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Student Body President Sara Salehi (’26) smiles at the crowd during her first all-school speech of the year. Orientation started in the courtyard, beginning with Head of School Elizabeth English’s schoolwide address, who then introduced Salehi.
Photo credit: Charlotte Burnap
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Student Council members Sydney Lem (’28) and Evan Weingarten (’26) stand and wave as Salehi spotlights them during her welcoming speech. Ninth grade class representative Lucy Bohn said that while summer went by quickly, she felt it was time to be back at school and focus on her aspirations for the new year. “I hope to get some of the goals that I set as a student council member done,” Bohn said,” so I can show that I made an impact this year.”
Photo credit: Charlotte Burnap
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Archer’s new teachers stand in front of the courtyard and applaud for each other. Upper School Director Maggie Cenan and Middle School Director Reed Farley called up all new faculty members for a formal introduction to the student body after Salehi’s speech. “I used to teach [at a] high school in New York, and then I saw that there was an all-girls private school that is actually in my neighborhood. I didn’t know much about Archer beforehand,” new fitness and wellness teacher Danielle Daskalakis said. “Everybody was super helpful and supportive, and that’s ultimately why I made the choice to come here.”
Photo credit: Charlotte Burnap
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Senior Wynter Perrineau watches College Guidance Director Ivan Hauck present about college applications. After an all-school welcome, seniors were ushered down to the Tia Palermo Library for the College Jumpstart. “We got to work on our essays [and] we got to work on our UC applications. A lot of it was just information about how the school year will go and what different colleges are looking to see,” Noah Johnson (’26) said. “Basically, anything college related was smushed into one day.”
Photo credit: Charlotte Burnap
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Selah Johnson (’26) listens as Associate Director of College Guidance Shalyn Tharayil provides advice to the senior class. While orientation ended at 12:30 p.m. for the rest of the student body, College Jumpstart kept the class of 2026 on campus until 3:00 p.m. “Towards the end of the day, we got free time to work on our essays or to consult with our college counselors, and that really stuck out to me because we didn’t really get a lot of free time last year to do that,” Noah Johnson said. “Now we get the scheduled time to work on our essays on our own and be able to talk with our counselors, which we weren’t able to do during the summer.”
Photo credit: Charlotte Burnap
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Seventh grader Sloane Adamson wears a name tag on her polo. Middle school students wore name tags all day and participated in activities including a scavenger hunt to locate all of their classrooms. Adamson said the purpose of the name tags is “so everybody can learn each other’s names and we can all feel comfortable saying hello.”
Photo credit: Charlotte Burnap
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Junior Catalina López-Sánchez applies a temporary tattoo to English teacher Lauren Sekula’s wrist. Tattoos of Archer’s logos were available for students and teachers during lunch in the courtyard, along with pizza, chalk art, rock, paper, scissors games and more.
Photo credit: Charlotte Burnap
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In the corner of the courtyard, students pass out Otter Pops to their peers. Freshman Lucy Bohn was one of these students, and she said Student Council came together and organized the event. “Me and the other ninth grade reps created a a Family Feud presentation to get our class involved,” Bohn said. “[But] honestly, [my favorite part] was handing out the popsicles.”
Photo credit: Charlotte Burnap
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Sophomore Natalie Subotky runs to hug junior Camden Forster. Lotus Plummer (’31) is entering her first year at Archer and said she hopes to make friendships similar to the ones she sees around her. “I’ve gone to a co-ed school since Kindergarten, so this is a really big change,” Plummer said. “I’m excited for it.”
Photo credit: Charlotte Burnap
The Archer community gathered in the main courtyard Monday, Aug. 25, for the first time in months — this time, for orientation.
Orientation kicked off with a speech from Head of School Elizabeth English who introduced this school year’s theme: Purpose. Next, Student Body President Sara Salehi (’26) welcomed students with a speech about the value of being present and enjoying each moment at Archer. Director of Upper School Maggie Cenan and Director of Middle School Reed Farley then introduced all new teachers to the student body.
After the all-school welcome, 6-11 graders split off to meet their mentorship groups and then had their first class meeting of the school year. The Archer community also enjoyed activities including temporary tattoos and Otter Pops before lunch. Students in grades 6-11 left campus early for a half day while the senior class stayed the entirety of the day for College Jumpstart.
As a sixth grade student, Dylan Pritchett is new to Archer. However, her family is not, as her older sister, Sloane Pritchett, is in eighth grade at Archer. Dylan Pritchett went to the Family Beach Day hosted by Archer Dads before orientation as a way to meet other students prior to the start of school.
“[It feels] very surreal because my sister’s been talking about it for so long, and I’ve been talking about it for so long,” Pritchett said. “So the fact that I finally ended up being here is definitely crazy.”
Junior Layla Chavira has been at Archer since she was in seventh grade. She said she feels nervous for junior year because of the start the college application process. However, Chavira also said she is excited to have new classes and new teachers.
“Throughout orientation, you get reassurance that you have that support group,” Chavira said. “Even if you’re nervous about the coming year, you have support from other people. The next year is going to be okay, even if you’re scared.”
Christina Knight, parent of sixth grader Vivienne Knight, said she felt her daughter was mentally ready to start a new school, but that orientation helped her adjust to being on Archer’s campus.
“I think that having an orientation really helps, especially the sixth graders, just get a little bit more familiar with the middle school life,” Knight said, “instead of it just being [the] first day of class and just being completely lost.”
Pritchett said she will transition to this new environment by making friends, being engaged in class and exploring Archer.
“I’m excited to search the campus,” Pritchett said. “I went to public elementary school, so I’m excited to go to a private one, because it’s nice.”
Knight said her daughter is excited to be starting at Archer and is eager to participate in extracurricular activities like sports and orchestra. Although Vivienne initially misplaced her sweater and had some difficulty locating the correct classrooms, her positive attitude did not fade. Knight said she is excited for her daughter to begin her educational journey at Archer and cannot wait to see Vivienne’s future.
“Seeing her in her Archer uniform and realizing that she’s now in middle school was emotional for me, because she’s my first baby,” Knight said. “Seeing her in that uniform and her getting off the bus and being really independent — it did make me a little emotional and just really full of pride and joy for her.”
