At School Year’s Start, Wilbur Cross Keeps Growing

On the third day of the 2023 – 24 school year, Wilbur Cross sophomores Charlotte Herzog, Alma Barjamovic, and Maya Harpaz-Levi reminisced on a summer of travels to Denmark, Israel, Ireland, and Maine — while also celebrating their return to the city’s largest public high school, which they described as overflowing with opportunity, variety, and diversity.

That was the scene at dismissal time at around 2 p.m. Tuesday at Wilbur Cross High School’s 181 Mitchell Dr. campus in East Rock. 

Cross is the largest school in the district, with 1,770 students enrolled — a jump of 150 from last year — according to Principal Matt Brown. 

Herzog, Barjamovic, and Harpaz-Levi said they’ve had a successful first three days of school so far and can’t wait to continue at a school that continues to grow and grow, even if the size of the school can sometimes present challenges.

The trio of sophomores were three of a handful of Cross students this reporter interviewed at dismissal time on Tuesday, in a bid to understand a bit better who’s attending Cross this year, how they spent their summer, what’s on their minds and what they’re looking forward to in the year ahead. 

Herzog said her first few days of school have been good so far and she’s glad to be back at Cross with her friends and in classes she enjoys. 

Barjamovic said she’s had fun experiencing new classes so far but is struggling to get her class transfer request put through to switch out of some classes because of the large school’s high number of student requests at the start of the year. 

Harpaz-Levi said she got all the classes she really wanted this year and has nice teachers. The only down side is ​“it’s so hard waking up,” she said. 

Harpaz-Levi added that, ​“I feel like it’s more crowded this year than last year.”

When asked about whether they have Covid-related concerns while back in school, the trio said changes made as a result of the pandemic have since been completely phased out and now most have forgotten it was even a thing. 

The one change that does remain consistent as a result of the pandemic is the use of Google Classrooms and having digital classwork in courses, they said.

“There’s not much paper anymore,” Barjamovic said. 

Herzog said she does not like the constant use of technology, especially when it comes to having to do assignments like reading on the computer. 

“I can’t focus when I’m on a computer, I just can’t read things well on a computer screen,” she said. ​“I just like being able to write things with a pencil.” 

Barjamovic said, ​“I like computers. I think it’s like a lot easier than paper, but paper’s still nice sometimes.”

Harpaz-Levi too said she prefers using computers but the increased technology use does come with flaws like getting in trouble when you forget to charge the computer. 

"There's Just A Lot Of Everything"

Of the eight classes the three of them each take, Herzog said her favorites so far are journalism, Advanced Placement United States History (APUSH), and AP seminar. Barjamovic’s favorites are cartooning, intro to film studies, and biology. And Harpaz-Levi most enjoys biology, AP seminar, and acting. 

When asked about how the transition from summer to the school year has gone, Harpaz-Levi said it’s been been smooth so far because her teachers have started off simple and are allowing students to first get re-accustomed to class, ​“so that makes it less horrible.” 

She added that it has been a struggle waking up earlier in the morning, and going to sleep earlier at night.

Barjamovic said she enjoys the freedom of the summer but ​“I think the teachers make it good because they don’t come on so strong and they let us ease into it.”

Herzog said she would have preferred to have ​“done more in the first few days instead of just kind of sitting there.” Nevertheless she said she’s enjoyed the first few days.

The highlight of their summers were Barjamovic visiting her family in Denmark, Harpaz-Levi visiting family in Israel and Ireland, and Herzog spending a month and a half decompressing in Maine. 

The trio agreed that the best part of Cross is its variety. ​“There’s just a lot of everything,” Herzog said. 

They noted school gems like courses in ceramics, automotive, business, and wood working. 

“Anything you want, you can find in here,” Herzog said. 

They also enjoy being surrounded by the student and staff diversity, they agreed. 

“Even if you’re not learning from your class, you’re learning about people from just sitting next to them,” Herzog said. 

Barjamovic added that the big high school has given her more opportunity to find friends with her different interests. 

The trio look forward to joining the school newspaper, The Proclamation, and the environmental club when extracurriculars start up for the year. 

They are also thinking about starting their own club focused on improving the school by fundraising for different school projects to support educators and physical building improvements. 

Principal: Focusing On Belonging

On Thursday, day five of the school year, Cross Principal Matt Brown reported that that the school’s enrollment is now up to 1,770.

Brown said that one of the school’s approaches towards welcoming an increasing student population involves building up students’ sense of connectedness to the school.

As a result of the Covid pandemic and growing population, school communities across the nation are still tasked with working through feelings of disconnection and isolation while at school, he said.

“We want to move from this space of students just feeling respected to them also saying, ​‘I really feel like people here understand where I’m coming from and where I want to get,’ ” Brown said. 

The school aims to foster a sense of belonging by extending homeroom periods at the start of school days, in which student diversity can be celebrated and talked through. 

“We want to tell their stories and build them up. And when we do that it not only makes our school better but hopefully the city too,” he added. 

The first five days of school for Brown have been focused on welcoming students and supporting teachers as they launch classes. 

He’s also focused the first days on helping students and staff to rid their nerves and anxiety about the new year. 

“It’s fun and exciting and going a million miles per hour,” Brown said. 

Brown’s priorities for the year include improving students’ sense of belonging, providing deep support for educators, building up high quality instruction, and tightening up the way the school functions, Brown said.

“Teaching has never been more difficult and has never been more important,” Brown added. 

"Too Many Personalities;" New Haven's No Brooklyn

Tuesday was freshman Quintell Suggs’ first day of school. He described the day as a seven out of ten and said it wasn’t bad. 

So far he said he enjoys Cross because he knows people there. 

He added though that he spent much of his school day getting lost but was able to make it to all of his classes. 

Suggs said he was well-prepared for high school while attending Beecher School. 

Sophomore Brianna Ayala rated her third day of school a five out of ten. That’s because she said Cross ​“has too many personalities.”

While waiting for her father to pick her up outside of Cross, Ayala added that she was raised in Brooklyn and prefers New York over New Haven. She moved to New Haven nine years ago and described it as boring. 

In the future she hopes to transfer to Eli Whitney Technical High School to pursue her interest in Health Technology. Her dream job is to be an obstetrician because ​“I love babies so much, they’re so cute.” 

She also enjoys hobbies in photography and poetry, and hopes to join the track team. She said she’s glad Cross has extracurriculars for all of her interests. 

The transition from summer to the school year has been difficult for the past week for Ayala, who said her sleeping schedule is ​“messed up.”

This is because during the summer she was used to staying awake until seven in the morning and sleeping in until five in the afternoon. Now she’s trying to change this habit to avoid being sleepy in class. ​“It’s so hard to wake up,” she said. 

Cross’ school day runs from 7:30 a.m to 2 p.m.

Her favorite class so far is English because it includes a lot of poetry. 

“My main goal is to focus and get my work done so I can make my mom happy,” she said. 

She added that a goal she has during high school is to get a job to make money.