They sit in the gym, playing cards and games of Guess Who?, flashing smiles and giggling.
In the cafeteria, students craft words in a competitive game of Scrabble. Behind the school in a training building, a couple of students kick soccer balls together.
It's Thursday afternoon at Lincoln Lutheran and Warrior Walk is underway.
The new program at the junior-senior high school pairs every seventh and eighth grader — 107 in total — with a high school mentor. Once a week, they meet in the afternoon to bond, share advice or just hang out.
Some pick board games or art projects. Others decide to shoot hoops or just talk.
"It's really cool that everyone can have someone in their corner," said senior Addy Blahauvietz, a member of the school's outreach team that organizes Warrior Walk.
That's especially important for middle school students navigating new routines, new friends and new environments. Trying to find their "fit" during a transitional period in their life.
"I like it because I get to talk to someone I look up to," said seventh grader Atley Janecek whose mentor is junior Ava Stroud. "I know that I can say, 'Hi,' to her. … If I ever have to talk to someone about something, I can go to her."
"When I was a seventh grader, I totally wish I had someone, an upperclassman, to talk to, to take time out of my day to hang out with," Stroud said.
Before he was a sixth grade teacher at Lincoln Lutheran, Sean Wieting worked in the restaurant and franchising business.
Then the former Husker football player discovered the power of mentorship and working with students through Tom Osborne's TeamMates program.
At Minnesota State University Moorhead, Brooklyn Schulte also learned about the positive impact a mentor could have. As a college student there, Schulte volunteered as a mentor at a homeless shelter.
"It was the best experience I've ever had in my life," said Schulte. "It definitely gave me a passion and a better understanding of the needs of kids and just the power of being there for someone."
Then she came to Lincoln Lutheran as a student teacher last year and met Wieting, who wanted to start a one-to-one mentoring program similar to TeamMates.
A program to ensure every middle school student has a Lincoln Lutheran Warrior to walk with.
Wieting took his idea to the school's Community Outreach Leadership Team (COLT), a group of students who find ways to serve others.
COLT had a tutoring program in the past that focused mostly on academics, but students like Clara Admiraal wanted to do more.
"It started out just as a passion," the senior said.
So last spring, Wieting and Schulte — now a sixth grade teacher and basketball coach at Lutheran — and the COLT team launched a small pilot program of just nine mentor pairs.
"It was really just to see if it could work," said Wieting, who will be the varsity football coach next fall.
It did.
"It was wildly successful," he said.Â
Not only did the middle school students see benefits, but so did their high school counterparts.
So, over dinner at Texas Roadhouse, Wieting and company discussed ways to expand it for the next school year.
They wanted to go big: Let's find mentors for all 107 seventh and eighth graders.
"They were all on board," Wieting said.
'Pretty massive undertaking'
Match day was in December.
Like a sorority rush, the students lined up in the gym, facing away from each other. On the count of three, the middle school students turned around to meet their mentors.
"They were hugging and high-fiving like they were long-lost friends," said Peg Aschwege, the school's communications director.
Getting to that moment took months of planning.
Wieting needed at least 107 mentors from the sophomore through senior classes to volunteer. Freshmen and sixth graders would have their own program where they met in groups, preparing to be a part of Warrior Walk in the future.
Out of the 123 sophomores, juniors and seniors, 95% said yes.
Then a match committee was formed — comprised of teachers, a guidance counselor and the outreach team — to come up with a matching process. Students took a survey and were matched on shared interests, like sports and personal traits.
TeamMates offered to help train mentors and give advice. They suggested the school find a name for the program, too, to make it their own.
Warrior Walk, the school decided, after Lutheran's mascot.
Blahauvietz and fellow senior Abi Combs, members of the outreach team, helped organize how the students would meet. There would be three groups — blue, white and gold, the school's colors — that would meet on a different day each week.
Lincoln Lutheran already had a 30-minute period built into the schedule after lunch for various activities, like clubs or chapel time.
Blahauvietz and Combs also organized separate group activities for sixth graders and the freshmen who will eventually transition into the program themselves.
"I think it brings the school together," Blahauvietz said.
"I wasn't very outgoing in middle school, so it would have helped me get out of my shell," Combs said.
Wieting, Schulte and the outreach team have covered all their bases, too. If a mentor is gone, there's a "bullpen" of extra students who can fill in so a mentee isn't left out.
A spreadsheet keeps track of it all.
"The logistics of it were a pretty massive undertaking," Wieting said. "It's been overwhelming … I feel like I'm just able to get my nose above the surface of the water."
'We know it's a big win'
On Thursday afternoon, Lincoln Lutheran is abuzz with activity.
In the school's smaller gym, pairs of students are spread out across the floor playing games. Down the hall, sixth graders and freshmen play sports in the larger gym.
In a separate building behind the school used for sports practices, more mentor pairs meet.
In a library, the extra "bullpen" of mentors study.
Warrior Walk has brought the school together.
"I think it feels more like a community," seventh grader Janecek said.
"It's kind of nice to have someone who's gone through it, and they can tell how it's going to be a little bit and help you through middle school," sophomore Trenton Kumm said.
Fellow sophomore Kaycee Meyer said it creates a more "comfortable" atmosphere for all.
"At least you know you have one person on your side," she said.
Wieting said he wants to eventually help other similar-sized schools in the area implement their own mentorship program.
Peer-to-peer mentoring, he says, is "where the rubber meets the road." It helps with attendance, behavior and academics. It improves students' mental health.
"It's not nothing," he said. "We're doing something. We know that mentoring is a win. We know it's a big win."
Leona Nissen (left) and Mackenzie Derowitsch chat during some one-on-one mentorship time at Lincoln Lutheran on Thursday. The 6-12 school has implemented a new mentor program called Warrior Walk that pairs a middle school student with a high school counterpart.