Pali’s Link Crew program has been subject to many changes following Pali’s transition to a new campus and the induction of Myrna Cervantes, Advanced Placement Spanish Language and Culture teacher, as its head.
Link Crew is a nationwide organization created by The Boomerang Project that is dedicated to helping freshmen adjust to high school life by pairing them with upperclassmen mentors called Link Crew Leaders. The PCHS branch was previously led by former teacher and staff member David Pickard until his resignation following the Palisades fire.
Cervantes, who declined to comment, recently increased Link Crew’s level of participation in school events. At Back to School Night, Link Crew members assisted in organizing the event, helped parents navigate the campus and provided anecdotes about their time at Pali to attendees.
Senior and second-year Link Crew Leader Brooke Santos has observed a substantial difference in how events are handled.
“I’ve seen an even bigger turnout with Ms. Cervantes’ run of Link Crew [than I did with Pickard’s],” Santos said. “We usually go to Back to School Night, but I think this year, our presence was even stronger in guiding parents who generally have a sense of the campus at our original campus, as they really had no idea what they were stepping into.”
At Back to School Night, Link Crew was able to work alongside the Palisades Ambassadors and Associated Student Body (ASB).
“I feel like the collaborative nature of Link Crew is really good for the program, as well as learning from ASB and Ambassadors on how to mentor and guide [students] around a new campus,” Santos said. “I think there’s qualities to all the programs that work really well together and mesh. We complement each other.”
In contrast, senior and second-year Link Crew Leader Lucas Alderson said he believes that Link Crew’s involvement in other events is straying from its original mission of helping new students adjust to high school.
“Link Crew is different because it’s strictly for freshmen [and transfer students],” Alderson said. “We already have enough leaders [in other organizations] to manage big events. Stretching ourselves too thin this year will only hurt the program. We shouldn’t focus on school wide events.”
However, Alderson appreciates the more organized administration of the program this year.
“It’s more strict so far in community service. Mr. Pickard just gave a blanket 30 hours,” Alderson said. “The way Ms. Cervantes seems to be doing it, you have to tally up events, and depending on the events you do, that’s how much community service you get.”
He added that the program is more rigid in assuring the attendance of members of Link Crew at events.
“[Cervantes] is more ‘on it’ in terms of members actually being there,” Alderson said. “I know a bunch of people who didn’t attend last year and still got their hours. It’s unlikely that that will continue happening under [Cervantes’] system.”
Even so, the Pali South campus posed challenges for Link Crew Leaders.
“I would say that we’re not really used to an indoor campus, and that students are used to having all their classrooms out in the open and not as tightly bundled together,” Santos said.
Alderson corroborates that the Pali South campus differentiates greatly from Pali’s original campus.
“[At] the [original] campus, you could do a tour with the different buildings, like the gym and stuff like that.” Alderson said. “At Pali South we don’t have a gym, we don’t have a pool, and we don’t have the same film or workshop classes.”
However, Alderson is confident that despite the differences between the two campuses, Link Crew will continue to successfully mentor new Pali students.
“In training [for Link Crew] we went to a lot of different places and mapped ideas of important places to show freshmen on tours, so we’ve gotten a good handle on the new campus,” Alderson said.
Despite only having been at Pali South for a little over a semester, Santos said that she and other Link Crew members are better equipped – and necessary – to help students find their way around.
Santos concluded: “Due to the unorthodox situation that being in a department store as a school presents, Link Crew has become more necessary than ever.”
