MISSION STATEMENT

University High School’s Advisory program aims to nurture the whole individual, operating on the premise that a U-High student is more likely to succeed with a strong network of support and a committed adult advocate within the school. At the heart of the program is the student’s relationship with the advisor and his or her advisory group, cultivated throughout the student’s four years of high school.

Advisory supports the personal and academic progress of each student while also fostering a sense of community within the advisory group and beyond. Its safe, non-evaluative setting provides some balance to the rigorous academic demands of the U-High experience.

U-HIGH ADVISORY: THE BASICS

Each advisory is composed of between 11 and 15 students in the same grade who will be assigned an advisor in freshman year and with whom, in most cases, they will continue to work together throughout high school. Each small advisory group will work and grow together, and the advisor will strive to create an atmosphere of mutual trust where students can feel safe to discuss a wide range of academic and personal matters in a supportive and non-evaluative setting.

Advisory’s two components - Advising and Workshop:

• Advising involves group specific work, which includes structured and informal discussions with the advisor and the advisory group, as well as individual conferences between the advisor and each advisee.
• Workshop includes the grade level specific programs planned and conducted by departments within the Laboratory schools, such as Learning & Counseling or Rowley Library, as well as programs conducted by outside resources, such as the University of Chicago Hospitals or the Alliance for Climate Education.

Meeting Place and Time:

• Every advisory group will meet in its assigned space for a ten-minute period on Mondays and Fridays at 10:30am, and for a thirty-minute period on Wednesdays at 10:30am.
• When Workshop is scheduled, it will typically be conducted during the Wednesday thirty-minute period, but it will also occasionally be conducted during the sixty-minute period on Thursdays at 10:10am.