Yorkton Regional High School hosted its first ever, Orientation Day, on September 1, 2011. Orientation Day accomplished what it set out to do, which was to orient new students to the Land of Orange, specifically all grade 9 students and any new comers to any other grade.
YRHS teachers have all been assigned an advisor group which we have named R.C.R (Raiders Connecting Raiders). Prior to September 1, 2011 all teachers attempted to phone their RCR grade 9 students. This was their official welcome and invite to our school. It gave them an idea of what to expect for the day and what to bring. Our SRC, decked out in orange Raider gear, greeted the students first thing in the morning. In summary, the students followed a regular school schedule broken into six periods.
In Period 1 the students met their RCR Advisor in person while getting to know one another over a pancake breakfast. This was followed by an Ice-Breaker Activity in the gymnasium led by our new Vice-Principal, Mr. Needham. YRHS extends a huge thank you to Sobeys, Coop and McDonald's for sponsoring our pancake breakfast.
During Period 2 students went with their RCR advisor to check their timetables, locker combinations, demographic and medical information. Teachers took their students on a tour of the school leading them through their timetable.
A Grade Assembly took place in the Anne Portnuff Theatre during Period 3. At this point, staff members were introduced to our students by their Department Head. Important new policies were introduced and attention was drawn to important "First day of School" routines. Some lucky grade 9 students won Raider Gear. The highlight was Tanner Mak and Steven St. Marie being adorned with a special "Orange Hat" ceremony led by Mr. Haczkewicz.
Lunch in Period 4 allowed for some unstructured time while students enjoyed a Hot Dog lunch sponsored by Harvest Meats and the Coop. Unfortunately, the weather did not allow us to proceed with our original plan of heading to the football field to enjoy some outdoor activities and sports.
Period 5 allowed for individual RCR Advisor time. Teachers reviewed 7 school policies with their students regarding; cell phone use, attendance, exemption, appropriate dress / language, fighting / bullying, smoking, alcohol / drugs.
A registration for Extra Curricular Activities took place in Period 6. All teachers that host an extra-curricular activity were given the opportunity to set up a booth in the gym, advocating their activity. There were 22 booths set up.
The rest of the teachers joined in with the supervision of the RCR groups and got the students to the gym. The Cheerleaders were in the middle of the gym stunting and cheering. The guitar club was entertaining us with acoustic music. The band booth had a running slide show of past band trips on a computer monitor, the car show had two huge tires attracting students to their booth, the robotic club had student made robots electronically being controlled by students. The robots were moving around the gym shooting balls out in the direction of students who were attempting to catch them with a fish net. The computer room was their final destination, as they learned their log in user name and did an evaluative survey on their Orientation Day!
