Seniors mentor freshmen to help them succeed in high school. Younger students seem more inclined to respond to upperclassmen than to teachers.

A program pairing high school seniors as mentors with incoming students has sliced freshman failure rates by more than half and has significantly decreased hazing.

Through the program, Wheatland High School seniors are trained in leadership and team building, then matched with incoming freshmen. The older students ease the sometimes difficult transition to high school socially and academically.

WHS Principal Maureen Ryff said freshman failure rates, measured by the numbers of students failing and classes being failed, have dropped by at least 50 percent since the program’s inception two years ago.

By RENA DELBRIDGE
Star-Tribune correspondent

Full Story: http://www.trib.com/articles/2008/04/14/news/wyoming/d02cbf57bf2b4e8c8725742a0020fe48.txt