For the 2022-2023 school year, Towson High School no longer has students switching classes for advisory. Instead, they stay in their first period classes for an extra 25 minutes. Last year, students got assigned an advisory location based off of their last name. Many students enjoyed this time that let them relax and catch up on work, while some students did not enjoy their time in advisory.

Advisory “lesson plans” were sent out to teachers, but each teacher held their advisory time a different way. Last year, many teachers let their students relax, catch up on late work, and use their time at their own discretion. However, some teachers did consistently complete the lessons with their class.

Many Towson students have varying opinions on advisory and how or if it should be changed.

“Why can’t we just pick our own advisory so we can be with our friends and catch up during that time?” one student asked.

Another student: “I wish they would just cut out the entire advisory period and just add it to our lunch time or let us get out of school 25 minutes earlier.”

Many students aren’t seeing the value in advisory. If the students aren’t finding a need for the advisory period, they most definitely will not pay attention when the teacher shares the daily advisory lesson.

Despite this, the idea of advisory can be beneficial for many students. Having time set aside for students to better their school lives and handle things they are dealing with is crucial, as every student is going through their own problems. Everyone needs guidance at some point. There could be many future ways for Towson to expand and improve advisory time.  Carver, for example, sets aside time where students get to choose their “wildcat time.”

Advisory is a fairly new concept being implemented at Towson. As teachers and students learn and grow from their advisory experiences, we can expect for advisory to change for the better throughout the years.