They came.  They listened. They danced.

The 215 members of Bishop Blanchet’s graduating class of 2018 got a strong dose of the “Brave Way” as they made their way through the first day of Freshman Welcome.

Guided by three faculty, 49 mentors, and the Core Four (plus one), the class had its first chance to meet each other while learning the tricks of high school life.

The festivities began with icebreakers as kids from over twenty different junior high school began the process of learning the names of the people in their Community Period classes.

Games like “Evolution,” “Follow the Leader,” “Two Truths and a Lie,” and “I Like People Who…” all centered on beginning to form bonds of trust.

“Coming here from my school, I don’t know anybody my age,” said Chelsea Diakite of South Seattle. “I know people who are older, but I don’t know anybody in my class. I’m kind of worried about that.”

A question and answer period followed as the Core Four (Sara Griffin, Lauren Kinerk, Nick Kosinski, and Stephen Saltvig) and ASB President Kirk Roa offered insights on everything from surviving and thriving in a block schedule to the importance of setting both short and long-term goals.

After an hour of learning names and listening, they set about the serious task of learning the class dance. But first it was the mentors’ turn as the senior, junior, and sophomore classes all took the floor to show the Freshman a valuable lesson in the Brave Way: don’t be afraid to be yourself.

“We absolutely nailed it,” said sophomore crew member Genevieve Pritchard. “It helps that we had the best song.” 

Her cousin, freshman Jack Deane, begged to differ.

“The seniors were actually the best.  Ms. K (ASB moderator Kristin Kuzmanich) even said so,” said Deane.

Then the spotlight fell on the Freshmen themselves, as they twisted, turned, and spun their way through A-Ha’s 1985 hit, “Take On Me”.  With the mentors by their sides, they worked on becoming confident enough to perform the dance infront of the rest of the school and earn their spot in the bleachers.

So what did they learn about the Brave Way?

“Tradition maybe?” said Diakite. “The school comes all together, and a lot of people care about each other here.”

Deane, coming from Our Lady of Fatima, had a different outlook.

“Cleaning,” said Deane, who stuck around afterwards to help the sophomore crew.

Both Deane and Diakite seem ready for school to start.  Diakite is looking forward to her classes, which include Entrepreneurship, Physics, Acting, and Spanish.

“My parents both speak French, so they wanted me to learn a new a new language,” said Diakite.

Deane has serious reservations about one of his classes – painting.

“I am a really bad artist,” said Deane.

He hopes the class will bring out his inner Picasso.

The class returns on Tuesday, August 26 for the first mass and more of the same.