Under the scorching summer heat, sophomores ran across burning hot sand and dove into crashing beach waves. The Class of 2027 embarked on Archer’s annual Fall Outing trip Sept. 6. Students built sand castles, tossed frisbees and formed new friendships.
On a Friday at the beginning of every year, students go on an outdoor field trip where they challenge themselves and foster connections within their grade. This day of adventure and bonding is called Fall Outing. Depending on a student’s grade level, they might rock climb, meet wolves or scramble across a ropes course. For the class of 2027, this year’s Fall Outing took them to Will Rogers State Beach.
Once students got off the bus and onto the beach, they were split into four random groups. Charlotte Joe (‘27) said none of her close friends were in her group, which allowed her to form new connections with her peers.
“We were put into random groups, and it might not be people you hang out with all the time,” Joe said. “I think it brings you closer to everyone in the grade, and it really makes our experience at school after that much more fun, too.”
Once in these groups, students participated in games to get to know each other better and set goals. Tenth grade mentor Joshua Stern said he enjoyed watching students participate in a game called Saturn’s Rings.
In this game, students laid down at the edge of a large circle and placed two items next to their waist and head. Each item represented a goal; the object at the student’s waist represented a short term goal, and the item at the student’s head represented a long term goal. Students then stood up inside the circle. Without leaving the area, they had to grab their two objects, representing them reaching their goals.
“I saw students holding each other’s legs,” Stern said. “Then, I saw that one of them [reach] out. I saw them giving each other their water bottles to lean on. So [it] was really cool to see everyone come together.”
After finishing the games, students ate lunch on the sand. Then, they reunited with their groups and competed against each other in “Beach Olympics.” Challenges included digging the deepest hole, filling said hole and building sand castles. Sophomore Ava Binder said at the beginning, they had to get used to the new location, but as the day progressed, students became more comfortable with each other and their surroundings.
After Beach Olympics, students got free time. Many changed into their bathing suits to bodyboard and lept into the ocean. Some played frisbee, while others munched on fries from a local store. Joe said the independence given to students during the second half of the day helped make this Fall Outing her favorite yet.
“I actually liked it the best because we got free time to hang out with our friends in the water,” Joe said. “I felt like they made it so fun that we didn’t even realize it was 100 degrees outside.”
To Binder, Fall Outing provides students with a time to get to know each other without the stress of school.
“In school, people connect with each other, but they’re hustling to their classes,” Binder said. “[When] you get out of that school setting and put them in a fun situation, I feel like that helps people connect better.”
By the end of the day, Stern said he watched students break out of their usual cliques and unite with with another. He said as Fall Outing concluded, the Class of 2027 was no longer a collection of cliques: rather, a single community.
“In the black box before we left, everyone was sitting in their circles, in their groups,” Stern said. “By the end of the day, we just had one big mass of tenth grade Archer girls.”
