In the high school’s Buccaneer University eighth-to-ninth grade transition program, created by Assistant Principal Lisa Ward and school counselor Nicole Hall, high school students are recommended by teachers to participate in being mentors to incoming ninth graders throughout the latter’s freshman year.

Once BU mentors are selected, they are assigned to a group of eighth graders at the middle school; these mentors will remain with the same groups of students throughout the transition process so that the younger students recognize a familiar face at the high school. In the first of four meetings, BU mentors visit the eighth grade to introduce themselves and answer any questions they have about the high school. Next, the eighth graders visit the high school and participate in eighth grade rounds, led by the mentors, who then visit the eighth grade again to answer any follow-up questions. In the last visit, which takes place the week before school starts, BU mentors lead their groups in icebreaker activities and classroom presentations providing information on the start of school.