In annual CHS tradition, National Honor Society (NHS) seniors helped the new freshmen open their lockers and students attended an assembly with Italian Ices during fourth period to kick off the 2018-19 school year.

Senior and SGA president Liam Marshall of Sea Girt announced the arrival of the Weaser’s Italian Ice truck after introducing the rest of the SGA council and giving a speech to start the year.

“Being the first student speaker of the year is an honor that I didn’t take lightly when making my speech,” Marshall said. “I wanted to introduce the events of the year for new students and I also wanted to welcome back as many groups as possible since I know first days and school years are different for everyone.”

Earlier in the day, senior NHS students met with the freshmen to help them open their lockers for the first time, present them with gift bags and answer any questions they had.

Senior and NHS secretary Tali Petto of Marlboro assigned each NHS senior mentor with one or two freshmen to help maximize the efficiency of the event in the short time they had.

“Assigning people definitely helped keep everything quick and easy,” Petto said. “I tried to pair the freshmen with mentors from their town or somewhere close by but this was a little hard because the numbers didn’t exactly match up. In the end, everyone got along perfectly.”

In addition to helping them find and open their lockers, senior mentors helped the freshmen feel more comfortable and welcome on their first day, Petto said.

Freshman Michele Roman of Neptune found talking to her mentor to be the most helpful part of the day.

“As an incoming freshman, I think that most of us are anxious about starting this new experience,” Roman said. “Having an NHS mentor to answer all of our newbie questions was extremely helpful and definitely reduced the amount of anxiety I was feeling.”

Along with all the fun, students attended classes and met staff new to CHS for the first time. Such staff members include photography teacher and club adviser Amanda Fitzpatrick coming from Neptune High School, Spanish teacher Courtney Van Arsdale coming from North Burlington High School and Mass Media teacher and Inkblot adviser Wayne Woolley coming from a public relations job with the New Jersey Department of Military and Veteran Affairs.

Overall, Roman said the whole day was a great start to her high school experience.

“I noticed how welcoming both the faculty and student body were to the freshmen,” Roman said. “I can already tell how great this year is going to be.”