Spring has a way of changing the feel of Hackley’s campus. After months of cold and snow, fields open up, the gardens fill in, and the whole place gets louder and busier in the best way. For students in grades K–12, it’s the stretch of the year when everything seems to click: lacrosse season is in full swing, the spring play is coming together, and the end of the year is close enough to feel real.
Walking around on a warm April afternoon, Upper School students have claimed spots on Akin Common during lunch and free periods, you’ll find students playing hacky sack and Spikeball, the kind of easy, unscheduled fun that makes spring feel different from the rest of the year.
The school’s motto, “United, We Help One Another,” gets used a lot in the brochures, but it actually describes something real about how students here treat each other, in group projects, at games, and in the service work they take on.
There’s something about spring at Hackley that loosens things up a little. The academic pressure that defines the fall and winter doesn’t disappear, but it eases. Students seem more themselves. Maggie, a ninth grader, said, “The vibes are just different but even though I am burnt out, the vibes are better in the spring.”
The Tuck helps, too. Ice pops are now available, and on a hot afternoon, that’s enough to make the walk between classes feel a little more like something to look forward to.
For Hackley’s athletes, spring is the season to shine. The lacrrose, track and golf teams are competing in the warm and maybe too hot weather of the spring. But the season is about more than results. It’s the afternoon practices when the light is good and everyone is finally warm enough to enjoy being outside. It’s teammates pushing each other through a tough drill and then walking off the field together.
The arts program doesn’t slow down in spring. If anything, it picks up. Lower Schoolers are painting. Upper Schoolers are deep in rehearsals for the spring play. Music, theater, and visual arts are all building toward something, and the energy in the studios and on the stage reflects that.
In April 2025, Upper School students and faculty traveled for research, service, and cultural immersion, some to academic conferences, others to local community projects. These trips tend to reframe things. Students come back with different questions and a clearer sense of what they care about.
Hackley is a fun time with still pressuring from academics but also a time to wind down and get ready for summer.
