By Will Fritz, ’11, Contributor

Many academic institutions have their signature staples; at Cincinnati Country Day School it is the historic pen flip.  Although many private schools have pen flips, ours is unique.

Most pen flips involve flipping the pen from the writing position, around the back of the thumb, and back to the writing position while always remaining in contact with the “flipper’s” hand. In contrast, the pen flip at CCDS requires a great deal more skill.  Instead of flipping the pen around the thumb, the pen is flipped from the writing position into the air, where it does a 180 degree spin before the dexterous fingers of the skilled student catch it again.

Watch junior Baldur Tangvald do the CCDS pen flip:

Despite the long legacy of CCDS pen-flippers, something horrible is happening to this tradition: it seems to be in decline.  It is becoming less and less common to see fellow classmates flipping away during class.  The question is, where has the pen flip gone?

According to Math Department Chair Sam Tumolo, in comparison to the pen-flipping of 1973 when he first started teaching at CCDS, now, “it has seemingly gone away…it seems to have died out.”

Mr. Tumolo is absolutely right.  It is outright disgraceful that there are only a handful of students who can do the pen flip, and even fewer who have mastered it. It is up to the students of today to keep this cherished tradition alive.

History Teacher Mr. Peter Fossett, ’80, suggests that students who wish to learn the pen flip begin by flipping dry erase markers.  One of the oldest Cincinnati Country Day School traditions is at risk.  The preservation of the pen flip is absolutely necessary so that CCDS can proudly boast that its students have the most coordinated fingers in the Midwest.