With the changes of the Camas High School schedule during the 2020-2021 school year, the time students spend in advisory has gone up to about 2 hours to support time for the three lunches to transition, and have a thorough cleaning in between.
This block of time was set apart as a study session because as students moved to hybrid, teachers continued to post online assignments to be completed. While some students take the study period seriously, others find themselves with the need to find ways to entertain themselves in-between classes.
CHS freshman, Taylor Brown said, “advisory can be either beneficial or a complete waste of time. For some, it’s a time to work on any assignments, or it can be just a time to play games or not do anything at all. Either way, the period is really long.”
For CHS freshman Benjamin Hromadka, the study period leans towards a productive opportunity, even though his “teacher doesn’t mind phones, and… [they] can do whatever on [their] phones during the entire period.” he said.
“It’s almost like a one or the other situation for my class. The ‘right’ side of the room is really vocally active and interacts a lot, while the ‘left’ side of the room just goes on their phones,” he said. “I’m on the ‘left.'” Even with his chosen side of the division, Hromadka usually efficiently finishes his homework at the beginning of the week.
To help split up the time, Hromadka’s B lunch is helpful. “I would probably stay with B lunch if I could pick any because I really like being able to have a break right in the middle of class,” he said. “What I can say is that I would never want C lunch. I wouldn’t want to take that long.”
Some students think the time could be used otherwise. Ari Anderson commented, “I’d rather be doing anything else”, while CHS senior Jacques Badolato-Birdsell thinks “Advisory should be a time where students can go off campus.” While some students may have assignments to work on to keep them occupied during the advisory period, those who are fully caught up on all their assignments may find the two hours of advisory extremely long and boring. Keeping students occupied during advisory periods can be extremely difficult, however some teachers have solutions in order to make the time pass by just a little quicker.
Most teachers allow students to use technology such as smartphones in their classrooms during advisory, this keeps most students occupied if they have no assignments to get caught up on during the time.
Jacques Badolato-Birdsell said, “I’m happy that I’m allowed to use my phone during advisory at least.” Some teachers even provide students with activities to keep them occupied during the long advisory period. In the learning center for example there are coloring pages available for students who take advisory in the learning center. Some teachers even allow students to play games during their advisory time.
CHS senior Ethan Tobey said, “My advisory teacher lets us play corn hole in the hallway on some days.” With the weather getting warmer as summer approaches some teachers take their students out on walks outside in order to give students a break from sitting for a long period of time. “When it is sunny we go on walks” said Forensics teacher Alixandra Coker when asked what activities she provides to students during advisory. While advisory may be very long teachers are doing their best to ensure that students are occupied during the period with social distancing measures in mind.
Joshua Fernando and Bianca Flores contributed to this article