This year, we introduced 198 freshmen into the Bruin community. However, before their first day of high school, these students participated in Future Bruins Day. On Friday, December 6 this year, Bear River High School welcomed eighth graders from all over the county to discover what being a Bruin truly means.

The annual Future Bruins Day offers an opportunity for local eighth graders from all around the county to “see what it’s like to spend a day in the life of a Bear River student,” as said by Leadership Teacher Matt MacDonald.

During this event, eighth graders are introduced to some of Bear River’s programs by different activities organized by our leadership class. Ranging from slideshow presentations showcasing our programs with student speakers to a campus tour, eighth graders had a fun-filled day.

Senior and ASB President Sarah Kennedy commented about Leadership’s motivations behind organizing such a large event.

“We really wanted to show the middle schoolers how fun Bear River is,” she said. “ … We just want to make them excited about high school.”

With the Winter Masquerade dance this Saturday, “the timing this week is pretty crazy” for Leadership students. Mr. MacDonald elaborated upon the behind-the-scenes workings of Future Bruins Day.

“Our job is to coordinate a lot of the different performances and groups, acts, and so forth,” he said. “ … I think one of the hardest aspects in Leadership when planning an event like this is making sure you’re coordinating [clearly] …  with the entire school and making sure that everybody is on the same page.”

As previously mentioned, eighth graders are introduced to most of the programs Bear River has to offer through presentations. Junior Emily Adamson commented on how these slideshows contributed to the event.

“From each presentation, I learned something new about this school,” she said. “It made me consider some new options of things to do.”

Mary Brennan, a freshman who participated in her Future Bruins Day last year, explained how eighth graders benefit from this event.

“They can get a choice and a better understanding of Bear River,” she said. “ … It shows them what Bear River is really like.”

According to Mr. MacDonald, this huge annual event started the first year Dr. Amy Besler became Bear River’s principal around six years ago. He described how the event has evolved over the years.

“It has changed a little bit over the years, obviously,” he said. “The first year, we had some performances, we had the rally, but we didn’t really have as much for them [the eighth graders] to do. So now it’s kind of morphed into a longer … really fun event for the eighth graders to see where they’re going to be next year.”

He continued to explain the reason behind starting Future Bruins Day.

“There were some students that had a lot of misconceptions, I guess, coming into Bear River, and just in general,” he said. “ … There was just a lot of misinformation. We found that there were a lot of students electing not to go to Bear River, partly because they weren’t aware of what we had to offer. So, we wanted to kind of combat that.”

Despite the fun changes that were made over the years, many students elected that they enjoyed some of the older traditions.

“[I liked] the rally,” said Brennan. “[The performances] were cool.”

“The one thing I remember from that day was the rally,” said Adamson. “There was a ton of energy and it got me pretty excited for high school.”

These performances include students involved in cheerleading, dance, and many more programs to provide a fun rally. Mr. MacDonald described how leadership strives to include everybody during this event.

“We try to involve every aspect of our campus,” he said. “We have Dance I and II performing in the rally this year, which we’re really excited about. We have band playing as everybody comes in. We have Starlite performing for the eighth graders in the theater. [All] just to get our eighth graders excited.”

Kennedy elaborated on what she hopes the eighth graders will take home from this event.

“I really hope they all get excited to come next year,” she said. “They learn about new clubs and new activities that they didn’t know existed, and that they are interested in and will join next year.” 

Breyan Garret, an eighth grader visiting from Magnolia Intermediate School, commented on why he believes this event is such a great opportunity.

“I think anyone interested or going to Bear River should go, so they can get a feel for the school and campus,” he said.

Fellow Magnolia eighth grader Gretta Barrieau continued on to explain how this event will help her in the future.

“I think it will help to know where everything is and the staff if I need help on my first day [of high school],” she said. “It will also make me feel more comfortable at high school because it will probably be scary [on the first day].”

Mr. MacDonald described what he loves most about Future Bruins Day. 

“Those really cool moments with the eighth graders when they have those connections [with their leaders],” he said. “… It’s really cool to be able to step back personally and watch the months of coordination come together.”