When you enter the Bush high school, you (along with 8-12 other students) are assigned to an advisor. Your advisor is there for you through thick and thin. It is their responsibility to take care of their advisees and it is your responsibility to reach out to them when necessary. Advisory meets once a week for 25 minutes. During this time, your advisory discusses current issues, what’s happening on campus and in the student body, and general personal issues. Advisory is the perfect time to mention any questions or concerns you have with your school life, home life, or even your current social situation. Advisory is a safe space for you and your peers to connect on a deeper level. Think of it as your family away from home. Additionally, your advisor will sit and go over your grades/midterm comments with you during this time when they are released. It is traditional for advisees to take turns bringing “snack” each week for the others. This usually means you get a donut, cookies, or cake as a morning treat. Some students can get pretty creative with this — I remember my freshman year on the last day of advisory, a senior brought in a griddle, chocolate chip pancake batter, bacon, and eggs. We had a 5 star American breakfast cooked right there in the music room!
Senate
The Upper School Senate is Bush’s student government: student senators are elected by their peers, they loosely follow Robert’s Rules of Order, and they try to navigate the difficult systems to make the ideas of students become reality. I’m not gonna lie, senate often gets a lot of criticism for not getting things done, but it truly is difficult to actualize everything the students want while also working with the proper resources to make it happen. Sometimes facilities tells them no, sometimes there isn’t money for the projects, but the senate does work hard within the time allotted to make solutions happen.
On the bright side; however, the senate has followed through on many requests, such as the highly used ping pong table, additional microwave in the commons, and having facilities supply tampons in all bathrooms.
I hope though that more students talk to their senate representatives if there’s something they want changed on campus, because often there are issues that go unnoticed. So, if in your time at Bush there is something which you want to see changed, go talk to a senator! It really can’t hurt.
The Arb
The Washington Park Arboretum is a large park that is just past the Shell gas station– also walking distance from school and right across the street from Washington Park Playfield. It’s great place to go for a jog, and you might run into some cross country team runners along the way!
Pag’s
Address: 3015 E Madison St, Seattle, WA 98112
Hours: Sun-Thurs 11AM-11PM and Fri-Sat 11AM-12AM
Phone: (206) 726-1717
Pagliacci Pizza is another popular lunch spot for high schoolers. Their food is consistently tasty and is walking distance away from school.
GPA
Being rated one of the most rigorous high schools in Washington, Bush focuses on GPA and grades as an immensely important part of your time here, which, of course, is the same as at any other school. Although the atmosphere may feel competitive or stressful at times, you should know that there are countless resources available specifically for making sure that you are not only successful, but also proud of yourself. We highly encourage you to take advantage of these resources and start exploring them as soon as possible, because the earlier you get started on it, the easier your high school career will be. This includes utilizing conference time, reaching out to writing center coaches, taking to Lucinda about learning accommodations, and everything else mentioned. Additionally, students cannot see their grades until after the term is complete, so it is important to listen to what your teachers have to say about your performance in class when midterm comments come out so you can finish the term strong. The bottom line is that when you are feeling down, talk to someone! Keeping up your grades can be difficult (I know from experience), but if you make an effort to seek out help, you will be so much happier.
STEM Center
If your looking for help with anything science, math, engineering, or technology related STEM Center is the place to go. The STEM Center is composed of student coaches who have been selected by students and faculty and are dedicated to assisting their peers. Coaches meet one-on-one with students to help them with homework/study for exams and even host study sessions before finals week.
If you aren’t sure which students are in STEM Center or don’t know which ones are knowledgable about a specific topic there is a poster in the BANC which provides information on all the coaches and their levels of expertise. Additionally, the portal provides information on STEM Center under “Resources.”
Benaroya
Benaroya Theater is where all upper school plays and theater classes are held. Each term a new play is performed. Students work very hard on keeping it organized, setting it up, and making it look and feel spectacular. Just outside of the theater itself is an open room that students like to call the Fishbowl. Students are welcome to hang out or eat lunch here.
Writing Center
The Writing Center is a student-run service to help out peers with writing. All the members of Writing Center were selected by teachers, peers, and previous/current Writing Center coaches, so these students are the right ones for the job. Often underutilized, Writing Center is a very beneficial service where coaches meet one-on-one with clients to help brainstorm, edit, and provide feedback. It never hurts to have a fresh pair of eyes look over your writing, whether it be a lab report, English essay, or history paper, so definitely look to coaches to help out.
If you’re not sure as to who is a Writing Center coach you can check the portal page under “Resources” or can find the poster in the BANC which lists the members as well.
BANC
The BANC is essentially the study room of the upper school. It’s located on the second floor of Wissner and is a huge space dedicated solely for student study sessions and gatherings. There are computers, white boards, office supplies, tables/chairs, and phone chargers. Feel free to ask Will Baber if you need any tech help, he’s very friendly! His desk is located in the corner of the BANC.
Peer Resources
This post is gonna be short — all we want to say is your peers can be an invaluable resource while navigating your time as a Bush upper school student. Look to Writing Center, STEM Center, or any friend when you need a hand.
The Bush School 