No Business Like Snow Business

Yesterday I sent a variation of this message to faculty, staff and students. The sentiments expressed below apply equally to all of you, whether parents of day or boarding students.

Wednesday’s weather left us with no doubt that we have indeed started WINTER term at Andover. I want to acknowledge that the snowstorm posed a tremendous challenge to our campus community, and I want to thank you for your cooperation, patience and generally good spirits throughout it all.

Many made extraordinary efforts this week to keep the campus operational and our community members safe, especially where the storm was twice as powerful as predicted. Physical plant staff has arrived in the earliest hours for three days running, including today. Certain Paresky Commons staff spent the night on Tuesday in order to be here to feed us. Many other faculty, staff, administrators, students and parents made their way to campus on Wednesday, and we are grateful that there were no major incidents.

Safety is our highest priority when these weather conditions occur. As is always the case, we urge each individual to exercise their best judgment, and we fully support those who made the decision to avoid travel during the storm. Since the majority of our students and faculty live on campus, however, it has been our practice to do what we can to maintain our academic schedule, even when it snows.

Some of you may have heard that campus paths and town sidewalks took a couple of days to clear. Equipment failure was the greatest obstacle to quick resolution of problems but by this morning all the critical areas had been addressed.

With one storm behind us and more to come this season, we will continue to think about how best to respond when bad weather approaches.

Summer Opportunities

One way to cope with winter weather is to focus summer plans. The 21st annual Summer Opportunities Fair will be held on Sunday, January 30 from 12:00-2:00 P.M. in the Smith Center. Exhibitors from more than 90 national and international programs will be on hand to distribute information and answer questions about their programs, which include academic specialties, such as science, math and languages, community service, research opportunities, international travel, wilderness adventures and many more. This event is open to the public.

The Niswarth Program (Niswarth is a Hindi word for “Non Sibi”) will run from June 10 - July 3 in Mumbai, India. The goal of this program is to learn about development and entrepreneurship through community projects. An information session will be held on Monday, January 17th at 6:00 p.m. in Gelb 102 and more about the program can be found in the Media Gallery (www.andover.edu/mediagallery/communityservice/niswarth/Pages/Default.aspx) or by contacting Mr. Raj Mundra at rmundra@andover.edu. Applications are due by January 24th to Ms. Schleicher in the World Languages Office in Sam Phil. (Note: this program is open to Andover students only.)

PSPA Special Funding

PSPA continues its wonderful and much appreciated support for the Andover Community with the approval of $7,000 in funding for a range of special projects which will enrich our community by creating new opportunities or enhance existing programs. A complete list of Special Projects will be listed on the PSPA website.