(Courtesy/Angela B. and Ms. Bening)
Friday, February 9, marked Faculty and Staff Appreciation Day (FSAD) as students showered their teachers and other Academy workers with snacks, beverages, signs, and letters. Service Board (SB), once again spearheading FSAD, had shapers Angela B., Stella L., Arnav N., Mmesoma N., and Jack Y. managing the event and 30 to 40 other students assisting.
Students have planned appreciation days “since the 1970s,” said Ms. Bening, the faculty advisor to Service Board. At first, the kitchen staff would prepare separate lunches for teachers until 2000, when the incumbent SB president changed this format. Thus, until COVID, faculty and staff found catered lunches waiting in the theater lobby and then in the athletic lobby. But these catered events ate up a quarter of Service Board’s budget despite underwriting from ventures like Candy Cane and Hershey Kiss sales. Alumna Eva B.‘23 dreamt up the idea of carting around treats last year, directing FSAD by herself, and workers gave positive reviews for the face-to-face interactions it caused.
With envelopes lining the sides of Dennett Hall’s walkway the two weeks prior, students deposited heartfelt notes in them that praised the faculty and staff’s efforts in keeping the Viking community strong. Shapers screened the letters for appropriateness before hand-delivering them. Middle-schoolers also wrote to faculty, while Stella L. and Jack Y. filmed Lower Schoolers praising their teachers.
In addition, Service Board had laid out large posters thanking the Athletic Department, the Business Office, the Dining Hall staff, our maintenance workers, and other staff for Upper Schoolers to sign. After completion, students posted the signs in their respective locations.
On the day of, those on Service Board doled out delicacies to their assigned faculty and staff members school-wide, including those in Academy and Morris Halls. Students, under Shaper Sabrina A.’s supervision, decorated and stocked elaborate carts the afternoon before. Student Council matched Service Board’s budget and had its juniors obtain snacks alongside Angela B. and Arnav N. Treats included fruit snacks, granola bars, chips, and candy, with Popcorners in high demand. Drinks like sparkling water and soda were available, along with 20 gallons of Starbucks coffee stored in insulated jugs, which the store provided at a discount with Shaper Jack Y. picking it up in the morning.
For the first time, Student Council (STUCO) partnered up with Service Board by placing student-submitted photos of faculty and staff on the bulletin board by the Senior Lounge.
But that’s not all. Student Body Co-President Angela H. said, “Appreciation shouldn’t get limited to just one day, so faculty, please know: there’s more to come.”
As for Service Board, Angela B. said, “A lot of effort goes into planning FSAD, but it’s always worth it when you see the look on the teachers’ faces.”
