On Friday Dec. 20, the high school held its annual Christmas Assembly, with one notable difference. This year, freshmen were not allowed to join the rest of the school in the Black Box. Instead, due to newly-enforced capacity limits, they were made to watch the assembly in the Forum, via a livestream of the Black Box.
According to Assistant Principal for School Life Quinn Killy, the administration split up the assembly because of the 300-person capacity of the Black Box. The assembly was not held in the gym, which can fit the whole high school. During the assembly, half of the floor space in the Black Box was open.
“The gym would kinda stink even more for this assembly than for other assemblies,” Killy said. He said the gym lacked intimacy, aesthetics and acoustic quality.
In January, a stipulation of the decennial accreditation process mandated that GDS move high school gatherings out of the Forum due to fire code, and the administration decided to hold assemblies in the gym.
“Quite frankly, I think it’s a bit ridiculous,” freshman Zoe Wolin said. “I don’t understand that just because we’re the freshmen, we should be watching in the Forum, or why anyone should be watching in the Forum.”
Killy explained that ninth-graders were chosen to watch the assembly in the Forum because no better options were presented.
Ten of the thirteen freshmen interviewed by the Bit were unhappy with watching the assembly in the Forum.
Even though the assembly was streamed, some groups performed live in the Black Box and in the Forum. The smaller performances in the Forum included a student jazz band, Morris Dancers—an annual student-staff performance of an English folk dance—and Fata Morgana, GDS’s student-run dance company.
Killy said that in the future, more performances in the Forum would have made the experience more enjoyable. “We’d have more groups that performed at both places,” Killy said.
“I feel like we kinda got snubbed on that, and that’s pretty unfair,” freshman Noah Jansen said. Jansen said he felt isolated from the full high school community, including friends from other grades and teachers, “just because we’re freshmen.”
Killy said that when students encounter problems, they are encouraged to come up with solutions. “Don’t complain about it, have a solution for it,” Killy said.
After the assembly ended, some students’ opinions had shifted. Even though Wolin wished the freshmen could have watched the assembly with the whole school, “it was actually really fun and I feel like everyone else was also having fun,” she said.
Killy admitted that the assembly wasn’t perfect. “It went okay,” he said. “If we had to do it this way again, there’s definitely ways I’d do it differently,” he added. Killy said he would change the seating arrangement, lighting style and distribution of candy.
Killy thought the experience was special for the freshman class. “To me, this is one of those places where you didn’t have the same experience as the sophomores, juniors and seniors, but you had a different experience. In some ways it’s nice and in some ways it’s not ideal,” said Killy.
In contrast to many of his peers, freshman Justin Heffernan was excited to watch the assembly in the Forum. “I lowkey think it’s great cause there’s a lot more room and we still get to see the performances,” he said. Heffernan later won the raffle.
In the Forum, ninth-graders were served hot chocolate, candy canes and Hershey Kisses. An inflatable Christmas tree, lights and projected snowflakes adorned the Forum. Teachers and students alike were seen wearing Santa hats and festive pajamas.
Three freshmen interviewed by the Bit mentioned their favorite part of the assembly: Killy lifting the window shades of the Forum, revealing snow falling outside. Because the flurries faded minutes later, the ninth graders were the only students able to see them.