By Kaveri Pillai ’23
Staff Writer
On Sept. 30, Mount Holyoke announced that Mountain Day 2020 would take place during the fall break between the two modules, a divergence from the tradition’s usual scheduled date sometime during class time in the first semester. Under normal circumstances, the announcement of Mountain Day would’ve ignited a flame of rejoicing and celebration. However, this year, student responses ranged from confusion to disappointment
A virtual Mountain Day continues to push the boundaries of our new expectations regarding school events, and one big question remains: Will replicating these long-established traditions online result in a failure to create an in-person feel? Should Mount Holyoke adapt to this online setting and create more suitable traditions? Most importantly, can one leave out traditions like Mountain Day and still create the sense of belonging students crave right now?
From “It’s Mountain Day!” chants in the hallowed hallways of the Community Center to the long lines that lead up to the white shuttles, there’s more to Mountain Day than trekking up Skinner State Park. The feeling of waking up in the morning and having brunch with friends, followed by eating ice cream and pie on the summit while taking beautiful pictures, goes beyond just documenting our memories — we get to live this experience. With this event going completely online, it is fair to question what will happen to these experiences. The COVID-19 restrictions globally don’t allow most students to step outside their house, let alone to climb a mountain.
The College seems to think that replacing the actual hiking with mountain documentaries and festive Zoom backgrounds can still create a sense of community, but students have their doubts. Shreya Nair ’22 said, “As an international student, the thought of going on Zoom for Mountain Day is not exciting at all, it just reminds me that I’m not on campus.” This comment echoes a shared sentiment among students: fear of not replicating the joy and excitement of actual Mountain Day, compounded by missing out on breaking in new winter shoes and scarves, not to mention the chance to miss classes.
Mountain Day is such a treasured event because it gives students a much-needed break from the academic workload that starts to intensify around mid-semester. Given the shift from the traditional semester system this year, it is understandable why the College decided to keep Mountain Day during the intermission between Module 1 and Module 2. The module system requires academic rigor and is constrained by time; however, this time allocation for Mountain Day led to an exponential decrease in the appeal of the event. With no one missing any class this year, it can be assumed that many students won’t tune in to the online celebration.
Mountain Day isn’t the only tradition being undermined due to its virtual celebration status. Other Mount Holyoke traditions and webinars are being negatively affected by the lack of in-person elements. M&Cs, a cherished tradition among all students on campus, is one of them. The entire appeal of a tradition like M&Cs is to allow students to take a break from their hectic academic and nonacademic responsibilities and enjoy the childhood joy of having late-night milk and cookies in dorm common rooms with friends. I remember the many nights I spent in MacGregor Hall pulling all-nighters for research papers and finding comfort in the fact that I could take a break and go to the ground floor if I wanted a snack. Virtual M&Cs defeats the purpose of this tradition. Moreover, like many other Mount Holyoke events, virtual M&Cs fails to include international students and blatantly homogenizes the applicability of Eastern Standard Time. Mount Holyoke administration should understand that 8 p.m. in South Hadley is 4 a.m. in countries in South Asia, which forces students to make a decision between sleeping at a normal local time or conforming to this facade of inclusion and community with cookies and milk from their own kitchen.
Ava Healy ’24 understands the struggles of making friends and fitting in during her first year at MHC. “I work a lot outside of school and I'm afraid that I might miss the online events,” Healy said, further highlighting the problem with these synchronous events and the lack of participation that comes with them.
Isshita Fauzdar ’23 said, “As times change, MoHo should modify their traditions accordingly. Replacing Mountain Day with something more practical like a virtual indoor activity makes more sense.”
It is important to acknowledge this need to create a community off-campus now more than ever. With students all across the globe, altering traditions to fit our new circumstances in an online platform would help unite students. It might be best to designate events like Mountain Day or M&Cs as on-campus activities and instead create new ones that can only be done virtually. The sense of belonging and the creation of a tight-knit community that new virtual events would create is part of what makes Mount Holyoke so inclusive. It would be a shame if we lost that due to the pandemic.