Andover magazine - Spring 2020 Issue

Gil Talbot

Next Generation Leadership 16th Head of School Dr. Raynard S. Kington (second from left) will begin his tenure this summer. Pictured here, Kington makes his way to his first All-School Meeting with Board of Trustees President Peter L.S. Currie ’74, P’03; Trustee President–Elect Amy Falls ’82, P’19, ’21; and Interim Head of School Jim Ventre ’79. Read more on page 6.

SPRING 2020

Phillips Academy, Andover, Massachusetts 01810-4161

Periodicals postage paid at Andover, MA and additional mailing offices

SPRING 2020

E D I TO R ’S N O TE

WHAT IS JUSTICE?

Five Wonderful Weeks of Andover!

Comic artist and writer Ming Doyle ’03 responded to this prompt with our powerful cover illustration. Doyle chose to represent justice as a woman of color standing in the classic superhero pose of strength, bursting through the clouds and leading the way forward. “Lady Justice” is blindfolded, representing impartiality and the ideal that justice should be applied without regard to wealth, power, or other status. She is holding the metaphorical scales of justice in one hand; in the other she clutches not a sword, but an olive branch, a symbol of peace and environmental justice.

Doyle offers a specific visual concept of justice, but there are many other interpretations—and questions. Who and what is justice for? Who determines justice and who does not? Is it possible to repair past injustices and if so, how?

This issue highlights some of the ways that students, faculty, and alumni have explored this year’s academic theme of justice. In one story, we look at how the Andover Theological Seminary helped bring Christianity to Hawaii (p. 20), and in so doing also eliminated critical aspects of native Hawaiian culture. Alumna Justice Robinson ’18 explores the meaning of her atypical name in a personal essay (p. 116), and new head wrestling coach Kassie Archambault ’06 discusses how she hopes to introduce more young women to a sport that historically has been male-dominated (p. 12).

Our cover story on page 22 captures a broad array of perspectives, from students tackling issues of social and environmental justice on campus and around the world, to PA programs and classes that address and illuminate justice-related components, to alumni whose work focuses on inequities in data collection, the legal system, religious communities, education, and beyond.

Aida Sharabati Shawwaf ’60, an Abbot alumna who founded a nonprofit to help educate Syrian refugee children, defined justice as “equal access to freedom, dignity, and education.”

The stories we highlight in this issue prove that education—and in particular the education provided by Andover—can make a positive difference in the world.

Allyson Irish Editor airish@andover.edu @andovermagazine

Do you know a student who would appreciate the opportunity to live and learn on the Phillips Academy campus this summer? Surrounded by 500+ peers from across the country and around the world, students entering grades 7 through 12 are challenged academically and learn independence in a safe and nurturing environment.

• Small class sizes

• Special programs for younger students

• Boarding and day student options

• Daily and weekly activities and trips

• 75+ courses and one-on-one college prep for older students

• Friendships that will last a lifetime!

PHILLIPS ACADEMY SUMMER SESSION June 30–August 2, 2020 Enrollment now open • Learn more at www.andover.edu/summer20

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FEATURES 14 Finis Origine Pendet

86

12

The Andover Alumni Award of Distinction recognizes alumni who live out the values of Abbot and Phillips academies.

16 For Learning’s Sake

Faculty dive into Andover’s grading and assessment practices.

20 To Know His Name

The Andover Theological Seminary helped to bring Christianity to Hawaii in the early 1800s. But in gaining a new religion, the Hawaiian people also lost a part of their culture.

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22 COVER STORY: What Is Justice?

An expansive look at this year’s academic theme.

44 An Intentionally Diverse Community

The Office of Community and Multicultural Development (CAMD) and the Brace Center for Gender Studies are creating unparalleled opportunities for Andover students.

DEPARTMENTS: From the Interim Head of School 3| Dateline Andover 6| The World Comes to Andover 11| Sports Talk 12| The Buzz 46| Events Calendar 47| Andover Bookshelf 48| Class Notes 49| In Memoriam 113| End Note 116| CLOSE-UPS: Lissy Abraham ’74: A Long, ‘Wild Ride’ at Apple 76| Darryl Cohen ‘92: Hey, Mr. DJ 86|

Access these sites at www.andover.edu

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Andover | Spring 2020

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LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

SPRING 2020 Volume 113, Number 2 PUBLISHER Tracy M. Sweet EDITOR Allyson Irish DESIGNER Ken Puleo ASSOCIATE EDITOR Rita Savard CONTRIBUTORS Matthew Bellico, Nancy Hitchcock CLASS NOTES DESIGN INDUSTRY11 ©2020 Phillips Academy, Andover, MA All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.

Andover, the magazine of Phillips Academy, is published four times a year by the Office of Communication at Phillips Academy, 180 Main Street, Andover, MA 01810-4161.

Main PA phone: 978-749-4000 Changes of address and death notices: 978-749-4269 alumni-records@andover.edu Phillips Academy website: www.andover.edu Andover magazine phone: 978-749-4677 Email: magazine@andover.edu Postmasters: Send address changes to Phillips Academy 180 Main Street Andover MA 01810-4161 ISSN-0735-5718

Gratitude for Scholarship Funds To the Editor: The fall 2019 issue of Andover magazine had an article about the latest endowment campaign to raise money to sustain need-blind admission. My experience was from a prior era. I think it was the winter of 1954 that my mother had the idea that I was not working hard enough in my New York public school and should go to Andover. Why Andover? It was one of a very few boarding schools that she knew of. Her former boss had a daughter who attended Abbot.

So we applied and got a nice letter saying Andover would welcome me (to my surprise), but the scholarship funds were already committed.

Thus, in September, I started attending 10th grade at Oceanside High School.

A few days later, we had another letter from Andover saying that a scholarship student had dropped out and now the school could offer $500 toward the tuition, room, and board of $1,400. I think my father probably winced, but he agreed and two weeks later I became a lower at Andover.

—John Hansman ’57 The Evolution of Campus Pranks To the Editor: “A Lesson in Grace” (fall 2019) is a wonderful article poised in nostalgia and tranquility.

I am also taken by the evolution of pranks at PA. My recollection as a senior in the spring of 1962: one morning I was stunned to see a Thunderbird parked inside the [OWHL] Copley Wing. I believe a 1964 1/2 Mustang would have the same effect later on.

My Father, the Minister To the Editor: My father, A. Graham Baldwin, known to his friends and associates as Gray, received in 1930 a letter from Phillips Academy Headmaster Al Stearns inviting him to join the faculty. Upon construction of Cochran Chapel in 1931, the PA Board established the role of school minister and my father was thus appointed.

The student body at that time consisted mostly of wealthy, socially conservative lads. Gray, committed to advancing the Social Gospel, proceeded from the start to embody and feature a school ministry informed and inspired by the JudeoChristian prophets of social justice. In his preaching, by invited visiting preachers, and in his classes, he emphasized radical, social activism. He inaugurated the Phillips Society involving students and faculty in community service activities and was active in labor organizational efforts in Lawrence, Shawsheen, and Lowell.

This provides context for an event on campus that delighted Gray and which he recalled time and again with others: One morning, as he strolled from his office in the library to Cochran Chapel, obviously lost in his thoughts (or as his wife Kay would say, “woolspinning”), two students passed and greeted him with a “Good morning, Mr. Baldwin.”

Securing neither glance nor word of response from him, my father then clearly heard one say: “I guess the Great Right Arm of God is in a sling this morning.” This elicited from Gray a great belly laugh, and a warm greeting in return.

How good it was for his students, his sons, and wife to be assured from time to time that Gray could laugh hugely at himself!

—Peter A. Baldwin ’51

—Morgan Eames ’62

Letters to the Editor Policy

Andover magazine welcomes letters of 200 or fewer words from members of the Andover and Abbot communities addressing topics that have been discussed in the magazine. Letters will be edited for clarity, length, and civility. Opinions expressed in the Letters to the Editor section do not necessarily represent the viewpoints of the editorial staff or of Phillips Academy.

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Andover | Spring 2020

F R OM TH E INTER IM H EAD OF SCHOOL

CELEBRATING ANDOVER’S TRADITIONS My vintage 1979 varsity sweater has moved with me from dorm to dorm throughout my career at Andover—from Alumni, Bartlet, Foxcroft, and Fuess, to Shuman Admission Center and now to G.W. Hall. I wore that sweater on a brisk morning this winter to declare Head of School Day, which meant no classes!

John Palfrey P’21, ’23, proclaimed Head of School Day by raising his squash racquet. Barbara Landis Chase raised her prized field hockey stick. For me, wearing that sweater was a reminder of the strong traditions of Andover. Traditions of connection, of living life with the desire to serve, of trying new things and embracing discomfort, all of which have been part of our shared experience at Andover.

Throughout this academic year, we have celebrated the theme of justice by exploring this capacious topic with cocurricular programs, guest speakers, and public events. Our campus community has wrestled with many of the same complex societal issues that you will read about in this magazine’s cover story, which chronicles the noble pursuits of alumni. They are giving voice to causes around racial justice, criminal justice, antisemitism, climate change, faith, identity, and much more.

The experiences of our campus and alumni communities embody the exponential effect of non sibi when coupled with equity, inclusion, and a deep appreciation for truth.

Our commitment to upholding traditions and connections such as these reminds us of our similarities more so than of our differences. We may not always agree on what constitutes justice for all, but I suspect that our reconciliation with history, fairness, discomfort, and suffering has been educational and motivating for all.

As a school founded on the timeless ideals of non sibi, “youth from every quarter,” and knowledge and goodness, traditions reflect and preserve our history, and they remind us what a great privilege it is to be part of this community. The Andover experience is best when shared.

I hope you all will consider returning to campus for another tradition that has taken place only 15 times in our 242-year history. At the investiture of Dr. Raynard S. Kington in September, the Eliphalet Pearson gavel will pass from our 15th head of school to our 16th. We will join together on the Richard T. Greener Quadrangle and celebrate a new era of leadership. The investiture will be a “Head of School Day” of extraordinary magnitude and a singular tradition that spans generations.

Sincerely,

Tracy Sweet

Jim Ventre ’79 Interim Head of School

Andover | Spring 2020

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Snowy Day This photo, circa late 1970s, shows a group of students— presumably on snow shoveling duty—walking on Chapel Ave. toward the Sanctuary. The building behind them is Double Brick House; Cochran Chapel is to the right. According to a note attached to the photo from John Peterson ’76, the Volkswagon bus is “one of a series of VWs that the Petersons drove in the ’60s and ’70s [John’s dad was English instructor Frederick Peterson]. I spent many an early morning shoveling snow in what seemed like an endless array of monster storms,” he writes.

Do you have more information about this photo? If so, email us at magazine@andover.edu and we may include information in the next issue.

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Andover | Spring 2020

Phillips Academy Archives

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Andover | Spring 2020

D ATE LI N E AN DO V ER

Andover Selects 16th Head of School Planning Begins for Investiture

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Andover | Spring 2020

Jessie Wallner

Dr. Raynard S. Kington will officially join the Andover community this summer. The president of Grinnell College in Iowa for the past 10 years, Kington will deliver his final commencement address in May. Kington brings impeccable academic credentials, executive experience, and visionary leadership in a number of areas, including adolescent health and wellness. Trustee President–Elect Amy Falls ’82, P’19, ’21, chair of the search committee, introduced Kington to the campus community this winter.

“Raynard’s tenure demonstrates his devotion to excellence in education. He understands and believes in Andover’s mission,” she said. “He represents what Andover represents: excellence, compassion, non sibi, and passion for the world and the rising generation.”

Prior to Grinnell, Kington held multiple positions at the National Institutes of Health, including acting director. He also served as division director at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and as a senior scientist at RAND Corporation. He is a member of the National Academy of Medicine and serves on the board of the American Council on Education.

Kington attended the University of Michigan, where he earned a BS degree with distinction and an MD. He earned an MBA with distinction and a PhD with a concentration in health policy and economics at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.

As trustees launched the head of school search last year, they recognized that the scale of the Andover enterprise has grown significantly. “With 1,150 students, a billion-dollar-plus endowment, an extraordinary art collection, a growing physical plant, and programs that advance the field of education, we believe that Andover is comparable to a complex small college,” said Falls. The board sought a leader who: • Has the ability to build an organizational structure that more effectively supports the complexity of Andover • Embodies our values—academic excellence, non sibi, youth from every quarter • Is a galvanizing leader with exceptional academic credentials • Displays kindness, empathy, and a passion for educating young people “Raynard Kington meets these requirements and so much more,” said Jim Ventre ’79, interim head of school. “He will be an inspiring, inclusive leader for our campus and an engaging ambassador for the school more broadly.”

Dr. Raynard S. Kington, Andover’s 16th head of school, met with students in December after being introduced at All-School Meeting.

During Kington’s tenure at Grinnell, its ranking among small liberal arts colleges rose from 78 to 14 (U.S. News & World Report). Kington made investments to strengthen Grinnell’s organizational structure, revamping the budget process and enhancing financial management. His commitment to educational access is evidenced by Grinnell’s need-blind admission policy which, like Andover’s, meets the financial needs of its students.

A thought leader in education, Kington has published and spoken on topics such as mental health, societal pressures facing young adults, and the importance of the liberal arts.

Kington’s first Andover visit after accepting the position was a celebratory All-School Meeting this past winter in a packed Cochran Chapel.

“I am incredibly honored to be selected as head of such a historic institution. Non sibi is an ideal that aligns with the values that I learned growing up, and it resonates with me at a deep level,” he said. “I am looking forward to continuing the work of providing an exceptional education for extraordinary young people who will become meaningful contributors to the common good.”

Kington and his family—husband Peter T. Daniolos, MD, and their two sons, Emerson and Basil—will move into Phelps House this summer.

YOU’RE INVITED The Andover community is invited to the Investiture Ceremony for Dr. Raynard S. Kington 16th Head of School Sunday, September 27, 10 a.m.

Richard T. Greener Quadrangle For those observing Yom Kippur, please know that the investiture festivities will conclude by 12 p.m.

Missing Artifact Returned to Peabody Institute

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A rare and valuable artifact, missing for nearly three decades, was recently returned back to the Robert S. Peabody Institute of Archaeology at Phillips Academy.

The artifact—known to archaeologists as a monolithic axe—was returned by collector and businessman John Morgan of Austin, Indiana, this past summer. The axe is the third missing artifact returned to the Peabody since 2018. Morgan had purchased the artifact in 2014 and, upon learning of its history, fully cooperated in its return.

The monolithic axe and other objects of the Mississippian culture (circa AD 1400) were excavated at the Etowah and Little Egypt sites in Georgia between 1925 and 1928 by Warren K. Moorehead, then-director of the Peabody. Carved of stone, the axe is particularly rare, with only 25 known from sites in the southeastern United States.

Curators at the Peabody first became aware that the axe and other artifacts were missing from the collection in the early 1990s. In January 2018, Peabody director Ryan Wheeler was contacted by Thomas Rachels of Cordele, Georgia, who had purchased a spatulate stone celt that also originated at the Etowah site. This elaborate weapon, possibly a marker of honor and social status, also was discovered to have been missing from the collection. The Andover Police Department and the FBI’s Art Crime Team in Boston used information from this recovery to eventually track down the monolithic axe.

“The circumstances surrounding the disappearance of the Etowah and Little Egypt artifacts remain a mystery,” said Wheeler, “but we are grateful to Mr. Morgan, Mr. Rachels, and others involved in restoring these collections, as well as the Andover police and FBI agents who tracked down the missing objects.”

‘ASKS’ AND ‘OFFERS’ FOR ALUMNI After transitioning to a new online directory (Graduway), Andover now has launched another platform for alumni to connect and network with one another. This new complementary tool, Switchboard, is available via mobile app and as a desktop download.

According to Jenny Savino P’21, director of alumni engagement, Switchboard will allow alumni to post an “ask,” such as a question about moving to a new city or professional advice; or an “offer,” such as job openings. Other alumni who are signed up with Switchboard can see the asks and offers and respond at will. Information can be sorted by topic and location, and the information will only be viewable to Andover alumni after approved by content managers.

“Thanks to our good partnership with the Communication Committee of Alumni Council, we are able to offer another tool to facilitate alumni engagement with one another,” Savino says.

For more information, visit andoveralumni.org.

Neil Evans

MLK, the Andover Way For 30 years now, Andover has celebrated the life of Martin Luther King, Jr. with a “day on,” offering a wide range of workshops and speakers for the community as well as a special All-School Meeting. This year’s featured speaker was poet, activist, and educator Nikki Giovanni. Andover’s Gospel Choir and guest vocalist James Dargan (foreground) performed several musical pieces, including “Lift Every Voice and Sing.”

Andover | Spring 2020

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D ATE LI N E A NDO V ER

FOOTBALL THROWBACK

Memories of Andover

This past fall’s A-E Weekend provided a moment of contemplation for George Rider ’51, who sent in this photo of Andover’s 1950 football team. Rider was inspired by the confluence of events, writing: “This is a busy week for memories: the Andover-Exeter Weekend, commemorating the end of the Berlin Crisis, and Veterans Day on Monday. It is a time to reflect, take stock of times to remember, be sad, proud, happy, and hopeful for better days for our children and grandchildren.” In particular, Rider noted his teammate Joe Crehore ’52, who played football, hockey, and baseball at Andover and Harvard, and who died in 1962 flying an F-86 Fighter in France.

Pre A-E game photo, November 1950: Bob Cuthbertson ’51, Dick Steadman ’51, Joe Crehore ’52, and George Rider ’51

Happy Feet

Gil Talbot

February’s Dance Open showcased the talent and creativity of more than 60 students and their dance clubs.

The 16 original numbers included tap, ballet, jazz, contemporary, Afro-fusion, and Asian dance styles. Here, the Footnotes dance to “Everybody Talks,”

by Neon Trees. From left are Jack Diodati ’20, Vickie Zhou ’22, Ellerman Mateo ’21, Anntonia Taylor ’20, Samantha Turk ’20 (hidden), Emily Ho ’20, and Somin Virmani ’22.

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Andover | Spring 2020

Salvador Gómez-Colón ’21 (middle) was one of four youth changemakers who discussed important issues such as climate change at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

YouTube

Student activist takes center stage in Switzerland Salvador Gómez-Colón ’21 is taking Mahatma Ghandi’s advice—“Be the change you want to see in the world”—seriously. And he isn’t wasting any time. At age 17, Gómez-Colón has made his way into “the room where it happens” at this year’s World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

Gómez-Colón was one of four youth changemakers, including Sweden’s renowned climate activist Greta Thunberg, invited to speak on a panel titled “Forging a Path to a Common Future.” With the world as his audience, Gómez-Colón spoke about the work he has done and continues to do helping those in his native Puerto Rico recover from recent catastrophic natural disasters.

“Around the world, we’ve seen our generation standing up for the world we want to see, even when our leaders aren’t really taking charge,” he said. “We’re not taking 5, 10, 20 years to take the action we want to see. We’re not the future of the world, we’re the present. We’re not waiting any longer. We’re acting now.”

In 2017, Hurricane Maria slammed into Puerto Rico—two weeks after Hurricane Irma hit—leaving residents without power, food, or water for months. In response, Gómez-Colón launched the “Light and Hope for Puerto Rico” campaign with the

goal of raising $100,000 and distributing 1,000 solar lamps and hand-powered washing machines. Using personal connections, social media, and online platforms, he raised more than $165,000 and provided residents in 17 towns with more than 5,000 solar lamps and 2,000 washing machines.

“When I gave them solar lamps and washing machines, I saw signs of hope,” he said. “Their faces would brighten. That’s what kept me going, seeing the impact I was having firsthand. We’re young people doing work in our local communities that end up having a global impact.”

Since his successful first campaign—which led him to be named one of Time’s “30 Most Influential Teens of 2017”—Gómez-Colón has continued his advocacy, working to help residents of the Bahamas who were impacted by Hurricane Dorian this past fall. So far, he has raised money through crowdfunding and fundraising at school dances and other events.“We’ve reached over 500 families on the island of Grand Bahama. They’re still in a state of chaos,” he said.

Gómez-Colón left his native Puerto Rico in 2018 to attend Andover, which, he says, “has been extremely helpful in [broadening] my perspective. I’m grateful to be here and to be

The 17-year-old upper has already helped thousands in his native Puerto Rico and in the Bahamas recover from recent natural disasters. exposed to many different things.” At Andover, he is on the board of Model UN and Af-Lat-Am; he is also a class representative and a proctor in Taylor Hall.

Although he already has made an impact and helped thousands in Puerto Rico and the Bahamas, Gómez-Colón said there is still work to be done.

“I’m seen as a youth activist in a lot of ways, but I think more about the acting part. Rather than just simply advocating for something I work for it, and I see that as a really important distinction.”

—Nancy Hitchcock

Andover | Spring 2020

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D ATE LI N E AN DO V ER

New Class Addresses Religious Illiteracy

Senior 5 THINGS ABOUT

Tea

1 2 3

ISTOCK: TEACUP, ANNAPUSTYNNIKOVA

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SIMPLY BOVINE For nearly 40 years—and perhaps longer—Phillips Academy has been hosting Senior Tea, a muchanticipated activity for 12th-graders.

Nancy Kashanek ’84, the current Senior Tea Hostess, welcomes students, faculty, and staff for a mid-morning snack each Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday throughout the academic year.

Barbara Cataudella is believed to be the longestserving Senior Tea Hostess, retiring in 2007 after 23 years. Kashanek recalls attending Senior Tea when Cataudella was hostess, using china cups and enjoying homemade English muffins and other goodies made by Mrs. Cataudella.

Though not a tea time per se, Abbot Academy held a daily mid-morning “Tiffin” for students, serving juice and crackers or biscuits. In honor of this tradition, Abbot reunions now include a tea each year.

The location of the Senior Tea has changed through the years. It’s been in Steinbach Lobby, Cooley House, and CAMD. This year the teas are hosted in the Underwood Room.

If you’ve ever wondered why the Academy has a collection of porcelain cows across from Steinbach Theatre in George Washington Hall, this story is for you.

The cows were given to the Academy as a gift from Milton Steinbach, Class of 1920, and his wife, Ruth. According to an essay by former head of school Don McNemar, the Steinbachs owned a large collection of Staffordshire Creamers that were displayed in their NYC apartment.

“When we [Don and Britta McNemar] walked into Mrs. Steinbach’s apartment on Central Park South,” McNemar writes, “we were struck by two things: One was the windows overlooking Central Park with grand views of the park in the center of Manhattan. On the opposite wall was a fireplace with shelves above it containing an extensive collection of ceramic cows of all colors, poses, and styles.”

The Steinbachs had wanted the cows displayed near the theatre they funded, however the figurines arrived before Steinbach Theatre was completed. What to do?

“Their first home was in Phelps House,” McNemar writes. “We had cows on mantles, on bookshelves, and on desks throughout the head’s residence, prompting many questions about “where did all these cows come from?”

Eventually, the cows “moooo-ved” to their current location.

Neil Evans

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Kurt Prescott begins many of his courses telling students, “We are going to be talking about all the things you are told not to discuss at the dinner table: race, religion, and politics.”

Prescott will be piloting a new iteration of his class Religion, Literature, and the Arts this spring with a focus on other disciplines as a way to engage with questions of identity and “religious illiteracy.”

Though many of his classes already focus on religious literacy, this class will use non-religious texts, such as The Handmaid’s Tale, to explore other aspects of identity.

The course will draw from principles developed by Harvard’s Religious Literacy Project (RLP), which promotes methods to better understand religion within a wider social and historical context. Prescott, chair of Andover’s Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies, has been working with the RLP as a Tang Fellow for the past two years and is excited to introduce Andover students to these ideas.

“We will be looking at and challenging the stereotypes and mischaracterizations that are frequently perpetuated when studying religions in isolation,” Prescott says. “My goal is to equip students with a better understanding of religious identity when they encounter religious worldviews.”

To read McNemar’s full essay, go to www.andover.edu/magazine.

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Andover | Spring 2020

TH E W O R LD C O MES TO A NDOVER

J

ournalists, authors, activists, veterans, and a Holocaust survivor were among the speakers and experts who presented on campus in the past few months.

Lt. Col. Kenneth H. Weiner ’96

A command pilot with worldwide operational experience as well as multiple deployments in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom, Lt. Col. Weiner was the special guest speaker at Andover’s 10th Annual Veterans Day Program. Weiner conducted humanitarian missions around the globe. “In my job, flying C-17s means I get to help people,” he says, “whether it is simply taking them where they need to go or giving them supplies they need.” Weiner, who was honored for his 18 years of service in the U.S. Air Force, currently is a graduate student at the U.S. Naval War College in Newport, R.I.

William Tong ’91

The first Asian-American elected at the statewide level in Connecticut, Attorney General Tong was the "Youth From Every Quarter" speaker at All-School Meeting in February. Prior to his 2019 election, Tong was the House Chairman of the Connecticut Judiciary Committee and was a litigator in both state and federal courts. Speaking to this year’s academic theme of justice, Tong encouraged students to consider the immigration crisis and understand how this issue affects everyone.

Albert Silverstein

When he was a mere toddler, Silverstein’s parents put him on a train from his home in Austria to England—as part of the Kindertransport program—to live with a foster family. In 1940, the family reunited and moved to the United States, where Silverstein earned a PhD in psychology from UC, Berkeley and eventually taught and conducted research at the University of Rhode Island for 42 years. For the past 18 years, Silverstein has shared his story in an effort to educate students about the horrific impact of bigotry—emphasizing that when people don’t accept those who are different from them, it can lead to tragic consequences.

Kristina Rex ’11

A reporter for WBZ CBS Boston, Rex was one of several speakers at the third annual Blueprint Interscholastic Journalism Conference presented

by The Phillipian. Other speakers included Vanessa Friedman P’18, ’21, New York Times chief fashion critic; Zoha Qamar, CNN online international news writer; Victoria Abbott-Riccardi ’79, travel, food, and lifestyle writer; and John Swansburg ’96, senior editor of The Atlantic.

“To have so many young reporters learning from and engaging with these talented journalists was really incredible,” says Phillipian president Tessa Conrardy ’20. “The Phillipian is a publication, but it’s also a training ground for young people to learn about the fundamentals of journalism. That’s what Blueprint is all about.”

Lynn Lyons

A specialist in anxiety, a licensed social worker, and an internationally recognized psychotherapist, author, and speaker, Lyons was on campus for a mini-residency this winter and met with students, faculty, staff, and parents. Lyons has run a private practice for 28 years and has coauthored two books: Anxious Kids, Anxious Parents: 7 Ways to Stop the Worry Cycle and Raise Courageous & Independent Children and Playing with Anxiety: Casey’s Guide for Teens and Kids. Her latest book, Using Hypnosis with Children: Creating and Delivering Effective Interventions, is a how-to guide for professionals.

Claire Wardle

Wardle is a leading expert on user-generated content, verification, and misinformation, and was one of four speakers featured on campus this February for a discussion on “Democracy and Disinformation: Digital Media in the 2020 Presidential Election.” Wardle is the cofounder and executive director of First Draft, a nonprofit formed in 2015 to combat misand-disinformation. Wardle has previously served as a research fellow at the Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics, and Public Policy at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government; research director at the Tow Center for Digital Journalism at Columbia University's Graduate School of Journalism; and the head of social media for the United Nations Refugee Agency.

Ricco Villanueva Siasoco

A Los Angeles–based educator and activist and the director of equity and inclusion at the Chadwick School, Siasoco recently published his first book, The Foley Artist: Stories, a collection about Filipino men and women in America exploring identities. During his visit—which was cohosted by the Gender and Sexuality Alliance, Southeast Asian Club, and Asian Society—Siasoco discussed his book and the intersection of various identities such as race, class, sexuality, and gender.

—Nancy Hitchcock

Andover | Spring 2020

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SP ORTS TALK

enaissance woman

by Allen Lessels

The wrestler wraps her arms around her opponent’s legs and begins to lift her off the mat.

“There you go, there you go,” calls out head coach Kassie Archambault.

“Hips in. Hips in. You don’t have to get her all the way up in the air. When you get her on one leg, she’s off balance.”

A successful move completed, Amour Ellis ’22—a relative newcomer to the sport—smiles and releases her grip on Marisol Nugent ’20, one of Big Blue’s captains.

It’s wet and dreary outside on this late October evening. Inside, in a corner of Memorial Gym, a small group of students in the newly formed Andover Wrestling Club has gathered for an informal work out. The club is giving the eager wrestlers a chance to get a jumpstart on the 2019–2020 season, the first with Archambault as head coach.

An enthusiastic teacher and former standout wrestler at PA, Archambault was named head coach of the coed team last March after serving as an assistant under Rich Gorham ’86 (her own PA wrestling coach) for the past seven years.

Archambault is the first female head wrestling coach in the New England Preparatory School Athletic Council (NEPSAC) and is excited about the opportunity not only to lead Andover’s squad, but also to drum up support for the sport overall among students and the PA community.

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Andover | Spring 2020

Always one to embrace challenges of all sorts—whether it be an academic pursuit or playing the bagpipes— Archambault is a natural for the head coaching job.

After graduating from Dartmouth with a degree in Russian language and literature, Archambault worked in special education in New York City while earning a master’s degree. She got word that Andover was looking for a recent college grad for a teaching fellowship in Russian and when she returned to campus for an interview, Archambault discovered she could also work with the wrestling program.

“I jumped at the chance,” Archambault says. “Here were two of the passions I discovered in high school— and now I was getting the chance to teach and share them at my high school.

It was pretty cool.”

The addition of Archambault to Andover’s faculty and coaching staff in 2012 was also a win for the school.

“We all talk about being inclusive and we see the wrestling program as a beacon at Andover and quite frankly across New England,” says Director of Athletics Lisa Joel, who notes that it was actually her predecessor, Leon Modeste, who promoted Archambault.

Joel says Archambault is passionate about her work and uniquely determined, providing the example of a nine-mile run the pair completed last winter.

“It was single-digit wind chills and there was no one else on the road; there were icicles on our facemasks,” Joel says. “Kassie is just so determined. If you want to take on the hardest task, you want Kassie on your side. She’s never going to quit. She gets people to do things they otherwise wouldn’t think they wanted to do. The harder the challenge, the more out there it is, that’s where Kassie is.”

Nugent, whose father owns a wrestling club in Danvers, Mass., has been wrestling since grade school.

Archambault is her first female coach.

Nugent says Archambault not only pushes her to improve, but also provides much-needed encouragement. “It’s small stuff like if I need help scheduling my classes. She’s always there for me. I call her my second mom.”

Archambault continues to reinforce the values of the school and the values that Gorham—who is now an assistant coach—promoted through the years: inclusivity, team, and hard work.

But one of the things she would like to change is the number of girls on the team. As a student, Archambault was one of only three females on the team and while there have been as many as seven girls on the squad in recent years, this is a number she hopes to increase.

“I love the coed nature of our team,” Archambault says. “I think we all act a little differently when we’re in

Chair of the Russian Department. A bagpiper with New Hampshire Pipes & Drums. The first female head wrestling coach in NEPSAC. Is there anything Kassie Archambault ’06 can’t do?

all-male or all-female situations. Being together and working hard physically in the room, on the mat, I think that really builds bonds and respect. I think more sports could benefit from being coed.”

Joel is in full agreement. “Having a female coach what has been traditionally a male sport is just really great for everyone to see,” says Joel, who also cites the good work of veteran Andover coaches Kate Dolan and Martha Fenton ’83 as assistant coaches with the boys’ varsity lacrosse team. “It forces one to understand that the value of a coach actually has nothing to do with gender. It’s being an expert and being able to understand a game; it’s being able to teach and coach, and it’s building a team,” Joel says. “We want the best coaches we can possibly get on the sidelines for our teams and with Kassie, that’s what we’ve got.”

Archambault represents the best of Andover, says Jim Ventre ’79, interim head of school.

“Kassie’s every act as a teacher and coach is a reflection of Andover’s values. It’s all about shining a light on others and drawing out their best.”  Gil Talbot

Allen Lessels is a freelance writer specializing in sports and travel stories.

He is also a staff writer in the Office of Athletics Communications at the University of New Hampshire.

WRESTLING & MORE • Archambault was the first female wrestler at PA to earn a starting varsity position.

In 2004, she placed 2nd in the Class A tournament.

In 2005 she placed 10th at the U.S. Girls Wrestling Association (USGWA) nationals and was champion of her weight class at the USGWA NJ, MA, and New England championship tournament.

• Bagpiping runs in the Archambault family; her grandfather played the instrument and Archambault took it up when she was 13. She now plays with New Hampshire Pipes & Drums and last fall performed with them at the New Hampshire Highland Games at Loon Mountain. She also makes an appearance at the annual PA Talent Show.

Andover | Spring 2020

13

FINIS ORIGINE PENDET AWARD WINNERS EMBODY ANDOVER VALUES

by Allyson Irish

W

ho better to espouse the values of an Andover education than its esteemed alumni? The most recent recipients of the Andover Alumni Award of Distinction are more than positive role models and examples of success, they embody the core principles of Abbot Academy and Phillips Academy. As Guy Nordenson ’73 stated this past fall when receiving his award, “the roots of this [career] trajectory are here.”

It is with open arms and extreme gratitude that the Academy welcomes back these alumni each year.

14

Andover | Spring 2020

GUY NORDENSON ’73

SAMANTHA APPLETON ’93

Nordenson’s work can be seen all

Describing her entire career as inter-

across the world from New York to

disciplinary, photojournalist Appleton

Rome to Boston to Taiwan. A structural

concentrates on the social and political

engineer and professor of architecture

consequences of conflict and neglect,

and structural engineering at Princeton University, Nordenson traces his willingness to take intellectual risks back to Andover—and specifically to English instructor Kelly Wise, who in one of his seminar classes had students decide

combining art, history, and social justice to explain the complicated components of large news stories.

Appleton has covered many of the most tumultuous events of the past decade,

on the readings and teach the class

such as con-

for a month. “This set me on track to

flicts in Iraq,

become a teacher, despite my natural

Afghanistan,

timidity,” Nordenson said. Nordenson

and Lebanon,

began his career as a draftsman with

social issues

R. Buckminster Fuller and Isamu

in Africa, and

Noguchi in 1976; he is now partner

immigration

at Guy Nordenson and Associates in

issues in the United States. Her work

New York. In

Nordenson was only the seventh structural engineer to receive the American Institute of Architects Collaborative Achievement Award in 2009.

addition to his work and teaching, Nordenson also is a published

“I see now that what I squared my shoulders to here at Andover set my course for life.”

has appeared in numerous media outlets including Time magazine and The New Yorker. She also has received many accolades including a Kodak Professional Award and the first-place prize for Picture of the Year in 2001.

author; his

Discussing her time at Andover,

book Seven

Appleton said her participation in

Structural

English instructor Seth Bardo’s class

Engineers:

about the Vietnam War in film and

The Felix

literature was one of the most influ-

Candela

ential of her academic career, serving

Lectures was published in 2008 and

as the foundation for her current work

Patterns and Structure, a collection of

to foster a new generation of diverse

essays, was published in 2010.

photojournalists.

SARAH CHAYES ’80

KEVIN OLUSOLA ’06

WILLIAM D. NORDHAUS ’59

Perhaps the world’s first “celloboxer”—

Internationally recognized for her inno-

Tackling one of the biggest issues of

playing the cello and beatboxing

vative thinking on corruption and its

our generation, Nordhaus received

simultaneously—Olusola is widely

implications, Chayes is a former senior

the 2018 Nobel Memorial Prize in

known around the world as part of the

fellow in the Carnegie Democracy,

Economic Sciences for integrating cli-

popular vocal band Pentatonix. Since

Conflict, and

mate change into long-run macroeco-

winning NBC’s The Sing Off in 2011,

Governance

nomic analysis. A Yale faculty member

program. Her

since 1967 and a full professor of

work provides

economics since 1973, he is also a

the group has sold nearly 10 million albums worldwide, nine albums have reached the top 10 on Billboard’s 200 chart, and their YouTube channel has topped three billion views. After Andover, Olusola attended Yale, where

In 2006, Chayes received the Academy’s highest honor, the Claude Moore Fuess Award.

he had planned to pursue medicine, but during his senior year his cellobox-

a rigorous

professor in Yale’s School of Forestry

analysis of

and Environmental Studies and has

the global

studied economic growth and natural

state and

resources, the economics of climate

interrelation-

change, and the resource constraints

ships of democracy, conflict, and gov-

on economic

ing version

ernance. Chayes has provided guidance

growth.

of Mark

and insight to top-level U.S. military

Hailing from

Summer’s

officials and has had an award-winning

Albuquerque,

“Julie-O”

journalism career covering the Kosovo

Nordhaus—

went viral,

crisis and the fall of the Taliban. In

the parent

which led to

2005, she founded a manufacturing

of three

his collabo-

cooperative in the Kandahar region of

alumni—had

ration with

Afghanistan to help revive its economy,

to travel

Pentatonix.

promote sustainable development, and

two days by

Olusola

expand alternatives to the country’s

train to get

has since

opium economy. In devoting her life

to the school

enjoyed

to addressing worldwide corruption,

and described coming to Andover

great success as the beatboxer for

Chayes encouraged students to hold

as a “shock.” Once here, however,

Pentatonix. In 2015 and 2016, the

each other accountable and to stand

Nordhaus discovered the “beauty of

group won Grammy Awards in the

up to the many institutions and govern-

mathematics” and his strong belief in

Best Arrangement, Instrumental, or A

ments that stand in the way, so as to

the Academy’s non sibi motto. 

Cappella category. The following year,

“return sacred values to their place of

Pentatonix won a third Grammy in the

honor.”

At a recent Pentatonix Christmas Tour in Boston, Olusola gave a “shout out” to his high school on stage during a solo.

Nordhaus is a member of the National Academy of Sciences and a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

Best Country Duo/Group Performance category.

Andover | Spring 2020

15

Does the constant pressure to get a “6” stifle student learning and unfairly disadvantage some students? Andover faculty examine grading and assessment.

by Julie Halpert

16

Andover | Spring 2020

Doing Their Homework For years, faculty have expressed concerns about grade inflation and the potential inequities for students who come from less advantaged backgrounds. In addition to questions raised by the student Policy Committee, grading also surfaced as a top issue in a spring 2018 faculty survey.

“Faculty felt this was an important topic to dive into,” Mundra says, noting that the review also responds to Andover’s 2014 Strategic Plan, which specifies that the Academy “nurture the academic and personal growth of all students as they navigate a complex, intentionally diverse learning community.”

Clyfe Beckwith, Andover’s assistant head of school for teaching and learning, a physics instructor, and parent of two Andover graduates, says the system merits closer review.

“We’re exploring what tools to put in place to make students deeper learners.”

The effort kicked off this academic year with a visit from Joe Feldman, CEO of Crescendo Education Group, which partners with schools and nonprofits to implement alternative grading practices that are intended to be more equitable,

ISTOCK: CHALK CIRCLE, PAZHYNA

I

anna Ramdhany Correa ’20 selected Andover because she was eager to be challenged academically and felt the schools in her New York neighborhood were not adequately fueling her passion for education. The 17-year-old senior is pleased with the quality of education she’s received at PA, but there’s something she wishes wasn’t part of the experience.

“I always find myself worrying about my grade and how to get it higher. In that process, you lose the excitement for learning,” Correa says. Now serving her third year on the student-run Policy Committee, a group that is part of Student Council and that proposes specific policy changes to faculty and students, Correa says the issue of grades has repeatedly surfaced as an area of concern.

Faculty are taking those concerns seriously. Eager to explore the most innovative ways to encourage student learning, the school has recently launched a review of its assessment process. Rajesh Mundra, dean of studies and a biology instructor, is cochair of the new Working Group on Assessment and Grading, formed last fall and composed of 13 teachers. Its charge: to examine grading and assessment and make recommendations for the future.

accurate, bias-resistant, and intrinsically motivating.

Feldman’s work and conversation helped the working group to frame their next steps, which includes the creation of three research units. One group is exploring new research on cognitive development and other aspects of adolescent learning, another is surveying current Andover practices in grading and assessment to better understand the purpose of grades and the motivations behind them, and the third is looking outside Andover to explore learning environments and assessment strategies designed by other institutions.

“The goal is to find a system that is equitable in terms of student learning, student opportunity, and student outcomes,” Mundra says, adding, “We’re critically looking at ourselves and wanting to become better.”

The working group plans to explore the topic through next year, with a list of recommendations expected in spring 2021. The recommendations will lead to community initiatives to review Andover’s assessment and grading practices.

An Outdated System?

The A through F grading system used by most U.S. schools was developed in an era when only a small number of students attended classes. Grades were initially intended as a useful tool for instruction; they evolved into a means of facilitating movement and coordination of students across schools and school districts and as a way to communicate with school administrators and families, according to the article, “Making the Grade: a History of the A–F Marking Scheme,” by Ethan Hutt, assistant professor in the School of Education at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Jack Schneider, assistant professor of education at the University of Massachusetts, Lowell.

By the 1920s, when school became mandatory and the number of enrolled students grew exponentially, a standardized grading system became necessary. Andover, like most schools, used this 1 to 100 grading system until 1968, when a new 0 to 6 scale was introduced.

Andover’s faculty accepted a proposal to move to a 0 to 6 scale during a meeting held over the 1968 winter recess.

According to a January 10, 1968, article in The Phillipian, the chair of the Steering Committee, Simeon Hyde, stated the changes were proposed “with the intention of reducing radically the ‘atmosphere of competition’ at Andover” and to adopt a simpler scale for grades.

But the traditional grading system—as well as Andover’s simplified structure—has come under criticism in recent years for creating an arrangement of external rewards that has the potential to sacrifice deeper learning.

Beckwith has seen the consequences. “When I return a test, the first thing the students do is look at the number.

And if they don’t like it, they don’t look at the feedback,” he says. As a parent, Beckwith also has seen the focus on grades stifle confidence. While the education his children received

at Andover was “phenomenal,” he says “there’s an incredibly high focus on grades here, which contributes to a lot of stress.

When students get lower grades than their peers, they feel like they’re not as smart or confident and don’t put as much effort into creative pursuits. They’re just trying to get a better grade instead of pursuing learning for learning’s sake.”

Mundra, also the parent of an Andover student, worries that the current grading system also doesn’t fully account for the different backgrounds of Andover’s diverse student population and can end up penalizing those who come from a lower-income household and/or a less-resourced educational institution.

Correa says she has felt this distinction profoundly as the daughter of immigrants; her mother is from Cuba and her father is from Guyana. Growing up in a lower socioeconomic household in Queens, New York, Correa attended schools with far fewer resources than Andover. During her first year at PA, Correa struggled in her Bio100 class and received a lowerthan-expected grade. “I was scared,” she says. “It was my first encounter with my own self-doubt and my ability to succeed at school.”

“ The goal is to find a system that is equitable in terms of student learning, student opportunity, and student outcomes. We’re critically looking at ourselves and wanting to become better.”

—Rajesh Mundra, Dean of Studies

She is not alone. Mundra and Beckwith both say students coming from higher socioeconomic backgrounds generally have a leg up on academic skills given their access to more and better resources at home and at school. A different grading system could be one way to help level the playing field.

Expanded Assessment One alternative that Andover is evaluating is called proficiency-based grading. Feldman, who also is a former teacher and principal, authored the 2018 book Grading for Equity in which he argues that many common grading practices are outdated and yield inaccurate information about student achievement. Students may have earned an “A” not because they’ve mastered the course content, but because they’ve earned enough points by completing a variety of required tasks.

Andover | Spring 2020

17

Feldman and others have proposed a number of alternatives to traditional grading practices intended to change this dynamic. Feldman suggests a better structure would be to have the teacher and student work together to meet goals—more like coaching. He endorses a 0 to 4 scale instead of 0 to 100, as well as multiple opportunities for students to re-do work until it’s mastered. He also advocates against teachers including homework performance or class participation in the grade, arguing that both factors don’t reflect a student’s mastery of the material. Proficiency-based grading has worked in other schools and Feldman believes the approach would be ideal for Andover.

The traditional grading system—as well as Andover’s simplified structure—has come under criticism in recent years for creating an arrangement of external rewards that has the potential to sacrifice deeper learning.

“People look to [Andover] to be a model for what schools could be and how schools can think about learning in more equitable ways,” he says.

A Tang Institute Fellow and math instructor, Heidi Wall ’94 is currently piloting a new approach after feeling that her own teaching philosophy was at odds with traditional grading practices. The typical model doesn’t necessarily reflect mastery or growth, she says, and Wall was uncomfortable giving a grade without allowing students to explore what they had not mastered.

Wall is using alternative modes of assessment with her classes this academic year. These modes include reflection tools that help students better understand their role in preparing for learning, and questions about preparation habits, problem solving, and communication.

Wall says these methods nudge students to remove distractions and to take actions, such as prioritizing sleep and noticing how that affects their learning. After taking a test, students receive feedback and corrections—but not a cumulative score. Wall instead provides a detailed rubric that lays out levels of mastery and what is needed for mastery to be achieved. Though students still receive a 0 to 6 in each section, there’s no overall score; final grades will ultimately reflect where they are on a scale of mastery. Students also have the option of taking a separate test focused just on the concepts they have yet to master.

Wall says the system has worked well thus far. She has documented positive responses from students discussing how

18

Andover | Spring 2020

this approach has allowed them to focus more on the learning process instead of the grades, and she expects to continue using this type of assessment. “I feel much more confident about the grades reflecting what my students know.”

Some schools have migrated away from the use of grades entirely. Francis W. Parker Charter Essential School in Devens, Mass., is one of a coalition of schools founded on the principles of Ted Sizer, former Andover head of school and a notable figure in American education. Since opening in 1995, the school has never used letter grades, emphasizing instead student reflection and identifying and learning from mistakes, with revisions built into the system.

“The metaphor is that kids are climbing a mountain and the continuum lets them know how close they are to the summit,” says Deb Merriam, academic dean at the Parker School. Instead of grades averaged to a GPA, Parker School provides colleges with a two-page narrative report that documents each student’s journey. Merriam says this approach has significantly reduced students’ anxiety—without compromising their success.

Mia Lepardo, a Parker School student, initially started ninth grade at a large public school. “It was all about who could get the best grade and who could do better in school.

It was all about competition. It wasn’t about learning,” she says. Within a few weeks after transferring to Parker, Lepardo felt the stress melt away. She’s now engaged in a senior project she developed to create jewelry connected to the environment, which required two months of in-depth research. “People tend to think my school is easier than a public school. I think it’s harder, but just less stressful.”

The All-Important High School Transcript Those in higher education are divided on their opinion of alternative assessments. Some, like David Hawkins, executive director for educational content and policy for the National Association for College Admission Counseling (NACAC), welcome the change.

“The fact is that we have a simplistic system that is a lagging artifact of a much earlier era,” says Hawkins, who acknowledges that colleges have been craving more context on students’ achievements, abilities, and strengths. He also sees limitations in current grading scales in predicting success in post-secondary education, pointing to strong correlations between parental income, level of education, and assessment indicators.

“NACAC sees great potential in alternative assessments in breaking some of that stagnation in favor of more open and inclusive approaches to student strengths and abilities.”

In fact, NACAC is working with the Learning Policy Institute on an initiative called “Reexamining College Access,” which is looking at alternative assessments and developing a set of accepted norms.

But Hutt, assistant professor at UNC Chapel Hill, says

A Better Reflection of Learning it’s challenging to implement such a dramatic change and that attempts throughout the years have generally failed. “The long-accepted standardized grades that colleges recognize and know, that power repels a lot of the reform efforts to get rid of them,” he says. He argues that new assessment models could introduce even more subjectivity into the process and leave colleges confused by how to use them.

Hawkins agrees that there needs to be a commonly understood rubric for assessing students and a shorthand that all stakeholders can understand. “There are 20,000-plus high schools in this country. It has the potential to get very messy.”

Concerns about myriad assessments have led to an effort to create a more uniform system. One example is the Mastery Transcript Consortium, which developed a new high school transcript form that was sent out by member schools for the first time last year for fall 2020 admission. (see sidebar).

No Easy Changes Feldman acknowledges that this type of widespread change can’t happen overnight; it needs to be rolled out with a long-term investment in time and resources with parents and teachers deeply involved. “If the gradations of the levels of mastery are not explicitly described or if there isn’t investment in calibration across teachers, you’ll have each teacher interpreting students’ performances differently and will be more likely to perpetuate the same inequities that our traditional grading practices have,” he says.

Hutt argues that it’s possible for educators to work within the current system while finding a way to keep students focused on learning, for example by allowing for more ungraded assignments and rewrites. “The GPA is the single best predictor of how a student will do in college,” he says.

Still, he acknowledges that Andover would be well positioned to pioneer a radical change if the school chooses to do so.

“Andover could really innovate in this space, since no one will doubt the quality of what they’re doing.”

Mundra and Beckwith acknowledge that any potential changes will take time to consider, adopt, and be successfully implemented. There’s a healthy level of skepticism about new approaches, with no preconceived notions of the outcome.

Whatever is decided won’t change the core of an Andover education, and further, Mundra expects the review will make Andover a stronger school.

“We will do our research and build on the firm foundation of our values, and we’re going to get better when we do.” 

Julie Halpert is a freelance journalist based in Michigan. She has more than three decades of experience writing for numerous national publications, including the New York Times, The Atlantic, and the Wall Street Journal. She covers topics including parenting, health, education, science, and the environment.

T

he Mastery Transcript Consortium (MTC) has created a new high school transcript based entirely on mastery of knowledge, content, and interdisciplinary skills. The goal is for this to eventually replace the traditional transcript and to better support schools by creating a consistent, easy-to-digest summary for colleges and universities that more accurately reflects student learning.

“Grading is judging—and if you doubt that, ask a kid how they feel when they get a low letter grade. They’ll say ‘I’m not good enough,’” says Scott Looney, head of school at Hawken School in Cleveland. Looney founded the MTC in 2017; the organization now works with nearly 300 high schools across the country, with Andover among the first to join. Member schools pay dues to support the work of the MTC, which in turn facilitates feedback sessions, discussions among educators and thought leaders, and professional development opportunities.

Schools using the MTC system require that students earn “mastery credits” to graduate.

“Advanced credits” showcase strengths in particular skills or subject areas. Instead of failing a class, students continue to work on assignments and projects until mastery is achieved and they receive detailed feedback. A definition of the required level of mastery—along with evidence of achievement—is provided in the final transcript along with feedback from instructors. The first cohort of schools to use the MTC system recently released the new transcripts to colleges for fall 2020 admission.

“This is about every kid working at their threshold all the time and learning as much as they can with help from faculty and peers,” says Patricia Russell, former Andover Dean of Studies and faculty member for 29 years and now MTC’s chief education and operations officer. “This does not mean every kid is a winner. Everyone doesn’t get a trophy.”

Russell believes colleges will appreciate the level of depth the new transcript provides and views Andover’s involvement with the MTC as indicative of the school’s consistent interest in quality teaching and learning. She also emphasizes that MTC’s approach can benefit all students, not just those at elite, private schools.

Andover | Spring 2020

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To Know His Name Andover’s Role in the Hawaii Mission In 1812, as a fledgling United States

by Katie was engaged in a war with Great Britain, a student at the Andover Theological Seminary, located on the Phillips Academy campus, had his mind on other matters. The young man’s name was ‘Ōpūkaha‘ia—known by his Englishspeaking friends as Henry Obookiah— and despite his studious nature, he was not focused on his studies.

“He was seen one morning very early with a rule measuring the College buildings and fences. He was asked why he did it. He smiled, and said, ‘So that I shall know how to build when I go back to Owhyhee [Hawaii].’”

This anecdote is noted in Memoirs of Henry Obookiah, an edited collection of journal entries and letters published after his death in 1818. The Hawaiian’s incredible life story is cited as the impetus for missionaries—many of them with connections to the seminary—to undertake the historic 1819 journey that brought New England Protestantism to Hawaii, changing the islands forever. ‘Ōpūkaha‘ia’s short life (he died at age 26) and the echoing implications of the missionaries’ evangelism, was examined at the Academy this past fall during a week-long series of panel discussions, class work, and performances, including “The Life of ‘Ōpūkaha‘ia,” a one-man stage production by writer and actor Moses Goods.

Considering this often-overlooked history—as well as that of a culture not always fully represented in the historical narrative—was especially important this year as PA focuses on the theme of justice. Who tells our stories? What perspectives have been ignored? What can we learn for our future as we discover our past?

These are the questions that English instructor Corrie Martin—who is Hawaii-born and raised—and Andover archivist Paige Roberts had in mind when they organized the campus events this past fall. This part of Andover’s history, says Martin, “entangles the school directly in the cultural domination and overthrow of the independent nation of Hawaii by New England–based Christian missionaries and their descendants. We wanted to give our students—and the campus community at large—the opportunity to learn about

20

Andover | Spring 2020

Fiermonti

the many facets of this history, and to wrestle with the difficult questions that come with it.”

B The Aloha State lies more than 5,000 miles from Andover, Mass.—a mere plane ride today, but a nearly unfathomable distance more than 200 years ago.

In 1796, ‘Ōpūkaha‘ia fled from the Hawaiian King Kamehameha, who was attempting to establish control over the islands. ‘Ōpūkaha‘ia’s memoirs detail the murder of his parents and his desperate escape through the forests of Hilo while carrying his infant brother on his back. As he fled, a warrior threw a spear and killed the baby.

Orphaned and with few options, ‘Ōpūkaha‘ia boarded the Triumph, a ship headed to America. During the trip, he met Russell Hubbard, a devout Christian who took ‘Ōpūkaha‘ia under his wing, taught him the English alphabet, and later secured a spot for the boy at Yale. Fourteen years later, through the patronage of several men impressed with ‘Ōpūkaha‘ia’s appetite for learning and devotion to Christianity, he came to the Andover Theological Seminary.

“Here my wicked heart began to see a little about the divine things; but the more I see to it, the more it appear[s] to be impenetrability,” wrote the studious young man.

By his account, ‘Ōpūkaha‘ia enjoyed his two years at the seminary. “I took much satisfaction in conversing with many students in the Institution,” he wrote. “I spent a little time with some of them, and in going to one room and to another to recite to them: for I was taken under their care.”

Soon, ‘Ōpūkaha‘ia began to dream of returning home and bringing American Protestantism to Hawaii. On December 15, 1812, he wrote to a friend: “I hope the Lord will send the gospel to the heathen land where the words of the Saviour never yet had been. Poor people worship the wood and stone and shark, and almost every thing their gods; the Bible is not there, and Heaven and Hell they do not know about.”

But ‘Ōpūkaha‘ia died of typhus in 1818 before realizing this dream. Soon after, his memoirs became a rallying cry for

A New England missionary preaches in a kukui grove in Hawai'i, as depicted in an engraving appearing in Wilkes’ Narrative of the United States Exploring Expedition.

the newly established American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions (ABCFM). In July 1819, missionary Hiram Bingham, Andover Theological Seminary Class of 1819, wrote to the ABCFM that “the unexpected and afflictive death of Obookiah, roused my attention to the subject [of traveling to Hawaii]….I became more deeply interested than before in that cause for which he desired to live...”

Bingham wasn’t the only one inspired. Later that year, the first missionary ship set sail from New England for the Kingdom of Hawaii, and for the next 40 years the native Hawaiian royalty permitted Christians to proselytize. Working closely together, the Hawaiians and missionaries instituted a written form of the Hawaiian language, spread literacy, and established a constitutional monarchy. By 1843, the Kingdom of Hawaii was among the most literate and progressively democratic of all the nations in the world.

Some of the missionaries would eventually be honored with a plaque on Andover’s Missionary Rock, a monument to their efforts located on the periphery of Rabbit Pond. ‘Ōpūkaha‘ia’s name is not included.

B History is fickle, presenting to current and future generations the perceptions of a few. With that in mind, those involved in campus discussions this past fall considered many of the missing pieces of information related to the Hawaii Mission and the life of ‘Ōpūkaha‘ia with the hope of gaining a deeper understanding of the past.

Elizabeth Pope, archivist of the Hawaiian Collections at Worcester’s American Antiquarian Society, discussed how missionaries took the profits from ‘Ōpūkaha‘ia’s memoirs and bought a printing press to bring to Hawaii. In creating the first alphabet for the Hawaiian language, they also adapted the Hawaiian language to suit the printing press; five consonants were eliminated. “They didn’t have enough accented letters for their press,” says Pope.

“History is the stories we’ve told about people and places,” says history and social science instructor Marisela Ramos. “But some things are lost, for a variety of reasons.

We need to remember that and learn from it.”

PA instructor in philosophy and religious studies Anaïs Garvanian welcomed Neal Hitch and Po’ai Lincoln, from the Hawaii Mission Houses Historic Site and Archives, to two of her classes to complement the campus discussions. “These themes and issues of justice, they’re not black and white,”

says Garvanian. “But talking about it is good. This is simply true that this is our past.”

Garvanian says that for Hitch and Lincoln, there is a sense of justice by coming to the place where the Hawaii missionary effort was sparked 200 years ago. “It’s not like coming home, per se, but finally coming to the source.”

Though ‘Ōpūkaha‘ia never returned to Hawaii to carry out his dream, his words were used by those who took up his cause. And as more of the history is revealed, more is understood about what was gained, and what was lost.

For his part, actor Moses Goods is now championing greater Hawaiian representation in the performing arts and a greater understanding of our collective past by portraying ‘Ōpūkaha‘ia onstage and providing an opportunity for a fuller understanding of Hawaii’s history.

“Our stories continue to be appropriated,” says Goods.

“I need the young Hawaiians in the audience to see themselves on the stage. I’m a Hawaiian telling Hawaiian stories, and the fact that I’m telling our stories is justice.”  Katie Fiermonti is a freelance writer based in Durham, New Hampshire.

ANDOVER’S MISSIONARY ROCK “In the missionary woods, once extending to this spot, the first missionary students of Andover Seminary walked and talked one hundred years ago, and on this secluded knoll met to pray. In memory of these men: Adoniram Judson, Samuel Nott, Samuel J. Mills, Samuel Newell, Gordon Hall, James Richards, Luther Rice, whose consecrated purpose to carry the Gospel to the heathen world led to the formation of the first American Society for Foreign Missions. In recognition of the two hundred and forty-eight missionaries trained in Andover Seminary, and in gratitude to the Almighty God, this stone is set up in the centennial year of the American Board ... 1910.”

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“O

ur purpose when practicing civil disobedience is to call attention to the injustice or to an unjust law which we

seek to change,” King wrote. He referred to the presence of justice as a substantive and positive peace, in which all men will respect the dignity and worth of human personality.

King’s epic missive—published and distributed around the country and introduced in testimony before Congress—struck at the heart of the nation’s understanding of law and order, arguing that the observance of an unjust law violates the moral order. And it ushered in seismic change.

In 2020, more than half a century after Dr. King wrote about justice and the long road to freedom, Andover’s evercurious students, faculty, and alumni are thinking about how and where justice is served, how and where we have just aspects of our society, and what is our obligation and responsibility to help shape more just communities?

This issue is devoted to the problem solvers and solution seekers who are breaking down barriers and transforming lives in areas of:

DATA & PRIVACY

RIGHTS & LAW

FAITH & COMMUNITY

ARTS & EDUCATION ON CAMPUS

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JUSTICE DATA & PRIVACY

7 Questions with FBI Director Chris Wray ’85 We never know our future impact, especially upon entering high school.

At Andover, Chris Wray ’85 was holding the rhythm in line via a Fender bass for the rock trio Fahrenheit 451 (with Pete McNulty ’85 and Ben Gundersheimer ’85). He played in several bands, was a varsity wrestler, and learned the value of teamwork on varsity crew (every oar-stroke from every rower affects the boat’s success). Protecting the United States from global threats was still some 30 years away, but the seeds of justice were being planted.

“The idea of a career in law began at Andover when I was introduced to critical thinking, logic, and ethics,” Wray says.

“Teachers and coaches and tough classes like Proof and Persuasion with Tom Hodgson pushed me in ways and instilled habits that benefit me to this day.”

By his senior year, Wray was a disciplinary council representative in his West Quad North Cluster, making sure rules were enforced and that students were treated fairly in the process.

He earned his law degree from Yale Law School in 1992 and then joined the Atlanta-based law firm King & Spalding.

Wray became an assistant U.S. Attorney in Georgia in 1997 and joined the Department of Justice’s leadership in 2001.

In 2003, he was nominated by President George W. Bush ’64 to serve as the assistant attorney general in charge of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division. There, Wray helped lead through a time of transition as the department pivoted to focus more on counterterrorism in the wake of 9/11.

Wray repeatedly stressed that it was no longer sufficient for the FBI and the Justice Department to arrest terrorists after the fact—they had to prevent the attack in the first place.

In 2005, Wray returned to the private sector and defense attorney work at King & Spalding.

When he was named director of the FBI in 2017, after more than a decade’s

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absence from the Justice Department, Wray confronted new critical threats, including cyber, that were much less on the radar post 9/11. He tackles this new frontier every day, he says, with a deep respect and admiration for the FBI’s workforce.

What role does technology play in the interconnections between people and justice?

Technology and its rapid evolution are central to almost everything we’re contending with at the FBI. Every time there is some innovative development, I have two reactions: Wow, that’s awesome—I can’t believe we can do that! And, oh no, guess who else can do that? Terrorism now moves at the speed of social media. We have hundreds of terrorism investigations involving folks here in the U.S. radicalized remotely by people overseas in a much more rapid way than before those tech advances.

Cryptocurrency, the dark web, drones, cyberthreats—technology affects every kind of threat we face. Information of any value is a target for a wider-thanever range of cyber attacks, and we rarely have a case now where, when we arrest someone, there aren’t multiple devices—and mountains of stored data to get through—that we seize as part of the investigation. It takes constant attention to stay ahead of the threats and on top of these challenges.

What is the most dramatic change you expect to see around national security in America?

Changes will be driven by the theme of tech. A close cousin is the increasingly cross-border or global dimension of the threats. The depth, sophistication, diversity, and agility of these threats are greater than ever. On the counterterrorism side, for example, it’s not just domestic but homegrown, jihadist-inspired violent extremists who are radicalized online or encouraged in

chat rooms to conduct attacks they can do very quickly. Previously, the threat was a sleeper cell plotting a masscasualty attack over a period of time.

While that threat still exists, in today’s world you also have the loner individual online on his laptop who is going to get in his car and drive down a pedestrian walkway, shoot up a shopping mall, or build a crude IED from instructions available on the internet.

What does this mean for law enforcement?

The time in which we in law enforcement have to act is very compressed.

The attack surface is broader than ever.

Together, those make for a particularly challenging environment. The flipside is combatting these challenges through innovation and partnership. Just like the bad guys are more connected than they have ever been through technology, so are we—with our federal, state, local, and foreign law enforcement counterparts, or intelligence community colleagues, and increasingly in the private sector. And we have more means and access through our global partnerships than any other time in history.

What issue dominates the FBI’s counterintelligence program today?

The dominant theme is economic espionage, and overwhelmingly that traces back to China and affects almost every sector or industry in our country.

As we speak, we have over 1,000 active investigations that involve attempted thefts of U.S.-based technology that lead back to China. It’s pretty breathtaking in scale, and economic security is national security. China’s approach to stealing innovation in any way it can—from businesses, universities, and other organizations—violates well-settled norms of fairness and integrity. It violates the rule of law. And the United States is not their only target. Even with all of our technological advances and

“ To me, justice means doing the right thing in the right way.

Our mission at the FBI is pretty simple to say, but profound to actually execute day in and day out: to protect the American people and uphold the Constitution.”

How is the FBI working to prevent foreign attempts to hack future U.S. elections?

It’s a multi-partner effort combining the intelligence community, law enforcement, election officials, and—to a large extent—the private sector. From the FBI’s end, we look at it from the perspective of investigations from public corruption to counterintelligence to cyber.

We’re also heavily involved in information sharing—with partners ranging from Silicon Valley to local and state law enforcement agencies—so all of the key participants are engaged and know what to be on the lookout for. Our focus is on building a strong network, raising awareness, and resilience. All of these things work together to make it harder to interfere with our election process.

In the growing conversation around data and justice, what should we be mindful of ?

Well, I could pick a lot of examples.

On the election influence side, the American people need to be more thoughtful consumers of information.

The way in which information is disseminated today makes it particularly ripe for disinformation and propaganda and fabrication. People need to be discerning consumers about what they hear and ask themselves: Do I really know the source of this information?

And, where is the source getting its

Courtesy of FBI

capabilities, tackling this large-scale security threat will involve a whole-ofsociety approach on our end. The FBI has 37,000 people working for us—all dedicated to protecting America’s freedom and safety. But there are something like 325 million Americans, and we can’t tackle all of these threats on our own. Progress in stemming China’s threats will require strong and secure private and public sector partnerships.

We’ve got to figure out more ways to work together.

information from? Always try to get a variety of information from different sources and be critical-thinking citizens.

Our best defense is a thoughtful, wellinformed voting public. We need to build resilience within the American people.

There is no amount of investigating in a democracy like ours that can by itself sufficiently insulate the country. This is a shared effort between government, the private sector, and the voting public. On the data and security side, we need to be careful about not having false confidence, and to be very cautious about what personal information we share digitally.

Your career in law enforcement spans more than 20 years. How do you steer past politics and still find inspiration in your work?

My mantra is: We just need to stay focused on the work we do, who we do the work with, and who we do the work for—almost everything else is white noise and a distraction. The importance

of staying locked-in on those things can be challenging, but our people in the FBI are very mission focused and at the end of the day, they don’t do the work for pundits or politicians. They do it because they love the idea of protecting the American people every day. I work with folks who are unbelievably inspiring public servants. I have been to all 56 of the FBI field offices around the country, every headquarters division, and a lot of our offices overseas. And there is not a day that goes by without encountering another example of courage, professionalism, and selflessness. I experience story after story of people doing amazingly heroic things—not just during their day jobs, but doing things like rescuing people from burning cars on their way home from work. It’s part of the DNA of this workforce. Whenever I feel like I’m dragging a bit, I’m always only moments away from another inspiring story of incredible human strength, kindness, courage, and sacrifice.

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More Valuable Than Oil: Your Data The 2018 Cambridge Analytica scandal made data privacy one of the biggest ethical, political, and legal issues of our time. By sharing crucial evidence with authorities and the public to expose the largest personal data leak in Facebook history, former Cambridge Analytica director Brittany Kaiser ’05 is setting the record straight—and helping people become more digitally savvy consumers.

“I worked for a company that misused people’s data,” says Kaiser, who, since resigning from Cambridge Analytica in January 2018, has become a prominent data justice advocate. “It has been over two years since the news broke about Cambridge Analytica and still we see no changes for voters to be protected. Digital literacy is important, and with elections coming up this year I want to help people understand the tactics and strategies being used to manipulate them so that they can protect and empower themselves.”

Kaiser, the subject of the Netflix documentary The Great Hack— shortlisted for an Oscar and a British Academy Film Award—also penned a book in 2019 that takes readers behind the curtain of how Cambridge Analytica used Facebook data from some 87 million users to manipulate

voters and influence the 2016 U.S. election. The firm also used personal data from individuals to create targeted marketing to influence elections in more than 60 countries and the Brexit campaign in Great Britain.

All of your digital transactions— credit card swipes, web searches, locations, and likes—are collected in real time in a trillion-dollar-a-year industry. In 2017, data surpassed oil as the most valuable asset in the world. And at the moment, no federal laws exist to protect an individual’s personal data from being bought, sold, and traded to the highest bidder.

“It’s shocking that we’re still living in no man’s land, where digital legislation is not defined,” Kaiser says.

Last year, Kaiser cofounded the Own Your Data Foundation, which trains people to become more digitally savvy through digital literacy and education. She is also working with state lawmakers in California and New York to hammer out digital privacy laws that will put the power of a person’s data back in their own hands.

Because individual data has become such a valuable commodity, Kaiser says the individual should be in charge of that personal property and, much like any other asset—a house, a car, etc.—the individual should be able to decide who can use that information and be paid accordingly.

“There’s a culture where legislators and executives are earning a lot of money by taking people’s personal data,” Kaiser says. “We have to get to a place where the power is shifted back into the hands of the people who own that data. That’s why creating laws right now to protect data is so important.”

“ Data justice means that everybody has the same rights to transparency—to know what data is being collected about them and how it is being used. The fact that we don’t have those rights right now is one of the biggest problems in technology.”

—Brittany Kaiser ’05 26

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The Battle to Protect Privacy Alastair Mactaggart ’84 couldn’t shake the thought of how much information Google had on him and millions of others. Where was the information going? How many parties had access to it? And at what cost? His transition from Bay Area real estate mogul to consumer privacy advocate began with a conversation.

“I was talking to a Google engineer and happened to ask just how much information the company has on people, and was told the amount of information they have about individuals through data is ‘terrifying,’” Mactaggart recalls. “I can access information from the government through the Freedom of Information Act, but I couldn’t access my own information from companies that had it. I saw a big problem and thought, I can try to fix this.”

Founder and board chair of Californians for Consumer Privacy, Mactaggart spearheaded an initiative that led to the adoption of the country’s first major consumer privacy law.

The California Consumer Privacy Act went into effect January 1. It allows any California consumer to obtain access to all the information a company has saved on them, as well as a full list of all third parties with whom that data has been shared. In addition, the law allows consumers to opt out of having their data sold to or shared with third parties and to sue companies if privacy guidelines are violated.

Companies don’t have to be based in California or have a physical presence in the state to fall under the law.

Even after years of data-mining scandals and the larger problems they

JUSTICE RIGHTS & LAW

“ Our current system of government gives a tremendous amount of power to the powerful. Justice is fairness, it is equal access, and it should work for all people— never a select few.”

—Alastair Mactaggart ’84

have manifested, including influencing elections, Washington—stymied by indecision, partisan gridlock, and industry lobbying—remains stalled on setting a national standard for online privacy. Mactaggart’s success has opened the door for other states and jumpstarted the conversation among federal lawmakers.

“Before smartphones arrived on the scene a little over a decade ago, real-time tracking wasn’t a thing,” Mactaggart says. “But here we are in 2020, and what the technology provides is extremely valuable.

If a company can have access to information about where you shop, what you do for entertainment, your web browsing activity, your Google searches, social media likes and dislikes…then they know you. Mining that information has become a trilliondollar industry, so the need for privacy protection is urgent.”

Citing incidents from Facebook’s data leak with Cambridge Analytica and the security breach at major credit-reporting bureau Equifax, which exposed more than half of all U.S. adults’ data, Mactaggart believes more needs to be done.

He introduced a new ballot initiative for California this year that aims to get even tougher on tech giants and other big businesses that collect people’s information. If it passes, the new law will give Californians more rights around their sensitive information, including the creation of a state agency to enforce privacy protections. That will make it even harder, Mactaggart says, for anyone to come along and weaken the present law.

“It’s an added level of protection for all Californians.”

This painting by Kiran Ramratnam ’22 was inspired by a class discussion about tensions over immigration in America.

Guardian at the Gate:

Tackling the Legal Challenges of Immigration

by My Khanh Ngo ’06

Imagine if every time you got a traffic ticket, missed a rent payment, or called the cops for help, you risked being detained for many months and permanently separated from your loved ones.

This is the reality for millions of undocumented individuals living in the United States. Or, imagine you fled your country of birth because your domestic partner beat you to within an inch of your life, again, and the police won’t intervene. Or, you are a transgender man living essentially under house arrest because being in public means you risk getting arrested and tortured for how you look. These are all realities for clients I have represented over the last five years.

As a first-generation American and daughter of refugees, I grew up under two

mantras: first, hard work and perseverance pay off, and second, I am lucky because things could have been worse.

My family emigrated from Vietnam to New York City in 1989, when I was barely 1 year old, over a decade after they fled the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia.

All they wanted was to see my younger sister and me “make it” in the United States.

My parents especially emphasized working hard while I was a student, from four grueling years at Andover to another four at Yale undergrad, all the way through Yale Law School. But the older I’ve grown, the more I appreciate that my life is more accurately defined 99 percent by luck and only 1 percent by continued on page 28

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An Immersion Course in Empathy Aseem Gupta ’98 hasn’t wasted a moment coming to the aid of those who can’t afford legal services. The San Francisco–based attorney provides pro bono legal assistance to the homeless, veterans, and undocumented immigrants. As vice president of the board of directors for the Family Violence Appellate Project, he also advocates for victims of domestic violence.

During his upper and senior years at Phillips Academy, Gupta worked with Lawrence middle schoolers through PALS, an outreach program that brings Lawrence youth together with student tutors from PA and Andover High School.

The experience, Gupta says, set the stage for his work as an attorney at Salesforce, a California enterprise cloud computing company with a strong commitment to philanthropy and volunteerism.

“My PALS experience was incredibly valuable,” he recalls. “It was the first time I felt empowered to make a difference in the life of someone who was not otherwise going to get the help they needed.”

Learning to act locally first is an idea that has been central to his legal work. Gupta has devoted much of his time to helping San Francisco’s homeless, including appealing fines related to quality of life violations like “sleeping in public.” If left unpaid, those fees prevent homeless people from getting services such as drug and alcohol treatment, mental health care, disability benefits, and permanent housing.

“Such engagement,” Gupta believes, “needs to be a selfless act with no expectation of gain.”

or “criminal alien” or “bad immigrant,” and transform a system of laws that is predisposed against historically marginalized and oppressed people.

Immigration has tended to dominate news headlines recently, but these issues have not emerged out of a vacuum.

Justice for immigrants is inextricably tied to racial justice, the war on poverty, labor rights, and criminal justice reform. Just as the United States was founded as a country of immigrants, the treatment of immigrants now reflects profound inequities that we need to address as a society—perhaps, firstly by recognizing that we are all vulnerable if we do not defend the defenseless.

I became a lawyer to “help people,” as the cliché goes, but there is more to that. I became a lawyer to advocate for others because it is the right thing to do when you have the means and opportunity. In Ms. N.’s case, for instance, I filed an emergency stay of deportation the day after meeting her, which the immigration judge fortunately granted; Ms. N. was literally pulled off the plane line and eventually released back to her children. But she is still fighting her

case, as are tens of thousands of similarly situated individuals, often without legal representation. The issues can feel daunting and overwhelming, and there are days (sometimes weeks) when cases feel hopeless. But that is when I return to my parents’ second mantra: gratitude.

I am lucky that my parents were granted visas to move to the United States. We were lucky to have naturalized before punitive immigration laws came into effect in 1996. I continued to be lucky, getting a full-ride scholarship to Andover and having support throughout my higher education. Many years later, as a civil rights lawyer, I feel so fortunate to be doing something I love while having the slightest impact on the lives of others.

I often doubt whether the arc of the universe bends toward justice. But that question might be beside the point. So long as immigrants are being profiled for how they look or jailed solely based on their status, families are separated at the border and throughout the country, and the asylum system is under attack, the only question is whether we can learn from past mistakes on immigration and how future generations will judge our response to these crises.

personal endeavor, because I have represented clients who could have stable lives, fancy degrees and professional success, but for the circumstances of their birth.

Take for example Ms. N. We are about the same age, both first-generation women who call California home. When we first met, she was in jail, hysterically crying and about to be deported to Mexico, where she would be separated from her three young U.S.-citizen children. I knew on paper why Ms. N. was being targeted: she had no lawful status, missed her prior court dates, and amassed a lengthy criminal record. But I also understood why Ms. N. needed my help: she fled Mexico after being sexually abused as a child, missed her court dates because she was in another abusive relationship, and engaged in petty theft to provide for her kids. I could never presume to empathize with my client’s lived experiences, but I could try to get one immigration officer or judge to comprehend the nuances of my client and hear out her case.

Each individual case is a chance for systemic change. The ultimate goal is to push back against terms like “illegal”

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ISTOCK: GAVEL, ILKERCELIK

continued from page 27

Compassion from the Bench For decades, Judge Mary F. McCabe ’71 has been pioneering a more compassionate way of administering justice. And the city of Lawrence, Massachusetts, is taking notice.

“People who come to courthouses do not come when things are going well,” says McCabe. “They are here because there is nobody else to help them. There is nowhere else to go but court.”

McCabe opened her own law practice in Lawrence in 1986 and was appointed a district court judge by Gov. Deval Patrick in 2012. Day after day, one drama after another unfolds before the bench. Her docket includes a wide range of civil and criminal cases—from car accidents and drug charges to domestic violence and mental health hearings.

Each case is equally important to the people who come seeking justice, and a judge’s ability to listen actively to participants’ concerns is paramount.

“Understanding the extent to which poverty impacts justice is vital,” McCabe says. “We all like to think we’re ‘woke’— and then you find out you’re really not.

Trial courts are making an earnest effort to train and educate us on acknowledging our biases. The awareness of our biases provides insight when making crucial decisions.”

When she’s not on the bench, McCabe, a sixth-generation Lawrencian, is embedded in the community.

Volunteering. Mentoring. Fundraising.

Because fixing problems that contribute to crime, she says, should begin outside the courtroom.

Peers say McCabe’s hallmark is her willingness to recognize people’s humanity. In 2015, she received the Lawrence Bar Association’s Leadership Award for outstanding public service and dedication to making her community a better place through volunteer work

and fundraising. Her long list of service includes more than 50 years volunteering at Camp Fatima Exceptional Citizens’ Week, a free week-long camp for 170 people with disabilities made possible entirely through fundraising and volunteers.

McCabe also cofounded Debbie’s Treasure Chest, which provides aid and support for disadvantaged and at-risk families in the Merrimack Valley.

“I’m a better judge if I know the issues people in my community are confronted with,” McCabe says. “But the people who have presented themselves in my life—my former clients and those who come to court—have helped me far more than I have helped them. Theirs are the real stories of justice, of perseverance, resilience, and hope against all odds. I am lucky to have met them.”

“ To better understand justice…you have to open your eyes and see clearly the things that are unjust.”

—Judge Mary F. McCabe ’71

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JUSTICE ARTS & EDUCATION

Teaching Teens To Own Their Stories For the estimated 2.7 million American children who have a parent behind bars, incarceration is a reality that reverberates through the entire family.

A filmmaker and educator with 20 years of youth media experience, Jeremy Robins ’93 launched Echoes of Incarceration in 2008—an initiative that puts video cameras in the hands of young people with parents in prison. By training teens in media, reporting, and video production, Echoes enables them to create documentaries and educational materials about the criminal justice system’s impact on children. The films have been screened at prisons, festivals, universities, and educational conferences and for lawmakers at the White House.

Echoes was even commissioned by Sesame Street to create a film about visiting parents in prison.

“When you have storytelling grounded in the life experiences of these young people, you begin to see the effects of fractured family life through their eyes,” Robins explains. “The cultural, societal, and economic implications of mass incarceration in the United States is a civil rights issue that needs to be addressed. The voices of the many

The Future Is Fluid “Angels have no gender.” The slogan on a top-selling T-shirt by artist and entrepreneur MI Leggett ’13 reads like a moment of freedom. A moment that creates a connection, allowing us to challenge one another and our assumptions about gender.

From the runways of New York

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Jeremy Robins (left) with members of the Echoes crew in Brooklyn, NY. kids who live through it underscore the personal nature of this reality in ways the outside world doesn’t always see.”

Each summer, Echoes hosts a five-week training camp in New York for youth interested in learning about justice, strategies for advocacy, and how to use filmmaking for change.

Kharon Benson has been active in Echoes since the project began. Benson was 19 when he started working on his first documentary. He went on to make a short film about his relationship with his

father, who is serving a 25-year sentence at Sing Sing Correctional Facility in New York. Now a senior Echoes crew member and youth mentor, Benson has traveled around the world on behalf of the project and successfully lobbied legislators to change New York state laws affecting the children of incarcerated parents.

“Being part of Echoes changed my life,” says Benson. “Without this program, a lot of voices would’ve gone unheard.”

Fashion Week to press in the New York Times, Teen Vogue, and Bloomberg, the buzz swirling around Leggett’s genderfree, anti-waste fashion label, Official Rebrand (OR?!) is resonating with Millennial and Gen Z shoppers. Younger consumers, highlighted in a 2019 McKinsey State of Fashion report, are demanding transparency from the fashion industry’s shadowy supply chains— and seeking gender justice for individuals who have long felt disenfranchised by longstanding practices that push buyers into “small gender boxes.”

The $2.4-trillion-a-year fashion industry’s negative impact on climate and human rights inspired Leggett, who identifies as non-binary, to begin upcycling garments by painting, drawing, printing, and altering them into wearable works of art.

“Consumer objects are not sacred,” Leggett says, “and realizing their infinite alterability is materially and mentally liberating. Clothes also do not have to stay strictly categorized as male or female, and neither do we. OR?! is about celebrating queerness, individuality, and self-determination.”

A strong following for the OR?! brand and a growing market for sustainable, gender-fluid fashion signal to Leggett that a cultural shift is occurring.

“Youth power is vital and the world knows it,” they says. “The end absolutely depends on the beginning and if, from the beginning, you prioritize helping the planet and its people over accumulating capital, not only will you be happier— you just might change the world.”

Rebuilding Lives: Schools Give Syrian Refugees New Hope When civil war broke out in Syria in 2011, Aida Sharabati Shawwaf ’60 and her sister drove toward a Lebanese border town. Refugees were streaming in by the thousands.

“I still cry,” she says, “when I think about the images burned into my mind of all those figures coming out from the mountains. None of the NGOs had moved in yet. People were starving and ragged; many were sick. And the children—how wild, dirty, and tattered they looked. Spirits were broken.”

The conflict in Syria has engendered the largest refugee and displacement crisis in modern history—impacting an estimated 6.5 million, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. Among them are 2.8 million children.

Sharabati Shawwaf and her sister, Nora Joumblatt, responded by offering a lifeline. Through their nonprofit Kayany Foundation, the pair has opened nine schools since 2013, providing children from kindergarten through high school with free education, job training, and psychological support.

Giving children an opportunity to learn so that they may play a positive role in society and someday help rebuild their country is important to Sharabati Shawaaf. She understands what it means to lose everything.

In the early 1960s, a shift in power within the Syrian government led to a violent uprising. Sharabati Shawwaf was a freshman at Barnard College in

New York City when she learned that a military takeover led to the seizure of her family’s home and possessions. With nothing left, her family fled to Lebanon.

Eight years later, war forced them to start over yet again in France.

“War never makes sense. So much is lost, and for what? Money? Power?

Greed? But I was privileged,” says Sharabati Shawwaf. “My education always enabled me to forge a path through the darkness.” Her experience at Abbot Academy, she says, “opened my mind to the choices I could have in my life.”

A fierce advocate for women’s rights, Sharabati Shawwaf also helped establish Effat University in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia in 1999—the country’s first liberal arts college for women.

“My dream was to go back to my country and be part of the fiber of society, to help people lead better lives.

I have not given up that dream.”

Through the Kayany Foundation, some 4,500 Syrian refugee children who

live in tent cities throughout the Bekaa Valley region of Lebanon are receiving an education. School gives them a sense of stability and normalcy, a space for structured and safe socialization, and allows young refugees to still be kids—to laugh and play away from violence and conflict.

Nine years into Syria’s crisis, and with no foreseeable end, Sharabati Shawwaf says her work is far from over. Regionally, around one million children still are not in school. Kayany Foundation is working with numerous organizations and partners to create more schools and find solutions to prevent the escalation of a “lost generation.”

“Education is about building for the future,” she says. “War tears communities and families apart. Those who survive still have hope and ambitions; they just need our help reaching them.”

Learn more at friendsof kayany.org.

“ Justice is equal access to freedom, dignity, and education. Education is precious. It keeps hope alive and is every child’s basic human right.”

—Aida Sharabati Shawwaf ’60

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“Justice” by Ming Doyle ’03, a Boston-based freelance illustrator and comic artist whose work has appeared in Marvel, Vertigo/ DC, Image, and more.

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JUSTICE ARTS & EDUCATION

Whose Truth?

Whose Justice?

What American Way?

by Hillary Chute ’94

Superman and Wonder Woman have, historically, been symbols for justice. The entire superhero genre is deeply shaped by a preoccupation with justice, crime, and the parameters of law, particularly the tension that arises when superheroes (as they all do) operate outside of legal systems to assign reward or punishment.

Even after the age of the camera, the enduring popularity of comics and superheroes shows that pen and paper is still effective for expressing and engaging readers with the concept of justice.

The origin story of superheroes feels itself like an archetypal superhero storyline. In 1938, Superman kickstarted the popularity of the superhero figure and by extension the massive popularity of the comic book format (then just about 10 years old). Superman, whose birth name is Kal-El and whose alter ego is Clark Kent, was the brainchild of two shy, bespectacled teenagers from Ohio: Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster. The first incarnation of Superman appeared in their very own self-published science fiction magazine (or “zine”) in the 1930s.

Siegel, the youngest of six children born in Cleveland to Jewish-Lithuanian immigrants, met Shuster at age 16, when both were students at Glenville High School. Siegel, an active science fiction fan, worked at the student paper.

Shuster, an artist, had come to Cleveland from Toronto with his own Jewish immigrant family at about age 10 (his father, born Shusterovich, hailed from the Netherlands, his mother from Ukraine).

In 1932, Siegel’s father, Mitchell (born Segalovich), died during a nighttime robbery at his second hand clothing store in Cleveland. According to the police report, gunshots were heard but the coroner said it was a heart attack that ultimately killed Mitchell. His father’s death had a huge impact on him.

In 1934, reportedly at night when he couldn’t sleep, Siegel imagined the

Superman hero as we know him today, and Shuster in turn drew him. It took the two a couple of years to sell their Superman work, but finally, in 1938, Superman appeared on the cover of Action Comics #1, published by Detective Comics, the company later known as DC. Superman’s invulnerability—including to bullets—and the loss of his family and homeland resonate directly with Siegel’s experience losing a father to crime.

Superman was immediately hugely popular; Siegel and Shuster cast him as a “champion of the oppressed” from his very first appearance. In the wake of Superman’s success, superheroes proliferated and the so-called Golden Age of Comics began. Superman was joined in 1941 by Wonder Woman, also published by DC (she was invented by Harvard-educated psychologist William Moulton Marston, also the creator of the polygraph test). The very first page of Wonder Woman announces: “She appears as though from nowhere to avenge an injustice or right a wrong!”

Superheroes of this era earned popularity from fighting, in their way, for justice in World War II. There are probably two catchphrases most associated with superheroes: the notion that “with great power comes great responsibility” (Peter Parker’s—or Spiderman’s—Uncle Ben) and the idea of “truth, justice, and the American way,” attributed to Superman.

Considering how these three terms—truth, justice, and American— connect with one another, what’s so fascinating about Wonder Woman and Superman is that neither of them are American, even though they were created

by American cartoonists, wear the colors of the flag in their costumes, and have deeply shaped and continue to shape American culture.

Superheroes by and large are American creations—there are no

superhero traditions in other countries that exist on a par with the American tradition. Superman comes with a traumatic origin story about the total destruction of his planet (many have read Jewish immigrant experience fleeing the Holocaust into his storyline).

Rocketed to Earth by his father just moments before Krypton explodes, Superman is the planet’s lone survivor, subsequently adopted by a nice couple from Kansas.

As the cartoonist Gene Luen Yang explained recently, “Superman is literally an alien and an immigrant. And a lot of the superhero genre is about negotiating between two identities, which really mirrored my own life. I used one name at home, another one at school, had one language at home, another one at school.” Wonder Woman, too, is an immigrant to the United States; an Amazon, she hails from Themyscira (also known as Paradise Island).

I see at least two valences of justice in operation here. One is the justice inherent in the democracy of ideas we recognize in Superman’s creation—that one of the world’s enduring icons was formed in a zine by high school students, themselves coming out of a place of loss and hope. Second is the just version of citizenship these comics figures represent—immigrants both, like so many other superheroes, and regular people, who exhibit the best of American values.

As a student at Andover, Chute spent countless hours at the Addison Gallery of American Art. “It was a haven for me to explore and stretch my mind,” she says.

“It’s where I learned how to really look at and appreciate art.” An English professor at Northeastern University and a New York Times Book Review columnist who writes about comics, Chute has returned to Andover several times to speak to students and faculty about the medium.

This past October, she gave a lecture on the topic of justice in conjunction with the Addison exhibit, Men of Steel, Women of Wonder.

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JUSTICE FAITH & COMMUNITY

Spreading Light In Dark Times For people in trouble, international relief workers are often the human equivalent of Superman or Wonder Woman. Sean Callahan ’78 has been among the first on scene in some of the world’s most dire situations.

Yet the 32-year veteran of Catholic Relief Services (CRS)—who has led campaigns around the globe and worked with Mother Teresa—says it’s the people he’s encountered in the hardest of situations that make him believe in real-life superheroes and who continue to inspire his work in justice and peacebuilding.

“It is incredible to see people with meager resources reach for the stars and often, actually touch them,” Callahan says. “I have literally seen communities rebuild their homes after a disaster and turn the hillsides green again through agriculture and water management

techniques, all by trusting one another and working together. If we can spread this energy, what can’t we do?”

Founded in 1943, CRS is the official international humanitarian agency of the Catholic community in the United States serving approximately 107 million people in more than 100 countries. Regardless of religion, race, or nationality, CRS’s relief and development work assists the poor and vulnerable overseas with a strategy to ensure they live in just and peaceful societies, thrive in the face of disaster, and achieve dignified and resilient livelihoods in flourishing landscapes.

Callahan, who was named president and CEO of the organization in 2017, says the work enables him to never lose sight of what many Americans take for granted. He recalls the story of a woman named Farheya, who fled her home in

Somalia after her husband was killed.

Pregnant and carrying her 1-yearold son, she walked for two months to reach the safety of a CRS camp in Kenya.

Along her journey, there were threats of wild animals, bandits, and violence.

When she arrived at the camp, she built a shelter from sticks and plastic and was quick to welcome and host other refugees in her meager, dirt-floor “home” until they could build one of their own.

When Callahan asked the helpful and hopeful mother if there was anything she feared, she teared up and said, “my children’s future.”

“I realized that we’re all working for the same safety and security and for the same opportunities for our children—but do we all welcome others like Farheya did?” Callahan asks. “I am inspired by her selflessness and commitment to help others despite her own challenges.”

Sean Callahan takes a moment to play with children on a farm in Uganda, where he and CRS helped local families create successful cash crops to improve their livelihoods.

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Rebuilding Puerto Rico’s Schools Juan Segarra ’68, like other residents of Puerto Rico, went to bed as usual in September 2017. “Then I woke up and it was 1903.”

“There was no power. No light. No water. No cell phones,” says Segarra, recalling the rolling disaster set off

by Hurricane Maria for the 2019 documentary The Last American Colony.

“You didn’t know how your loved ones were doing except for the ones in your immediate vicinity. Hospitals were without power. Doctors were doing procedures from the flashlights on their phones. So you’re on your own and wondering, what am I going to do now?”

The blackout was the largest in U.S. history, and it took more than a year for power to be fully restored. Today, Puerto Rico is still struggling to rebuild in the aftermath of Maria. Hundreds of empty school buildings tell a tragic story of loss, neglect, corruption, and poor governance. Of the roughly 1,100 public schools left at the time of the storm, more than 250 didn’t reopen.

If Maria is a teacher, says Segarra, then the overarching lesson is that “now is not a moment to reconstruct what was—it is a time for transformation of what could be.”

Schools are always about the future, which is why Segarra, during his 50th Reunion, cemented a partnership with Andover Bread Loaf (ABL), one of the Academy’s four community outreach programs. ABL is now bringing educational revitalization to underresourced youth throughout the island, where half of the population lives below the federal poverty level.

The ABL Puerto Rico Collective, made possible through a $30,000 Abbot Academy Fund grant, launched in 2019 with teachers and students from six youth organizations and two schools, and an ambitious expansion plan. Their goal: to build a cadre of educational leaders trained to use literacy and the arts for

Students and ABL writing leaders become fast friends during an ice-breaker exercise at the Caminando con Caimito educational center in Puerto Rico.

self-expression, self-transformation, and social justice.

“We have always focused our work on empowering people in the most distressed areas of the country,” says Lou Bernieri, ABL executive director and longtime PA English instructor. “The ongoing injustices in Puerto Rico make it a place where we are eager to dig in and make a real difference.”

Segarra, Bernieri adds, has been key to the project, organizing the work, identifying key people, schools, and organizations to partner with, and serving as ABL’s main point person on the island.

For Segarra—a man with an Ivy League degree who spent 19 years in federal prison for his leading role in an extremist fringe group that fought for an independent Puerto Rico—it’s been a long journey from radicalized political agitator to peaceful justice activist. His life story is at the heart of The Last American Colony, Jose Garcia’s awardwinning documentary. Exploring the problematic history of the United States’ politically oppressive relationship with Puerto Rico, the film covers a lot of

ground. It begins and ends with Segarra’s experiences at Andover.

The road less traveled “Take care and do good.” It’s how Segarra signs off on his emails. Those words hold weight. Doing good for his family, his neighbors, and his homeland has always been a driving force for Segarra, but 50 years ago, the road to justice looked very different—and he remembers the day that changed him.

Racial tensions, the assassinations of President John F. Kennedy, Dr. Martin Luther King, and Robert Kennedy, and the Vietnam War stirred an anxious feeling that the country—and the world—were careening out of orbit. In the early morning hours of April 10, 1969, several hundred students huddled inside Harvard’s University Hall to protest the war—and would end up in a violent, bloody clash with some 400 police officers who stormed the building.

Segarra, a freshman at Harvard, watched the event unfold from his dorm room window.

Prior to the Harvard incident, Segarra’s eyes had been opened at Andover | Spring 2020

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JUSTICE FAITH & COMMUNITY

“My great lesson learned in life is that violence is not a means to an end,” Segarra says. “I’m not sorry for standing up for human rights, but I could have served my people better through nonviolent resistance, community organizing, and peaceful opposition.”

Members of ABL, including writing leaders Celeste Cruz and Amaryllis Lopez (center) and Juan Segarra (back row) gathered for an educators’ workshop with partners in Puerto Rico last fall.

Andover to Puerto Rico’s history of violence. From its time as a Spanish colony to its takeover by the United States following the Spanish-American War to its conversion in the early 1900s to a giant sugar plantation run by the Domino Sugar Company, repeated attempts by Puerto Ricans to obtain fair wages, keep their land, and have a say in their democracy were swiftly squashed by a corrupt government and police brutality. A gag law enacted in 1948 made flying a Puerto Rican flag or singing patriotic songs arrestable offenses that could result in 10 years’ imprisonment, a $10,000 fine, or both.

“Because of the repression in Puerto Rico, the teaching of our history is woefully inadequate,” Segarra says.

“Families weren’t even allowed to talk about independence. I learned the truth at Andover. It made me a critical thinker, and I began to question everything.”

From his window at Harvard, he witnessed the arrival of helmet-clad police in military formations soon followed by screaming, trampling, and the spilling of students’ blood. In that moment, he knew he wouldn’t become a lawyer like his father.

“That made the break for me from being an advocate of peaceful change to understanding that these guys had to be fought in a different way,” Segarra says.

From 1976 to the early 1980s, he was a member of Los Macheteros (The Cane Cutters), named after the sugar cane

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“ I’m a firm believer that the human element is the most important resource any country has, and that education is the best investment you can make in people.”

—Juan Segarra ’68 harvesters who used machetes to cut the canes. The guerilla group led a direct action campaign to win independence for Puerto Rico by carrying out attacks on U.S. military targets, including bombing 11 fighter planes grounded on the island, as well as orchestrating one of the largest cash heists in U.S. history—a $7.1 million Wells Fargo robbery in Connecticut in 1983 used to finance their attacks.

Lives were lost on both sides, and, in 1985, Segarra was arrested and sentenced to 55 years for his central role in the heist.

In 1999, he was offered clemency by President Clinton. He was released from prison in 2004.

An opportunity for change Every spring at Andover is punctuated with comings and goings. Another senior class graduates. Another Reunion Weekend sees graduates circling back.

In 2018, Segarra returned to campus for his 50th Reunion—his first time back since 1968.

Meeting with old friends sparked thoughts about the impact of students on other students, projects we complete, projects we fail, lives we change, and the resiliency of hope.

He was flanked by filmmaker Garcia, who introduced Segarra to his old friend, Bernieri.

“After Maria, I was looking for an effective way to help Puerto Rico recover, reconstruct, and be sustainable,” Segarra says. “Education is the most powerful and effective tool.”

Many young people depend on the resources they find at school, including meals and social services. By forcing the closure of roughly a quarter of Puerto Rico’s schools, the hurricane disrupted the lives of some 350,000 students.

ABL’s Puerto Rico Collective has laid out a three-year educational plan.

Rooted in arts and literacy, the program aims to produce a critical mass of Puerto Rican educators and students trained in ABL pedagogy who will then deliver training to others on the island.

“The goal is for ABL’s professional development network to not only transform teaching and learning in schools on the island, but also to serve as a case study to influence national educational policies,” Bernieri says.

Looking to the future, Segarra sees the emergence of a new generation of activists, a generation armed with knowledge and goodness.

“After the hurricane, we learned the importance of working together and getting things done on our own,” he says.

“We’re preparing to change our course.

Putting our energy into rebuilding the education system is a vital part of a reimagined and resilient Puerto Rico.”

JUSTICE ON CAMPUS

Following the example of alumni like Brian Gittens ’89, whose courageous act of defiance on the steps of Samuel Phillips Hall one frigid January morning changed the future of Andover’s MLK Day observances, students today are working in myriad ways to change the world.

The Tipping Point:

It Only Takes One Person W

“ Justice is not some passive condition to be achieved.

Justice, to me, is a verb. It is a constant pursuit that needs to be taken up in every arena.”

Student photos by Tory Wesnofske & Jessie Wallner

hat makes Andover a great school? Is it academic rigor? Innovative curriculum? Access to worldclass resources? If you ask Eli Newell ’20, the most important asset is its students.

“Andover’s greatest opportunity for promoting sustainability is not necessarily in the campus’s direct footprint; rather, the greatest opportunity lies in Andover’s graduates,” Newell wrote in an impassioned letter to The Phillipian addressing climate change.

Newell is at the helm of a movement to implement sustainability, social justice, and climate education across all core classes in every department. Taking his cue directly from the 2014 Strategic Plan, which calls for the school to “embed intellectual inquiry related to race, ethnicity, class, gender, and sexual orientation in our curriculum and other programming” along with an institutional directive to develop a Climate Action Plan, Newell wants to ensure that Andover is accountable.

He hopes that curricular changes will allow students to graduate “with an understanding of the climate crisis, its broad implications across ecological, economic, and social contexts, and the tremendous opportunities that exist in its mitigation.”

Newell chose Andover specifically because of the people; he wanted to be “surrounded by faculty and peers who are excited to collaborate with each other in asking tough questions and pursuing the answers.”

As he prepares to graduate later this spring, Newell and other students are charting a course toward youth leadership with Andover providing the foundation as a springboard for action.

“Justice is not some passive condition to be achieved,” Newell says. “Justice, to me, is a verb. It is a constant pursuit that needs to be taken up in every arena.”

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JUSTICE ON CAMPUS

Students Take Action

“ Justice is every person having an equal opportunity to live, and be celebrated, as their whole selves.”

H

annah Ono ’22 started a petition in fourth grade to get Dunkin’ Donuts to ditch Styrofoam cups. The change.org petition drew 300,000 supporters and helped persuade the company to eliminate all polystyrene foam cups by April 2020. Ono was also awarded a Nest Lab makerspace grant for the 2019–2020 school year to help raise awareness about sustainable fashion.

What advice would you give young activists?

It’s never too early or too late to get involved. As a 10-year-old, I didn’t understand the science of greenhouse gases…but I had high ambitions— naively, maybe—but with the best of intentions.

Following the support for the petition, my class was invited to Dunkin’ Donuts headquarters. A few 10-year-olds influenced a multibillion dollar company to transition to a more environmentally friendly alternative because we cared.

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A

member of the PA Women’s Forum (WoFo) board, the Brace Center Student Advisory Board, and an organizer for Take Back the Night, Emma Slibeck ’20 says every social movement is made up of individuals; her advice is to explore the unfamiliar and go outside your comfort zone.

Why is it important to get involved?

We all have to start somewhere. I hope through my involvement I can encourage my friends and peers to do the same. The more people get behind a cause, the harder it is to ignore. Working against huge issues like institutional racism and sexism can be exhausting and feel impossible at times. Getting involved reminds me that we all have the power to enact change.

What has been your favorite community engagement project focusing on justice?

Take Back the Night, which centers around uplifting the voices of survivors of sexual assault, harassment, and gender-based violence. It’s an opportunity for everyone on campus to get involved and find their voice in social justice.

L

ike many students, it took some time for Emiliano Caceres Manzano ’22 to get his bearings and feel comfortable at Andover. Participating in a variety of student clubs helped. He joined Alianza Latina and later became a member of the Brace Center Student Advisory Board. Now he’s a mentor to other students trying to find their place here.

Who do you look to for inspiration when it comes to standing up for what you believe in?

The Alianza community has given me so many valuable resources in the form of both student and faculty mentors and a caring, understanding community. I’ve been working on giving back to that community and developing a safe space for younger students—or anyone who is looking for one. Alianza Latina feels like such a vibrant place to share our culture and talk about things that matter. It has been one of the most rewarding experiences I’ve had at Andover.

“ A just world is where one feels supported rather than held back by society, government, or any other institution.”

A

CAMD Scholar, Chioma Ugwonali ’20 became involved in justice efforts after attending the 2017 Women’s March.

She helped organize Andover’s first Violence Prevention Awareness Week and recently gave a presentation on environmental injustice in low-income black and Latinx communities.

Why is it important to you to get involved?

We should all challenge ourselves to respect and understand our fellow human beings because we cannot resolve any problems that impact all of us if we remain segregated and hostile.

How can students have an impact on justice?

Most of us are at a precious stage where we are learning about the world and figuring out our place in it. With attentive listening, acknowledgment of mistakes, and continuous education, students with more privilege can empower disadvantaged students. Surrounding ourselves with people who differ from us and learning from their narratives are great practices.

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On any given day, students walk into the Office of Community and Multicultural Development’s welcoming space in Morse Hall and find themselves in the middle of a thoughtful conversation about identity and belonging, a planning session for a dorm talk, a meeting of any of the 30-plus clubs, a support circle for a peer struggling with a personal or systemic issue… or they can simply do homework, hang out with friends, or connect with a trusted adult. The same is true of the Brace Center for Gender Studies in Abbot Hall, where young feminists create community and plan gender-related learning opportunities for their peers, embodying the legacy of Abbot Academy.

Future Leaders of a Just World

complement more intimate discussions, like those with Abbot alumnae who regularly come back to engage with students.

Students often find their “home away from home” in Brace and

by Dr. Flavia Vidal & LaShawn Springer CAMD—both the physical spaces and the communities they engender. They Through CAMD and Brace, students who carved out space for young people feel safe, affirmed, and loved, and this grapple with hard truths about privilege when they felt like they didn’t belong on is paramount. But Brace and CAMD based on racial, economic, gender, and our campus, and who challenged Phillips are much more than havens for young sexual identity and then articulate what Academy to think about its own mission- people grappling with identity issues; they are willing to do to break down centered responsibility to welcome in the words of UCLA Distinguished those systems that prevent us from living “youth from every quarter.” These Professor of Education Pedro Noguera, in a just world. Students build on the enduring legacies have also created an “We will achieve justice when safety and powerful histories of their predecessors, important intergenerational connection love are systemic.” who did the work long before terms like between students and alumni. Major We channel our students’ critical equity and inclusion entered the lexicon, events, like AfLatAm@50 and GSA@30, inquiry mindsets and passion for social

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Andover | Spring 2020

JUSTICE ON CAMPUS

Left, top row: William Leggat, Benjamin Carbeau, Abigail Scharf, Alex Ashman, Ray Shoemaker, Kiran Ramratnam, Emiliano Cáceres Manzano. Seated: Niya Harris, Cameron Kang, Emma Slibeck. Missing from the picture are Eliza Scheer and Hanna Nazzaro Below: LaShawn Springer and Flavia Vidal

Andover students will be called upon to be on the right side of history and to solve some of the biggest challenges of our time, while formulating new questions and areas of inquiry to do so.

tool for justice; the annual Take Back the Night march and vigil supporting survivors of gender-based violence; AllSchool Meeting speakers on disability justice, immigration, youth organizing, formations of masculinity in America, and the 100th anniversary of the 19th amendment; equity and inclusion training for faculty and staff; Reunion Weekend classes; Andover’s first all-gender dorm; and our Summer Gender Institute.

We’ve also extended programming to Andover families, for example inviting them to be in conversation with Tony Jack, assistant professor at Harvard’s Graduate School of Education and author of The Privileged Poor: How Elite Colleges Are Failing Disadvantaged Students. Sharing his story as a firstgeneration college student trying to navigate the unspoken rules of his institution, Jack provided a validating and affirming voice for students and families, many of whom traverse some of the same challenges at Andover.

CAMD and Brace are proud to ground students’ journeys in safety and love, all the while providing them with the critical mindset and the activist skills that they will need to lead us to a just world.

Photos by Tory Wesnofske

justice into an intentional, ambitious, schoolwide curriculum based on collaboration and coalition building, peer-to-peer pedagogical interventions, and student-driven initiatives. The CAMD staff and Brace advisory boards model this horizontal approach and are integral to our impact.

At the core of our programming is an understanding that we are collectively responsible for one another and the world. Our individual relationships with each other, though very important, do not drive our sense of justice. We are propelled to act by an understanding that we are all actors in a system that necessitates an active, ongoing disruption, lest we become passive participants. This process involves unlearning some of what we’ve been taught and socialized to believe and relearning how to live in a just community.

We are leaders in justice-oriented education not only on campus, but also among our independent-school peers.

Brace is the only center for gender studies at the secondary-school level and is an extraordinary asset for Andover, especially given the importance and impact of recent national conversations about sexual assault and gender identity/ expression. CAMD too is a model for peer institutions, recognized for its extensive programming, which grapples with power and privilege and prioritizes training for students to be thought leaders and change agents. We are one of only a few schools to engage in a full day of justice-based learning on MLK Day, now in its 30th year.

Our students become intellectual leaders through the CAMD Scholars and Brace Student Fellows programs, which annually select eight to 10 uppers and seniors to embark on extensive summer research on diversity/multiculturalism or gender/sexuality. Guided by a faculty advisor, the students present their findings to the community. One of this year’s CAMD Scholars recently led a

lively discussion about the challenges faced by the children of refugees—in the United States and on campus. And during a standing-room-only Brace Fellow presentation, a student analyzed how traditional gendered expectations affect male choreographers’ visions, resulting in harmful effects on ballerinas’ bodies, and explained how these gendered norms play out in the lives of our student dancers.

Our work impacts the entire Andover community and beyond: MLK Day workshops; symposia on women in economics, reproductive rights, food justice, and data for social justice; publications like Out of the Blue and Into the Blue emphasizing the importance of storytelling as a

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Student performers and directors of “Beneath the Surface,” top row: Case Rosenfelt ’22, Morgan Davis ’22, Josh Fry ’21, Sulayman Oloritun ’20, Ioanna Ninos ’21, Ariana Phillips ’21, Han Chin Toh ’22, Emiliano Caceres ’22, and Nicole Jo ’21; middle row: Denise Taveras ’21, Kiran Ramratnam ’22, Nnenna Okorie ’22, and Mary Muromcew ’22; bottom: Jada Li ’21 Opposite page: Linda Carter Griffith and Allen Grimm Photo by Gil Talbot

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JUSTICE ON CAMPUS

What started out as a handful of students curious about combining personal narratives on equity and inclusion with a theatre component, has blossomed into an interdisciplinary class with more than a dozen students each year. Identity is centered around peer-to-peer learning and provides a level of depth unique for a high school.

Students Look Within to Understand Each Other

by Allyson Irish

Andover’s MLK Day celebration.

Students explored the intersection of class and privilege, societal expectations of manhood, and the “racial purgatory” of a mixed-race background.

Grimm and Griffith acknowledge that the personal information divulged in the class requires specific ground rules, such as the expectation of kindness and respect and the idea that while participants may disagree with one another, they do not devolve into personal attacks. The class also provides growth opportunities for both the instructors and students.

“The students have given me windows into worlds I would never have understood,” says Grimm. Griffith adds, “I’ve been able to grow and develop right alongside my students. I often tell them they push me to the next level.”

Jessie Wallner

The intimate setting of the Black Box Theatre is the perfect location for this year’s Identity performance.

The 14-member cast uses the stark background and lighting to its advantage, letting their powerful monologues take center stage.

“I just don’t know if I myself am enough,” a student wonders. Another asks, “Is it even home if I have to remember it? Romanticizing is better than forgetting.”

Andover’s interdisciplinary Identity class, started in 2016, navigates such heavy topics as race, gender expression, mental health, and sexuality. Identity has far exceeded the expectations of students and faculty participants as well as the hundreds of audience members who have experienced the performances.

“We are deliberately educating kids about identity and how identity impacts our lives,” says English instructor Linda Carter Griffith. Also the associate head of school for equity, inclusion, and wellness, Griffith coteaches the class with Allen Grimm, theatre and dance instructor.

“Andover has been doing ‘youth from every quarter’ since its inception,” says Griffith, “we’re just doing it differently now. When you enter Andover, either as a student or faculty, you begin to work the muscles and develop a skillset in equity and inclusion.

It is by virtue of the programming that is built into our community.”

This year’s production, Beneath the Surface: Things You Don’t Learn in Class, was performed as part of

Abigail Ndikum ’20 took part in the 2017 class and says it was one of the best decisions she’s ever made.

“Before coming to Andover, I did not think much about my identity, but the class broke down all of these ideas into terms that I could quickly grasp and allowed me to make connections between these concepts and my own identity. I am not just Abi; my name is Abigail Ngwe Ndikum and I am the black daughter of AnglophoneCameroonian immigrants who hopes to achieve the American dream.”

Currently a sophomore at Barnard College studying theatre, Justice Robinson ’18 participated in the first production, They Said I Should Write About My Identity and took part in two subsequent plays. Robinson’s experience was so positive and life changing that she often reflects on it. (See Robinson’s personal essay on page 116.)

“Theatre is such human-to-human interaction—and having students write and share their truths and be apprised of their truths—all of these things make or create empathy,” Robinson says. “This is something that I try to replicate at Barnard and it is something I will value forever.”

Aside from personal growth, Grimm and Griffith say they want student participants to come away from the experience with a better understanding of the transformative power of theatre and of the many human traits that unite us.

“This class allows our students to find their voices and to express a bit of their own truth,” Grimm explains. “I want them—and the audience—to find little bits of themselves in the performance and to understand that we have more in common than we realize.”  Andover | Spring 2020

43

KNOWL E DG E & GOODNESS : T HE ANDOVER CAMPAI G N

Photos by Yoon Byun

An Intentionally Diverse Community Building Cultural Competencies at Andover Andover has always sought meaningful ways to educate “youth from every quarter,” and today the school’s unparalleled commitment to equity and inclusion fortifies its founding charge.

The Knowledge & Goodness campaign serves as a catalyst for this essential and wide-reaching priority.

With campaign gifts—of all sizes—the Academy is elevating student programming, creating new campus partnerships, inspiring innovative research, and more.

Defining Our Values But what exactly does Andover mean by equity and inclusion? “We are striving to build a community in which every member feels valued and enjoys the access and opportunity to develop their full potential,” says Linda Carter Griffith, associate head of school for equity, inclusion, and wellness. “We seek to enhance the richness of a PA education by representing and embracing all forms of diversity.”

Crucial to this work are the Office of Community and Multicultural Development (CAMD) and the Brace Center for Gender Studies.

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Together they support over 30 student clubs and organizations and more than 45 lectures, workshops, and symposia annually. Last year, a symposium on food justice explored ways to make food more accessible to vulnerable populations and to provide economic opportunities through fair labor practices. This year, the Data for Social Justice Symposium will examine how data is created and collected and will analyze the limitations, biases, and ethics of data use.

Other events organized by Brace and CAMD range from campus talks with notable speakers such as award-winning journalist Nancy Jo Sales, filmmaker

“ I hope when students and faculty alike read Into the Blue, they engage in conversation about the facets of identity that differentiate and unite us.”

AISSATA BAH ’20

Into the Blue contributor and Barbara Landis Chase Scholar, CAMD

Celine Parreñas Shimizu, and #BlackLivesMatter cofounder Patrisse Cullors to events like Take Back the Night and Black Arts Weekend.

In fact, Brace Center and CAMD programs reach every student on campus—and families too. Both entities partner with the Parents of Students of Phillips Academy (PSPA) and engage in ongoing conversations on how to best support their children.

“We want our students to embody the values that come from living in an intentionally diverse community,” says LaShawn Springer, director of CAMD. “We are equipping students with the cultural competencies they need to contribute to a global society.”

Students recently demonstrated these skills when writing Into the Blue, a sequel to 2014’s Out of the Blue.

The CAMD-produced book features 40 narratives on race and ethnicity, wealth and class, gender, sexual orientation, religion, and more.

CAMD also hosted the Social Justice Leadership Institute this past fall. The institute originated at the Academy and has attracted hundreds of independent school students, who develop tools around community building, activism, and social justice analysis.

Generating Opportunities The Brace Center similarly drives academic dialogue and enjoys an expanded reach through its Summer Gender Institute. The institute unites educators worldwide to address topics around gender-based inclusion, gender-based violence, and gender theory.

More than 45 thought leaders have participated since the event began in 2017, with the focus placed on personal and meaningful exchanges with peers.

“It is our responsibility to help create strategies to combat oppression and develop engaged, just leaders,” emphasizes Flavia Vidal, director of the Brace Center.

Andover students have a special opportunity to build these competencies through the prestigious CAMD Scholars and Brace Student Fellows programs. Eight to 10 recipients are named each year and work with faculty on timely scholastic inquiries. The entire school is then invited to the final presentations. Current topics include religious language in American political campaigns, the stories of children of refugees, and deconstructing the fantasy of Asian femininity.

Overall, more than 1,700 alumni, parents, and friends have donated to equity and inclusion programming since the Knowledge & Goodness campaign launch.

Parents Bill Lee and Jane Chang P’19 are among them—supporting the Brace Student Fellows after their daughter, Susan, found the program influential in her academic and personal growth.

“Fellowships provide an opportunity for Andover students to develop a critical eye and carry that perspective into their daily lives,” says Lee. “Having seen this happen firsthand, our family hopes to help the Brace Center expand its mission and projects to as many students as possible.”  Read more about the impact of CAMD and the Brace Center on page 40 or visit andover.edu/diverse.

Andover | Spring 2020

45

TH E B U ZZ

the Buzzzzz

z

A new line of high-end maternity clothing, Frances Hart, was launched this past October by Natalie Hart Wadsworth ’01. The clothing line supports pregnant mothers by providing “the fit that you require without forsaking the finishes and tailoring that you expect.”

Noted Harvard geneticist George Church ‘72 was featured in a 60 Minutes story about the complicated ethics of genetic engineering. Church is director of The Personal Genome Project, which is based at Harvard University and dedicated to creating and sharing genome data across the world.

Congratulations to Tom Davidson ’90, who was recognized

by Goldman Sachs as one of the “100 Most Intriguing Entrepreneurs” at its 2019 Builders + Innovators Summit.

Davidson is the CEO of Everfi, a company that provides a platform for sharing educational content.

Govern for America—cofounded by Octavia Abell ’10 and Kyleigh Russ ’10—was named to the Forbes’ “30 Under 30” list for law and policy. The company works with more than 150 recruiting partners from across the country to place high potential recent college graduates from diverse backgrounds in a two-year fellowship program.

Former Andover math instructor and associate dean of faculty, Nancy Lang ’83 recently was named head of school at the New School in Fayetteville, Ark. Lang’s career has included time as a commissioned officer in the Air Force and head of school at Journeys School of Teton Science Schools in Wyoming. Another former Andover dean, Temba Maqubela, now headmaster of the Groton School, introduced Lang at her recent installation ceremony.

Author Stephanie Han ’82 made a television appearance on PBS Hawaii as part of their “Long Story Short” series.

Han’s first book of short stories, Swimming in Hong Kong, won the Paterson Fiction prize.

At its annual Spring Gala, the American-Scandinavian Foundation (ASF) recognized former Ambassador to Denmark Ed Elson ’52. Elson received the 2019 ASF Award for Distinguished Public Service presented by H.R.H. Princess Benedikte of Denmark.

In a wonderful twist of Andover serendipity, actress Sarah Hollis ’04 is portraying civil rights activist and president of Women in Africa Hafsat Abiola ’92 in a national tour of SEVEN. The play portrays the lives of seven remarkable women, as written by seven female playwrights and depicted by seven female actors.

Sacramento attorney Norman Hile ’63 received the United States Courts for the Ninth Circuit John P. Frank Award last summer. The award recognizes an outstanding lawyer practicing in the courts of the western U.S. Hile is currently senior counsel with Orrick Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP.

The Buzz features recent notable accomplishments by Andover and Abbot alums and faculty. Please email suggestions to magazine@andover.edu.

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ISTOCK: LAMB, GLOBALP

Writer Anthony Pucillo ’03 has added Monday Night Raw and SmackDown Live to his resume.

Pucillo also recently teamed up with fellow writer and PA alumnus Nate Scott ’05 on a new, serialized true crime podcast. The Sneak features stories that focus on the world of sports.

AL UMNI CAL E N DA R

Stronger Together At a NYC gathering of LGBTQ+ alumni this winter, community members enjoyed an evening at the Leslie Lohman Museum of Art with comments from Malik Jenkins ’09 and Ryan Coughlan ’02.

The event was sponsored by the Equity & Inclusion Committee of Alumni Council. If you are interested in being identified as a part of Andover’s LGBTQ+ alumni community for future events and programming, please contact Kassie Infante in the Office of Alumni Engagement at kinfante@andover.edu.

Hong Kong

Dallas

SPRING & SUMMER EVENTS April 16 New York, NY

Tour of the American Museum of Natural History with Doug Pirnie ’65

April 18 New York, NY

Fidelio & the Phillips Academy Orchestra at Lincoln Center

April 24

CAMD Scholar Presentation

On Campus

April 25 Silver Spring, MD

Non Sibi Project with Beth Crowley ’94, Exeter, and a Wider Circle

April 25 Portland, OR

Non Sibi Project with Kate Donchi ’89 & Oregon State Parks

April 25 Denver, CO

Non Sibi Project with Max Caulkins ’90 & the Jeffco Boys & Girls Club

April 25 Honolulu, HI

Non Sibi Project with Yvonne Chan ’91 & Na- Wai ‘Ekolu

April 26 New York, NY

Non Sibi Project with Jessie Ting ’99 & God's Love We Deliver

April 26 Vancouver, BC

Non Sibi Project with Joanna Ho P’22 & YWCA Crabtree Corner

May 3

On Campus

Tour of Oliver Wendell Holmes Library

May 9

On Campus

Destination Day with Abbot

June 12-14

On Campus

Reunions@Andover 2020

For more event listings, visit www.andover.edu/alumnievents.

Andover | Spring 2020

47

A N D O V ER BO O KS HELF

No Barrier Can Contain It

by Ariel Mae Lambe ’99 The University of North Carolina Press Vividly recasting Cuba’s politics in the 1930s as transnational, Lambe has produced an unprecedented reimagining of Cuban activism during an era previously regarded as a lengthy, defeated lull. Cubans from diverse backgrounds and political stances self-identified as antifascists and moved—both physically and symbolically— across borders and oceans, cultivating networks and building solidarity for a New Spain and a New Cuba. They believed it was through these ostensibly foreign fights that they would achieve economic and social progress for their nation. Indeed, Cuban antifascism was such a strong movement, Lambe argues, that it helps to explain the surprisingly progressive turn that Batista and the Cuban government took at the end of the decade, including the establishment of a new constitution and presidential elections.

Contested Territory

by Christian Lentz ’92 Yale University Press This work of historical and political geography ventures beyond the conventional framing of the Battle of Điên Biên Phù, the 1954 conflict that toppled the French empire in Indochina. Engaging newly available archival sources, Contested Territory dives into the process of Vietnamese state making. The battle in the Black River region took place in an area contested by both Vietnam and France, and led to eventual independence for Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia. Tracking a longer period of anticolonial revolution and nation-state formation from 1945 to 1960, Lentz argues that Vietnamese elites constructed territory as a strategic form of rule.

The book’s premise is that territory is never given, but rather an ongoing social process and ruling strategy.

Targeted

by Brittany Kaiser ’05 HarperCollins When Kaiser joined Cambridge Analytica—the UK-based political consulting firm funded by conservative billionaire and Donald Trump patron Robert Mercer—she was an idealistic young professional working on her fourth degree in human rights law and international relations. A veteran of Barack Obama’s 2008 campaign, Kaiser’s goal was to utilize data for humanitarian purposes, most notably to prevent genocide and human rights abuses. But her experience inside Cambridge Analytica opened her eyes to the tremendous risks that this unregulated industry poses to privacy and democracy. In this explosive memoir, Kaiser gives an eyewitness account of the disturbing truth about the multibillion-dollar data industry, revealing to the public how companies are getting richer using our personal information and exposing how Cambridge Analytica exploited weaknesses in privacy laws to help elect Donald Trump.

My World Book 2: Tramping the Globe on $10 a Day

by Ben Batchelder ’78 Earthdog Press Fresh out of college, a lost American despairs of his new career, chaotic life, and family. When an invitation to Scotland falls into the depths of a New York winter, he grabs at the chance to renew himself.

On a whim, he decides to save money, fly to Europe, and travel east to the ends of the earth, on $10 a day for a year or more.

Here is the story of his odyssey: staying at German castles; losing not one but two passports to thieves; disastrous brushes with lost bags, malicious customs officials, Cairo scam artists, and Thai police; and dogged much of the time by illness. Batchelder has spun a tale of a young man losing his innocence, awakening politically, falling in love, and finding the support and resourcefulness to pull through the most dangerous miles of his life.

Afterlife

by Julia Alvarez ’67 Algonquin Books Antonia Vega, the immigrant writer at the center of Afterlife, has had the rug pulled out from under her. She has just retired from the college where she taught English when her beloved husband, Sam, suddenly dies. And then more jolts: her bighearted but unstable sister disappears and Antonia returns home one evening to find a pregnant, undocumented teenager on her doorstep. Set in this political moment of tribalism and distrust, Alvarez’s compact, nimble, and sharply droll novel asks: What do we owe those in crisis in our families, including—maybe especially—members of our human family? How do we live in a broken world without losing faith in one another or ourselves? And how do we stay true to those glorious souls we have lost?

Learning Music Theory with Logic, Max, and Finale

by Geoffrey Kidde ’81 Routledge Press Kidde’s new book is a groundbreaking resource that bridges the gap between music theory teaching and the world of music software programs. The problem: traditional music theory teaching doesn’t fully engage with today’s impressive technological capabilities and, although an essential part of the modern musical environment, software tools—on their own—don’t provide musicians with any understanding of music notation or structure. Learning Music Theory focuses on three key programs—the Digital Audio Workstation (DAW) Logic, the Audio Programming Language (APL) Max, and the music-printing program Finale. Kidde shows how these software tools can be used together to provide an introduction to core music theory concepts and to develop programming skills alongside music theory skills.

If you would like your book to be considered for publication, please email a high-resolution image of the book cover and a 75-word summary of your book to rsavard@andover.edu. Books will be included at the discretion of the editor.

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END NOTE

Who else,

by Justice Robinson ’18

but me?

When people ask me what my senior “Facebook” name is going to be, their eyes flash with possibilities. “Justice, Truth, and the American Way”... “No Justice, no peace. Know Justice, know peace”... “Justice for All and All for Justice”—honestly the list never stops. It makes me wonder, did I ever have a choice to be interested in politics?

“Your name means fairness, sweetie,” my father (oh so frequently) educated unto me. “You will bring fairness and a just view in this mundane world.”

But dad, I’m only in the 3rd grade, is what I would have said. But, “Save your talking back for the courtroom,” would have been his predictable response. “Judge Justice. No, no, better yet Justice...Justice yeah?”

Yeah dad, sure. I’ll design all of my binders with that when I enroll in Harvard Law and start defending the White House, marry the black male lawyer from across the yard, and settle down outside of DC, yeah?

My name was also my first kiss. We were in pre-K at the playground and everyone already knew he liked me. The kids loved singing our theme song, “Justice and Justice sitting in a tree, k-i-s-s-i-n-g.” I hated when people referred to us as JJ. I wanted to be my own person separated from my bad other half.

For a while, I wished my name wasn’t Justice. I really wanted to separate myself from the uniqueness that followed, and the sometimes threatening looks when my non–keychainsouvenir name was spat out during roll call.

But with Justice comes joy, and with Justice comes pride, and with Justice comes great responsibility.

And who else to fill those shoes other than me? 

This essay was written by Justice Robinson in her lower year at Andover as part of the Identity class. Robinson is currently attending Barnard College in New York and pursuing a career that combines theatre and nonprofit work. “I want to use theatre as a way to represent differences and diversity so that people see themselves and what is important.”

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E D I TO R ’S N O TE

WHAT IS JUSTICE?

Five Wonderful Weeks of Andover!

Comic artist and writer Ming Doyle ’03 responded to this prompt with our powerful cover illustration. Doyle chose to represent justice as a woman of color standing in the classic superhero pose of strength, bursting through the clouds and leading the way forward. “Lady Justice” is blindfolded, representing impartiality and the ideal that justice should be applied without regard to wealth, power, or other status. She is holding the metaphorical scales of justice in one hand; in the other she clutches not a sword, but an olive branch, a symbol of peace and environmental justice.

Doyle offers a specific visual concept of justice, but there are many other interpretations—and questions. Who and what is justice for? Who determines justice and who does not? Is it possible to repair past injustices and if so, how?

This issue highlights some of the ways that students, faculty, and alumni have explored this year’s academic theme of justice. In one story, we look at how the Andover Theological Seminary helped bring Christianity to Hawaii (p. 20), and in so doing also eliminated critical aspects of native Hawaiian culture. Alumna Justice Robinson ’18 explores the meaning of her atypical name in a personal essay (p. 116), and new head wrestling coach Kassie Archambault ’06 discusses how she hopes to introduce more young women to a sport that historically has been male-dominated (p. 12).

Our cover story on page 22 captures a broad array of perspectives, from students tackling issues of social and environmental justice on campus and around the world, to PA programs and classes that address and illuminate justice-related components, to alumni whose work focuses on inequities in data collection, the legal system, religious communities, education, and beyond.

Aida Sharabati Shawwaf ’60, an Abbot alumna who founded a nonprofit to help educate Syrian refugee children, defined justice as “equal access to freedom, dignity, and education.”

The stories we highlight in this issue prove that education—and in particular the education provided by Andover—can make a positive difference in the world.

Allyson Irish Editor airish@andover.edu @andovermagazine

Do you know a student who would appreciate the opportunity to live and learn on the Phillips Academy campus this summer? Surrounded by 500+ peers from across the country and around the world, students entering grades 7 through 12 are challenged academically and learn independence in a safe and nurturing environment.

• Small class sizes

• Special programs for younger students

• Boarding and day student options

• Daily and weekly activities and trips

• 75+ courses and one-on-one college prep for older students

• Friendships that will last a lifetime!

PHILLIPS ACADEMY SUMMER SESSION June 30–August 2, 2020 Enrollment now open • Learn more at www.andover.edu/summer20

Gil Talbot

Next Generation Leadership 16th Head of School Dr. Raynard S. Kington (second from left) will begin his tenure this summer. Pictured here, Kington makes his way to his first All-School Meeting with Board of Trustees President Peter L.S. Currie ’74, P’03; Trustee President–Elect Amy Falls ’82, P’19, ’21; and Interim Head of School Jim Ventre ’79. Read more on page 6.

SPRING 2020

Phillips Academy, Andover, Massachusetts 01810-4161

Periodicals postage paid at Andover, MA and additional mailing offices

SPRING 2020