“I love the Secret Santa event,” Ari Baum, dean of students said. “This program is an opportunity to think differently, get to know other students, and most importantly, be thoughtful toward someone who is not likely a close friend.”

Baum has overseen The Hill School’s Secret Santa operation since its beginnings six years ago. The event is largely organized by students, whether they be 6th formers from his Economics class, or the newly introduced Dining Hall Captains.

This year, the Secret Santas were only assigned within each form, rather than across all forms.

“The point of inter-form was for students to meet new people, but what has resulted from it has been a lot of awkwardness and a lack of originality and thought going into the presents,” Alice Nguyen ’18, a dining hall captain, said. “By going intra-form, it ensures that students can do better research and still get to know new people! I’m not sure that every student in a form is totally familiar with one another.”

Nguyen proposed the ‘inter-form’ idea to Baum. The Secret Santas were assigned randomly by an online generator.

“I think the change is really helpful because that way you can either already know the person, or get to know someone in your own form,” Maame Asante ’19 said.

Asante reflected on her first Secret Santa experience at Hill her 3rd form year, and described it as a fairly uncomfortable. She was assigned a 6th form boy and was too shy to ask any of his friends for suggestions.

“It’s kind of lame,” Erika Quinones ’18 said, in response to the intra-form change.

Quinones sees Secret Santa as a fun opportunity to meet new people.

“My freshman year I had Jeremy Jacobs, a 5th former at the time,” Quinones said. “I wouldn’t have known him or met his brother if I hadn’t been assigned him.”

Despite the praise the intra-form plan has received, there are still many student who feel that Secret Santa was a good way to get to know students from different forms that they wouldn’t have talked to otherwise.

Baum revealed that despite his approval for the change, he personally preferred the inter-form  Secret Santa. However, the organization of the event is largely up to the planning committee. That being said, the intra-form is not permanent and is subject to change depending on the decisions made by the committee in the coming years.