Students Welcome Changes to Advisory

Given Riverdale’s rigorous curriculum, a space to decompress is an indispensable asset to the success and wellbeing of students. The advisory system was born to foster a supportive environment for students to alleviate the stress of their athletic, academic, and personal endeavors. Although developing such a system may seem straightforward, it is a complicated task: an advisory system that is not balanced or well-organized has the potential to raise rather than minimize student stress levels. For instance, sophomore Amanda Chen explained features of last year’s system that were counterproductive to her being a student-athlete: “To be quite honest, I felt that Advisory was more of a burden than an aid last year. The sessions were poorly structured and unproductive.” Chen is not the only one to express these concerns: numerous other students as well as Upper School math teacher and advisor Ms. Anne Nadecki have said that they “didn’t always need as many meetings as we had scheduled.” 

Fortunately, administrators consolidated student feedback into a new and improved system for the 2022-2023 school year. The primary adjustment was reducing advisory meetings from three times per week to twice every eight days. The second modification was the separation of Health, Delta, and Advisory into three distinct entities containing different groups of students. Advisor, Health and Delta teacher Roberta MacIvor reflected upon the positive impact that this distinction has had on her ninth-grade students: “Going in, I was somewhat trepidatious, but I’ve found great reward with the new system. The Delta classes I’ve had thus far have been much more productive than in previous years…making the entities more distinct has added clarification for both teachers and students.” These increased clarity and relaxed dynamic has allowed the advisory system to satisfy its original purpose: fostering a supportive and stress-free environment for students.