Advising Block Implemented
At 10:30 a.m. on a Wednesday morning, prep Jake Malasek finds himself hustling to a meeting with his advisor John Hutchins, having almost forgotten about the newly installed block. Worried about completing his biology homework before his next class, Malasek hoped the meeting would be short. Yet as he entered the room, the savory smell of sweets from Dunkin Donuts changed his mind: a gift from his advisor.
The recently added advising block, which occurs weekly on Wednesday afternoons, has drawn mixed reviews from faculty and students. Many have found the block useful and helpful; an essential key to staying in touch with their advisor. Others have found it tedious, believing that infrequent one-on-one meetings with one’s advisor would be of more use. Still others, like Malasek, are somewhere in between, debating its effectiveness, but also appreciating its social attributes and fun.
“It isn’t amazingly beneficial, but it does let me tell my advisor how school is going and what I need help with,” Malasek said. “The worst part about advising block is that it takes away from my free time. The best part is that my advisee group is the best and it is a lot of fun.”
Some advisers, such as Paolo Reichlin, modern languages instructor, choose to dedicate the advising block to a variety of activities. “We have used the dedicated advisee time for different things: to organize an advisee dinner, for the seniors and upperclassmen to give advice to the preps, for me to meet one-on-one with a day student advisee and with another from outside of Amen,” Reichlin said.
Reichlin, although glad to have a time set aside to meet with advisees, disliked the number of times his group is required to meet. “I think students are not against the idea of an advisee meeting time but think that making it a mandatory, weekly event is excessive.”
History instructor Kent McConnell agreed with Reichlin.“I initially voted against the idea during the ballot, because as much as advisory meetings may be enjoyable, it seemed too frequent, as someone who lives in the dorm and often see advisees on a regular basis,” McConnell said.
Lower Joon Kim also expressed his discontent about the addition of required appointments to his weekly schedule. “If we’re going to add something, another thing should be taken out,” Kim said. “But if we continue to add without subtracting, it’s only going to add to the stress level of Exonians.”
Yet Kim also found benefits to the advising block. He said, “Our advisor bakes muffins for us each week, and if we hadn’t had breakfast that day, it’s really nice to expect those muffins in the morning.”
Senior Griffin Py found other reasons to be disenchanted with the new block. “[We] meet every week, but I feel as though it is wasted time. We rarely have critical issues to discuss, and I find that more often than not we are just talking for talking’s sake.”
Many students, however, find the block a welcome addition to the schedule. Upper Rachel Sachs found the time helpful and beneficial to addressing issues that arise which her advisor and advisees could help with. “I like having a place and time set aside where I can meet with my adviser,” Sachs said. “The advisee meeting gives me time to talk about my problems and life at Exeter without taking other time out of my schedule.”
English instructor Patricia Burke-Hickey found the time helpful to stay in closer contact with her advisees and spend time with them. “I enjoy the new adviser meetings,” she said. “It keeps me in a closer touch with my advisees. Often, I also set up a time for me to meet with them later in the week as well.”
Prep John Wang also supported the block, saying that he couldn’t see a better use for the time. “I see [the block’s] value in our community and currently can’t find a better use for the time, although we can’t use the block for homework or hanging out.”