The school week at St. Louis High School is a busy one. With students having so many classes and electives, on top of sports, clubs, and other academic activities, it can be hard to stay on top of things. Many students ponder, “If only there was a class where I could get caught up on my work!” But SLHS is not unfamiliar with this idea. Just two years ago, there was a very class that could help with this, and it was called Advisory!
But why was Advisory removed in the first place? Principal Benjamin Brock stated, “At the beginning of last year, the priority of our students receiving more instructional minutes within the school day outweighed the need for an advisory class.” Brock continued, “We are currently working together as a staff within our school improvement team to plan future opportunities for a class like advisory. Building needs change over time and right now we have both intervention and extension needs that we know need to be addressed.”
Although it may have been removed, that doesn’t mean everyone was happy about it. Senior Dominick Girard shared, “I miss Advisory personally, especially from when I was a freshman.” Girard continued on, “It allowed for me to engage with a lot more people in my grade and gave me an opportunity to catch up on work. Plus, the events we had during Advisory would always brighten my day!”
Not every student is familiar with advisory at SLHS. At the beginning of the 2022-2023 school year, the class was removed, so the sophomores and freshmen have no idea of what advisory was like within the halls of SLHS. However, that doesn’t mean they want it back. “Advisory was a small class that was really just extra work,” stated sophomore Trinity Bergey. “I think it would be pretty useless if we brought it back.”
It isn’t just students who think that advisory making a comeback could be beneficial, however. Staff members, such as English teacher Megan Kaiser, think so too. Kaiser explained, “I miss all the possibilities that advisory gave us.” Kaiser added, “I think bringing back Advisory could be beneficial in so many different capacities. I think it would help with school spirit and morale, and I think it would help immensely with academics. We have so many students who cannot stay after school. Whatever the reason, we cannot expect students to be able to stay after school to decorate hallways or to stay for homework lab to get extra help.”
“I think that this period should be advisory, and not WIN,” she suggested. “I want all students to have an equal opportunity for education, an equal time to study and get caught up on things.”
Advisory could be used as a beneficial class to help students make up missing work, get help writing essays, or even make up quizzes and tests. Another aspect of Advisory that is firmly missed is the ability to take time to get school spirit up. During Advisory, students could decorate doors and halls for events like Homecoming or Valentine’s Day, or they could participate in fun activities, if they were caught up on other schoolwork.
