PHOENIX — It’s back to school for many students around the Valley.
Phoenix Union kicked off its school year and welcomed nearly 7,000 freshmen.
“It’s amazing,” said Stephanie Streeter, principal at Trevor Browne High School. “I’m so proud of all of our staff, our students and our community."
Trevor Browne High School is celebrating its 50th year.
The school has over 3,000 students including 800 freshmen.
District-wide, PXU is up nearly 1,000 students compared to this time last year.
"I'm feeling nervous but I'm really excited to experience something new,” said freshman Jackilynn Gil.
Her friend, Daniel Tapia, agreed. "Kind of overwhelming, I'm excited to be here and stuff...it's really cool,” he said.
Freshmen at Trevor Browne were welcomed by cheerleaders and staff and given two hours to tour the campus before attending a special assembly.
“I didn't expect that at all,” said Tapia.
This will also be the first year the school uses a program called the Freshman Academy where it breaks large groups of students into smaller cohorts.
"So our freshman academy teachers have the same 150 students that they can wrap services around so not only support them academically but socially and emotionally,” said Streeter.
One of the freshmen teachers told ABC15 that she thinks building relationships helps students succeed.
"I think the biggest thing is relationships,” said Rocio Rivas, a freshmen English teacher. "And having each student build a relationship with a trusted adult here and even within their classrooms with their peers next to them,” she added.
Meanwhile, students say they plan on doing well academically but look forward to extracurricular activities also.
"I want to try cheerleading or softball, I did softball last year in middle school, it was fun,” said Gil.
"If I'm being honest, I'm looking forward to the prom. I've never had one,” said Tapia.
