Health & Wellness Update

Based on data received Wednesday, January 12, the student COVID-19 testing positivity rate in the previous seven days was 2.51%. More than 99% of PA students have received 1+ vaccination dose(s); 51.8% have received a booster. To see the complete data from Dr. Amy Patel, Sykes Wellness Center medical director, please visit our COVID-19 Testing Dashboard.

COVID-19 boosters for students are available on campus TOMORROW (Friday, January 14) from 2 to 5 p.m. in the Carter Lobby on the second of the Snyder Center. Boosters are now approved for anyone age 12 years and older who is at least five months past dose 2 of Pfizer or Moderna, or at least two months past dose 1 of Johnson & Johnson. Boosters are strongly recommended for those who are eligible and due. Please encourage your student to schedule an appointment via the Sykes Wellness Center Health Portal. In the near future, Andover will be requiring that students have a booster dose.

Encourage your student to get a flu shot too! Students can still make an appointment for a flu shot by calling the Sykes Wellness Center at 978-749-4455. If your child received the flu vaccine elsewhere, please email documentation to the wellness center.

MLK Day Events on Monday

School will be in session on Monday, January 17, with required special Martin Luther King Jr. Day programming for all students in lieu of classes.

Keynote speaker Dr. Eddie Glaude Jr., a New York Times best-selling author and chair of Princeton’s Department of African American Studies, will give a virtual presentation to all students in the morning. In the afternoon, 9th-graders will attend Out of the Bottom Drawer, a series of inspirational monologues and vignettes exploring identity and what it means to be a student at Andover; 10th-graders will meet for a presentation titled “Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, ‘Cancel Culture’ and ‘Presentism’: Reflections on Viewing Movies with Two Sets of Eyes”; and uppers and seniors will attend special workshops.

CAMD Scholar presentation: PA families are invited to join us Monday evening at 7 p.m. ET for a virtual presentation by Anushka Bhat ’22, Barbara Landis Chase CAMD Scholar, titled “Political Insanity: Colonial Psychiatry and Social Control, 1820–1940.” Zoom link.

Saturday Deadline for Yearbook Ads

Express pride and love and congratulate your senior with a fun and heartfelt ad in the keepsake Pot Pourri yearbook. Include your own special message and photo(s), and choose from several sizes in full color or black and white. Please download the order form, which includes instructions for submitting ad materials and payment. There’s still time! Submit a “family message” for your soon-to-be-graduate before the deadline on Saturday, January 15.

Order the Pot Pourri for your student: Families are encouraged to order the 2022 Pot Pourri online (enter school code 3591). Order forms are also available on The Hive. Yearbooks, full color and typically about 300 pages, will be delivered to students in mid-May.

News from the PSPA

We hope to be able to meet in person for most PSPA events this term. We are planning with the best-case scenario in mind, but please watch for updates.

PSPA General Meeting, Tuesday, January 25, at 6 p.m. in the Underwood Room—followed by a Guest Faculty Panel (with Q&A) from 7 to 8 p.m. in Kemper Auditorium: Please join us for our general meeting, which will be followed by a collaborative program brought to you by the PSPA and Dean of Studies Raj Mundra P’18, ’20. You will hear from a faculty panel focusing on the PA academic experience for juniors and lowers and have the opportunity to ask questions in the Q&A session. Masking is required. Livestream links will be provided in next week’s Family Bulletin.

Special PSPA Book Club (virtual), Sunday, February 6, at 8 p.m. ET: Join us for a special PSPA Book Club meeting with Dr. John Francis P’25, author of Planetwalker: 22 Years of Walking. 17 Years of Silence. He will share his story about his walking pilgrimage, advocating for the environment, and how to make a difference. Read about Francis and his incredible journey here. This event is open to all interested families (you do not need to join the book club or read the book). A Zoom link will be provided in the February 3 Family Bulletin.

PSPA Speaker Series, with guest Julie Lythcott-Haims, Thursday, February 10, at 7 p.m. in Kemper Auditorium: Back by popular demand! Join us for Lythcott-Haims’ presentation based on her New York Times best-selling book How to Raise an Adult. Free and open to the public. Masking is required. A book signing will follow; books will be available for on-site purchase.

Lythcott-Haims will speak to Andover seniors on Thursday morning and is the All-School Meeting guest speaker on Friday, February 11. Her visit is made possible by the Donald Sutherland ’49 Fund for Curriculum, with additional funding from the PSPA. This event will be recorded and shared on The Hive.

Urgent Need for Campus Closet Volunteers

Do you value the Campus Closet? We would love to keep our doors open. Please consider joining a small team of volunteers to help manage our mom-and-pop store that is so crucial to the PA community. Roles include helping manage the ecommerce website, marketing, buying merchandise, merchandising the store, and managing active volunteers. No experience necessary! Roles are scalable and flexible based on your availability and interest. We will help to train all volunteers.

The Campus Closet (lower level of George Washington Hall) is open for in-person shopping on Friday, January 21, from noon to 4 p.m. Visit the Campus Closet website for online shopping, with free delivery on campus.

This Week’s Religious Gatherings

Friday, January 14

1 p.m.—Muslim Student Association (MSA) Prayers: Led by Noureddine El Alam. Meditation Room, lower level of Cochran Chapel (side entrance). Masks required.
5:30–6:30 p.m.—Jewish Shabbat Service and JSU Meeting: Led by Rabbi Michael Swarttz. Paul’s Room, upper level of Paresky Commons. All are welcome! Masks required when not eating.

Sunday, January 16

6–7 p.m.—Protestant (Ecumenical) Service: Led by Rev. Gina M. Finocchiaro, interim Protestant chaplain. Music by Michael Belcher. All are welcome for this time of scripture, prayer, spoken reflection, and music! Cochran Chapel. Masks required.
6:45–8 p.m.—Catholic Mass: All are welcome to this prayer of the Catholic community. Overseen by Dr. Mary Kantor, Catholic chaplain, with priests of the Archdiocese of Boston presiding. Kemper Chapel, lower level of Cochran Chapel (side entrance). Fellowship time will follow. This Mass may be open to (masked) campus community only; please email Dr. Kantor with inquiry. (Subject to change if need to return to virtual setting.)

Curriculum Corner

Highlights of the Academy’s extensive course offerings

The foundation of our music curriculum, The Nature of Music (MUS225 or 235) is taken by almost all ninth-graders and new lowers. The course is intentionally designed to be a multifaceted and exciting introduction to music in all its forms: literature, theory, performance, and composition. Students learn about melody, harmony, types of instruments, and types of notations; listen to all genres and become critical listeners; and, perhaps best of all, acquire skills in music technology enabling them to compose their own original works.

In taking this course, we hope all Andover students develop a new appreciation for and love of music—an art form that is essential to humanity and the human experience. Many students go on to enroll in the music department’s wide range of electives.

You Are Invited!

January 1–31 in New York: Contactless NYC Community Fridges Non Sibi Project, with Candace Douglas ’00
January 1–31 in Atlanta: Hybrid Atlanta Free99Fridges Non Sibi Project, with Chrystal Akor ’00 and Gabe Wardell ’89
January 1–31 in New England: Contactless Community Fridges Non Sibi Project
January 1–31 in Philadelphia: Non Sibi Project with Mama-Tee Fridge
January 1–31 in Seattle: Contactless Community Fridges and Little Free Pantries Non Sibi Project
January 13: Highlights Tour of the American Museum of Natural History, with Doug Pirnie ’65
January 25: Pan-European Regional Leadership Team’s Welcome to the Neighborhood, with Amy Kellogg ’83
February 1: An Evening with Andover Summer
February 7: Blue Runs Deep Industry Series: A Conversation with Alumni in the Business of Sports
February 16: Excellence at Our Core, with Head of School Raynard S. Kington, MD, PhD, P’24

All events are virtual unless otherwise noted. Please join us!

Please check the Events Calendar on Andover’s website regularly for additional in-person and online events that may be open to families. The Weekender is the Academy’s one-stop guide to weekend student activities, opportunities, club-organized events, guest speakers, performances, and athletic contests.

Family Bulletin Archive »

Phillips Academy
180 Main St.
Andover, MA 01810

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