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     FDR had his fireside chats. BBC has its Global News Podcast. Now, Head of School Nancy Spencer has her senior lunches.  

     Every year, Head of School Nancy Spencer meets with groups of seniors during lunch to ask for feedback on the Upper School. In exchange, Spencer offers Chipotle, which helps entice students. Spencer seeks the insights that the seniors have about the Upper School. She asks the seniors how long they have been at Shorecrest, what each student is involved in, what they like best and what they would change.

       “They talk about how there’s so much love and respect for their teachers, and the experience of being a senior at Shorecrest is that people appreciate their classmates,” Spencer said.

     Spencer started these lunches six years ago when she first came to Shorecrest. She does them in the back of the kitchen in Charger Commons in groups of seven.

      “I think it was nice to be able to officially meet her because you don’t really walk into her any other time,” senior Emma Moya said.

         Spencer started with the goal of getting to know students across the whole campus. She started doing smoothies with eighth graders and s’mores with the fourth graders, as they are the oldest in their respective divisions. 

         “I used to teach seniors. I spent fifteen years teaching a senior elective, and I missed having a chance just to talk to seniors and see how they felt about Shorecrest and how their lives are going,” Spencer said. 

       Talking to the Head of School can be intimidating because students are accustomed to being cautious around authority, especially when asked to give feedback on their cycle through the Upper School.

     “I felt comfortable giving her feedback, but I don’t think I would be as honest as if another student came to me and was like, ‘Hey, what do you like and what do you not like?’” Moya said.

         “It was indeed nerve-wracking to be told you have to have lunch with the head honcho but it helped that my friends were there with me,” said  Senior Logan Phares-Robinson.  “I was a little bit nervous. And then I got in there, and then I saw Chipotle, and I chilled out, but I was definitely more open than most people.”

     The discussion covered topics such as being stressed over studying for AP Calculus and how college applications are going. A major point of discussion is how much the seniors will miss their friends after they close this chapter of their life to open a new one.

           “It’s time to build that connection [because] your final year here, you’re leaving your mark,” Moya said.