Missing: Have You Seen These Traditions?!
Traditions. Many say they’re dead. But do we really know what they were? It’s no doubt there are traditions that Western Reserve Academy has lost as a whole. Whether it’s the use of the hockey pond for community events or the standard frequency of a sit-down meal in Ellsworth, we know that they existed — but, most of us really don’t know what those events felt like, and what they meant to the community.
That’s where we turn to our alumni and longtime faculty. They wield a collective level of understanding of “Old Reserve”, more than the entire active student body combined.
For years the Hockey Pond served as a home for festivities and for the ‘hazing’ of freshman. WRA Archivist, Tom Vince provided insight into the history of this pond.
The pond was dug roughly 100 years ago, though there aren’t any definitive records as to when it was first opened. For a period of ten years between 1925 and 1935, the pond was the home to an annual sailboat regatta, led by Manual Arts teacher Leon Baxter. All boats were built by students in the woodshop, with multiple races to follow. The winner was decided by a point system. The class with the most points at the conclusion of the regatta would be awarded a trophy, while the other classes would receive ribbons. A few successful students from this established tradition would go on to race at lakes around Northeast Ohio.
The pond also served as the site for the annual tug-of-war between the junior and senior classes, as part of the Founders Day festivities. The tradition spanned from the early 1930s all the way until 1972 – moving to dry land in 1960.
One can’t discuss the former uses of the hockey pond without the mention of the most well-known former use of the famed pond; the ‘hazing’ of freshman. For decades, upperclassmen would grab freshmen by their arms, and throw them straight into the pond. “They would just fling you straight into that disgusting body of water,” says Diccon Ong ‘81, an alum of WRA and Social Science teacher. “I was thrown in while wearing full school dress my first week here in 1977.”
A more well known tradition is the frequency of sit down meals. In the past twenty years, the format of these sit down meals has changed drastically. For starters, sit-down happened more often than not. When she first arrived in 1998, Dr. Lisabeth Robinson says that sit-down dinner was held four nights a week – Monday through Thursday. Sit-down lunches were held Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.
Tables were randomly assigned for quite some time for both lunches and dinners. Students would be placed with a random faculty member on what was intended to be a regular basis. “It’s great to meet new people. The problem was they would go quite a while without a change…” Robinson said. As the number of sit-down meals dwindled over the years, the structure became looser as well. Now sit down lunches are only held once a week as time to spend with your advisory.
Also lost from sit down lunches are the announcements from senior class officers that would take place before anybody could eat. Students could only sit once the announcements of weekly news, birthday wishes and a moment of silence had concluded.
As we move from the traditions of “Old Reserve” it is imperative that we remember what they mean to our community. Resources such as alumni and faculty members can remind us all of how traditions have shaped and supported the WRA community.
– Landon Allis ’23
The Reserve Record 