What does a new school year mean? For most students, the beginning of a new school year signals new teachers, new classes, and new clubs. For incoming freshmen, however, the new school year can bring even more novelty. Going from middle school to high school is a big change and entering Maggie Walker as a freshman can present even more of an adjustment. MLWGS’s increased workload and unfamiliar policies can often be tough to navigate, but this year, a new program dubbed Dragon Advisory has been introduced to help freshmen make the transition to becoming a Dragon just a bit smoother. 

It found its beginnings in an experimental program introduced to the school by two members of the Class of 2024, Rohini Mudinur and Isabella Kenney. Last year, the two served as co-presidents of the National Honor Society, and created Bonsai Balance Seminars: A mentoring program aimed at helping freshmen adjust to the environment at Maggie Walker. The program divided the freshmen into groups of seven to eight students, with each group assigned to one upperclassman mentor. Over the course of the year, mentors and students would meet together at lunch to go over a pre-planned curriculum, which covered topics from maintaining a healthy sleep schedule to learning how to balance academics and extracurriculars. Dragon Advisory co-coordinator Shaun Ye (‘25) says, “It’s important to acknowledge the work that Rohini and Isabella put into Bonsai.” Mudinur and Kenney produced the majority of lesson plans used by mentors. Each lesson was specifically designed to help students navigate different aspects of the intimidating freshman experience. However, the program did run into a few difficulties. Most notably, because there was no set time for these meetings to occur, mentors were forced to schedule them during lunch, which many freshmen loathed sacrificing. As a result, attendance at these meetings was often spotty, and mentees were not able to reap the full benefits of the program. However, both its successes and imperfections provided valuable information on what could be improved to enhance the program in the future.

This year, Bonsai Balance Seminars–now renamed to Dragon Advisory–has been given a dedicated time slot on Fridays. Freshmen now meet in larger groups of 18 with six to seven mentors during the second half of lunch on Fridays, which has been extended to provide adequate time for eating as well as mentoring. According to co-coordinator Sophia Watson (‘25), making Dragon Advisory “an official block also provides structure and space for more activities, which enables freshmen to get to know their classmates and mentors better.” The curriculum has also been adjusted slightly. While it retains much of the same content that Mudinur and Kenney created for Bonsai Balance (Study Systems, Balancing School and Extracurriculars, Importance of Sleep, Pros and Cons of Competition, and Stress Management), freshmen this year also receive the added benefits of presentations on The Walker Way, Honor, and Digital Citizenship. 

Like any new program, there is always room for improvement, and this year is an important time for figuring out what works and what doesn’t. This is much of the work that the co-coordinators, Watson, Ye, and Maddie Gerlach (‘25) do. Ye notes that “Dragon Advisory is still in the process of growing, and we’re sending out surveys to mentors, faculty, and students to monitor its progress and make adjustments where needed.” When asked to share his thoughts on Dragon Advisory, Freshman Ian Wootton said, “The mentors have given pretty solid advice so far.” With the understanding that this program is new to Maggie Walker this year, he also added, “I think it’s a really good program, for being a pilot. There’s some areas it could grow in, but as it stands it’s been pretty valuable.” Additionally, Gerlach adds, “Many people are involved with this program, including the entire freshman class, NHS juniors and seniors, and teacher advisors, so it can be a challenge to make it work for everyone.” Still, Gerlach acknowledges that “the faculty and mentors are working hard to make this a great experience for freshmen, so any roadblocks we’ve encountered have been easily fixed so far.” Becoming an official program has both positives and negatives–while it has solved the attendance problems, serving as an official school block creates higher expectations for organization and results.

Dragon Advisory continues the legacy set by alumni Mudinur and Kenney and serves as another method of spreading Maggie Walker’s core values to new students. Overall, the Dragon Advisory program is a step towards making the transition to becoming a Maggie Walker Dragon smoother for the incoming freshmen not just this year, but for years beyond.