Colorful ribbons. Bright pink balloons. Medals hanging from students’ necks. These were some, but not all, of the many celebratory sights the Archer community saw on Moving Up Day.

With summer just hours away, students and faculty gathered Friday, May 31 for the last time in the 2023-2024 school year to celebrate the end of the year and transition into the next. The day consisted of a middle school and upper school awards assembly, final class meetings and mentorships, faculty skits, the Moving Up Day ceremony and the 6th grade Maypole dance. The day ended with the annual faculty wave as students departed Archer on their buses.

History teacher Bethany Neubauer has taught at Archer for 20 years and said she appreciates the consistency and familiarity of Moving Up Day.

“[Moving Up Day is] actually one of the things that has not changed very much, and I think in a good way,” Neubauer said. “Overall, the spirit of it, the fun, the silliness, the celebration of students, the Maypole [and] the excitement that the year is over, and we’re celebrating all of the great things that people did this year — that has remained the same.”

The rising seniors welcomed students in the morning with spirit and cheer by forming a tunnel from the front entrance into the courtyard. The class of 2025 stayed after school on Thursday to decorate the campus in a swath of ribbons, balloons and chalk — all pink, their class color.

“We were kind of going for if Pepto Bismol vomited all over the school,” rising senior Natalie Huang said.

At the official Moving Up Ceremony, rising junior Serenity Jones DJ’d the opening and closing moments, as students filled the seats, laughing and cheering at the middle and upper school faculty skits. Jones has been DJing since she was in seventh grade and said she enjoys the tradition of Moving Up Day.

“I think it’s really fun. I like seeing the teachers do different skits about the students, and I think the vibes are really good — just because it’s everyone’s last day, so it’s pretty exciting, even though it’s sad when certain teachers are leaving, or the wave off [happens] or when other students are leaving,” Jones said. “But overall, it’s pretty good vibes. The incoming seniors are having fun with decorating and chasing us through the courtyard with music.”

Huang and Jones both said they feel excited about becoming a senior and a junior, respectively. As the day ended, seniors helped clean up their decorations and faculty waved students off to summer. Huang said Moving Up Day helped her get in the spirit of the coming year.

“I’m horrified,” Huang said, “but also excited.”