For new students transitioning from co-ed schools, the first day of school marked the beginning of their journey in an all-girls learning environment, while returning students settled into the new year.
According to the Academy of the Sacred Heart, 83% of female college students who attended all-girls schools feel better prepared for college compared to women who attended co-ed schools. For seventh grader Jesslyn Bush, the decision to attend Archer was driven by her desire for a more focused academic environment.
“I feel like I would get a better education in an all-girls environment,” Bush said. “When I’m in a classroom with boys, they interrupt and are kind of loud and make jokes a lot. Jokes are fine, but sometimes there’s a time and a place, and I feel like at an all-girls school, you know when to and when not to.”
Bush said that at her previous co-ed school, her confidence in the classroom developed over time. She said that while growing up in a co-ed environment presented challenges, it also taught her valuable lessons about self-acceptance and resilience.
“Throughout my years of growing up in a co-ed school, I feel like I gained more confidence because I realized that it doesn’t really matter what other people think about you, and it’s okay to be yourself,” Bush said. “You already get the judgment, so eventually it’s like, ‘You know what? I don’t care.’ [But] at an all-girls school, I feel more comfortable speaking in front of classes, and in front of people.”
Bush isn’t the only student who said she noticed a difference in the classroom dynamic. New student Averie Tan (‘32) said leaving behind the distractions that were in her co-ed school has positively impacted her ability to focus on school.
“It’s just different because there’s a lot less drama and a lot less noise,” Tan said. “Most of the boys back at my co-ed school would bring me a lot of drama, chaos and trouble. They would always disrupt.”
While new students like Bush and Tan are just beginning to experience an all-girls education, Farah Sandoval (’28) has been at Archer since sixth grade and said Archer’s all-girls environment has impacted her social and academic life.
“Going to a co-ed school and then transitioning to an all-girls school made a big difference for my confidence,” Sandoval said. “It made me really think about how much I wanted it to be in a school that was all-girls and what that meant for social interactions.”
Sandoval said relationships across grades are cut off at many schools, separating middle school students from upper school students. When Sandoval was in sixth grade, she valued Archer’s connection between middle and upper school, and said that these relationships are vital to middle schoolers’ ability to grow, especially with bonds between girls.
“Archer created a community for me by being all-girls, but also by making it really easy to be friends with people in other grades,” Sandoval said. “Being able to have mentors to the younger girls is really important to me — like that phrase, ‘Archer sisters’ — It was a little cringe in sixth grade, but it really does embody something.”
