February 14th, 2008 came quickly for the Choate Rosemary Hall campus. Students and faculty went through the day anticipating the time where they would receive the gift from that special someone. For some, a secret admirer peppered them with flowers candy and, in some cases, heart shaped pillows and trips to the massage parlor on Main Street.
St. Valentine was a bishop that lived near Rome around 270 AD. Around this time, the Roman emperor Roman Emperor Claudius-II banned the act of marriage. Claudius believed that married men were too emotional attached to their families to fight as good soldiers. Because the Roman emperor had grown too big to fight off foreign invaders the marriage ban was issued to create better soldiers to protect the country. He met young lovers in a secret place and preformed the marriage. Emperor Claudius caught St. Valentine and tired to convert him to recognize The Roman Gods. Valentine refused and was executed on February 24, 270 AD.
The term “From Your Valentine” was coined after St. Valentine healed the eyesight of his jailer’s daughter through his faith. Before his execution, he wrote the phrase on a piece of paper to the women he healed. St. Valentine became a patron saint and on February 14th, young Romans would offer handwritten notes of affection to the woman they wished to court.
Some 2000 years later, the students of Choate follow the same practice. Senior Brian McDermott made sure to send a special valentine to his special someone. When asked about his valentine, he said, “I love the holiday, but I’m keeping her name a secret.” Chris Krokus 08’ also expressed his delight for the holiday. He commented, “It’s fun to see if you are cool enough to get a valentine. Hopefully next year I’ll have a secret admirer.” Many young women around campus were very happy with the gifts they received and even sent out some of their own valentines. Lane McVey 08’ received flowers and candy from her special someone, and told the news that she “loved everything about her present.” Junior M.E. Hawkins was the most excited about her valentine, she said, “I can’t wait to go to the massage place and have my day at the spa. It will be so much fun.” She also wanted to publicly thank her secret admirer.
The hit radio show A Little Less Choate even had a Valentines Day Special. While the seniors were at the V-day Dance three students, Kat Luby 08’, Chris Krokus 08’ and Samuel Wheeler 08’ were hard at work in the radio room on the third floor of the Humanities building. Luby said, “We wanted to give the listeners a little history, some current facts and even a chance to win a valentine.” The winner of the prize was junior Ethan McDonnel. He won a rose and a personalized card from the Staff of A Little Less Choate. Luby also talked about the different facts the LLC reported over radio. She said, “We talked about around 20 percent of women send flowers to themselves on Valentines Day. We also mentioned that three percent of people send Valentines presents to their pets.”
Some students expressed their dislike for the holiday. One student, who wished to remain unanimous, said, “I hate this holiday, it only leaves the lonely more lonely. It also is just a Hallmark Holliday that exploits love and charges money for people to express their love for other people.” Prices of flowers are actually known to rise during the week of Valentines Day. Mark Goggin 09’ reported. “I called to order flowers and it was eighty four dollars for twelve roses. That is just absurd.” After he expressed his discontent with the price of flowers he admitted to buying some anyway. He said, “Hey its better to pay a little extra for some flowers than have your lady friend mad at you for the next two weeks.”
Some students also received valentines from various clubs that had stands in the dinning hall. Students could send flowers or chocolate for only a few dollars. Students also could send personalized senerades sung by members of one of the female acapella group on campus, Lilith. Senior Paul Ryder was overjoyed with his serenade. He said, “I was so excited. I felt like the king of the world.” Freshman Ross Freidman-Mendel received a chocolate valentine and said, “It said it was from a senior girl. I was really excited. However, I learned that it was actually from someone in my dorm. I thought is was really funny and the Chocolate was really good.” Senior Paul Ryder was seren
While the underclassmen were in their dorms thinking about their valentines day and the members of A Little Less Choate were broadcasting about Valentines Day. Most of the Senior Class was at the Valentines Day dance at the student activity center. Head prefect Sam Cabot reported that there was a lot of chocolate at the JJAC. He said, “There was ‘CRH Class of 2008’ written in Hershey’s kisses on the stage. It was cool looking and also very tasty.”
As the dance ended and the seniors hurried back to their dorms quiet finally fell on the Choate campus. Valentines day had officially ended. When asked to reflect on his Valentines Day experience, McDermott said, “It was a lot of fun. I gave and received many valentines. It was definitely one for the memory books.”
