The hallways were more crowded on Feb. 26 as Fresh Perspectives tours were taking place. Junior and senior students guided the eighth graders through the building.

Student guides, like senior STUCO member Reeve Torres thought that the high school guides took on a teacher-like role as they shared their knowledge about the building.

“When they come in, we kind of act teacher-y, or like mentors,” Torres said. “I mean, we’ve been through four years of this. I think we know a thing or two by now.”

For high school principal Melissa Barlow, the tours were about more than filling seats. They were about removing the mystery of what lies behind the heavy school doors on a regular day.

“The goal is to get the students enrolled,” Barlow said. “But then also I feel like getting them inside the school during school hours, so that they can see how the students act and what a normal day of school looks like.”

Middle School Assistant Principal Richard Barlow saw it as an opportunity to step out of their bubble and into a live environment where his students could peel back scary perceptions and see their future selves in those hallways.

“Our eighth graders get the chance to walk around the building and see that it is not a scary place,” Barlow said. “Some of our students may be apprehensive about the high school experience, but getting to experience the hallways and get a feel for YHS helps to ease many of those fears.”

​The student tour guides didn’t just point out classrooms, they also showed the young Millers how to get involved and acted as the ultimate insiders, explaining how to join clubs and find a place in the school’s social scene.

“They’re going to learn and see what all the school has to offer, like how they can sign up for these events and be a part of things,” said Torres.

For Richard Barlow, the tours acted as a reminder of his own past as a Miller. Watching his middle school students walk the halls of his alma mater under the guidance of his past students.

“I will always be a proud Miller and an alumnus,” said Barlow. “ The skills that our kids are taking with them into the world after high school are increasingly impressive, along with the types of people they are as they enter into the next chapter of their lives.”