On the morning of August 9, 2021, Mountain Brook Elementary welcomed more than twenty new students in grades first through sixth, and their parents. The Newcomers Welcome Tour has become a valued tradition at the school over the past several years. New students and their parents are introduced and welcomed to the school by Principal Ashley McCombs, Assistant Principal Brannon Aaron, Counselor Anna Carlisle, and PTO President Amy Moore. 

This year, PTO committee members Erin Teague and Amy Kelly organized the event with great enthusiasm and thoughtfulness. For Teague, the newcomers event holds special meaning as it was only six years ago that her oldest two children were invited to attend as newcomers themselves.  She recalls her sons, then in third and first grade, being warmly received: “When our family attended the Newcomers Welcome, I realized immediately that this event was as much for my children as it was for me as a parent anticipating a major life change.” Teague has been helping with the event ever since. 

After planning a somewhat abbreviated version of the event in 2020 due to pandemic restrictions, Teague and Kelly were excited to again host this year’s newcomers in the traditional style.  As parents and students were welcomed into the school building, each student was introduced to a “mentor” student who would be in their homeroom classroom.  These mentor students were intended to be a friendly face to recognize on the first day of school. Assistant Principal Aaron emphasized the importance of this for the students by stating that “not only do our students serving as mentors have the opportunity to truly lead from the heart when they welcome our new friends, but also all new students feel more confident as they navigate the first days in a new school.” 

After their introductions, the mentor/newcomer pairs set off on a scavenger hunt throughout the school building where the mentors guided the new students in identifying and locating important school spaces like the library media center, lunchroom, gym, special classrooms, and their classrooms.

Meanwhile, parents enjoyed time with administrators and Mrs. Carlisle to discuss necessary information about MBE. After parents and students were reunited for doughnuts and milk with their new friends. Newcomer parent Katie Little has been “so impressed with how the school has gone above and beyond” in making her first and third grade sons feel welcome and “a part of the Lancer family.” 

This welcome event has had lasting effects for parents and students, new and returning, at MBE and does not end after the first day of school. Throughout the school year, new students at MBE are invited to lunches with Mrs. Carlisle who enjoys time listening to the students’ experiences and first impressions of MBE. 

According to Teague, the Newcomers Welcome Tour “impacted my kids and me so greatly and so positively that I wanted to be able to give others the same experience.” It seems like she, Kelly, and the entire team leading MBE are doing just that! 

*article submitted to MBE by Maggie O'Connor*