Christina Chambers ’16, Sarah Barr ’16: Spirit Week is a tradition near and dear to the hearts of EA students. This includes events such as dodge ball and clash day, and culminates with the highly anticipated all-school pep rally. It is the time of year to celebrate the athletes of Episcopal and its overwhelming sense of school unity.
This year, however, because the schedule of EA/AIS sporting games was moved to earlier in the day, a number of student athletes will be unable to attend the pep rally. As Cole Testiauti ’16, puts it, “The athletes won’t have the fan base they deserve because the pep rally will still be going on.” The contested issues with the schedule are that there will be five classes for students to attend, pushing the pep rally back later, meaning that sports teams will have to leave early from the school wide event and begin competitions while the pep rally is still taking place.
Maura Fay ‘16, Girls’ Cross Country Captain, expressed her view on the issue saying, “I think it is disappointing that a lot of the video is about the sports teams and a lot of them won’t be able to watch it. They won’t be able to be with their friends to get excited to play in the games.” Haley Potter ‘16, Girls’ Tennis Captain, follows Fay’s disappointment stating, “There are eight seniors on our tennis team who will not be able to participate in the fun events of the pep rally this year and I feel as though some of our concerns were ignored or pushed aside and no one seems to have a real answer as to why.”
To find out some of these answers, Scholium sat down with Delvin Dinkins, Head of Upper School. “Right now it [the pep rally] is scheduled to start at 12:30…and it will probably end at around 1:30,” Dinkins stated. He went on to say that many coaches are “hoping to dismiss the players at 1:10…which would allow for all the players to be introduced and see the film.” Despite this, there is overwhelming student concern that things will not flow smoothly and that athletes and students alike will suffer. Matt DePillis, ’16, noted that his concern in particular is rooted in the fact that, “I think it’s unfair that a bunch of kids, especially seniors who don’t have the opportunity to go to the pep rally…I think it’s really centered around the athletes getting hyped up for the day.” He continued to discuss his issues with the current schedule, saying that, “For the girls teams…it’s under our control to maybe take Z block out…it’s 30 minutes…it would mean so much to these seniors. And it would make the difference in their entire weekend.”
Dinkins discussed the schedule changes, which were introduced last spring, by stating that, “The schedule may not be ideal for everyone…but at the time…there were no objections” and that EA has to work “within a number of different parameters.” The first of these parameters being that “it’s still a school day” and that “any time in the schedule we agreed to here has to be agreed with…by Agnes Irwin and Haverford.” He continued stressing that, “You can’t just strong-arm people saying this is our schedule; it has to be a conversation.”
Two years ago Episcopal only had three blocks before EA/AIS day, but Dinkins explained that kind of schedule was not going to pass this year because of, “Feedback from faculty last year, as well feedback from even students who complained that they missed class and then had double the work led to…a decision to have abbreviated classes.” He also mentioned that EA’s many snow days of that year had not happened yet, so they would not have been the cause for student complaints at the time.
As for the athletes that say they will not be in attendance, Dinkins believed, “They should be able to come and be introduced. They should be able watch the film. Beyond the film there are just chants and probably one or two other things, maybe?” He affirmed, “Whoever is missing may amount to a third.” When asked what he would say to the seniors who would be missing the pep rally, Dinkins replied, “There is no reason you would have to be there only for ten minutes unless you plan to leave an hour early.”
In addition to disappointment about the overall schedule changes, many students have expressed anger over the fact that, in efforts to make the pep rally shorter, the dance competition has been cancelled. Maddie O’Reilly ‘17 noted that the grades “put in so much effort…and then [the school] cancelled it the week of spirit week.” Leah Marchant, ’16, brought it back to the athletes, saying that, “had we had the opportunity, I think it would have given the senior class a chance to work together…but knowing that it’s being cut so that we can go out and support our teams…I agree.”