A Comprehensive Open Forum Analysis

The day after Open Forum, I sent out an all-school survey to evaluate the statistical validity of our problems. The data below represents responses from around a third of the student body, paired with exclusive interviews of student athletes, actors, senators, and bingo players. I’m compiling this to answer our most pressing questions. Is our selfishness actually breaking the Commons line? Why does no one know what plays we put on? Who wins: athletes or actors? And where do we go from here?

Theater Marketing and the Hegemonic High School Musical

When I conducted a brief in-person survey in the hallways during my free period, I asked, “Can you name a Bush theater production from this or last school year?” Nearly everyone responded “High School Musical,” which was before the given time frame of two school years.

In the second version of my survey—a Google Form—I made sure to be clear that High School Musical would NOT be eligible. The acceptable answers would be Love and Information (Fall 2024), Priscilla Dreams the Answer (Spring 2025), or The Time is Now (Fall 2025).

Two people responded with productions that we haven’t put on at all—Mean Girls and Into the Woods. One senior answered High School Musical anyway. A few students responded with partial answers, such as “I remember there was one with Priscilla in it,” or “the one that just happened.” But overall, less than half of the student body could name one of the three eligible theater productions. 

But the majority of students could name High School Musical before I explicitly disallowed it. Something about that production was different. The tickets for the first three nights sold out weeks in advance, and nearly two years later, it’s still the first production that comes to mind for most students. But why? 

As Cass Fischer ‘26 eloquently put it, “cause it was freaking High School Musical, bruh.” In other words, it was mainstream and an adaptation of a film many students grew up with. Evan Zellers ‘26, who was involved in the show, gave two more reasons: there was a lot more promotion, and it was the first Bush musical in decades.

Theater is a vital part of any high school community. To recreate High School Musical levels of unforgettability, do we need to limit ourselves to mainstream musicals? Or should we instead direct equal levels of marketing towards our current niche plays? One student wrote, “I didn’t even know we had productions.” At the very least, Bush needs an increase in marketing for our theater department. This Open Forum topic is…statistically valid!

Athletics Analysis: a Herculean Task

Initially, I was going to analyze the number of sports emails. But after some thought, the volume of emails is not a fair criticism. Promotional emails are a raw student effort. I receive a thousand Canvas notification emails and college emails every day, so at least student-written game promotions add some authentic human connection to my inbox. Try to appreciate these emails, and go to a game every so often.

I surveyed students similarly to how I did with theater, but with a shorter timeframe. Can they name a specific athletic standing, achievement, or highlight off the top of their head from the past year?

I conducted this survey before we had our Fall Sports recap at Monday Morning Meeting. And 75% of those surveyed said they participated in a sport at Bush. So this kind of makes sense. Students named specific achievements across all sports, and Xander Timmons ‘26 was three people’s entire answers alone. 

Game attendance was the issue brought up, however, and I can’t easily measure that. I go to a few games every year, and I can attest that they are more fun with more people there. It’s comparable to the lunch line. Fix it by participating yourself.

At least we can name achievements. And we have to accept that some people just can’t be convinced to care. “I don’t really understand the sportsball thing people are talking about. People are talking about kicking a ball, throwing a ball. It’s all the same to me,” said Kai Aizawa ‘26. The scope of athletics is so complex that I need a lot more research to evaluate this issue properly. For now, I deem this…statistically inconclusive. 

Sports and Theater: Who Wins?

Both performers and athletes have raised concerns about Bush’s marketing and funding for their departments. These issues can co-exist, but ultimately, sports and theater are not comparable. One is competitive, the other is performance art. Athletics has twenty-two teams across nine sports, and theater puts on one show per season. The latter is just more niche. Instead of pitting these departments against each other, we should support everyone in our community. I received multiple responses from either department attempting to insult the other, which I chose not to publish. The Rambler is above provocation!

In High School Musical, basketball star Troy Bolton’s dad says, “You’re a playmaker, not a singer.” Troy responds with the awe-inspiring line, “Did you ever think maybe I could be both?” For a school that loves High School Musical so much, we sure didn’t take away much from it. Don’t be Troy’s dad in a world full of intersectionality. If you’re reading this, your New Year’s resolution is already set: try the other side.

The Commons Line is a Lost Cause (but we knew this)

It was unanimous. Every single Commons user surveyed has been cut in line. Naturally, the majority of students admitted to having cut in line anyway. We all heard Chase. The system only works if most people actually stick to it.

In an ideal system, you adhere to the line, allowing an occasional time-crunched individual to cut. You recognize that you don’t have an urgent need for food, but you might have in the future. Therefore, if you let someone cut you now, you can fairly cut them later on, when necessary. 

Unfortunately, I don’t think we’ll ever reach that point of maturity. Around 8% of the respondents wrote me an excuse for their behavior, including “Can you blame a senator for taking a little liberty with the line?” and “My friend was in line, yeah.” I am in full support of line-cutting for rare circumstances of urgency, but this is embarrassing. Stick to the line! If your friend is in line, have them cut back! It’s a great test of their loyalty to you. Obviously, this is a statistically valid issue.

Bingo is BANNED this year! I think. It was sort of unclear.

You might look at this graph and ask, “Why wasn’t a negative view an option in the survey?” It was! But not a single person chose it. Also, 80-95% of students agreed with each of the following: Open Forum Bingo shouldn’t be banned, it engages students at Forum, and it makes Forum more fun. 

On the other hand, 17% admitted that bingo makes Forum less productive. However, Hadley Delahunty ‘26 argued that bingo effectively critiques the event’s repetitive nature, encouraging change. She went on to say, “It doesn’t involve phones or devices, and it truly engages students who may otherwise be inattentive.” She pointed out that one of the most common boxes on the cards is about students having their phones or earbuds taken away. “Yet did we see this once at the most recent Forum?” she asks. “No. No, we did not. Students want to participate and be present in these moments. So what if we had a little fun with it?”

As seen in the previous sections, our student body is clearly lacking camaraderie. We sabotage each other daily in the Commons line. We don’t attend each other's performances and games. But we all come together, twice a year, around the simple pleasure of bingo. And at worst, people are neutral about it. 

And the repetitive nature is real. Throughout my four years at Bush, I’ve heard the same intro to Open Forum every year, which mentions how it established earning art credits for participating in the play, gender-neutral bathrooms, and clarity about absences. Yes, these are great developments. But have we seriously not achieved anything else of note in the past four years from Open Forum? 

Instead of suffocating the longstanding bingo culture, let it thrive. Nothing expresses Bush’s innovation, creativity, and connection better than student-made bingo. Bingo’s presence at Open Forum is a statistically invalid non-issue.