Day Students Welcomed to Campus

On Wednesday afternoon, we welcomed 309 day students to campus. They registered at Borden Gym, where they were greeted by the Admissions and Sykes Wellness Center teams and members of the Dean of Students and Dean of Studies offices. Day students will return to campus tomorrow to join their boarding classmates, who will have completed quarantining in their dorms.

A mini orientation/re-orientation for juniors and lowers will be offered on Saturday beginning with an egg hunt at 1:15 p.m. Given that juniors and lowers have had very limited time on campus or time together as classmates, we want to give them an opportunity to find their way around campus before in-person classes begin. Campus tours and some ice breakers/speed friending activities are also planned. Juniors will participate in these activities from 2:30 to 4 p.m. and lowers will participate from 4 to 5:30 p.m. We strongly encourage juniors to participate in this orientation! Students will be shown locations of day student lockers and classrooms as well as where they can pick up their textbooks. (NOTE: Day students will retrieve their books from the lobby of George Washington Hall; textbooks for boarding students will be delivered to their dorms).

There will be a special meal Saturday night followed by class activities for all students. Since both Passover and Easter fall this weekend, we understand if students are unable to attend.

From the Dean of Studies

We are very excited to see the campus full of life, abundant energy, and great spirit! Next week we shift from remote teaching to in-person teaching in most classes. Faculty have carefully designed their lessons to engage all students during class time and have created assignments for individual and collaborative work outside of class. Students on campus will develop new routines and continue to follow safety protocols in and outside of classrooms, and while accessing campus resources. Students off campus will continue to stay connected to our classes and all of our resources.

Classes will take on a few different forms. The majority will be conducted in person, while some will be entirely remote. In addition, there may be scenarios where remote students will join an in-person class via Zoom. Note that all students who are on campus are expected to attend their classes in person—unless they are unable to attend in person due to a health issue, for example. These varied scenarios require “HyFlex” learning, which is designed to serve both remote and in-person learners.

To ensure a high-quality experience, we have trained faculty and equipped classrooms for the HyFlex model, which allows students to join a class live (in our case, via Zoom). Classrooms have been set up to maximize participation and collaboration. With high-quality microphones and cameras, remote learners will be able to see and hear teachers and classmates—and be seen and heard themselves!

This “scenarios” chart outlines the different ways students might engage with our learning program during spring term. Note that a student on campus might be in both in-person and remote classes during the day. Please remind your child to be aware of each of their class scenarios.

Tips to Share with Your Student

Make a plan for where you need to be for meals, study spaces, and classes
Complete your daily symptom tracker
Charge your devices that have a camera and microphone
Bring your headphones to support audio and privacy
Build in extra time to get to your class a few minutes early
Follow all safety protocols
Follow teacher guidelines during class
Enjoy learning!

All class information will be on your child’s Canvas course page. Remind your student to bookmark each course in their browser for quick access!

Student Privacy While Learning Online

An essential element of an Andover education is to promote independent learning. While we appreciate parents as partners in this process, each student needs to attend their classes without parent involvement during that class. All students and teachers presume that the faces in their Zoom room are the intended audience—and the only audience—for their sharing during discussions.

Parents and Academic Integrity

At the beginning of every year, all students read the PA Academic Integrity Primer and sign off that they understand the parameters of doing good intellectual work in an academic community. In addition, all English teachers go over academic integrity expectations with their students at the beginning of every term, and other departments regularly offer guidance specific to the assignment or discipline.

While the responsibility of academic integrity is up to each student, there are things parents can do to help. Please wait until students have submitted written work to read it. Their ideas and writing—yes, every comma—must be their own, and they may not receive help on assignments from family, friends, tutors, or the internet, except as part of peer-editing and workshopping in class or as an explicit part of a collaborative assignment. If students are feeling unsure or overwhelmed, please encourage them to reach out to their instructors for help. All students have conference period several times a week, and there is a great Writing Center in Morse Hall (now also online, available via the Academic Skills Center).

Ultimately, in addition to the content areas we teach, we are also working to create confident and independent learners who ask for appropriate help when they need it, and we know that a lot of their learning will be in their mistakes and the productive struggles. If there is a violation of our academic integrity standards, then the teacher, department chair, and a member of the Dean of Studies office will work with the student to help them understand the violation, which could also lead to a Discipline Committee (DC) meeting.

Complete Your Student’s Enrollment

You should have received an email on March 15 from SchoolAdmin regarding the Academy’s online enrollment system for the 2021–2022 academic year. Please click the link in that email to complete the enrollment process; note that enrollment is not considered complete until all required forms are signed, the $2,500 nonrefundable deposit is paid, and a payment plan option has been selected in FACTS by following the link provided in SchoolAdmin. The deadline for completing the enrollment process was Thursday, April 1. Questions? Please email Tina Rioux, bursar.

CAMD Scholar Presentation Tonight

Friday, April 2, at 8 p.m. EDT: Sophia Hlavaty ’21 will share research from her paper, “Magic Kingdom? Deconstructing the Politics of Citizenship and Memory in Disney’s America.” Her presentation will trace The Walt Disney Company’s rise to power during the Cold War and explore why the American audience responded so positively to Walt Disney’s vision of America. Faculty advisor: Dr. Donald Slater, instructor in history and social sciences. Please register here and we’ll send you a Zoom link.

PA Medical Conference Tomorrow

Saturday, April 3, 9 a.m. to noon and 3 to 5 p.m. EDT: Andover families are invited to join students, faculty, and alumni to hear an array of health-care perspectives and to connect and engage in conversation with one another at the virtual 2021 Andover Health Occupations Students of America (HOSA) Medical Conference. The diverse panel will include multiple alumni presenters from a variety of medical fields; opening remarks will be provided by Head of School Raynard Kington, MD, PhD, P’24. Please click here for a program of events and Zoom links.

Organized by HOSA Andover, the Office of Alumni Engagement, and others, this conference is made possible by a grant from the Abbot Academy Fund.

Watch the Peabody’s Diggin’ In Series

Join us for “Trade and Smuggling in Plymouth Colony”—Season 2, Episode 6, of the Peabody Institute of Archaeology’s Diggin’ In series—with Elizabeth Tarulis, University of Tennessee Knoxville, on Wednesday, April 7, at 1:30 p.m. EDT. This presentation will discuss ceramics recovered from three Plymouth Colony sites: Burial Hill, the Alden First Home Site, and the Allerton/Prence/Cushman Site. These ceramics came from a variety of countries across the globe, providing valuable insight into the trade networks colonists used to buy their goods and the global factors that may have impacted them. Please send us an email to sign up and we’ll put your name on our Zoom invitation list. You can also visit our events page on Facebook.

Passover

Jewish Shabbat Service and Passover Celebration (Friday, April 2, at 5:30 p.m. EDT)—Led by Rabbi Michael Swarttz. All are welcome! Zoom link.

Holy Week and Easter

All are welcome to these services.

Good Friday Service (April 2, 11:15–11:45 a.m. EDT)—Stations of the Cross with readings, images, and music. For this annual service, a different artist is chosen each year, providing varied representation from around the world. This year’s Stations of the Cross images are from Phnom Penh, Cambodia. Service led by Dr. Mary Kantor, Catholic chaplain, along with students from the Class of 2021. Zoom link.

Easter Sunday (April 4)

Protestant Worship at 12 noon EDT (Zoom)—Scripture, sermon, prayers, and music, led by the Reverend Gina Finocchiaro (Zoom link). In-Person Fellowship and Fun at 4 p.m. on the green next to Cochran Chapel. Join us for an Easter Egg Hunt and some fellowship! All are welcome. (Masking and social distancing required.)
Catholic Mass at 6:45 p.m. EDT (In Person)—Celebration of the Resurrection of the Lord. Kemper Chapel (lower level of Cochran Chapel; enter from the outside, left side of building). Welcome by Dr. Mary Kantor, Catholic chaplain; Mass presided over by Fr. John O’Brien. Fellowship to follow. (Masking and social distancing required.)

Ready, Set, Launched!

Registration for Andover Summer’s newest two-week program, Andover Summer Advantage, opened Thursday, April 1. Visit the Andover Summer Advantage website for information about course offerings, dates, rates, enrollment, and more. We also continue to accept applications for our traditional five-week on-campus boarding and day programs. Your child—or perhaps the child of a neighbor or friend—will be enriched by this transformative and exciting in-person summer experience!

PA Transcripts for Summer Programs

If your student needs a PA transcript for summer program applications, please have them email the Registrar’s Office well in advance. Reminder: official transcripts must be sent directly from the Registrar’s Office to the organization requesting it.

Class Rings and Yearbooks

Phillips Academy class rings can still be ordered online. Please email our ring vendor, Mike McCann of Herff Jones, with any questions.

Pot Pourri yearbooks—which cover the 2020–2021 school year—are available for purchase for $125 each. Please order online using school code 3591. Yearbooks will be shipped to the school in mid-May.

News from the PSPA

PSPA Speaker Series featuring Dr. Lisa Damour—Wednesday, April 14, at 7 p.m. EDT: An internationally acclaimed expert on adolescent mental health and managing stress and anxiety, Dr. Lisa Damour has authored two well-known books, Under Pressure: Confronting the Epidemic of Stress and Anxiety in Girls and Untangled: Guiding Teenage Girls through the Seven Transitions into Adulthood. Please check next week’s Parent Bulletin for specific talk details and a Zoom link. This event is co-sponsored with the Wellness Collaborative, Associate Head of School’s Office, and Sykes Wellness Center.

Damour will also address students at All-School Meeting on the morning of April 14 as well as faculty in a separate meeting that day. More information about Damour is available here.

New Campus Closet website: Thanks to our amazing team of parent volunteers, we now have a new and improved PSPA Campus Closet website. Check us out, and happy shopping.

Be a part of “PA Pride” on social media! Share photos of yourself, your family, your student, and even your pets strutting our swag! Email us your pics or attach hashtag #AndoverPride to your Facebook and Instagram posts—your photo may be selected to be reposted by Campus Closet and the PSPA.

You Are Invited!

April 1-30: Operation Gratitude Letter Writing Non Sibi Project with Brandon Stroman ’97, Steve Matloff ’91, and Jim Donnelly ’82
April 1-30: Atlanta-based Non Sibi Project Free99Fridge with Chrystal Akor ’00 and Gabe Wardell ’89
April 2: “Magic Kingdom? Deconstructing the Politics of Citizenship and Memory in Disney’s America,” CAMD Scholar Presentation by Sophia Hlavaty ’21
April 3: Andover Health Occupations Students of America (HOSA) Medical Conference
April 7: Entrepreneurship in a Time of Societal Change with Valla Vakili ’91
April 14: A Conversation with Julia Alvarez ’67 on her novel Afterlife
April 19: A Conversation with Andy Housiaux, Currie Family Director of the Tang Institute
April 22: Community Discussion on the Future of Race Relations
April 24–25: The Open Door Shelter Non Sibi Project with Laura Wyatt ’00
April 27: Yoga with Tobi Gold ’70

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

Parent Bulletin Archive »

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