Top left: Lily Rockefeller, Eric Alpert, James Falese, and Brooke Bond Above: Alex Sweeting and Armaan Singh Left: Katie Kreider, Anika Kim, Graham Johns, Kristin McIntire, Campbell Howe, Diana Tchadi, and Sophiya Chiang Above inset: Sarah Marcotte and Alexia Rauen Opposite page: Amo Manuel, Catherine Wang, and Kade Call Opposite inset, top: Zainab Aina, Commencement speaker Opposite inset, bottom: Head of School John Palfrey
to be like—and doing so with great mutual respect. I want to leave you, seniors, with a thought about the times that we live in and about what you have learned at Andover. I want to preview a question that you will be asked over and over again in the months and years to come: “What does it mean to have gone to Andover?” One of the biggest themes of your lifetime will be the long-term effects of massive globalization. As economies spread and technologies improve and our ambition for growth markets continues unabated, our world is becoming more and more interconnected. Each one of our communities is becoming more connected to, and integrated with, other communities. The same is true at a national scale. In 12
Andover | Commencement 2014
the United States, if current trends continue, we will become a “minority majority” country by about 2040. This phenomenon mirrors trends in many other melting-pot countries—I prefer the metaphor of a “fruit salad” myself—and it certainly speaks to the diversity of the global community at large. The same is true here at the microscale, at Andover—in your words, on the scale of the “Andover Bubble.” We have struggled this year with many different conversations—often provoked or nudged by your own reflections on your experiences at Andover. Over the past two years, in particular, you have written about the dayto-day experience of living and learning at Andover in The Phillipian, in Out of the Blue, and on social media. You have held forums and come to faculty meetings to ask hard
questions about coeducation and about race, in particular. This conversation about difference has been a hard one. We have argued, cried, and thought hard about what it means to live together when we come from such different places and backgrounds and when we hold such different points of view. I have found it uncomfortable and unnerving. It is not, actually, a lot of fun much of the time, because it makes us face up to hard truths. It is no surprise that we should struggle with the idea of difference here at Andover. Our history helps to set this conversation into its proper context. This Academy was founded, after all, as a “public free school.” By “free,” the founders did not mean that we should not charge tuition—not to worry, parents, we haven’t been tricking you all