As part of Woodward’s renewed commitment to a connected social experience for students, the Lower School launched a new initative with the start of classes this year to ensure that new students have peer support and companionship from day one. The Flight Crew program recruits established Lower School students to act as wingmen for new classmates. The program’s motto? “No War Eagle flies alone.”

In some ways, Flight Crew built on what was already happening organically. “A lot of our teachers would informally connect new students with a returning student in their class to help them,” said Carrie Lauchlan, a counselor in the Lower School who helped design and roll out the program with fellow Lower School counselor Jacinda Clark. The two formalized, documented, and deepened what many teachers had adopted as a best practice.

Now teachers work with counselors to identify returning students in their homerooms that they feel are best suited to act as Flight Crew for the new student(s) in their class. Flight Crew students are given guidance and an instructional flyer on how they can best help their new student. For the first few days of school they wear badges to indicate their roles (also identifying them to other students who aren’t in the program but still have questions).

The one-on-one connection allows Flight Crew to adapt to a particular student’s needs. If they confront anything beyond their capacity, they are instructed how to seek support from an adult.

Lauchlan says parents of new students are already enthusiastic. “I think it’s settled a lot of new parents' nerves to know that their student already has that connection with a returning student and a go-to person to ask if they have any questions.”

While the benefit may at first appear one-directional, Lauchlan points out that the Flight Crew students derive something as well. “I think welcoming new students helps our Flight Crew feel like they are leaders. I think it’s really exciting for them.” 

Flight Crew is part of what Lauchlan describes as a larger drive to help hone students’ leadership skills and the connected social experience of all Lower School students. “Even our students who are quiet or introverts have those skills. They have a leadership quality within them. And we really want them to exercise that muscle and start developing it.”

Lauchlan makes clear that Flight Crew members are not expected to become a compulsory friend: “After the first day a lot of them said, ‘Oh my student and I don't have much in common,’ or ‘They've started hanging out with this other person.’ I said, that's exactly what we want. You don’t have to be their best friend; you're the connector.”

In that vein, she says she’ll know the program has been successful when it isn’t needed anymore. 

“We want to cultivate an environment where all of our students, not just our Flight Crew members, are looking for those students who are not sitting with somebody at lunch, or not playing with someone at recess. And then they'll intentionally reach out to those students, because we want everybody to feel comfortable here and have a place.”