About Freshman Focus

Over 20,000 students in states across the country have experienced Freshman Focus!

Our programs:

Freshman Focus - The Total Package!
This is the complete program starting with an orientation camp followed by daily lessons and activities to engage your ninth graders in a full year of transition into the high school experience.
Freshman Focus Lite
Key lessons and activities are carefully selected for use in weekly sessions with your ninth grade students as they transition into high school.
Freshman Focus Basic
This once-a-month transition experience covers the important academic and social topics your ninth graders need to kick off a successful high school career
Freshman Focus Seminar
This is the perfect solution for the school that can't fit a transition program into the master schedule but wants to ease the transition into high school - It starts with a kick off celebration and is then followed by extended sessions four times throughout the year.

Many schools have tried "advisory" or "mentorship" programs - some with success, others without. In some ways, Freshman Focus is like these programs, but in one significant way, it is different: Structure. Each day of the entire-school-year program - whether you choose daily, weekly, monthly, or quarterly sessions -- is structured with specific objectives, lesson plans, and activities that every freshman in the high school will complete.

Freshman Focus is designed to cover the myriad of topics that a ninth grade student needs to know for social and academic success in high school. Lessons range from stressing the importance of school spirit, to using the media center, to learning effective note taking and study skills, to getting along with others, to writing college applications, and much more.

A key component of Freshman Focus is mentorship. The structure of the program is essential in order to make effective use of daily time and establish credibility; however, built into Freshman Focus is the opportunity for ninth grade students to learn from and model the behavior of respected teachers and upperclassmen students. A group of four student leaders and one teacher faculty advisor is assigned to every twenty to twenty five freshmen in the ninth grade class. The faculty advisor and student leaders then work together to deliver Freshman Focus content.

Because of the important role the faculty advisors and student leaders play in the execution of the Freshman Focus program, the selection process is crucial and competitive. Both teachers and students are required to submit applications, write essays, and design sample activities. These materials are then screened for quality and commitment to program success. The bottom line is that no matter how structured lessons and content are, the best learning will depend on the delivery and modeling of excellent teachers and student leaders.

If Freshman Focus achieves its purpose, the result will be a group of ninth grade students who are comfortable in the new high school setting and who have acquired a skills set that will increase the chances of high school success both academically and socially.