Groton School - Traditions

Traditions

Groton is an intimate community as 90% of students are boarders and most teachers live on campus in dorms or faculty housing. Classes are small, ranging from 12 to 14 students. There are regularly scheduled sit-down dinners during fall term and during spring term; at sit-down dinner, faculty and students dress up formally and sit down for a proper 45 minute dinner and are served by students assigned as waiters. On the School's birthday in the fall, sit-down dinner features a jolly singing of "Blue Bottles" (the tune is similar to "100 Bottles of Beer on the Wall"). At the request of the VIth form, the members of which yell "We want blue bottles!", the Vth form gathers at the entrance to the dining hall and, under the conductorship of the youngest faculty alumnus, who sets the tempo of the song by swinging a large carving knife back and forth, counts down the age of the School. Following Monday evening sit-down dinners, many students and faculty gather in the Webb–Marshall Room below the dining hall for an intramural debate featuring members of the School's Debating Society — Groton's oldest extracurricular organization. These debates also feature the Triple Speak, a fun and lighthearted extemporaneous speech during which the speaker must address at first only a single random word, but then incorporate a second and, finally, a third random word, which are announced during the speech.

On Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays, the Groton community begins the day with Chapel, which is followed by Roll Call. Originally intended for taking attendance, Roll Call is now a general assembly where daily announcements are made. Led by one of the School's two Senior Prefects, or one of the School's two House Prefects (all of whom are members of the VIth Form and are elected by their peers), Roll Call usually features both clever and entertaining skits and serious announcements. Once a term, the Headmaster calls off class and announces a Surprise Holiday. Surprise Holiday is announced at Roll Call by the appearance of a bright green jacket, usually integrated into a skit. A particularly memorable announcement was when, one fall, a helicopter landed in the middle of the circle, from which three triumphant VIth formers marched out (one wearing the Green Jacket). On a day near the end of the year, the VIth form collectively will conduct a filibuster during Roll Call, causing the meeting to run well into (and sometimes right through) first period. However, since the installment of the current headmaster, the administration has been less lenient and the filibuster seems to be a dying tradition. The class of 2009 revived this tradition by holding an hour and forty five minute long filibuster through second period on Monday, May 18, 2009. On May 23, 2011 the senior class followed suit and conducted an outdoor filibuster at both the boathouse and on the Triangle running trails; the filibuster lasted through all of 3rd period (11:30 AM).

One of the most notable of the School's traditions is hand-shaking. Each day at Groton concludes with students shaking hands with their dorm heads and prefects. As part of the School's Prize Day (commencement) proceedings, every member of the VIth form shakes hands with both the entire faculty and all underclassmen. After examinations, a similar ritual takes place as all underclassmen shake hands with the faculty before leaving for summer vacation. Groton announces itself as a diverse and intimate community and they are in fact very diverse. They have over 30% students of color and 10% international students.

The School holds an annual service of Nine Lessons and Carols similar to the famous one held yearly at King's College at Cambridge University in England. Groton's service, which dates to the 1930s, is only a few years younger than the one in Cambridge.

Groton's two most notable publications are The Circle Voice and The Grotonian. The Circle Voice is the student newspaper and publishes three times a term. The Grotonian is a literary magazine which publishes once a term.

Groton also has a long tradition of pranks, most notably the unveiling of the world's largest tiled poster on the Chapel and some culture of "roofing". The Schoolhouse building has two secret rooms. One is called the Shoe Room, where it is rumored a young Franklin D. Roosevelt, among others, left a shoe. The other is the Junior Mint Room where empty boxes have been left by generations of students. Both are accessed by roofing the Schoolhouse.

Groton has long upheld a very intense, often bitter rivalry with St. Mark's School, a competitor in its sports league.