The John G. Noppinger Commons were presented to the students as a place for them. An alternative, a place quieter than the Dining Hall, but students could still talk unlike the library. For the first few years, this has been the case. Students have been able to get work done and still socialize amongst classmates. This fall, that trend has changed in the morning. The Commons have become a place for parents, but students are allowed to work silently. This change has come as a result of the presentations to the parents of prospective students in the Commons in the mornings.
The John G. Noppinger Commons were presented to the students as a place for them. An alternative, a place quieter than the Dining Hall, but students could still talk unlike the library. For the first few years, this has been the case. Students have been able to get work done and still socialize amongst classmates. This fall, that trend has changed in the morning. The Commons have become a place for parents, but students are allowed to work silently. This change has come as a result of the presentations to the parents of prospective students in the Commons in the mornings. The presentations take place in the mornings for about twenty minutes to give the parents an overview of what their children will encounter at Calvert Hall. Mr. Dan Mulford '05, Assistant Director of Admissions said, "We've seen a shift in what people want," citing that the parents want "a more personal touch." Instead of long discussions back-and-forth, they want to see what it's like to be a student on campus in the morning and what their son will potentially encounter throughout the day. This is valid -- opinions change, and so does what people look for in a high school. With colleges offering more and more amenities to students, a college preparatory school must keep up with these changes and show them to the parents. But at what point does this personal touch only apply to the parents? Parents are the ones reaping the benefits from the Commons in the morning, and students are left to look elsewhere for a place to work. To highlight this discrepancy between the Commons’ benefit to the parents versus the students, some students offered their opinions on the presentations. When asked if he thinks the presentations are fair to the students, Graham Kotchick '19 said, “No, because the Commons were a place where I could go and do work before the school day that was close to my locker and homeroom, but when I can't even sit down, there are not many other places for me to go to do work besides the cafe.” This is the biggest and most relevant problem with the presentations. In the morning, after 7:55, thirty minutes before homeroom, Mr. Mitchell arrives at the Commons and does not allow students to enter. Even if someone leaves to see a teacher, that person cannot come back into the Commons. As Kotchick pointed out, there is a lack of seating everywhere else. Student Activities either has a meeting or is full, the Math Resource Center is full in the morning, the Dining Hall may have one or two spare seats, and the Academic Resource Center usually has a meeting. With the limited seats, students that arrive to school after 7:55 are essentially blocked out of the Commons and have to walk meaninglessly around campus to waste time waiting for homeroom. When asked if the presentations affect him, Chris White '20 said, “I spend every morning in the Commons, so yeah it affects me, most notably when Mr. Mitchell came over to my table and threatened to kick out two kids that high-fived.” This is evidence of the Commons becoming more of a place for the parents, even though it was presented as a place for the students. The very fact that students can be kicked out due to a high-five or raising their voices for any reason seems a bit extreme. The fact is students are being kicked out of the Commons because they are disrupting the parents. I am not going to go as far to say that the parents are really the ones disrupting the students, but when asked why the Commons were chosen as the place for the presentations rather than the theater or room 102, Mr. Mulford said, "The parents loved being with the students" and it was a "real experience." This is true; being in the Commons is a true experience of what the students will face in the mornings with one exception: the Commons are a not a silent place. Essentially putting on an act of students being quiet throughout the morning and having the Dean of Students patrol the Commons is not the experience kids want or what future students will encounter throughout their time at CHC. Now, the time for potential solutions has come. The parents are already receiving the same information at Open House and other school-sponsored events. Also, as a school that prides itself on the student advocating for himself and making his own decisions and being accountable by accepting the consequences of his actions, the morning presentations shouldn’t be so geared towards the parents, if the decision is ultimately made by the students. When asked about taking the parents for a tour to get the true experience rather than being in the Commons giving a presentation, Mr. Mulford said that the school is having multiple “Take-A-Look Tuesday” events. Parents will receive a tour and lunch, but this raises another question: with these days and Open House, why do the parents still need presentations in the morning when they have the opportunity to walk the halls their children will also walk? White offered up a solution: “I feel as if the parents could just get a flash drive like from Open House. If the Admissions Office thinks it best to not present at Open House, why should this be any different?” This is a great point. The Admissions team doesn’t deem a presentation necessary at Open House, the first step of the admissions process and biggest event, so if it isn’t essential on the biggest stage, it definitely isn’t a necessity on these everyday mornings. A flash drive video of the presentations is a phenomenal way to allow students freedom in the Commons in the morning while still giving the parents the information they apparently need. With many viable solutions to the problems of students being kicked out of the Commons and not having a place to do work in the morning, this article is indeed a call to find that middle ground to help both the students first and the parents. Otherwise, the school is seen as being a place that puts the prospective students and their parents before the students who have actually committed their wide-ranging talents to the school.