Chat n Chews are bi-weekly meetings held at the CADC patio by student leaders Amory Healy, Penelope Stinson and Felix Liu, with the goal of providing students and teachers an open space to share their opinions on the meeting’s topic. “From coming to Chat n Chew, you can learn more about your community and how people feel about different topics,” Healy said. “You can make your voice and your opinions heard and make a change.”

Chat n Chew was active before the pandemic but was shut down when the school moved to remote learning in March 2020. “The student leaders felt it wouldn’t be successful over Zoom and so we put it on pause for a bit,” faculty advisor Maren Jinnett said. Since then, Chat n Chew had not been held until Jan. 28, 2021. 

Jinnett has been thinking of restarting Chat n Chew since the start of the 2021-2022 school year but wanted it to remain student-run. By taking an active role in promoting the club, Healy, Stinson and Liu eventually became leaders. Liu was recommended to be a student leader by history teacher Matthew Nelson. “I was probably recommended because I’m very invested in politics and current events,” Liu said. 

John Schafer, who was also working on restarting Chat n Chew, recommended the leaders pick a topic related to COVID-19. However, the student leaders pointed out that people might be sick of talking about COVID-19, so they decided on the topic of Menlo’s academic rigor. 

They also thought that discussing academic rigor was inviting to all students and faculty. “We didn’t want to go into the deep end and turn some people away, but at the same time, we wanted to have an engaging, lively discussion,” Liu said. “We thought this would be a good first topic that almost everyone has at least experienced.”

Now that Jinnett has started the meetings, she plans to take a backseat role and let the students decide the topics. Plans for the future involve partnerships with other on-campus groups. Their most recent meeting invited sexual health advocates to join a discussion on sexual health education. They also plan to work with various clubs at Menlo, such as Spectrum Club and Climate Coalition. 

“In the future, we might move on to slightly more heavy, controversial topics,” Liu said. The meetings are not designed for everyone to agree but for everyone to share their opinion. Jinnett said that disagreement can often be constructive because it allows students to learn about various perspectives. 

The leaders believe that the collaborative, non-graded nature of the space gives students and teachers an opportunity to learn more about each other. “Teachers might have a different viewpoint than you do, and that might help you understand them better,” Liu said. 

“I came to the Chat n Chew with a few friends not knowing what the turnout would be and hoping that the interesting topic would bring up good thoughts,” sophomore Kaavya Baliga said. “Although I didn’t share anything, it was very eye-opening to hear from my peers and so many teachers about a topic I talked about so much on my own time.” She said that she felt comfortable sharing, but preferred to listen instead.

Although they have restarted, Chat n Chew is still facing obstacles due to COVID-19. “It was great when we could do Chat n Chew indoors, and we really hope to get back there as soon as we are able to,” Jinnett said. “ When it was in the heart of Stent Ballroom or the Student Center, we really got more attention and folks would drop in who hadn’t planned on going initially.” Because they are now held on the CADC patio, she believes that it may be more closed off and inaccessible.