Taylor Swift confessed her first love over the speakers. Justin Bieber wore googly eyes and a glitter scarf on the school vision board. A cup of swirled frozen yogurt accompanied the Archer uniform. Community members filed into the courtyard to celebrate the first full week of classes with the opening First Fridays event Sept. 9.

“[First Fridays] are a break from all the schoolwork and new assignments at the beginning of the month. It gives you a chance to play with your friends,” eighth grader Penny Franklin said during the celebration. “Right now, we are doing a collage and cutting out funny magazines that capture the year so far. The candy is a big plus.”

First Fridays, a celebration during lunch on the first Friday of every month, was the first event of the school year the 2022-2023 Student Council Executive Board planned. The first Friday of the month was not Sept. 9, but it was the first Friday of the school year, which began Sept. 6.

During the celebration, the group set up a vision board on the courtyard patio where students compiled an art piece by drawing, cutting clips from magazines and gluing on glitter. Executive Board member Tess Hubbard (’24) said the purpose of the vision board was to set a positive mood for the year, and she said her team was inspired to organize more bonding activities for upcoming First Fridays.

“First Fridays are such a fun way to celebrate before the weekend and add more school spirit,” Hubbard said. “We only have so many spirit days, so First Fridays are a half-spirit day that we can recognize.”

During the celebration, Student Council connected a Spotify playlist to the courtyard speakers. Occasionally, they recruit a student DJ to switch music and raise the energy. The executive board set candy on tables for students to enjoy. Temperatures were in the high 80s, so facilities put up tents over the grass in the courtyard to shield students from the blazing sun.

Assistant Librarian Denise Hernandez is the new Student Council faculty advisor this year. She said she supported the Executive Board in organizing First Fridays by dedicating her office to event planning, providing art supplies for posters and overseeing the curation of their music playlists. She said managing the many parts of the event welcomed her into her role on this year’s Student Council.

“First Fridays give everybody an opportunity to mingle with one another,” Hernandez said. “There are a lot of new sixth graders and incoming students this year, and here they get some face time with StuCo, the Exec team and teachers because everyone comes out to celebrate.”

Last year was Hernandez’s first year at Archer. She said going to First Fridays during her first week at Archer was daunting, but she will always remember the energy of the event.

“As a newbie, it was really intimidating to go up there because I didn’t know anybody yet,” Hernandez said. “As soon as I went up there, everyone was dancing around, enjoying the music and participating in the events. I didn’t realize it would be a really good opportunity for me to build community with students and my colleagues.”

Additional reporting completed by Melinda Wang (’26), Lola Thomas (’26),  Siena Ferraro (’25), Meredith Ho (’26).