Surprise!
Something was different the morning of November 2 as students exited Groton's morning chapel service. Four students were floating around the Circle on self-balancing scooters; that was somewhat unusual, but it was the color they wore that elicited cheers.
The four were Groton’s senior prefects, and they were decked out in green, the official color signaling Surprise Holiday.
Surprise Holiday is not just a day off of classes each term or a chance to travel with friends to Cambridge, Boston, or a nearby mall. Surprise Holiday is a Groton legend and tradition, the most anticipated day of the term, one that evokes rabid speculation and leads some students to monitor the school calendar in an almost algorithmic attempt to guess the day of the surprise.
Surprise Holiday is announced when either the headmaster or a senior prefect shows up wearing the storied bright green blazer. This morning, senior prefect Jack Fitzpatrick wore the blazer, while his fellow prefects—Anna Thorndike, Nick Barry, and Varsha Harish—wore green from head to toe, from the neon green leggings on Varsha to a bright green handlebar mustache pasted above Nick’s upper lip.
The color green has become as traditional as the jacket, and has been adapted in recent years to include green streamers, green body suits, and other green lights signaling the go-ahead for Groton's favorite day. This morning, after the prefects rolled by on their mini-scooters, students attended Roll Call and indulged in dozens of donuts brought in especially for the occasion.
In the late afternoon, as students return from their Surprise Holiday trips, they will settle back into their routines, studying, hanging with friends, and, before too long, trying very hard to guess the date of the winter term Surprise Holiday.
Two of Groton’s Zebra Tales bloggers, Christian ’18 and Marianne ’19, recently wrote about the intense game of guessing the date for Surprise Holiday.
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