On Sunday, September 17th, 2006, Quad Day officially died. Although most traditions at this school do not go without a fight, Quad Day slipped away in the dead of night. There was, for a time anyway, a tradition that in the early months of autumn, just as the leaves had started to fall, the Quads would host an annual celebration known as “Quad Day.” Every year, boys and girls from the proud dormitories of West Quad South and West Quad North set up their booths: mixings smoothies, grilling hamburgers, and selling their bodies for a price. In most cases, the money made at these dorm-stands was donated to whatever charitable organization was popular at the time. One year, it is said that the boys of Taylor Hall made as much as $600, selling dorm kisses for only five dollars a piece. However, this proud tradition came to a swift and sudden end last Sunday, when the administration decided to replace it with the more inclusive “Cluster Day.” It was last Wednesday when the boys and girls of WQS were told the news. Mr. Washburn, the Dean of WQS, announced in a cluster meeting that the beloved Quad Day would be no more. No one was more shocked and horrified than the boys of Taylor Hall. Seniors, whose responsibility it was to teach the underclassmen how to run a kissing booth, feared that they would not be able to fulfill their duties. Nick Anschuetz ’08 openly wept. Still, they did not give up, feeling it was not only their duty but also their privilege to continue the tradition, albeit at this new fangled “Cluster Day.” Just as in years past, the “T-Unit” made posters, created advertising campaigns, and marched down to the East Lawn. They made $450 that day, despite the competition that arose from the copy-cat Day Hall girls. But all jokes aside, most who live in the Quads and even those who do not, were baffled by this new change. Why was it necessary to move Quad Day? Why couldn’t it simply remain a Quad tradition? And while many dorm-stand traditions like Taylor Hall’s kissing booth survived, what was the purpose of the change in the first place? I must say, however different “Cluster Day” was supposed to be, it seemed to be no more than a Quad day in the middle of campus. There were inflatable games, dorm-stands, and semi-athletic competitions. The difference seemed to lie in the additional presence of the club fair, though their union seemed inconsequential. With this in mind, we can only conclude that Quad Day was terminated, or perhaps revamped, simply to become more centrally located. But why? Certainly, Quad Day has never had any trouble attracting visitors from other clusters. Rather, many students observed what seemed a lower attendance rate at Cluster Day that at previous Quad Days. No Matter, it was a Quad Tradition, something which was looked forward to by freshman and seniors alike. And the day the administration created Cluster Day, a proud Quad tradition was left behind. But the location, name and tradition were not all that was lost. There are some that did not make the conversion to Cluster Day. No one saw Mr. Mundra, and his team of Rockwell freshman grilling up burgers and hotdogs. Instead, it was the school wide Andover Barbeque Society whose still-raw burgers replaced those of the Rockwell team. The girls of Johnson, Bancroft and Adams did not come out and make smoothies as they had done in the past. Nor were the boys of Tucker House out promoting illegal gambling for outrageous profit. Indeed, it seemed the only ones left to carry on the proud Quad tradition were the Taylor Hall boys, although they recorded jut mild success.
