For the fourth year in a row, Birmingham hosted their very own 9th-grade Tailgate to welcome their new freshmen into a new school environment. The idea for this event came from the link crew advisors because they wanted an opportunity to invite the incoming freshmen into the school’s activities. This process consisted of ideas such as “What can we do?”, “What can we host?”, “How could we make our 9th-graders feel welcomed?”, and “How can we make them have the relationships necessary to succeed in this school?” This event, hosted by the Link Crew advisers and Link Crew leaders, marked one of the biggest and most successful freshmen tailgates yet. The freshmen who attended the tailgate also received free entry to the Friday night football game against St. Bonaventure High School.

The tailgate was carefully prepared by link crew advisors and leaders as they wanted freshmen to feel comfortable and excited. Link Crew started preparing for the event in May 2024. Their careful preparation led to the success and excitement that the freshmen were able to experience. They had different activities for freshmen to do and to eat, such as nachos, ice cream, flag football, jumpers, beach ball, and music playing in the background. They had a large group of freshmen in line just to get in, meaning that the tailgate was a very hot topic for 9th graders.

Link Crew leaders made sure everyone attending the event felt included in the events and made sure everyone was having fun.  Link Crew leader Angie Ramirez (11) explained that she understands how a lot of freshmen might be antisocial, especially coming into a new place or setting, so she made sure to try including freshmen in all the activities.

Although the tailgate was super successful in many ways, there were some challenges that came with that. Link Crew Adviser and ninth-grade English teacher Mr. Steven Lugo explained that one of their “challenges” was the difference in ideas, with one Adviser wanting to do something while another didn’t. Lugo explained how they have “a very strong dynamic with each other, and if there is a disagreement, it is easily solved through compromise.

Ramirez had only one suggestion for better future events, and that was that the whole food situation needs rethinking because they ran out of tickets really soon, meaning not everyone was able to get the free ice cream. Ramirez exclaimed, “If that issue had been fixed, then I think the students who didn’t get ice cream would’ve had a better time.” However, she thinks that the events at Birmingham have gotten so much better over the years.