SOPHOMORE YEAR PROGRAMS
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Bridge Builders
- Bridge Builders are upperclassmen who are assigned to a sophomore advisery during the first quarter to help ease their transition to the Winnetka Campus. Bridge Builders spend every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday in their sophomore advisery room running activities, talking with students, and helping to support the adviser. Students must apply for the Bridge Builder position and information and applications come out in the spring of each school year.
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Embarc New Trier Leadership Academy
- Every year New Trier High School partners with CPS and the Embarc program to provide students from different backgrounds the opportunity to learn with and about each other. The program consists of a series of experiences and trips together and helps to create lasting bonds between students. The experience culminates with an overnight trip to Lake Geneva in the spring in which students participate in low and high rope courses along with other leadership training exercises. Applications for New Trier students will be available in November and announcements about the program will be made in advisery rooms at that time.
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Home Visits
- A unique feature of the New Trier adviser room experience is the home visit, a feature of our adviser program since 1925. The purpose of this visit is for the adviser to meet the family and establish him/herself as a liaison between the home and the school. Visits generally run 20-30 minutes in length. Home visits can start taking place during the summer between freshman and sophomore year and advisers are encouraged to complete them by the beginning of December. Each adviser schedules their home visits at times that work with their personal schedule and are NOT required to start them over the summer.
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Hugh O'Brian Leadership Academy (HOBY)
- Founded in 1958, by New Trier Graduate Hugh O'Brian, HOBY's mission is to inspire and develop our global community of youth and volunteers to a life dedicated to leadership, service and innovation. HOBY programs are conducted annually throughout the United States, serving local and international high school students. HOBY programs provide students selected by their schools to participate in unique leadership training, service-learning and motivation-building experiences - See more at: http://hoby.org/ . Sophomore students may apply for a position each fall and the school will select two representatives and a number of alternates to attend the seminar in the summer.
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Introduction to Post High School Counseling
- Each sophomore advisery is assigned to a post high school counselor in January. This counselor will work on a large group and individual basis with each student within that advisery to help prepare students for post high school outcomes. While most of the work for students in this area happens during the junior and senior years, the post high school counselor can be a good resource for students who have questions about academic schedules and course selection. Parents will be invited to a Post High School Counseling information night which generally takes place in January.
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Power Program
- In the fall, sophomore adviseries will choose to do a service learning trip or the Sophomore Power Program. When a group chooses the Power Program they will be excused from classes on that day in order to travel to Highland Park's Heller Nature Center and complete a team course. Students will be tasked with different missions and have to work together as a group to accomplish each mission. The activity is facilitated by professionals at the Heller Nature Center and is intended to help the group form a stronger bond.
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Service Learning Trip
- Service learning is a big part of the New Trier experience and during sophomore year, students will have multiple opportunities to participate in a service activity with their advisery. In the fall, adviseries will choose to do a service learning trip or the Power Program. When a group chooses social service they will be excused from classes on that day so that they can go out into the surrounding community and provide their service to an organization, group of people, or physical location. Common trips include beach or forest preserve clean ups, work with Feed My Starving Children, or partnering with Bernie's Books. Adviseries can choose any organization they may have an interest in or a connection to. The adviser will work with their group to choose an organization.
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Sophomores Stepping Up:
- Sophomores Stepping Up is a student recognition program for sophomores. Advisers can nominate their students each quarter and winners will receive a t-shirt and certificate. Students can be recognized for any act, small or large, that helps to promote a better school or community climate