As we continue on into the new school year, many changes are in effect. The most prominent is the shift in Upper School students’ schedules as the old advisory system transitions to a new one.

While the system seems to have long-term benefits, it has been temporarily disruptive. If a goal of the switch was to help teachers and students build stronger relationships, relocating students, especially juniors and seniors to a completely new teacher and peer group, seems to do just the opposite.

Although students might be able to continue their relationships with old advisors outside of advisory, the change makes it difficult for them to try and form sound relationships with their new advisors, especially in such a short period of time.

The switch to advisories organized by grade was largely made to ease the faculty advisors’ roles (which benefits the advisees as well). With one grade per group, there is more communication between students and advisors, but also between the advisors and the grade deans. The teachers have become more unified as there is now one team of advisors dedicated to each grade.

However, eliminating the integration of several different grades bothered some, as it also removed the benefits of the extra ‘advisors’ many found in the upperclassmen.

Older students were able to offer advice to their fellow advisees on almost everything, from course selection and meeting with teachers, to sports and extracurriculars, to college applications. While this may seem akin to the peer advisory system, sophomores and juniors enjoyed the guidance given by seniors that was difficult to get without being in the program.

Some faculty advisors acknowledge the benefits to having multiple grades present in advisory, and others even miss it.

This is a difficult problem to solve because of the benefits found in unifying the advisors with the grade deans. The Dial Editorial Board proposes that the best solution would be to keep the advisories separated by grade, but have at least two advisories from different grades in each homeroom. While we are unsure of how administration would react to this and understand the logistical challenges involved, we hope to see communication between students and administration aiming to accomplish the goal of community integration once again.