To the delight of students, at 8:50 pm Monday night, Headmaster Edward J. Shanahan declared Tuesday, January 24th to be President’s Day, the long-awaited day off in the midst of the winter term.
“I am enormously thrilled, because all of you have certainly earned it,” Mr. Shanahan wrote in a school-wide email. “Please enjoy the warmth and coziness of sleeping in and otherwise arranging your day so that it restores you, and readies you for the second half of the term. Spring is just around the corner.”
The announcement followed a torrent of rumor-mongering in the student body and faculty alike. The chatter reached its climax in the afternoon and early evening on Monday, with Tuesday the clear favorite in the minds of most students and faculty. With Long Weekend approaching, Mr. Shanahan’s choice appeared to be down to the Tuesday or Thursday of this week.
While a few students were not so happy with the choice and were hoping the holiday would fall on a different day because of their relatively light Tuesday schedules, the vast majority of students was grateful for the free day and could be seen strolling campus in the sunny and mild weather.
“It was a good call on Shanahan’s part,” said Brad Welch ’07. “I had five classes and a work crew Tuesday. Not having to do homework gave us a chance to play some crazy games of [the video game] Halo all night.”
Monday night, the sixth form deans, Ben Small and Nancy Miller, organized a seniors-only dance. Bo O ’06 was D.J. for the night.
Laura Weyl ‘06 commented, “Not having school is always an excellent treat, but an impromptu senior dance was really the icing on the cake.” She continued, “Every song was greeted with enthusiasm by the abundant crowd. And the best part: no underclassmen girls. All and all, it was one of the best SAC dances I’ve been to.”
Other popular activities planned for this President’s Day included movie watching, hanging out with friends, and just relaxing.
President’s Day – and the science of predicting it – is a highlight of the winter term. Although President’s Day has already been called, here is an overview of the glorious holiday over which Choate students have come to obsess. A President’s Day primer, one could say:
What It Is:
A surprise day off in the middle of the winter term, usually in the last third of January.
The Goal:
“I want to time it so that it will have the maximum effect in rewarding students for their hard work and encouraging them to go forward,” Mr. Shanahan said in a 2004 News article.
“I really want it to be as unpredictable as I can make it,” he said last year. “This is a break for everyone – for families, for faculty, and for students.”
Who Knows the Day in Advance:
The senior deans, the Admissions office staff, Aramark administrators, and Day Student Director John Cobb, then-Dean of Students Stephen Farrell said in 2004.
The faculty is not informed of President’s Day in advance. “The faculty never knows, because if they know, the students will know,” said Mr. Shanahan in that article. The major President’s Day preparations are not even put into motion until late in the afternoon the day before the date, further ensuring secrecy.
Expert Opinions This Year:
The Thursday after midterms is always a prime suspect for President’s Day, but it fell very early this winter, on January 19th – probably too early for President’s Day. And, in fact, little buzz had built up in anticipation for that day. Given the propensity for President’s Day to fall on a Tuesday or Thursday, this week appeared to be prime President’s Day real estate, given that next week is shortened because of Long Weekend. Communications Director Mary Verselli, who is new to the school this year and may not have gotten the memo about President’s Day being confidential, let the cat out of the bag at sit-down lunches last week when she informed a few people that Mr. Shanahan had told her the day would be this Tuesday or Thursday.
President’s Day in 2005:
Tuesday, January 25th was the chosen day. At Monday’s faculty meeting, Mr. Shanahan informed teachers of the impeding announcement and instructed them to take the good news back to their dormitories. He also sent an email to the student body at 9:13 PM.
Rumors had previously fixed on Thursday, January 20th, the day after midterms. Mr. Shanahan also said he “seriously considered” choosing the Monday after Long Weekend to be President’s Day but opted against it as he felt students would already have been well-rested given the three-day weekend. He said he decided on the 25th about two weeks in advance, when he rejected Dean of Academic Affairs Kathleen Wallace’s list of possible dates and chose his own date.
President’s Day in 2004:
Thursday, January 22nd was the day, which fell the day after midterms and only two days after Martin Luther King Day, giving students a three-day week. News of President’s Day, which had been eagerly anticipated for weeks, broke at 8:46 PM on Wednesday night when Mr. Shanahan announced the cancellation of school in an email, channeled by Mr. Joel Backon, to the Choate community, commending everyone for working hard through midterm and braving the cold weather. Again, Mr. Shanahan rejected Mrs. Wallace’s list of dates and chose his own.
On Why the Day is Usually a Tuesday or Thursday:
“We usually don’t choose Monday or Friday because there are massive complaints from people leaving for the weekend or returning because had they known they could have had an extra day,” said Mr. Farrell in 2004. “And we don’t like to give Wednesdays or occasionally Saturdays, though we have done Saturday, because students complain that they only get a half a day off, so frequently it comes down to looking at Tuesdays and Thursdays.”
The Tradition:
President’s Day is the latest incarnation of a long Choate tradition of surprise days-off, dating back to George St. John’s tenure as headmaster in the early 20th century.
Mountain Day, created by George St. John, gave a free day-off so students could go to St. Andrew’s Camp and enjoy a day in the sun on the first nice day after the end of winter.
In the 1930’s, Tom Curtin Day was established in memory of Thomas F. Curtin, Jr. ’33, who sadly was stricken with leukemia during his senior year. He passed away shortly after, and Choate created the day in his honor. Commonly known simply as Free Day, the headmaster would signal the day by speaking these lines of Psalm 121:1 at breakfast the day of Tom Curtin Day: “I will lift up my eyes to the hills – From whence come my help?” Students roared in excitement upon hearing these special words.
Recently, another free day was introduced into the Choate community. For Choate’s last fundraising campaign, campaign National Chairman Christopher Hutchins ’56 made a large gift and requested that students be given a day off in his name. During the campaign, which ended in the 2000-2001 academic year, students were given a surprise Wednesday or Saturday off in the spring term to celebrate Hutchins’ Day.
News Associate Editor Karthik Kasaraneni ‘07 contributed reporting to this article.
