With students uniting on the dance floor during Homecoming, a Halloween filled with spooky costumes and trick or treats, and other fun fall events, October has always been an anticipated month for students. However, this year’s calendar brought a whirlwind of activities not corresponding to their usual dates, leaving students busy, overwhelmed, and confused. As many students question the Calendar Committee’s planning, I believe more student voice should be involved during the Calendar’s planning. 

The Calendar Committee is a combination of educators, administrators, and faculties representing the major departments within the school community. They meet regularly throughout the entire year — including during the summer — to fit next year’s schedule together.  

“In some cases, we just try to fit the schedule to make as much sense as possible because we just don’t have enough flexibility,” said Ken Rosenfeld, Dean of Campus Life.  

October was one of those months that did not have enough flexibility, which is why they could not get all the events to line up perfectly. 

For freshmen, October was a joyful experience as it marked the beginning of their Webb journey, though there are some apprehensions about the months ahead. 

 “There are a lot of events, “Claire Yu (‘27) said. “I attended all of them and I think they’re manageable now. But with summatives coming up, it is going to be busy.” 

On the other hand, some freshmen believe they need more spare time on weekends.  

“I think [the Calendar Committee] should leave some more time for students to study in the weekend,” Amy Lim (‘27) said. 

Sophomores and Juniors, based on their past experiences, found this year’s schedule to be unusual and jarring due to the division of Halloween events within October. This includes Zombie Apocalypse, the Haunted Tour in conjunction with DSP Fall Social, and a costume contest on Halloween day. 

“The events are scattered, so for me there is little desire to attend them all,” Theresa Chen said (‘26).  

So, why did the Calendar Committee arrange October’s events like this? 

When creating the schedule, the Calendar Committee prioritized the date for the fall play because it is a big event and needed enough preparation time. Alumni Weekend was also one of the first dates that they set up in order to make sure the alums are given plenty of notice before they come. 

With October break, class retreats, and Homecoming filling up all other weekends, the Calendar Committee could only put Zombie Apocalypse on October 13th, much earlier than Halloween.  

“The Committee made a big overside this year on putting homecoming on Halloween weekend,” said Ken Lin (‘24), WSC Head Prefect. “If we fix that, things could be so much better for us [prefect council] to plan the events.” 

And even if the Calendar Committe did not intend to divide Zombie Apocalypse and the Haunted Tour, the prefect council had to split the two events. 

“They asked us to host [our] Halloween event on the first weekend after October break, not giving us enough time to plan it,” said Joy Li (‘24), VWS Head Prefect. “It takes a long time for us to come up with an idea of Haunted Tour and build it up, so we had to move it to next week and blend it with DSP Fall Social coincidentally.” 

The date for the DSP Fall Social coincided with Alumni Weekend again, as the school tries to keep students in the upper half of the campus to avoid chaos, causing three events to happen at the same time on campus that night.  

“I think Halloween is a little cramped,” Chelsea Wei (‘25) said. “I see less people participate in Zombie Apocalypse compared to last year. But a lot participated in the costume contest, which is so fun.”  

Most students are willing to participate actively on the actual Halloween day, so it is important to not scatter the events throughout the whole month for students to celebrate the excitement in one night. 

“The Haunted Tour really scared me,” Tina said. “But it feels a little weird to be scared not on Halloween but a normal Saturday.”  

Additionally, seniors collectively hold strong feelings for the compacted and unreasonable schedule.  

“I’m just going to echo on what everyone else has been saying,” Katherine O’Hearn (‘24) said. “I don’t know what they [the Calendar Committee] are thinking when they are putting these stacks of weekends together.”  

Seniors were most upset about Homecoming being scheduled on the weekend of early college applications. Knowing that the date might affect seniors, the Calendar Committee revamped the senior retreat into college guidance workshops, hoping to offer seniors a dedicated time and space for their college applications.  

“I found the retreat helpful and substantial,” Mirabel Raphael (‘24) said. “But even if the Calendar Committee is aware of the concern of students, it still seems to me that it is not having enough impact on how they actually make decisions.” 

The retreat, intended to alleviate the challenges posed, cannot fully mitigate the stress since the homecoming date itself remained unchanged.  

Although the Calendar Committee had tried their best to plot October’s schedule, it turned out that students were unsatisfied with the plan. Despite the frustration within the student community, these concerns didn’t reach the Calendar Committee properly enough. 

“One of the things that is always helpful is receiving feedback,” Mr. Rosenfeld said. “But also, being able to receive that feedback from a place of understanding the context is important. There are a lot of pieces that we need to fit together, and perhaps that’s the only way that made the most sense.” 

 Students should take other ways to communicate with the Committee to propose changes for next year instead of just issuing complaints.  

“Talking to advisors is always a good thing to do,” Mr. Rosenfeld said. “It is also great to come to talk in my office or send me an email.” 

However, receiving feedback alone is not enough to ensure next year’s calendar can work out perfectly as students expect.  

“I think it is important to include more student voice in making the decision,” Mirabel said. “Either to have student feedback during the planning progress, or to have several student representatives in the Calendar Committee itself.” 

Ultimately, the Calendar Committee needs to prioritize student voice more for promoting the well-being and planning enjoyable events, and students need to provide feedback in a more thoughtful way.