Exonians Reflect on The Academy’s Switch to MyExeter Platform

By WILLIAM INNOUE, ISHAAN SINGH, KEVIN THANT and JADE  YOO

Students were taken by surprise when they received emails this past summer regarding a platform switch from LionLinks to MyExeter, formerly known as Blackbaud. This announcement shocked many Exonians: LionLinks had been in use since what seemed like the Middle Ages. However, the platform’s outdated 2000s-esque UI did have the community calling for a more modern replacement. The administration’s answer was MyExeter. But MyExeter did not only replace LionLinks, but an entire system of platforms that students had grown accustomed to—OLS, Student Connect, and Campus Commons.

MyExeter, which is powered by the computer software company Blackbaud, was implemented to centralize students’ schedules, Academy resources, and club communications into one platform. Students are able to access their daily, weekly, and monthly schedules, which update with attendance as teachers submit it; they can search for and join any club on campus through MyExeter; club leaders post announcements and schedule meetings.

Lower Thea Vaughan described the change as “abrupt, and [it] felt like a clunky switch. As preps, we spent the past year figuring out the Exeter websites, and then they switched to [MyExeter] out of nowhere.” 

“Over the summer, when I was trying to figure out my classes and making sure I was ready to go back to school, I really struggled to find out where everything was,” lower Melia Thibault added.

“It felt super chaotic,” upper Lauren Cooper echoed.

“It was almost inhumane that they didn’t tell us about it beforehand,” said lower Grace Yang. “It’s very confusing, and they don’t have a tutorial.” 

“I used to only check LionLinks three times a year for grades, but now I have to sign into [MyExeter] every time to see my schedule,” said lower Joshua Mullen.

“It takes forever to load my classes,” senior Winston Wang agreed. “You have to sign in every single time, and it gets hectic just to look at your schedule. Every time I go into [MyExeter], I have to sign in again and refresh my page, and to find a simple form or schedule, it makes me look through the whole website. You don’t have much time to yourself at a place like Exeter, so this is very inconvenient when I am trying to get things done.” 

Wang added, “It’s frustrating, because unlike OLS, which tells you what blocks you don’t have class in, [MyExeter] only tells you when you do have class, which can lead to confusion. Especially with the constantly changing calendar at Exeter, it was really helpful to have a visual representation of the schedule.” 

As Wang’s statement reveals, among MyExeter’s main issues is the inconvenience it causes students trying to view their schedule. This is because Campus Commons, a once-widely used platform that was created by alumnus Kevin Treehan ‘24 and centralized everything from students’ schedules to building hours, went offline with the platform switch. “I feel like the school should do some more collaboration with Campus Commons because that’s what most of the students at Exeter used,” said lower Meghan Tate Zee. “It’s a lot clearer and just functioned a lot better.”

“I need Campus Commons back. I didn’t realize how much I needed it until it was gone. Campus Commons had all the building schedules, personal schedules, dining hall hours, and dining hall menus. It was so useful,” Vaughan added.

“As a new student last year, Campus Commons really helped me get a layout of Exeter and had things that [MyExeter] doesn’t have anymore which really helped me adjust. Not being able to connect to Campus Commons is my least favorite part of [MyExeter],” agreed Thibault.

“Props to Kevin for making something so great and so easy to use. I hope that someday, we may figure it out, but it’s a real shame that we haven’t been able to access Campus Commons with [MyExeter],” said lower Griffin Breault.

When asked if they felt that MyExeter remedied the issues that they encountered with LionLinks, the general sentiment was negative. “It became more modern, but other than that, none of the issues were solved, if [MyExeter] had not made it more difficult,” Thibault said.

“I honestly did not feel that anything was wrong with LionLinks…even though it looked very old, and it was small to look at the screen, I would still prefer having LionLinks than this slow schedule that you can’t really see anything on the phone with,” said lower Chris Spencer.

“As far as I know, there were no problems with LionLinks, and I think [MyExeter] has been a net negative in many ways. LionLinks didn’t look super nice, but [MyExeter] has done nothing but introduce new problems,” stated lower Owen Cosgrove.

“I didn’t really have any frustration with LionLinks except for having to put in a new password every few months. But when I have to go into [MyExeter], I have to go to my email, find the link to [MyExeter], sign in with my username then enter my password, which is very inconvenient. I feel that [MyExeter] made my problems worse,” Cooper added.

On the other hand, some students reported that they were enjoying MyExeter and its various features. “There’s a lot more convenience in accessing my information,” said lower Artur Novaes Ferreira.

Lower Charlotte Godfrey agreed, “[MyExeter] is convenient, as all the information is concentrated and easily navigable. I can find information about both classes and myself easily. It also gives more information than any other school site I’ve used.”

“[MyExeter] is certainly more aesthetically pleasing and modern,” said Zee.

Across all grade levels, MyExeter’s modern aesthetic is appreciated. Nevertheless, the majority found problems with the new website that they had not encountered with prior systems. The constant need to sign in and the cluttered, unintuitive scheduling format made many feel that MyExeter was a downgrade from Stuent Connect, OLS, and Campus Commons. The general consensus is that MyExeter added more issues instead of removing old ones.