When one thinks of our beloved Pinewood, one is bound to envision the overarching concept of community. Students, especially in a small school, need a sense of belonging to truly move forward in unison. So a “community day,” where purpose is found, respect is facilitated and belonging is fostered, sounds perfect. Right?

   A community day is a period in students’ schedules that occurs once a week, and consists of office hours, speaker series, grade-level activities or spirit assemblies. Office hours are a great opportunity for students to take advantage of the time to consult their teachers, make up previous assignments and get the support they need. Speakers, chosen by the Associated Student Body, implement real-world topics that Pinewood students care about. Grade-level activities and spirit assemblies aim to promote school spirit, participation and belonging.

   However, these activities need to account for a wider variety of interests, as “bonding” can quickly turn into isolation for certain students. For instance, while some students find it easy to bond over volleyball, others may feel excluded. These activities should be accessible and fun for all students to strengthen their connection with one another.

   “Pinewood is a small, tight-knit, close community where everyone feels seen and heard,” Assistant Head of Upper Campus Haley Hemm said. In this way, community days are not a waste of time; rather, they are time cultivated. 

   Nevertheless, this time could be better spent. For one, speaker assemblies could involve more interaction between the speaker and the students. Thus, students can be more engaged and absorb more information during assemblies. Imagine if, instead of sitting on the bleachers for 45 minutes, students moved around, worked in groups, and had one-on-one time to ask questions.

   In the past, community and advisory days were pessimistically named, which diminished the entire purpose of adding meaning to a schedule. 

   “Instead of having community days called ‘Minus-9’ or ‘Minus-12 days’, now it’s the same time away, but you are gaining advisory, gaining community days,” Hemm said.

   Although community days have a wide array of benefits, they aren’t perfect by any means. As long as the administrative board continues to work closely with students, community days can be fine-tuned to represent the Pinewood student body in the most accurate way possible.