Here in ACE one of the schools main focuses which makes ACE such a great school is that the teachers make it a major priority to bond with their students and build strong relationships. In order to do that, the school has many solutions such as some of our big trips like whitewater rafting, camping trips, and this year a trip to NYC. We also have FLEX where students can pick their Flex class to be things such as going for hikes together, helping set up stuff in the school, yoga, etc, and of course, we also have guidance! 

So what is guidance? Here at ACE guidance is a 28-minute long period between 2nd period and 3rd period on both A days and B days stretching from 10:14 to 10:42. It is a period where sometimes students get a chance to unwind and relax after their morning classes and then get to prepare for their next academic periods. It is also a period where guidance teachers can inform them of upcoming school activities or events, besides that to bring up the bonding aspect of guidance the teachers often chat with their students about how their days have been or how their school work is going. Guidance offers endless opportunities for a great way to spend and make use of important school hours. During guidance, another thing you can often do is go to classes if you have unfinished work or if you just want to visit a friend and hang out for a bit.

Now that you know the basics of guidance let’s talk about its history for a second! Did you know that guidance here was originally started way back in 1977? And it has been going on ever since then! Guidance is very loved and appreciated here at ACE.

I interviewed some people and here is what they had to say:

“Once you are in someone’s guidance, it becomes part of your identity. I know students who meet other students from an earlier era but they always end up talking about whose guidance they are members of. Once you are part of our community, you are always a member.”-Anthony H.

“Guidance is an opportunity to be a part of a smaller community inside the larger community of ACE. Guidance really means different things to different people but I think guidance provides an opportunity to build some connections and relationships with other students and a staff member. I try to organize and run a guidance group that focuses more on individual needs and relationships rather than as a whole group session. However, to me guidance is more than just one period a day, it is something that carries itself throughout the whole day – both during and after school.”-Rob M.

The top reasons most students learn to love guidance is because being a high school student is rough and tiring with all the drama in peoples lives, the hard endless work at jobs, and of course homework from school. Guidance class gives students a nice well-deserved break.

I say guidance should be a regular thing at every school due to how useful it is and how needed it should be in teenagers’ lives since after all everyone needs a break here and then!