Students of St. Louis U. High have seen many changes over the past four years. There have been mask mandates, the dress code has been altered, and students could have backpacks throughout the school day at one point. The school day schedule has also been in constant flux. The seven-period schedule of pre-Covid was altered to a block schedule that has been evolving ever since. New periods have been added to the schedule such the short-lived Faber Days, Studium, and now Advisory. 

Advisory is a new period implemented this school year to allow for more formational programming among students. In the past, students would have to give up their Studium or Activity Period time to attend class meetings, masses, and college meetings for upperclassmen, for example. Advisory offers a time for events and activities that give students a chance to form deeper connections with each other.

“There’s two different components to Advisory,” said Activities Director Megan Menne. “One is community building and the other is formational. One of the questions when we were trying to think of this period was how do we as a school go about making sure that every student gets the same formational programming and at the same time feel cared for and loved.”

In a way, Advisory takes the place of homeroom, which was removed from the schedule this school year. Advisory is set up the same way as homeroom, but, instead of changing advisors and getting moved in and out of homerooms every year, the student will stick with the same group of guys and advisors throughout his four years at SLUH.

“After four years, your homeroom kind of knows each other from just ten minutes a day,” said Menne. “Now it's two hours a week, you’re together that entire time and are able to build a community that will be an additional home for all of the students.”

        Advisory is going to be used in many different ways for different activities and events. Organizations like Campus Ministry have two devoted days a quarter, one for a mass and one for a prayer service. School Counseling and College Counseling will also get days for programming during Advisory instead of taking up students’ time during Studium.

        “I like to look back at our seven period schedule,” said Menne. “We had only 45 minutes each day for Activity Period and that caused a lot of stress on everybody. Clubs had to meet, students had to see teachers to make up tests and quizzes, but also, in this time, we had to throw in programming days and it was a lot to handle. We created a dedicated space for the programming to happen so everything is not as random and sporadic as it used to be.”

        So far, Advisory has had mixed reviews with students and faculty, with some feeling that Advisory time could be better spent elsewhere.

        “I think it’s challenging sometimes,” said Latin teacher Rich Esswein. “It has me questioning if  whether the time could be better spent in the classroom, sometimes there’s way more time devoted than we can really fill.”

        “I think it’s pointless,” said freshman Ben Besmer. “It should just be another free period. It has not done anything for me yet to make me love the period.”

        Other students are enjoying the period, but still trying to fully grasp the idea of Advisory and utilize it to its fullest capability.

“At first I wasn’t feeling Advisory,” said junior Ben Begley. “It has grown on me and I am starting to see the idea of it. I do love being able to bond with some of my classmates outside of a classroom setting.”

“I think it has been well used so far,” said senior Mason Wodicker. “At least once so far it has missed and something that could have been in Advisory has taken up one of our Studiums, but for the most part it has been good about not letting stuff take up our free time.”

        Some faculty members are really enjoying the new time, and are appreciative of what it has to offer to students and how it will be able to help them out in their lives.

“I really love Advisory,” said English teacher Jamie Cordia. “One thing that was really tough last year is that I felt I was constantly being pulled away from things like Studium or lunch to get programming done. It gives me a chance to get to know some of my students outside of an academic classroom and it provides more formational programming.”

“Advisory periods are formative, productive, and helpful for the development of students across all grade levels,” said Campus Minister Julie Lewis. “Whether it’s simply community building days or counseling days, everything in between is beneficial to the students and faculty.”

Advisory is still in its infancy, it is being looked at and is going to be ever-changing to try and provide the most benefit it can to the students at SLUH. 

“We’ve spent all this time trying to fight for space,” said Menne. “Now we have dedicated time that we can get done what we want to get done.”