“It’s all about the people.” This little but significant truth turns up in many different domains, and Ditch Day is no exception.  It’s an oft-forgotten secret of Ditch Day that as much effort as the seniors put into a stack, at the end of the day it’s the group dynamics that really determine the level of awesome at the end of the day.

Sure, a well-made stack certainly smooths the process of fun-making, but a great group of people could have a good time locked in a room with nothing but a pile of sticks. And on the flipside, if the stackees are naturally acrimonious or just don’t like each other then the best stack in the history of Tech can’t overcome those dynamics.

The best you can do as a senior is advertise your stack as accurately as possible and hope that the underclassmen who are drawn to your sign-up-sheet are all excited by the same things as you and thus, excited by the same things as each other and likely to work well together.

Thus, the period just before 8am is filled with excitement for underclassmen, chaos for alumni and unknowing nervousness for seniors. ‘Will my stack be full of excitement and enthusiasm or judgment demanding to be satisfied?’ The nail-biting is amplified by the fact that by this time the seniors have evacuated the courtyard and campus, lest they be duct-taped to a tree (the traditional punishment for any senior caught on campus during Ditch Day.)

We wouldn’t know who was on our stack until they came through the doors of the Art House The Prancing Pony for breakfast!