Non Sibi 26.2!
Gil Talbot
Russian Language Instructor Peter Merrill Honored
Juniors Peyton McGovern and Olivia LaMarche gathered 400 signatures and raised $3,000 for Boston’s The One Fund with their run from the Boston Marathon finish line to the Andover campus on April 27. To jumpstart their relay effort they left a poster signed by students and faculty at the memorial for victims of the bombing. “This horrible tragedy hit so close to home for us, which is why we wanted to make a difference,” McGovern says.
In early February, the 1,650-member American Council of Teachers of Russian (ACTR) presented its “Distinguished Service Award” to longtime PA instructor Peter Merrill for his contributions to the organization and to the field of Russian language education. Merrill has taught all levels of Russian and lower-level German at Andover since 1989 and is former chair of the World Languages division. Since 2006 he also has served as coordinator of the Academy’s Global Perspectives Group (GPG). “I was caught completely off guard,” says Merrill, who did not learn he was being honored until the day of the award. “To be on the list with others who have received this award, many of whom have played major roles in the wider field of foreign language education, is quite humbling. “At both ACTR and at Andover, I have had wonderful colleagues who have given me the support to think about language education on the appropriate scale. My work with ACTR has proven incredibly valuable as background for global work at Andover with [Dean of Faculty] Temba Maqubela and GPG.” Along with praising his success in engaging “in the wider field of language education and opportunities for international education,” Jane Shuffelton, chair of the ACTR award nominations committee, also commended Merrill for his thoughtful leadership as an ACTR board member and former ACTR vice president and president. “Peter is a master teacher and a mentor to many of us,” says Peter Neissa, current World Languages division chair. “He is a quiet leader who works tirelessly for students and colleagues.”
Becky Sykes, Role Model The Brace Center for Gender Studies honored Associate Head of School Becky Sykes with the McKeen Award on April 5. Named for Abbot Academy Principal Philena McKeen, the award is presented to those who have made significant contributions to shaping the “new”—now 40-year-old—coeducational Phillips Academy. Among those who offered reflections on Sykes’s 40-year tenure was former Head of School Barbara Chase, who also read a message from current head John Palfrey. Palfrey regrettably could not attend the event. When Chase asked those in the crowd of 100-plus attendees to stand if they had worked with Becky in any capacity—from committee work to residential life to administrative roles—virtually all rose to their feet. Tracy Sweet
Associate Head of School Becky Sykes was celebrated at the Davis Hall dinner and presentation of the McKeen Award, with her husband, Faculty Emeritus Elwin Sykes, and their eldest son and daughter-in-law, Emmett Bell-Sykes ’92 and Tahia Bell-Sykes, in attendance.
Others offering reflections were Diane Moore, director of the Brace Center and chair of the Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies; Rev. Anne Gardner, director of spiritual and religious life and Protestant chaplain; Linda Carter Griffith, dean of CAMD; Bobby Edwards, former dean of CAMD and current head of the Lower School at the McLean School in Maryland; Paul Murphy ’84, dean of students and instructor in mathematics; Boyoung Youn Cho ’00; and Kathleen Dalton, instructor in history and social science.
Andover | Spring 2013
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