An open house is an event held to give interested customers an opportunity to see the inside of a home before a purchase. At Archer, open houses are used to display the school to prospective families. In doing so, parents and applying students can get an idea of Archer’s teaching style and curriculum. This event is now called Discover Archer.
According to Associate Head of Admissions Amy Chen, Discover Archer events occur three times per school year and are open to any family applying for the following year. Discover Archer events occurred Oct. 6, Oct. 10 and Nov. 30 from 12:30-3 p.m. On average, Discover Archer hosts 115 families each day, Chen said. While prospective families arrive together, the parents and students are separated into different groups for the day.
The applying students are separated into eight different groups with others applying for roughly the same entry grade. Applying students meet their group either in the courtyard or library, and they can talk to fellow group members and their group leader, who is a member of the Ambassador Leadership Team.
Volunteering for Discover Archer is open to any student involved in the admissions program at Archer. This includes ALT members and students who take the Ambassador FLX block. Chen said all student volunteers arrive at 11:45 a.m. and stay until 3:15 p.m.
ALT member Arianna Borstein (’27) volunteered at two Discover Archer events this year. Her duties included greeting prospective families and helping lead one of the student groups alongside another ALT member.
“I think it’s important for students [to] experience what classrooms are like and see what teachers are like and the teaching styles here,” Borstein said. “Also, so students can just get a feel for the school itself.”
Applying students attend a humanities class and a science class, where they participate in activities, such as writing short stories and building miniature robots. At the end of their day, applying students listen to a speech from Head of School Elizabeth English about the power of an all-girls school and the sense of community at Archer.
Parents do not attend these classes. Instead, they hear from a panel of speakers, such as current Archer students and teachers to, learn about how students and teachers feel Archer has influenced their lived experience.
Chen works alongside the rest of the admissions team to plan the day from start to finish. She assists in choosing student presenters, arranging catering and directing families. Chen discussed what she hopes prospective students will take away from Discover Archer.
“I really hope they are able to take away two things. I hope the students, from their particular sessions get a really good glimpse of what the teaching style is here at Archer because we’re having our teachers go through the lessons, and it could be very different than what they’re experiencing now,” Chen said. “I think that’s a really good introduction for them to see — ‘Is this the right type of school environment? Would I thrive in this type of teaching style?”
Chen said in addition to the name change, Discover Archer has expanded on the parent side of the day. She said she believes the setup gives parents the best view of the Archer experience.
“We’re trying to paint more of a story of Archer. In the sense of, what does the teaching and learning style look like? Because we do get that question a lot… like, ‘how do girls learn best? What is the research behind it? And what type of methodologies does your school use?” Chen said. “So they do have a presentation [that] shows them what Archer students start off as and what the end of that journey looks like.”
Mia Akkaraju (’28) said she loves being involved in of the Discover Archer events and gives her the opportunity to reflect on memories during when she herself applied. She said she wanted to be apart of promoting something that has become a huge part of her life and described Discover Archer as informative, fun and exciting.
“Everyone who is there wants to be there,” Akkaraju said, “and wants to show how much they love Archer and why they love it.”
![After the ceremony, Natalie Huang ('25), Lily Poon ('25) and Addie Meyers ('25) pose to take a picture. Many seniors took pictures with their family and friends after the ceremony to capture moments during Founders Day. "A moment that I enjoyed is right after Founders Day, when a lot of seniors were taking pictures," Curry said. "They were kind of doing things [to] soak up those last Founders Day memories. Because even if we forget what was said during the speeches, and even if we forget everyone who was in our class, who will forever have those pictures, and those will be cemented memories."](https://archeroracle.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/k-1200x800.jpg)
