Advisory can be a complicated time of the day from a students perspective. A lot of factors can affect whether it is a time for catching up or a time for relaxing and taking a moment to breathe, especially during finals. A good forty-minute nap could help anyone feel more prepared for the day just as much as a good forty-minute study session for a big test you didn’t remember being scheduled for next period. Advisory is mostly meant to help students connect to peers, adults, check grades, do work, study, and in some cases help students plan for their future with programs like “Get Focused, Stay Focused.” In an email with Tobin Hahn, he summarized the purpose of advisory best: “Tutorial is a time twice a week for intervention, remediation, and work completion. This means it is a time for students to get help on classwork, catch up on skills, and complete work. This is also a time for students to receive college and career instruction through workshops and the ‘Get Focused, Stay Focused’ curriculum.”

For this subject, it was decided that a combination of both teacher and student perspectives be gathered, along with that of Tobin Hahn. Students Jaden Valentine and Sophie Barrett said essentially the same thing, “[Advisory] is helpful if you’re focused.” Though some may chose to goof off during this time by playing games or chatting with friends, it really comes down to whether or not you are behind in classes or feel the motivation to complete something such as a Biology Project or a Spanish Essay. However, advisory can quickly become a stressful and hectic time of the day. Students may not have enough time to get everything they need done, or they could be called in to do something that isn’t important enough to take up time that could be used studying. For example, many sophomores this year not only have Biology to worry about, but also “Get Focused, Stay Focused,” which takes up the time that they could be using on other classes. That, along with teachers requesting students who need to be in other advisories for more important tasks, can create a major problem for students.

Most who were interviewed all mutually agreed that advisory is primarily a time used for improvement more than anything else. Erik Rain, art teacher, voiced his opinion on the topic as well, stating, “[Advisory] gives students good time to finish things… In my advisory students do homework, finish art pieces, and talk about their lives.” Mr. Rain uses advisory time to check in with students and their grades. James Eastman, English teacher, also put in his two cents. In response to similar questions, he said, “[I] help students, organize, and meet with my coworkers.” When prompted with the question of what his students do, he replied, “Some work, some rest, some waste their time.”

Compared to students, adults seemed to have similar thoughts and ideals, though one stuck out the most to me. Mr Eastman was asked, “how do advisories affect you?” and he had this to say, “I like advisories. I like having the time to check in with students, help them with their work, and meet with my coworkers. At the Comm School, it’s the only time when we’re all together, so it serves an important organizational purpose, as well.” It was a nice thing to hear, that it didn’t have to be all work, but could also serve the purpose of being with your peers and enjoying a bit of downtime outside of classes. That isn’t to say that hanging out should come before working though. A balance is necessary for this time to truly be beneficial.

Now despite the general positivity I received toward advisory, not everyone finds it so appealing. It took a bit of searching to find someone with a more negative outlook on it. In fact, I still haven’t been able to find someone who truly opposed it. However, I was able to find a person with a not necessarily supportive opinion. Enter, Alex Lindstrom. His main statement was that, “if you have a lot of schoolwork and actually have the motivation, it can be a useful tool, but for the most part, seeing as nobody actually does, it’s kind of just a waste of time… Occasionally [during advisory] I do my calculus work. Other than that I sleep or play video games.” This resonated, because it isn’t a very disagreeable opinion. Many students do use advisory primarily for self recovery from the stress of school. More often than not students buddy up in a little group to chat and talk about gossip or play video games. Making advisory a work time rather than a recovery time does require motivation, but even so quite a few students would still prefer to enjoy themselves. Alex’s closing statement summed it up easiest when he said “[advisory] can be useful depending on the person.”

Overall, the verdict on advisory came down to this; it can be a successful time of the day if it isn’t abused. Being given this time to prepare further or do a bit of self reflection can keep the stress of school life and failure at bay, though it will all come down to your priorities for whether or not you make the most of it. It may be tempting to goof off, which in some cases can be even more useful than stressing over getting an essay finished, but so long as the motivation is there and you keep yourself focused, you’ll likely find advisory to be a beneficial time of the school day.