Students Reflect on Fall Campus Events

By SAM ALDERMAN, ISABEL EVANS, CHLOE LIND, ADELLE PITTS, and LEO ZHANG

As the first term of the school year, the fall can be daunting for many; acclimating to Exeter’s frenetic schedule, sleepless nights, and Academy life is no easy feat. The myriad of events offered every term by the Office of Multicultural Affairs (OMA), Student Council, and the Student Alumni Relations Councel (STARS) alleviate the stresses of the Academy’s academic rigor.

On Sept. 29, Elm Mezzanine buzzed with activity as crowds of students darted in and out, tasting various flavors of mooncakes, Korean pancakes, and Japanese candies and snacks. Some tried their hand at fan-painting or grabbed bunny stickers to go. This was the Academy’s first celebration for the Mid-Autumn Festival, Chuseok, and Tsukimi holidays, widely observed in China, Vietnam, Korea, and Japan respectively.

“Planning the event within the short, three-week timeframe between the holiday and when I first returned to campus for student leader training was definitely the most difficult part,” senior Sophie Ma, who organized the celebration as her OMA proctor project, said. “I’m so grateful to Ms. Tinsley and the Asian Advisory Board for all their help, especially since this was the first iteration and we had no idea what to expect.”

“Thankfully, the event turned out wonderfully,” Ma continued. “I was so surprised at the turnout — we ran out of Korean pancakes in the blink of an eye, and the nearly 400 mooncakes we ordered were gone in an hour. It made me really happy to see people enjoying themselves and students from all over campus learning about this holiday or being excited that we were doing something for it.”

“I hope someone will take over organizing the festival when I’ve graduated,” Ma added. “It’s a pity I could only make it happen in my senior year, but it’s so precious to me.”

On Sept. 30, the first dance of the fall term, the Neon Dance, took place in Thompson Gym. Senior and Student Council Recreation Committee co-head Nhan Phan described the context behind the dance. “This fall term, we have planned two dances, the Neon Dance being the first, informal dance. We’ve always held dances in Thompson Gym because our experience with past venues usually hasn’t worked. The neon theme seemed to resonate with us, and we thought that could be our first informal dance,” he said.

Phan also explained how successful the dance was at attracting students and providing them with high-school memories. “The dance had good timing because there weren’t a lot of other things happening on campus at that time, [excluding] sports games,” he said. “But ultimately, it was a successful event because of the amount of people that showed up, but also in keeping with the theme: it was fun. It was a fun way, especially for new students to just go out and hang out with their friends for the first time. It was the expectation for kids coming into a high school setting to know that they’ll have dances and a stereotypical high school experience.”

Recreation Committee co-head and senior Gigi Lannon agreed in part, but upon reflecting on the dance, said, “If I could improve something from the dance, it would have been either promoting it sooner so people could be more aware and dressed in theme or changing the theme to be easier.” Lannon added that it was a very promising event, but that it probably did not honor the public’s wishes. “[Those] events might not appeal to every audience which is where it is challenging to get everyone excited and involved.”

Just a week later, students were treated to Fall Fest, perhaps the most anticipated event of the term, which featured autumnal fair snacks, recreational activities, and a Photo Booth, among other things. “I think Fall Fest was awesome,” Lannon said. “Tons of people went to the venue because the food was good, and so were the activities.” Lannon described the process as very involved, the Recreation Committee having to meet with the three coheads, and listening to voting members’ requests at Student Council meetings every month.

Prep Connie Thomas agreed with the voting member requests, stating, “I liked the Fall Fest because it was really diverse, and had lots of things to do with incredible food and lots of different activities.”

The events brought students together for a fun, exciting time while following past obstacles. Phan emphasized past failures at events: “The spring formal last year that we held in the wrestling room had to be canceled because the floor was shaking. Other dances were limited due to Covid restrictions or bad turnout.”

A recurring problem for Phan has been hiring a DJ. “We can’t get our DJ perfect because it’s an external venue and something we’re not able to control. We can give out suggestions as to what music we would like, but the DJ’s choice is the DJ’s Choice. That’s something we don’t have jurisdiction over. So when people complain to us that the DJ wasn’t good, or [ask to have an] exact DJ come, we don’t have control over that.”

Thomas raised concerns about the neon dance, like many students. “It’s not that the DJ was bad, but he was just part of a different generation.”

During the fall this year, construction projects have been occurring all around campus, such as the geothermal wells in front of the Academy Building and the renovation of Wetherell Dining Hall. Phan highlighted how the limited amount of space has affected events. “With different events related to alumni admissions and athletics, we are facing a real pickle in terms of our spacing,” he said. “That forces us to be creative in terms of what space we use for what event. And plus not all spaces are suitable. It has to be enough to contain the capacity of people that we expect to come. We just have to make sure that whatever we do in event and programming, we pay attention to how the space will influence how someone perceives an event.”

The main conflict with these events though is scheduling. “There are always scheduling issues, right?” Phan said. “But then that usually is something that… we foresee beforehand. Usually we try to plan events on nights where there are no conflicts or at least very little conflicts…We’ve been facing a problem in terms of scheduling because of insufficient space, as well as other events competing for our different audiences.”

Lannon spoke to how more students can become involved in event planning on campus. “The Recreation Committee only meets with the three co-heads, but every month or so we have people offer ideas in Student Council. If students want to pitch event ideas, they should come to Student Council meetings and offer their opinions,” she said. “We also have an email list of people who we can reach out to when we need help with setting up. But for the most part, we haven’t had that many huge events yet, at least ones that are student run. I also think that there are more events happening than people realize. Based on the schedule I’ve seen, there is at least one thing happening every Friday or Saturday night of the term, and the Recreation Committee works to make sure that remains true. Those events might not appeal to every audience, which is where it is challenging to get everyone excited and involved.”

Whether it’s attending the Neon Dance, stopping by the Fall Fest or Moon Festival celebration for a tasty treat, or witnessing a magical duo in the Assembly Hall, there has proved to be an event for everyone to enjoy this fall. Student leaders across campus have worked extremely hard to organize and schedule these events that give Exonians some much-needed space to let loose, enjoy some tasty food, and spend time with their friends. As the fall term comes to a close, Exonians have the Fall Formal to look forward to, as well as many more events in the winter.