As the hot Los Angeles sun blazed down on the courtyard, students from all grades, grandparents and special friends gathered to watch a series of performances and converse over a snack and lemonade. The annual Grandparents and Special Friends Day Thursday, March 19, brought together the families and friends of Archer students.
Grandparents and Special Friends Day has been an annual event at Archer since before 2001. For the past six years, after Archer returned to in-person learning following the COVID-19 pandemic, the event has followed a similar pattern: one to two days with small groups of 25 to 30 visitors each. But this year, Archer decided to host a larger gathering, with around 150 grandparents and special friends in attendance.
Associate Director of the Archer Fund Marissa Boyle planned Grandparents and Special Friends Day and said preparation for the event began earlier this year due to the format change. She said the event gives individuals in the Archer community who are not parents a chance to experience what Archer has to offer.
“It’s parents that usually get to come to campus, and unless there’s something very special, like a play or a performance that the students are doing that grandparents are able to attend, then they don’t really ever get to see Archer,” Boyle said. “It’s just a really nice time for them to come see their grandchildren and also see the place that they spend most of their time.”
Laila Zellars (’32) and her grandmother, Karen Gordon, attended the event. Zellars said she believes family involvement at Archer reaffirms the idea that a school is made up of more than its students. Gordon said visiting helps keep her informed about her granddaughter’s activities and what is happening on campus.
“I do think it’s helpful, because we all send our students to school, but we never get to go inside and see what’s going on,” Gordon said. “This is just insight for us. It helps us to even confirm why we like the school so much.”
Patrick and Jill Davis travelled from Kansas City, Kansas, for the event to spend time with their granddaughter, Charlee Anderson (’32). Patrick Davis said he is very excited for his granddaughter to have the opportunity to be at Archer and is happy to support her in any way he can. Learning about the school through an in-person, interactive event was much better than through a device, Patrick Davis said.
“You get so many emails, and you just kind of go, ‘Really? Okay?’ But here, you actually see them one-on-one. You hear the message from the heart, instead of just being off of an email,” Patrick Davis said. “I think this is awesome … I think it’s a real honor to be able to be here, especially for what she has to look forward to.”
Boyle said this type of in-person interaction fosters a positive dynamic and strengthens the community within Archer.
“We say that this is a community, and our community is not just the teachers and staff and the students — it’s the parents, it’s the grandparents, it’s the aunts and uncles that are involved in the students’ lives,” Boyle said. “It’s also really special for the students to be able to showcase what they do every day and show the campus around to people in their lives they don’t normally get to experience that with. So I think having events like this is super important, not just for our grandparents and family members and special friends, but also for our students.”
Returning for their seventh and final year of Grandparents and Special Friends Day, Debbie and Bob Myman, grandparents of senior Lucy Kaplan, said they always enjoy coming to visit Archer’s “beautiful and charming” campus. Both Debbie and Bob Myman said they are proud of Kaplan and how much of a privilege it is to see where she learns.
“It went by fast, seemingly too fast. As you get older, time seems to go fast,” Debbie Myman said. “The other day, she was a sixth grader worried about her locker and how that would all work, and now she has a home.”
