WOODBURY — During the months of December and January, students arrived at school and noticed unfamiliar faces at Nonnewaug High School. Shadowing is an opportunity for out-of-district eighth-graders interested in attending Nonnewaug to follow a student for the whole day and go through the typical student life of being a Chief.

“We set up applicants with a current ninth-grader in the agriscience program,” said Lee McMillan, first year director of agriscience at NHS. “We do this because we want the applicant to get an idea of what they will be seeing and doing their freshman year at Nonnewaug High School.”

McMillan was surprised at how many freshmen volunteered to become a shadower for the day. 

“I loved that our ninth-graders were so excited to volunteer to become a shadower’ because they have such pride in our school and our program that they want to show our incoming ninth-graders what they love so much about Nonnewaug and the agriscience program,” said McMillan.

McMillan was excited for her first year involved in shadowing.

“When application season rolls around, we get many [questions] from prospective ninth-graders and parents inquiring about the shadow program, even before applications are due,” said McMillan. “This is a true testament that this school is not a ‘best-kept secret.’ We see that our incoming students already have an interest in our school and want to spend a day getting to know our great school.”

Being a freshman for only a couple of months at Nonnewaug then becoming a shadower can be stressful and nerve-racking to many. 

“I was chosen to have a shadow, and at first I was stressed and dreading it, but once I got my shadow, I was totally fine,” said Cierra Billings, a freshman at Nonnewaug. “My favorite part about it was being able to make someone have a better experience than I did shadowing.”

Billings wanted to make sure the person she was shadowing had a better experience than she did. 

“Before I shadowed, I was set on this school but after I shadowed, I almost backed out,” said Billings. “I didn’t want that to happen to her, and I also loved having an excuse to roam the halls.”