How has Founder’s Day changed over the years? How will it change in the future? In an exclusive interview with Tower, Dobbs Athletic Association (DAA) co-presidents Nathaniel Lothian ‘24, Jennica Pereiras ‘24 and Kendall Halprin ‘24 discuss just that. 

Tower: This is your guys’ last Founder’s Day. How do you feel about that? Any emotions around that?

Halprin: Yeah, for sure, especially since I’ve been here since fifth grade. This will be my eighth Founder’s Day and my last, so of course I wish more time could have been put into it, especially since Founder’s Day is so early in the year, and it does mean a lot to me. Founder’s Day was always really special; I remember being in Middle School because it was one of the few times that we were ever together with the Upper School. I’d always look up to the DAA or just the people leading, and always think that they were so cool. In Middle School especially, we got very hyped for [Founder’s Day]. 

Lothian: I think one of the biggest parts of Founder’s Day is connecting cross-grade communities together. It’s boarding, Middle School, all the grades all mixed together. It gives us a great opportunity to interact in fun ways with all grades. As DAA presidents, what we’re trying to strive to do is make this Founder’s Day the most inclusive to everybody and make sure that everyone’s kind of enjoying what they do. 

Tower: What’s the biggest way you’ve seen Founder’s Day change?

Lothian: I got here in sixth grade, and every year the standard for what Founder’s Day is is lowered and lowered, and now the entire event is just a speech and then a tug-of-war. I think COVID had a little bit to do with that, because pre-COVID it was a day of festivities. I think there was egg toss, there was capture the flag, there was a bunch of activities that kind of allowed us to get together. I think everyone really appreciated these activities, but now we’ve kind of gone backwards. It feels to me that the student body doesn’t feel as hyped up and excited for Founder’s Day, so I think our mission for our last Founder’s Day and how we want to make an impact on the school is just make sure this Founder’s Day is the Founder’s Day that kicks back off what we remembered as we first got here.

Halprin: Something important to know about how Founder’s Day has changed over the years is that it’s become much of a smaller event. It’s been minimized to just a tug-of-war, as Nathan said, which I think is something that DAA is very committed to turning around. A day dedicated to the founding of our school and recognizing how far our school has come should be a big day to celebrate and come together as a community instead of just an afterthought. The three of us would have liked to do more for Founder’s Day this year, but I think a big goal of ours is to help DAA and the people in DAA right now to move that mission forwards next year and make it get better every single year and just be that launching off point that Nathan talked about. We want this to become what it used to be before COVID or we want it to become better. 

Lothian: That’s not easy. Most of our meetings have been really focused on what we can do for Founder’s Day and it’s not an easy task to grapple with, like how do you understand what kids want to do? And there’s such a large array of different kinds of students at the school that pinpointing certain kinds of activities that can actually portray something that’s fun to everybody is really difficult for us. 

Tower: Are you guys thinking about including some things that are more academic based for people who aren’t big athletes?

Pereiras: Yeah, we were talking about how in past years, I think that’s something we’ve been missing, so thoughts of like a puzzle or other things like that to bring everyone else together. I think trivia would be a great idea. Again, just emphasizing that the point of Masters, the point of Founder’s Day, is not just sports sports sports. It’s about school spirit and being grateful to be at Masters and understanding that this place was founded on a lot of really good values that have changed over time, but a lot of them are staying the same. 

Tower: What are your thoughts about Founder’s Day as far as carrying on tradition?

Pereiras: I think tradition coincides with what people remember our school to be and what will recognize our school to be, especially talking to middle schoolers about it. DAA is really trying to connect with the Middle School this year. Talking to them  and seeing how much they actually really enjoy Founder’s Day, even with how small it is right now, speaks a lot to tradition and how important it is to bring everyone together. 

Halprin: For tradition, there are a lot of things that Founder’s Day brings back, like in our speech we’ll probably talk about some of the old rules that used to be here when it was an all girls’ school and other things like that. It’s always fun and informative to learn about what the school used to be like and coming together and looking at what it is now. 

Lothian: Yeah, it’s broadening our scope on dealing with Founder’s Day as a tradition. There’s not only these little things that we’re talking about, Founder’s Day as a whole has been going on for, like, I don’t know, probably since the start of the school. It’s been a huge tradition that, as we’ve talked about, is slipping a little bit, not only for ourselves, but also imagine someone who graduated 25 years ago. We want them to come back and say, “Wow, this is the Founder’s Day that I remember.”