Emery Opening Ceremonies: Vision for 2016-17

Emery Head of School Stuart Dow at Opening Ceremonies. (Tavia Lee-Goldstein) 

Opening Ceremonies at The Emery/Weiner School from two students' perspectives. 

Emma Lapin:

Most students dread the first day of school, back to class, new teachers, getting lost in the halls and, of course, homework. However, each year Emery kicks off the year with Opening Ceremonies. Instead of going to classes right away, Emery has something special to get the whole community excited about the upcoming school year. 

Opening Ceremonies is just one thing that makes Emery so special. Emery cares a lot about the sense of community. During opening ceremonies there is music, videos, and speakers including students, faculty and the head of school. The whole school goes to opening ceremonies, including the high school and the middle school. Of course, the seniors always make it emotional, as it is their last opening ceremonies. Seniors always get their big moment; they welcome everyone with open arms. 

Emery Opening Ceremonies. (Photo: Tavia Lee-Goldstein)

Every year Emery’s Head of school, Stuart Dow, leads the ceremonies and he is extraordinary. Emery has a different theme each year that sets the tone of the upcoming school year. This year’s theme was vision, “What do you see?” The idea is that you don't always see everything on the outside about people who you think you know really well. You might see people with your eyes but do you really see the deeper meaning to them? 

Two faculty members spoke of their experiences from childhood to parenthood, their fears, their joys and their challenges. Their stories were very powerful and remind us of the old saying; “you shouldn't judge a book by its cover.” You only have one middle school experience and one high school experience and you shouldn't waste them by judging people. You should spend your school career getting to know as many people as you can because you never know what you'll be missing out on if you don’t. Mr. Dow strongly believes that school should be a fun and inclusive place. I know he opened all of our eyes.

Hailey Newman: 

The start of an Emery school year is unlike any other first day of school. One of the things that makes Emery so unique and different is how often we come together as a community with both the Middle and Upper School. Each year on the first day of school, our Head of School, Stuart Dow, plans an inspirational and fun “Opening Ceremonies.”

The Emery Senior class welcomes the new 6th graders to school. (Photo: Tavia Lee-Goldstein) 

We all gather into the Becker Theatre to see what is planned for our first day festivities. Each year has a different theme, which comes with a new slogan for the year. This year, we talked about perspective and what we see and why. We talked about taking more time to disconnect to connect and spend less time on our devices and more time appreciating each other and what we have to offer.

This year’s slogan is Emery Optical: See Speak and Do Good. Students and faculty are given the opportunity to perform on stage for the whole community. This year’s performance included multiple musical numbers along with skits and poetry readings. In addition, we got to hear a few words from student body president Matthew Kronowitz about what Student Government has planned for the year. 

Student Ilana Vines says, “I like how I am able to watch my friends perform on the first day, I think it is a good way to start the year.” Opening Ceremonies has become a great Emery tradition that we all know and love. It is a great way to reconnect and set the tone for the year to come.