No school activities are guaranteed to occur these days. 

But school administrators and faculty have worked hard to ensure that the Raider Rush for incoming freshmen will happen. 

“We thought it was a priority because we’re introducing freshmen,” assistant principal Sally Mroczkowski said. “We just thought, ‘We’ll do it however we can do it’ and knew that it would happen, but we may have to tweak things.”

This year’s Raider Rush will occur tonight from 6-7:30 p.m. throughout the school. Many Rider organizations including athletics, student council and theatre will have informational tables set up in the cafeteria. Due to capacity limits, attendees will only be allowed to bring no more than two family members. 

“We can’t have as many people on campus, they can’t bring their entire families,” senior class sponsor Alisha Crouch said. “They’re meeting us, but they’re not seeing all of us because we have our masks on. There’s just that little uncertainty.”

Raider Rush first occurred in the spring of 2020 as an event that could help incoming freshmen with scheduling, academics and getting to know school traditions. The purpose is to get current eighth graders comfortable with the atmosphere of the school and to meet with prospective organizations. 

“It was actually Dr. (Cody) Blair’s idea. He just really wanted an event to be able to get these eighth graders on campus before Freshman Corral to try to get them with their scheduling and academics,” Crouch said. “Just so they can really understand what to expect in high school and get them excited for it.”

Making the transition from middle to high school as easy as possible for incoming freshmen is the main priority for Rider faculty. 

“We’re so fortunate to have faculty and staff here that are all in and want kids to feel comfortable and maintain a family environment,” Crouch said. “We just want everyone to feel as comfortable as possible.”