Students gathered in the Oliver Wendell Holmes Library for bedtime stories.
In partnership with the Oliver Wendell Holmes Library (OWHL) advisory board, Head of School Raynard Kington threw a Pajama Party at which he read a story to students and held a Q&A session. The event took place in the OWHL and served as an opportunity for Dr. Kington to connect more with students.
Dr. Kington selected to read “Someone to Tell,” a short story which Bruce Ru ’28 identified as a new form of literature for him. Ru explained how the event helped him to better understand and connect to Dr. Kington, his reading habits, and his interest in Caribbean literature.
“I definitely did enjoy the experience. I would describe it as very cozy, and it really was connecting with the Head of School on a personal level,” said Ru. “We got to take a glimpse of, ‘when does he read, [and] how does he approach things like literature.’”
He continued, “The Q&A session was a big learning experience. It was actually kind of overwhelming because personally, I’m the kind of person who falls in the category of, ‘I should read more, I definitely should engage more with these books,’ and hearing all these recommendations, it was like too much to even go around in my head. I [also] found it particularly interesting because it wasn’t just like a review. He didn’t just say ‘these books are good and these books not so much. He also talked about the way he reads, and his journey with each book, and there’s something very affirming about that.”
Sophia Tolokh ’28 highlighted the uniqueness of this event compared to other student-run events. Similarly to Ru, she noted the intimacy of the event and how it helped students connect with Dr. Kington on a personal level. “We don’t really get to talk with Kington that much, and we just see him at All School Meetings. It gives you a better understanding of who he is, and we learned about his family and what books he likes, and it just humanized him,” said Tolokh. “I asked the question of what books he would recommend for students to read and he gave us four. People wanted to know about his extensive library — apparently he has a thousand books, which is impressive. [The party] was pretty open-ended, but we definitely focused on books and reading and literature.”
Noting how Kington has sponsored several recent events to provide opportunities to connect with students, Henry Zimmerman ’27 spoke on how the casualness of the Pajama Party was a nice option for students.
“The Pajama Party is a very special event. And in many ways, it’s very special because it only happens once a year. Students, especially in recent months, have had more opportunities to get to know Dr. Kington, and I think that’s a very good development. A variety of event formats, from the more formal to less formal, are useful in their own ways. For this specific event, it’s great with the format and frequency it currently is in,” said Zimmerman.
