As freshmen Bears settle into a routine in the first months of school, they now have a new peer-to-peer advisory program created by the Class of 2019 to support ninth graders as they navigate life in Landon's Upper School.

At the beginning of the year, each freshman was paired up with a senior "buddy," who helps answer questions about Upper School life, provides social support and acts as a first-line peer resource for the division's youngest Bears.

The program is an outcome of Landon's Leadership Summit with Holton-Arms School.

"We all came together and talked about things that Landon could improve on," said Student Council President Zak Zaid '19 (below). "One thing we discussed was how to find more ways to get interaction between students in different grades."

During their discussion, students discovered that many of them naturally looked up to seniors and juniors when they were freshmen. From there, senior leaders paired up each senior with a freshman buddy in order to give everyone an opportunity to have a role model and another layer of support in addition to advisors, deans, counselors, teachers and coaches.

Senior leaders held a buddy meet-and-greet event earlier this fall.

"I think each guy left that meeting excited about the potential for this program to flourish," said Ray Wright, an Upper School science teacher and faculty sponsor for the Landon-Holton Leadership Summit. "The purpose of the program is sticking with them."