Editor’s Note: The Underground Workshop is a collaborative network of student journalists from across Vermont. This story is part of an invitational series, celebrating bright spots in our schools. For more information please contact the Workshop’s editor, Ben Heintz, at ben@vtdigger.org.
“A sacred space” : Founders’ Day at Thetford Academy
by Cecilia Luce, Thetford Academy
On a November night in 1942, residents of Thetford Hill noticed smoke billowing from the school across the street. Flames engulfed the main building. Before anything could be done, the fire spread to the girls’ and boys’ dormitories, the library and the bell tower. By morning, Thetford Academy was gone.
Almost 80 years later, at 8:15 on the morning of March 11, 2022, Thetford Academy’s students and staff gathered in front of the steps of the historic White Building. Head of School Carrie Brennan welcomed everyone with a tribute to the history of the school: a story about the school’s perseverance throughout the adversity of the 1940’s.
The same story has been told for many years, and ends by describing Founders’ Day as “a tradition meant to honor [the school’s] long history, celebrate hardships overcome and successes ahead and make students and faculty smile.”
The 1940’s were a decade of challenges and reconstruction at Thetford Academy. The fire, along with the effects of World War II, led headmaster Carl Anderson to the realization that something needed to happen to lift the spirits of the community. This led to the creation of Founders’ Day, an event that remains a beloved tradition, even in the midst of a pandemic.
This year, rising Omicron cases caused Founders’ Week to be moved to mid-March. The celebration usually happens on the anniversary of Thetford Academy’s founding in February, but the decision to change the date was made in order to allow more of the ‘normal’ activities to commence.
Thetford Academy is Vermont’s oldest secondary school. 2022 marks the 203rd anniversary of its founding, in 1819. Much has changed since that date: classes aren’t separated by gender, and students no longer reside on campus. Even the physical buildings have moved, since they were rebuilt across the street after the fire. But the values of TA, including its strong sense of community, have been maintained.
After Brennan’s speech, class representatives climbed the stairs to stand in a circle on the landing for a candle-lighting ceremony. As participants announced and explained each value of Thetford Academy—faith, hope, dedication, knowledge, cooperation, courage, and responsibility—the students stepped forward to light candles. Despite the windy March morning, the ring of brightly-colored flames managed to stay burning.
Joe Deffner, a longtime member of TA’s English department, called the ceremony a “sacred space,” and noted the relevance of the story to modern Thetford Academy. The school has yet to return to a ‘normal’ academic year since the start of the pandemic. On the first ever Founders’ Day, Thetford students were in a similar situation. The school’s reconstruction lasted nine years.
The best part about Founders’ Day for students has always been the schoolwide competition. A theme is chosen every year, and each class votes on their own topic. This year, for a theme of ‘Decades,’ different grades picked a variety of subjects from the Roaring 20’s to the 2010’s. Classes compete in the lower division (7th vs. 8th grade), middle division (9th vs. 10th grade), or upper division (11th vs. 12th grade).
Ava Hayden, a freshman and first-year TA student, appreciated the opportunity to get to know more people in her class. “There were a lot of people that I worked together with that I normally wouldn’t hang out with, or wouldn’t know,” she said.
The main events are always on a Friday, but the majority of the school week is dedicated to preparation and planning. For students, it is refreshing to have a break from academics in the cold and dark winter months.
Social studies teacher and TA graduate Stacy Barton recalled that there used to be many weeks of Founders’ Day preparation. “From a student’s perspective it was really great,” she said, “[but] that has definitely changed, and I think probably for the better, from a teacher’s perspective.”
During Founders’ Day prep time, the TA campus bustles with students creating murals, centerpieces, snow sculptures, and more projects that relate to their class’ theme. An unofficial requirement is to make fun of teachers; faculty members are almost always portrayed in a skit or painted in an art project.
This year, the freshman class cut out photos of faculty members and glued them to 1970’s disco dancers for their centerpiece. Deffner was featured on the project, and has been teased in skits many times, but he doesn’t take offense. “Personally, I think it’s wonderful,” he said, “and it makes me laugh.”
Each project is scored by judges (often TA alumni or retired staff members). The winning project in each category earns points for the grade. Students give their best efforts to earn the ‘Founders’ Day Champion’ plaque that is framed outside of the school library. Winning every annual competition during their six years at Thetford Academy gives a graduating class endless bragging rights.
Students also participated in volleyball, water balloon toss, and Tug-of-War games to earn more points. Each grade watched the skits performed by their division in the theater. This year, jokes about the school’s face mask and cell phone policies were popular among performances and positively received by audiences. Junior Shisi Dai, an international student from Beijing, said that her favorite parts of the day included watching the sled races and seeing the senior class up against the faculty in a volleyball game.
There were also two banquet lunches: one for middle schoolers and freshmen, and one for upperclassmen. Prior to the pandemic, watching skits and eating lunch would have been a schoolwide occasion, but both traditions were a casualty of COVID. Both students and teachers missed the community aspect of these events, some of the few occasions where the student body joins together for something other than an assembly.
At the end of the day, the school gathered once more in the gym for a closing ceremony, where the 2022 Founders’ Day champions would be announced. Brennan revealed the winners of individual contests first. Applause, stomping on bleachers, and chanting of a medley of graduation years punctuated each announcement. Finally, she declared the winners of the lower, middle, and upper divisions. After much anticipation, seventh graders, sophomores, and seniors took the win.
For many, Founders’ Day was a break from challenges that the school continues to navigate. A highlight for Deffner has always been witnessing the bonding of classes. “It’s neat to see people work so hard on something that doesn’t have major consequences,” he said. “But at the same time, the consequences are that it’s a way to build class unity.”
As freshman Ava Hayden experienced, many students who wouldn’t otherwise have the opportunity are given the chance to unleash their creativity and get to know each other.
“Everybody sort of cheered each other on, because we were like one big team,” she said. “I had a blast.”
Yearbook Gallery: 1958 & 1970
