Since the 1980’s, Book Day has been an annual tradition at Prep. Headmaster Bachmann shared that, “for at least 40 years there has always been a day set with no classes for students to get their books, even when Prep was an all-boys school.” Bachmann explained that originally, Book Day was created for practical reasons such as student orientation and book distribution; however, he also stated that today, it has evolved into a more important day culturally for the Prep community.

Book Day is a day where students, parents, and faculty can interact with one another and enjoy delicious food, rock climbing, puppies, and so much more. For many students, their favorite part of Book Day is meeting new people. For parents, it’s an opportunity to volunteer and witness the campus coming back to life with both nervous new students and relaxed returning students.

Student Senate, Athletic Council on Leadership (ACL), and Student Community Action Council (SCAC)–the Big Three–have greatly contributed to the expansion of Book Day’s larger purpose on campus. Project Manager Charlie McCormick ’20 shared that the event planning for Book Day began at the end of last year, with the executive members of Senate already starting to brainstorm activities. A month prior to the event, all planning was finalized and Student Senate began making calls for rentals and ensuring everything was reserved. With less than a week before the event, the Big Three had a Leadership Retreat in Big Bear where Senate updated everyone on shifts, setup, and other operations. Thus the collaboration began between the Big Three to put on the best Book Day yet. This year, SCAC helped cover the cost of the dunk tank –a student favorite–and SCAC members were put in charge of running it. ACL took charge of activities in the gym, which began as a large game of dodgeball, but eventually turned into an open gym as the day progressed.

“[Book Day] is a huge group effort. Everybody on Senate put so much work into this. I couldn’t be happier with the amount of collaboration [it showed],” reflected McCormick on the success of Book Day.

The 2018 Book Day had everyone in the Prep community fired up about the new school year.