By Yulin Tang ‘26, Feature Writer

Morning Meetings are a tri-weekly routine for NA. During weeks with normal schedules, we commence three days each week sitting in Coraci for 15 minutes. This might seem easy to remember, but because of holidays, delayed openings, or afternoon events, the schedule changes too often.

Because the schedule is confusing and unpredictable, people can often be heard asking each other whether we have Morning Meeting, advisory, or class. MyNA is no help as it shows “advisory” for the Morning Meeting and advisory slots every single day. There are also presentations during Morning Meetings, but they don’t have a pattern whatsoever which just adds to the confusion. The irregularity of announcements detracts from their usefulness because it means students can’t keep track of them.

While some students think the announcements offer helpful information about different opportunities and upcoming events, others feel they are a waste of time on top of being unpredictable. Some students attempt to review for assessments during Morning Meeting, zoning out entirely during announcements. A few bolder students even choose to nap through it.

The announcements themselves are rushed and often run over time due to quantity. Many students and teachers audibly sigh in relief when only a few students stand up to make announcements because that is typically a sign that the messages will be short, and for good reason — to most, the announcements hold little value.

To prove this, I asked students a simple, open-ended question to generate their genuine thoughts: What do you think about Morning Meeting announcements? I ultimately received three types of responses.

First, some students thought that announcements were helpful. Morning announcements, James Lin ‘27 says, “are informative for upcoming events and opportunities.”

The second type of response was mixed feedback. Chloe Shirodkar ‘26 says, “The announcements are helpful, it’s just hard for me to stay focused in the morning.” This was a common theme amongst many students, though they recognized that the announcements could have useful information. On the bright side, announcements might not be first thing in the morning with the new schedule. After the test schedules, James Lin ‘27 said, “I liked having morning announcements after first period because I felt more focused.”

The third and most common response was critical. Gibson Fischer ‘26 sums up the criticism: “Morning announcements are a good idea, but the system is confusing and often fails to actually communicate information to students.” The system lacks organization and accessibility. They’re rushed, making details unclear and difficult to remember. Some students thought that there should be a system to record announcements and then make those records accessible to students. This already exists on some level with the Minuteman Society taking notes on announcements, which are posted on the monitors. Unfortunately, most students are unaware of this.

Also, sports teams often ask students to attend their games. It’s inefficient, so why keep doing it? The games are posted on the Newark Academy Athletics app anyway, and announcing them leaves less time for more valuable announcements. Boosting attendance at events should be done by encouraging school spirit, not announcements. That way, contests and other opportunities have more time to share important details. Celebratory announcements are also impacted. According to Sarah Wang ‘25, “Even big news like sports team wins or the Poetry Out Loud winner are kind of brushed over.” A solution could involve adjusting time slots for each type of announcement, or sending out sports schedules instead of announcing them individually.

Finally, multiple students brought up the TV monitors in the halls, saying that those make announcements somewhat accessible. However, they are averse to checking them because the slides are clunky. “You have to stand there and wait a long time for it to rotate through everything,” says Evan Yao ‘25.

However, the school is already noticing some of these issues. Recently, teachers have enforced that students need to be clear and concise in their announcements. Teachers have often told students that they have 30 seconds each and need to clearly spell out their emails for contact information. They at least show acknowledgment that announcements are currently too rushed. Announcements should be improved as much as possible since they take time out of everyone’s day. They have the potential to create a more engaging community by opening up opportunities for students, if only a bit more clearly. Reorganizing morning announcements by cutting down on the quantity and using other channels to send out details like athletic schedules instead will make them a productive use of time for the whole community.