Ellen Ludtke
Reporter
@ELudtkeCourant
As yet another school year hits the ground running, the administration has implemented several changes, from new security guards to the cancellation of the Pep Rally. One of changes that has caused a shift in students’ schedules is the introduction of a regular advisory class which now meets meet every H-Day as opposed to every other Friday, which was last year’s advisory plan.
Assistant principal Larry Sullivan expresses his agreement with the new advisory schedule.
The advisory program was first introduced to NCHS in the spring of 2013. “When we first rolled this thing out the whole idea of advisory was for students to have a professional relationship with an adult in the building in a non-evaluative way,” math teacher and advisory administrator Anthony Bloss said. “There were other schools in Connecticut that had successful advisory programs, and we felt that it was time for New Canaan High School to have its own.”
This year, the Advisory Committee increased the frequency of advisory classes to strengthen the aforementioned student-adult relationships. “I was one of the people who voted to have it on a more regular basis because, just like in life, it’s hard to form a relationship with someone if you never really get to see them,” school social worker Eileen Donellan said.
Sophomore Sandra Sigurgeirsdottir appreciates the new consistency of the class. “My favorite thing about advisory is that we get to have the same people every year so we become very close,” she said. “With more advisory classes, we can become even closer.”
Changing the schedule of advisory also has logistical benefits. “I don’t think having it every other Friday was really a good thing because if there’s a reason to be absent it’s usually on a Friday, so I missed a lot of my kids last year,” English and American studies teacher Katherine Munson said. “When it rotates, it’s at a different point in the week, so everyone’s not itching to get out of school.”
Mr. Sullivan’s sophomore advisory class discusses ways to improve the school climate.
Assistant principal Larry Sullivan, who is another proponent of the H-Day schedule, agreed that Friday was not the best day to meet. “One of the things we heard from teachers last year about having it every other week on Fridays is that, after we were finished with NCTV’s Friday Announcements about halfway through class, people felt they really didn’t have enough time,” he said. “It wasn’t meaningful, and they were rushing through to try to develop something with students.”
In addition to the schedule change, new discussion topics will be introduced in advisory this year. “We plan to talk about issues this year relating to school culture: how students feel the school culture is and the school climate,” Mr. Bloss said.
Additionally, some teachers are trying to make advisory more fun. “Our first advisory, we actually made a ‘bucket list’ of different activities we wanted to do throughout the year, and we chose when we’re going to do them,” Ms. Munson said. “Last week, we did sidewalk chalk art, and it was super fun. I think we’re going to be painting pumpkins in a couple of weeks!”
Though each mentor’s approach to advisory is different, their goal is the same. “I hope it’s a break from the day-to-day stresses, to have 20-30 minutes of doing something fun that’s not so pressured,” Ms. Donellan said. “It’s for relieving and regrouping, and laughing or being silly.”
