Concord Academy is a place that prides itself on its academically rigorous environment, and though this philosophy of hard work deeply permeates student life, time to celebrate is appreciated every once in a while. Like many other schools, extracurriculars and clubs are a large part of the broader community culture. Still, as this winter has thus far proven, plentiful weekend activities seem to be cementing themselves as a staple of CA.
Though the number of weekend activities at CA has remained relatively consistent throughout the past couple of years, the proximity between recent events has provoked a certain displeasure in the student body. Over the past two months, there have been 15 separate weekend events, with the Snow Ball, Winterfest, The Battle, Semi-Formal, the A Capella Music Concert, the Faculty Music Concert, and the WOYM Playwriting Festival all having occurred between January and February. The consistent level of these activities has made students wonder, “Is this all too much?”
To be fair, these events provide an opportunity for students and faculty alike to participate in the CA community outside of regularly scheduled class time and the constant stress of everyday life. Furthermore, these events allow those who live on campus to have some fun during the academic year and provide various genres of community time that cater to everyone's needs.
While I believe that the concurrency of these events is essential to keep the CA landscape fresh and exciting, the adjacency of these typically-larger events to one another has provided a series of unforeseen issues. Namely, the consistency with which these events have happened over the past couple of weeks has seemingly added to student burnout, rather than providing entertainment during the often monotonous and tiresome winter season. Though this is not a blanket statement regarding all weekend activities, the hectic culture riddled deep within CA, which pushes for students to do more and more, has appeared to lead some of the student body to continue down a path of little rest and free time. On the other side, some of these events’ potentials are being quashed simply because of their proximity to one another. Why attend a second event if you have already gone to one this weekend? The hyperextension of commitments at school can lead those already tired by schoolwork and extracurriculars to opt out of events that they would have typically attended. This has caused weekend activities to begin to be viewed as an additional source of stress, rather than an opportunity to relax during off-time.
Though the future of weekend activities still seems fruitful and exciting, the necessity of spacing out events becomes more essential as the level of activities continues to rise.