Field’s Upper School Back to School Night- September 29, 2022

Colleen Cranna

Complete with delicious food for parents to enjoy, a bevy of student guide volunteers, and copious parking fiascos, Field’s Upper School Back to School Night brought enjoyable chaos to campus on a cool September evening. 

On Thursday, September 22 Field’s Falcon Press sent reminders for Back to School nights, urging parents to attend and learn about the goals and expectations of their students’ teachers and classes. In preparation for this event, Célia P, Field faculty member, recruited various students in the Upper School that knew their way around Field’s intricate campus to help guide and direct parents. With only 10 minutes allotted for each class, and 5 minute passing periods, it was imperative that parents were able to find their way to their next locations quickly and efficiently. 

The night began with nervous anticipation of teachers and students alike who all wanted Field to be represented in the best way possible. As the food was set up and students were placed around campus, parents began to arrive. While those first arrivals were greeted with cheery smiles at registration, elsewhere, the logistical nightmares commenced. For those who regularly park or drive to Field’s campus, it is known that the parking lot’s capacity is extremely small. As a result, parents were double parked throughout the lot and in surrounding streets, sometimes boxing others in who were in parking spaces. 

Flurries of walky-talky noises floated around the school as administrators and facility managers desperately tried to sort this issue out. There was an ongoing search for our Head of School Lori to convince her to deliver a pleading parking message to parents. This effort ultimately resulted in a charismatic speech from Lori in front of the parents, admitting that she did not feel qualified to discuss the parking measures, and instead handing it back over to our Head of Facilities John Reger who implored parents to leave in a timely manner following the conclusion of the event. At the conclusion of the night, these parking obstacles were sorted out, but definitely added a slight note of the stress to the event.

For many of the student volunteers, the night was a joyous mix of feeling pride for our school by showing parents around Field’s campus, and many moments of laughter. Student volunteers were polite, respectful, and definitely added a level of familiarity and comfortability for many parents who were navigating Field on their own for the first time. Field student guide for the night Greta G ‘24 called the night a “huge success,” particularly noting how interesting it was to meet parents and seeing similarities between them and the classmates she interacts with on a daily basis. In addition to laughing about the parking problems our school was facing, the student guides showed their unique personalities and senses of humor as they created an environment of joy and laughter throughout the campus.

Teachers also seemed to enjoy themselves throughout the night. Upper School journalism and Middle School digital studio teacher Nick M noted that a particular success of the night was from the excitement of the parents. “The parents seemed to really enjoy getting a glimpse of what their students do here on a daily basis,” Nick commented. He also spoke about the process of teachers planning activities for parents to complete throughout the night that would be similar to actual exercises students complete on the day to day. As only his second year at Field, Nick reminisced about the importance of having parents physically in the classroom, commenting that “it was so important, and I gained a lot from it, and the parents did as well.” Ultimately, the response from teachers seems to suggest that the night went really well, although Nick did note that one thing he would change from the night would be to have even more time to talk to parents and learn more about the figures that are so important to his students, and to the entire Field community.

Following the conclusion of the night, organizers focused on smoothing out small kinks before the Middle School night on October 6. Back-to-school nights are valuable tools for parents to engage in their children’s learning process, and it gives a chance for our Field community to show pride for the school. Looking ahead to the rest of the school year, our Field students and faculty sure seem excited to have more opportunities to welcome families and friends to our campus.

Interview with Journalism teacher nick mott

What would you say was a success from the night?

“The parents seemed to really enjoy getting a glimpse of what their students do here on a daily basis,”

• The teachers did a lot of planning of actual activities similar to what is done in class, “showing rather than telling”

How did you feel the overall engagement of the night was? Did you think that both teachers and parents really gained something from attending?

“The importance of having parents in the classroom, in the physical space, with the teachers, surrounded by their students’ work,” . . .  “was really important and I gained a lot from it and the parents did as well.” 

What do you think could be improved upon?

“I wanted more time to speak with parents, 10 minutes just wasn’t enough,” 

“i wanted more time to talk with the parents about what we do” 

What are your hopes or thoughts for future Back to School Nights at Field?

Doing it “In a day that we didn’t have actual school, because that’s a very long day,”