The Personal Advisory Board is composed of people who most influence the choices a student makes during and after high school. These advocates might include key family members, peers, mentor teachers, and other community role models. They at least include a student’s Summit mentor, who engages in 1:1 mentoring with the student through their Summit school experience.
We support students to curate a ‘Personal Advisory Board’ of these important advocates in grades 11-12, and to engage this advisory board at critical times throughout the student’s experience at school and in transitioning to their next step.
It’s a structure to:
Help students seek and access mentors beyond their mentor teacher
Help students build social capital beyond their family connections
Help students learn how to build a support system both during and after high school
Provide an authentic way for the people who are most influential in a student’s lives to engage with the student in their purpose development and Concrete Next Step exploration and selection.
The role of the Personal Advisory Board is to:
Be advisors in helping students:
identify their sense of purpose and identity
understand paths to apply their purpose in their lives both during and after high school
consider a variety of purpose-driven future plans
consider necessary pre-requisites of their plans
consider obstacles they will encounter in pursuing their plans and ways to overcome those obstacles
connect to new sources of social capital
Collaboratively support the student in deciding on a concrete next step to pursue.
Taking into account financial implications, a student’s values/purpose/identity, a student’s family considerations, academic preparedness, anticipated obstacles, etc.
Evaluate the Oral Defense
Commit to support the student in pursuit of their next steps.
The quantity and quality of advocates the student selects to serve on their Personal Advisory Board will not be assessed, but a few minimum criteria will apply:
At least 2 advocates serve on the board
Advocates on the board to include:
A Summit teacher (in most cases, the mentor, but based on relationships, it may be a different teacher)
The person to whom the student is financially dependent and/or will be financing the student’s pursuit of their next step
The person whose opinion matters most to the student
Encouraged, but not required advocates include:
Peers
Other family members
Community role models