This year, in an effort to make the transition to Marlborough less scary, the seventh graders will rotate advisories three times, giving them the opportunity to get to know more of their teachers, classmates and 11th Grade students. Advisory is vital for bonding with other members of the Marlborough community.

“The thought behind this is to help the girls get to know more adults, in addition to helping the girls get to know more of their classmates,” 7th Grade Level Dean Nichole Gomez said.

Previously, one faculty advisor and two junior advisors stayed with one advisory (typically of about ten girls) for the whole year. Now, the advisories consist of two faculty advisors, three junior advisors and around thirteen girls. Because the advisories rotate three times, the girls will each have a total of six faculty advisors and nine junior advisors during the year.

“With nine [junior advisors], that leaves the girls with that many more people to say ‘Hi’ to in the halls, who will know their names and make them feel special,” Gomez explained. “This system creates more opportunity to connect with more adults on campus. It is important for the students to have many people they can go to if they need help, who [the girls] will share their successes and challenges with.”

Gomez will reshuffle all the advisories on Nov. 13.

If the new system succeeds, all future seventh graders will participate.

“We don’t know if it’s going to work or not until we have tried it. This is an experiment. We are planning on chatting with the girls and faculty to see if it is a success, as we hoped it would be, or if there is anything we can change about it to make it better for next year,” Gomez said.