Are The Freshmen Really That Bad?

Freshman Advisories: Yes or No?

“When you put 10 bloodthirsty kids in the same room,” said Andrew Blankenship ‘28 on the topic of the new freshmen advisories, “with crossbows and maces and other various medieval weaponry, don't be shocked when only one of them walks out.” It didn’t take much time to learn that students have quite strong opinions about the new freshmen advisories. We immediately knew we had to investigate it, and as we explored through the darkest depths of Bush’s haunted halls and learned the truth about one of Bush's most frequently asked questions –- “Are the freshmen really that bad?” — we uncovered the truth.

It is known that the grade has gone through much, and although the freshmen’s maturity is below average, what other lurking reason is there as to why the freshmen are being held separate from the other grades? So now, using our anonymous sources, we will expose Bush once and for all and determine the REAL reason behind why the freshmen are being kept in the confinement of their own advisories.

To know the answers to these questions, we knew that we had to interrogate our teachers, and answers we did find. One teacher, who was depicted by a student as having a “kill count [of] 587.2,” explained that the reason the freshmen are in their own advisories is because, “When you have people of mixed grades in advisory together, sometimes the freshman struggle to make new friends with people who are older than them.” The teacher then went on to explain that the purpose of the new advisories is to allow the freshmen to bond with each other better, but is this really working? Abby Goldberger ‘26 claims that “[in] freshman year the thing that really helped [her] become a part of Bush was being friends with the seniors in advisory.” Meanwhile, when Gareth Widlansky ‘25 was asked about his memories from whole grade advisories, he reminisced about bonding with his older peers by playing UNO with them. It’s well known how valuable the all-grade advisories are to the upperclassmen, but how do the freshmen feel?

The freshmen are very divided on the issue of freshman advisories. Some love it, some hate it, but most genuinely don’t care. When asked about the freshmen advisories, Esme King-Bagley ‘28 said, “I honestly don’t care too much,” which was similar to most responses that freshmen had on the topic. On the other hand, Oliver Donovan Pape ‘28, when we were interviewing another student about freshmen advisories, shouted, “They’re all bad!” Lastly, we have freshmen like Caroline Einstein ‘28, who remarked that she “like[s] them [because] they have snacks.” As we interviewed students, it became abundantly clear that most freshmen do not care about the new advisory changes. However, after having interviewed Lothar Ederer ‘28, we know that at least he has strong feelings against the freshmen advisories, stating that he “want[s] to be like the cool kids” and join the same advisory as the upperclassmen. Lothar also declared, “I HATE freshmen advisories because I am in love with a sophomore [Kingston Wray] and how am I ever going to see him?” What a surprising confession! Let’s hear what Kingston Wray ‘27 has to say about freshmen advisories. 

Once we interviewed Kingston, it became clear that Lothar’s love was one-sided. On the topic of freshmen advisories, Kingston shared that “it’s kind of nice not having freshmen in our advisories,” as most upperclassmen find them annoying. Turns out Lothar didn’t make as strong a connection with Kingston as he thought. Once we informed Lothar of the news of Kingston’s confession, he replied, “I’m devastated, and, uh, I don’t really want to be interviewed anymore.” What a surprising turn of events for Lothar Ederer. Aside from Kingston, let's hear what other sophomores have to say about the new advisories. We’re sure everyone is dying to know, was their freshman year really that bad? Were they truly unable to make friends to the point that the school had to put the current freshmen in their own advisories? Did the current sophomores cause the switch from all grade advisories to freshmen advisories?

First of all, the answer is yes, the sophomores are the ones to blame for the switch to freshmen advisories. This was explained to us by a teacher who said that the sophomores “wish[ed] that they could have made friends faster,” but how do the sophomores feel about this? The first sophomore we interviewed was Nicola Lombardi ‘27, who said she didn’t know the reason for freshmen advisories and thought that all grade advisories were important because, “It’s good to have friends in different grades.” Another sophomore, Edi Rotival ‘27, claimed that his advisory was “welcoming freshmen year.” Edi also said, “I don’t know if I would appreciate [being put in a freshmen advisory] if I were freshmen,” showing once again how valuable the all grade advisories are to the upperclassmen. It’s clear that the sophomores disagree with the new advisories just as much as all the other grades! So, if no one likes the new advisories, why are they a thing? That’s a good question, and counselor Maria Mathiesen sheds some light on this “ha[s] been here for 8 years and ha[s] been through 6 schedules… nothing is permanent.” It seems to us that all the grades are crossing their fingers and knocking on wood, hoping that like the new schedule, these new freshmen advisories won't be permanent either.