In the iSchool, advisory is a key element of the school. Ms. Colon, the guidance counselor, said that advisory was made for students “to forge a relationship with one another and an adult in the building for four years.”

In our school’s eyes, we need to have a strong relationship with our advisors because it is a “wonderfully unique way for every student to have an advocate for them in the building,” said Ms. Colon. For some students, some are lucky enough to bond with their advisors.

Towards the end of the year, we have a chance to change our advisors if we feel like we are not connecting with them. However, once again, we are put into other advisory groups, and we do not know if we will relate better with our new advisor. Moreover, we are put in a position where we may not have any similarities with their advisor.

Deva Grumet-Bass, a sophomore, also believes that we should choose our advisors “because as the administrators said, your advisor is supposed to be your advocate, and you can’t really do that if you can’t connect with them.”

In my advisory, there are some students who participate and are open about their high school experiences, but some students are quiet. I think that has to do with the fact that they do not feel connected with their advisor.

In order for students to choose advisors that fit their personalities, they should be given an advisor “profile” to look through. In this profile, each advisor would explain their characteristics, beliefs, and who they are. Before school starts in September, each student picks their classes. So while a freshman chooses their courses, they should also look through these advisor profiles and choose which advisor they want to be with for their next 4 years of high school.

However, Deva Grumet-Bass points out that “students could just pick advisors so that they can be with their friends.”

I agree with this statement because some students (you could be one of them) don’t really see the need to have a relationship with their advisors, and they just want an extra 15 or 45 minutes to hang out with their friends.

However, I still do strongly believe that students at the iSchool should be able to pick their advisors since they are expected to have some sort of bond with them.