As the Malvern academic schedule continued to cease normal classes on Wednesdays, there was an opportunity for the open day to be filled with meaningful experiences that students couldn’t have with the new restrictions on the regular schedule. 

The birth of the idea dates back to last spring when online school was quickly put into place. The all online schedule consisted of Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday classes, using Wednesday as a catch up day. Mr. Ronald Algeo, Assistant Head of School for Student Leadership, explains how the new days were formed.

“Could we use these Wednesday’s in new ways? Head of School Father Donald Reilly had the great idea of giving it the name ‘Brotherhood Days’. That opportunity to take advantage of this time and move all those other things into these Wednesdays and have a day that was dedicated to all these things, we saw as important. That was the genesis of that idea,” he said.

Dr. James Fry, Director of Student Life, was also heavily involved in the construction of Brotherhood Day’s, working with Algeo since the beginning of the idea.

“Last spring I approached Mr. Algeo as the Director of Student Life.” Fry said. “We were looking at it from a non-academic aspect of campus that intersects with [students] each day.”

The days are broken up into three different blocks, each consisting of important events and activities. The mornings are devoted to physical activity, such as wellness classes and intramurals.

“The Board of Trustees is starting an initiative on wellness in general, from nutrition, mental wellness, spiritual wellness, and physical wellness. So we thought, let’s take advantage of that if we have time. For the upper school, the mornings will be more physical activity, your wellness class and your intramurals,” Algeo said.

The wellness classes were embraced enthusiastically by many students. Joaquin Alban ’23 describes his thoughts:

“The wellness class that I participated in was boot camp with Mrs. Frankenheimer. It was a great experience because it was outside and challenged me physically,” Alban said.

The middle of the day is devoted to class meetings and lunch. After that, students can take advantage of their remaining time to participate in clubs or get some work done.

“So there will be a variety of activities that will be meeting,” Fry said. “Students will have the opportunity to be in one of those activities. Christian Service is also connected to this. There may be some times where we will be meeting with students that might not be in an activity just to go over upcoming events.”

 After experiencing his first Brotherhood day, Alban is happy with the outcome, but wishes the activities could be rearranged in the schedule.

“I really enjoyed my first full brotherhood day,” he said. “My favorite part was getting to go outside and take part in intramurals with my peers. Something that I didn’t like was that intramurals and the wellness classes were back to back, making it so the rest of the day was inside.”

Algeo and Fry believe these days are very valuable. They feel that learning is not limited to the classroom, and want to provide a time for students to learn outside of the classroom.

“There’s lots of ways we’re growing and developing. I see these Wednesday’s as being as valuable as any academic day if you’re putting that time and effort into growing and getting better,” said Algeo.

Fry believes that the main purpose of these days was to allow time for students to focus on activities that would not overlap, a consistent problem from last year. 

“Keeping that feedback in mind, we designed a schedule that allowed for minimal overlap where some moderators meet after school, during the afternoon, and some after school,” Fry said. “One of the reasons why I was doing that was to be able to create a schedule that minimized a conflict between activities so that students could participate in multiple experiences outside of the classroom.”

The Robotics Club, one of the most successful clubs at Malvern, is a great example of why these days are needed. With less time devoted to the club on a regular day, there needed to be time for them to meet and focus on their projects.

“We’ve had guys graduate from Malvern and get into schools based on that experience,” Algeo said. “They want to do engineering, and they’re going to Georgia Tech or Villanova. These are skills students want to take with them for the rest of their life. They get to focus and work on these skills on these Wednesdays, so I see them as a great growth opportunity where people are learning and getting better as human beings and developing, practicing, and refining skills.”

Class meetings and discussions will also be used during these times. 

“I think the Academy teams are going to look to take advantage of these days to be able to do things together with the entire class that they don’t always get,” Algeo said.

With the Brotherhood Day’s being scheduled until December, Fry is excited for everything that is going to take place and the experiences the students will have.

“Some of the activities might have guest speakers coming in,” he said. “There’s just a lot more opportunities with not too much overlapping between them, which I think is going to make for a better environment for the student.”