It is the week before school starts, yet RM’s bus loop is packed with people eating, talking, and running to-and-fro to Color Guard flags. A dazzling procession of trifolds runs along the front side of the school, speakers blare pop music, and the smell of an inviting grill fills the air. This was the site of the annual Freshman Barbecue, held to welcome the incoming freshman class.

This year’s barbecue took place on August 31 from 5-7 p.m., a second welcoming to the freshman orientation held earlier that morning. The event was coordinated by our new assistant principal Ms. Kimberly Brooks and the SGA, which put together a ‘Welcome Back’ video for the occasion. A performance by the marching band kicked off the event, where hot dogs and hamburgers were served hot-grilled by volunteers from the booster club and athletic department.

RM’s multitude of clubs set up stands with hopes of recruiting new members. These clubs found various ways of drawing the crowd’s attention, with Quizbowl demoing practice questions and junior Nimah Nayel dancing to promote DC Lockdown, her dance troupe. The majority, though, opted for less flashy exhibits–most stands made do with a simple poster extolling the club’s achievements and baked goods as an extra incentive.

Some particularly prominent clubs made a showing; the Student DECA organization, devoted to preparing its members to be “emerging leaders and entrepreneurs”, was one of the first clubs to set up a table. Other well-known clubs such as the literary magazine Fine Lines, our academic Honor Societies, Model UN, and the Science Club were present as well. And let’s not forget the array of other clubs devoted to a wide range of different subject matter, from puzzles to medical careers.

From many club leaders’ perspectives, the Freshman Barbecue was a precursor to the club fair and back-to-school night; it was a chance, especially for newer, upcoming clubs, to gain name recognition among the underclassmen. Junior Matthew Kolodner, co-president of the newly formed Awareness and Preservation of Endangered Species (APES) club, explained, “I would say this was a helpful way of making ourselves known, particularly since we are a new club; there were at least seven to eight people we recruited.”

For the incoming freshmen, the wide variety of clubs welcomed them with promises of shared interest and support. “I think students were able to kind of find that they fit in, taking away that nervousness that some of them might have had coming in,” Ms. Brooks said. “There’s something for everyone.”

Although club and food stands were popular, many students found the barbecue to be an ideal environment for socializing with old friends and meeting new ones. Throughout the bus loop, students, teachers, and parents alike played frisbee and football. Freshman Olif Abose recalled, “I met a lot of people I knew, but there were some new faces here and there and meeting and getting to know them was a great experience.”

The barbecue was one of many events that will be held this school year to promote a sense of community between the incoming freshmen In October, freshmen will be invited to Freshman Unity Day. Whereas the barbecue gave everyone a delicious first taste of RM, the Unity Day will emphasize team-building and encouraging all freshmen, both IB and non-IB, to come together as one class of 2021.