Each fall, the underclassmen among Monaca High School's cheerleaders make mementos for the seniors. This year, incoming sophomore Brooke Workman is doing her part.

"We're making scrapbooks for the seniors," she said. "But when I'm a senior, is anyone going to make anything for me?"

Brooke, who is class treasurer, is asking that question because in two years she will be part of a newly merged school district with no history and no traditions and, most likely, with stiff competition for cheerleading roles.

"It's frustrating," said classmate Evan DeChellis, class vice president. "You have this mind-set that your senior year is going to be your year. Instead we're going to be like the new kids in a whole new school."

High school students from Monaca will move up the hill into what is now Center Area High School under the merger agreement between the districts.

This year's sophomores at both schools will make up the first senior class at the new high school -- whatever its name turns out to be.

That may seem like an honor, but it doesn't feel that way to the kids involved. After 11 years of buildup and of looking forward to being at the top of the heap, sophomores in both schools expect their senior year to be a time of change, turmoil and adjustment.

"It's like a big experiment, and we're the lab rats," said Center Area sophomore Nick Bakertges, sophomore class president.

There will be no traditions, or at least none shared by all. There will be no ingrained sense of loyalty to the school. There will be no Indians or Trojans mascots, no predominant red or blue and no established culture. Being a senior won't mean what it is supposed to mean.

"I don't like that it will be our last year," said John Fratangeli, Center Area sophomore class vice president.

"I think [the merger] will be good education-wise," said Dominic Belcastro, Center Area sophomore class treasurer. "There will be more teachers to pull from, and our funding will be better."

"I think there will be more opportunity having a bigger class," Nick Bakertges said. "When you go apply to colleges, and you're in the top 10 percent of your class but it's only a class of 50, what does that mean?"

The class officers acknowledged that being bigger should allow for more advanced classes, and a broader range of classes. There will most likely be more sports to choose from and more variety in other extracurricular activities, especially for those coming from the much smaller Monaca.

They also predicted that the new student body would come together fairly quickly, that new loyalties and new traditions would sprout up in a few short years. They don't, however, expect any of those things to happen in time for their senior year.

"I think the first year's going to be crazy," said Center Area class secretary Nick DeLisio. "It will be a big mess."

Monaca class president Brittany Campbell said she can't see kids from the two schools mixing socially that much. "We're going to stay with our group, and they're going to stay with theirs," she said.

"They're going to push us all together and think it's going to go well, and it's not going to happen," said Monaca sophomore class secretary Chelsea Brown.

Evan noted that while there may be more sports available, they'll be ones he and other Monaca students have not played before, putting them at a disadvantage. And for his class, "just as you're feeling comfortable, it's over."

Brittany, meanwhile, is worried about having to try out for the basketball team, instead of taking a leadership role as a senior with other girls she's been playing with for years. And if the coaches are from Center, "I think they're just going to play the Center kids and not the Monaca kids."

In general, the Center students were far less worried about the merger's impact than the Monaca students. Center has about 170 in its class compared with about 90 from Monaca.

The smaller Monaca class will leave those students as a distinct minority in the new school. And since they're going to Center's school, they are concerned about losing their identity altogether.

"I was born in Monaca and have gone to school there my whole life," Brittany said. "Now we're going to have new teachers, and they're not going to know you. In Monaca, everybody knows you."

"Football season is like humongous in Monaca," Chelsea said. "Everyone goes to the football game every Friday. It just won't be that exciting at a new school."

Dominic and John, both Center Area football players, noted that football is not exactly small at Center either. "On Fridays the energy level really rises," Dominic said.

But will it be the same? If its larger size moves the high school up in classification, the new school will have many new opponents as well as a new name, new mascot and new colors.

"We'll have better teams," Dominic said. "I think if we're winning, it will all be fine."

Brooke thinks the two districts "should have more functions to try to get the Monaca kids and the Center kids to communicate" before the merger happens.

Chelsea said a natural way to do that would be to give their class a leading role in choosing a name, colors and mascot for the new high school.

"You need to have the [2010-11] seniors more involved," she said. "It would make us more used to it."

Dominic, however, predicted that doing so would actually get the two sides fighting instead of cooperating.

"I think that's a bad idea," Nick Bakertges added. "If it's a vote, we're going to win just because we're bigger."

Nick DeLisio said it might work for the Class of 2011 to put together some ideas, but that the choice should be made by adults to avoid conflict.

And no matter what, it's going to be impossible to avoid a truth voiced succinctly by Brooke: "It's going to be weird."