As the sixth form enters their final term, they begin to look back on their favorite moments and traditions at the Hill School. From J-Ball to L’ville Week, Hill cherishes the opportunities it has to build community and memories. It is seated dinner and the attached tradition of sixth-form coffees that many sixth formers look forward to as a mark of the beginning of their last year at Hill.
A beautiful representation of a united form, sixth form coffee is a time for our leaders on campus to connect with each other and the faculty members who have had an impact on them. They get to share conversations over a cup of coffee, tea, or hot chocolate, for those sophisticated enough to enjoy it. However, this amazing experience has decreased with the number of seated dinners.
Sixth form coffee is a time made by the administration to connect the oldest form on campus. Taking this time away leaves students wanting more and hoping that this amazing tradition will return when it comes to their time to take up the mantle of the sixth form.
Admittedly last year, complaints about the meals that took valuable time before study hall were frequent. Tuesdays became long as practice, seated dinner, and family night quickly added up to a busy evening. Although these complaints have lessened with the number of seated dinners, so has the time to connect with peers and faculty. These seated dinners and sixth-form coffees give students an excuse to meet to walk up to the dining hall in their special occasion dresses and colorful polos. It allows students to talk about the homework that has been piling up or the colleges they are excited to visit.
Now these events have become few and far between, and, although students might not miss the weekly seated dinners, they do miss the special occasions, especially the sixth form.
From the first-time students arrived at the Hill School, they witnessed the privileges that the oldest class on campus got to experience. As they moved closer and closer to the big year, their excitement grew in anticipation of the chance to experience it themselves. Imagine the disappointment when the years of watching and waiting don’t pay off.
The sixth form is the highly anticipated last year full of moments of joy and bittersweet lasts. Decreasing the number of one of the first traditions specific to their grade won’t change this. However, the same spirit of unity that the coffees foster no longer has the same chance to do so. The chances given to students to connect with their peers who will be leaving in one short year are lessened. The basis of the most anticipated year of high school lies askew.
These loosening traditions won’t kill Hill pride or sever the community that Hill builds, but the united sixth form does set a precedent for the proceeding years. The community is passed down, that is why every graduating Hill student is inducted as an alumnus and why so many alumni give back. Giving the sixth form their opportunity to celebrate the time that they have spent and the years to come creates what the Hill School is so proud of: their sense of family.
Small moments like unashamedly banging spoons while locking eyes with other sixth formers, leading the charge of a crowd onto the field after winning against L’ville with enough energy to encourage the disappointed masses, and complaining about Winter Term yet always encouraging the under-formers around them all to make the Hill family what it is, and that starts with the small traditions like a frequent seated dinner and sixth form tea.
It isn’t a tradition that must be celebrated every week, nor one that can change sixth form year, but it impacts Hill’s student leaders and their influence on the community experience. Seated dinner and sixth-form coffee are just a few of the many traditions that help create the Hill School that all its students cherish and should be cherished for exactly what they are.