year. More personal than that of the counselling department, the program offers the opportunity for students to seek advice from an influential adult. Administrative duties, such as public announcements and the handing out of report cards and newsletters, is done in sessions. Advisors also make mid-semester phone-home reports to parents. Most students do not have their advisor as a classroom instructor. In most circumstances, students will have the same advisor for all four years of high school. Student council The Student Council consists of a president, four vice presidents (one elected from each grade), a secretary, a treasurer, a Spirit Coordinator, and an Activity Coordinator. Members of the council perform administrative duties such as the organization of assemblies and school functions. The vice presidential positions are intended to provide student representation with a closer connection to the administration within respective grades, but they have been criticised for being simply symbolic. The budget designated to the council is low. The activities, for which members through their campaign promises were initially voted to organize, seldom happen. The president, with help from other council members, will normally "emcee" pep rallies geared toward increasing school spirit and promoting the fine arts. Until 2006, elections for all positions were held in late September or early October. Now, elections for all positions (except for the grade nine vice-president) are held in June for the elected to take office in the following year. Advanced Placement Program The Advanced Placement Program (AP) at LCI was a program highly promoted at feeder schools, locally compared to the International Baccalaureate program (IB) offered at Winston Churchill. Advanced Placement classes are no longer offered at the school. In grade 8 classes at middle school, students had to achieve a final average above 80% to enter AP classes in grade 9. The program was intended to give students an opportunity to learn in subjects beyond the basic curriculum. Some graduates of the AP program have stated that the material learned was similar to first-year university courses. The program consists of advanced courses in mathematics, biology, physics, chemistry, English, and social studies. More extracurricular activities and "more peaceful" classrooms are among the praises for the program. However, for the majority of the courses, little to no extra work is completed in the advanced stream versus the regular courses. Unlike the IB program, Alberta Learning states that students may not switch between the lowest