The purpose of Community Time is to bring the entire Upper School community together. It gives everyone a break from classes and creates an experience that can be shared by the whole community. However, Community Time doesn’t always feel like something students want to be a part of.
The biggest issue with Community Time for me is engagement. It is almost impossible for a topic to be appealing to everyone when everyone is required to attend the same event.
There are times when the speaker or presentation is genuinely interesting, but other times, Community Time feels like something that only a small group of people can connect with. In that situation, the room loses energy, and students either zone out or wait for Community Time to be over.
I am by no means saying that Community time is a bad idea. I think the idea behind it is really important. There are not many moments throughout the week when the entire Upper School is together in one place.
Community Time has the potential to be an event in which students actually learn something new or feel more connected to the GA community. The issue is that the current format doesn’t always allow for that to happen.
One change I would make to Community Time would be to give students more choice. Instead of having one event that the entire community had to attend, there could be m multiple options.
For example, one room could host a guest speaker, another room could have a student or faculty-led discussion and another could focus on other topics such as mental health, careers, or college advice. If students were afforded the opportunity to choose where they spend their time, it would increase the likelihood of them paying more attention and participating.
Another improvement would be to include more student voices. As Community Time currently is, events are primarily speakers or presentations directed at students. GA students have interesting experiences that can be beneficial for the Upper School community.
Different ideas and perspectives could add a lot to the conversation and make Community Time feel less like a lecture and more like a real community event.
At the end of the day, Community Time has a lot of potential. It just needs to evolve so that it feels more relevant and engaging for students. If the goal is to bring the community together, then the events should reflect the interests and voices of the people in the room.
Community Time shouldn’t be something students have to attend. It should be something they actually want to be a part of.