Last year marked the debut of Wallingford’s Community Weekend, which celebrated the unity of the community and the 125th anniversary of Choate Rosemary Hall. Service Day took place that weekend, as well as several sports events that embody the spirit and enthusiasm of Choate. “I loved Community Weekend last year because I got to be so involved,” said Namsai Sethpornpong ’17. “Moreover, because no one left campus, there was a great sense of unity,”
This year, Community Weekend once again brought the Choate community together with major sports events against Exeter, the third annual Service Day, and ongoing 125th anniversary celebrations. Student feedback from this year, like last year’s, was overwhelmingly positive. Even more, the support of Boar Pen resulted in more school spirit and support for athletic contests.
Josephine Mah ’18 said, “I feel like people were a lot more involved in Community Weekend this year, because Boar Pen did a really good job of promoting spirit and encouraging people to attend all the sports games. This made the weekend a lot more memorable.”
As for the weekend’s sports events, the Choate football team scored an impressive victory against Exeter, winning by 32 points and contributing another win to their undefeated record. “It was an exciting victory for us, and we really appreciated the support from the school,” said Jack Fenton ’18, a swinger between junior varsity and varsity football.
Other teams, such as the Boys’ Varsity Water Polo, received overwhelming support from the student body. “Although losing in triple overtime is never fun, I thought it was great to have so many Choate fans cheering us on. Their presence really changed the whole atmosphere of the game,” said Albert Zhang ’16, a varsity water polo player.
Another hallmark of Community Weekend this year was Service Day, which was an enormous success, with the school packing around 170,000 meal packs. Choate’s Annual Service Day was another feat that could not have been achieved without the combined effort of both the faculty and the student body.
“We actually packed more than the quota of 150,000. We’re all extremely happy as a committee that all our goals were met even with the terrible weather conditions outside. We were initially really worried, but everything turned out really well and we’re very proud of each other and the entire school,” said Namsai Sethpornpong ‘17, a member of the Service Day Committee.
Another tradition that continued this year was Harvest Fest, an opportunity for student clubs to work together to spread awareness about their goals and for the community to celebrate fall.
One major difference between the previous Community Weekend and the Community Weekend this year was the amount of student participation. In order to increase student input, a Community Weekend Committee was established, comprised of both faculty and advisors. During the course of one whole year, the committee dedicated a lot of time in coordinating a single memorable and inspiring weekend for students.
“The faculty members, especially Mr. Yanelli, spent a lot of effort planning the activities, especially during the upcoming months to make sure there is a lot going on campus. As students, we offered our ideas, and add or subtract things from the agenda so that the weekend would be more enjoyable for students,” said Emilia Furlo ’17, a student representative of the Community Weekend Committee.
The seamless schedule was possible because of the cooperation between the Community Weekend Committee, student programming, and the communications office. According to Ms. DeStefano, the chair of the Community Weekend Committee, “There was much more coordination with the communications office, to create bigger and bolder events.”
The weekend proved to be a hit for students, but many challenges were faced during the organization process. A major hardship the committee overcame was the inclement weather due to the passing storm. The weekend was filled with cold, rainy weather, hindering many events that were to be held outdoors, including a cookout and a “secret finale” after the football game.
Although the committee members were disappointed about the cancellation of many events, the planning and time that went into Community Weekend will not be wasted, as these events will be postponed to next year.
