If there is one thing for certain in these uncertain times, it is that the 2021 Dorcas Fair set for Sunday, April 11, will be like no other in the history of this beloved Westover tradition that raises funds for non-profit organizations.

Throughout the months-long planning leading up the actual fair, this year’s Dorcas preparations have called on the members of the Class of 2022 — especially its heads Sarah Adams, Tate Dunbar, and Morry Ajao — to be resourceful and constantly thinking outside the box.

Their goal? To offer a Dorcas Fair for a far-flung hybrid school community that can delight their fellow students and raise funds for charity — all while meeting the safety precautions still in place during the pandemic.

Robyn Ames, Westover’s Director of Community Service who also serves as the Dorcas faculty advisor, credits the three Dorcas heads for remaining undaunted despite the challenges they have faced.

“I can’t say enough about this year’s heads,” Robyn said. “Determination is my number one word to describe them. After all, if you ever had a reason not to have a fair, this would be the year.”

In the initial stages of planning, Robyn even made sure to offer the heads and this year’s juniors other options if they felt organizing a fair would be too much to ask under the circumstances.

“I pointed out that there were ways we could offer other activities that could raise funds for Dorcas,” Robyn recalled. “When I pressed them, their response was that they still wanted to offer the fair as something to help bring us back together as a community. When they said that, I thought, ‘All right, let’s do it!’”

In the months since, Robyn has been impressed by how well the three heads work as a balanced team of leaders.

“They have just been so organized,” Robyn said. “They work well together and they each have their own talents and skills. It’s been great to see it all coming together.”

This coming weekend, Tate’s, Sarah’s, and Morry’s handiwork — and the contributions and hard work of their classmates — will be on display for the Westover community to enjoy, both those who have been invited to attend the Dorcas Fair in person in the School's Fuller Athletic Center, and those who will be able to participate in the fair virtually through its internet component.

“There definitely will be a ‘Wow factor!’ for everyone,” Robyn promised. “When they walk into the gym, there will be a ‘Wow!’ and there will be a ‘Wow!’ for those online as well.”

As always, the theme for the fair is a closely guarded secret within the junior class — and Robyn said the class has come up with a way to introduce the theme that will surprise and delight both groups of participants.

Students who have been attending classes in person — both boarders and day students— along with faculty and staff, will be able to attend the fair on campus.

The on-campus Dorcas Fair itself will still feature elements familiar from past ones. “There will be plenty of games and lots of food,” Robyn said, but this year’s juniors have also tried to add a bit of a twist. “We will be featuring a number of old-fashioned games and other new activities,” she explained, “including trivia games and some contests — all tied to this year’s theme. The juniors have also come up with ideas for food at every booth that also will reflect the fair’s theme.”

As always, the fair will feature a range of craft items and Dorcas clothing for sale.

Because of safe-distance and attendance limits in place, the fair will be set up to allow attendees into the Fuller Athletic Center in shifts: as usual, seniors will be the initial guests so they can be the first to discover the theme, visit booths, and sample the activities the juniors have planned.

“There also will be a lot of unique picture opportunities, also connected to the theme,” Robyn added.

After visitors proceed through the fair events in the gym, they then head outside — weather permitting — where other activities and music will be set up on the lawn near Virginia House.

After all the seniors exit the Fuller Athletic Center, freshmen, sophomores, faculty, and staff will then be allowed to enter the fair.

As usual, Dorcas Dollars will be on sale for attendees to use to buy crafts, Dorcas clothing, and food at the fair. In addition to being sold at the entrance to the fair, Dorcas Dollars can also be purchased in advance — at a discount — through Friday at the School.

Thanks to the internet service Patchwork, virtual students, alumnae, parents and other family members will be able to attend the online fair, which will offer trivia games, Dorcas clothing for sale, a silent auction, and a few Dorcas surprises. The links to the online fair and the silent auction will go “live” at 2 pm on Sunday, April 11 — the same time the Dorcas Fair opens at Westover.

Robyn noted that the silent auction — which will include gift baskets and a range of gift cards — will be accessible for a week until midnight on Sunday, April 18, to give everyone a chance to place their bids on auction items. Other elements of the virtual fair — the games and Dorcas clothing — will be available through Tuesday, April 13.

Organizing this year’s Dorcas Fair meant setting up two different venues — an on-campus event and a virtual one — under unusual working conditions. Robyn expressed her thanks to Jen Hill, the Director of the Health Center, for working closely with her and the Dorcas heads on how to organize both the preparations and the fair itself to meet the safety guidelines in place for the School during the pandemic.

Assisted this year by Spanish teacher Susan Loyd-Turner, Robyn and the Dorcas heads had to organize the juniors under a variety of work environments.

“At the start,” Robyn recalled, “there were a lot of evening meetings. It was all taking place in Zoom with breakout rooms as we split everyone into task groups to work food, games, etc.”

Once students — both day students and boarders — were back on campus in January, the juniors attending Westover in person could meet Friday nights in small groups to work together in different locations of the Louise B. Dillingham Performing Arts Center.

“The first time we were all together,” Robyn said, “the juniors were all quiet. There were even some new juniors who had never been on campus before. But once we started playing music and they got to work in their smaller groups they started talking. In the past, those Dorcas work nights could go long and the students couldn’t wait until the work was done, but this year it was different. They were having so much fun being able to be in person with other students.”

Meanwhile, juniors who have remained at home as virtual students still have been able to work on Dorcas by making crafts items all around the world. “We shipped supplies to Korea, China, Vietnam, and Egypt,” Robyn said. Some of the juniors brought the crafts they made at home with them when they were able to return to campus; others have shipped their crafts to Westover to sell at the fair. The families of juniors from around the world have also donated a number of items for the silent auction.

The proceeds from the Dorcas Fair will be donated to charities identified by a committee of juniors.

“At the end of the last school year,” Robyn explained, “we met with the class to vote on the theme and the charitable cause we wanted to focus on. They picked alleviating poverty as this year’s focus.”

Using guidelines established by the United Nations, the allocations committee has been researching various non-profit organizations devoted to anti-poverty programs. After the fair, once expenses have been paid, the Dorcas heads will announce the allocations that will be donated to the selected organizations.