The importance of the community is apparent in every tradition at Country Day. Several times a year, the entire school joins in events that may allow us to share in cultural inquiry, participate in service to the larger community, or play games together as on Field Day. Each school year opens and closes with an all-school gathering. Our seniors and their Kindergartners form a special bond during their first and last years at Country Day. Our family style lunch emphasizes the social relationship between students and faculty, giving each a chance to get to know the other outside of the classroom. The moving up ceremony in the gym on the last day of school allows students to physically "move up" to the next grade by moving their seats to their new place in the gym. Students moving from Lower School to Middle School are the most excited, and run across the gym to the "big kids area" and are cheered on by the whole school.

As a K-12 school, Country Day has many opportunities to celebrate the richness and uniqueness of our strong community, and to use that focus to teach students responsibility, role-modeling and leadership. Teachers, coaches, staff and administrators strive to teach students that their actions have consequences for the entire community around them, and to teach them to be aware of those around them in a responsible way.

Mardi Gras Parade
An entire book could be devoted simply to Mardi Gras traditions alone, but the kindergartners at Country Day have a unique twist on the celebration to explain. It takes the smallest members of the school days of intent labor to get their vibrant masks ready for the big parade. When they are finally ready, however, the “Mystic Krewe of PMK” marching down the school’s walkways is a colorful display not to be missed

Merry Meeting
The lower school begins each day by gathering in the lower school atrium before heading to class.

Out to Lunch
Being a junior or senior carries with it conditional privileges, one of which is having the opportunity to go off-campus for lunch on Tuesdays. Out to lunches are also given as awards for various competitions, so freshmen and sophomores also have their chance at earning them once in a while.

Picnic Lunch
On some occasions, either when the dining room is being used for something else or it is just a pretty fall day, lunch is served outside. Students and faculty line up with paper plates and plastic utensils and have their plates filled with that day’s lunch. Besides being outdoors, the real reason that everyone cherishes picnic lunches is because they carry the added bonus of free seating. In other words, students and faculty have the option to sit at opposite ends of the area if they so choose, but it is not uncommon to see them intermingled

Privileges
If a junior or senior meets the criteria, he is entitled to privileges whose full description is rather lengthy. In general, they consist of out to lunches, the chance to come to school late or leave early if you have a free that period, and things of this nature. Students earn privileges one quarter at a time, and the list is continually re-evaluated.

Red Beans and Rice
Despite the fact that the traditional day to fix this southern favorite is Monday, it is served every other Wednesday at Country Day. Students and faculty alike garnish their meals with a wide array of condiments including, (but not limited to!) vinegar, croutons and Tabasco sauce. Any alumni will assure you that not even a gourmet cook can make red beans and rice like Country Day’s.

Ringing of the Bell
This ritual is undertaken twice during a school year: once on the first day of classes and again on the last day of school. The faculty member who has been at Country Day the longest rings the 6 foot iron bell, one ring for each year the school has been in session. At the end of the year, the faculty member pauses to indicate a year at which a current class entered the school, at which point it is that class’s turn to “move up.” The seniors slide out of the gym bleachers and into their new seats as alumni, and one by one the classes age as the bell rings. The fifth graders, having just graduated in their dresses and ties, anticipate the moment they can dash across the gym to the other side, indicating their transition from lower to middle school. The classes below them continue to move up, and the decibel level of the shrieks gets considerably higher as the bell continues to ring. Soon enough, there is a vacant spot on the bleachers ready for the next kindergarten class to enter Country Day.

Seniors/PMK
Every student at Country Day eagerly anticipates their senior year, one reason being that they will be paired with a kindergarten friend. The seniors meet with their kindergartners at various occasions throughout the school year, participating in everything from Easter egg hunts to ACE days together.

Senior Supper
Hosted by the Alumni Association, the senior class and their parents are honored in the dining room at a dinner intended to welcome them as the newest alumni.