Alec Austin ‘19, Michael Zeng ‘19:
Students have just been notified that May Term will indeed officially be replacing J-Term. The Upper School students will now be taking trips, doing projects, and learning about new things in May rather than in January.
Mike Letts, Head of the Upper School, held a Q&A and answered all questions and concerns regarding May Term. He says, “I think it was generally positive, but I know some of the juniors are upset. I understand that. They may have been planning on joining trips next January and now can’t because we’ve moved it to May. Others were excited about their senior projects, which they won’t have now.”
Some students were upset because the juniors will be the first EA class to test out May Term. Claire Jacoby ‘19 says, “ I dislike the switch because some of the other students, who wanted to travel cannot now because of their commitments to their varsity sports, especially for my J-Term, which is the Cuban J-Term.” The class of 2019 is the most affected by the May Term switch, but the other students from the other classes have opinions about May Term. Sophia Garino ‘20 explains, “I dislike how I will not be able to travel for May Term because it interferes with Lacrosse and I believe that students won’t give 100% effort into their respective May Term because it will almost be summer.”
Evidently there are many students unhappy with the switch from J-Term to May Term, but Letts and the Upper School faculty are convinced that May Term is the right decision. Although May Term will bring challenges to the Upper School faculty and student body, the benefits, according to Letts, outweigh the problems that may arise.
It will be especially hard for the class of 2019, who will be seniors during the first May Term, because they will be spending their last couple weeks of high school in different locations pursuing various projects. Robbie Copit ‘19 says, “It makes me not want to do a trip because for my last couple weeks of school at EA, I would like to be surrounded by friends and not away from them.” However, despite some negative feedback, Letts is confident in the switch to May Term, stating, “We’ll continue to work on solutions for these, but overall we have to think about what’s best for all the US students and May is the right decision.”