The West Potomac campus was brought back to life on Tuesday, Sept. 1 by returning and new students with Wolverine Welcome, a relatively new initiative that includes upperclassmen schedule pick-up, freshmen orientation and a kick-off pep rally. This year, the program aimed at to welcome new students and parents into the West Potomac family.

While schedule pick-up and freshmen orientation have always been held a week before the start of school, the term ‘Wolverine Welcome’ was created during the 2014-15 school year and represents the many changes to the event that were made.

This year’s orientation included a freshman-only pep rally in the main gym, free t-shirts after campus tours, the opportunity to turn in emergency care and health forms during schedule pick-up, an array of food trucks specifically for the event, and ultimately a bigger turnout than the school has seen in past years.

Director of Student Services Kevin McMahon named PTSA and SGA as the biggest influences on this year’s Wolverine Welcome.

“Just like with all things, we’re trying to be ‘world’s greatest’ and so we tried to improve some things with the help of PTSA supporting us,” he said. “[Wolverine Welcome] was not going be the success it is without the help of SGA. They’ve been planning our [freshmen] pep rally kick-off which is new this year, which is awesome, and they help out with our orientation sessions, so I know SGA has been working really hard and I greatly appreciate all their efforts.”

As freshmen took in their new surroundings, upperclassmen and even alumni took the time to reminisce about their freshmen orientation and compare the past to the present.

“At first, it was kind of overwhelming because of all the people here and I’m not used to having a lot of people around me but it was very welcoming because of the signs all around,” says freshman Jamkya Morgan. She also said the biggest difference to her between West Potomac and its feeder school, Carl Sandburg Middle School, is the student population size.

Compared to her father, a WestPo ‘85 alumnus, Morgan is getting a lot more help with her middle to high school transition than he did decades before.

“To have this [Wolverine Welcome] is better because when I came to school here, it was like you had to learn everything the day you arrived at school,” James Morgan Jr. remembers.

He’s glad that his daughter will have the chance to prep before next week.

“The times have changed so I think that this will help in getting an idea and meeting some kids that go to school here and to not be nervous on the first day,” he adds.

Upperclassmen arrived first at 12:30 to receive their class schedules, while freshmen and their parents toured the school starting at 3 where they were able to find their classes and get their questions answered by SGA members.

With the help of faculty and the easily-recognizable, blue t-shirt clad SGA guides, the freshmen were able to get to know their way around campus and prepare for the highly-anticipated first day of high school. The fall sports kick-off pep rally concluded the day’s festivities.