Hiking with friends, pitching tents, cooking food and swimming in natural lakes are some of the many activities students experience on Archer’s Arrow Week program. Arrow Week is a week-long trip designed to teach students collaboration, tolerance for adversity and basic outdoor skills. Formerly organized in tandem with the National Outdoor Leadership School, Archer historically took seventh, ninth and 11th grade students to different parts of the US such as Arizona, New Mexico and Utah.
This year, the eighth grade went on Arrow Week from Sept. 16-20, and tenth graders will be going March 17-21. The Class of 2025’s senior trip from Sept. 4-6 in Big Bear was designed to be longer than a fall outing, but shorter than a typical Arrow Week. Twelfth Grade Dean of Culture, Community and Belonging Casey Huff said a big impetus for the shift for eighth, 10th and 12th graders participating in Arrow Week was to better accommodate the needs of each grade. While these changes were implemented to last, the grades that go on Arrow Week might be subject to change in the future.
“We felt that the leap from seventh to eighth grade, though it seems small in the grand scheme of things, it’s more developmentally appropriate. The goals we have set are more in reach for the students in eighth grade,” Huff said. “To keep the pacing even, we felt that 10th grade [is] right in the middle before all the stress of college and junior year starts. And then, what an amazing capstone to end your Archer experience with a 12th grade Arrow Week.”
Under the umbrella term of “Outdoor Education,” Arrow Weeks and Fall Outings are organized through companies such as NOLS and Lasting Adventures. Arrow Weeks are structured around the curriculum these organizations design, with Archer’s goals in mind. However, Huff said she isn’t sure if Archer is partnering with NOLS this year, as a contract with them has not yet been signed.
“It’s sort of a two-way street,” Huff said. “NOLS asks what we want. We help them set curriculum; we give them goals; we trust their expertise to make sure everything is grade appropriate, but within the framework of what we’re looking for.”
In 2023, senior Alina Williams attended the 11th Grade Arrow Week trip in Lander, Wyoming. Williams said that while she enjoyed her experience, she does not think she would want to go again in senior year.
“The Arrow Week shift doesn’t affect me, so I haven’t really thought about it. I am grateful that we didn’t have to go on Arrow Week this year, and not just because we went last year, but because it’s our senior year,” Williams said. “I feel like it’s going to make a lot of seniors anxious because we have much more to focus on.”
Junior Lucy Kaplan attended the 2022 ninth grade Arrow Week trip to Saguaro National Park in Arizona and Gila National Forest in New Mexico. She said she enjoyed her time but is not completely sure if her experience would change if she had gone in a different grade.
“Personally, I think I’d rather have a senior trip than Arrow Week. I think Arrow Week is a really great experience, where I learned a lot of new stuff,” Kaplan said. “That being said, not showering for a week was not something I really enjoyed overall.”
Kaplan said she does not think her experience would be noticeably altered if she had gone in a different grade. She said she connecting with her classmates on Arrow Week is a valuable experience.
“It’d be interesting, because [12th grade] is the last year with all of these people, and the connection you make, whereas for ninth grade, it’s the first year with that group of people, specifically because people leave and people join,” Kaplan said. “I think there would be a different sort of takeaway from it, but I think I would probably enjoy at least parts of it.”
Huff said she understands students’ mixed opinions about Arrow Week. She said that even with the shifts in what grades attend Arrow Week, the core idea of teaching students their own capabilities in the outdoors remains the same.
“Outdoor Ed can be polarizing. People love it. People really hate it. People are afraid of it,” Huff said. “No matter where you land, even if backpacking in the outdoors isn’t your thing, I think it’s such an important moment, not only to bond with your class, but to prove to yourself that you’re capable of doing really hard things.”
