by Audrey Carroll

Next year, Star Seminar will require Big Sisters to attend the sessions during their free periods first semester to help freshmen become accustomed to STA. The changes were made because feedback from freshmen through a survey determined Star Seminar would be more beneficial with more peer involvement, according to academic counselor Kelly McKee. However, some Big Sisters said they are now questioning their involvement after learning they may have to give up a couple of their free periods.

“Big Sisters will go to Star Seminar during a free period and answer questions for the freshmen,” principal of academic affairs Barbara McCormick said. “This will build some unity and sisterhood with them…it’s about working with [the freshmen] on a more [personal] level.”

According to McKee, administration had already been looking at changing Star Seminar because the large groups and short timeframe created difficulties in communicating to the freshmen. McKee’s hope is that by having Big Sisters in attendance, the freshmen will be more comfortable with asking questions and will come out of Star Seminar with a meaningful experience.

What some Big Sisters may not know about this change is that volunteering to help at Star Seminar is optional, according to McKee.

“Big Sisters will sign up to help at seminars that fit into their schedule, but only if they want to,” McKee said. “If there are about three to five Big Sisters in each advisory there would be enough volunteers to sign up just once for the whole school year.”

Sophomore and future Big Sister Connor Hodes can see the benefit of having Big Sisters in attendance at Star Seminar but does not agree with the new changes.

“I don’t think it’s fair that [Big Sisters] have to give up their frees. I use them to finish homework or talk with friends and it’s my only time to relax,” Hodes said.

However, current sophomore and Big Sister Sarah Wunder sees the merit in the changes.

“Having Big Sisters help with seminar is a good change because it means that the freshmen will be able to learn from other students’ experiences which might be more relatable than what a teacher could tell them,” Wunder said.

Wunder also believes that having frees taken away is not unfair because Big Sisters know that certain responsibilities will be asked of them in the future.

“If a student had a problem with giving up her frees she probably wouldn’t have become a Big Sister in the first place,” Wunder said.

According to McCormick, being a Big Sister is a role for students who want to be instrumental  in developing the young women at STA.

“Help these new, young women get settled and comfortable and to know what questions to ask on how to survive at STA, because it’s harder than most people think. We don’t remember how hard it is as a freshman anymore when we get older,” McCormick said.

It is still unclear how the administration will urge Big Sisters to get involved, but one way is to possibly offer service hours like NHS students receive for tutoring, according to McKee.

“We won’t even be having Star Seminar for the next few months, so everything is still subject to change,” McKee said. “In the mean time, hopefully Big Sisters can see how their involvement will be truly beneficial to [the freshmen].”