Barstow’s traditions are one of the many things that sets it apart from other institutions. Among these storied traditions is Convocation, an event that passes down knowledge and creates a strong sense of community.
Bill Frank, an Upper School math teacher of 37 years, shared his thoughts on the event, “I think Convocation has been going on for about 5 or 6 years; it is a pretty recent event. Dr. Cramer created it. I quite like it. It is a good ritual for the beginning of the year since we did not have one before and it creates a nice sense of community.”
Convocation is an event for Upper School students. All students line up in a circle, with seniors in the furthest circle and freshmen in the closest circle. Then, the President, Vice President, and Secretary from each grade except freshmen bestow advice upon the younger grades.
The advice the student leaders give are always good lessons and reminders, not just for the younger grades, but for everyone. They always include helpful tips that would benefit everyone.
“I liked the advice the seniors gave us. It’s a good community building event that benefits all the grades. All of the speeches that the class leaders gave had helpful advice for everyone,” Helton Walker (‘24) said.
The seniors told the juniors to step up outside of school as well and to get involved in extracurriculars. The best advice they gave was to not stress too much about school and to not let that stress take over.
“To me, Convocation is just encouraging the next class and giving advice. However, it is a great opportunity for the grades to share their knowledge with their underclassmen,” Elizabeth “Lizzie” Boyce (‘23).
In that spirit of passing down knowledge, many students have said that they would like to see more interaction between the different grades. For example, instead of having everyone stand for the whole time, there could be more interactions. Rather than having only the class leaders of each grade share wisdom, students could interact with others to receive advice from a wider range of people.
“I think convocation is pretty good for the higher classes to give advice. Convocation needs more activities, I think it should be more than just giving speeches,” Kimberly Nguyen (‘23) agreed.
Two new students, Chloe Golloday (‘24) and Annie Jiang (‘24), did appreciate Convocation. However, they still had suggestions. “It was a good idea but I think our school should do other community building services other than Convocation,” Jiang said.
Convocation is a good tradition as it provides a sense of community early in the school year which helps the new students feel welcomed. It is also a great opportunity for advice that will help in the years to come.
