Is less more?

The first of three recognition assemblies usually happens in December; instead, the first of two recognition assemblies took place Jan. 9 during X-period. The assembly was much shorter than it had been in previous years and also featured fewer speakers. Much of the assembly consisted of Debate coaches Tom Fones and Aaron Shulow acknowledging the Debate programs accomplishments in the fall season. They were followed by Director of Athletics Dawn Wickstrum and U.S. Athletics Director Andrea Schmidt, who shared summaries of the fall sports seasons, written by each sports coach. Diane Huang, Javier Whitaker-Castaneda and Muneil Rizvi,  editors of The Rubicon, The Rubiconline, and The Ibid also presented an overview of what their publications had accomplished in the first semester. 

This assembly will be one of only two Recognition Assemblies done this year, as the school will be making an effort to cut back on the amount of time taken out of the schedule. “We talked to both faculty and students and we felt that having three Recognition Assemblies was a bit redundant,” Upper School Principal Chris Hughes said.

While many students are rejoicing in the cutback, some concerns have emerged:  “Now that we only have two assemblies it feels like the second Recognition Assembly is going to be way longer because they’re trying to pack three assemblies into two and this one was so short,” senior Emerson Egly said.
Egly is certainly not alone in his concern. “I really liked that it was short but [it] didn’t include a slideshow this year; that’s always been my favorite part. Maybe they didn’t have time for it, but I hope they have one for the spring assembly. I also hope that we hear more about the [Fine Arts] awards next time, since this was mostly sports and Debate,” junior Olivia Williams Ridge said.  

In addition to the recognition assemblies, the end of the year awards assembly will still continue as it has in the past.