Peer Advisory -- United We Help One Another

This year’s peer advisory program consists of 20 juniors and 4 seniors. Peer advisors meet with small groups of 9th graders once per cycle. Each peer advisory group is run by 3 peer advisors. Those peer advisors serve as mentors through the group’s freshman year. It’s great to see the relationships that have developed between the freshmen and their peer advisors and the how the peer advisors have grown to become effective leaders!

The peer advisors have had many discussions to help the 9’s with the transition to upper school. Conversations have included reviewing the school rules and expectations, discussing new and changing friendships, giving advice on study skills, and ways to manage their workloads. Recently, the peer advisors paired up with students who attended the Student Diversity Leadership Conference to lead an activity with their advisory groups and have discussions about diversity . These were challenging discussions and many of the groups were able to identify various differences among people that may make it harder for some students to feel like they fit in at Hackley. Ms. DeMarchena, who is the Upper School Diversity Coordinator, and I were proud how the student leaders handled this sensitive topic and helped to raise awareness and sensitivity. It also was impressive how the 9th graders engaged in the activity and contributed to the discussions.

The spring will bring more new experiences for 9th graders and their peer advisors are ready to answer their questions and guide them through. As the school year progresses, thoughts will turn to 10th grade and all that is expected in the sophomore year. Next year, even though they won’t meet on a regular basis, the relationships will continue, and each 10th grader will always have an upperclassman to turn to for support and advice. In this way, the peer advisory program certainly helps to fulfill Hackley’s motto of “United we help one another.”

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