Peer Leadership Club has begun to plan the student led tours to be given to incoming freshmen in the upcoming months to help acquaint the eighth graders to the halls of SC.

The first tours begin Dec. 5 for parochial and private schools that feed into LT, SC Peer Leadership Advisor Joan Cushing said.

“We have the first tour for the private schools in December,” Cushing said. “Then, in April, we bring in the public schools individually because they generally have more eighth graders, and we wouldn’t be have enough leaders to do [the public school tours] on the same day.”

The tours will consist of speeches from Principal Brian Waterman, Student Activities Director Peter Geddeis and Athletic Director John Grundke. After the main presentation is over, small group tours will take place while classes are going on at SC.

There are about 50 Peer Leadership members involved with the tours, Cushing said. The leaders will lead different tours for different schools, depending on the amount of eighth graders attending, which varies per tour.

“It appeals to [the eighth graders] to have their peers telling them what LT is really like. The tours also help them get use to the building and making them more comfortable here,” Cushing said.

The tour being led by SC students also benefits them; it gives the leaders a sense of school pride and spirit, as well as having the chance at connecting to the students, Cushing said.

“We’re doing the tours because we’re experienced in the school,” Peer Leadership member Moira Sommerfeld said. “[The Peer Leaders] can show the eighth graders what is important and answer their questions in a more personal way. It’s basically giving them a taste of what LT is like.”

The added, personal nature of the tours is also one of the reasons why Sommerfeld came back a second year to lead.

“The main reason why the tours are led by students is because eighth graders show more interest when an actual LT student shows them around. It’s one of the things I liked best about this day when I came to tour a few years ago,” Sommerfeld said. “Even though I was still worried, I wasn’t as scared to start high school.”