By MATT BOWER

As the school department prepares to consolidate Aldrich and Gorton junior highs and turn Warwick Veterans High School into a super junior high, sending Vets students to either Toll Gate or Pilgrim next school year, many are on edge. It is a time of uncertainty, with many questions left unanswered as the details of the transition continue to be worked out, but a group of student leaders from all three high schools are showing everyone how to handle the situation, which is through cooperation and respect for one another.

Prior to Christmas vacation, a group of Toll Gate students visited Warwick Vets and met with student leaders in an effort to make Vets students more comfortable with the transition next year.

“Toll Gate created a transition team of teachers, the principal, and student junior leaders and they contacted me to meet [with Vets students],” said Vets Principal Gerry Habershaw. “The Toll Gate students are really leading things over there. After the meeting, Vets students felt better about having to go to Toll Gate.”

Habershaw said the two groups plan to continue meeting to talk about doing more things down the line, such as orientations and student shadowing.

“There will be school tours and presentations in the auditorium for students and parents in the future,” he said. “This is good to make kids feel better about the move.”

Following the Christmas break, a group of Vets junior leaders visited Pilgrim along with Habershaw to meet with Pilgrim junior leaders and class advisors on Jan. 6.

Pilgrim junior class advisor Charlene Wheeler, a special education teacher, said the impetus for the meeting was to discuss what to do about junior and senior proms, which now need to be rebooked with the addition of Vets students joining Pilgrim students next year.

“We had junior and senior proms already booked at Quidnessett Country Club, but when they decided to merge [the schools], we realized Quidnessett had to be changed because it wasn’t large enough,” Wheeler said. “Now this was not just our choice; the students wanted to talk it over with the Vets students. They wanted to do things right and realized they needed to consider the Vets students and wanted them involved in the decision process.”

After talking with Habershaw and Vets junior class advisor Andrea Hainey, an English teacher and a friend of Wheeler’s, the meeting at Pilgrim was arranged.

“It worked better to meet during the day because the students are involved in so many sports and after school activities,” Wheeler said.

Wheeler said the capacity at Quidnessett is 400, but with the schools merging, they would need to look at locations that could accommodate 600 to 800 students. Once everyone agreed on Rhodes on the Pawtuxet and West Valley Inn as possibilities, the discussion moved on to answering questions, sharing concerns and talking about activities, sports and clubs that are offered at Pilgrim, such as Bingo night and After Prom Extravaganza (APE), as well as Vets traditions that could be carried over, such as a tailgate held before the Homecoming football game and having seniors sit on couches and arm chairs in the end zone during the game.

One student explained APE as, “an event held at the school with a lot of activities set up to get students together and have fun in a safe environment so you’re not out making bad decisions.”

Another tradition Vets students talked about was the leadership academy inviting elementary school students to a visit with Santa at a Winter Wonderland setup filled with cookies, ornaments, and music.

“The students are very welcoming and know they would feel bad if they had to go to another school for their final year,” Wheeler said of Pilgrim junior leaders.

Habershaw agreed, saying, “When you talk with Pilgrim students, they seem very welcoming to Vets students and they can empathize with the transition for Vets students.”

Habershaw said he began his teaching career at Pilgrim in 1990 and he’s looking forward to returning there as principal next year.

“We met with Toll Gate students at Vets before winter break and afterwards the Vets students felt more comfortable about the move,” he said to students. “As the year progresses, we will hold night activities for all students involved in the transition.”

Habershaw said there are a number of renovations planned to improve Pilgrim facilities, such as work on the bathrooms that is already underway and potentially adding turf to the athletic fields.

One of the questions from Vets students was whether or not Pilgrim ran a school store, which it does not. Habershaw explained that the Vets school store is run through its DECA program (also not currently offered at Pilgrim), which he described as a business club that competes nationally all over the country.

“The Vets school store with DECA is run two days a week during an advisory period,” he said. “Kids work in the store through an independent study and get credit for it.”

Pilgrim students talked about the $100,000 grant the school won last year that provided the school with “the most state-of-the-art, up-to-date technologically advanced audio production studio in the state,” complete with a 20-foot green screen, allowing students to record music and television.

“I would like to put a TV in every classroom for school announcements,” Habershaw said.

Pilgrim students also discussed the school’s “state-of-the-art drama program” run by English teacher Richard Denningham, “who really gets into it,” adding, “a lot of theatre program kids continue it in college.”

That could be a welcome change for Vets students, as Hainey said Vets hasn’t had a consistent drama club advisor so students aren’t that into it.

Hainey said Vets is desperately hoping its various academies, such as leadership academy, will continue to run next year at Pilgrim.

“They have been very successful and I think you would thrive and love it,” she said to Pilgrim students. “Nearly all Vets leadership students are part of the leadership academy. We go on trips together; it becomes a family atmosphere.”

Pilgrim students also asked Vets what they do for fundraisers, since they need to work on theirs.

“We like to donate profits to charity, but unfortunately we didn’t make as much with our pastry fundraiser as we expected, so when we donated, we didn’t have much left for the class,” one student said.

Hainey said the most popular fundraisers at Vets are for school-oriented items, such as clothes and Christmas ornaments.

Following the meeting, Pilgrim students took Vets students on a tour of the school and showed them the audio production studio and green screen.

Habershaw said both Toll Gate and Pilgrim have been very welcoming to Vets.

“It’s good to see,” he said, adding he doesn’t think students will have much trouble with the transition. “A lot of these kids have grown up together and played sports together, so they know each other.”