For the first reflections of the year, Reverend Trister chose to preach to us, the student body, about the importance of Reflections. But are Reflections really that important for the average high school student? Let’s face it, most of the time Reflections are boring and we lose focus after the first five minutes. If we manage to focus for the entire program, most of us leave knowing only a little more than when we came. Reflections are currently not accomplishing their aim: to provide advice and “food for thought,” while still holding the audience’s attention. Changes need to be made to the Reflections program for it to truly influence our lives at Choate.

In general, my memory of Reflections is of a wasted thirty minutes. There is usually a speaker giving us some form of life lesson or personal memoir, or maybe a group of students introducing us to their club and its activities and causes. Most of the speakers are not very interesting, or their speeches are just too long to hold our attentions. Sometimes, regardless of a heartfelt attempt, we just can’t pay attention to the speaker and we end up staring off into space. Not all meetings are like this. School meetings are generally interesting, with numerous clubs entertaining us or giving a brief announcement of an event that they will hold. The difference is that Reflections usually doesn’t catch our eye; the presentations usually don’t have that imaginative spark or are just too long for us to pay attention.

Sometimes, they are interesting but lack meaning. Last year there was a Reflections meeting in which the life of a famous black actor of the 60’s and 70’s was celebrated. Clips of his movies were shown, and though not everyone could see them, the program was interesting enough to hold the audience’s attention. The one thing it lacked, however, was a direct connection to Reflections and its purpose. The meeting was an interesting history lesson and a good snapshot of the actor’s life, but there was little we could take from it and apply to our own lives. In such cases, a little twist would have been enough to make that program successful. If a speaker discussed the values that we could learn from the actor and apply to our own lives, that meeting could have been excellent.

The Reflections Program at Choate was started approximately 14 years ago this week, and at that time, the goal was to make Reflections captivating enough that they could be made voluntary. The goal has not been met; Reflections are still mandatory and far from popular. Choate students always have something that needs to be finished, something productive that they could be doing at any point in the school day, and for a meeting to be popular, it has to be excellent. For starters, humor should be added to many of the speeches made during Reflections. It shouldn’t become a monthly daytime open mic night, but some form of entertainment should be included in Reflections. Speakers should be chosen so that students can relate to them and the values they suggest. Reflections has the right intentions, but has lost sight of its audience. To truly succeed at its goal and increase its popularity among students, Reflections programs should be more tailored to the students’ lives while maintaining their thought-provoking content.