‘Niner Day’ is shining for new students

Walking into R.H. King Academy for the first time can be intimidating, especially for grade 9 students. Adjusting to high school can be a challenge and a stressful time for many students, so it’s important to ensure that students overcome this and have their year can get off to a good start.

    Recently, R.H. King had its annual Grade 9 Activity Day. On this day, Grade 9 students at King participate in a variety of fun activities like dodgeball, tug of war and scavenger hunts. Students rotated between multiple stations with different activities for each one. This day provides Grade 9’s with the opportunity to get to know their peers better and make long lasting memories. The event is in place for students so they can have a more comfortable and smooth transition into high school.

   “It benefitted me because I got to know my C period classmates better and it helped me communicate with them. I made some new friends as well which helped me feel more comfortable in my C period class,” says Kavinaya Elankeswaran, a grade 9 student at King. 

 Furthermore, this year’s grade 9 activity day was one of the first opportunities for students to collect points for their houses: Jutcovich, Maize, Stein and Baxter. Due to COVID-19, the house system was ceased for a few years, but King was able to bring it back this year. Through this event, grade 9’s were able to better understand how the points work. 

“I noticed that people were observing us during the grade 9 day to give us points. I can tell you that you should be enthusiastic, have good teamwork skills, be friendly and kind- that’s how most people earned points,” says Archana Suthakaran, another grade 9 student.

When asked how students believed the day could be better, multiple students wished that they could be able to interact with more students in their grade, instead of just their cohort. Grade 9 student Harsha Kailasanathan agrees.

“This week was the first week [of high school] so Grade 9 day helped control our nerves and gave us a little more confidence. It was really an incredible day, there are barely any ways you could improve it, but maybe instead of keeping students in their classes, we should find a way for them to meet other students outside of their class and meet even more new people,” says Kailasanathan.

This day was a great way for Grade 9’s to engage with one another and make new friends at the start of high school through fun, group activities. As a result, it is raising morale and boosting school spirit tremendously. Luckily, this event was only the beginning of fun opportunities that these students will receive at King in the years ahead.