On Moving Up Day last school year, the Class of 2023 decked out campus in red decorations. In eighth grade, they petitioned to make “Cruisin’ for a Bruisin” from “Teen Beach Movie” their eighth grade recognition ceremony song. As the seniors are preparing to go beyond Archer, they recalled middle and upper school highlights and reflected on the year so far.

“Coming to terms with the fact that I’m a senior has been really hard for me,” Student Body President Rose Chuck said. “I genuinely don’t want to leave.”

Due to the pandemic, many seniors, including Chuck and Charlotte Tragos, said they felt that it has been difficult for them to grasp the idea of being seniors.

“Zoom made it really challenging to actually feel like a senior. I feel like a freshman still, and everyone around me are just middle schoolers at this point,” Tragos said. “I’m very much missing the guidance of the senior class who I looked up to for my entirety of my Archer experience. I am also kind of ready for it, and I have been waiting for a while for this kind of role. I feel very terrified, but also kind of prepared.”

Chuck, Tragos and Karen Garcia all said that they do not want to rush through this year. One of Garcia’s favorite memories is going on the 11th grade Arrow Week trip in Wyoming, as it helped her gain a sense of community.

“I felt myself really [connecting] to the Archer community and [getting] closer with my friends… Wyoming [was] incredibly beautiful, and the NOLS courses were obviously very challenging, but I was really able to persevere through that challenge and learn about ways in which I can compare myself physically and turn that into academically,” Garcia said. “It was honestly the best time I’ve had an Archer because I found that that small group was my safe haven to prepare me for junior year, which was one of my hardest.”

Similarly to Garcia, one wilderness tradition Chuck enjoyed is Fall Outing, an annual trip each grade takes to bond at beginning of the school year.

“Our fall outings are always a lot of fun, like this one this year — we spent two days in the wilderness… It was kind of the last hurrah. It was sentimental,” Chuck said. “I don’t want to rush through [this year]. I know I’m going to be stressed, and I know it’s going to be rough, but it’s going to be okay in the end, and I’m just looking forward to the final year.”

One of Tragos’ personal highlights has been celebrating the end of her final exams with her friends every year. She has also valued seeing more recognition of the Artemis Center, a school organization aimed at public service and activism, which she has been a part of throughout upper school.

“I remember a lot of the celebrations of completion — like, after finals, I would go out with my friends and we would celebrate with cake and parties, and we would jump in the ocean in the middle of the night,” Tragos said. “With the Artemis Center, we’ve [also] had a lot of accomplishments over the past four years and more coverage and visibility in the community.”

Garcia said that the Class of 2023 had not shown as much spirit in the past as they would have wanted. Now that they have all started their last year at Archer, she hopes they will become more spirited.

“Our grade, class of 2023, was very un-spirited — we were one of the grades that were always behind and the last place or second to last, but we always had those moments where we shone together and worked together,” Garcia said. “We have this collective agreement that we’re going to be more spirited, be more excited and more involved with Archers events. We all have our certain skills and our certain talents, and we all recognize those and value those in our group.”

The Class of 2023  kept their word when they decorated the campus red this past June on Moving Up Day. Tragos appreciated this past Moving Up Day because she felt that the seniors were able to come together and bond in a way that they had not before.

“When we decorated the school last year, it just felt like we were all coming together for the first time. It felt like we’d grown up tremendously over the past four years,” Tragos said. “We’re finally kind of a family that has their faults and doesn’t get along all the time but can come together to decorate a school at six in the morning… I don’t know what families do that but ours did and that was fun. It really felt like team building and like a culmination of a lot of years and effort.”

While Garcia has also enjoyed bonding with her grade every year, she shared that being at Archer has helped her find her sense of self, her passions and discover her own personal connection to the community.

“Having these formative years to explore my identity, explore my friendships and explore my academic self has been really complicated and very messy sometimes, but I’m so glad to be at a point where I think I found myself and who I really want to be in the future,” Garcia said. “For that reason, I want my senior year to involve all of these people, all these teachers and all of this community that I’ve really immersed myself in and really bring the best to what I can be at Archer.”