The long-held tradition of the “12 Days” Morning Ex has been an opportunity for seniors to show off their talents with their friends and entire grade for years. The Morning Ex contains 12 acts called days, verses of the famous English Christmas carol “The Twelve Days of Christmas.” Students have been able to form their own groups and choose their day since the tradition started, but this year, there is a change.

Senior grade heads Upper School Spanish teacher Yadiner Sabir and Upper and Middle School music teacher Emma Castaldi wanted to change the group selection process to prevent problems of inequity. They gave students an option to choose between three to 10 people they wanted to work with, but they weren’t allowed to give a preference for a certain act. From there, the grade heads formed groups and assigned each group with a day based on the size of the groups

According to Sabir, the old system benefited students that have been at Parker longer because they’ve been watching 12 Days for years and had time to plan out their groups and acts with their friends. For students that came in middle school or high school, they could have missed out on that opportunity and then felt left out.

The change has caused some commotion within the senior class, but Sabir and Castaldi felt it was necessary to implement the changes. “As a progressive school, change should be a part of what we do,” Sabir said. “While there is a value in tradition, we have to also examine traditions and evolve. Schools are like a system, and systems have to change to evolve in order to survive. If you don’t change, your system doesn’t survive.”

Regardless of the changes, the seniors had to move on and make the best of the new 12 Days experience they were given. “The senior class handled it very well,” senior and Twelve Days Stage Manager Andy Wessman said. “At least from my perspective, there have been no issues in terms of what groups people were placed in.”

They started rehearsing earlier this year than in the past, and according to both Castaldi and Sabir, the energy so far has been incredible and they have shown their maturity. “It’s important to acknowledge that although we implemented those changes,” Sabir said, “they wouldn’t have been possible if the students didn’t have the maturity to say ‘okay, I have the right to be upset. And let me be upset for a while and then I have to move on.’”

The two grade heads are both new this year, and Castaldi, who has most of her choir’s performances on stage, wanted to create a more entertaining experience with an emphasis on live performances. Each day is allowed to have a video, but they must have some sort of a live element to keep the audience engaged. “When it’s video after video after video, we might as well have been sent an email,” Castaldi said. “From my experience, it’s more entertaining to have live performances.”

For being randomly assigned together as grade heads, Castaldi believes she and Sabir have worked extremely well together so far. “She picks up the slack where I need help, and I do the same with her,” Castaldi said. “That’s really important in a leadership team. Especially with these really hard, big traditional things, it’s been nice to have somebody who’s also new. Like ‘okay, we’re going through this together.’”

The two heads have done a great job of bringing the entire senior class together and making sure there are no lingering problems with the change. “When they shared out their skits and videos, I noticed a sense of pride and excitement,” Castaldi said. “This class, in general, has been really awesome with taking a project, taking ownership of it, being accountable, and understanding that people are watching.”

On Friday, December 20, the senior class will take the stage and perform their acts for

the entire Parker community. No matter the changes implemented, the show will be filled with energy and excitement as the last message being sent to students before they take off for Winter Break. Sabir expects the change will not affect the performance of the seniors but maybe bring them closer. “Change can be good if you make it be good,” Sabir said.