Every year, incoming freshmen attend a party where they can enjoy themselves and form new friendships with their classmates. For the next four years, these are the people that they will be sharing classes, hallways, and graduation with. For new bearkats, the freshman mixer is a chance for new students to get to know their peers – a chance to make the unknown territory of Klein High feel like a second home.

¨[My favorite part] was probably just getting to know different people, putting myself out there, it was really fun,” freshman Katie Hammond said. 

Freshmen were able to form friendships with one another quickly. Together, they laughed, danced, talked, and even started a game of balloon volleyball and gave piggyback rides on each other’s backs.

“All the girls [walked around] in circles and the boys were on each other’s backs,” freshman Elina Meseljevic said. “They were throwing balloons in the air, and they played volleyball with the balloons and popped them. It was so funny”

For the shy freshmen who find it difficult to be in a room full of strangers with loud music, standleaders attend the freshman mixer to encourage everyone to form bonds with one another.

¨[The standleaders] were super nice. I talked to a lot of them, and they were very inviting, and they just make you feel good [about being] there,” Hammond said. 

The standleaders’ cheers and energy that they brought to the room made the new generation of Bearkats excited to be around them.

“They are cool people,” freshman Donovan Newitt said. “I’ll probably be one when I become a senior.”

Standleaders like senior Melanie Charron, found themselves having just as much fun as the freshmen.

¨It was nice being able to help people,” Charron said. “The interactions were definitely interesting because it’s not like when you’re interacting with another senior. Obviously, they have a certain respect for you and they just enjoy hanging out with you. So, it was a good interaction, and we were able to help them encourage something more comfortable in high school.”