Connection is one of Parker’s founding and most crucial ideals. Connection allows students to create vital bonds with their classmates, faculty, staff, and friends. Connection is what makes the school feel comfortable for every member of the Parker community. This principle is what allows students to become close with each other like siblings, even if they aren’t related.
“The Big Siblings Morning Exercise is our ritual foreshadowing of Class Day and Graduation, and all of the growth, the transformation, the separation and attachment, the loss, and the love that are embodied in the tradition,” said Principal Daniel Frank ‘74 after the seniors paraded around the Big Gym.
Every grade was sitting, watching the spectacle unfold – the Lower School students waiting to meet their big siblings and the Upper Schoolers smiling at their senior friends.
“Just so many emotions, you know, like just running, swirling, through them,” Christine Hoffman, Upper School English teacher and Senior Grade Head, said. And just seeing their pride and their accomplishments, their anticipation of the future, you know, maybe trepidation of leaving, but also excitement, obviously. And then just seeing just how much they love each other and their happiness with each other. There were some really beautiful moments, and I loved that,”
“It’s fun knowing that they (little siblings) look up to me, and I want to be a role model for them,” Izzy Markel, a senior who is a big sibling for Brittney Washington’s second grade class, said. Each senior got to list their grade preferences but not a specific class.
Markel knows that Big Siblings are an important Parker tradition that is meant to help build a sense of community within the school.
One of the other facilitators of this tradition, Joe Bruno, the Upper School Dean of Student Life, has been in his position and supported the Big Siblings program for four years. He helps with the grade placements for each of the seniors, assists the gradeheads, orchestrates communication, invites all the families to events regarding Big Siblings, and gets all the seniors together.
“Mr. Bruno really has a good grasp on the Big Sibs tradition,” Hoffman said. Scheduling is a hard part of organizing the tradition because the seniors have little time and it is hard to schedule the six to eight yearly meetings in that time.
Bruno reports that fifth graders are the most requested Little Siblings, however, Hoffman thinks that “JK, SK, first grade, second grade, [are the most requested] because they’re so sweet. That group is so excited to have their Big Siblings, so there’s so much energy and enthusiasm around it.”
When Bruno was asked what the most memorable moment of the entire experience was, he said, “The first time I really saw the assembly. (I) had no idea what was going on.” Although Bruno “didn’t really feel a connection with the students,” during his first year as he didn’t get the four-year-long experience, he observes that “as I’ve gotten to know the students …it becomes special in such a different way because there’s a connection.”
Owen Zeller, a freshman who has been at Parker since second grade also agrees that the connection is one of the larger impacts of having big siblings. “It was nice that there was a tradition that connected all the grades together, from 12th (grade) all the way down,” he said, thinking back to when he had big siblings in Middle, Intermediate, and Lower School.
“It really helps connect the school. It gives the Upper School, or the Seniors an opportunity to engage with the little kids and give something back to them and build those bonds. It’s such a great energy to be around,” Hoffman said. “It’s still early in the year but so far this year has felt really good to me, and I think a lot of it has to do with the fact that I feel that I understand the role”
She wishes that she could check in on the seniors more. “I wonder sometimes if the seniors feel equipped to create relationships, especially if you’re a senior and don’t have little siblings, and then you’re all of a sudden like, ‘oh, how do I talk to a sixth grader’, you know? I would like more discussions like ‘how was your day, how are your first interactions’.”
Zeller said that his favorite part about getting to have big siblings while in Middle and Lower School was “Getting to have a window into what being a high schooler is like.” Having this sort of relationship with the seniors helps younger kids prepare for their own high school experience.
“Because I’m in the Upper School, I don’t often think about the experience of the, you know, kids who have come through the different divisions here, like every year that must have such an impact on them,” Hoffman said.
