The Advisory: Class of 2006

Episode 4 - The Long Haul​

 

Hi there. I’m Noam Bar-Zemer. Class of 2006 at the Met.

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I’m the guy who planned to con my way through school. I mean, the Met had a reputation. No classes. No tests. No grades.  I figured I’d spend four years doodling in the back of the room. Doing as little as possible.

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Meeting Andrew only reinforced that. I thought… Here's a nice guy who’s about to get eaten alive. 

 

But it turns out, Andrew was kind of relentless. He just kept showing up. He genuinely wanted to know what I was interested in. If I was struggling with something, he’d be there for me. And after a while I began to believe that he actually cared about what happened to me.

 

Eventually, I stopped conning my way through school.

 

I interned with a photographer and at an environmental consulting firm. I interned with a U.S. Senator from Rhode Island. I traveled to Central America. And despite my resistance, pretty soon I was hooked. 

 

Hooked on learning. Hooked on feeling smart and competent.

 

In fact, I think one of the most valuable things the Met taught me is this: To walk into a room that I don’t think I belong in, and convince myself - and everyone else - that I actually do belong there.

 

While I was starting to get traction in 10th grade, so were other people in my advisory. By 11th grade, it was like we shifted into higher gear. 

 

We had cool  internships…at City Hall, in hospitals, nonprofits, businesses. We were taking college classes. We were leaving the building in fifteen different directions, then coming back together to share what we were learning with each other. 

 

Before we knew it, we were in 12th grade. And for all the ways the Met is different, some of the traditions senior year were pretty familiar. We were looking forward to prom. A senior trip. And, of course, graduation. The caps and gowns. Pomp and circumstance. We were ready to celebrate! But first, we had to get there.

 

From Big Picture Learning, this is The Advisory: Class of 2006. 

 

Here’s our advisor, Andrew Frishman. 

 

SCENE 1 - SENIOR INSTITUTE, BUMPS & THOSE WHO LEAVE

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All those things Noam mentioned? I was looking forward to them too! 

 

Seeing kids dressed up for prom. Going on a senior trip together. And, most of all, having everyone walk across the stage at graduation. But I'd been an advisor at The Met long enough to know that nothing was guaranteed. We had a year to go. And a lot can happen in a year.

 

At the Met, juniors and seniors make up what we call Senior Institute because they’re the older students in the building. They’re expected to be, you know, more mature. They’re given more independence. More responsibility for their own learning. And more opportunities to mentor younger students. They're no longer just preparing to leave high school. They're beginning to step into adulthood.

 

Seniors do a lot of work too. They still have internships. They still have exhibitions. But, seniors also have to complete writing a 50 to 75 page autobiography. And a Senior Thesis Project that gives back to the community. Plus each senior works with their advisor and family to develop a plan for after the Met.

 

And Noam thought he was going to fake his way through. Hah! 

 

So how was everyone doing?

 

Let’s start with Anthony. Anthony was definitely ready for Senior Institute. He had saved phys ed from the school district’s chopping block. He had explored his interest in barbering, and as a junior, he tried out a new internship in auto mechanics.  

 

But then… he got some big news. 

 

Anthony: I'm like damn am I gonna have to drop out of school? Am I gonna have to just work? 

 

In spring of junior year, Anthony found out his girlfriend was pregnant. It was a huge reality check. Suddenly, staying in school wasn't something he could take for granted.

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Anthony: Because you know, growing up I had certain family members that had kids young and they just dropped out of school and never finished school. So I was worried about that. I'll never forget this girl told me, oh, you're gonna be broke now. And that kind of like stood with me, you know? It actually kind of motivated me to go harder, Yeah, no more buying Jordans. 

 

As for Natasha, I fully believed she was ready for Senior Institute. Ready for the responsibilities and the workload. But, as you might remember, Natsha’s ex-boyfriend, Kyle, died in a motorcycle accident just as we were starting junior year. 

 

Her classmates tried to support her…

 

Natasha: My friends would call anytime I would miss school, like, Natasha's not here. We need to contact her, see if she's okay, see if she is coming in. 

 

That wasn’t enough. And she started to slip away again.

 

Andrew: It was almost like you were like a kite that was like trying to fly and the string was going out and out and out, and it was so far out that it's like, oh my gosh, I hope this thread doesn't snap. 

 

Natasha: Yeah cause there would be times where I would be on my way to school, get to Kennedy Plaza and it's yeah, no, and I would turn back home.

 

Natasha missed so much school junior year that by June of 2005, I wrote a letter to her mother saying I was, quote, "gravely concerned." I explained that Natasha hadn't completed several key projects and wasn't on track to graduate.

 

Natasha: Even though like my mom's like, you need to be at school. It's like I don't feel like being at school, I don't feel good. It was because of my anxiety, it was because of my feelings. I wasn't necessarily sick, but my body felt sick. 

 

Natasha was required to go to summer school. Again.

 

For the first time since ninth grade, I wasn't sure if Natasha would make it to graduation. If she finally decided she couldn't do it anymore, I would have done everything I could to keep her in school. But… I also would have understood. 

 

By now, you might be wondering if students ever leave the Met. The answer is yes. Not often. But they do.

Recent data shows that the Met's dropout rate is about 3 percent, compared to a statewide average closer to 8 percent.

 

Nancy Diaz has been at the Met almost since the beginning. First, she was an advisor. Then the principal of the Unity building when my advisory was there. Today, she’s the Director of the Met.

 

Nancy says on rare occasions a student will leave the Met because they don’t think it’s a fit for them. How often does that happen?

 

Nancy: Not often at all, if we lose kids, it's usually in the ninth grade. Because they come here and it's so different and all their friends are in traditional schools and so they want to go and they feel like they're missing out on something, right?

 

Like changing classrooms every period. Having a locker. And mostly, Nancy says, missing their friends who go to another school. 

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But the most common reasons students leave?

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Nancy: Extreme outside stressors.

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Sometimes what's happening in a young person's life is more than any school can overcome. Housing instability. Mental health struggles. Substance use. Violence. Family responsibilities. 

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The Met can't eliminate all the reasons a young person might leave school. But the approach provides a lot of ways to try to keep them connected. We can help them find a different internship. Adjust a learning plan. Call home. Keep reaching out when they stop showing up. And if they do leave, the door stays open. They can come back.

 

Natasha came incredibly close to leaving.

But she didn't. She held on…Partly because of support from the advisory. Sure. But also because something in her was shifting.

 

Natasha: When I was in summer school I was just thinking about like my senior year and it's like I'm at the stretch so like I need to just like pull through, get it together. That's when I started like really reflecting on what is it that I really want to do and I was thinking, maybe I should go into like healthcare. 

 

Natasha thought about the violence she grew up around. She thought about the loss she'd experienced. And she had a realization.

 

Natasha: You can either use what happened to you as an excuse to not do anything or you can use it as something to build off of.

 

She took a course on health careers at the community college. She landed an internship with a Clinical Coordinator; a nurse in the emergency department at Miriam Hospital.

 

And, for her Senior Thesis Project, Natasha interviewed a variety of medical professionals and created a guide to healthcare careers for future Met students.

 

Around that time I wrote,  “[Natasha’s] attendance has improved to perfection, and she is much more engaged and committed to her school work and the school community… she has made closer connections to people in the advisory.”

 

Natasha was finding meaning in helping others. It’s not that Natasha’s grief was gone but that she had found something to do with it. 

 

Natasha: That's where your story and your purpose may start. From those struggles where it feels like everything is crashing down, everything is ending, that can be the beginning of something greater. 
 

SCENE 2 - WILLY

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By senior year, a lot of students in the advisory had really hit their stride. I wish I could tell you about all of them but let me shine a light for a minute on Willy.

 

Andrew: What do you remember about yourself when you were in high school? 

 

Willy: I was just trying to be a pretty boy. 

 

Andrew: What do you mean when you were trying to be a pretty boy? 

 

Willy: Oh, I just like to, you know, talk to all the girls and wanna have fun. 

 

Willy Diaz Lara immigrated to the U.S. from the Dominican Republic when he was in elementary school. He joined our advisory junior year. He was a welcome addition and easily fit in.

 

Willy was a hard worker - committed to improving his reading and writing skills. He met regularly with an English language tutor at school. He also held down a job in the evenings and weekends at a store in his neighborhood. 

 

Willy could be a prankster. If you put him and Anthony together, they were going to get into some shenanigans.

 

But, there was another side to Willy. He was someone who wanted to make things better for people. For example, he created a school-wide recycling program to redeem bottles and cans as a fundraiser.

 

Willy: We used to do tons and tons every week throughout the four buildings. 

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He volunteered at a neighborhood cleanup and helped to organize a health fair for Latino elders. He won a Met Leadership Award.

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Willy: When I get involved in something I put my whole heart into it. 

 

Senior year, Willy interned with the City of Providence's Department of Public Works.

 

One day he noticed that the city's environmental inspectors didn’t always look like they worked for the city. Because sometimes they would show up to investigate a complaint, unannounced and wearing regular street clothes. It turns out, that could be dangerous. 

 

Willy: There was a few incidents that they let the dogs out on the city employees because they didn't have no uniforms.

 

Willy had an idea: make sure there was no question these employees worked for the city.

 

For his internship, Willy did some research, prepared a Powerpoint presentation, put on a button down dress shirt, and I joined him as he walked into city hall to make his case to the mayor.

 

I showed him a photograph from that day. It was of Willy standing next to the then mayor of Providence, David Cicilline.

 

Andrew: What do you see in that picture? 

 

Willy: A little boy with a lot of ambition. And courage. 

 

Mayor Cicilline approved the proposal.

 

To this day, Providence's Department of Public Works employees still wear uniforms as a result of Willy’s project.

 

Watching him present to the mayor that day, I remember thinking… this kid can do just about anything. College seemed like it would be an obvious next step. 

 

Willy was excited by the idea. But then, every time we had a discussion about college in the advisory, Willy became more and more disengaged.

 

Andrew: You're showing some signs of some anger and confrontation that I was not used to and I didn't really understand. What was like what was going on for you as you were in your senior year? 

 

Willy: Technically I was illegal here. 

 

Andrew: Undocumented? 

 

Willy: Undocumented. Um, So my mom did a petition for me.  We thought it was gonna come out before I graduated, it didn't, took longer. Technically I didn't have social security and there was no way to pay. So I couldn't really, you know, go to college I was probably gonna be the first one in my family to go to college. I felt devastated. 

 

It was hard for me to see a way for college to happen. So, I got everyone together -- me, Willy, his family, and leadership at the Met. We would need to come up with another plan.

 

SCENE 3 - SENIOR THESIS PROJECTS 

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Typically, the biggest project a Met student engages in is in their last year of school. A Senior Thesis Project. Think of it like a capstone. 

 

The project usually takes place over the course of the entire school year. It requires students to find a mentor who can guide and advise them. They’re asked to write a hefty final paper on the topic, present  their project in an exhibition and often put together a public event. And, like almost everything at the Met, the project is built around something students genuinely care about.

 

I mentioned that Natasha assembled a reference guide on health careers. 

 

Vimar - inspired by her brother’s struggles with asthma - did a deep dive to understand why asthma impacted so many people in her community. She even set up an asthma screening at the Met. 

 

Joseph, whose interests in martial arts had grown to include both Zen philosophy and physical fitness, helped students develop individual fitness plans and he worked toward certification as a personal trainer.

 

Justine invited architects from around the country to South Providence to study the connection between The Met's philosophy and the school's design.

 

And Sam’s Senior Thesis Project was on how to prevent the spread of Sexually Transmitted Infections. 

 

Samenta: A lot of people were having sex and I feel like they weren't being educated enough. 

 

Conversations about safe sex weren't part of Sam’s home life. She  grew up in a deeply religious Haitian immigrant family. 

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Samenta: Only place I could go was church. [Laughs] School, church and home.

 

Sam  - who was always respectful of her parents - recognized that they were of another generation. 

 

Samenta: I feel like it was a blessing that I could be able to explore anything that I wanted to at this school. 

 

Sam’s interest in sex education totally made sense. She had been interning with an organization called YEAH - Youth Educating About Health - and had run workshops for young people in and around Providence. She brought similar workshops to the Met. 

 

She went from advisory to advisory leading discussions and activities to help her peers understand the risks they were taking. Giving away candy and condoms along the way. Candy as an incentive to attend. Condoms for the safety once they left.

 

Perhaps the most ambitious Senior Thesis Project was Noam’s. The summer before 10th grade, Noam had volunteered for a service learning program in Nicaragua. For his Senior Thesis Project, Noam wanted to go back. Only this time he wanted to bring other Met students with him.

 

Noam: It was an elaborate scheme to take children to Nicaragua to get them tattooed. [laughter]

 

Well, not exactly. Noam was interested in studying education itself. 

 

Noam: At that point I had become much more interested in more traditionally bookish stuff… like Radical Latin American pedagogy [laughs]. Like Paulo Freire and whatever else. 

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Freire was an educator and philosopher from Brazil who proposed that education could be a tool for liberation. 

 

Noam thought, “Okay. Let’s go to Nicaragua and study different approaches to education. While also exploring a different country.”  But first, he had to raise the money to make it possible. He’d need tens of thousands of dollars.

 

I had an idea. My grandmother had recently stopped driving and had given me her 15 year old Oldsmobile Cutlass Sierra. It was what some people called a “scraper.” A car that you could trick out with big rims, a cool paint job, and a massive soundsystem. I  still loved my blue Corolla toy-mobile. So, I gave Noam my grandmother’s car to raffle off.

 

Noam: I was taking that car after school and like parking it on Thayer Street and hawking raffle tickets to like freshman at Brown and they were buying them. 

 

Between the car raffle and a silent auction Noam put together, we raised well over $20,000. Enough for 6 Met students to go on the trip.

 

Noam then worked with his mentors to prepare the other students for the trip: Offering classes on the relationship between education and democracy. 

 

That spring,  Noam, me, other students and adults, we all went to Nicaragua for two weeks.

 

Noam: I still think about that stuff. The sort of like empty bucket theory of education versus the sort more Freirian approach to it I think like informs the way I move through the world in many respects. I’m still baffled that we pulled that off.

 

Noam: And we all got tattoos. [Laughs]

 

Andrew: We’ll edit that one out. [Laughter]

 

SCENE 3  - Leaving to Connect

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By senior year, Alberto was interested in electronics and was interning at a shop that installed and repaired car stereos.

 

Alberto: Cause of course what sixteen year old doesn't want louder speakers, right? 

 

For his senior thesis project, Alberto set his sites on the Met vans. 

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Alberto: We didn't pimp 'em out, but we ended up replacing some of the speakers that were old and and and dying. We replaced the radios in a couple of them. 

 

Our advisory spent a lot of time crammed into those Met vans. And thanks to Alberto we had a decent soundtrack.

 

[ambi from the van] “No Andrew, I get the front!”

 

Remember… back when we were all new to the Met, we went on a lot of trips together as an advisory. The trips helped us get to know each other.

 

[ambi from the van] singing to music fade under

 

Four years later, we were still taking trips. Only now - given how busy everyone was - they served a different purpose.

 

Natasha: Yes, we were all doing our own thing in internships, but we also had the opportunity to be together 

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[ambi from van]

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At this point I had been to each of my student’s homes multiple times. So it felt only natural to invite them to mine. By junior year, a favorite destination for the advisory was my family’s cottage on Cape Cod.

 

[ambi from the van cross fade with row, row, row your boat]

 

I have a ton of old videos from those trips.

 

We'd splash around in a rowboat on the pond. Have dance parties. Take turns in the hammock. And just be silly.

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[ambi from the Cape fades out] Dancing

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The Cape was just one of many places we went together. We went hiking. Go-karting. Visited museums. Spent a day at Six Flags.

 

And of course during those years, we visited colleges. Lots and lots of colleges. 

 

Sometimes we’d go to a college that Met alumni attended and they’d show us around. Other times, we’d pick a location - like New York City - to visit multiple schools in one trip. I remember I convinced a family friend to let all of us stay at her apartment in Manhattan.  We spent the night like sardines in sleeping bags across the living room floor.

 

Or this other time, we went to visit colleges in New Hampshire and stayed at a youth hostel out in the woods. Most of the advisory was outside in a hot tub. It was a beautiful, clear night. We were laughing and carrying on when someone looked up.

 

Natasha: We saw the Northern Lights. 

 

Bands of green and purple light rippling across the night sky. The students had never seen them before. Honestly, neither had I. 

 

At first, we stared up at them in awe and then - of course - we began goofing around saying maybe it was a sign of aliens! 

 

Natasha: That was the only time that I've seen the northern lights. I’m like I want to be able to see that again. And I want my kids to see it. 

 

SCENE 5 - ANTHONY 

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As for Anthony, remember he said he would work harder because his girlfriend was pregnant… he did. It was impressive. He took a business class at the Community College. He held down an internship at a new barbershop. 

 

And for his Senior Thesis Project, Anthony taught younger students how to cut hair. He offered a series of workshops and demonstrations. And then…in the midst of all that…Anthony Molina Junior was born.

 

Andrew: I remember going to visit with you and your family at the hospital with your son. 

 

Anthony: Yeah, right. 

 

Andrew: Right after he was born. 

 

Anthony: Yeah. AJ. 

 

Andrew: And I remember, like, the joy that was in that room, right? And I remembered your parents and the look on your mom's face to get to hold, you know, your first kid, her grandson. But how do you, like how did you navigate all of that? Right, like you, I mean, you're, like you're in school, but you're like changing diapers and you're going to an internship and you doing a senior thesis project and then you're taking care of the kid. Like, how are you, how do you do all that? 

 

Anthony: I don't know, I just did it. 

 

Andrew: I'm curious, you mentioned when you first found out that she was pregnant, that you're going to have a baby. You thought you might drop out? Did you ever really think that? 

 

Anthony: I only thought that because it's like everybody else I knew that had kids young they dropped out. You know because, you know, both my parents didn't finish, they didn't finish high school.

 

Anthony says he was lucky. His parents helped take care of his son. And the Met encouraged him to keep going. Still, Anthony knew if he had to drop out, he could always earn his GED… 

 

Anthony: But I didn't want to do that. I wanted to get a real diploma. 

 

SCENE 6 - Willy’s New Plan

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That spring, Willy watched as everyone around him made plans for what came next.

 

Willy: I was doing good in high school and I saw my friends, get excited about doing applications and getting financial aid and all this stuff and I was sitting in the background 'cause I really couldn't.

 

Willy had applied for a green card but months had gone by and it still hadn't come through. No green card, no financial aid. Willy very much wanted to go to college but he was at a dead end.

 

So we started brainstorming other options.

 

After talking it over with Willy’s mom and our principal Nancy, we decided that instead of graduating with the rest of the advisory, Willy would stay at the Met for a second senior year.

 

Andrew: Why would you be like, Oh, I want to spend one more year here?

 

Willy: 'Cause we thought that the petition was gonna go through within that year.

 

Willy would join another advisory for another year. Keep working. Keep learning. And hopefully buy enough time for his immigration status to get resolved.

 

It wasn’t exactly the senior year ending any of us had imagined for Willy.

 

Andrew: For the systems that were in place to then deny you that opportunity feels terrible. I guess how much of that do you carry with you? Do you still, I mean, does that something you still feel? 

 

Willy: I learned slowly to let go 'cause technically it was out of my hands. Sometimes processes take forever and for me it took forever. 

 

SCENE 7 - Sam Rides A Barrel

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Looking back, this really was a year of significant ups and downs for everyone. … About two months before graduation, Samenta got a letter in the mail.

 

She’d been awarded a highly competitive and prestigious Gates Millennium Scholarship from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. It would cover whatever financial aid didn’t  - tuition, housing, books  - for four years at Pine Manor College outside Boston. It was huge news.

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[ambi from Texas Roadhouse]

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So we did what any reasonable people would do.

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Sam and I - along with her brother - went to Texas Roadhouse to celebrate.

 

Even the waitstaff knew why we were there.

 

Waiter: Excuse me please. Can I have the attention of the entire Texas Roadhouse. This here is Samenta. She is celebrating today, she just got a big scholarship. Please say, “Hi, Samenta”

 

ALL: Hi, Samenta. [fade under] On the count of three…

 

Andrew: I have a memory, a photograph imprinted in my brain.

 

Samenta: [laughs]

 

Andrew: Of you with a cowboy hat on, sitting on top of a barrel.

 

Samenta: Mm-hmm. Just like I was so, so excited. Oh, I was so excited. I feel like that was probably the proudest day of my life. And then I graduated and then that was my proudest day.

 

SCENE 8 - Graduation

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June came round. The end of the school year. The end of my student's time at The Met. Everyone had a solid plan for what was next. 

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We'd had four years of learning plan meetings, internships, exhibitions and now we were wrapping up. 

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We'd dressed up and gone to prom. The students had completed their final projects. And we had our last check-in as an advisory. 

 

Then there was one more thing we had to do.

 

[Sound of 2006 graduation]

 

It was time to celebrate.  And man, did we. Graduation at The Met is electric. Just listen.

 

[Sound of 2006 graduation. Fade under and out.]

 

All that noise is for a good reason. Think about it…some students might not have made it to graduation given their experiences in school before they got to the Met. 

 

While others might not have made it because they had so many setbacks during high school. 

 

And some…were the first in their families to get a high school diploma. 

 

So yeah. After four years together, families, friends, mentors, advisors, and students came together for one last time. And we got loud!

 

Carlos: It is my distinct pleasure to introduce Andrew's advisory, The Warriors. 

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I remember the day vividly. It was June 9, 2006. It was an overcast day. We were under a big tent set up on the grassy field at the Met. The graduates were wearing white and blue gowns. Met colors. 

 

Carlos: Samenta Baltazard.

 

I was up on the stage standing next to the podium as the names were read. Some kids strutted across. Some sauntered. Others danced. 

 

Each of them gave me a hug. Then they were handed their diploma. At the Met, diplomas aren’t just signed by the principal but by the student, their family, their advisor and anyone else they feel helped get them there.

 

Carlos: Alberto Maldonado.

 

Alberto was accepted to Wentworth Institute of Technology. A top notch engineering school and his first choice! 

 

[Sound of graduation.]

 

.Carlos: Joseph Hernandez.

 

Joseph was headed to Year Up, a job training program.

 

Carlos: Justine Welch. 

 

Believe it or not, Justine, who arrived at the Met not wanting to even talk about college, was headed to Regis College in Massachusetts. Later she told me she was pissed off about graduating. 

 

Justine: I think that I was just angry and just like sh** now I gotta find where I belong again. 

 

[Sound of graduation.]

 

Carlos: Ms. Vimar Rodriguez 

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Vimar was off to Concordia College in New York.

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Andrew: If I was going to ask you to fill in a blank. I used to feel... But now I feel, blank, how does that relate to the Met? 

 

Vimar: So if I were to fill in the blank, I would say I used to feel invisible. But in the Met, I found my place. 

 

Carlos: Noam Bar-Zemer 

 

Noam was headed to Sarah Lawrence College in New York. 

 

Noam: When I graduated I was like, I think Andrew actually does like and respect me. And I also think he kind of hates me. And I can't tell which is more. [laughs] Because I was a pain in your ass. I mean, I really was. 

 

Carlos: Anthony Molina 

 

Anthony, the new dad. He got his REAL high school diploma. He was already working as a barber. And planned to continue taking business classes at the community college.

 

And Natasha? 

 

I can still hardly believe this myself, but the tragedies in her life didn't stop, even for big occasions like this one. Just hours before she walked across the stage, Natasha got word that Dereck, another ex-boyfriend had died… from a car crash. First she lost Kyle. Now Dereck. 

 

Natasha was actually sitting in our advisory when she got the news. She remembers wanting to pack up and leave before the graduation ceremony even started. She told me “just put my diploma in the mail.” But once again, her friends and advisory mates rallied. They reminded her she had come too far to throw in the towel.

 

Years later she wrote, “So I walked across that stage, torn between pride and pain, holding both grief and gratitude. Behind my smile was a storm of emotions. But I walked for Kyle. I walked for Dereck. I walked for me - the girl who almost didn’t make it. And I walked for the woman I was still becoming.”

 

Carlos: Natasha Luigui 

 

Natasha - like Sam - was headed  to Pine Manor College. 

 

Carlos: The Class of 2006. 

 

[Crowd cheering fades out]

 

SCENE 9 - The Long Haul

 

We'd done it. We'd made it to graduation. At the time, it felt like the finish line. I mean isn’t it? You go to high school for four years. You walk across a stage. You’re handed a diploma. And then you’re done. Off to other things…

 

But twenty years later, I don't think of graduation as the finish line. Because so much of what we'd built together didn’t end. It kept going. You can see it in that cheesy photo we took just before we left the Met.

 

Vimar: This photo is a family photo. That's what I'm going to describe it as. 

 

Noam: These are people who I trust in a way that I don't really trust many people, to be honest with you. 

 

Samenta: I love these people. 

 

There’s a lot of discussion about what students should leave high school with. What should the graduation requirements be?

 

Knowledge? A diploma? A plan? Yeah, all of those things. Of course.

 

But over the years, I’ve come to believe those things aren't enough.

 

Learning is a fundamentally social act.

 

And everything we were trying to do at the Met rests on one foundation: relationships.

 

Relationships with adults in the school. Relationships with mentors. And maybe most importantly...relationships with each other.

 

Natasha: My advisory is my family.

 

Justine: We all got to learn and grow together.

 

When I started as an advisor, I thought if I planned well enough... worked hard enough... cared enough... everything would go smoothly.

 

But it didn't.

 

And that was probably the best thing that could have happened.

 

It taught me to let go. To listen. To trust that some of the most important learning can't be engineered.

 

Twenty years later, I wanted to know.

 

Did those relationships last? Did they keep growing? Are they living lives of their own design?

 

There was only one way to find out.

 

I had to ask them.

 

That’s next time on the fifth and final episode of The Advisory: Class of 2006,  “We Went To School Together”. 

 

If you enjoy this series, please help us spread the word by telling your friends about it and by leaving us a review wherever you subscribe. To see archival photos, to learn more about The Met, Big Picture Learning and our advisory,

 

visit our website: classof2006.org. 

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​​​​From Big Picture Learning, I'm Andrew Frishman. Thanks for listening.

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