Advising Agenda: Students discuss what they do in advising time
You are probably very familiar with your own advising and the things you do together. However, outside of your own, what do other advisings do? What is it like to be a part of those advising group? What traditions do they have? How do they go about pranks? What do they talk about?
“We don’t really do that much,” says sophomore Nick Porter, who is in faculty member Sara Asher’s advising group, “In advising time either we’ll talk or sit around in the libraria in Ms. Asher’s [room].”
What different advisings typically talk about in their time together between morning meeting and first hour vary depending on the people in each group.
“We have a pretty sporty advising,” explains sophomore Shelby Esmond, a part of faculty member Vanessa Eicher’s advising group. “We have several girls in cheer and [some people] in basketball, so we talk about games that are coming up and games that have happened.” Eicher’s advising used to be combined with faculty member Sonja Czarnecki’s advising.
“We kind of just go in and sit around and talk about random things,” says freshman Evan McHenry, a member of athletic director Eric Nelson’s advising group.“Everyone’s just really tired and everyone is just sitting around. Mr. Nelson will bring up something and we’ll end up talking about that or asking people what they did over the weekend.”
“Normally we just make jokes and mess with Mr. Howcroft and he messes with us, and that’s pretty fun,” says junior Seth Thompson-Glodich, a part of science teacher Anthony Howcroft’s advising group. Howcroft has become the new advisor for faculty member Christopher Bryan while he is deployed.
The most common activity for advisings to participate in seems to be just sitting and talking together, but many advisings find other fun activities to do in their time they spend together.
Card games are another popular choice in many advising groups. “We sometimes play some games,” says seventh grader Erica Feng, a member of English teacher Michael Pulsinelli’s advising. “We play blackjack, and once we played poker. Sometimes we [sit and talk], but usually Mr. Pulsinelli tells us stories about Allen.” Each advising seems to have their favorite card games that they like to play together.
“Usually we play cards,” says seventh grader Gisele French, a member of faculty member Kara Schrader’s advising, “but right now we’re watching E.T.” Some advising groups find time to watch movies together in the morning before first period.
“The movies range from anything,” says Porter. “Currently we’re watching Guardians of the Galaxy 2, but we’ve watched Napoleon Dynamite, Guardians of the Galaxy 1, Wayne's World... the list goes on.”
Some groups have traditions that are unique that they teach to the new incoming students. “One tradition that we have in our advising is we have a really big chalk calendar on the wall and you see it when you first come in [Ms. Landi’s room],” says junior Isabel Warden, who is part of math teacher Nancy Landi’s advising, “Each month we pick out something. For example for February we picked out ‘Returning Shopping Cart to their Natural Place’ awareness month. Then for the month we add Valentine’s Day, Hot Tea Day and Cupcake Awareness Day, and just a bunch of other random holidays. That’s one main thing that we do.”
“Pretty much everyone in our advising is newer than I am, except Jackson,” says McHenry. “Jackson and I are the only ones with any experience of the advising traditions and stuff. Mr. Nelson tries to force the traditions on the younger kids, or sort of anyways. When you first join the advising you have to wear oven mitts for a day, so we’ve made some kids do that; they don’t really understand it but I had to do it too, so I don’t really object to making them do it.” McHenry explains that, besides the oven mitt ritual, the Nelson advising does not have many other traditions. “I guess we kind of have to allegedly pull a prank, but we haven’t really been working on that a bunch. We’re kind of enemies with all other advisings and that's kind of a tradition.”
Other advisings have daily activities that they take part in. “We have an advising corner that we’ve made on Mr. Howcroft’s board,” says Thompson-Glodich. “We put random quotes up there and misrepresent what Mr. Howcroft may have said or may not have said.”
Each advising has what makes them special and individual, whether it is the people in it, the activities they do, the traditions they have or the pranks that they pull. Seabury advisings really are like having a second family to many students and faculty.
