Link Crew helps with more than advisory

Link Crew this year is going beyond freshman assemblies and advisory lessons, with activities like Douglas Buddies and raising funds for worthy causes.

The Link Crew prepares the freshman assembly at the start of the year and works with freshman advisories with their transition into high school. This year, Link Crew is also working with the Special Education department in what is called the Douglas Buddies Program. Every time there is class on a Friday, the students go to the Special Education classrooms and meet up with a student whom they were paired with and do activities such as arts and crafts projects or even karaoke. 

“I’ve found it to be pretty enriching,” senior Link Crew member Ameliah Sexton said. “I get to help with events like Cocoa and Cram and help people find better study habits.”

The biggest event for the Douglas Buddies program is the Buddies Thankful Celebration which is held in the South Cafeteria just before Thanksgiving break. The students and their Buddies all sit down and have pumpkin pie with whipped cream, color coloring sheets and say what they’re thankful for.

However, Link Crew may be on the chopping block with the recent budget cuts that have affected the school. 

“The classes were cut last year because of the budget cuts,” said Link Crew teacher Jeffrey VanVickle. “We expressed the desire to keep them because they’re important so one class was kept, and then over the summer, the second one was brought back.” 

Whether the classes are staying or not is unknown, with the same going for the Buddies program. The two remaining Link Crew classes are taught by VanVickle and Mack respectively. 

“Time will tell whether they’re resurrected only for a brief time or if they were resurrected for good,” said VanVickle.

Link Crew spends a large amount of their time on planning fundraisers, including the Holiday Bazaar selling hot chocolate, cookies, donuts and coffee donated from Bipartisan Cafe. All Link Crew fundraisers go to the Schnitzer Cares foundation, with a goal of 7,500 total. Schnitzer Cares matches every dollar earned by Link Crew with 10 dollars of their own. Currently, Link Crew is in the process of creating a new ‘teacher torture’ fundraiser that they believe will be enjoyed by students.

The Link Crew program has been around for years and has about 120 students, with four Link Crew teachers: English teacher Annemarie Montoya, Math teacher Alex Vuu, English teacher Jeffrey Vanvickle and Health teacher Julie Mack.