The best way to start a new school year after a long summer of memories and sunshine is with a day full of fun activities and memory-making with peers.
Usually, the first Friday of the school year is a day filled with fun for all grade levels. This year, however, Upper Schoolers kept up the annual traditions of boat building, rope courses, speeches, and breakfast with Head of School Charles Franklin on the first Monday of the school year instead.
Sophomores had access to four courses that ranged in different levels of difficulty. With the ability to go onto every course, students could be physically challenged. Many courses featured various wooden and metal elements.
The question for next year is whether the Upper School will celebrate First Friday or First Monday. This year First Friday took place on a Monday because the school couldn’t schedule the 10th grade trip at Boundless Adventures for Friday as it was already booked. However, next year the Upper School will celebrate First Friday because the deans and Director of the Upper School, Andrew King, have already booked Boundless Adventures for the current freshman on Friday, Sept 5th, 2025.
Freshmen spent the day collecting cardboard and tape from teachers all around the Upper School so that they could create and eventually race each other in boats that could float across the Johnson Center pool. Each boat had one person from each advisory in it, and that person used an oar they constructed with their materials to paddle across the width of the pool. The winning advisory was Upper School art teacher Mark Green’s advisory.
“It was so fun being able to bond with my advisory,” said freshman Katie Yalmokas, “The whole boat building was so fun, and being in the boat was a funny yet fun experience.”
The freshmen boat building extravaganza started in 2012 and was brought to Hackley by Upper School physics teacher Seth Karpinski. It is based on an engineering school challenge. One of the initial challenges of boat building was getting all the materials. Hackley Alum, Dennis Mehiel (‘86), owned a cardboard company, so for the first few years, he would donate cardboard to the school and watch the boats race in the pool.
Sophomores ventured off to Boundless Adventures, an outdoor adventure park in Purchase, NY, to participate in ropes courses. There were different levels of courses, with some being more challenging than others, allowing the class of 2027 to bond with and support each other.
“It was a super fun time to try something new,” said sophomore Miya Lauher, “I was able to get out of my comfort zone and spend time with my friends.”
After juniors drafted and shared their speeches with their advisories, one person from each advisory was nominated to deliver their speech in front of the grade in Allen Hall. “First Monday was interesting because I had always heard about the junior speeches from older friends, but it was cool to see what other kids had to write about,” said Jiya Dhakad.
Juniors spent the day writing and performing speeches with their advisories. They started their day off by gathering in Allen Hall with junior class dean Melissa Stanek to go over what the day would be like. Upper School drama teacher Willie Teacher then offered the juniors some guidance and started to get them thinking about what to write about with some activities. They split off into advisories and started working on speeches. After completing their speeches, they presented their speeches to their advisory. Each advisory then chose one person to speak to the entire grade. The topic of the speech was up to the speaker, some speeches were more lighthearted and funny while others were more personal.
“First Monday was interesting because I had always heard about the junior speeches from older friends, but it was cool to see what other kids had to write about,” said Jiya Dhakad.
The purpose of this activity is to improve your public speaking ability and help you get to know your peers better.
“I learned something about each of my advisees that day that I didn’t know, and I’ve been with them for more than two years now, which I think is pretty cool,” said Mr. King.
Kassy Fritz, the Director of College Counseling, speaks to seniors about the application process and upcoming deadlines. Ms. Fritz joined the Hilltop this summer, as former Director of College Counseling, Jean Nadell, will be departing following this school year. At the end of college counseling’s presentation, the seniors participated in a game guessing where different photos were on Hackley’s campus.
Seniors started the day eating breakfast at the Gage House with Mr. Franklin. They followed that by participating in college counseling activities and working on applications. For lunch, they had pizza and ice cream at the Johnson Center and finished off the day decorating their car using chalk markers and writing phrases like “2ENIOR5” across the rear windshield.
“I think the seniors had a fun and productive day. I’m glad we could make progress with our applications and participate in a fun tradition with Mr. Franklin,” said senior Megan Hopkins.
Overall, First Monday was filled with lots of fun and was a great kickoff to the new school year.
