StuCo Hosts Final Open Mic Assembly

Student Council (StuCo) hosted its third and final open-forum assembly on Tuesday morning. Discussion centered around two questions: “How can we make Exeter a healthier place without reducing rigor?” and “What makes Exeter a great school academically, and what could make it a better learning environment?”

According to an all-school email sent on StuCo’s behalf, they hosted the assembly to inform the strategic planning committee of students’ concerns and contribute to a plan for Exeter’s future. “Strategic planning is a broad strokes planning process for Exeter’s future. This is a rare event in the Academy’s history, one that will affect students’ experiences for years, perhaps decades, to come,” the email said.

“It’d be great to hear more ideas of how to change, versus what to change. It’s the next step in the process.”

Senior and StuCo President Benj Cohen found the discussion to be more distinct in its outcomes compared to the previous two open-forum assemblies StuCo has hosted. The first assembly hovered around the topic of  “goodness,” while the second asked students what they would most like to improve about the school. Cohen found that Tuesday’s focused discussion led to strong talking points which will ultimately benefit the strategic planning committee.

Like Cohen, upper and StuCo secretary Kevin Zhen reflected on the experience and compared it to the previous open-forums. “Although we strayed from the initial two questions that we proposed, the dialogue was important and hopefully useful for the strategic planning committee,” Zhen said.

“In comparison to our first two all-school assemblies, this one was probably the most casual, or comfortable,” Zhen continued. “I saw many new faces and although many of the topics were serious, there was various cheering, whooping and laughing, which I interpreted to be a positive sign.”

Seniors Webb Harrington and Rowan McDonald had similar thoughts. During the assembly, Harrington spoke about the “lack of acceptance of difference of [religious] opinion,” and he suggested that acceptance could reduce issues associated with mental health at the Academy.

“I thought the assembly this time around actually worked better than ones in the past, mostly because people knew what to expect,” Harrington said. “It didn’t take long for someone to get the discussion started, and people quickly built up a functional line to the microphones. There was significantly more prep and lower participation in the discussion, which just goes to show how much more comfortable with this format Exonians are.”

McDonald thought that the school, as a whole, was getting better at Harkness-style assemblies. “I appreciated how there was a range of comments, and people referenced each other’s contributions without any sort of heated debate.”

“Ultimately, it’s out of our hands what happens with this information,” McDonald said. “But I’m glad that students were willing to engage in a worthwhile discussion.”

Some students found some speeches repetitive, but senior Katie Casado looked positively upon them. “I know there was some debate over one of the last ones because some people thought some messages were harsh, but I think most were things that needed to be said, and at the very least brought issues to light and around for dialogue,” she said.

“Overall, [the comments] probably helped more than hurt, and I’m curious [to see] how StuCo will put the thoughts into action or tangible plans,” Casado added.

Prep Billy O’Handley, who also spoke at the assembly, thought that there was room for improvement. “I think that the StuCo’s choice to talk about stress was in some aspects good, and some aspects bad. Although stress is one of the major problems we have at Exeter today, I know some people might have wanted to talk about an even more difficult topic.”

Noticing the number of students who wished to speak, upper Chris Lee and lower Nada Zohayr both wished the forum could’ve gone on longer. “The major disadvantage is that there is not enough time for everyone to express their opinions,” Zohayr said. “But having another forum of this kind would not have the same effect since assembly is the only time where the entire school is assembled.”

Looking forward, Zhen hopes that students will “not only bring forward their concerns or issues they have identified, but also possible solutions to some of these issues.”

Upper Rebecca Ju echoed his sentiments. During the assembly, she talked about the stigma of mental illness and how it caused some students to avoid the health center even when they needed help.

“It’d be great to hear more ideas of how to change, versus what to change,” she said. “It’s the next step in the process.”