Camp Parkview Greets Freshmen, Parents

The question was a good one.

"Are our kids hearing what we're hearing today?" one mother asked during Monday's Camp orientation session held for the Lilburn high school's rising freshmen and their parents.

"Yes, they're definitely hearing that same thing," answered Kim Brusch, Parkview's ninth-grade counselor.

The messages were the same for both parents and students during the morning-long session, a get-acquainted program held through the Parkview Community School to help ease the tensions that can come from the students' biggest school move of their lives so far.

While the aspiring high-schoolers spent the morning elsewhere in the school with student counselors, around 50 parents spent most of the time in the auditorium listening to PHS staff members about policies and expectations on attendance, lunches, academic performance, extracurricular activities and much, much more.

The point was to decrease the confusion and surprises that may come on Aug. 8, the first day of classes, and pave the foundation for high-school success.

One message made perfectly clear: Don't get behind early.

"When I was a freshman," said Sydney Sparks, a senior who addressed the parents, "I didn't realize how important it was to have a good start ... my grades reflected that."

Assistant principal Carla Hamilton made the most poignant point by staffers: Your kids will be in good hands.

"We're resonsible for your child from here until they walk through your door," she said. "I will treat your son or your daughter like my own."

The program ended with an hour-long session with motivational speaker Larry Veal, founder of B Moe Positive, a non-profit company student mentoring program, who told parents that it's important to treat their children as "achievers."