Head of School Happiness!

With the end of the 2022-23 academic year fast approaching, homework, interscholastic sports games, and tests have started to overflow Lawrentians’ schedules yet again. While  enjoying extended weekends with the lack of Saturday classes this term has helped alleviate stress, students often feel overwhelmed, and many would appreciate having a proper day off from classes. This term, Lawrenceville students are busy anticipating a Head of School Day, the School’s surprise day-off traditionally happening in the Spring Term. 

This unique Lawrenceville tradition officially started in the 20th century but occurred annually long  before then. The Head of School Day was initially called Founders’ Day to honor the legacy of John Cleve Green, a refounder of the School in 1888. On Founder’s Day, the School would gather students and faculty at the Chapel to announce the day off (in the morning) followed by a discussion of the school's history. Professors outside of the School would be called to deliver a Founder’s Day address in the chapel. These addresses served to inspire the students and pay tribute not to only the founders of the school but also its alumni and dutiful teachers. However, the most important aspect of this event was the day’s unpredictability. Oftentimes, it happened subsequently to a joyous school event, such as the day of an athletic win. 

Last year, our Head of School day happened after an important varsity hockey win against Hill. As Kyle Ozgun ’24 remembers, it was “a pretty big deal.” The hockey team had faced continuous losses against  Hill multiple times that year, and they were determined to finally win. After playing two of the game’s three periods, they were still tied, and the energy was low. Ozgun recounts that during a water break, he had jokingly asked Head of School Stephen Murray H’54 ’55 ’65 ’16 P’16 ’21, who had come to watch the game, if he would announce a Head of School Day if they won. Upon hearing Murray’s, “I’ll think about it,” the entire team felt motivated, scored more goals and eventually won the game. Ozgun also tells the story of another Head of School day in the winter of 2022, where everyone had gathered on Halloween to tell Murray to have a Head of School Day as other local schools canceled classes and college applications were coming up. The announcement came in the form of a SNLville video; at first, only a couple of people who had watched the video were aware of this fact. However, soon Lawrentians across campus were “yelling about having a Head of School Day,” and everyone knew, said Ozgun. Ozgun enjoys Head of School Days and expresses his fondness of them, remarking that it is “pretty good the way it is” and that it gave him time to “do whatever.” 

As the end of term nears, there have been more and more guesses as to when this year’s Head of School day will happen and if it will, considering the recent schedule. Ozgun hopes that it will happen on “a good day” and guesses that it will happen at the end of May whilst many others, like II Form students Emily Meng ’26 and Luna Desir ’26, believe that the holiday will happen. But with the incoming avalanche of games against the Hill School and other MAPL schools, Head of School Day could be just around the corner.