MATTAPOISETT — For Old Rochester Regional High School Principal Michael Devoll, the theme of the 2025-2026 school year will be consistency.

“Kids will recognize the school they return to,” he said.

Of the few changes coming to the high school, the school is launching a new program this year called freshman seminar that is designed to make sure incoming freshmen have great study skills and great organizational skills.

Devoll and the teaching staff began developing the program two years ago to answer an array of questions surrounding the key to student success.

Questions Devoll and staff members looked to answer include how to strengthen skills students may already have and how consistency can be brought to what they’re doing.

“We’re going to infuse in those classes … those important skills that we think kids will need for the next four years,” he said.

Devoll gave an example of a way the program could benefit learning in English classes.

“If I’m a ninth grade English teacher, I can go and speak to the freshmen seminar teachers and say, ‘Hey, here’s an upcoming challenging text that we’re reading and this is some of the things that kids are going to need to be able to do to be successful,” he said.

Of the program, Devoll said, “I hope that we look back in five years and say it was one of those, ‘Wow, how did we work before this? How did kids survive without it?’”

This will also be the first year that students will take midterm exams, which Devoll said will give students the opportunity to work on the skills they learn in freshman seminar, prepare students for finals and give teachers a mid-year checkpoint to assess how students are performing.

According to Devoll, the school will also look to place an emphasis on community service.

“This is the high school for the three towns, and giving back to the community and being a community presence is important,” he said.

He noted that during Harbor Days students on the football team volunteered to help put the event together, which he said “really [set] a strong example for the rest of our student organizations to follow.”

“I think the community can look for more of that,” he said.

Devoll noted that there is a “very veteran teaching staff returning,” with no new teachers hired this year.

“Our staff is extremely experienced and has been predominantly working here for a number of years,” he said.

Devoll had some advice for new students.

“For freshmen, I always say to look for the red shirts,” he said. “We’ve got an ambassador club, which is made up of 70 students that will be wearing red ambassador shirts on the first day of school.

He explained that their mission is to help new students find their way, open lockers and provide a welcoming environment.

And for returning students, “Being a year older and having been here, they will know and count on a consistent approach and the same staff, the same mentors that they’ve had for the past few years.”

“Consistency is important regardless of your grade level,” Devoll said.