One year after the senior revolution: Vive le GFA, or an end to the status quo?
“GFA engages students as partners in an innovative, inclusive, and globally minded community to prepare them for a life of purpose”. These were the ideals Greens Farms Academy lived by exactly a year ago. Students and teachers lived in harmony, collaborating and innovating to create an educational environment that truly prepared the students to become leaders in the world. This balance was disrupted with the introduction of The Schedule.
That’s right, yesterday was the anniversary of the infamous schedule’s introduction on December 7, 2020 that rocked the senior class to its very core. The shortened lunch period was an affront the GFA seniors could not take. Already battered by the strain of the pandemic, The Schedule was the straw that broke the camel's back. Within hours, the seniors mounted an offensive strike unlike Greens Farms had ever seen. Beginning in an email chain created unwittingly by the the leader of the administration-sanctioned student government, the revolution acted swiftly, toppling institutions and garnering support until it had secured the entire school and broke through the faculty administration’s defense. This journalist remembers one student remarking “the sheer audacity” between bouts of poetic chants such as “students of the upper school unite, we have nothing to lose but our transition time!”
The resources of the faculty were no match for the school-wide support the seniors obtained through the ancient yet brutally effective tactic of peer pressure. The Greens Farms Commune was established, with the revolutionary People’s Democratic Republican Student Council (PDRSC) toppling the moderate Student Council.
The class’s originally elected leaders didn’t embody the spirit of the revolution. Because they weren’t willing to take an extra step and reduce classes to three minutes a day, they had to go. They were soon replaced with a transitional revolutionary council to realize the Seniors’ vision. Now these demoted elites can be found plowing what used to be Field 3 or picking carrots ahead of a rough winter, relegated to second class status. Everyone else crosses the cafeteria to get as far away from the untouchable ex-student council as possible. These fallen leaders are shunned whenever they’re seen around campus, and they’re not allowed within 100 yards of the defensive perimeter around the Commune.
We interviewed some of these relics of the previous era, when the administration still delegated a scrap of power to student representatives. Maeve Reynolds, who is being held captive along with the others who had led the student body, was asked about what she thinks about the revolution now. She just glanced around and shook her head. An anonymous member of this group of the old elite later told your journalist, “they watch us all the time. We don’t have any freedom. It’s a wonder I was even able to talk to you right now.” The iron grip of the revolution has surely made its mark.
To understand the current state of affairs, we interviewed the current leadership next. “Now we can write the schedules. We will never be subjected to the will of the dictatorial administration,” said one such leader. When asked what they put on the schedule, GFA’s new leaders grow quiet. “We’ve almost run out of ideas, to be honest.”
“Some students complain about the toilet paper shortages, but this isn’t a real problem. There are always alternatives. Some students bring toilet paper from home, some strip the leaves off trees. The ingenuity of our community will always prevail over these material problems.”
Another member of The Democratic People’s Republican Council chimed in, “the same applies to food. Yeah, we’ve had several unsuccessful harvests, but look on the bright side. We have some rods from those weird fishing kids. You can just use those if - and that’s a big if - we ever run low on food. Food is definitely not a problem.” A secret examination of the food pantries later revealed three beets and several deformed carrots. A hopeful sight indeed.
This powerful message of confidence and unity projected from the top is sure to inspire the classes. It will certainly be able to fend off the police if they ever come back to break up our Commune.
Upon hearing this, one student blurted out, going as far to say, “that schedule really wasn’t so bad.”
Recent defections to the Greens Farms Academy Liberation Army, headed by former headmaster Bob Whelan and senior-dean-turned-guerilla-warrior Kate V.A. Morrison, have increased the strength of the resistance, allowing them to mount a successful siege of the Greens Farms Train Station. Taking this crucial Commune stronghold cut off the seniors from a crucial trade route. These developments mean only one thing: the iron grip of the revolution is brittle. In a recent interview, a former student council member, now a counter-revolutionary, confirmed this, stating “I see light at the end of the tunnel. The influence of the PDRSC is weakening. Support is dropping. The end of this autocratic regime is nigh. I’ve gotta go, the patrol is coming and God knows what will happen if I get caught talking to you. But things are looking up. Viva la GFA!”
Change is in the wind. Stick with us as we give you the latest on this historic situation.
