Prefect Council organized the seniors’ first online, grade-wide lunch, which was held on Jan. 26. Due to the success of the event, additional junior, sophomore, and senior grade-wide lunches were hosted on Jan. 29, Feb. 5, Feb. 10, respectively.

Students connected via LinkU, a video conferencing platform co-developed by Sophomore Prefect Aariz Irfan ’23 and Eric Yoon ’23.

Once connected, attendees were randomly assigned to groups of four, where they would then receive a few prompts that served as conversation topics. The activity, which was split up into six five-minute rounds, spanned a total of 30 minutes.

The event allowed students to connect with each other, albeit virtually.

Senior Prefect Brooke Stanford ’21 said the Prefect Council had come up with the idea when trying to find new ways for students to connect virtually and foster some sense of community online. The lunch had received very positive feedback, with several people reaching out to her about the great time they had, she said.

“It was really nice to hear, but I think [the lunch] would have been even better if more people attended,” Stanford said.

Stanford attended the lunch herself, and she said she thoroughly enjoyed the experience.

“It was so nice to connect with my classmates, especially at a time when social interaction is so hard to come by,” Stanford said.

Students said the online event was reminiscent of in-person events.

Felicity Phelan ’21 also said they had a great time during the first senior lunch.

“It was fun to talk to people I hadn’t seen in a while, and I thought the question prompts were really interesting,” Phelan said. “And I’d absolutely go to another lunch if it was scheduled.”

Sophomore Prefect Aiko Offner ’23 thought the lunch was successful because it resembled the casual part of school that a lot of people, including herself, missed.

“[The lunch] provided a space for us to just sit and talk for the sake of it,” Offner said. “Other sophomores enjoyed that it was a nice change from the detached nature of zoom school.”