Link Crew is a program that helps juniors and seniors learn leadership skills as well as helps the incoming 9th graders feel welcome here at school.

Ms. Feuerstein, a science teacher at Wilsonville High School, is the advisor for the Link Crew program. Ms. Feuerstein shares, “Link Crew is specifically a program that is designed to cultivate community, a feeling of belonging, and create connections.”

Link Crew also hopes to “promote inclusivity and help them (incoming 9th graders) find their way around the structure of high school.” “We also help them academically during their finals through snack and study,” shared senior Katyayni Karlapati. Snack and study is an event held after school where juniors and seniors help 9th graders study and get prepared for their finals. Karlapati also shared, “I decided to be part of Link Crew because of the leadership opportunities it provided. I also saw how much Link Crew helped me during my freshman year and I wanted to make the freshman feel the same way.”

To be a Link Crew leader, you need to be able to go with the flow, improvise, bring energy, be positive, connect with 9th graders, and be empathetic. Ms. Feuerstein shared, “my favorite thing is I want to get kids who have those leadership capabilities but don’t realize they have the leadership.”

Ms. Feuerstien shared that her favorite part of Link Crew is “just seeing the smiles on the 9th grader’s faces, because I think that typically on orientation day we would see a lot of kids who were just kind of scared, looking around, a little overwhelmed.” Karlapati said, “we all come together as a team and take on various responsibilities to make something amazing. It’s really cool to see this process as the end product come to life.”