Link Crew trains to help Carson High freshmen adapt

Misty Harris rocks back and forth and throws her hands in the air like an angry animal.

"You guys are the rappers," she tells a group of Carson High School students. "You say, 'Does it happen in life? Does it happen in school?'"

The students mumble the lines.

"Does it happen in life. Does it happen in school."

She repeats the lines with them, continuing to imitate a rapper.

"Louder," she says. "Louder!"

She gives other groups of students in the room their own styles: Opera, jazz, grudge, rock.

As they practice, Harris makes the students, all members of Link Crew, the high school's freshmen outreach group, cheer for the groups that aren't loud enough.

She drills all five groups on their lines:

"Did you notice?"

"Why does it happen?"

"Why? Why? Why? Why?"

"How can we use this?"

"Does it happen in life? Does it happen in school?"

She said these are questions to think about when talking to freshmen and new students at Tuesday's Carson High School orientation. Think about the songs during the meetings, she said.

It will help.

This is the fourth year for Link Crew, a group former student Gabi Coronel said she wished was around her first year at Carson.

"I came to high school and was like, 'Oh god, I'm just going to die.' You go from Whittell (High School in Zephyr Cove) where you know everybody and you've grown up with everybody, to Carson where there's 2,500 kids and you don't know any of them. It's scary."

Though Coronel graduated last year, she came back this year to help organize the two-day training seminar for about 85 upperclassmen. She said Link Crew makes new students feel more comfortable. They usually just need help finding their classes.

Harris told the students she had a difficult time in high school, too. She said having one person to help can mean a lot to a new student.

Darcy Morris, a 17-year-old senior in Link Crew, said she was nervous as a freshman. She said she thought older students might pick on her because she was new.

"You hear stories," she said.

Harris said small things in high school can be upsetting. She told a story about taking a standardized test her sophomore year and forgetting how to spell the word "enough."

All she could think of was "enuf."

Though she was disappointed, her teacher told her she would be OK and she started to feel better.

"And then I went back to my phonetic ways," she said.

If you go

What: Carson High School new student orientation

When: 8 a.m.-noon Tuesday

Where: Carson High School, the big gym. Students are encouraged to wear comfortable clothing and good shoes.

Who: For all new students, freshmen and transfers

Info: 283-1600

• Contact reporter Dave Frank at dfrank@nevadaappeal.com or 881-1212.