Jessica Bai ’16, Chris Basset ‘18, Matt Freese ’17: Chapel speeches are the foundation of what sets Episcopal apart from other academic institutions. The process of finding new speakers branches out to many different approaches including connections to outside-of-school speakers. These connections often come through Reverend Squire, but the student-led Vestry also plays a large part in the process. The leaders of the Vestry assign a Vestry member to contact the speaker and give them necessary information such as the date for which they are scheduled to speak. Other connections to outside-of-school speakers come through links from EA students who make suggestions to the Vestry.“Knowing kids is a good way to become aware of potential speakers,” elaborated Reverend Squire.
Concerning the speakers within the EA community, there are two sections: senior speakers and other speakers. If they want to give a speech, seniors consult the Vestry to schedule their speaking dates. The first speakers who approach the Vestry have the first chances to select a date. However, many seniors want to speak in Chapel, but the school schedule only allows a certain amount of Chapel blocks, meaning that not everyone who wants to make a statement will be able to do so.
The Vestry and Reverend Squire are currently planning out their speaker list from now until early February.; however, the appointment of a new Head Chaplain next year means that this process of assigning speaking dates is slightly different this year. For example, some of the dates in December are reserved for the potential candidates for the Head Chaplain position.
Another upcoming speaker for the month of December is the Diversity Student Leadership group, which collaborates with the community service and diversity departments. Moreover, on December 11th, Monsignor Enzler, who spent significant time with the Pope during the Pope’s time in Philadelphia and runs Catholic services in Washington DC, will speak at EA.Squire and the Vestry may also try to bring in John Oliver, a comedian on the news comedy show Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, but it has not yet been confirmed.
Reverend Squire feels that it is important for the outside speakers to hold conference calls with the Vestry so that the speakers and the Vestry members can express and share their visions for the speech. In general, Squire and the Vestry want their speakers to talk about the matters of faith, character, ethics, or the characteristics of the Episcopal stripes.
Several EA students were asked about who their favorite speakers were. Christopher D’Ambrosio ‘18 recalled, “Probably [Nick Gaynor] from Villanova…because his speech was really touching and the audience was engaged.” Spencer Higgins ‘18 responded saying that he “liked [Zach Viscusi’s] because I feel like it spoke to me and I could relate to what he was saying.”
To Reverend Squire, his favorite speakers are always the students and that he tells them that the guidelines are to speak about something that only they could express. He explained, “I love it when people are out in the congregation and they say to themselves, ‘Wow, I never knew that about them.’”