lot of different freshmen,” said Xu (‘23).

As freshmen bear the weight of a new system both socially and academically, the shift to remote learning has made getting used to the new environment more difficult than ever. A disappearance of a physical environment means that the spontaneous friendships and acquaintances that usually form are condemned to Zoom, and studying is relegated to the bedroom instead of with friends at the library after school. To compensate for this, AV Mentors has created virtual study rooms for students who are facing this struggle.

“We also have Zoom study rooms, which is a place where students can come in and study. We always have a couple of mentors always present, and if anyone has any questions, we can send them into a breakout room where the mentors can help them and work together to solve the question. It’s kind of hard to get motivation to study and sit, but when you’re in a room where everyone else is studying, it is easier to feel like you can do it too,” said Karthik (‘23).

Beyond academic support, the club also ensures a less challenging transition into a new social circle by providing a space where students can interact via Zoom.

“We’ve had freshmen come to us and ask if we can host a little more lunch sessions, where they can talk to other freshmen and upperclassmen. This year is definitely a little bit harder, especially for the freshmen who have just entered the district,” said Karthik (‘23).

As they continue to support many Amador students, the AV Mentors Club hopes to grow in the future and serve other prospective high school freshmen.

“We want to try to expand this program, not necessarily to only Amador, but also to other schools, because I know that if I had something like AV Mentors when I was a freshman it would have been really helpful. There’s a lot of things that you don’t really know when you’re getting into your freshman year, and also, [not] all the resources that I’ve been able to find throughout the first year of my high school were not openly shared with me, so we want to make sure that as many people have access to these resources,” said Karthik (‘23).

To learn more about AV Mentors, visit  https://avmentors.wixsite.com/avmentors to sign up as a mentor, mentee, or member.