All Rise

After its long hiatus, Seabury students are again participating in one of the school’s most important rituals: in-person Morning Meeting. Relaxed pandemic restrictions now allow all the students and faculty on campus to gather in one room to share announcements and rise together in prayer. While it has only been a little over a year since the last in-person Morning Meeting, it has been nearly two since it was held in the commons due to construction.

For eighth grader Xavier Klish, this is definitely an improvement to the prior set up. “[I like] how quickly the teachers can make their announcements without any sort of confusion and communication [errors] through Zoom, because that seemed to happen a lot,” he says. He also enjoys getting to be in one room together. “I kind of like it a little better because you get to see your whole grade,” he says. “Since they’re all there, you don’t miss anybody, and everybody has a communal feel.”

Faculty member Don Meier also remembers a Morning Meeting before the pandemic, but this is his first time experiencing it in the Commons. “I think the best part for me was . . . getting that opportunity before school to see the other individuals on faculty,” he says, “and then, after we come out and sit down, to be able to see the school as a whole. The structure and the ritual of it I think is important.”

While many students and teachers enjoy the return to normal, some students are experiencing their first traditional Morning Meeting ever, like sixth grader Hayden Koch. “I thought it was going to be like something where we all went to the gym, and we all had to sit on the bleachers,” says Koch. She was pleasantly surprised about getting to sit with her grade, and her favorite part is hearing the different and diverse announcements: “When [teachers] do the poetry thing, it’s really funny to hear them do that.”

Thanks to the hard work and dedication of Seabury’s students and faculty, all sorts of long-loved traditions are coming back into the program. Students and teachers look forward to further steps towards relative normalcy.