Justin Chen ‘20, Owen Maier ‘20, James Tang ‘18: The BMW Golf Classic will take place in September of 2018, causing a heavy volume of traffic and a surplus of roughly 5000 people around EA’s campus. Assistant Head of School Paul Sanders is tasked with addressing the drastic impact this will have on EA.
Sanders explains, “So, for faculty, there is no delay. But for students, school will be closed the week after Labor Day. Sports practices will begin on the 28th of August. Parent teacher conferences will happen the week before Labor Day. The week after Labor Day we’re not open so the first day of school will be the 10th of September.”
With school being pushed back three days, Sanders continues, “We don’t want to take three school days away from students, so we will have to come in on faculty in-service days. The Friday before Columbus Day and the Monday before Thanksgiving, we will all be in school. Also, the Monday after spring break, we’ll all be in.”
Usually, these large golf events occur closer to the middle of the summer, but this time, the tournament will be right around where pre-season sports would have been.
However, the upcoming tournament has some students far more excited than anxious. The tournament itself, held from September 4-9, is the penultimate stage of the FedEx Cup Playoffs, one of professional golf’s largest events. Past winners have included Rory McIlroy, Dustin Johnson, and Tiger Woods, some of history’s most iconic golfers.
This won’t be Aronimink’s first time hosting major golf tournaments. The country club’s extensive history includes the PGA Championship, Senior PGA Championship, and most recently, the AT&T National in 2011.
Justin Hershey ‘18, a member of the Varsity Golf Team, says, “The thought of it is awesome. I think it will be great for our community.”