James Burnside, Class of 1986

James Burnside, a current science teacher at New Trier graduated in 1986. He currently has a Senior advisory. His adviser was Mr. Morris Barefield. Mr. Burnside’s advisery back then was different than today’s because for a year of his high school career, he had advisory in the middle of the day.

“It was experiment where we went to advisory during the middle of the day—our lunch period.” The lunch period was split in half—part of it was spent in advisory, and the rest was spent eating lunch.  However, according to Burnside, it failed because everyone ditched and the next year it soon changed back to the morning.

“My adviser was an amazing individual,” said Burnside. He was very laid back, kind, and caring, but he was tough on kids if they caused trouble.”

Mr. Burnside’s traditions when he was in advisory was mainly intramural sports, and the canned food drive. They were four time basketball champions, and two time flag football champions. “I am still friends with four of the guys from my advisory. We’ve been friends for about twenty five years, and there are other guys from my advisory who now have kids going to New Trier,” said Mr.Burnside.

Mr. Burnside often models how he teaches after teachers who he loved when he went to New Trier. He also models his current advisory after his experience in advisory. He said, “the key for Mr. Barefield was relationships. He really got to know more about the people in our advisery.”

Coincidentally, Mr. Burnsides brother also works at New Trier, and his father used to work here too.

Robert Berlin, Class of 1984

Robert Berlin, a current math teacher at New Trier, graduated in 1984 and has since advised three different groups. himself. His Freshman advisor was Mr. Mitchel, and his sophomore, junior, and senior advisor was Mr. Routenberg.

“I had a good relationship with my advisor. I don’t remember talking to him a lot, but if I needed to I could. Students in my advisory didn’t often talk to him unless they had an issue,” said Berlin.

Berlin’s advisery didn’t have any specific traditions, but his advisory room was in the music department, so the kids in his advisory would play piano, sit and talk, or do their homework.

When asked if he kept in contact of any of his fellow advisees, Berlin said, “honestly I’m not in contact [any of them]. Sometimes I run into them at parent teacher conferences because their kids now go to New Trier, but that is about it.”

Mr. Berlin said, “Many days in advisory didn’t seem important, but every now and then it was very important. As a student, I took many things in advisory for granted.” He also taught another school before coming back to New Trier. The school he taught at did not have an advisory system, which caused a lot of strain on the students.

The biggest problem without the advisery was a lack of direction for students “if kids didn’t hear the morning announcements, they didn’t know what to do.” This even extended to college counseling since morning announcements dealt with every piece of academic life.

Being an adviser, Mr. Berlin now realizes the strong interaction that advisers have with their students.

“Advisery now entails a lot more interaction with families, and checking in with parents.

“The biggest thing I gained was an appreciation for each student, and reaching out to new students in particular because it’s hard to make connections with kids having deep roots in their community.”

Mac Guy, Class of 2000

Mac Guy, is a current English and IGGS teacher at New Trier. His current advisory are juniors. He graduated in 2000, and his advisor was Mr. Weiler who still works at New Trier as the ESL coordinator. He said, “we had a great relationship, and he was also my junior English teacher.”

Mr. Guy has not kept in touch with any of the students in Mr. Weiler’s advisory as of today. “We did a lot of homework in advisory, participated in the canned food drive, and we went to lagniappe together,” said Mr. Guy.

When he went to New Trier, advisory was similar to today, and he met a bunch of kids that he would have never met if they weren’t in advisory together.

According to Mr. Guy, being an advisor might not be as easy as some may think. Not only is he an advisor, English teacher, and IGGS teacher, he is also the head girls swim coach, and the boys junior varsity swim coach.

“I didn’t know the responsibilities [of being an adviser] when I was in my advisery,” said Guy. “It requires being the first line of support for kids, from helping communicate with teachers in other classes to the students family issues.”