Advisory… What is it?

NOAH WOYAK, Reporter

By NOAH WOYAK

The Mirror reporter

Upon receiving their schedules this summer, many students from Stevens Point Area Senior High were baffled and confused to see a class labeled “Advisory” in between their second and third-hour classes. No student had heard about the class beforehand and many were curious.

“I’m not quite sure what Advisory is going to be about,” junior Ben Jessee said. “I saw it on my schedule when I signed up but I thought it was some kind of mistake.”

According to the SPASH website, advisory will occur every Wednesday and will last 20 minutes. The class will involve around 15 students and one “Advisor” or adult who will manage the students. The advisors will help students develop their personal, academic, and career-related growth.

The first advisory period, which occurred on Sept. 13, helped clear up a few questions. The class began with the usual roll call followed by the advisor explaining what was going to be covered over the school year. Students then participated in an ice-breaker activity to get to know everyone in the class. A week later, the second advisory was held, which went over homecoming at SPASH and all the events that would take place over the following week.

One of the main goals of the advisory period is to help students go through the process of Academic and Career Planning, or ACP. ACP is a program that was created by the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction in order to get students ready for graduation and post-secondary life. Students will develop portfolios on Career Cruising and explore different careers.

Another goal of advisory is to develop skills to help students succeed in high school. Skills taught will include things such as study skills and stress management. Each advisory period will revolve around an activity to help develop the skills that coordinators hope to teach.

“I’m not a big fan of it so far,” stated junior Trevor Wisinski. “It seemed like a lot of hassle for something that they could have just told us during the announcements.”

“Advisory is definitely going to take some getting used to,” stated senior Zachary Woyak. “I haven’t done it my entire time at SPASH so I’m still having some trouble remembering that I need to go to it.”