Colts Care week is a brand new event this year at school, organized by Assistant Principal Brian Zawislak and a number of counselors. The event took place from Sept. 3-7. The week was dedicated to making students feel comfortable and safe at school. A number of athletic teams and various clubs helped out to make the event a success.

One of the guidance counselors, Shanna Frendt, had come up the idea after remembering a similar event at Central Michigan University. She brought this idea to the attention of administration, and soon Colts Care week was being planned across the school.

“‘Welcome Weekend’ and ‘Say Hey’ week were at the beginning of school every fall,” Frendt said. “[It] just really set the tone that it was a welcoming place and that it was a fun place to be.”

The week was created with the vision of giving students something to think about other than school and making clubs and extracurriculars easier to access.

“I thought that Troy High needed this,” Frendt said. “It’s a pretty academically intense place, and we need to balance that with a little bit more fun that’s supposed to be in high school. We have so many students who want to get involved in things and sometimes with a big school there’s so many things to do and ‘how do I get involved and what do I do?’”

Zawislak also said that the idea fit perfectly into the core values the school: making sure students feel as welcome as possible.

“Part of our world class vision from [Troy School District Superintendent Richard Machesky] of a social-emotional peace is that there is a connection to the building,” Zawislak said. “That helped motivate us to get there. Just the idea of having kids come to school, feel safe… and find their own niche.”

Administration was involved in handing out bracelets and greeting students at the doors, but they weren’t the only ones willing to help make the school a better place.

“On Monday, we had our personal communications class help out,” Zawislak said. “Our cheer and dance teams helped greet kids as they came into school. At lunch, we had the leadership class do some games out in the courtyard and after school that day, the drumline was out in front sending students off on the buses.”

Many students during the course of the week were actively involved in Colts Care week, including senior Luke Kozlowski.

“We got to school around 6:45 and tried to pump up the underclassman walking in,” Kozlowski said. “I wanted to help bring a welcoming environment to the school.”

The event took the effort of many people, and Zawislak says that he has received positive feedback from students and parents alike. He hopes that the school will see this event return in years to come.

“We certainly talked about having another club fair next semester to recharge this idea,” Zawislak said. “I don’t know if we’re gonna do another extravagant event this year, but maybe something on an annual basis just to kick the year off and let students know that there’s all these opportunities available.”