News and Features Editor
Boys at Louisville? Girls at Crespi? On February 2, a phenomenon occurred. Louisville and Crespi students crossed into unchartered territory to pursue a day of spirited and dynamic activities. The single-sex schools broke through boundaries and reinstated a once lost tradition.
During Exchange Day, Louisville and Crespi students traveled to various classrooms on either campus to participate in entertaining activities. The students were split up in small groups, in order to ensure that the day stayed intimate and allowed them to fully get to know each other.
Some of the activities on the Crespi campus included trivia and intriguing games, such as stacking shoes to see which group had the highest tower, making a knot with your group and trying to untangle from it and guessing if the song was Taylor Swift or Robert Frost!
However, you didn’t have to spend time with your group the entire day because right before lunch there was a Louisville flag football game where girls versed each other with some of the Crespi guys as coaches. Not to mention, lunch was a great way to meet up with your friends and play games such as Ping-Pong and Cornhole with the Crespi students.
Prior to Exchange Day, students weren’t sure what to expect, not knowing if they were thrilled or nervous. However, after the event, students from both schools had largely positive things to say.
“I loved Exchange Day. Although I did think the grouping was slightly weird at first, I became accustomed to it and it was nice to get to know people out of my comfort zone. I really appreciated all that the Crespi teachers did for us, and everything they planned. Overall it was a really fun time but it made me realize just how glad I am to go to Louisville. Our Louisville community is unlike any out there, it’s so tight knit, comfortable and loving,” said Louisville student Sasha Petrovicheva ’23.
“Exchange Day was really fun because it allowed me to see my Louisville friends that I don’t see as often in a casual school setting and cool environment,” commented Crespi student Christian Oregel ’24.
On the Louisville campus, there were sessions with Pictionary, historical and college jeopardy, creative writing, and an exhilarating pep rally during lunch where music and games were played. Specifically, some of the games at the pep rally included the Hungry Hungry Hippos game, a freshman vs. sophomore Basketball game and similar to Crespi’s Exchange day, there was a game where students had to guess whether a quote was Taylor Swift or Shakespeare!
“Exchange Day was fun because we played some science soccer with Mr. Boyd,” mentioned Louisville student Olivia Haber ’26.
Both Mr. Boyd and Mr. Shaikh entertained the students with some science trivia and if the question was answered correctly, the students would be able to pass or shoot the soccer ball! It was known to be a fan favorite with the freshmen and sophomores.
Exchange Day has been a long-running custom throughout Louisville’s history, and it continues to be a controversial topic between Louisville students. Should it be every year? Every other year? Should it happen at all? For the past three years, Exchange Day has ceased to be, not only because of Covid, but because of how adamant some Louisville students were on preventing it.
Over the years, Exchange Day has completely evolved. In the early versions of Exchange Day, it consisted of a Louisville student being paired with a Crespi student and–depending on which school it was being hosted at–the student would have an extra person following them to each of their classes. Now, Louisville and Crespi know Exchange Day to be a day full of lively activities where students rotate to different classrooms, adding a new level of vibrancy to Exchange Day.
Whether you were nervous for Exchange day or counting the days until it happened, it left an impact on many students and gave them a new experience that will hopefully last them a lifetime.