Quite frankly, when Taylor Swift announced her record- breaking Eras tour, the school failed to respond appropriately. Flex days are allocated for mental health days, fulfilling personal commitments and national holidays. So, when planning out the flex days of the year, why did the school overlook the one day that encompasses all three?

Within the population of the upper school, tensions began to rise as we collectively approached November 15th, the day of the presale. Lunch-table discussions had the sole purpose of discovering which of your friends’ aunts, cousins, grandmas, or distant relatives were coerced into signing up for the presale. Underneath the vaguely playful tone of these conversations was a palpable undertone of stress, hopefulness and fear. With the school having so many hyper-specifically titled professionals dedicated to the role of reducing anxiety and building morale within our community, it’s unclear why they were unable to subvert the oncoming crisis.

As predicted, the day of the presale was a disaster for everyone involved. Computers were open, classes were skipped and teachers were inevitably ignored. One might describe this as the antithesis to our mission statement— not only was educational excellence not pursued, but there was very little joy in the atmosphere.

Before discounting this national holiday as ‘not significant enough to cancel school’ (shoutout to Veteran’s Day) or arguing that it ‘only takes ten minutes to get through the queue’ (shoutout to Harry Styles), the administration should have taken several factors into consideration.

Studies show that approximately 32% of the 2000+ members of the queue were Upper School students and their loved ones. As such, this presale affected a large portion of our population, and was by no account an individual struggle. Furthermore, the presale was pushed back from 10 AM to 3:00 PM, leaving the student body in disarray and leading to not one but two classes being mentally checked out of as eager students watched the clock tick down in the waiting room. Finally, everyone knows that the school prioritizes student mental health, and it’s hard to argue that having Taylor Swift tickets to look forward to for the next year wouldn’t greatly boost the overall atmosphere and mental stability amongst the aforementioned 32%. Overall, there were many emotions felt and journeys taken that fateful day of November 15th, but the journey of pursuing knowledge was not one of them. I’m not saying that the school should take any extreme measures— just that it should be kept in mind during future crises of this level.