A self-proclaimed fear collector, a record breaking marathon runner, an opera and video game creator, a muralist, the same Kennedy multiple times, and a Buddhist monk are just a few of the guest speakers who have come to our school in recent years. It would be impossible to list all the experts who have spoken either to the whole school during assembly or at individual club meetings, not because of a failing in our memory, but because of the sheer volume of them.
Recently, it has become a trend of sorts for clubs to bring in guest speakers. Although inviting outside speakers is a great way to broaden our perspectives, the number of visitors has become overwhelming. It seems that every club is bringing in a guest speaker every other week. Does everyone believe this is the best use of our time, or are we booking a speaker just to have one?
Maybe this is indicative of the larger problem with our school’s clubs: Everyone wants to be the president of a club, often just to say they are one. The same seems to apply to guest speakers—every club wants to say they’ve had one.
This isn’t to say that these speakers don’t have value. However, we would encourage you to pause before you invite a guest speaker and ask yourself: Will this person’s perspective add real value to my club? Or, maybe presidents are bringing in speakers to “establish” their club as legitimate. But, if there is a need to “legitimize” clubs, maybe the club shouldn’t exist in the first place.
Ultimately, clubs can and should do whatever they want. We believe that guest speakers can be beneficial, but we would encourage clubs to be mindful of falling into the trap of acting just to follow trends.
Not only should we, the students, be asking ourselves this question, but the administration must as well. We have one 35-minute assembly block built into the schedule for community time each week. Often, this community time is used to bring in people from outside of our school to speak.
There is a lot of value in hearing novel perspectives, and the speakers are often engaging and interesting. Yet sometimes the enriching speakers get lost in a vast sea of mediocre ones. Fewer, higher-quality speakers would be a better alternative.
When the speakers fall short, or their message feels irrelevant, we are left to wonder: Is this the best use of our time? If we have only 35 minutes a week to gather together as an Upper School, we should use the time to build more connections within our community. Assemblies are booked months in advance, leaving few slots for student voices. Limiting the number of guest speakers would open up more flexibility and create time to hear from community members.
Let’s use assembly blocks to hear about student and faculty experiences, and, dare I say, play Chuck- the-Duck regularly—maybe even monthly. Instead of looking outwards to enrich our community, let’s lean into looking within.
