Andover magazine: Summer 2018

SUMMER 2018

PROJECT EARTH

20

alumni saving the planet

Bravery and Sacrifice Recognized

P

—Allyson Irish

Above, Suzanne Kristensen and Rear Adm. Edward K. Kristensen, USN, speak with a guest. Below, Suzanne Kristensen shares a photo of her son, Erik.

Photos by John Gillooly

hillips Academy unveiled a bronze bust of Lt. Cmdr. Erik S. Kristensen ’91, USN SEAL, during a special ceremony held at the William H. Brown 1934 Boathouse on May 19. Kristensen was killed in action in Afghanistan in 2005 while leading Operation Red Wing to save embattled fellow SEALs. Dozens of Kristensen’s friends, members of Andover and the Military, and PA community members joined Kristensen’s parents, Suzanne Kristensen and Rear Adm. Edward K. Kristensen, USN, for a tribute prior to the final crew race of the season against Northfield Mount Hermon.

The bust was created by Chas Fagan ’84, a portraitist, sculptor, and painter who has done numerous historical American pieces including several for Andover. Fagan was inspired to create the sculpture after reading the novel Lone Survivor Survivor, an eyewitness account of Operation Red Wing. “I wanted to capture a moment in history that should not be forgotten,” Fagan says.

Before he began working on the piece, Fagan met with the Kristensens, who provided him with stories and photos of their son.

“It’s through them that I was able to envision and shape this bust,” Fagan says. “Erik the friend, Erik the teacher, Erik the SEAL, and Erik the son. They helped me see him as more than just a famous Navy SEAL and to show his confidence, warmth, and humor. That is what I tried to convey.“

FEATURES 11

24

Thoughts on Teaching: Sheena Hilton ’05

Chemistry instructor and Flagstaff cluster dean Sheena Hilton ’05 talks about why she came back to Andover, what inspires her teaching, and what cookies she bakes.

14

6

14

Project Earth

It’s a bold statement, but it’s true. From environmental law and eco-advocacy to water preservation and wildlife management, these 20 alums are on the forefront of preserving our planet.

24

Golden Anniversary for Af-Lat-Am

From the first president of Af-Lat-Am to this year’s student leader, seven alumni discuss the impact of this important program.

30

For the Love of Teaching

These three retiring faculty members embody the best of Phillips Academy, artfully combining knowledge and goodness and living non sibi each day.

34

On the Campaign Trail

Take a comprehensive look at our campaign priorities and explore how Knowledge & Goodness is shaping the Andover experience.

9 DEPARTMENTS: Editor’s Note 2| From the Head of School 3| Dateline Andover 6| The World Comes to Andover 10| Sports Talk 12| The Buzz 44| Alumni Calendar 45| Andover Bookshelf 46| Class Notes 47| In Memoriam 104| End Note 108| CLOSE-UPS: Nancy Mercer Welch ’51: Belle of the Ballroom 53| Jack Czarnecki ’68: A Fun Guy and His Fungi 70|

Access these sites at www.andover.edu

Facebook

YouTube

Instagram

EverTrue

Linked In

SmugMug

Twitter

Andover | Summer 2018

1

SUMMER 2018 Volume 111, Number 3 PUBLISHER Tracy M. Sweet EDITOR Allyson Irish DESIGNER Ken Puleo ASSOCIATE EDITOR & CLASS NOTES EDITOR Rita Savard CLASS NOTES COORDINATOR Laura MacHugh CLASS NOTES DESIGNER Sally Abugov CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Kristin Bair O’Keeffe, Matthew Bellico, Jill Clerkin, Jane Dornbusch, Katie Fiermonti, Allen Lessels, Elizabeth O’Brien PHOTOGRAPHERS David Arnold ’67, Yoon Byun, Heather Espana, David Fricke, John Gillooly, John Hurley, iStock images, Roberto Linsker/ ISA, James Porter, Gil Talbot, Les Talusan, Tory Wesnofske, Dave White, Samson Zhang ’20 2018© 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

EDITOR’S NOTE Welcome to the summer 2018 issue of Andover magazine, an issue that literally “hops” off the page! (Turn to the cover to see what this refers to!)

One of the things we consistently hear is that you most enjoy reading about fellow alumni. We’ve taken your feedback to heart. In this issue, we cover Af-Lat-Am’s golden anniversary as told through the voices of seven alumni, and we feature 20 alums who are working to save the planet.

We’ve also made some notable changes to the Class Notes section. In this issue, we introduce a newly designed opening page that clearly delineates Class Notes from the rest of the magazine, along with a table of contents that allows you to easily find alumni profiles and other information. This section also includes a new design for alumni photos, which are now featured in a clean, contemporary grid showcasing your PA moments from weddings to births to serendipitous meetings around the world.

In order to create a simpler and more equitable process for Class Notes, all class years will now have a uniform word count. This will make it easier for class secretaries to plan, it will create additional space to highlight alumni activities and upcoming events, and it will present a more visually appealing section.

The last change relates to protecting the privacy of alumni. Beginning with this issue, we will no longer post Class Notes online. At a time when people are increasingly sensitive about personal data appearing online, we believe this is a prudent decision and one that is common among many other schools, colleges, and universities. We plan to explore options to post Class Notes online in the future behind a secure firewall, but in the meantime, we hope this change will make you even more eager to read the magazine when it arrives in your mailboxes.

Andover magazine phone: 978-749-4677 Email: andovermagazine@andover.edu Periodicals postage paid at Andover MA and additional mailing offices.

Postmasters: Send address changes to Phillips Academy 180 Main Street Andover MA 01810-4161 ISSN-0735-5718

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.

2

Andover | Summer 2018

Allyson Irish, Editor

Looking for Alumni Who…

Are disrupting the educational paradigm.

Andover magazine is planning for a story that features alumni who are at the forefront of new educational models, from hybrid classes and MOOCs, to charter schools and more.

If you have suggestions, please send them to airish@andover.edu or rsavard@andover.edu.

Dave White

O

From the Head of School

Legends of the Academic Kind

ver these past few months, the Andover family has lost several icons of boarding school life. This issue’s In Memoriam pages feel particularly heavy, with obituaries for Wendy Richards, Phebe Miner, and Carroll Bailey.

Elaine Bailey’s tribute was published in the winter 2018 issue.

The recent passing of Tom Regan ’51 in May was shared in Andover eNews.

The loss of these campus leaders and friends has given rise to an outpouring of gratitude. It has been touching to bear witness to heartfelt eulogies, emails, social media exchanges among classmates, and conversations among alumni, parents, friends, and family.

These moments of reflection coming from so many in our community speak to a greater collective influence of countless others like these five Andover icons. Across generations, alumni have preserved in their hearts and minds fond memories of dozens of school legends.

The Baileys were exuberant teachers and tireless caregivers.

Carroll will long be remembered for his inspired dissection of Homer’s Odyssey and other English 100 tomes, demonstrating his excitement to engage with students on both an intellectual and a personal level.

Carroll and Elaine opened their home for study sessions, offering warm hospitality and home-cooked meals. They welcomed students who did not have a place to go over holiday breaks.

Two classroom plaques in Bulfinch Hall include Tom Regan's name, a testament to his deeply felt legacy. Faculty Emeriti Paul Kalkstein ’61 and Ed Quattlebuam ’60 admired Tom’s ability to teach across the curriculum, lauding his “Satire and Comedy” elective as a “jewel.” Their co-written tribute quotes a student of the 1990s who was blessed to learn from a “brilliant man who cared deeply, but never coddled.” Tom and his wife, Geraldine, approached their 21 years in the dorms with a similarly caring and stern approach.

Phebe and her late husband, Faculty Emeritus Joshua Miner, were also known for their “tough love” approach to residential life. It earned them respect in the moment and won them hearts for a lifetime.

Wendy, predeceased by her husband, Faculty Emeritus Jack Richards, was known to sit at her Stowe House kitchen table and have the kinds of difficult conversations with adolescent girls that many were not comfortable having at home. “In loco parentis” transcends all of these connections.

These teachers educated, coached, mentored, and, depending on the occasion, congratulated and consoled thousands of students.

An alumnus from the Class of 1973 who visited with Carroll during his final days wrote of the Baileys: “It is hard to look at Andover today and think what it was like before they arrived.”

He admired the couple’s “recognition that our society, and Andover, needed to pivot to a new time…a forward-looking, more inclusive, more kid-centric time.”

Another alumnus traveled across the country to sit with his favorite teacher, knowing this might be his last opportunity to do so. Both teacher and student left that final “conference period” with hearts full. A member of the Class of 1982 flew halfway around the world to attend the memorial service, adding to the thousands of miles traveled by other alumni wishing to pay their respects.

We sometimes associate the word “legend” with sports heroes; it conveys their enormous talent, staying power, and their inspirational qualities.

At Andover, we also honor legends of the academic kind.

They deserve our deepest gratitude for what they have given Andover students. They are standard bearers for the kind of intellectual leadership and compassion that I know will continue to define this academy for generations to come. As current members of the faculty, we are in their debt for the foundation they have laid and the example they set for us in our own work today.

Teachers and mentors such as these are what make Andover extraordinary.

Sincerely, John G. Palfrey, P’21

Andover | Summer 2018

3

4

Andover | Summer 2018

Andover’s Great Elm Planted nearly 300 years ago, Andover’s Great Elm, located adjacent to Day House, is the oldest tree on campus and one of the nation’s oldest elms, registered with the Elm Research Institute in Harrisville, N.H. According to Russell Stott, senior manager of campus design, sustainability, and grounds, elm trees have been planted on a continual basis since the school’s founding.

In the early 1800s, Samuel Farrar, the Academy’s treasurer, transported several native elms from a nearby swamp to campus.

This double row of trees eventually grew into the stately Elm Arch.

While many campus trees are mature and beautiful, the Great Elm is unique. It is more than 70 feet tall with a trunk measuring nearly 19 feet in circumference and branches spanning 100 feet wide. More than 30 cables and multiple rods have been affixed to the tree to keep its heavy limbs from cracking and breaking.

To learn about the expert care that Andover provides to the Great Elm and other trees on campus, watch a video with consulting arborist Dave Gingrich at www.andover.edu/ projectearth.

Tory Wesnofske

Andover | Summer 2018

5

D ATE LI NE ANDO V ER

THE DAWN OF A NEW ATHLETICS ERA Formally dedicated in February, the Snyder Center is the first major step in Andover’s multiphase plan to upgrade and modernize campus athletic facilities. The 98,000-square-foot building includes practice and competition facilities for squash and indoor track, as well as flexible spaces for other sports and fitness activities, meetings, and events.

The Snyder Center boasts multiple sustainable features including: • 1,778 rooftop solar panels that provide electricity to the building • Furniture made from reclaimed wood • Rain gardens for storm water management • A heating system supported by waste heat from PA’s ice rinks To read more about the next phase of the Athletic Facilities Master Plan, including the Pan Athletic Center, see the inside back cover.

Photos by David Fricke and Gil Talbot

6

Andover | Summer 2018

OUTGOING BOARD MEMBERS

John Gillooly

During the spring Trustee Weekend, Andover took time to recognize three outgoing board members—Misty Muscatel Davis ’01; Peter Hetzler ’72, P’10; and Allison Picott ’88—as Trustee President Peter Currie ’74, P’03 shared official resolutions and heartfelt gratitude for their work.

New Alumni Council President Steve Matloff ’91 and outgoing president Misty Muscatel Davis ’01. Matloff begins his three-year term July 1.

A Big Blue Thank You to Retirees The friendly face (and broadbrimmed tan hat) of PA Public Safety, Tom Conlon is retiring from

Andover after 30 years on campus. Conlon arrived at Andover to fill a temporary facilities position, something he thought would last perhaps a few months or a year. But that job led to a full-time position, and then another one, and eventually the opportunity to become director of public safety. Conlon has simple plans for retirement: various household tasks, a trip to Utah, and spending more quality time with his four grandchildren.

Anyone who has spent any time in the Community and Multicultural Development Office will recognize Mary Jane Lewis,

Gil Talbot

better known as Mama Lewis. A fixture in CAMD for the past 25 years, Mama Lewis is known for her infectious laugh, her high energy, and, of course, her famous hugs. As for her moniker, Lewis says that years ago a student had to perform a skit for a class and asked her to play the role of Mama Jane. “And the Mama part stuck,” Lewis says. Not one to slow down, Lewis plans to stay active with PA’s Gospel Choir, visit the elderly, spend time with her grandkids, and get certified to teach aqua aerobics during retirement.

Andover | Summer 2018

7

D ATE LI NE ANDO V ER

• Leonardo da Vinci, Walter Isaacson (Jacques Hugon, mathematics, statistics, and computer science)

Swimsuit?

Check.

Sunglasses?

Check.

Books?

Check.

• The Gene: An Intimate History, Siddhartha Mukherjee (Paige Roberts, director of archives and special collections) • I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter, Erika L. Sánchez (Jineyda Tapia, English) • Slow Violence and the Environmentalism of the Poor, Rob Nixon (David Fox, English) • Black Man in a White Coat: A Doctor’s Reflection on Race and Medicine, Damon Tweedy (Leslie Condon, coordinator of museums, educational outreach, and major gifts)

Here are five books recommended by faculty for your summer reading list.

Reading recommendations are collected from faculty and distributed campuswide annually.

The list is affectionately dubbed “Craig’s List” in memory of the late English instructor Craig Thorn, who began the tradition of soliciting the entire faculty for book recommendations around 1990.

Read the full list at andover.edu/magazine.

Six Honored for Distinguished Service

ANDOVER EMOJI PRIDE

Congratulations to Andover’s 2018 Distinguished Service Award honorees, who were applauded by family, friends, and members of the PA community at a special luncheon on May 5 in Paresky Commons. The award is presented annually by decision of the Academy Resources Trustee Committee to volunteers whose services to Andover have been distinguished by commitment, uniqueness, and effectiveness. Their efforts on behalf of the school provide an inspiring example for all volunteers.

Samson Zhang ’20

From left: Karen Humphries Sallick ’83, P’14, ’17; Howard and Leslie Appleby, P’11, ’13, ’17; Head of School John G. Palfrey, P’21; Christopher Auguste ’76, P’09, ’12; Mac King ’05; and Ruth Sisson Weiner ’66, P’97, ’01

8

Andover | Summer 2018

Communication is always evolving, and that even includes emojis.

Like any student filled with Big Blue pride, Samantha Bloom ’18 wanted more options to reflect her love of Andover and to connect with the community, so she created Gunga Stickers, an app filled with PA-themed emojis. Featuring 150 emoji stickers—including Gunga biting into a red steak, a Paresky Commons plate loaded with stir-fry, and the Andover Blue Card—Bloom’s app serves up a fun way to stay connected with a nod and a wink to school spirit.

The Gunga Stickers app is only available for Apple users, but Bloom said an Android version is in the works.

Take Note: Abbot & Andover Share Musical Bond

Andover Archives

L

ittle things can bring big changes. For students at Phillips and Abbot academies, music was a bridge that helped the two single-sex schools come together.

Geographically close, yet separated by years of tradition and gender, “music,” noted John Moreland ’18, “was one of the only—if not the only—exception to this norm.”

In March, Moreland led a large audience gathered in Kemper Auditorium backward through history, tracing the musical roots of Abbot and Phillips academies. His presentation, How Music Propelled a Society Forward, was the culmination of a yearlong research project sponsored by the Community and Multicultural Development Office.

In between live singing performances, Moreland, who is also copresident of the Fidelio Society, highlighted key figures in Andover music: Abbot music instructor Kate Friskin (who taught from 1922 to 1961), also known as a “force from down the Hill;” musicologist and choirmaster Dr. Carl Pfatteicher, who taught from 1912 to 1947; William Schneider, who taught from 1949 to 1981 and conducted the chorus, string orchestra, and small ensemble groups; and William Thomas, instructor in music from 1974 to 2008, known for transforming the music department and the Academy post-merger.

Working together on music and theatre that blended student voices from both academies challenged traditional thinking and was met with pushback, Moreland explained. But these visionary educators rose above the opposition, believing that diversity was key to reaching maximum creative potential. In addition to teaching at Abbot, Friskin, an instructor in piano, music theory, and choral music, extended her talents to partner with Andover. She helped create joint performances, including Gilbert and Sullivan productions and mixed-gender concerts between Abbot’s Fidelio Society and PA’s Glee Club.

In 1952, the Gilbert and Sullivan production of The Pirates of Penzance was co-led by Friskin and Schneider. During an interview with musicologist Lloyd Farrar ’52, Moreland learned the performance was a pivotal moment of change for both academies. “Farrar feels strongly that it was this production that began the process of a dialogue leading up to the merger of the two schools,” Moreland said.

When the two academies merged 21 years later, Kristine Tomlinson ’73 said many Abbot students were feeling upset over the loss of their school. Then the faculty got together and did something amazing: They wrote, directed, and performed a musical about the merger.

“It was a wonderful moment that has always stayed with me,” Tomlinson said. “Many of us felt like we were losing our identity. When the faculty took the time to do this for us, it really showed that they cared about what we were going through.

For the first time, we felt a sense of hope.”

And to think that it all began with a blended group of talent. “By forming a collective of varied voices, a whole other avenue was opened to just how far they could take the music,” Moreland said. “That exposure was a tool for social change.”

Kate Friskin, Abbot music instructor, with students

—Rita Savard

Andover | Summer 2018

9

TH E WO R LD C O MES TO ANDOVER

T

he Andover community is fortunate to learn from the wisdom and experience of numerous guest speakers. Below are some of the notable visitors we welcomed to campus during the winter and spring terms.

Maria Toorpakai

How did a young girl raised in a Talibancontrolled rural village—where girls are not allowed to play sports—achieve her dream of becoming a professional squash player? When Maria Toorpakai visited Andover in January, she shared how she disguised herself as a boy in order to play sports. With the support of her Muslim family, whose lives were endangered by her choice, Toorpakai went on to become Pakistan’s top-ranked women’s squash player. The author of A Different Kind of Daughter: The Girl Who Hid from the Taliban in Plain Sight, Toorpakai encouraged PA students to have the confidence to explore their special gifts.

Howard Dean

Given the lack of cooperation across the political aisle these days, what better topic for former Vermont governor and former presidential candidate Howard Dean to discuss? During his campus visit, Dean suggested that U.S. political parties need to be more fact-based and flexible.

A former Democratic National Committee chairman, Dean is also a physician who works as a part-time independent consultant focusing on health care, early childhood development, alternative energy, and the expansion of grassroots politics around the world. He serves on the Board of the National Democratic Institute, a democracy-building organization chaired by former secretary of state Madeleine Albright.

Claudia Rankine

Sharing photos from the 2016 presidential election and commercials from different countries, 2018 MLK Day Speaker and author Claudia Rankine discussed the construct of whiteness in society. Rankine spent time with students and spoke about the importance of education, the fallacy of reverse racism, and the need to influence the democratic process. A professor at Yale University, Rankine has penned five poetry collections, including Citizen: An American Lyric, which won the PEN Open Book Award, the PEN Literary Award, the NAACP Award, the National Book Critics Circle Award for Poetry, and was a finalist for the National Book Award.

Haben Girma

Haben Girma says a lifetime of self-advocacy as a deaf/blind person prepared her for a career in law; she now uses her expertise to advocate for people with disabilities. The first deaf/blind person to graduate from Harvard Law School, Girma spoke at All-School Meeting and shared stories of her own fight against discrimination. Named a White House Champion of Change by President Obama and recognized in Forbes magazine’s “30 Under 30” list, Girma is publishing a memoir in 2019.

10

Andover | Summer 2018

Alexis Santos

What are the keys to living a healthier, happier, calmer, and more authentic life? The PA community explored this question with former Buddhist monk Alexis Santos during a two-day meditation and mindfulness event in April. Santos, who is trained in a number of meditative styles and traditions, spoke about his life journey and discussed ways to incorporate mindfulness into everyday life. Santos teaches at retreat centers throughout the United States and has developed guided mindfulness exercises for Lumosity, an online tool to help train cognitive abilities.

Mana Tokuno

Known for her ability to perform a wide range of selections and styles, pianist Mana Tokuno chose works by Beethoven and Chopin for her Academy performance. She has received widespread acclaim for her sensitive and insightful interpretations, as well as numerous prizes, including first prize in the prestigious Competition International and the silver medal in the Chubu Chopin Competition in Nagoya, Japan. A renowned teacher and a former Andover faculty member, Tokuno has performed in master classes by Daniel Barenboim and Leon Fleischer at Carnegie Hall.

Nicholas Rosenkranz ’88

According to Heterodox Academy, an association that supports diverse viewpoints on academic campuses, “To make headway on solving the world’s most complex problems, scholars and policy makers must deploy the best ideas, regardless of where those ideas originate.” Nicholas Rosenkranz ’88, a professor of law and founding member of Heterodox Academy, discussed the merits and challenges of that sentiment when he joined Head of School John Palfrey, P’21 for a discussion before a standing-room-only crowd at the Oliver Wendell Holmes Library. An attorney who has served as an advisor to the federal government and testified before Congress as a constitutional expert, Rosenkranz is currently developing a new theory of constitutional interpretation and judicial review.

Kevin Young

Hailed by the Washington Post as one of the most important poets of his generation, Kevin Young is the poetry editor of the New Yorker and the new director of the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture. The author of 11 books of poetry and prose, Young visited the Academy in April to do a reading. His latest nonfiction book, Bunk: The Rise of Hoaxes, Humbug, Plagiarists, Phonies, Post-Facts, and Fake News, was released last November.

—Elizabeth O’Brien

TH UGHTS on TEACHING Sheena Hilton ’05

When she was a student at Phillips Academy, Sheena Hilton and her friends used to say, “I don’t understand how teachers can be here for so long year in and year out. I’ll never be a lifer.” Now in her 10th year at PA, the chemistry instructor and Flagstaff cluster dean says, “Never say never.”

by Kristin Bair O’Keeffe Give a quick rundown of your time at PA. After I graduated in 2005, I went to Yale and earned a bachelor’s degree in chemistry.

I came back to PA and was a teaching fellow in chemistry during the 2009–2010 school year; I loved it. I taught at Greenwich Academy in Connecticut for a year and then returned to PA as a chemistry instructor in 2011. Over the course of three summers, I earned a master of arts in chemistry from Bucknell. I left again in 2014 to get a master’s degree in food science at Cornell. I returned to PA again in 2016. I just can’t stay away!

What inspired you to become a teacher?

I wanted to be a doctor since the age of 7.

All through Andover and most of college, I was planning for this. When I began the medical school application process, I started thinking about what I would write in my personal statement. I loved science. I loved sharing science with others. I wanted to mentor young people. I thought, “This doesn’t have anything to do with health care.

It sounds more like education.”

connections with people, and it can be harder to establish mentoring relationships.

Temba [Maqubela] was a mentor and a motivating force for me, particularly in the sciences. I didn’t see a lot of people throughout my education who looked like me, so in the sciences and in general I want to be someone the kids look at and say, “OK, I can do this. I can get there.”

What was the last thing you baked for students?

Double-deckers (brownie on the bottom and chocolate chip cookie on top) and oatmeal chocolate chip cookies!

Chemistry requires creativity, risk taking, and a willingness to fail. How do you nurture these characteristics in your students?

Right now I teach CHM580. This is one of our most challenging classes, and it’s often the first science class in which students experience failure. They’ve come through BIO100 and done fairly well. They’ve come

through CHM300 and done fairly well. It’s been smooth sailing, and then suddenly students are like, “What? I don’t understand something?”

What profession other than teaching would you like to try?

It’s hard to imagine not working with high school students, but if the Atlanta Hawks called me up and said Dominique Wilkins is retiring and we need another commentator, I’d say, “Sign me up! I’m hopping on the plane now!”

Kristin Bair O’Keeffe, former editor of Andover magazine, is a freelance writer, teacher, and novelist. Follow her on Twitter and Instagram @kbairokeeffe.

To read the extended Q&A, visit www.andover.edu/magazine.

Why did you choose to get a master’s degree in food science?

When I was a teaching fellow, I wanted to be the house counselor I would have wanted as a PA student. Part of that was food. I started to bake and loved it. I had already done my master’s in chemistry, so I said, “Let me learn something else.” My love of baking steered me in the direction of food science.

Food affects everybody, and the science of food is something everyone should know a little bit about.

Photos by Gil Talbot

Why are you so passionate about mentoring girls and underrepresented students?

As an African-American woman in the sciences, you get used to being “the only” or one of the few in spaces such as a lab or a college science department. This means that you also have to work harder to make

Phoebe Bicks and Sascha Evans, both class of 2021, with Hilton Andover | Summer 2018

11

SP ORTS TALK

FROM PROTÉGÉ TO LEADER

Maroney Carries On Coaching Legacy of Drench

by Allen Lessels

12

Andover | Summer 2018

Photos by David Fricke

Softball coach Lindsay Maroney ’07 stands in the third base coach’s box and brings a touch of warmth to a blustery and chilly spring day.

She high-fives Big Blue players as, one after another, they take their turn hustling into third base en route to home plate. She looks across the field and smiles, giving two thumbs-up to a batter who singled her way to first base.

It’s clear that Maroney, one of the best players to ever take the field for Big Blue, is picking up where her mentor, legendary coach Peter Drench, left off.

Drench, who raised the bar high for softball in the area and built Andover into a highly respected program over his three decades as head coach, hand-picked Maroney to be his successor. She was his assistant coach for two years before taking over as head coach this season.

“She’s really supportive,” says Jordan Fleming ’18, a team captain. “Everything she says is always to build you up. If you’re struggling, she does her best to give you constructive feedback. Even when we’re down she’s still the one who is cheering us on for the little things.”

Mentor and protégé come at coaching in much the same way, says Athletics Director Leon Modeste. “Lindsay and Peter have similar styles, but with different personalities,” Modeste says. “Lindsay is a very nurturing person and Peter is very encouraging, too. It comes out the same way, but there are different roads to get there. Lindsay will encourage and encourage until the cows come home. Peter is probably a little more vocal in his enthusiasm, and always very positive.”

Maroney came to Andover from Haverhill, Mass. During her career, under Drench’s guidance, the team went 51–17, including 14–1 her senior season. She also posted an outstanding .670 batting average to set a program record that stands to this day. She was twice named NEPSAC Softball Player of the Year by the Boston Globe.

That Maroney walked in the cleats of the Big Blue players and knows what it takes to be highly successful in athletics while also adhering to Andover’s rigorous academic demands helps in making for a smooth transition.

She also shares the values Drench instilled in his players and students throughout 30plus years of coaching and teaching history and social science.

Drench says his Andover career was “a great ride.”

Peter Drench raised the bar high for Andover softball, building it into a highly respected program during his three decades as coach.

“It was a lot of fun; I got to work with a lot of bright kids. I wanted my coaching to serve the overall mission of the school and to treat the softball field as another classroom.”

Making softball work for all, no matter a player’s talent level, and having every girl work toward the betterment of the whole team are just two of the many values instilled

by Drench—and now Maroney.

Drench promoted inclusivity and said his focus was “to enjoy wins with humility and bear losses with class. Every day players were expected to come to the field, gym, or meeting room committed to improving as individuals and to being the best teammates they could be. The things that don’t require athletic talent, such as being on time, keeping one’s word, and wearing the uniform correctly, were also stressed as core values. At the start of every game, the team was admonished with a smile to ‘Have fun—or else!’”

After Andover, Maroney went to the University of Massachusetts. After playing softball for one year, she decided to focus on her studies, graduating summa cum laude with a degree in Japanese language and literature. She then earned a master’s degree in international economics and finance from Brandeis University.

Maroney had never given a lot of thought to coaching. “I have degrees in pretty unrelated fields, so coaching was never on my radar,” she says.

But once she got to Brandeis and was back in the area, she offered to help Andover’s softball team a couple of days a week with Drench. Eventually, Maroney began to see the potential for a different career.

“The more I was working a 9-to-5 job and sitting in front of a computer, the more

I realized that wasn’t the life for me,” Maroney says.

After Drench brought her on as an assistant, Maroney began to get serious about coaching. She earned certification as a personal trainer to be better equipped to help young athletes and now also works as a strength and conditioning coach, which allows her to see softball players on a more regular basis.

Maroney is thrilled that Drench picked her to succeed him.

“Peter’s done so much for the program,” she says. “He really came in and built it from the ground up. By the time I got here he had established a longstanding tradition.

Anyone in the area who wanted to go to prep school and wanted to play softball, this was the place to go. When he announced that he wanted me to take over for him eventually, it was a great honor.”

Now Maroney gets to coach in Peter Drench Park—a top-of-the-line facility named after her coach and mentor—and to carry on and build on the program he established.

From the team uniforms to the way the stands and dugouts are set up—and much more—the softball program was built on Drench’s vision, energy, and positive approach, says Modeste.

“Now Lindsay’s going to put her own spin on it. With her mentor in mind, she’ll carry this program forward, hopefully for a long time to come.”

Allen Lessels is a freelance writer and also the staff writer in the Athletics Communications Office at the University of New Hampshire.

Andover | Summer 2018

13

20

alumni who are saving the planet Story by Rita Savard

14

Andover | Summer 2018

The Time to Act Is Now Over the past century, with increased industrialization and a growing global population (which has almost doubled to more than seven billion people since I left Andover), humans have been asking more of the Earth’s resources than it can deliver within its natural bounds. We are significantly disrupting the ecosystems on which all life depends: overfishing our oceans, depleting the nutrients in our soils, polluting our water supplies, and rapidly destroying wildlife habitats and species.

Most critical is the unprecedented impact we are having on our climate, which is now warming faster than human civilization has ever experienced.

Wherever you live around the world, you are likely already seeing the dangerous effects of a warming planet—such as rising sea levels, drought, wildfires, and extreme storms—imperiling our lives and livelihoods and putting our children’s and grandchildren’s future prosperity in grave jeopardy.

One key cause of this change is the way we produce and consume energy by burning oil, coal, and natural gas to power and heat our homes, businesses, and communities and to move people and goods around. While fossil fuels brought us the prosperity that many enjoy today, they pollute our air, endanger our health, and warm our planet with unprecedented implications.

With this extraordinary challenge comes extraordinary opportunity. We sit on the cusp of an exciting new era of innovation, where humans are coming together to redesign how we live and work in order to make our world healthier, cleaner, safer, and more prosperous for all.

—Foreword by Amy Davidsen ’80 executive director, The Climate Group

Andover | Summer 2018

15

T

heir mission is urgent, because saving the planet is really about saving the human race.

From conservation and environmental law to renewable energy, green building, activism, and more, these 20 alumni are eco-warriors, green pioneers, innovators, and visionaries. All are working to protect and preserve our planet for future generations.

SUSTAINABLE NEIGHBORHOODS What does the city of the future look like? Anthony “Tony” Nahas ’75 is piloting an ambitious project in Oakland, Calif., to take us there. Director of the EcoBlock Project, Nahas and a team of more than 30 engineers, policy experts, and urban designers are working with the University of California at Berkeley to develop a 100 percent sustainable neighborhood. Recognized as one of Scientific American’s Top 10 Emerging Technologies of 2017, the “new city” concept will apply existing renewable technologies to a block of 30 to 40 adjoining homes, reducing their fossil fuel and water consumption and ultimately cutting greenhouse gas emissions. The pilot program will serve as a global model for widescale sustainable redesign.

16

Andover | Summer 2018

ACCELERATING CLIMATE ACTION Ever since she was a young girl, Amy Davidsen ’80 had a profound love for Earth and all its creatures. She grew up in a small, rural Connecticut town, where she recalls her family’s landlord requiring them to cut down large bushes on the property. The bushes were home to several birds and rabbits. Worried about their welfare, she asked her mother, “What will happen to the animals?” Instead of cutting down the bushes, Davidsen’s mother moved her family to a new home.

But when they passed by the old house one day, they saw the bushes were no longer there.

Over her lifetime, Davidsen has watched humans push plants and animals farther and farther into the woods. But with climate change, she says, there is nowhere farther to push.

As the executive director of The Climate Group, North America, Davidsen works to accelerate climate action by bringing together powerful networks of business and governments that shift global markets and policies. These partnerships have jumpstarted renewable solar energy access to rural consumers in Maharashtra, India; have enabled a China Redesign Program aimed at speeding up the deployment of low-carbon technologies, products, and services; are accelerating the electric vehicle market; and are raising climate awareness through Climate Week NYC each September.

“We already have the technology to solve 70 percent of the emissions reduction needed by 2050,” Davidsen says. “We just have to use it.”

THE WHALE WHISPERER

Submitted

The ultimate direct-action man, Charles Vinick ’65 is a steward of the sea. For more than 25 years, he worked closely with Jean-Michel and Jacques Cousteau, helping the ocean explorers establish, grow, and sustain multiple conservation education initiatives, including co-founding the Cousteau Centers, Inc., and overseeing development of Park Oceanique Cousteau, an ocean education and entertainment complex in Paris. Vinick also helped usher in a new era for captive cetaceans (whales and dolphins) when successfully helping Keiko, the famous orca from the Free Willy movies, develop the skills necessary to survive in the open ocean and returning him to his birth waters in Iceland. Today, Vinick is making history again as the executive director of the Whale Sanctuary Project, the first program to establish a model seaside sanctuary where captive whales and dolphins can live as close as possible to their natural habitat. He hopes it will be replicated worldwide to provide quality of life for more than 3,000 whales and dolphins in marine parks around the world. “This is a huge challenge, but with the power of public opinion and social media, it is realistic and achievable,” Vinick says. “It is time, it is right, and if we do it, we will be better for it, and so will the whales.”

Andover | Summer 2018

17

ENVIRONMENTAL ACCOUNTABILITY Everything we value depends on the ecosystem, and on people working tirelessly to prevent its destruction. Kathy Mulvey ’84 is the sharp end of the long-running debate on fossil fuels, taking some of the world’s largest companies to task on inadequate climate policies. The accountability campaign manager and advocate for the Union of Concerned Scientists, Mulvey has organized action campaigns, overseen detailed corporate research and reports, and managed high-level coalitions.

The go-to source for climate and energy information at major news outlets worldwide, Mulvey doesn’t shy away from calling out corporate cover-ups or demanding stricter policies and aggressive action for a low-carbon world.

A CASE FOR CLEAN ENERGY As the world scrambles to find a fuel supply that doesn’t exacerbate global warming, Ted Nace ’74 is full of ideas—and offers a solution. Nace, who has authored two books on climate action, launched CoalSwarm in 2007 in an effort to phase out coal in favor of renewable power sources. The organization provides continually updated data on existing and proposed coal plants that is actively used by climate researchers, business information services like Bloomberg, and divestment activists.

Working with Nace is James Browning ’87, CoalSwarm’s director of development. In 2017, CoalSwarm joined scores of environmental groups for a meeting in Lofoten, Norway, resulting in the Lofoten Declaration, which calls on governments to begin the managed decline of the world’s fossil-fuel production zones. To date, it has been signed by more than 500 nongovernmental organizations globally.

18

Andover | Summer 2018

THE BEST STARGAZING IN AMERICA Pure, unobstructed stargazing is a rarity in the United States—nearly 80 percent of North Americans live in areas where light pollution obscures most of the night sky. For nature to be appreciated, and more importantly, protected, it takes tireless efforts from grassroots activists like Ann Hill ’59 and her husband, Paul, to make some noise for blazing a greener path. Last year Hill helped establish America’s first-ever (and the 12th worldwide) dark sky reserve. Based in central Idaho, around 125 miles northeast of Boise, this exceptionally dark area spanning more than 900,000 acres reduces the negative effects of light pollution and makes for a perfect view of the night sky—the way nature intended.

Hill and her husband also played a role in advocating for the protection of Idaho’s stunning Boulder-White Clouds region as wilderness. More than 275,000 acres—one of the largest intact roadless areas in the country—went into permanent protection under federal law in 2015.

SOLUTIONS FOR DEVELOPING COUNTRIES A beacon of eco-responsibility, Jamal Gore ’88 has spent the past 15 years in the United Kingdom putting pressure on industrial polluters and helping developing countries plan their response to climate change. The cofounder of a London-based carbon management consultancy, Gore is a key international speaker on global warming and carbon management. He has secured private sector financing for dozens of renewable energy projects in developing countries, including agricultural and energy initiatives in Kenya and emissions reduction in the Sudan. Knowing his children’s future depends on our actions today, Gore is a tireless advocate for sustainable practices and walks the walk.

He has solar panels on his roof, drives an electric car, installed LED lights throughout his home, and spends his waking hours putting good climate policies into action.

TURNING POOP INTO POWER According to UNICEF and the World Health Organization, 70 percent of the population in sub-Saharan Africa lacks access to adequate sanitation. But what if we could turn human waste into energy?

In Kigali, Rwanda, Ashley Murray Muspratt ’97 engineered a groundbreaking disposal method that successfully converted fecal sludge into salable fuel, which was purchased by local industries. The ambitious operation is a model approach to waste treatment—one that is cheaper, easier, and better for the environment. In January, Muspratt co-founded 30 Degrees, a startup based in western Massachusetts that provides consulting services on the design, engineering, and operation of fecal sludge management systems. Her mission: Reinvent the economics of waste treatment and spread sustainably operated fecal sludge management systems to cities across the globe.

CHAMPIONING TRUTH Transparency is a key to change. And in an age where rumors spread with frightening speed on social media and facts are disputed as “fake news,” the business of transparency is more challenging than ever, and no less necessary.

An environmental reporter at KPCC, a National Public Radio affiliate serving Southern California, Emily Guerin ’04 explores people’s connections to the environment in the American West. Her research, multimedia journalism, and memorable feature reports have kept the public informed on crucial quality-of-life issues and have earned her multiple accolades, including two regional Edward R. Murrow awards for stories on oilfield spills.

MAKING SENSE OF CLIMATE COSTS Policymakers, business leaders, climate activists, and the broader public are turning to Jisung Park ’04 to make sense of climate costs. Park’s introductory economics class at Andover gave him an entirely new lens to view the world, through which he recognized climate change is the “ultimate global public good problem” and that economics could be a tool for helping people better understand and take action against its disastrous effects. Park is the founder and codirector of Sense & Sustainability, a nonprofit dedicated to cultivating leaders with a holistic understanding of sustainability and equipping them with the skills and knowledge necessary to pursue solutions. His groundbreaking research at Harvard University sheds light on how climate change will affect human productivity and economic health.

Andover | Summer 2018

19

THE CLIMATE CRISIS IN PICTURES A former staff reporter at the Boston Globe for 25 years, David Arnold ’67 has traveled the world photographing some of nature’s most dramatic creations, from the Matterhorn in the Swiss Alps to massive coral reefs in the Caribbean. Returning to the same locations in nature photographed by others decades earlier, Arnold replicates the images.

His recent pictures of glaciers and coral reefs, when compared with the originals, provide a shockingly stark contrast and have given academic institutions, researchers, scientists, and the public a valuable view on the state of our planet.

It’s a critical time for the planet, but people, stresses Arnold, can change the course of the future. “We are voters and we are consumers,” he says. “We have much power.”

RESPONSIBLE INVESTMENTS Investors can make all the difference in sustainable initiatives getting off the ground and gaining steam. Since 2006, the familyled public charity Rockefeller Family Fund has focused its environment program almost exclusively on climate change. President David Kaiser ’87 leads funding efforts on several fronts to reduce the risks of global warming, including reducing food waste and creating sustainable food systems in Africa; Smart Power for Rural Development, a $75 million initiative to address energy deficiencies and create green power solutions in developing countries; and Planetary Health, which aims to stem death and disability rates caused by pollution. In 2016, Kaiser also divested RFF’s holdings in fossil fuel companies and spearheaded an ongoing investigative journalism project to determine what big oil companies really knew about climate science.

20

Andover | Summer 2018

Above: Discovery Bay Jamaica. The white grid, anchored by the stainless steel pin in the foreground, was used to monitor coral diversity. 1978 photo by James Porter.

Below: Same location. Note the pin in the foreground. 2011 photo by David Arnold.

EARTH JUSTICE Not only has Theda Braddock ’67 practiced environmental law for more than 20 years, she also has written the book on it. The author of the Washington Environmental Law Handbook (now in its fifth edition), Braddock has also written books on wetlands regulation that introduce and address ecology and key topics on case law, interpretation, commentary, and permitting, which dive deep into protecting natural resources. She is currently working on the California Environmental Law Handbook slated for publication later this year.

Her extensive knowledge and experience have students flocking to the four classes she teaches at the University of Washington in Tacoma, where she is an adjunct professor in the Sciences and Mathematics Department as well as the Law and Policy Department. Braddock is also a sailor and has taught sailing for the Command, Seamanship, and Navigation Training Squadron at the U.S. Naval Academy.

FASHION TO FEEL GOOD ABOUT

Nels Frye ’99 is putting a new spin on what it means to be style conscious. Flagged as one of the world’s biggest sources of pollution by environmental watchdogs, the apparel industry reportedly emits more greenhouse gas than international shipping and aviation combined.

A longtime purveyor of vintage fashion, Frye, along with his wife and business partner, Jia Wenting, opened a boutique for higher-end preloved garments in Shanghai, where a market for designer vintage clothes didn’t exist until recently. Historically, says Frye, pre-owned clothes were considered unsanitary and unattractive in China’s most populated and fashion-forward city. His 2,000-square-foot shop, Pawnstar, broke ground in 2017 as one of the city’s first secondhand stores that focuses on sourcing items locally. Shoppers, Frye says, can reduce the environmental cost of fast fashion by buying smarter. That includes choosing eco-friendly fabrics, buying clothes made from recycled content, and wearing garments longer.

“Ultimately, we are only making a tiny contribution to a huge problem, but we hope that our presence in the fashion capital will change the way people think, making them more aware that their own purchases contribute to the same problems—like climate change and pollution— that they may in fact bemoan on a daily basis.”

GUARDIAN OF THE FOREST The year 2017 was an extreme one for weather: devastating hurricanes, floods, and, according to the National Interagency Fire Center, more than two million acres of land ravaged by wildfires. Alexander Evans ’91, executive director of the Santa Fe–based nonprofit Forest Stewards Guild, specializes in ecological forestry that is working to change wildfire behavior in the scorched West. Combining science with centuries-old ancestral logging practices, Evans, who has a doctorate from the Yale University School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, is working to restore forests to more natural conditions.

By creating areas for large trees that are free from leaf litter and dead wood, similar to what was historically maintained on the landscape by indigenous people, the forest becomes more resistant to catastrophic fire. His research and practice in wildfire mitigation could make all the difference in preserving New Mexico’s pinelands as global temperatures rise.

Andover | Summer 2018

21

COMMUNITY ACTIVISM Change often starts out small, sometimes in our own backyard, with one person making a big impact. Walt Mintkeski ’67 says the theme of his life is water. A lifelong citizen advocate for sustainable practices, Mintkeski has helped preserve water quality and improve energy efficiency for future generations in both a professional and volunteer capacity. Growing up along the water in East Portland, Ore., Mintkeski saw the need to clean up Johnson Creek, which, in the 1970s, was said to resemble a storm sewer. Something had to give, so he started a group called Friends of Johnson Creek to improve the waterway. The initiative grew into the Johnson Creek Watershed Council.

Celebrating its 20th anniversary this year, the council has helped transform a polluted creek into a valuable and thriving wildlife corridor.

Join Abbot-Andover Climate Group In 2017, during the Class of 1967’s 50th Reunion, Mintkeski and David Arnold ’67 led some well-attended discussions on climate change. Following Reunion, several classmates set up an online forum—abbotandover-climate@googlegroups.com— dedicated to climate change education and activism. Alumni from all classes are encouraged to join, share their expertise and resources, and brainstorm best practices for curbing the effects of climate change.

A QUEST FOR SEA CHANGE No one can doubt the persuasive powers of Margot Stiles ’95, chief of strategy at Oceana, a nonprofit organization with a mission to protect and restore the world’s oceans.

Stiles joined Oceana as a scientist working on responsible fishing and seafood fraud issues. As Oceana’s representative in the Southeast, she has worked closely with both the government and the private sector to protect 23,000 square miles of deep-sea coral stretching from North Carolina to Florida. Stiles currently leads a team offering strategy development and coaching to staff in Belize, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Peru, and the Philippines. While working in Belize, she helped Oceana negotiate a nationwide ban and buy-out of trawl vessels to protect the Belize barrier reef.

SAVING THE FROGS It’s estimated that 200 species of frogs have become extinct since the 1970s. Because amphibians naturally go extinct at a rate of only about one species every 500 years, ecologists fear the grim facts are a harbinger of greater biodiversity loss to come. Enter Kerry Kriger ’92. The conservation biologist founded Save the Frogs! in 2008, an organization that has become the world’s largest public charity directed exclusively to amphibian conservation. The keystone of many ecosystems, frogs eat mosquitoes, provide us with advances in medicine, and serve as food for other species; their tadpoles even filter drinking water. Kriger has traveled the world, raised thousands of dollars, created educational programs, and changed federal law, all to protect the Earth’s amphibians.

22

Andover | Summer 2018

Roberto Linsker/ISA

SUSTAINABLE FARMING IN THE AMAZON

Read more about PA’s campus sustainable efforts and watch a video about the Great Elm at www.andover.edu/projectearth.

Deep in the Amazon, food is the crossroads between culture and nature. It’s also where 24-year-old Felipe Storch de Oliveira ’12 is this generation’s face of conservation.

Growing up in Rio Branco, Brazil, Storch loved eating the sweet red berries from an acerola tree in his backyard. Living so close to the exquisite beauty of the Amazon rainforest instilled a deep appreciation for nature’s gifts early on. But he soon learned that his beloved forest was in grave danger.

Since 1978, the Amazon—regarded as the world’s most important ecosystem—has lost some 289,000 square miles to logging, farming, ranching, and industry.

“I thought protecting the rainforest was my responsibility,” Storch recalls. So he borrowed copies of National Geographic in English to learn the language, believing it would help him convince a broader audience to stop deforestation. He later realized he would have to venture beyond Brazil to further his cause.

At Andover, he learned that education is crucial in making a difference. Following graduation, he attended Franklin & Marshall College where he majored in environmental studies and economics. Now, back home in Brazil, Storch is helping communities along the Amazon use the foods they’ve been harvesting for thousands of years to block deforestation.

An analyst in social-environmental business at Brazil’s Instituto Socioambiental, Storch is helping indigenous groups structure business and marketing models for products from the Rio Negro traditional agricultural system. Many of them are still unknown in the United States, including certain nuts, Tucupi (a yellow sauce extracted from wild manioc root), and honey from native bees. The partnership involves local people and government officials as well as chefs who test the foods for cooking and consumption.

Most recently, Pimenta Jiquitaia Baniwa peppers were made available for sale in the United States, with the majority of proceeds coming back to the Baniwa women.

The business model, Storch says, also gives the local people an income alternative against potential deforestation, drug trafficking, and cattle ranching. Having a sustainable alternative as a form of income is improving the quality of life in the Amazon’s remote communities, and is helping Storch win the battle of hearts and minds in preserving his beloved rainforest, despite the overwhelming odds.

Andover | Summer 2018

23

Photos by Gil Talbot

A L E G A C Y C E L E B R AT E D

24

Andover | Summer 2018

AF-LAT-AM at 50

A

brotherhood. A sisterhood. A place to share similar predilections in food, music, and dance. A place to feel comfortable, and sometimes challenged. A place to share triumphs and tragedies.

Af-Lat-Am has meant many things to many alumni. Fifty years ago, during the height of the Civil Rights movement, a group of black students gathered to discuss the myriad issues that impacted students of color. They met in dorm rooms, in Commons, and wherever else they could when free time allowed. The group eventually codified themselves as the Afro-American Society, and in the spring of 1968, spurred on by the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., they became an official student organization.

On the following pages, seven alumni reflect on their experiences with Af-Lat-Am, sharing how their involvement shaped their lives at Andover and beyond, as well as their hopes for the future of the organization.

During the weekend of April 27–29, Af-Lat-Am celebrated its 50th Reunion on campus with hundreds of alumni, students, faculty, and administrators joining in various group discussions and celebratory events. To view additional photos from the weekend, visit phillipsacademy. smugmug.com/Alumni/ AfLatAm50/.

—Foreword by Allyson Irish Andover | Summer 2018

25

F

Retired, Atlanta, Ga.

W

hile I was a student at Andover, Af-Lat-Am was where I went to feel like I belonged. I grew up in Washington Heights, N.Y., and even though I was academically prepared for Andover, it was still a shock to find myself, at age 14, at this pristine, beautiful campus surrounded by mostly white people.

Af-Lat-Am provided a sense of home, that feeling that I was not alone, but that there were dozens of us who were experiencing the same kind of culture shock.

I remember looking up to the seniors and uppers and admiring how much they seemed to love PA and how well-adjusted they were to the school. I wondered when—or if—I would feel the same way.

When I look back at that time I can’t remember the topics we discussed at Af-Lat-Am or what activities we must have done during those weekly meetings. What I do remember, and think about often, is that feeling of belonging that Af-Lat-Am provided.

Les Talusan

ifty years is a long time to wait before telling your story.

The most important reason for the creation of Af-Lat-Am was the need to represent the concerns of minority students. In order to have a voice on campus, we needed an organization to represent us to the administration, the faculty, and the student body. We also needed a means to channel the activism we felt. We very much wanted to be a part of the movement to bring justice and equality to the minority community. The murder of Dr. King in April 1968 brought our concerns into sharp focus. I still remember the anger I felt when I learned the news of his death.

Another important aspect of Af-Lat-Am was the sense of community it provided to minority students.

As a group we were able to discuss our concerns and offer one another support. Like many minority students, I came Willie Ivey ’68 to Andover from a First Af-Lat-Am President segregated high school. During my youth, I had little or no interaction with other races. The entire Andover experience was a shock to my system. It opened my eyes to the wider world, but I have to admit that at times I felt disconnected from my own community. At the time, Andover provided little in the way of support for minority students. It was basically sink or swim.

There was also a real need to educate the larger Andover community about the concerns of the minority community in America. The majority of students and faculty at Andover had no concept of what it meant to grow up as a minority in the United States. What they knew, they learned from television and news reports. Though I never experienced racism during my time at Andover, we could not escape the issue of race.

Af-Lat-Am provided a real, alternative perspective to the news of the day. It was the only vehicle on campus for addressing the issues surrounding race in America.

Most importantly, Af-Lat-Am provided opportunities for dialogue about race and minority rights.

If I were a student today, I would most certainly be a member of Af-Lat-Am. Though much has changed in 50 years, many of the same problems I experienced as a youth still exist.

Jessica Alcantara ’04 Af-Lat-Am 2000–2004

Skadden Fellow Staff Attorney, Advancement Project, Washington, D.C.

I

loved my time at Andover. From the day I arrived as a junior, I cherished the environment. The greens of the West Quad, the overgrown forest in Cochran Sanctuary, and the vast athletic fields all were vastly different from where I had grown up—in New York’s Washington Heights neighborhood.

I also found everybody very welcoming. My Rockwell dormmates did indeed come from every quarter; I probably would have found one’s Iowa homestead or another’s Upper East Side brownstone as foreign as they would have found my working-class apartment building, but we left those ties behind as soon as we stepped on campus. The teachers were kind and supportive; the best instruction I received at any level of education was at Andover.

Still, there are limits to how well you can be understood when you don’t share the same background as your pals. You might have to Ruben Alvero ’76 work over Spring Break to earn some money, notwithstanding how generous a PA scholarship Af-Lat-Am 1972–1976 was at the time. I certainly did not have any Aspen ski stories to share.

The unofficial Af-Lat-Am meeting spot in the late 1970s was in the upper-right dining hall, a long 10- or 12-chair affair in one of the corners of the vast room. It was there that we would meet for lunch or dinner.

Not everybody was there all the time, and some were more regular than others.

Even so, we all knew where we could go when we needed a dose of understanding.

If there was one constant in my four years at PA, it was the comfort found in the upper-right dining hall, a place where I could unwind, share my triumphs and challenges, and get the support that was so critical to my success.

Though Af-Lat-Am was an official organization, it was the thriving community in the upper-right dining hall that was its soul.

Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Warren Alpert Medical School, Brown University, Providence, R.I.

26

Andover | Summer 2018

A

f-Lat-Am was my first home away from home—my first sense of belonging and family at Andover. Being able to regularly meet, socialize, and work with other students of similar backgrounds, hometowns, language, and class was both comforting and empowering. My participation—first as a member, later as social functions director, and then as president—provided the vital knowledge, wisdom, and ongoing support I needed to successfully navigate and positively contribute to the Andover experience.

Some of my fondest memories are of our cultural weekends.

During my years, we were privileged to have such notable speakers as author Julia Alvarez ’67, professor Juan Flores, poet Martín Espada, and renowned scholar Cornel West. In addition to phenomenal speakers, we were also able to enjoy and share both our favorite foods and our beloved music at all-school dinners with custom menus and all-school dances with guest DJs from NYC or Boston. Those weekends were special times for us to share and celebrate our ethnicities with great pride.

Reflecting on the 50th anniversary, I believe Af-Lat-Am’s legacy is one of strength, vision, and contribution. Strength is embodied in every student of color who dared to even think of applying, actually did, attended, persevered through the various challenges of Andover, and then put his/her time and effort into Nicholas Olmo ’98 creating and sustaining an organization for the benefit of Af-Lat-Am President 1997–1998 its membership and the larger community. Vision was born in the ’60s by students who attended during the peak of the Civil Rights movement, saw a need and an opportunity, and created something where there was nothing. Contribution can be noted via countless forums on race relations, the publishing of a newspaper and of articles in The Phillipian, the creation of new community service projects, the establishment of Latin and black cultural arts weekends, advocacy for increased recruitment of students and faculty of color, and so much more.

Given the amount of time PA has been in existence, it’s truly inspiring to know that these past 50 years are only the beginning.

Sales and Marketing Consultant, Orlando, Fla.

T

he combination of desire and technological advancement has provided me with one of my most treasured and unexpected gifts. Never in my wildest dreams could I have imagined that some 32 years after my arrival at Andover I would be in regular communication with—much less witness the adult lives of—my then-students of Af-Lat-Am. I feel it’s safe to say that it is doubtful they imagined as Andover students that I would eventually be commenting on posts of their accomplishments and achievements, triumphs and heartaches, unions and children. It is just one of those blessings that no one expected.

Over the years, many Af-Lat-Am members have been generous in their compliments of how, in one way or another, I impacted their time on Andover Hill. They have said how my presence at Andover and in their life was significant and experiencechanging. As I have often responded, the impact was reciprocal.

Little did the students of Af-Lat-Am know that they “fed” me as much as they suggest Bobby Edwards I did them.

On the most basic Former senior associate dean of level, the presence of admission and CAMD dean Af-Lat-Am was both personally affirming and professionally fulfilling. The town of Andover did not offer much to this Washington, D.C., native and graduate of Howard University. In more ways than my students imagined, I too was a “fish out of water”—all of us in the midst of a transition to Andover and to independent residential school life.

What I am most grateful for is the chance to witness so many Af-Lat-Am members evolve into extraordinary adults.

They work in every field possible, have families of every variation imaginable, and lead lives that are multifaceted and rich. Best of all, I can close my eyes and still see them as the young adults, on the verge of great things, who gave me as much as I gave them.

Director of Community Inclusion & External Relations, McLean School, Potomac, Md.

Andover | Summer 2018

27

M

y dad, George Bundy Smith ’55, left a segregated school in Washington, D.C., in 1952 to attend Andover. He was the only black student in his class. As I was growing up, my dad talked about Andover all the time. He had fond memories, and it was clear that he loved the school.

I can’t recall ever hearing a negative story about his experience at Andover. I often wondered if he felt alone or isolated. If he had those feelings, he never shared them. Instead, I heard stories about faculty members who embraced him and made him feel at home. He talked about friendships with classmates like Jack Doykos ’55, who often played basketball with him on the weekends.

My parents brought me to Andover in 1978 for an interview with Meredith Price, who worked in the admissions office. By then, the campus was much more diverse. When I came to Andover in 1979, there were 50 to 60 black and Hispanic students. It was clear PA truly believed in educating “youth from every quarter.”

I joined Af-Lat-Am my first year and eventually became Af-Lat-Am president as a senior. I enjoyed the cultural celebrations the group had during the school year and the dances on the second floor of Cooley House. From time to time, we would take bus rides to attend dances with students of color at other prep schools. Af-Lat-Am provided a support network for me, and the fellowship is what stands out in my mind today.

I’m sure that my dad would have been a part of the organization had it existed in the 1950s. I know that he would have enjoyed seeing more black and brown faces on campus. And I’m sure he would have been on the bus to go those dances at other prep George Bundy Smith Jr. ’83 toschools.

Af-Lat-Am President 1982–1983 My dad died in August 2017; we had been planning to attend the Af-Lat-Am@50 celebration together. Some of my closest friends from Andover came to his funeral. All of them were involved with Af-Lat-Am and graduated from PA in the 1980s. They went on to Harvard, Yale, Dartmouth, Wesleyan, and Trinity.

My dad loved hearing about their achievements. He was a proud pioneer. Somewhere he is smiling.

News anchor, WKOW-TV, Madison, Wisc.

I

f I had to sum up my Af-Lat-Am experience in three words, they’d be strength, innovation, and growth.

I don’t have a singular moment that best encapsulates my time with Af-Lat-Am, because those types of moments happened too often to keep track of. The people who come to Af-Lat-Am, the meeting topic at hand, the conversations between friends or even strangers who feel comfortable enough with one another to share personal experiences, the variety of our experiences despite our racial, ethnic, or ethnoracial backgrounds—each shapes my positive experience with Af-Lat-Am. Emily Ndiokho ’18 The essence and Af-Lat-Am President 2016–2018 importance of community was something I did not truly appreciate until I became involved with Af-Lat-Am. There’s something special and exciting about having people who are there for you. Af-Lat-Am has single-handedly transformed Andover’s campus into an environment that provides genuine support for black and Latinx-identifying students. Black and Latinx students as a whole provide and do an incredible amount of work at Andover, and I believe Af-Lat-Am allows those students to have a community where they can recharge and be themselves to the fullest.

Additionally, since Af-Lat-Am meetings are open to the entire Andover community, they give all students a chance to educate themselves about black and Latinx culture and comprehend their peers who may experience Andover in a different way.

While I can never truly know the impact that I will have as a leader, I like to believe that I was able to make Af-Lat-Am a group that had a more collective voice and a broader sense of solidarity. When the 60th, 75th, or 100th anniversary comes around, I hope there is an even more expansive network of kind and high-achieving black and Latinx people and that Af-Lat-Am will continue to provide an opportunity for students and alumni to connect with and count on one another.

Barnard College freshman

28

Andover | Summer 2018

Andover | Summer 2018

29

F

or THE Love OF Teaching They are teachers first, but so much more.

These coaches, counselors, and confidantes have provided students with both support and constructive criticism—blended with a good dose of humor and humility.

This year’s three retiring faculty members embody the best of Phillips Academy, artfully combining knowledge and goodness and living the non sibi spirit each day.

Read more online at www.andover.edu/retiringfaculty.

by Allyson Irish Photos by Dave White

30

Andover | Summer 2018

Patricia B.

Davison Director, Academic Skills Center; Coordinator, Student Disability Resources Years at PA: 18 Swan Song: Davison selected Haben Girma, a disability rights advocate and the first deaf/blind person to graduate from Harvard Law School, as a recent All-School Meeting speaker—the first time in her PA career that she brought an ASM speaker to campus.

Gubernatorial Invitation: In 1977–1978, Davison was asked by Massachusetts Governor Michael Dukakis to serve on a state task force to assess special education services.

Retirement Plans: “Retirement will provide me with more time with my husband, children, and grandchildren— the mainstays of my life.”

S

ometimes it’s the little things that matter most.

“You always said hello when I saw you around campus, which meant a lot to me,” says Hector Kilgoe ’11. “Being at Andover can make you feel like a drop in a very big bucket, and you made me feel like I mattered.

Thank you.”

Kilgoe is not alone in his appreciation of Pat Davison, whose bright smile and patient manner have comforted hundreds of students and faculty members during her 18 years at Andover.

Andover can be a difficult school for any student. For those who have additional obstacles, it can feel nearly impossible. But Davison has seen many positive transformations. “These kids have taken incredibly difficult situations, and instead of being deterred, they have catapulted themselves to success.”

Davison’s interest in disability services is personal. Her father was born with Amniotic Band Syndrome, which affected the right side of his body and

right hand. Despite this, her dad went on to play tennis and graduate from MIT. Davison learned that you could indeed overcome physical limitations.

As a young girl, she volunteered at a school for children with significant disabilities, and in ninth grade she created the club Volunteers in Service to Exceptional Children, which developed weekly instructional and social activities.

By the time she was ready for college, her career path had been determined.

One of the first committees that Davison worked on at Andover helped to develop policies around consistent, reasonable, and appropriate accommodations for students with disabilities.

The program that was introduced less than two years later became a model for other prep schools.

Davison has served in many other roles at Andover, including student advisor and track official. She has contributed to numerous committees and traveled with colleagues from admissions and the Office of Academy Resources.

She will miss the daily contact with students but can retire knowing that she made a difference.

“Serving as a guide along their journey is both humbling and inspiring,” says Davison. “Many students continue to stay in touch long after they’ve graduated. To share in the joy of their ongoing accomplishments is a bonus.”

2005

Andover | Summer 2018

31

John R.

Maier Instructor in Spanish Years at PA: 31 Family Ties: “My Dad taught me from an early age what it is to work hard,” says Molly Ozimek-Maier ’07. “He has dedicated the best years of his life to bettering others, opening the minds of youth from every quarter, and welcoming students of all kinds into our family. He embodies the spirit of non sibi and the Academy.”

Mementos: Behind his desk in Sam Phil is a blue tapestry from a 1988 trip to Guadalajara. He also has a large collection of tin masks purchased during trips to Costa Rica, Spain, and Mexico.

Retirement Plans: “I have a baseball tour vaguely mapped out in my mind, and I want to attend some cooking programs.”

J

32

Andover | Summer 2018

idea why you’re doing this. And by the language and culture. He was a tough time you get to Santiago, you’ve figured instructor, but always fair. it out.’”

“Your classes were demanding and rigorous, and I was intimidated by them—at least Spanish 200,” says Janet Scognamiglio ’08. “But despite my intimidation, I actively looked forward to your classes. I learned an immense amount and had a lot of fun in the process.

“You were my favorite teacher at Andover because I saw a strength in you that was unwavering, and as a result, I became a stronger student and a stronger person in your classroom.”

Maier does not expect to be bored in retirement. There is a book knocking around in his brain, and he has plans to volunteer. He also hopes to have another go at the Camino.

What he did three times before as a way to recharge his teaching batteries, he will now be doing for a different reason. As he told The Phillipian in 2012, “Somebody very wise once told me, 1994 ‘When you start, you really have no

Andover Archives

ohn Maier has walked the famed Camino de Santiago (Way of Saint James) three times. Once, in 1995, he completed the entire 500-mile pilgrimage, which winds through Spain and France.

Travelers often greet one another with “Buen camino”—have a beautiful journey. Maier could say the same thing about his Andover career. “I have been blessed by this place and by all of you who have so impacted who I am.”

Having taught at the college level for 10 years, Maier decided in 1987 that he wanted something different. “I was tired, disillusioned even, of teaching only to the mind as is the nature of university teaching,” he says. “I wanted to teach to the heart as well and to involve myself with the whole child.”

Here at Andover, he had that opportunity on multiple levels: as classroom teacher, lacrosse coach, and house counselor. Former students say he was kind, caring, and passionate about

Margaret L.

Harrigan Instructor in Art Years at PA: 26 Newest Camera: Sony a7R II PA Activities: Softball coach, Brazil PLACES program leader, Pecos Pathways team leader, faculty advisor for Eight Schools Association Human Rights Program, complementary house counselor Other Teaching Gigs: Colgate University, University of Connecticut, Massachusetts College of Art, Tufts University Retirement Plans: “I do not believe creative people ever truly retire. I am looking forward to focusing on photography projects and spending more time with my partner and extended family in Vermont.”

A

and Multicultural Development (CAMD).

She also developed multicultural trainings, assisted with MLK Day events, and most recently served as a dorm counselor for the school’s first all-gender dormitory.

Looking back, Harrigan says she feels “overwhelming joy” when she thinks of the many positive changes toward equity and inclusion that have occurred on campus during the past 20 years.

And her work in this effort has not gone unnoticed.

“I have to thank Peg for being an out and visible member of the LGBTQI community,” says Dan Ankeles ’00, who was inspired by his former teacher to pursue a career in politics “where our mission is to lift everyone up and build a government based on acknowledging and joining in the struggles of our neighbors.”

Maxwell Meyer ’08 recalls Harrigan’s class as a sanctuary. “She challenged our ideas intensely. She challenged how we interpreted our art and critiqued

each other. She constantly pushed my boundaries and thinking. I'm so deeply thankful that I could learn from her.

She’s one of the great ones.”

Andover Archives

photograph captures a moment in time, a moment that lives forever. Graffiti, a waterfall, a glass bottle—when caught in the lens of a skilled photographer they can take on a completely different semblance.

What would be the image of Peg Harrigan’s tenure at PA? Photography teacher? LGBTQI ally? House counselor? Softball coach? Her resume captures it succinctly: “To work professionally as an ally to people of color, gender minority groups, and those of lower socioeconomic status and to work in service of positive and affirming change for the outliers of the world.”

One year after she arrived at Andover, Harrigan came out as one of only three openly LGBTQI faculty members.

Through the years, she has been a vocal and visible advocate, serving for three years as advisor to the Gender and Sexuality Alliance (GSA) and for 10 years on the Multicultural Advisory Committee for the Office of Community

1994

Andover | Summer 2018

33

KNOWL E DG E & GOODNE SS : T HE ANDOVER CAMPAI G N

34

Andover | Summer 2018

Knowledge and goodness.

It’s more than our foundation.

It’s our inspiration.

Now Knowledge & Goodness: The Andover Campaign seeks to amplify the values we hold dear, as together we shape our school for the 21st century. At the heart of our campaign stand our students—and today we are uniquely poised to fulfill our promise to them and elevate Andover’s distinctive vision.

We invite you to explore our campaign priorities in detail, and see where this great endeavor will take us. Every gift, of every size, will be gratefully counted in our campaign and will help secure the Academy’s bright future and that of our learners and leaders.

Discover the power of Knowledge & Goodness.

www.andover.edu/campaign Andover | Summer 2018

35

KNOWL E DG E & GOODNE SS : T HE ANDOVER CAMPAI G N

UNRIVALED FINANCIAL AID

For every talented student...an opportunity. We want our young people to embrace Andover right from the start.

In 2008, Andover became the only boarding school in the nation to offer need-blind admission—reaffirming our founding constitution’s call to welcome the most promising youth from every quarter. Today, when nearly half of our students rely on financial aid, this guarantee is more essential than ever.

Through our Knowledge & Goodness campaign, we aim to endow 80 percent of our student aid program, an ambitious jump from current levels.

We’ll also significantly bolster scholarship support through annual and current-use gifts from across our community. Each of these forward-looking investments will help secure our mission—and ensure that Andover students can always count on life-changing aid.

GOAL $110.5 million

Describe the moment you first learned of your scholarship. I’ll never forget it. I was in math class, and my sister texted me a picture of my acceptance letter, which had just arrived in the mail.

I was super happy, but I was worried all the way home. I said to her, ‘I can’t believe it. I was just accepted to the best school in the country, but how are we going to pay for it?’ My sister started laughing and, I’ll never forgive her for this, she pulls out another folder with my financial aid package. We looked at each other and had this mental exchange and she smiled. I knew, even before opening it, that Andover had given me the money I needed.

What does financial aid mean to you and your family? Financial aid was the difference maker—between my attending Andover or not. My mom is a single parent. So if I wanted to attend a boarding school and get the education I wanted, we knew I would have to ask for financial aid. And the thing is, Andover didn’t make me ask. They just gave it to me, and they’ve made my experience unbelievable. It’s that level of understanding, that role of wanting to help me out and to help my family out.

That was huge for me. That’s made me feel really special.

ASHLEY ’20

Los Angeles, CA

36

Andover | Summer 2018

THE ACADEMIC ENTERPRISE

Andover’s exceptional instructors are the guarantors of excellence and a cornerstone of the student experience.

More than 200 faculty bring their expertise and compassion to every conversation, every teaching moment—in classrooms and labs, in residence halls and performance halls, on playing fields and beyond. Today, we reaffirm our devotion to our teachers and to our academic enterprise.

We will recruit and retain top instructors by endowing fellows, curators, and coaches across the Academy. We will seek new teaching foundations, faculty innovation funds, and sabbatical support to further encourage thought leadership and intellectual exchange. We will also sponsor new student-faculty partnerships that promote original research and interdisciplinary perspectives. These areas of growth, paired with other distinctive endeavors such as the Tang Institute, will strengthen Andover’s preeminent position in secondary education.

GOAL $15 million

Andover | Summer 2018

37

KNOWL E DG E & GOODNE SS : T HE ANDOVER CAMPAI G N

A DYNAMIC CAMPUS

Our campus is truly a home—a scenic 500-acre setting for both living and learning, at once ref lective and vibrant.

Now Knowledge & Goodness will usher in the next bold evolution of the campus—and meet the growing demands of our community.

The Snyder Center, dedicated in February, is among the first of these exciting projects, housing a 200-meter track, 12 squash courts, and multiuse space for tennis, basketball, and other fitness activities. The recently announced Pan Athletic Center will also rise to serve our water sports teams as well as dance and wrestling.

Elsewhere on campus, we will break ground on a new academic building specifically designed for students and faculty who study music theory, composition, and performance at Andover. We are also revitalizing the Oliver Wendell Holmes Library to give our students a state-of-the-art learning experience. During this landmark renovation, we will create more adaptable and interactive teaching spaces while preserving the library’s unique heritage. And we will double the size of our makerspace, enabling our students to leverage technology in ways that close the gap between theory and practice.

GOAL $118.5 million

38

Andover | Summer 2018

How do today’s campus projects advance Andover’s vision for the future?

Whether in the academic or athletic realm, our campus projects include flexible and multipurpose spaces to directly address Andover’s commitment to improve the student experience.

Each project design considers the core priorities of the Academy’s Strategic Plan and supports programs to promote inclusion, interdisciplinary collaboration, and interaction. In this way, all campus projects play a critical role in supporting connected learning and personal well-being.

Why is now the right time to move these projects forward?

Actually, this work is overdue. The identified projects are urgent because they address outdated, intensively utilized spaces that were built in another era and that cannot adequately support current programmatic needs. Athletics facilities built mostly in the 1950s and before, designed for a 600-student boys’ school, do not satisfy the needs of our vibrant coed varsity, JV, intramural, and life-sports programs of today. Music instruction in the basement of a former science building is makeshift at best, and the last OWHL renovation occurred before the internet was invented. The right time to address these issues for our students and the future is most certainly now.

TRISTIN BATCHELDER MANNION ’82, P’19 Trustee, Building Committee Chair

AN INCLUSIVE COMMUNITY

We will continue to build an intentionally diverse learning community, giving our students every opportunity to explore it and thrive.

We hope to generate wider discourse and greater understanding—an environment where all students are empowered to contribute. More than ever, we are engaging them on topics of equity, inclusion, citizenship, humanity, and justice.

Throughout our campaign, we will further integrate this dialogue into our curriculum and across our academic and social programming. Under the leadership of the Office of Equity and Inclusion, we will enhance the work of the Brace Center for Gender Studies and the Office of Community and Multicultural Development in both depth and breadth. We will endow key leadership positions across the Academy and raise support to ensure that thought-provoking ideas continue to flourish on campus.

In these ways and more, we will broaden the chorus of voices that will help our students emerge enlightened and eager to join a global conversation.

GOAL $10 million

Andover | Summer 2018

39

KNOWL E DG E & GOODNE SS : T HE ANDOVER CAMPAI G N

INQUIRY AND INNOVATION

Andover stands at the nexus of inquiry and innovation. It’s a union made all the more profound by the Tang Institute.

A laboratory and incubator for emerging ideas, the institute promotes new learning paradigms for a digital age and global society. Andover faculty and students and education experts worldwide use the Tang Institute as a forum and a catalyst to place concepts into practice. Early successes include a partnership with Khan Academy to develop calculus problem sets, promising student-faculty research into learning mindsets, and an astronomy web portal dedicated to the discovery of variable stars.

The Knowledge & Goodness campaign will build on these achievements and stimulate new pursuits on campus and around the globe. Our goal: push boundaries and prepare tomorrow’s students for an increasingly complex and interconnected world.

GOAL $25 million

What are some of the ideas currently taking shape at the Tang Institute?

In key ways our faculty projects help drive student learning and align with the pillars of Andover’s Strategic Plan: Empathy and Balance, Creativity and Innovation, and Equity and Inclusion.

Going forward, a major area of focus will be interdisciplinary education.

Instructors who design these new courses—or integrate interdisciplinary approaches into existing ones—will be able to draw on the work of Tang Fellows and benefit from faculty research into learning disposition, introversion, the science of learning, and mindfulness.

How do these concepts translate into impactful student experiences? This spring, students in an interdisciplinary course on Haiti taught by Christopher Jones and Stephanie Curci have studied history and literature to examine colonialism, racial identity, and the complex relationships between Haiti and its neighbors. Next year, Noureddine El Alam will teach a statistics course that connects students with community partners, enabling our learners to use their developing skills of data visualization to address real-world challenges. These courses show students that making sense of our complex world requires them to empathize and analyze, considering a range of perspectives in order to live lives of knowledge and goodness.

ANDY HOUSIAUX

Currie Family Director of the Tang Institute

40

Andover | Summer 2018

AN EXPANDED WORLDVIEW

At Andover, we believe every student should have the chance to immerse themselves in new cultural experiences.

By expanding our Learning in the World programs, we hope to achieve exactly that.

Currently, there are more than 20 faculty-designed and led programs that span from Mexico to China, delving into topics as diverse as Icelandic music, the American civil rights movement, and education in India. These opportunities prove transformative in every sense of the word—often challenging assumptions, crystallizing beliefs, and inspiring academic and professional journeys.

With Knowledge & Goodness, we will expand this distinctive programming and make it available to every student who wishes to participate. We will sponsor students for week-, semester-, or year-long study trips and support faculty as they develop the latest and most impactful offerings. In these ways and many more, we will open doors for our students and strengthen Andover’s burgeoning role in the world.

GOAL $16 million

3

Andover | Summer 2018

41

KNOWL E DG E & GOODNE SS : T HE ANDOVER CAMPAI G N

HEALTH AND WELLNESS

We fulfill a moral imperative when we secure the well-being of our students.

The Rebecca M. Sykes Wellness Center affirms this commitment. Funded through lead campaign gifts, the center unites medical and psychological services under one roof—and offers students a state-of-the-art facility that provides everything from acute care and X-rays to counseling and physical therapy.

During Knowledge & Goodness, we will continue to invest in the Sykes Wellness Center’s 24/7 services and wide-reaching programming, including a health care speaker series as well as courses on CPR, selfdefense, meditation, and relationships. Building on this success, we will fund a comprehensive, multiyear health curriculum that engages students in an integrated and thoughtful way on all issues of personal and mental health—a trailblazing step among independent schools.

GOAL $10 million

Why are conversations about health and wellness increasingly important on campus? While the Academy prides itself on rigor and excellence, we have moved beyond ‘surviving’ Andover and have embraced the goal of thriving.

We know that our students’ intellectual lives are wholly impacted by their emotional and physical well-being.

And it is our responsibility to equip our students with the skills needed to navigate the challenges—and accompanying stress—to which they are naturally drawn.

How can Andover evolve as a leader in this field? Andover needs to keep asking questions. Our Director of Wellness Education, Dr. Susan Esty, spent the past year engaging with peer schools, collecting research on adolescent health, and collaborating with colleagues to design our programming. Our Medical Director, Dr. Amy Patel, has hosted two health and wellness summits to help educators exchange best practices. The Tang Institute supports our passionate efforts around positive education, growth mindset, and the science of learning.

This multifaceted approach will become even more robust during our campaign and will have a direct and positive impact on our students.

JENNY KARLEN ELLIOTT ’94, P’22

Dean of Students and Residential Life

42

Andover | Summer 2018

RENOWNED MUSEUMS

The museums at Andover stimulate so much of the intellectual and creative spirit on campus.

In the Addison Gallery of American Art and the Peabody Institute of Archaeology, students and faculty connect art and artifacts to their studies, the world, and themselves. More than 70 Andover courses each year—in subjects such as biology, computer science, English, and American history—benefit from the holdings found in both museums. In these innovative learning spaces, students consider objects and concepts in ways that no other secondary school can offer.

Through our campaign, we will broaden the reach and exposure of these campus cornerstones. At the Addison, we will ask “What is America?” and delve into interdisciplinary explorations that unite our rich collections and scholarly talents.

At the Peabody, we will take a similarly integrative approach and give Native American communities a greater voice in how their material culture is presented and interpreted. We will also launch new facilities improvements at the Peabody while in both museums we will grow our educational programs and conservation efforts to keep Andover at the vanguard.

GOAL $10 million

Andover | Summer 2018

43

TH E B U Z Z

the Buzzzzz

z

Film Reveals Unsung WWII Hero PBS’s American Experience spotlighted Alfred Loomis, Class of 1905, in the hour-long documentary The Secret of Tuxedo Park: How a Reclusive Millionaire Changed the Course of WWII. The film reveals Loomis’s double life, spending his days earning vast fortunes on Wall Street and his weekends working with the world’s leading scientists at a private laboratory near New York City.

A Top-Five Finish PA Spanish instructor Sarah Hyland muscled through the cold, wind, and rain to a fourth-place finish in the women’s division of this year’s Boston Marathon. An amateur runner, Hyland said training during the severe New England winter had its advantages. Also a cross country and track coach, Hyland ran her first Boston Marathon in 2012.

Nobel Peace Prize Nomination Search for Common Ground, the world’s largest dedicated peacebuilding organization, received the nomination for the 2018 Nobel Peace Prize in March. The nonprofit was founded in 1982 by former U.S. diplomat John Marks ’61, P’95, to transform the way humanity deals with conflict and build safer, healthier, more just societies.

A Real All-American Ravenne Nassser ’15 was recently named the first softball All-American in the history of the MIT softball program. A biological engineering major and a pitcher on the team, Nasser was given the honor in late May from the National Fastpitch Coaches Association (NFCA).

Alumnus Named U.S. Ambassador to Rwanda Career diplomat Peter Vrooman ’84 was recently sworn in to a three-year term as U.S. Ambassador to the Republic of Rwanda. A foreign service officer since 1991, Vrooman is known for his deep knowledge of East African issues and expertise in U.N. peacekeeping. He has served at seven embassies in Africa, the Near East, and South Asia.

A Novel Award Congrats to writer Charles Finch ’98, the 2017 winner of the prestigious Nona Balakian Citation for Excellence in Reviewing—a National Book Critics Circle Award. The award recognizes Finch’s reviews and essays published in the Chicago Tribune, New York Times, and elsewhere.

Finch, author of the Charles Lenox mystery series, lives in Chicago.

Best-Selling Book For Love and Baseball Gen X’s “Other F Word” Trilogy Coming to TV The cover photo and story of the The creators of the hit web series The Other F Word Justin Cronin ’80’s New England Baseball Journal haven’t spelled out what the “F” stands for exactly, best-selling Passage May 2018 issue featured PA but for Pamela Weiler Grayson ’82, it might as well trilogy is getting a TV series baseball coach Kevin Graber mean fabulous. A member on Fox, with filming now and his 16-year-old daughter, of the show’s creative under way. Cronin’s epic Kelly. The article chronicles team, Weiler also worked character-driven thriller begins the family’s journey after as a writing consultant with a government conspiracy Kelly was diagnosed with a rare for season two, now and morphs into a post-apocalyptic autoimmune disease in the sixth grade and how available on Amazon. saga with vampires. Horror writer the Grabers found comfort on the baseball field Hailed by critics as “the best thing to hit Amazon Stephen King says Cronin’s trilogy and through the Andover community. Graber is since Prime,” the series explores love, loss, “will stand as one of the great also senior associate director of admission. and friendship between an ensemble of achievements in American fantasy fiction.” female characters, each encountering a new challenge or phase in life.

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

44

Andover | Summer 2018

AL UMNI CAL END A R

Submitted Photos

New York, NY

UPCOMING ALUMNI & PARENT EVENTS National & International Events

Seattle, WA

July 21

The Hamptons

Summer Cocktails with Head of School John Palfrey, P’21

July 27

Martha’s Vineyard

An Evening with Head of School John Palfrey, P’21

July 29

Nantucket

An Andover Gathering with Head of School John Palfrey, P’21

Aug. 21

Boston

Cleveland Indians vs. Boston Red Sox at Fenway Park

Sept. 9

Boston

Houston Astros vs. Boston Red Sox at Fenway Park

Campus Events Nov. 6

Andover Alumni Award of Distinction 2018

Nov. 8

Veterans Day Program and Dinner with Rear Admiral Daniel Bowler ’66

For the most up-to-date alumni listings, visit www.andover.edu/alumnievents.

Seoul

La Jolla, CA

Boston, MA

Dubai

Andover | Summer 2018

45

A N D O V ER BO O KS H ELF

Promise: Poems

by Sally Van Doren ’80 LSU Press Sally Van Doren’s Promise features a series of short lyric poems, contemplative vignettes of daily life that examine friendship, marriage, and family with a veneer of playfulness.

These poems take us to a space where a year is compressed into minutes and a small trickle of memory floods the mind. A visual artist as well as a poet, Van Doren composes word collages that help us touch the promise underneath the surface and make sense of the senseless.

The Last Man Who Knew Everything: The Life and Times of Enrico Fermi, Father of the Nuclear Age

by David Schwartz ’72 Basic Books In 1942, a team at the University of Chicago achieved what no one had before: a nuclear chain reaction. At the forefront of this breakthrough stood Enrico Fermi. Straddling the ages of classical physics and quantum mechanics, Fermi was a complex figure who was a part of both the Italian Fascist Party and the Manhattan Project, and a lessthan-ideal father and husband who nevertheless remained one of history’s greatest mentors. Based on new archival material and exclusive interviews, The Last Man Who Knew Everything lays bare the enigmatic life of a colossus of 20th-century physics.

Fair Shot: Rethinking Inequality and How We Earn

by Chris Hughes ’02 Bloomsbury Publishing Through the meteoric rise of Facebook, co-founder Chris Hughes came to understand how a select few can become ultra-wealthy nearly overnight. He believes the same forces that made Facebook possible have made it harder for everyone else in America to make ends meet. In Fair Shot, Hughes makes the case that one-percenters like him should pay their fortune forward in a radically simple way: a guaranteed income for working people.

Critical Hours: Search and Rescue in the White Mountains

by Sandy Stott ’67 University Press of New England A misread map, a sudden storm, a forgotten headlamp—and suddenly a leisurely hike turns into a treacherous endeavor. Sandy Stott, the “Accidents” editor at Appalachia, the journal of the Appalachian Mountain Club, delivers both a history and a celebration of the search-and-rescue workers who save countless lives in the White Mountains—along with a plea for us not to take their steadfast bravery for granted.

Tent for Two: Roughing It in Retirement

by Paul Kalkstein ’61 and Marnie Kalkstein Fiddler’s Crotch Press After retiring to the small town of Arrowsic, Maine, the Kalksteins left the New England winter behind to pitch their Coleman tent in the South, and later in their home state.

Along their journey, the couple discovered that our sense of passing time is malleable and that new activities can provide benefits to retirees beyond what they had expected. Told in their voices, this is a wide-ranging personal account, not only of their experiences in nature, but also about their altering views of life and each other.

The Weight

by Hubert Crouch ’69 Serpentine Books A father-daughter legal team scheme to keep their fortunes and law licenses while Texas Matters Magazine and one of its young journalists frantically fight for their survival battling a “bet-the-company” libel case.

Cornered and desperate, lawyer Cal Connors and his daughter Christine go on a scorched-earth offensive, taking the reader on a riveting ride through complex interpersonal relationships, gruesome murders, and a lurid kidnapping, which climaxes in a dramatic courtroom showdown.

Yumi with the Turquoise Eyes

by C.W. Cushman ’53 Amazon Digital Services LLC Although Yumi is an American-Japanese hostess in a country where she is subtly ostracized, her exotic looks and keen intelligence have allowed her to survive.

That is, until her path crosses Hank’s. Their relationship flourishes until conflicting forces culminate in a result that neither wanted.

Yumi and Hank’s alternating accounts of shared events are intertwined in Japan’s deep-rooted culture, which allows for the excruciating pain of harakiri and the elegant simplicity of the tea ceremony to coexist without contradiction.

Justice Holmes: The Measure of His Thought

by Anthony Murray and Edwin G. Quattlebaum III ’60, faculty emeritus Talbot Publishing Written in a lucid style and beautifully illustrated, the authors present a biographical look at the influences that shaped U.S. Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes’s judicial outlook, chiefly his openminded refusal to inject his own views into his legal decisions.

Through a discussion of the letters Holmes wrote at his Beverly Farms, Mass., home, where he summered when court was not in session, we are given a window into his remarkable wit as well as his philosophical views.

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.

46

Andover | Summer 2018

E N D N OTE

Rhea Prem ’19

A good photo can let you see the world in ways you never dreamed of.

Goodbye Is Not Forever Rita Savard

With a click of a shutter, Rhea Prem ’19 managed to tell a story that captured both recognition and praise from National Geographic. Prem’s gorgeous image, taken during a Learning in the World educational excursion last summer to Lilapur, Ahmedabad, was selected as one of 30 finalists among more than 5,000 entries in the National Geographic Student Expedition Photo Contest.

Prem, whose pictures have also appeared in The Phillipian, received her first camera in 10th grade. “I became immersed in my passion for photography at PA,” she said. “It opened up so many doors for me.”

Here’s what Prem had to say about her extraordinary moment captured in time, which was published on National Geographic’s website: “To me, exploration isn’t about the food you eat or the streets you walk it is about the people you meet and the connections you make with one another. I went on a trip to India with my school and we visited a small village called Lilapur. It was an austere village, yet the people who lived there were so sincere and genuinely happy. They welcomed us into their homes and we played Frisbee with their children. In this moment, we were saying goodbye to our new friends but I knew that this wasn’t goodbye forever.”

108

Andover | Summer 2018

Introducing the Pan Athletic Center Knowledge & Goodness investments spark facilities renewal “I’ll meet you at the Pan Athletic Center!”

These words will surely become familiar on campus thanks to leadership gifts from Andover parents Zhang Xin and Pan Shiyi, P’17, ’19, and two anonymous donors. Their collective $25 million investment in the student experience will launch the next phase of Andover’s Athletic Facilities Master Plan—and have a profound impact on the Academy’s commitment to athletics and health and wellness.

The new Pan Athletic Center will house a swimming and diving complex, dance studios, wrestling facilities, locker rooms, and the Athletics Hall of Honor.

The state-of-the-art building will be situated near the Snyder Center. Final design is still being completed, and additional funds will be raised to cover the full cost of the facility before construction begins.

students benefit from a range of exceptional facilities that complement their broad and deep education.

“The Knowledge & Goodness campaign is fundamentally about attracting the best students and bringing them together with a world-class faculty on a campus that elevates mind and body,” says Peter L.S. Currie ’74, P’03, Board of Trustees president and campaign chair.

“Zhang Xin and Pan Shiyi have, together with their family, made a bold investment in a new facility that will advance each of these goals.”

Their philanthropy also addresses a distinct and long-standing Academy objective by ensuring

Zhang Xin, P’17, ’19, and Head of School John G. Palfrey, P’21, at the signing for the Pan Athletic Center

John Hurley

Zhang says her family’s gift—the largest ever from parents without alumni ties—developed naturally as their sons embraced, and were embraced by, the Andover community. “John Palfrey visits China on behalf of Andover every year, and he is always warmly received,” says Zhang. “He is incredibly accessible and that is so rare—to feel he knows our children so well.”

Phillips Academy, Andover, Massachusetts 01810-4161

Households that receive more than one Andover magazine are encouraged to call 978-749-4267 to discontinue extra copies.

Thank you, Big Blue!

You made PA Giving Day 2018 an amazing success!

3,690+

Andover community members rallied together

$1.75 million+ Raised for scholarships and other key priorities and programs

96

Andover and Abbot classes gave back

640

Parents participated

50

U.S. states &

30

countries represented

PAGivingDay.andover.edu

SUMMER 2018

Periodicals postage paid at Andover, MA and additional mailing offices