On any given Monday, Wednesday, or Friday, the twenty minutes after Morning Ex are spent with one’s advisor and one’s advisory, enjoying a variety of activities, including going out for food, talking, playing games, and more. But what is the golden standard that we are supposed to be following during those 20 minutes after MX? What really goes on during advisory at Parker after MX?

According to the Parker Student Handbook, there is no official purpose of each advisory meeting after MX. Section E, point i reads: “Advisors meet with their advisees in small-group sessions each week, provide weekly attendance reports from the Dean of Student Life’s Office and initiate additional individual meetings as needed.” Nowhere in the handbook does it describe what exactly is supposed to happen during these 20 minutes, meaning it’s up to the advisor with no guide to determine what activities the advisory will partake in.

In October of 2018, Dean of Student Life Christian Bielizna announced that a new ‘Advisory board’ is being created in order to identify what is working well with advisory in general and what aspects could be improved upon. “One idea is to send out discussion prompts related to MX,” Bielizna said, “and advisors can use the prompts as they chose with their advisories.”

Bielizna also mentioned what the Advisory board would be doing during each meeting. “We will sit together to talk about things that we can do or create or promote or what have you to enhance the experience in advisory groups,” Bielizna said.

Senior William Holtz feels that his advisory has a common theme with how they utilize their sessions. “In Mr. Laufer’s advisory we do a mix of things,” Holtz said. “Two days a week we just chill and talk amongst ourselves, but at least once a week we talk about MX. Usually, [it’s] led by Mr. Laufer.”

Holtz also feels that Laufer gives a large amount of freedom on how they spend their twenty-minute meetings. “Ultimately the advisory pretty much decides,” Holtz said, “but he likes to urge us to talk about MX if an MX was particularly interesting.”

Junior Isabel Olesinski feels that her advisory follows a simple structure as to how they utilize their twenty minutes of advisory time. “I use my advisory time to talk about my week in terms of work and stress with my advisor and my advisees,” Olesinski said. “I also use it to socialize since a bunch of my friends are in my advisory and sometimes we do homework or play fun games if we have time.”

Olesinski feels that her advisor usually has activities for the advisees planned. “It’s up to my advisor, I’m pretty sure, but none of us really suggest to do anything,” Olesinski said, “so we just go along with whatever my advisor has planned and we almost always enjoy the activities that we do.”

Furthermore, freshman Sophia Rogers feels that her advisory does not have a fixed schedule. “Most days during advisory I try to get my homework done, or check my school email,” Rogers said. “Other days I will talk with other people in the room and eat popcorn.”

Rogers feels that not many activities have occurred in her advisory since the start of the school year. “We haven’t really done many things involving leaving advisory,” Rogers said. “We have left once to go to 7/11 and Big Apple groceries requested by my advisor.”

Holtz felt that twenty minutes was enough for advisory. “I think it’s enough, but I have a great time so I wish there was more,” Holtz said. “That said, I know my last advisory was super boring so I think 20 minutes is probably for the best.”

Olesinski feels similarly to Holtz in terms of the timing of advisory. “I think it’s alright but I feel like we could have a bit more time,” Olesinski said. “It’s nice to talk about any issues we have or to just talk about whatever is going on in the Parker community. I love my advisor and my advisory so I wouldn’t mind spending more time with them.”

The idea of advisory being a little too short also resonates with Rogers, as well. “I feel like it mostly depends on the day,” Rogers said, “but I generally feel like it is not enough time especially if you want to talk with your advisor and have advisory discussions.”

Holtz feels that there are some changes to the advisory system that should be made. “I think that it is inevitable that some teachers just don’t get along with students particularly well,” Holtz said. “For that reason, I think there will always be good and bad advisories. I do, however, think that advisors should be given money to incentivize advisory lunches or snacks, those are always the best, and they usually bring students in the advisory together.”

Olesinski feels that while no changes should be made to the advisory system, the purpose of these meetings could be a little clearer. “I think there should be a clearer purpose than there is now because not all advisories work the same way and some aren’t helpful at all,” Olesinski said. “If enough people aren’t satisfied with their advisors, those teachers probably shouldn’t be advisors.”