Due to a rare scheduling coincidence, both Founders’ Day and the first SING! performance of this year will both occur on November 20. The overlap has some members of SING concerned that students will be less likely to attend the Friday evening performance.
Assistant Principal of Organization Ellen Fee explained that the date for Founders’ Day depends upon the date set by the NYC DOE for parent/teacher conferences. SING normally occurs the first weekend before Thanksgiving. This year, both schedules overlap.
The calendar committee tasked with finalizing events debated separate dates, but ultimately decided against it.
As Ms. Fee said, they decided against changing the date for Founders’ Day as on any date besides the day of parent/teacher conferences “students would have to come back to our building at the end of the program and attend classes until dismissal at 3:05 pm.”
The committee discussed moving SING a week earlier, but there are two major overnight trips scheduled for that weekend: a Classic trip and a college tour trip.
Both combined would leave a number of students and chaperones unavailable for SING, many of whom are working on the performance.
With the two events on the same day, students will be able to leave school at 11:00 AM and can return at 7:00 PM for the performance.
This unique scheduling has SING directors concerned, not about winning, but rather about the inconvenient timing.
Semore SING co-director and senior skit directors Nadia Khan and Elina Niyazov do not believe this will affect their team’s chances of winning.
Nadia remarks, “We’re still [giving] it all [we’ve] got.”
However, she does think that this scheduling will be “a hassle for everyone. It’s a tradition that people use the opportunity of leaving early to celebrate with their friends. Unfortunately for the casts of SING, we have to clear any plans because by 4-5 PM, we’ll have to begin getting ready for the Friday performance.”
Semore singer Daniella Babayev finds it especially bothersome because she “would have to change so many times in a day, [which] is too many outfits to keep track of and carry around.”
Nadia continues on a similar note, explaining how she wears sweatpants every year on the day of SING, along with a bag of show necessities. Since Founders’ Day is a formal event, “it’s a burden to [change] and wash off makeup to put more on.”
On the other hand, Senior Advisor Maria Assante feels that if students truly want to get involved with SING, the time gap between the two events should not be a problem.
She states, “If anything, ending school at 11 AM gives performers more than enough time to relax with friends and prep for the first show.”
Freshior SING leaders Raya Kazdan and Jillissa Drayton also believe that this affects the amount of people that will attend the event because according to Raya, “if you go to Manhattan to hang out, you might not want to come back to Queens for the show.”
Jillissa also points out that “it’s not a short enough gap that [students] can just stick around, but it’s also not long enough to stay for Parent-Teacher conferences, go home, and come back.”
Junior Amrinderjit Luther agrees, saying that he will not attend SING “because [he’ll] have to change to go home and come back to school.”
Senior Ethan Chiu will also not attend SING because he instead “could hang out with friends and play basketball” after being dismissed so early because of Founders’ Day.
Although she is attending, sophomore Jane Kim was shocked to learn that the two events are on the same day, calling it a “hassle.” She explains, “With the 8 hour time gap between the two events, I really have no other choice but to go home and come back for the show.”
Some students will have to cope with both of the events to the best of their abilities. Nadia jokes, “As long as my senior actors don’t utter their SING lines in the senior skit and vice versa, we’ll be okay.”
