Morning meetings in the Claudia Boettcher Theater aren’t always everybody’s cup of tea. It’s early in the morning, students are stressed about classes and work, and the dark atmosphere can make students feel sleepy. This is a stark contrast to the loud, bright, and shiny gym that does the opposite of putting students to sleep. Nevertheless, morning meetings at Masters are a crucial part of our day for a shared community feeling that includes the whole school… except the freshmen. 

        Now that the CBT is under repair due to mold abatement, Morning Meeting has been relocated to the Fonseca Center, where the whole school can take part in announcements and speeches. 

        As of about eight years ago, the population of the Upper School had outgrown the CBT, so freshmen had to take one for the team and watch remotely from their classrooms. Having whole school morning meetings seems like a good thing at first glance – everybody gets to participate in morning meetings and the freshmen don’t have to deal with laggy Zoom meetings from a classroom somewhere else on campus. But, I think that this takes away from the freshman year experience. 

        In our freshman year here at Masters, we all had to go through the learning and adjusting process that is sitting in a dark classroom while morning meetings played through the projectors and the (sometimes) working speakers. In my opinion, zoom morning meetings are a crucial right of passage for incoming freshmen. 

        Yes, it is true that the zoom format can feel isolating and somewhat tedious, but it’s a key area for problem solving and learning how to navigate issues that arise on the spot. 

        Part of the challenges of high school is learning how to overcome challenges. This prepares students for the real world after university and beyond. Without the important step of watching morning meetings from classrooms, the freshmen will have a harder time throughout the rest of high school. A common challenge that high schoolers face, for example, is staying on top of homework and tests. So, if freshmen learn how to navigate the challenges of zoom issues in a timely manner, they will also be able to navigate the work challenges, too. 

        High schoolers face a lot of social issues, too. Learning how to work together with advisory peers to get through challenges can further prepare freshmen for the years of high school social challenges to come. 

Also, watching morning meetings from classrooms can give students a chance to bond with their own classmates, and simultaneously look up to the upperclassmen. Morning meetings should be something that incomers look forward to – not something that they’re thrown into right away. There needs to be an adjustment period of critical thinking and bonding with other classmates before the freshmen can really feel part of the school as a whole, and the FC morning meetings are not allowing for that adjustment.