How are your classes? What cocurric are you doing? Who are you scheming?

Every September, an influx of new students brings excitement in the form of new friends, teammates, and most importantly: schemes.   

Schemes are famously (or infamously) one of the most prominent aspects of Deerfield culture. They’re among the first questions you ask a friend while catching up and always a great go-to topic for late weekend nights in the dorm. 

To those who may be unfamiliar, “scheming” refers to Deerfield’s carefully crafted art of pursuing a relationship while simultaneously minimizing any potential risk to one’s social status or ego. As Mason Zhao ’20 described it in his 2019 article “Deerfield Schemes,” schemes consist of “Snapchat before in-person chat and visitation before dates.”  

Though there may not be anything inherently wrong with the intentions behind scheming, the culture of shallow interactions left in its wake may be negatively impacting the community we like to advertise as unrivaled, welcoming, and united.

Take, for example, the extremely casual nature of schemes mentioned above. It’s undeniable that friends’ crushes are still a prominent entertainment in a typical high school or general social setting. However, at Deerfield it’s become a norm to blatantly ask peers about their schemes, putting pressure on others to share a lot more than they may want to. Additionally, we all know the gossip mill on campus runs 24/7, and it’s no shock when your scheme suddenly becomes public knowledge after you told just one friend the night before. Soon you find out your scheme has heard too, and you’re too embarrassed to ever bring it up. And thus the scheming culture of Deerfield has destroyed any chance of you actually ever acting on that crush. 

So, how should you approach schemes to minimize the damage done by the publicizing tendencies of Deerfield culture? We know it’s pretty intimidating and maybe even insane to even suggest this, but just hear us out: talking to your crush in person. 

We’ve all been there, you’ve been Snapping your scheme for a few weeks and it’s going great, but then you meet up to hang out one night in the Greer and it all goes downhill. Conversation just doesn’t flow as easily when you can’t edit your response to perfection and scroll through Tiktok while waiting for a response, huh? 

Starting with the in-person meet up, however, would help you avoid the entirety of this painful process, as you’ll be able to gauge any actual chemistry off the bat. Plus, if your scheme turns out to be as bland as a piece of white bread, you would only spent one night on them as opposed to weeks of counting down the minutes until it’s been an acceptable time to respond to their extremely mediocre Snapchat. Jumping into the deep end like this also ensures that 650 people won’t know who your scheme is before you even get a chance to tell them. 

Thus, as the extremely qualified relationship advisors we are, the Scroll XCVII Board urges you to prioritize in-person interactions and wishes you all the luck in your scheming endeavors!