Eric Simoni remembered when he first came to East Union High.

At Friday’s freshmen orientation day, the principal of the school pointed to a section of one the baskets at the Dalben Center, where he would later excel as a player and also coach hoops for the Lancers.

His point to the Class of 2029 is that the high school years go pretty fast so “enjoy it,” he said.

The morning event was once again orchestrated by Link Crew, which is a high school transition program designed to support incoming freshmen by pairing them upperclassmen mentors better known as Link Leaders.

This year, EU has 65 Link Leaders involved in the year-round program.

“They’ll help you with everything except your schedule,” said teacher and Link Crew advisor Denise Runyon.

East Union has 437 freshmen this year, making it one of its biggest-ever classes with the first day of school being on Monday,

She once again engaged freshmen in attendance into a “Simon Sez” ice-breaking activity prior to their introduction to the Link Leaders – this large group of students was then broken up into smaller groups.

One of the highlights of the day was a tour of the renovated campus that, according to Simoni, was dominated by portable classrooms not too long ago.

“It’s now a beautiful, beautiful campus,” said Runyon.

Among the new attractions on campus – the EU renovations were made possible by Measure A – include the small gym equipped with a new weight room and indoor PE facility to accommodate wrestling and aerobics.

The most high-profile component of the modernization, said contractor CT Brayton & Sons, is the new two-story building with 31 classrooms and a new media center.

“Everyone will utilize that building,” Simoni said.