StuCo Hopes to Boost School Spirit for E/a
Student Council (StuCo) reflected on Tuesday’s Open Mic Assembly on health and wellness and discussed upcoming plans for the Exeter/Andover games, including a few surprises, during this week’s meeting.
During the discussion, students expressed concerns regarding the combative remarks and disrespect exhibited toward the health department at the assembly. Some felt that instead of airing their grievances against the health center, they should have been working to find solutions. Council members expounded that students did not use the assembly appropriately and squandered a valuable chance to stir conversation and seek answers.
“A lot of members felt that the students didn’t take advantage of the opportunities they had, and had hoped for more general, directed questions that could educate the entire student body,” StuCo president and senior Rebecca Ju said.
“I think that school spirit has been increasingly discussed and many Exonians are working toward raising it.”
To produce a more fruitful campus conversation, StuCo members called for clearer guidelines to the purpose of the assembly. Many praised the addition of anonymous submissions via email and suggested expanding the operation to improve the assembly’s focus. Several proposed that students send in their comments before the assembly, from which the StuCo Executive Board could select the questions most applicable or beneficial to the general audience.
StuCo Assembly Committee head and senior Darius Shi shared a few suggestions to improve efficiency in future conversations. “[We should] host similar discussions during advising block to select out the most important and commonly asked questions, so that the whole school assembly becomes more efficient. [We can also] host discussions in an evening forum that is longer than assembly so that there is more time for conversation,” he said.
While many felt that the conversation could have been improved, council members overall thought that the assembly was still a beneficial experience for the student body, noting that some responses were especially helpful, such as those of Academy counselor and psychologist Christopher Thurber. The assembly built a solid foundation on which to launch the long conversation ahead concerning health and wellness at the Academy.
“I think we all agreed that this was only the beginning of the conversation,” Ju said. “We will definitely continue our discussions within council, with other students and with adults of our community.”
Another major initiative of the council is to improve school spirit. With E/a just around the corner, StuCo’s Recreational (Rec) Committee announced a number of surprises in addition to their plans for the typical festivities, including a spirit week, E/a assembly and pep rally.
In the week leading up to E/a, students will be encouraged to join together and don outfits tailored to each specific spirit day. Currently, the rec committee has designated Wednesday as class color day, Thursday as pajama day and Friday as the traditional red day. Many students had been demanding a pajama day, so the committee is excited to meet the students’ requests. The committee is still bouncing ideas for the first two days of the week and is seeking the student body’s suggestions.
At the annual Friday fall E/a assembly, the Red Bandits, a group of seniors selected to heighten school spirit, will be teaching this year’s E/a chants to the student body. In addition, the senior class representatives will be handing out kilts to the four-year seniors, and the entire student body will receive free E/a psych packets in their mailboxes, containing items such as temporary tattoos, bandanas and beads.
This year, StuCo has planned a special treat: as the first of the surprises, everyone will receive free E/a beanies in their mailboxes. The committee had to garner $3,750 to buy the hats for everybody. For additional gear, StuCo will be selling vuvuzelas, boom sticks and foam fingers in Agora.
In the evening, the annual snake dance will kick off the night, picking up students from Main Street all the way to fields where students will burn blue items in the huge bonfire. Afterward, students will head to the pep rally, where each varsity team will perform a skit with music to arouse excitement about their games. Campus dance troupe performances and Red Bandit cheers will be dispersed throughout the pep rally.
StuCo hopes through all of these different spirited activities, they can foster greater school spirit. During the past year, many students have raised concerns about the lack of spirit and support amongst the student body for their peers. StuCo hopes that through E/a, the most spirited school event of the year, they can institute a change in this attitude. “I think that school spirit has been increasingly discussed and many Exonians are working toward raising it. I hope this really shows, not just at the pep rally and assembly, but also at the games during E/a weekend,” StuCo recreational committee head and upper Jena Yun said.
Contributions from Jenny Yang