Freshmen and sophomores are praising social events organized in the opening weeks of the school year by the Associated Student Body at Palo Alto High School.

Because this is the first year of in-person school for both freshmen and many sophomores, Paly ASB has hosted a dance, ice cream social, and orientation to introduce these newer students to the school community.

ASB Sophomore Vice President Sophia Kim said that she has been working to make Paly more accessible to newer students.

“We’ve been doing as much as we can to try and get the new students more acquainted with the campus and kind of find their way into Paly,” Kim said. “We’re always working towards making the next bonding event to try and create a sense of community within Paly.”

On Friday, many freshmen and sophomores attended the Welcome Back Dance that ASB hosted. Kim said that she hoped that the dance will help both older and newer students adjust back to in-person life at Paly.

“I’m really hoping that this welcome back dance will be a social [event] for people to talk to one another,” Kim said. “And that my grade shows up and shows up with spirit, and uses this as an opportunity to meet new people in a more casual non-school setting.”

Orientation helped newer students meet face-to-face for the first time, according to freshman Til Kreht, who said he thought the event was well-organized and ASB students were helpful.

“Everybody knew where to go, and they got the people together and talking,” Kreht said. “[Our guide] answered all the questions we had, and he knew the answers to everything we wanted to know about.”

Kreht said that orientation helped freshmen understand the layout and culture of Paly, even before the first day of school.

“It was really helpful because I didn’t know where to go before, but after that, I felt pretty confident that I knew what to do,” Kreht said.

The ice cream social two weeks ago also helped newer students get to know each other. Sophomore Susanna Aufrichtig said that ice cream was a great way to attract students and help them get to know each other.

“It was a little hectic; there were a lot of people kind of cramming in, but it was pretty fun,” Aufrichtig said. “Honestly I don’t think there’s much you can do to control that number of people who want ice cream.”