Mrs. Maggie Harmsen

Organizing a way for freshmen to integrate seamlessly and confidently into a new school is a challenge even without a worldwide pandemic.

Luckily for LFHS, social worker Mrs. Maggie Harmsen, when not providing social-emotional support for students, works tirelessly to co-organize an effective and exciting socially distanced freshmen orientation. Despite the stress and uncertainty, she maintains her bubbly and infectious personality.

“Mrs. Harmsen was very helpful for Link Crew,” said junior Link Crew leader Rose Nugent. “She made sure everyone understood how the activities were supposed to run and made it a priority to hear from any Link Crew leader with a problem or concern. She was always energetic and efficient yet detail-oriented during our training. The program would not be able to run without her!”

Outside of Link Crew, Mrs. Harmsen continues to support her students during this time away from school as a social worker. Senior Sydney Hook notes that Mrs. Harmsen is easy to talk to and great at giving advice during these uncertain times.

Although it may be difficult to connect with students over email or over Google Hangouts, Mrs. Harmsen is an outstanding supporter of all of her students. “She’s kept in touch through the whole quarantine process, and always gets on calls when you need to talk,” Hook said.

Although it is a newfound difficulty to transition into high school remotely, freshmen students feel just as grateful for Mrs. Harmsen’s positivity as the upperclassmen. “[Orientation] was fun, and I think that it will make the transition to high school a little easier,” freshman Kamile Rayome said.

This year is unlike any other, and despite the fact that Mrs. Harmsen will not be able to see her Link Crew kids and their upperclassmen counterparts in person yet, the amount of time and effort that was put into organizing a seamless way- for both freshmen and upperclassmen- to enter the new school year on a positive note is incredible.

“The transition from middle school to high school is already tough and it being online makes it ever more difficult for the freshman,” Nugent added. “Despite this, Link Crew’s job is to make the freshman feel as welcome as possible and answer any questions they have which can happen perfectly fine online.”