When sophomore Diyor Ashrapov first heard of the Cats and Cubs program, he remembered his own seventh-grade nerves and the uncertainty of the future.

“I was really anxious about the upcoming years and how it would really feel when I was a sophomore,” Ashrapov said.

The program, launched this year by the homerooms, pairs seventh and 10th grade students to build mentoring relationships. Its first quarterly meeting was held on Aug. 29, where teachers led activities to introduce the students.

“We were trying to come up with a way to encourage the kids to collaborate with one another and form mentoring relationships,” college and career specialist Angela Feldbush said.

Before the first meeting, sophomores in Theater teacher Caroline Miller’s classroom shared similar reactions to the program.

“My expectations are that the seventh graders are going to have a fun time,” sophomore Henry Baker said. “I think it’s going to work.”

Annalee Schachter, a seventh grader, looked at the program from a different angle.

“I expect to gain more knowledge on responsibility and how to manage my time better,” Schachter said. “I want to know more people so I can have someone to lean on if I need help with something.”

During the first meeting, each 10th grade homeroom teacher used different activities to welcome their complementary seventh grade homeroom. Miller’s homeroom played Poison

Dart Frog, a detective-style improv game, while journalism teacher Linda Foster’s homeroom chose an icebreaker activity to find students’ similarities with each other. Despite the differences in how each homeroom started the Cats and Cubs program, sophomore Logan Nemeroff noticed its immediate benefits.

“I definitely learned to lead, and I got better at leading and talking,” Nemroff said. “I think it was a great experience overall because I think I taught the seventh graders a lot and really helped them into the community.”

It is not the first time West Shore implemented a mentoring program among different grade levels. Years ago, the seniors would visit seventh grade homerooms to tutor them, leading people to “adopt a sevvie.” Cats and Cubs Experimental program connects seventh and 10th graders

Feldbush said she wanted 10th grade students to mentor instead of seniors so the benefits of the program would stretch long after the first year of the program, and until the seventh and 10th grade students reach freshman and senior year, respectively.

“The seventh graders together with the older kids was going to be really beneficial for the seventh graders, because now they have older kids to look up to and get advice from,” Feldbush said. “But also for those 10th graders, because now that encourages them to start taking a leadership role and start to look at helping other students.”

“We’d like to have some more small group-focused activities,” Feldbush said. “Instead of just having one class doing team building with one class, start some small-group discussions. But the idea really was to start small and make sure we understand how to make it work effectively.”

If the program proves beneficial this year, it will continue as an annual tradition.

“If it’s successful this year with the seventh and the 10th grade, the next year, they’ll be in eighth and 11th, and then the year after that, they’ll be in ninth and 12th,” Feldbush said. “We can keep cycling new homerooms in and then continue to slowly expand the program.”

Ultimately, Feldbush said the goal is to create lasting, meaningful relationships that will help students throughout their middle and high school years.

“By easing in slowly, we can figure out what’s going to be most beneficial for the kids, because that’s really what it’s about,” Feldbush said. “[Through] the leadership for the older kids and the mentoring for the younger kids, [we are] offering them this opportunity to form those relationships.”