Every weekend, students participate in all sorts of activities, ranging from SAC dances to movie nights. As exciting as weekends are, what doesn’t get recognized as often is the immense amount of work put into planning and making sure that these events are enjoyable.
How early an event is planned mainly depends on which type of event it is. “The planning that we do for departmental events is mostly annualized, so we always work ahead. A lot of events like the Harvest Festival, Pep Rally, and Club Fair happen every year, so it’s a question of rescheduling,” said Mr. James Yanelli, Director of Student Activities.
On the other hand, for club-generated activities, he said, “Usually towards the middle of the term, we’ll send a notice out to club leaders about sending in proposals for the upcoming term; it gives clubs about a month to develop their own individual interests in activities.”
Mr. Yanelli emphasized the importance of individual clubs’ contributions to weekend life by saying, “We really count on the 120 clubs to liven up the weekend through film festivals, restaurant trips, dances, food festivals, and all kinds of club-generated events.”
Mr. Yanelli also spoke on the increasing involvement of clubs in weekend activities over the past few decades. “We are expecting more of club leaders than we did 25 years ago; they are charged with the responsibility of giving something to the community rather than just presenting something, and I think that’s important,” he said. For example, in a recent event for Hispanic Heritage Month, the Hispanic Latinx Forum did not just cook empanadas, but taught others how to cook them as well.
Alongside Mr. Yanelli, Ms. Alex Long, the Assistant Director of Student Activities, plays an important role in planning weekend activities. In addition to helping with departmental planning as the adviser of COSA, the Committee on Student Activities, she works closely with club leaders. “Whenever a club wants to sponsor an activity, Ms. Long works with its leadership to develop an event checklist, which includes details like themes, decorations and the number of people needed to set up, operate and clean up the event,” Mr. Yanelli explained.
One of the most crucial aspects of planning the weekend is ensuring that significant events do not conflict with each other, and Mr. Yanelli highlighted the importance of communicating with the Athletic Department, the Arts Department, and the Deans’ Office in order to recognize the high points of each of their calendars. “We don’t want to do anything that conflicts with the spring musical, nor do we want to have a big dance on the night of the Deerfield Pep Rally unless it’s part of the event,” he said. Mr. Yanelli also explained that being responsive to calendars and looking ahead allows him to be responsive to student energy and needs as well.
Student feedback is yet another factor that hugely impacts the selection of weekend activities. He stressed that all activities are derived from student enthusiasm and that any activity can be taken away if students begin to lose interest in it, no matter how long it lasted. One example of this was the removal of extensive film festivals, in which multiple films by a single director would be shown over the weekend. Mr. Yanelli said, “I think it’s a bit of a loss for me because I’m interested in film, but on the other hand, I understand the immediacy of watching a movie on someone’s laptop or in one of the collaboration rooms in St. John Hall.”
The biggest challenge is utilizing the budget in the most efficient and effective way. Whereas some schools might choose to host huge, costly events on two or three weekends and leave other weekends empty, Mr. Yanelli said that he tries to maintain the center of gravity on campus to encourage students to stay for events after school on Friday and to bring back day students on weekends.
According to Mr. Yanelli, the budget will always be the biggest question for him in the future, especially with the opening of St. John Hall, which is always active and packed. “I think the baseline for student life here is far superior than it is at other schools because we have such a great facility,” he said.
Students seem to appreciate the efforts of Mr. Yanelli and Ms. Long and the variety of events they offer in the weekend. Calvin Walker ’21 said, “I don’t think a lot of people go into the weekend with a plan, so having a fun activity to do on campus is helpful.” “The activities vary from week to week, so there’s always something that I want to do,” added Ben Cillie ’19.
