By Ben Brasher II and Max Hutter II
Ben’s view:
With Governor Baker’s announcement that all Massachusetts schools will be effectively closed for the remainder of the year, many RL students are feeling a wide range of emotions. Seniors may be feeling sad about the abrupt end to their high school careers, while others might just be feeling annoyed to be locked up in the house with their younger siblings. But one thing we’re sure we can all agree on is that we would all rather be at RL hanging with the boys right now instead of being stuck in this whole quarantine mess.
While you’ve probably already heard or read about countless spring activities and festivities being cancelled in the RL community, there is one important day that you might have forgotten about: May Day 2020. A legendary day in any Roxbury Latin student’s experience, May Day serves as one of the most enjoyable yet competitive days of the school year for students and faculty alike. However, despite some already arduous preparation from Ben Crawford II and the junior class, May Day will not be happening this year, much to the dismay of the eager junior team captains.
So, what will happen to May 21st (May Day’s original date) on the revised RL learning schedule? Simply put, there is no possible way to recreate or simulate such an event to the same effect from a remote environment. But we can’t just let the final installment of our RL May Day careers slip away, can we?
We believe that the junior class should still get the privilege to run our own May Day. If we do in fact return to campus for the 2020-2021 school year, we are suggesting that RL’s higher powers allow the first ever Fall “May Day” (maybe we give it a different name since it won’t be in May).
Max counters:
May Day has always been the first example of the junior classes roles as leaders. Countless hours of preparation on the part of the class president, class officers, and team captains create a fun and competitive environment for the whole school to come together. Much of the preparation is already done, and there is no reason it should not come to fruition as envisioned. We hope that this fall, the Class of 2021 can still run May Day. Captains have already drafted teams, begun to film videos (which Mr. Sugg promptly censored), and yet we may never see the drama of the 2020 May Day unfold. Now we need the support of the school to put on May Day.
For us current juniors, May Day is only the beginning of the end of our time at RL. But from this point on, many of our activities are going to be the last time we experience them at RL, and the junior class wants one more May Day, led by yours truly. With Mr. Pojman’s scheduling brilliance [Ed. note: You still have to pass the chem final, Max], we hope that May Day 2020 can be a success when we reconvene in September.