we can offer them. And then, once this exceptional mix of students is here, with their varied backgrounds and education levels, their varied types and degrees of cultural capital, we need to ensure that all students we admit can get the best of this education—and that they are happy and thriving while they are here, no doubt working hard. Second, we at Phillips Academy help to address the great challenges of our time through the surest of foundations that we lay in and for our students. One of the most remarkable things about Phillips Academy, to a newcomer observing the place closely for the first time, is the collected accomplishments of its graduates and its faculty and staff. The instruction and the life at this school have prepared great artists and musicians, teachers at every level of education, doctors and lawyers, and—also—United States presidents, Facebook cofounders, and hedge fund managers—for lives of great purpose. For my own part, I think of the trustees I’ve gotten to know in the past months, like Peter Currie, who has started as president of the board at the same moment I’ve started as head of school; Peter, and all the trustees, and their families are embodiments of this school’s principles. If we can educate the minds and morals of over 1,100 extraordinary young people each year, and then send them out into the world to do good as they do well, then we are truly accomplishing something great.
International students proudly carry flags of their nations. From left, David Abou-Ezzi ’15, Lebanon; Adham Moustafa ’14, Syria; Amogh Sharma ’14, United Arab Emirates; and Vabuk Pahari ’14, Nepal
It may be that our work each day in the classroom does not lead directly to the cure for a rare form of cancer or for a radical new way to address climate change or a stunning new work of visual art. But there is a very substantial chance that we will introduce an intriguing problem to a student—in a class on biology or statistics or economics or literature or RelPhil or at the Addison or the Peabody—that will set in motion a lifelong fascination with solving hard problems or making great art. I have a belief that the students with whom we will spend this year, and the years to come, will accomplish breathtaking things—and that they will recall what they learned here as transformative.
“Our challenge…is to determine how technology and globalization can help improve an Andover education, as well as what steps we need to take to prepare our students to In 1912, at a ceremony much like this one, Bertha Bailey accepted the address the downsides of job of principal of Abbot Academy. In her investiture address, she made these same phenomena.” much the same point: “Here in our quiet class rooms, in the monotony of everyday life, we plant line upon line and precept upon precept, and we have very little notion of what the results may be. You, alumnae of Abbot, are the results; you are the plant matured, the bud blossoming, the fruit ripening. By you, Abbot is judged.”
Victor W. Henningsen III ’69
Instructor in History and Social Science on the Independence Foundation Teaching Endowment #2 “The Constitution of Phillips Academy asserts one central goal. The purpose of this institution, said the founders on that April morning two hundred and thirty-four years ago, is to teach 'the GREAT END AND REAL BUSINESS OF LIVING…' “They left [the words’ meaning] to others to define, believing that if their experiment was successful future generations would, and should, shape that language to their own purpose… “Under the leadership of the head of school, that is what the faculty does. It takes vision, courage, and patience to do well, qualities that are only engaged and harnessed by exceptional leadership.” Andover | Fall 2012
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