New Advisory Experiences
Image Credit - Paula Hu
As the Sequoyah high school community knows, several Sequoyah staff members said their goodbyes last year; however, many new members joined the community this year. This means new teachers and faculty, and most importantly, new advisors!
One of the new advisors is Mathematics Department Chair Alexi Burgess, whose advisory was formerly led by Humanities teacher Hannah Karmin. One of the downsides of this advisory is their new room–the narthex, which is the entrance area of the Sanctuary. Burgess’s advisory was originally going to be in Ross, but before school started, they were moved to the narthex for unknown reasons. There’s not a lot of space in the narthex, and there aren’t any desks, either.
A fellow student of Burgess’s advisory Lila Reynolds ’25 agreed that Room 25 was a better fit because it had tables. Reynolds is a fan of the plentiful study time Burgess allows, and of his organized schedule. Burgess’s advisory has a group check-in on Mondays and individual academic advising on Tuesdays. The other two days are office hours and Health and Wellness or College Counseling.
This school year, Burgess and the advisory have had some really interesting discussions. “The way he proposes the philosophical questions…I think it’s really interesting to hear everyone’s input,” Reynolds commented.
New Spanish teacher Laura Saenz is also a new advisor. One difference is that this advisory doesn’t have its own room. Formerly Marisol Perez’s advisory, this group of seniors has been going back and forth between rooms, sometimes meeting in Ross. Griffin Asimow ’25, a member of this advisory, would like a more consistent advisory room. Asimow thinks Saenz is a good advisor, saying, “Laura tries really hard to talk to each person, which I think is great…she spends time with people who aren’t as loud so that’s good.” Asimow thinks that this is an important quality that an advisor should have.
James Roberts had a senior advisory last year and has a new group of senior advisees this year. This group was formerly Sam Ford’s advisory and this year they moved to Room 8, after being in Room 24, Room 1, and Room 3. Joseph Antos ’25, a member of this advisory, thinks Roberts is a great advisor but isn’t a big fan of the new room. He doesn’t like “the vibe of a room” because to him, it “matters a lot to how the advisory feels, and rooms that feel more homey and have more space to walk around in sort of feel more welcoming than rooms that have tables lining the edges, cables hanging from the ceiling, [and] a massive, weird filter on the window.”
Despite the new changes, it seems like both students and faculty are getting used to each other and their new rooms!