The last time a live, in-person Speech Day took place at TCS “under the big top,” was on June 14, 2019. Thus, when we, as a school, gather in two months on Friday, June 17th, to recognize and celebrate the end of the 2021-2022 academic year, and the graduating class of ’22 in particular, it will have been three years, more than 1,000 days, since a previous Speech Day ceremony.

Little wonder then, that a “veteran” Grade 11 TCS student asked me last week, “What is Speech Day?”

The question was a vivid reminder of how many events and rituals our kids have missed as a result of the pandemic. Nothing tragic or monumental, but the various cancelled or modified events during TCS’s spring season, in particular, have impacted the student and staff (and parent!) experience at the School on the Hill.

Of all the Christian religious observances, Easter is generally considered as the most important. So what’s all this talk about a bunny who delivers chocolate eggs?

As a child, the Easter Bunny made the least sense to me as a symbol of any occasion. Santa Claus looks like a real person and, at the age of six, I could not calculate the mathematical challenges inherent with delivering gifts all over the world via reindeer-pulled sleds and a chimney-based delivery system. But, a fluffy human-sized Easter Bunny? To me, that simply did not compute.

Plus, I knew that bunnies didn’t lay eggs. It was impossible! And, laying chocolate eggs? Now, that was ridiculous! I was suspicious that the adults weren’t telling us kids the whole truth.

Question: What are the common elements of the following games?

• Tag
• Hide and Seek
• Kick the Can
• Four Square
• Red Rover
• Hopscotch
• Marbles
• Capture the Flag

Possible answers that might have popped to mind:

• Games that were fun
• Games you played as a kid
• Games that required others to play with
• Games you played outdoors

An answer you might not have thought about:

• “Play allows children to use their creativity while developing their imagination, dexterity, and physical, cognitive, and emotional strength. Play is important to healthy brain development. It is through play that children at a very early age engage and interact in the world around them.”*

My answer:

One of the most unusual social fads during my lifetime was the “Pet Rock” craze in 1975. Pet Rocks were smooth, run-of-the-mill stones, marketed as live pets which arrived in a small cardboard box replete with a bed of straw and “breathing holes” for your pet. Also included was a training manual entitled, The Care and Training of Your Pet Rock, which advised how to teach your pet rock how to “sit,” “roll over” and “shake hands.” I repeat, this was a rock; as inanimate as any object could be.

Over one million pet rocks were sold at $4.00 each. The founder became an instant millionaire.

Mind boggling. I am sure there is a thesis or paper that has been written aiming to explain the overwhelming appeal of the Pet Rock craze. I have not elected to illuminate myself on the matter.