Lake Forest-Lake Bluff History Museum

By Rita MacAyeal, Director of the Library and Archivist

The first Ferry Hall graduation was held in June 1871 at the First Presbyterian Church of Lake Forest , which would be the venue for most of the Ferry Hall graduation ceremonies over the years. During the early decades of the 20th century, there were actually two graduation ceremonies—one for the secondary program and one for the junior college program-- which were held in the Ferry Hall Chapel and First Presbyterian Church respectively. Much later in 1970, the school would hold its first outdoor commencement ceremony on the campus itself.

The earliest graduations featured students reading essays or performing solo musical pieces. This practice ended in 1894, after which it became customary to have a guest speaker deliver an address. Beginning in 1890, each Ferry Hall graduating senior would select an underclass girl to accompany her down the aisle. These “ushers” wore pastel dresses and also processed with the graduates. The usher tradition continued after the school merged with LFA, although by then girls could choose a female or male escort. By the early 1990s the practice was abandoned as an antiquated symbol that females needed support coming down the aisle.

One tradition that remains at LFA today is the wearing of white dresses by the graduating senior girls. From the first graduation through the 1940s, girls wore formal white dresses of their choosing. Around the 1950s, the practice began of having all the graduates wear a uniform white dress. In 1975, the girls went back to choosing a white dress of their own for the ceremony.

In June of 1906, Ferry Hall first celebrated a tradition initially known as Ivy Day. The students wore white dresses and processed around the campus carrying a chain of ivy singing the tune of the Ferry Hall alma mater song. The president of the senior class planted the ivy, read the class history and presented a spade to the president of the junior class. Songs were sung to the graduating seniors by the underclassmen.

The tradition continued and evolved until it was officially named Move Up Day in 1955, when the Alumnae Association president welcomed the graduating seniors with a new school flag of yellow silk with the Ferry Hall seal. That same year, FH students began wearing navy blazers trimmed in white with the school crest instead of white dresses. The ritual of passing along an ivy spade had disappeared by then, but the singing of songs to the seniors remained.

After the merger with LFA the tradition continued with an emphasis on awards giving. For about a decade after the merger, the students wore white shirts and blue skirts or pants to the ceremony, in a nod to the old Ferry Hall blazer colors, before dropping the uniform in favor of dressy/business attire. The tradition of Move Up Day remains a cherished annual event at LFA today.