Evergreen the
april 13, 2016
Everything Greenhill
volume 51, issue 5
Inside Advisory
A look into a key Greenhill support system The Upper School advisory program is a well-oiled machine. It is engineered to deal with the emotional, personal, and academic needs of students. Many students view it as a jumpstart to their morning, and as a necessary support system. Advisories are a microcosm of the Greenhill community—a family within a family. Not only is the system central to Greenhill’s core mission, but it is also recognized as one of the best programs of its type. “I get calls from other schools asking how we do it,” said Head of Upper School Laura Ross. “It’s the strongest advisory program I’ve ever [worked with.] It has more institutional priority than any other school I’ve ever been to. It’s a big deal – [teachers] plan their retirements when their advising class is going to graduate.” Despite these efforts, however, every machine needs fine-tuning. On average, 15 percent of students are either late or absent to advisory, (this statistic includes students who have excused absences.) One reason: this year, advisory was moved to 8:40 a.m. Some students said they could use extra sleep. Others said that they aren’t getting much from their advisors, while others, such as seniors, don’t think advisory is necessary as they move onto their final phase at Greenhill. However, administrators point to many focused steps they take to improve this integral program. Each incoming freshman is assigned an advisor, who, in most cases, is his or her advisor for the next four years. Advisors serve as advocates for the students, aiding them with scheduling, academic, and emotional issues. “The point of the advisory program is so that there is someone on campus who gets to know each student—their background, their goals, the kind of person they are, their family, their ambitions, their personality—such that that person can help guide you in decision making,” Mrs. Ross said. The advisory program has been a part of the Greenhill Upper School for over 20 years and is regarded as a valuable aspect of the community. “We are the only independent school in Dallas that only has our teachers teach four sections instead of five and then advisory is the fifth class. We prioritize it as a part of the job more than any other school. It is a part of who we are,” Mrs. Ross said. The importance of being an advisor is addressed before an instructor ever starts working at Greenhill.
Views
Let’s talk about PDA on campus. p.3
News
A glimpse into Brazil’s decade-long crisis. p. 5
Serving Greenhill since 1966
“When I interview prospective teachers, I look at their potential as an advisor as well as a classroom teacher; being an advisor is being a teacher,” said Jack Oros, Dean of Students. The process of pairing advisors and students, as well as crafting the advisory group as a whole, is strategic. The Upper School administration works with the eighth grade advising team to assess each incoming freshman so that they can match them up with an advisor. “We want to get a sense of who would be best for them,” Mrs. Ross said. In most instances, this strategy is a success and the advisory fosters a strong bond. “We have advisory lunch, we have our own annoying group chat, we have an Instagram account for advisory, and everyone’s really friendly,” said freshman Jacob Shepherd. In fact, some students said that the most important thing about advisory is building relationships. “I feel like my advisory is a place where everybody can be themselves and hang out rather than be serious,” said senior Alanna Jaffee. “I look forward to advisory because it’s a very quirky group of people that we have in our advisory and it’s just fun.” The creation of these “quirky” groups is no accident. “We look at the friend groups [in eighth grade] and try to break [them] up. We hope that what it allows you to do is become friends with people you may not become friends with otherwise,” Mrs. Ross said. Also, Upper School administrators try to find the right advisor for the right advisees. “I received a bad grade on a test that I did not think was reflective of the work I had done, so I asked my advisor to help me,” said junior Ben Stromberg. “My advisor helped me talk to that teacher in a non-confrontational way.” Despite the strength of the program, however, students still skip. “By senior year, we have had enough experience already with how high school works. Going to advisory just adds on to the pressure of being a senior in high school, because we already have college apps, parent stress, school stress, and social stress,” said senior Andrea Mora. Some said advisory time is inconsistent, and that there are discrepancies in each group. “Right now in my advisory the new thing to do is we have to bring in a funny video to watch, and that is all we do in advisory,” said senior Amelia Jones. “I don’t know what the point of advisory is.”
Feat.
Over half of the students challenge the existence of God. p. 7
According to Upper School Spanish teacher April Burns, the attitude of the advisor determines their students’ commitment. “Different advisories have different dynamics, and sometimes that home base mentality happens and sometimes it doesn’t,” she said. Even so, Mrs. Ross said that students rarely feel so uncomfortable in their advisory that they ask to switch. She points to a strong success rate. During her time at Greenhill, no more than five students switched out of their advisories in a given year. Moreover, the school has recently started to poll outgoing students to hone pairings. “The last two years we have done a feedback survey for the seniors as they are leaving about their advisors, with prompts like ‘My advisor is good for people who …’ to get a sense of what advisor is the best for what type of student,” Mrs. Ross said. The school has also implemented a program to help guide advisors, based on something called the “Class Dean Model”, on how they can best utilize their time. The class dean is a faculty member with advisory experience. Mrs. Ross said that this program gives experienced and inexperienced advisors an outlet for all questions about Greenhill and advisory. “Part of the reason we switched to a stationary class dean model was because we did not have any person that was in charge of the team and the grade, and helping train advisors,” Mrs. Ross said. While some parts of advisory have improved because of these changes, some teams still struggle with getting students on board. With advisory before first period, some students simply sleep in. “I think there are some kids who don’t feel that advisory is important, which is evident by attendance,” Mr. Oros said. Due to this lack of commitment, administrators are currently looking at ways to alter the schedule to prioritize advisory time. “Student [Council] has been working on a survey to get good feedback of what the students feel and how it’s going, but we also have some proposals to see if we can make it work with the Middle School to try and move advisory back to the middle of the day,” Mrs. Ross said. story by Ben Schachter, Megan Wiora, and Lane Hirsch Graphic by Arhum Khan
Arts
Inside a student playwright’s head. p. 13
4141 Spring Valley Road, Addison, TX 75001
Sports
Changes coming to Greenhill football. p. 17
evergreengreenhill.wordpress.com