Goodbye Eight Minutes, Hello Fun Fair: Should Stuyvesant’s New Tradition Stay?

All Stuyvesant students received an email in mid-February announcing the Spring Fun Fair, which would take place after the administration of the SAT for juniors on Friday, March 27. The event was a new form of Stuyvesant’s “special schedules,” in which the morning is dedicated to the administration of a test, and the afternoon consists of the typical 10 periods, shortened to fit in eight-minute increments with four-minute passing periods. Though this was the schedule followed for the March 13 administration of the SAT, the school is trying a new approach. Referring to the Spring Fun Fair, Principal Seung Yu stated in an email, “Rather than running shortened class periods, we will use the time after the SAT to engage students and build community.”

The premise was simple: three sessions, each 40 minutes long, led by students and faculty. Students—individually, in small groups, or as a part of a club—could apply to lead sessions on topics of personal expertise that they were passionate about. By having students directly share their personal interests, Principal Yu’s hope was to foster new interests and a stronger community. Principal Yu stated, “The goal is to create a diverse menu of offerings that allows students to explore new interests, learn from peers and staff, and build community.” After the proposal submission deadline closed on March 8, 95 different sessions were selected for the day, ranging from “Basics of Urban Fishing” to “Treat Major Bleeding Like an EMT.” While some students initially did not appreciate the concept, many came to view it as a success after experiencing it.

Sophomore Anya Huntsman expressed her initial reservations about the Fun Fair. She felt the Fun Fair wouldn’t be worth her time: “I was like, ‘this is going to be a big waste of my time, and I really don’t want to do this.’” After reviewing the sessions, Huntsman also felt that the range wasn’t wide enough. “None of them were my interests,” she remarked. Huntsman specifically attended a session about finance. During this session, participants learned how to calculate their Freedom Number—the amount of passive income you would need to cover your annual expenses—and evaluated college majors by their return on investment. However, Huntsman wasn’t particularly interested in the topic and she found it confusing. She added on by saying, “I didn’t care about financial independence.” However, Huntsman also didn’t fill out the preference form for sessions, which allowed students to rank their top five preferences. This form was designed to help ensure that the sessions assigned reflected the interests of students.

Others believed that the Fun Fair was diverse in the sessions provided, and that the student-led sessions were a major strength of the fair. When freshman Daryn Williams first heard of the fair, she said, “It kind of reminded me of Career Day when I saw the schedules posted, and […] I had mixed feelings.” The career day that Williams referenced was another alternative “special schedule” run by the administration earlier this year. It was similar to the Spring Fun Fair in that there were three 40-minute sessions, but different in that it was run by Stuyvesant alumni and parents. The goal was for those directly involved in different industries to teach students about potential career pathways. During Career Day, students were assigned their first two sessions, but could choose to attend any session for their third. After learning more about the operation of the Fun Fair, Williams appreciated that Stuyvesant students were running the sessions as opposed to adults. “That’s pretty cool […] [because] everyone at Stuy is good at their own thing,” Williams commented. The teaching of the sessions by students passionate and knowledgeable about their topics allowed the many niches of the school to be explored by others.

Students also preferred this year’s Fun Fair to last year’s Clubs and Pubs Fair, which also happened on a special schedule day. Sophomore Sarah Li stated in an email interview, “If I had to describe Clubs and Pubs’ general vibe in one word, it would be chaotic. It’s just a lot of Stuy students yelling in a packed hallway to promote their club.” Li added, “Most clubs lack the interactive element to make themselves stand out to new students who aren’t sure what extracurriculars they want to do.” This reflected a common view among students that the Clubs and Pubs Fair was not as engaging as the Fun Fair, and did little to help them discover new interests. Li then commented on her experience in the “Journey and Tips for Becoming an Actor” session during the Fun Fair. “Hearing [Janel Moloney’s] story about auditioning for 10 years was really inspirational,” she exclaimed, illustrating that the event was much more interactive than the club fair was. Li expanded by saying, “I prefer this year’s Spring Fun Fair because of [...] how Clubs and Pubs in general is crowded, overstimulating, and overall not all that informational. Spring Fun Fair is more catered to the student’s personal interests based on what sessions they wanted to go to.” Overall, these statements made it clear that this year’s Spring Fun Fair was far more informative and engaging for many students over previous special schedules.

Many students also preferred the Fun Fair to having eight minute class periods. Senior Carrie Ko reflected, “It was way better than the eight-minute periods [...] It felt a lot better because we weren’t just running around just to sit for eight minutes; it was much less chaotic.” Opinions from students about the differences between the two special schedule structures clearly demonstrated an overall feeling that the Fun Fair was a far better use of their time.

Freshman Eleanor Low furthered Ko’s idea in her own thoughts, reflecting on how she preferred the fair to shortened periods because she gained knowledge about new topics. “I felt like I was actually doing stuff, and I actually learned things in the sessions I went to,” Low shared. One of the sessions that Low attended was “Turning Scrolling Into Strategy; How High School Students Can Leverage Social Media,” where she learned about how to use social media more productively. “It was about making videos rather than watching them,” Low said. Her perspective on the learning that the Fun Fair provided clearly highlights the student view that the fair was not only structured better than the eight-minute periods, but also made for a more substantial educational experience.

Student presenters also felt that the Fun Fair was a good opportunity to share their skills and passions to fellow peers. Freshman Violet Randall, who ran the session titled “The Simple Art of Watercolor Flowers” with freshmen Cordelia Liem and Lea Salas Adam, expressed her excitement. “I thought it was a really fun and exciting opportunity to begin to build a community of fellow artists and have a fun time doing what I love to do: create art and be around people,” Randall reflected in an email interview. However, she also highlighted some of the logistical struggles of having to submit a request for her workshop to be approved. “It was a bit of a tedious process; I made an outline [of] the workshop, a time frame of my activity, and supplied links to all the materials that my session would need,” she shared. During the session, students had the option to use one of Randall’s hand-drawn flower templates or draw their own. Watercolor paint and brushes were provided after a brief lesson on proper technique. Overall, Randall enjoyed the experience, expressing interest in running another session like it next year. “I think that for people participating in these sessions, they gave students a built-in space and time to relax, hangout with new people, and learn about something they were interested in. This was a very special opportunity for everyone participating and I hope it happens again,” she said.

Despite the many successes of the Fun Fair that were highlighted, students believed that small adjustments could be made to make the fair even better. Freshman Zoe Yuan-Lei suggested letting students pick their own sessions rather than having them submit their preferences. “Maybe, for the last one, you get to pick what you do, like on Career Day,” she said. Through this, students would have been able to attend any session during the third slot of time, allowing them to participate in sessions they didn’t get selected for, or sessions that they were especially interested in.

Student presenters also wished for more time to set up each session. Randall in particular highlighted her wish for passing periods that were slightly longer to make necessary adjustments to the room: “It would be nice to have a little more time between each session to prepare.” When asked about the most challenging part of the experience, Randall stated, “Probably setting up before each session.” With even a couple more minutes, presenters would have had more time before the next session of students came in to reset their rooms and prepare.

Some students altogether hoped for the half day to be eliminated and replaced by remote learning. Huntsman, who earlier expressed her original reservations about the Fun Fair, provided an alternative to both the Fun Fair and the eight-minute periods. “Most people’s commute is longer than the school day; what if instead they do online school?” she suggested. Huntsman’s statement reflects reality for many Stuyvesant students with commutes over an hour each way, whose day is largely spent going to and from school. A remote school day would fulfill the 176-day requirement needed by NYC Public Schools to receive state funding, and would resolve the issue of long commute times.

Despite these small changes students wished for, such as extra passing period time and a wider selection of sessions, the Spring Fun Fair was overall regarded as a success by students. During the fair, instructors were able to share topics they loved and introduce others to their interests, while participants explored entirely new topics, fostering not only an educational environment but one where students from different grades got to interact. Many of the sessions were engaging for both those experiencing them and for those running them. Though it is not clear if the Fun Fair is an event to stay for next year, many students believed that the day was far better than the typical eight-minute periods. Should Principal Yu choose to continue the tradition into next year, students will be able to make the best of the time available on an incredibly short day to unwind, relax, and learn new skills in this otherwise exam-heavy season.