Board Games and Wii Olympics, really? Those were the two respective Friday and Saturday activities this past long weekend in “The Den.” High-school students (some as old as 19) can only spend so many of their weekend nights playing Battle of the Sexes (recommended for ages 12 and up according to amazon.com) and Jenga. The following night, spectators packed into the Den to cheer for their favorite Wii Olympians… psych. I understand that Student Activities tries to appeal to a wide spectrum of students, some of whom may prefer video games to dances (which I totally understand, having attended some of the dances this year). However, to have back-to-back nights on a long weekend be devoted to juvenile games that my eleven-year-old brother might not even play on his Saturday night makes me want to leave campus and go home more often. If my little brother is really lucky, his friend might throw a laser tag party. I loved laser tag so much that I think I threw at least one of those parties… seven years ago. Lucky for my nostalgic self, I’ve already received two emails and seen a couple blackboard announcements for “Laser Craze.” If there were only 40 spots originally and a week after “first come, first serve” signups started announcements still have to be spammed to fill up the spots, then Student Activities should realize that laser tag might not be so popular among 14-to-19-year-old students. Usually, however, weekend events such as dances adequately satisfy students. SAB has also found some gems in Steve the Regurgitator and the Hypnotist. It’s not all weekends that I’m complaining about. It’s weekends like my long weekend spent on campus that have me shaking my head. Although SAB tries to cater to a variety of students, it seemingly forgets about the large group of students (probably larger than those who prefer board games to dances) who live too far away or just want to stay on campus over long weekends. I’m from New York City, and I’ve gone home probably every long weekend in my three years at Andover. This weekend, I didn’t want to go home because I had a lot of work to do (read: Upper Spring) and never get anything done in New York. But just because I wanted to get work done (most of which I didn’t do anyway), doesn’t mean I planned on not leaving my room. Every student at Andover needs time to relax and have fun after a busy, sleep-deprived week in hell, I mean Upper Spring. Student Activities should recognize this, but, to be honest, I’d prefer a threesome with James Stewart’s Single Variable Calculus: Concepts and Context and Nash and Jeffrey’s The American People over being crowned the gold medalist in the Wii Olympics or watching re-runs of 30 Rock in Kemper that I can just watch in the comfort of my dorm room. I applaud some of Student Activities’ undertakings such as the Boston Trip (a regular event on long weekends), but some students neither wake up before the noon departure time nor want to bothered traveling off campus. More than just the design of the Weekender (from vertical to horizontal) needs to change. Please make the idea of staying on campus for long weekends more enticing to those of us that have a choice and less miserable for those who don’t. Julian Chernyk is a three-year Upper from New York, New York. jchernyk@andover.edu
