Andover magazine spring 2024

MAKE MORE FUTURE

Special Issue with Guest Editor Nicholas Thompson ’93

From the Head of School

WILL AI MAKE US MORE HUMAN?

Technology’s influence in our lives requires constant vigilance. The only certainty is change, which prompts questions without clear answers and makes it difficult to pinpoint the ideal spot between tech’s risks and benefits. At Andover, our latest questions examine generative artificial intelligence. How are we preparing our students and our school to navigate this new frontier?

I am confident that Andover will capitalize on AI’s promise while also mitigating its inherent risks. We’ve begun by asking broad questions that will lead to policy decisions to guide academics and school operations. What should all students know about what AI is and how it works? How can we educate our students to be responsible consumers of AI? How will we harness AI’s vast power to improve teaching and learning and to create administrative efficiencies? What guardrails will we put in place to protect things like personal information and intellectual property? How can we help students understand how AI might affect how our society functions? Will it increase inequality, as some have predicted? At the most practical level, how can AI help us operate our school more effectively and efficiently while remaining true to our values?

Beyond enacting policy for acceptable use, I expect we will also discover something more profound. By this I mean AI’s potential to highlight the value of humanistic pursuits. Is it possible that AI might somehow be used to make us more human?

Some Andover students think so. Reading their future predictions for this magazine’s cover story, I was pleased to learn that some envision AI being aligned with a more authentic and creative society.

As teachable bots fuel innovation, these students emphasized our responsibility to interrogate their outputs. To validate humans’ importance “in the loop,” our students agree we have an obligation to identify bias, redirect ethically questionable conclusions, and correct misleading or false information, among other things.

I would take this a step further. As educators, we should also help students understand AI’s potential to change society for the better. How can we use it to address inequality or improve how institutions function? How can we use it to help cure disease? Create a better democracy?

As the toolkit evolves and resources continue to proliferate, I hope we will embrace what makes us human, those non-programmable traits—our personal experiences, values, and ethics—that connect us to one another.

Raynard S. Kington, MD, PhD, P’24, ’27 Head of School

Andover magazine reinforces the special connection alumni have with Phillips Academy and Abbot Academy. Through thought-provoking stories, contemporary design, and inspiring profiles of alumni, students, and faculty, we aim to highlight the school’s enduring values, recognize our unique history, and celebrate the rich diversity of our community.

EDITOR’S NOTE

When you first meet Nick Thompson ’93, a few things stand out. This is an intense guy. He likes to run. A lot. And he has a way of simultaneously being incredibly focused, earnest, and engaging.

P’19

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All of this was swirling through my brain in March when managing editor Rita Savard and I met Nick at The Atlantic’s New York City office, where he works as CEO. Kezi Barry ’02 joined us to take photos and video (watch at andover.edu/magazine), and in true “everyone has an Andover story” fashion, Nick and Kezi (pictured above) realized they shared more than an alumni connection: Kezi’s dad, Faculty Emeritus Don Barry, was one of Nick’s math teachers.

As the magazine’s first guest editor, Nick lent an important and unique perspective to our “Make More Future” cover story, the title for which was borrowed from the intriguing script emblazoned on the wall of The Nest makerspace.

This story brought together many perspectives from the Andover community. For example, Anushka Gupta ’27 offers her thoughts on the future of work, computer science instructor Nick Zufelt and artificial intelligence expert Chris Meserole ’98 discuss AI and the future of learning, and marine biologist Michelle Cho ’93 talks about the use of bluetech to save the world’s oceans. “Make More Future” shows how Andover is working diligently to create a future with the greater good in mind.

Which brings me to the future of Andover magazine. This story is being published at a time when we are considering next steps for this important alumni publication, and we want to ensure that your voices are heard as we begin to make decisions. With that said, the magazine team would appreciate if you could please take a few minutes to fill out a quick online survey, available by scanning this QR code.

Thank you for your support of Andover magazine and for your continued feedback. I forward to ensuring—and improving—the quality of Andover magazine for many years to come.

\ Allyson Irish Editor magazine@andover.edu @andovermagazine

The Academy recently recognized Paul Murphy ’84, P’16, ’19, ’22, instructor in mathematics, statistics, and computer science, who ended a phenomenal 35-year run of coaching. See more on page 12.

“Such

a welldeserved tribute and congratulations! ... Thank you for all you

continue to do

for

Andover’s students.”

This winter, the Addison Gallery of American Art showcased works by American photographers Robert Frank and Todd Webb. In 1955, the two men each received a fellowship from the Guggenheim Foundation for U.S. survey projects. Frank took a cross-country trip by car; Webb traversed the country by boat, foot, and bike. Neither knew what the other would be photographing.

Congratulations to Capt. Luis Angel Gonzalez ’97, USN, the new vice chair of the Andover and the Military Committee. Gonzalez is pictured with Bill the Goat, the U.S. Naval Academy mascot.

“I salute you, sir. Thanks for your support and commitment as the new vice chair.”

ADEKOYEJO75 Via Instagram

“Brilliant exhibition. Saw it this morning and am blown away!”

AMYSELWYNPHOTOGRAPHER Via Instagram

Todd Webb, Clifton Ray Durham, Shawneetown, IL, 1955, printed 2023, inkjet print, courtesy of Todd Webb Archive. © Todd Webb Archive/ @toddwebbarchive

LETTERS POLICY

Andover magazine welcomes letters addressing topics related to the Phillips Academy and/or Abbot Academy community. Letters will be edited for clarity, space, and civility. Opinions expressed in the “Voices” section do not necessarily represent the viewpoints of the magazine editorial staff or of Phillips Academy.

Andover’s Blue Key heads show some love on Valentine’s Day.

“Only day you’re allowed to wear so much of ‘that’ color.”

“So VERY exciting that the ‘Grand Dame’ has returned to where she belongs. Thanks to John Briggs, Caroline Odden, and the AAF, the ‘stars aligned’ and everything worked out… What a way to celebrate Abbot & Andover @ 50 with ‘Then, Now, and Next’ all wrapped up in one awesome telescope!”

SARA INGRAM ’71 Via Facebook

(See related story on page 8.)

How has your faith helped you find purpose in life?

MATT NOYES ’96 Via LinkedIn

JESSIE WALLNER

All School

Shrek the Musical

Wickedly humorous and joyfully subversive, the Department of Theatre and Dance’s winter term production offered a unique visual interpretation of the big green ogre’s fairytale world. Featuring music by Broadway composer Jeanine Tesori and lyrics by playwright David Lindsay-Abaire, Andover’s performance celebrated that “all the things that make us special are the things that make us strong.”

Photo by Neil Evans

All School

RETURN OF THE ABBOT TELESCOPE

“It was like stepping into a time machine that carried me back a century,” recalls John Briggs ’77, perhaps the last Andover student to visit the Abbot Observatory and explore the sky with the school’s historic telescope.

The five-inch refracting telescope was purchased in 1875 from esteemed optics maker Alvan Clark & Sons for $1,200— thanks to the mighty fundraising efforts of Abbot Academy astronomy teacher Mary Belcher. Students, faculty, and townspeople alike welcomed the sophisticated scientific instrument with great excitement and curiosity.

Readily visible from his childhood home on the south coast of Massachusetts, the star-studded Milky Way sparked Briggs’s early interest in astronomy. “The Space Race was just beginning,” he says. “Once I saw things like meteors and eclipses, I was totally hooked!”

The Thornton Observatory at Evans Hall, which Briggs noticed during a campus tour, was a big factor in his decision to attend Andover. When a few of his ninth-grade classes were held on the Abbot campus, he happily discovered the observatory atop Abbot Hall and visited several times.

In early 1974, following the merger, the Abbot telescope was sold and Briggs helped disassemble and pack it up for the new owner. Eight years later, Briggs, who had begun collecting astronomical antiquities himself, acquired the Abbot telescope. He went on to become a renowned astronomer and instrumentation engineer who used the finest computerized telescopes at observatories around the world. But the manually operated Abbot telescope, “a work of art as much as it is of technology,” he says, remained his sentimental favorite.

“This telescope can show you Saturn and its rings—about a billion miles away—at a level of detail that firsttimers find nearly unbelievable.”

—JOHN BRIGGS ’77

Last fall, an Abbot Academy Fund (AAF) grant awarded to Dean of Studies Caroline Odden enabled the purchase of the telescope, and in mid-February Briggs personally drove it from his home in New Mexico all the way to Andover.

“A jewel of Abbot’s campus, the telescope symbolizes the school’s early commitment to educating girls in the sciences,” says Beth Humstone ’66, AAF board president. “Its prominent placement in the library is yet another reminder of Abbot’s legacy at Andover on this 50th anniversary of the merger of the schools.”

—JILL CLERKIN

took a full year, but this March Holden Ringer ’17 completed his cross-country trek to raise awareness and money for AmericaWalks, a national pedestrian advocacy organization. Along the way, Ringer updated his Instagram with plenty of photos. See them here: @walkfromwashington.

Christina Schoeller ’16 served as an assistant to producer Greta Gerwig on the award-winning movie Barbie. She’s since moved on to work as an assistant at Red Hour Films, based in New York.

Angie Thomas New York Times Best-Selling Author

A filmmaker and producer, Thomas was the keynote speaker at Phillips Academy’s 35th annual celebration of Martin Luther King Jr. Day. Her debut novel, The Hate U Give became a major motion picture in 2018; her second novel, On the Come Up, was made into a film in 2022.

A classically trained violist, Battat recently produced his debut solo album, Fragments. A multi-

“ We’re going to build some hope. When we think about how we keep moving, how we continue to learn, how we continue to support— that is building hope.”

providing important historical context behind the complex conflict. Tipton taught history and social science at PA for 10 years; he now teaches at Dana Hall School, an independent school for girls in Wellesley, Mass.

New spaces for all, with a focus

Lambert Athlete

Lambert is a competitive para-athlete from New Hampshire who founded The Born to Run Foundation, which aims to provide amputees with prosthetics to enable them to run again. Lambert competed on Team USA for the 2021 Paralympics in Tokyo; she also competed in season 43 of the TV show Survivor and finished in eighth place.

Noelle

While reassembling the Abbot telescope in its new home in the lobby of the Oliver Wendell Holmes Library, astronomer John Briggs drew a small crowd and delightedly answered student questions. He is pictured with AAF grant recipient and Dean of Studies Caroline Odden.

All School

Things About Phelps House

BY RITA SAVARD

Completed in 1811, the architectural showpiece at 189 Main Street—with elegant Palladian windows and hand-carved cornices—was the first house specifically constructed for Andover Theological Seminary faculty. It was gifted by Newburyport merchant William Bartlet. Although the interior and exterior were designed to satisfy the grand style preferences of the Reverend Edward Dorr Griffin, the famous fire-and-brimstone preacher quit his brief professorship before the mansion was complete. Consequently, the first resident of Phelps House was Seminary president Ebenezer Porter.

2 3

The home bears the name of its longest resident, the Reverend Doctor Austin Phelps, who lived there from 1848 until 1890. But the most famous occupant is undoubtedly the reverend’s daughter, Elizabeth Stuart Phelps, Abbot Academy Class of 1858. The author and social reformer (she vehemently urged women to burn their corsets) wrote her national bestseller, Gates Ajar, in the small backyard cottage that became her personal writing room.

Phelps House has been home to the Academy’s head of school since 1933. Head of School Raynard S. Kington and his family are the current residents. Major alterations to the home, in which it was enlarged or remodeled, occurred only a handful of times in the 20th century. Most recently, in 2020, the kitchen received some necessary upgrades for modern living. It is a favorite relaxation place for Kington, who loves to cook.

Visit andover.edu/magazine for more photos of

that the American Temperance Society was founded in this space in 1826, quickly growing into a national movement in which members pledged total abstinence from drinking and selling distilled spirits.

Among the many historic treasures in the home are a desk with a secret storage compartment that once belonged to Academy founder Samuel Phillips Jr. and a Downton Abbey–style servant bell system. The George Washington Room includes two identical carved cherrywood chairs. President Washington allegedly sat in one during his Andover visit in 1789 while on his inauguration tour. Due to speculation about which chair he actually sat in, visitors are encouraged to sit in both.

Their goal was to outrace each other for their respective schools, but the biggest win for Tam Gavenas ’25 (2023–2024 Gatorade Player of the Year) and Exeter student Byron Grevious ’24 takes place off the track. Bonding over their love of cross-country— and simultaneously smashing race records for their schools and beyond—the students forged a friendship that keeps them on pace while navigating high school and life.

Chelsea Hu ’24’s essay “How to Find Your Balance” was recently published in the New York Times as part of its writing contest for teenagers. The senior wrote about her experience with dance and recommendations from theatre and dance instructor Judith Wombwell, who suggests, “Many of the balancing techniques dancers use are applicable to work and life.”

A new book delves into the history of The Andover Shop—located just down the hill from PA—and its founder, Charlie Davidson ’44 Miles, Chet, Ralph, & Charlie: An Oral History of The Andover Shop reveals how the preppy menswear shop, which opened in 1948, became an unlikely literary and cultural salon.

Three Andover hockey players came home with gold this past winter. Sisters Caroline ’26 and Maggie Averill ’27 (daughters of Alli Coughlan Averill ’95) and teammate Molly Boyle ’25 competed in Switzerland as part of the U.S. Under-18 Women’s National Team, defeating Czechia to win the medal.

The historic Green Room, also a family living room, has maintained its emerald hue since 1811. The most recent replication was achieved via Benjamin Moore paint No. 595, Deep Jungle. It is storied

PHOTOS BY NEIL EVANS

historic Phelps House and to watch Cooking with Kington

All School

ALUMNA BECOMES NEW BRACE CENTER DIRECTOR

Congratulations to Patricia Har ’95, who was recently named director of the Brace Center for Gender Studies.

An instructor in English, Har has been teaching at Andover since 2010. She previously was an English instructor at The Governor’s Academy in Byfield, Massachusetts, and an instructor and researcher at Cornell University. Created in 1996, the Brace Center is the only such program at the secondary school level in the United States and aims to advance institutional efforts toward intersectional gender equity and inclusion. Located in Abbot Hall, the Brace Center, which is named for its benefactor, Donna Brace Ogilvie ’30, pays particular attention to the legacy of Abbot Academy, the all-girls school that merged with Phillips Academy in 1973.

THE LAST LAP

In his 35 years of coaching, Paul Murphy ’84, P’16, ’19, ’22, has seen it all. Wins. Losses. New athletic directors. New heads of school. A new pool!

Despite the many changes, one thing has remained constant: Murphy’s commitment to his work and to coaching young students to be good people.

During a March 3 ceremony recognizing his retirement from coaching, Athletics Director Lisa Joel spoke about Murphy’s tenure and impact on the school. Joel read messages from colleagues, former swimmers, and current students, all of whom noted the coach’s indelible impact on their lives as well as his focus on fun, teamwork, care for others, and balance.

As a PA student, Murphy swam for four years and then went on to captain his Bates College swim team. He returned to PA as a teacher in 1988 and became the longest serving PA coach in the past four decades, coaching boys’ water polo for 10 years and the girls’ varsity swimming and diving team, which won seven New England championships and produced an amazing 34 All-Americans during his tenure. It's important to note that Murphy is not going anywhere. He will continue to live on campus and teach.

ART & APPRECIATION

Students in Advanced Drawing & Painting focused on their favorite Andover people this spring, creating unique and personal portraits. Caroline McGirt ’23 highlighted Dr. Amy Patel, dean of health and wellness and chief medical officer. “I wanted to shine a light on Dr. Patel to show my appreciation for her and others who helped students brave the pandemic.”

Showing their pride and appreciation for the legacy of Abbot Academy, all athletic teams wore special Abbot Academy patches on their uniforms in February.

The best stories live with us long after the final word. In Julia Alvarez ’67’s seventh adult novel, The Cemetery of Untold Stories, acclaimed writer Alma Cruz, after suffering the loss of a friend, comes home to the Dominican Republic to bury the unpublished tales she’d finally like to put to rest. Alvarez’s magical new book—focused on storytelling itself—shows why some stories must be told no matter how hard we try to bury them.

Reasons for Blooming (Dr. Driscoll) Aviva Cai ’24

Adrian Morrison Joseph Murphy ’23

Dr. Amy Patel Caroline McGirt ’23 HENRY

Hector Membreno-Canales Brian Masse ’23

SOLAR ECLIPSE SPREADS WONDER AND CONNECTION

A solar eclipse provided a rare teaching moment on April 8, bringing the community together for a real-life science lesson with all eyes on the sky.

“Astronomers appreciate a good show,” says physics and astronomy teacher Jose Manuel Zorrilla Matilla. “Historically, eclipses have played an important role in science, including providing one of the first empirical tests for Einstein’s general relativity theory. This was an opportunity to experience, in a very tangible way, how the Earth is part of a larger universe. Seeing the moon move slowly to cover the sun gives a sense of scale and distance to these objects that is hard to get otherwise.”

“Seeing the moon move slowly to cover the sun gives a sense of scale and distance to these objects that is hard to get otherwise.”

While Andover was not in the path of totality it was very close, making the view from campus both exciting and memorable.

Students in the Astronomy Club set up a telescope with a solar filter in front of Paresky Commons, where the community—outfitted with commemorative Andover-themed eclipse shades— observed the moon covering about 93 percent of the sun at the peak of the phenomenon.

“A celestial event of this magnitude awakens something in our connection to nature and the universe,” Zorrilla explains.

“It was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for many students and adults to experience science and hear it being talked about as it’s unfolding in front of you—it’s never what you expect.”

NAVIGATING CONTEMPORARY LIFE IN CHINA

BY NANCY HITCHCOCK

Growing up in a multicultural family provided Aube Rey Lescure ’11 with rich source material from which to draw for her debut novel River East, River West

Although Rey Lescure was born in America, she moved to China as an infant with her Chinese father and French mother. Rey Lescure grew up in China and spent summers with her grandparents in the south of France. She learned to navigate different cultures, societal norms, and languages at an early age. These skills were enormously helpful when she moved to the United States at the age of 16 to attend Andover.

Meeting friends quickly at school buoyed her confidence, as did her participation on the wrestling team, which at the time was primarily boys.

Rey Lescure enjoyed reading and learning about Ulysses, Virginia Woolf, and Shakespeare and is thankful for English instructors Mary Fulton, Kevin O’Connor, Jeff Domina, Lewis Robinson, and Catherine Tousignant, all of whom she acknowledges in her book.

“I had a very special two years at Andover that were transformative in terms of intellectual pursuits,” she says. “It was at Andover that I discovered my love for words.” Andover was well-represented this winter at the Boston book launch for River East, River West. Some of Rey Lescure’s friends traveled from as far away

The Happiness Handbook: A Practical Guide to Transforming Your Life BY LANDON CARTER ’61

Marshall and McClintic Publishing Carter’s book serves as a guide to self transformation by way of “clearing up the past, living in the present, and creating your future.” Drawing on his life experiences and years of coaching, Carter teaches how to handle challenges and realize one’s full potential.

Found: A Veteran Story BY JACK MCLEAN

P’01, GP’26 Huntington Bay Press

McLean fought in the Vietnam War and then became the first Vietnam veteran to enter Harvard University in 1968. In this emotional memoir, McLean details his four decades–long rehabilitation, which included connecting with his former Vietnam brothers in arms, writing Loon: A Marine Story, and receiving assistance from multiple sources.

What better guest speaker for the class Baseball and Philosophy than Gus Quattlebaum ’93, VP of Scouting Development for the Red

During a recent visit to campus, Quattlebaum, son of Faculty Emeriti Ed ’60 and Ruth discussed the importance of interpersonal skills, patience, and respectfully working through differences.

A Big Blue thank you to Bill Belichick ’71, who parted ways with the New England Patriots after 24 seasons as head coach. Belichick achieved six Super Bowl victories, 266 regular season wins, and 17 AFC East division titles. Boston's WCVB-TV ran a segment about Belichick's impact that included comments from Jim Ventre ’79, assistant head of school for admission and financial aid, and Trey Brown ’12, football coach.

Her book is a coming-of-age story that follows a biracial teenage girl growing up in Shanghai with her expat mother. A secondary storyline follows the life of a Chinese businessman, which takes the reader through the decades of China’s economic development. As the two story lines intersect, and both characters’ yearning to see beyond China’s borders intensifies, the book becomes a family drama.

“I love social realism,” says Rey Lescure. “I knew the book was going to be autobiographical; however, it is richer because I could play with fiction.”

In the Blood: How Two Outsiders Solved a Centuries-Old Medical Mystery and Took On the U.S. Army BY CHARLES BARBER ’80

Grand Central Publishing

This is a true account of how an inventor and a salesman created “QuikClot,” a life-saving product that stops uncontrolled hemorrhaging. The product has now saved thousands of people—but could have saved thousands more had it not been blocked for years by the U.S. Army. QuikClot is now a $500 million success story.

Splitsville USA: A Democratic Argument for Breaking Up the United States BY CHRISTOPHER F. ZURN ’85 Routledge

For those interested in the future of democracy in the United States, Splitsville USA argues that we should negotiate a peaceful dissolution of the United States into several new nations. The book examines the current political predicament and how it can be resolved.

Tiny Treasures: The Magic of Miniatures BY COURTNEY LEIGH HARRIS ’07

MFA Publications, Museum of Fine Arts Boston Harris inspired the popular MFA exhibition and eponymous book that depicts miniature works of art from across the museum’s collections. Featuring 100 color illustrations, Tiny Treasures highlights a gold Egyptian amulet from 724–712 BCE, Dutch dollhouse, Picasso painting, and a tiny diamond-adorned bicycle that actually peddles.

Sox.

’66,

Making a Documentary at San Quentin

Friends since the age of 14, Christine Yoo ’86 and Hella Winston ’86 recently collaborated on the documentary 26.2 to Life , which follows a group of incarcerated men at San Quentin Rehabilitation Center who join the 1000 Mile Club and eventually complete a full marathon within the prison yard. The critically acclaimed film was the first documentary that Yoo has written and produced; Winston, an investigative journalist, provided critical research skills as a producer. Here, the women speak with Andover magazine about making the film together.

How did you come to work together on this project?

HW: Chris made a feature film called Wedding Palace and she was screening it in New York, where I live. We ended up spending a lot of time together and just kind of reignited our friendship. A few years after that, I happened to be in LA. We ended up going to lunch, and Chris said, “I just learned about this story, and I want to make a film. Would you want to be involved in some way because you’ve done work in criminal justice?” And that was the genesis of the whole collaboration.

CY: I think Hella was the first person I talked to because of her criminal justice reporting and investigative reporting background. Up until that point, I really had done only one nonfiction piece, which was very different. So I didn't have any investigative research type of background.

What was it about the San Quentin marathon and the 1000 Mile Club that intrigued you?

HW: San Quentin is in the Bay Area, and there are a lot of programs there that local people know about. But I don’t think this program had gotten much attention outside of the Bay Area. Chris was the first person to really want to look at this running program. She had a vision about why this was such an important activity in the prison, beyond just exercise.

CY: I think running is probably one of the most cinematic activities one can do. The 1000 Mile Club offered a window into something more expressive—a more cinematic approach to the experience that I had not seen before.

Was there anything about this film experience that surprised you or changed previously held assumptions?

CY: Originally, I went into this wanting to do a regular motion picture, a regu-

“The alumni and volunteers of this running club have a valuable lesson to teach us about shared humanity.”

lar narrative film. And from the very first time I stepped into the prison, my notions about prison were completely turned upside down, or at least in relation to what San Quentin is. I also had my preconceptions about the prison system and people who are in it. What I learned along the way—what we all learned—is that it ain’t what you think it's going to be at all.

The alumni and volunteers of this running club have a valuable lesson to teach us about shared humanity and

how everyday people can really engage in something so complex and seemingly unchangeable as the prison system. It was a very empowering message for each of us who worked on the film.

HW: We had people on the film crew and the running volunteers who came from all different points of view. What was interesting to me was this idea that if you come together to share a passion, like running, some of that other stuff falls away, opening people up to thinking

about things maybe not in such a binary or politicized way. It was interesting to see that through focusing on what people have in common, some of these political divisions kind of fade into the background. 

EDITED BY ALLYSON IRISH

Christine Yoo ’86 Hella Winston ’86

MAKE MORE FUTURE

To See the Way LookForward, Back ‘Home’

By Nicholas Thompson ’93

Andover shaped me mostly through its chaotic intensity. It’s the place where I learned how to learn. The place where I discovered how to focus deeply. The place where I figured out how to survive in classes with kids who were smarter and knew more. Whether in the library or out on the blue track, I worked harder at everything than I had worked before at anything. But now, when I look back at the moments that mattered the most, I’m not seeing Nick with bloodshot eyes and hair down to his shoulders trying to cram for chemistry during breakfast in Upper Left. I see myself sitting on the lawn in front of Adams South, playing guitar under the large beech tree near Salem Street, with a dirt-smudged copy of James Joyce’s Ulysses by my side.

Before Andover, I had always thought of myself as a math kid, but the school made you study everything. By the end of my lower year, I wanted to take every class offered by the English department. I still did math, but I read more and better books than at any point in my life. I ended up, senior year, in Ed Germain’s class on Joyce, being taught how to look closely at every sentence, trusting that each word meant something to the greater whole.

I’ve kept all of that with me during the last 30 years. I entered journalism, a career that is essentially just a continuous education. Each time you write or edit a story is a chance to learn something new. I’ve also kept that love of the arts, even as my journalistic focus has turned toward tech.

BY RITA SAVARD, JOSEPH KAHN’67, ALLYSON IRISH, AND TRACY SWEET

In some ways that’s why I think that Andover, and Andover grads, have been involved in so many of the great inventions of our time. Technological progress requires a knowledge of code and some study of linear algebra. But it also depends on an understanding of morality, philosophy, and maybe a bit of literature too. You have to think through things widely to get to the truth. Or as Joyce wrote in that impossible book that I kept by my side under the beech tree: “The longest way round is the shortest way home.”

NEXT FRO NTIER

Andover isn’t just dreaming of a better world, we’re actively building it. But what innovations and resources will be required to prepare and empower future global citizens? Head of School Raynard S. K ington P’24, ’27, considers three big questions for building a better tomorrow.

What will the future of learning look like at Andover?

Society has seen massive shifts in education over the past decade. Technology and globalization greatly influence how we teach and the way that knowledge is generated and consumed. We also continue to address mental health as a factor in students’ social and cognitive development. We see this evolving landscape as an opportunity to reimagine how we meet our mission to educate youth from every quarter. We’re looking at the next 20 to 30 years and are focused on preserving and advancing Andover’s model of excellence while responding to a changing world.

We are examining every aspect of the teaching and learning experience. Excellence requires continuous reassessment. Andover has remained relevant for 246 years in part because of its restlessness. Not in the chaotic sense, but by engaging thoughtfully in long-range planning. We are approaching planning as a community-wide effort that is expected to last through 2025, organized around three groups:

3 Learning Steering Committee Ensure cutting-edge excellence in academics and student life. Focus on the full student experience, academic rigor, and mental health and wellness.

3 Fiscal Sustainability—Protect intergenerational equity for the next 30-plus years while making sure that we have the resources to meet our mission.

3 Operations—Develop policies and systems needed to effectively implement and sustain new strategic initiatives.

What are the financial implications?

Andover is in very good shape financially, and our programs are as strong as ever. We remain grateful for our alumni and families who engage with and generously support the school. We must do all we can to preserve this experience for future generations. We rely heavily—some would say too heavily—on our endowment; nearly 50 percent of annual revenue is drawn

4Courses for Thinking Like a Futurist

from endowment funds. And we are committed to sustaining need-blind admission, which currently means 45 percent of students receive financial aid. No loans, all grants. The cost to educate an Andover student is about $95,000. Boarding tuition next year is $73,000, so even families who pay that full amount receive a discount, a scholarship.

As we consider bold new approaches to delivering our program, we must also find ways to secure a more sustainable financial outlook.

In what ways are you considering the impact of artificial intelligence on education?

This question relates as much to today’s learning environment as it does to the future we want to create for Andover. I believe AI ultimately will highlight the value of the humanities and humanistic pursuits, our capacity for critical thinking, empathy, and understanding.

I think about AI in three parts: First, ensuring that students understand what AI is and teaching them to be good consumers of it—using AI responsibly, maximizing its benefits, and understanding its limitations and risks. Next, using AI to improve the effectiveness of how we teach and learn. Faculty and students must be prepared to make big shifts in the way that knowledge is acquired, communicated, and created. And finally, helping students understand how AI changes society. How can we use it to address inequality, improve how institutions function, and how democracy works?

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ASTROBIOLOGY: LIFE AMONG THE STARS takes students on a journey through the origin, evolution, and distribution of life in the universe. Is there life beyond our solar system? And if so, how can we develop better systems, tools, and processes to continue alien research?

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The world’s population now tops 8 billion people. Students in FOOD, AGRICULTURE, AND THE FUTURE examine agriculture as a major driver of environmental change and public health trends by assessing the demands placed on food production as well as the impacts of chemical fertilizers and the limited availability of natural resources.

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Artificial intelligence is here, and with it the need to better understand computer systems. In MACHINE LEARNING, students use the Python programming language to create predictive models from datasets and learn how computers train themselves to make predictions and decisions.

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Imagining the future as part of the speculative fiction genre, STRANGE WORLDS encourages students to consider what is possible beyond the constraints of our current structures of gender, race, ethnicity, history, climate, and hierarchy.

Fostering authentic human connection is imperative to living a healthy, meaningful, and fulfilling life. One of the most valuable ways Andover has helped me is by developing my emotional intelligence. In the future, schools like Andover will need to find a way to simultaneously embrace technology while also nurturing meaningful human relationships.”

And the Future of Learning

what happens when tech experts, who also happen to be educators, start dreaming about classrooms in 10, 50, and even 100 years from now?

Electrified sand, poems about penguins, and all the robot assistants you could ever wish for come up in conversation. And one stark conclusion: Artificial intelligence won’t replace humans, but humans will collaborate closely with AI.

In the future, according to mathematics, statistics, and computer science instructor Nick Zufelt and AI safety, ethics, and international governance expert Chris Meserole ’98, the power of AI is not in improving old processes but rethinking new ones.

NICK : What role do you think Andover, and schools like it, will play in this new era of AI?

CHRIS : My daughter is 12 and our son is 10. Trying to think through with them what appropriate relationship they should have with AI is top of mind for me. It’s inevitable that my kids will spend the majority of their adult lives working and interacting in a world in which computers are as smart or smarter than they are. That means education systems need to be exploring this technology and teaching students how to think about it and learn from it and adapt to it now…I also think we’re at this really unique moment in time where we have a set of political leaders, many of whom are in their late 70s or 80s, that lived the majority of their adult lives before the personal computer, much less before AI. That’s not to say that some of them don’t have great things to say about it, but I think we’re seeing some growing pains from people in charge not intuitively understanding the technology while being in positions having to govern and regulate it. I guess that’s a plug for required computer science or AI education at Andover. It’s one area that will be incredibly important for schools like Andover to invest a lot of time and energy.

NICK : There are many digital natives out there who are incredible content producers but don’t necessarily have any coding experience. Should a computer science or AI education be mandatory?

CHRIS : Not everyone needs to learn to code, and there are many people who do really important work on the internet but have no idea how the internet works. I think even more so than having a computer science requirement, having AI embedded in required classes will be key. And I think there’s a lot of room to leverage what is already in place—like English classes that are experimenting and iterating with large language models in different ways and then tying that to what you’re doing in math to begin to understand how this thing—AI—is writing a poem for you that may or may not be different than what you’d write based on your own experiences.

NICK : I think an advantage of the AI era is that you can learn in ways that work better for you. I hope we’re going to see more differentiated instruction because, as a teacher, that’s awesome to think about. If every teacher could have all the teaching assistants they could ever need, what opportunities might that open in education?

CHRIS : Here’s an interesting moment. Around the time ChatGPT first came out, I was helping my daughter, who had just started middle school. She had this science project where she had to learn the difference between rotation and revolution. I kept trying to explain it to her and she was just looking at me like, ‘I have the most boring dad in the world.’ So we sat down and I said, why don’t you ask AI in a way that you think would teach you best how to do this? So she asked it, ‘Teach me about revolution versus rotation in a poem with reference to penguins—and it has to be funny.’ I could not believe it. What it spat out was perfect.

Conceptually, it was exactly right. She learned from it—and thought the poem was hilarious.

These systems are going to do a better job of providing relatable answers based on the technology’s capabilities to know an individual’s personality and their learning style. To me, that has probably been the most impressive part of AI—and has also been very humbling for someone who used to be a teacher.

NICK : I think there’s a strong parallel between how the internet plays a role in education now and how AI will do so in the future. There’s a ton of daily interaction with the internet. But if suddenly someone turned off the internet, an Andover education would still be excellent. I feel like the AI piece needs to eventually reach that same point—where it’s integrated and it’s useful but if we cut it out temporarily, the core of an education is still there; it’s still about the social side of humans interacting with humans.

CHRIS : Exactly. The social dimension of education can’t be understated. When we talk about AI, what we’re really talking about is just electrified sand. That is what it is materially. It’s not a person, even though we have a tendency to ascribe a moral agency to these systems. Kids learn so much better through socialization, having conversations with their peers and teachers, hearing how others verbalize things, and seeing how they provide social cues. AI will change in some ways, but human beings will still require human connection. We will still need to make sure that our education systems are oriented toward us, that we are learning the right things and building the kinds of future citizens and leaders who are empathetic, empowered, and prosperous.

4 WAYS TO FUTUREPROOF YOUR CAREER

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HIGHLIGHT YOUR HUMAN SKILLS

We tend to focus on hard skills, but human skills are important too, such as adaptability, collaboration, exercising judgment, or mediating tense situations. Make a timeline of your key professional and personal experiences. Do you see patterns?

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BECOME A SKILLS TRANSLATOR

You need to translate your skills for your prospective employer. Be sure to research the industry you want to move into, because the same skill can have vastly different meanings depending on the context.

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FIND DATA IN DISCOMFORT

At work, when do you feel uncomfortable? Maybe you feel out of depth when people bring up a new technology or platform. Pay attention to those signals. It’s data telling you where you need to level up.

111 GET PICKY

You shouldn’t be the only one committed to your skill development. Your employer should be too. The next time you change jobs, try to choose a company or organization that is building talent from within.

How to Prepare for Jobs that Don’t

Exist Yet

more than half of today’s 5-yearolds can expect to live to 100 or longer, according to researchers at Stanford University’s Center on Longevity. That has big implications for how we learn and how we should plan our working years.

Michelle Weise, a Phillips Academy leadership partner, All-School Meeting speaker, and expert on the future of work and education, tackles the longevity revolution in her book Long Life Learning: Preparing for Jobs that Don’t Even Exist Yet. She ponders a question poised to be the next big disruptor in academia: Will a four-year education at the beginning of a 100-year career adequately prepare a person for their entire working life?

education being frontloaded in the first quarter of our lives,” says Weise. “Then we go out into the workforce, build our careers, earn a living, and retire. But that entire construct is now being questioned, and rightfully so, because the old-fashioned concept of one job for life is over.”

“This is a huge mindset shift, because we are so used to thinking about

With today’s speed of change, there are fewer careers where people can expect the knowledge acquired in school to see them through to retirement. Our brains, Weise emphasizes, aren’t exactly wired for imagining ourselves five or even 10 years out, making it difficult to empathize with our future selves. Putting statistics in perspective, studies point to early baby boomers who are already averaging 12 job changes by the time they retire.

So how do we prepare students to

The focus of work life will shift toward valuebased collaborative systems—and what we bring for informing unbiased input to super intelligent platforms and interrogating the output to identify and eliminate unethical information.”

thrive in a future where their careers will be shifting over a longer period?

“The future of work and education is going to become inextricably tied, with people making continuous returns to learning throughout life, so we’re going to need those returns to learning to be much more seamless,” says Weise. “Our current system of traditional higher education is ill-suited to facilitate flexible, seamless, cost-effective learning pathways for people to keep up with emergent workforce demands. We must do better.”

Whenever humans solve problems in the world, adds Weise, the solution is, and will be by nature, interdisciplinary. To cultivate nimble thinkers and prepare them for the new, cross-functional jobs of tomorrow, teaching and learning must be problem-based.

“The most valuable workers now and in the future will be those who can combine elements of what author David Epstein calls ‘range’—the ability to stretch across disciplines, engage in analytical thinking, and apply knowledge from one context to another,” says Weise. “Skills for the future will need to be hybrid, a critical balance of intellectual dexterity and technical expertise.”

“I

don’t think staring at a panel of faces on Zoom will define my career experiences. Recent innovations in augmented and virtual reality give me hope for the future of remote work. Maybe I’ll be able to communicate with my colleagues with more efficacy than real life has ever allowed!”

“AI will augment our intelligence and ability to finish some tasks. The availability and ease of access to such tools, however, brings forth a compelling query: what role does and should AI play within society?”

GIAN

ANUSHKA GUPTA ’27

SARAH PAN ’24

ISTOCK: METAMORWORKS

6 TIMES ALUMNI SHAPED THE FUTURE

Since PA’s founding in 1778, students, faculty, and alumni have been predicting, inventing, and innovating for the world ahead.

1812

FRANCIS CABOT LOWELL Class of 1786, cofounded the Boston Manufacturing Company, laying the groundwork for America’s Industrial Revolution and igniting the country’s rise to a world economic power.

1873

RICHARD T. GREENER, Class of 1865, an uncompromising activist, blazed a trail for generations of Black educators as the first Black professor to teach at a southern university, the University of South Carolina, during the Reconstruction Era (1873–1877).

He was also the first Black graduate of Harvard University, served as dean of the Howard University School of Law, and became the first Black diplomat to represent the U.S. in a white-majority country, Russia.

1890

ALICE STONE BLACKWELL Abbot Academy Class of 1877, along with women’s rights activists Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton, cofounded the National American Woman Suffrage Association. A writer, editor, and translator, Blackwell helped change the conversation around women’s rights, using the art of language to amplify the voices of others.

1912

EDGAR RICE BURROUGHS Class of 1891, may be best known for creating Tarzan, but he was also one of the most influential science fiction writers of all time, predicting the widespread use of wireless technology and other futuristic inventions with his John Carter: Barsoom Series, a fictional representation of the planet Mars.

1990

LYMAN SPITZER Class of 1931, was the visionary behind the Hubble Space Telescope, which has provided humanity a front-row seat to the cosmos for more than three decades. His bold idea to study astronomy from space laid the foundation for the study of the interstellar medium—the matter that exists between stars.

2002

MARY EUBANKS WILKES, Abbot Academy Class of 1965, presented new scientific discoveries that changed the world of agriculture when she reintroduced ancient strains of corn with current strains, resulting in new drought- and pest-resistant hybrids. Driven by the humanitarian dream to solve world hunger, her work—to the chagrin of some male colleagues—countered a long-standing belief about the origins of corn.

BIG TRENDS IN TECH

kanyi maqubela ’03 always has an eye to the future. The Silicon Valley–based entrepreneur and venture capitalist has invested in dozens of companies, including Reddit, Outschool, and Impossible Foods and has evaluated hundreds more. When seeking out founders and businesses, Maqubela looks for innovators with the potential to reinvent the way we think, work, and play. Here are his takes on next-generation technology that will change our lives over the next decade:

Radical Shifts Are Coming

MOBILE DEVICES

The iPhone created a nearly 20-year era of smartphones as the primary computing device across the world. In the next three to five years, there will be an explosion of AI-powered context-aware devices that don’t use traditional screens. Some will be wearable (some will be implantable!) and while some will have augmented reality—like Apple’s and Meta’s devices—others will be voice-first.

CONTINUOUS HEALTH MONITORING

The glucometer transformed diabetes management. New continuous monitors will transform the broader span of disease management just as profoundly, if not more so. Hormone- and potassium-

monitoring technologies are emerging now, but many more will follow. Virtual care will be transformed by real-time data collection from our bodies.

SELF-DRIVING CITIES

In a handful of cities in the United States today, robotaxis are “fully” driving themselves. Within a few years, these self-driving vehicles will be in major urban areas throughout the country, and we will eventually look back on human-driven cars the way we look at horse-drawn carriages now.

AI FRIENDS

FROM TRASH TO TREASURE

We will soon train AI to serve as companions across our lives—as therapist, researcher, tutor, friend, and co-worker all in one. These highly personalized and handy helpers will feel like Jarvis in Ironman or Tars in Interstellar or perhaps even Samantha in Her. This is happening at a scale of millions of users today, but AI assistants will soon seem indistinguishable from humans— and as personable as your BFF.

LAB-GROWN

Diamonds were the first lab-grown recreation to truly hit the mainstream, but lab-grown leather, meat, fruits, and vegetables will all become commonplace—and we won’t be able to tell the difference. Organic will take on a whole new meaning, and we’ll likely need to invent a phrase for food and materials created and cultivated by science.

Among major contributors to climate change, food production and food waste are two of the most practical to attack on a local level. So concluded Saasha CelestialOne ’94 when, in 2016, she helped launch Olio, an Uber-style app that plugs users into a sharing economy that includes surplus edible food, clothing, furniture, and other household items. Olio now has over 8 million subscribers in 60-plus countries, and a network of 100,000 volunteers, as it works to solve the waste problem one person-to-person transaction at a time.

How is Olio impacting the future?

How we shop and every dollar we spend is a vote for what kind of world we want to live in. Technology and the ability to match supply and demand to correct foodwaste inefficiency not only impacts the future, but it can also have a dramatic effect in our lifetime.

Sea to Shore

Seeing sharks, beluga whales, and other marine life up close for the first time during a middle-school field trip captivated Michelle Cho ’93. But it wasn’t until years later, when learning how to scuba dive in Thailand, that she saw the magic and mystery of the ocean in a new light.

“The hidden world under the sea is beautiful to behold,” Cho recalls. “I continued scuba diving all around southeast Asia and it was there, for the first time, I saw people dynamite fishing. The effects on the marine ecosystem were extremely harmful. I knew there was a better way and I wanted to do something about it.”

The era of the blue economy is here, and Cho is excited for change. For two decades, the marine biologist has been researching the health and

environmental impacts of commercial fisheries. As an associate director at New England Aquarium’s dedicated research arm, the Anderson Cabot Center for Ocean Life, Cho leverages technologies to promote oceanfriendly practices and protect marine species and their habitats.

Her research has opened new pathways for sustainable aquaculture, or fish-farming, that focus on balancing productive coastal communities and thriving marine ecosystems.

In 2018, Cho helped launch Blue Innovation, a bluetech incubator supporting startups in areas of coastal resilience, offshore renewable energy, pollution cleanup, and marine conservation. Bluetech is the advanced technology sector making waves in the maritime industry. With AI, under-

‘Glassroots’ Recycling

Over 5 million pounds of glass would be in landfills if not for Franziska Trautmann ’16 and her team at Glass

Half Full. Started in the backyard of a college fraternity house in New Orleans—literally over a bottle of wine—Glass Half Full recycles glass into sand for coastal restoration, disaster relief, construction, and more.

Graduating from Tulane with a degree in chemical engineering gave Trautmann the skills necessary to help lead a research team backed by the National Science Foundation.

The novel work led to the completion of four coastal restoration projects, restoring 1,700 meters of coastline and counting. In her spare time, Trautmann makes educational TikToks

water drones, sensors, and buoys scan, monitor, and measure ocean-deep, bringing valuable data to the surface and helping scientists tackle a variety of challenges.

How might bluetech impact the future?

Our expertise allows us to connect technological solutions on a scale large enough to address some of the planet's biggest challenges, like greening the shipping industry and reducing climate-related impacts. The best ideas go nowhere if they can’t be applied on a large scale. Providing startups with the business acumen, scientific and regulatory information, lab testing partnerships, and other resources is key to broad-scale positive outcomes. Our ability to make connections in this field has already helped at least some startups gain traction.

ranging from recycling to climate change to wastewater treatment. Her page has garnered over 280,000 followers and millions of views.

Scientists are sounding the alarm on climate change. What gives you hope for the future?

What gives me hope is seeing people out in the field and doing the work. When people say, ‘you need to touch the grass,’ sometimes it really is that simple. I draw so much hope from getting my hands dirty, planting trees or grasses, moving sediment, and seeing the changes in restoration projects over time.

Home Reimagining

Change in communities is inevitable—but when impoverished areas become more prosperous, longtime residents are often pushed out. Using machine learning, Rohit Acharya ’04 has discovered a formula for neighborhoods to resist gentrification.

The co-founder of Common Good Labs, a Pittsburgh-based organization that uses data to improve lives and communities, Acharya studied 3,500 neighborhoods nationwide in which 30 percent or more of residents live below the federal poverty level. By processing millions of data points from multiple sources, he discovered nearly 200 neighborhoods that managed to improve their economic situation without forcing people out.

nities like Uphams Corner have in common and landed on eight key factors. None does much on its own, but if a large number are present, the neighborhood is likely to thrive.

The recipe for success contained a combination of three factors outside the community, including positive economic growth in the surrounding metropolitan area, lower homicide rates in the local county, and low risk of displacement from nearby communities. Five internal factors that made a difference across the board were higher rates of homeownership, lower residential vacancy rates, increased housing density over time, greater rates of self-employment, and the presence of community-building organizations.

“Communities are complex organisms, and we want them to thrive,” says Acharya. “Practically, though, what does that mean? We’ve found that half the battle is getting the people to identify the problem.”

One success story is Boston’s Uphams Corner in Dorchester, where poverty rates decreased by 10 percentage points or more from 2000 to 2015 without significant changes in the size of the Black or Latinx populations. Using a pattern-recognition algorithm, Acharya identified what successful commu-

“You don’t always see the data and human stories combine so well,” he says. “There’s usually a tension between the quantitative and qualitative. In this case, they’re telling the same story.”

Acharya’s takeaway: any neighborhood can improve and resist gentrification if government leaders, planners, and developers work together to provide the right conditions.

Common Good Labs’ early research was published in 2022 by the Brookings Institution, a leading public-policy think tank. “‘This is the story we’ve been trying to tell,’ they said, ‘and you guys have hit it on the head’,” recalls Acharya.

“There is a lot of negativity around what can or can’t be done about poverty in this country,” Acharya adds. “But the data is useful for finding answers and identifying ways to improve. It shows positive change is possible.”

What’s a breakthrough in your field that people might not know about but should?

Machine learning is key to the future of community planning and development. It’s a roadmap toward positive change and gives agency to citizens to exercise more control over their environment.

The Rise of Robots

From surgery to genome editing, AI and robotics are redrawing the healthcare landscape and Matthew McGirt ’94 is helping accelerate the revolution.

Besides directing the country’s largest neurosurgery group, McGirt, who’s based in Charlotte, N.C., cofounded the National Spine Registry, a shared data collection platform for all U.S.-based spinal surgeons, and the National Neurosurgery Quality & Outcome Database (N2QOD).

tion-free MRI scans and intraoperative optical scanning that uses real-time AI to help surgical robotics navigate “continually changing anatomy” during an operation. Although still in the experimental phase,

As general partner of Mammoth Venture Capital, he also helps fund companies doing revolutionary work in the healthcare and med tech fields.

“Around 20 percent of U.S. healthcare currently provides no discernable benefits to patients,” McGirt says.

“That percentage will drop dramatically as advancements in AI, imaging, robotics, big data systems, and digital health remap the field. This means the quality of health care our grandchildren will receive will be superior.”

Breakthroughs include radia-

“independently learning robots that serve as assistants to surgeons are just around the corner,” McGirt says. “Exponential improvements in life sciences will continue to approach a near vertical slope.”

How far and how fast will advances in medical technology carry us into a healthier future?

While current costs are unsustainable, healthcare access and quality will look very different in 10 years as automation and AI evolve further. In 50 years, medical and surgical error rates should approach zero, while physicians will likely be assisting robots—not the other way around—and AI-assisted drug development will see an exponential rise in disease cures.

Going Interstellar

NASA aims to travel to the moon again—and beyond. Sarah Sherman ’04 has a front row seat.

A mechanical and aerospace engineer at the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Sherman says a new age of space exploration is beginning, powered by AI, automation, and new space-based industries.

Part of the Mars 2020 team that successfully landed NASA’s Preservation Rover on the Red Planet to collect rock and soil in a hunt for ancient life, Sherman predicts the future of space study will focus on possible habitable environments on Mars, the moons of Jupiter, and in other solar systems.

What do you predict will be the biggest discovery in your field?

Groundbreaking instruments to aid science investigations will bring a deeper and more accurate understanding of space. NASA is launching the Europa Clipper spacecraft later this year to explore Jupiter’s icy moon, and the VERITAS mission in 2030 will look closely at Venus. 

We got

next

The No. 1 pick for the 2024 WNBA draft, guard Caitlin Clark has more than 1 million Instagram followers. The superstar hoops player is the all-time leading scorer in Division I basketball. Retired National Women’s Soccer League player Megan Rapinoe won two World Cup titles and an Olympic gold medal during her 11-year career. Married to retired WNBA baller Sue Bird, Rapinoe is an outspoken LGBTQIA+ advocate who has lent her support to issues of social justice and equal pay.

The popularity of these three remarkable women athletes would have been unheard of just a decade or two ago; certainly not in 1973 when Phillips Academy and Abbot Academy merged into a singular school.

As the Academy celebrates 50 years of this significant milestone, we highlight female athletes—both current captains and alumnae—who reflect on the role sports has played in their lives, what they have learned about themselves and others, and their perspectives on the future of athletics.

Stories of Leadership, Resilience & Compassion

BY ALLYSON IRISH

FIELD TESTED

A senior co-captain of the girls’ varsity basketball team, Leila Boesch-Powers ’24 says she has grown into her role as a leader, something she never expected.

“I’ve learned that I can lead without having to be the best or the loudest,” says BoeschPowers. “For many years I remained quiet and reserved, believing that since I wasn’t the best on the team, I didn’t have anything worthy to say. But I’ve grown and obtained leadership positions in athletics and beyond.”

So too has softball player Emerson Buckley ’25 grown and matured into her role. Buckley, who comes from a family of athletes, including sister Kiley ’23 who plays softball at Stanford, says leadership and respect are two of the most important skills she has learned through sports.

“Winning with humility and losing with grace is a mindset that I will continue to embrace in all aspects of my life,” Buckley shares.

Rosemary Nicolosi ’75 still vividly remembers the 1973–1974 softball season, the first season after the merger. As team captain, she was automat-

“ I’ve realized that while some things are uncontrollable, I can control how I make people

feel.

That is something people will remember and care about long after they can remember who scored a basket.”

—Leila Boesch-Powers

ically a member of the Andover Athletic Council, and she eventually became the first female president of the group. During her time at Abbot and PA, Nicolosi played varsity soccer, basketball, and softball.

“The leadership skills I picked up through sports, and especially as a sports captain, gave me a good start to learning how to effectively, fairly, and empathically manage people,” says Nicolosi, who went on to a long and successful career in banking.

Likewise, soccer player Katy Gass Walker ’74 says that what she learned by being part of a team translated into her multidisciplinary work as an environmental health scientist.

“Playing competitive sports taught me to not give up, even when you are behind,” says Walker, who played three years for Abbot and one year for PA. “You need to be in the game, both with your head and heart. Do your best. Don’t give up. And if you lose, you lose. Move on.”

MENTAL TOUGHNESS & ADAPTABILITY

Play hard but leave it on the field. It's a lesson that many coaches work to impart on their athletes, but one that takes time to develop.

Nicolosi says the skills she learned through sports—like thinking on your feet, working through problems, and maintaining a competitive edge—carried her through challenging times at work.

“As an athlete, I realized that our opponents were just like us. Our battles only took place on the playing field and there was a fair and respectful way to compete,” Nicolosi explains.

“At the end of games, we would line up to ceremoniously shake our opponents’ hands and wish them well, whether victorious or defeated. I carried this lesson with me through my life. When negotiating a business contract, I was tenacious and often unyielding. But once that deal was done, I would enjoy a meal or a glass of wine with my competitor. I may have won the business, but I did not have to be unfriendly or gloat about it.”

Ava Davey ’25 says the competitive drive she taps into on the soccer field helps her in many other ways. She is better able to handle pressure, perform in stressful situations, and continuously strive for improvement.

“I have always been a hard worker,” Davey shares. “My involvement with sports has pushed me to keep persevering.”

“ Leadership doesn’t have to mean you’re the lead scorer, but that you help anticipate and make the connections that make the win possible. Both lessons have been invaluable in my career.”

—Katy Gass Walker ’74

Being in the metaphorical fox hole with another person makes any relationship stronger, and most athletes agree.

“There are simply no bonds like those created in sports,” says softball player Buckley. “Sharing common highs and lows creates a sense of belonging, and that is hard to find anywhere else.”

Walker fondly recalls her experience with the sometimes gruff but always humorous Shirley Ritchie, who coached soccer. Years later, Walker purposefully used some of the same approaches while coaching her daughters’ youth soccer teams.

“I will always remember how even-tempered she was, never yelling and never scolding for a lost point or game. [Miss Ritchie] helped us keep sports in perspective in our lives,” she recalls. “That’s what I wanted to do.”

Involvement with sports also helps create new relationships. Years after playing tennis at Andover, Cate Gilbane ’74 talks about the new friends she’s made on the court.

“Sports—and tennis in particular—has meant friendships through many of my life’s transitions,” says Gilbane, who captained the 1974 tennis team. “All have been good and fun!”

PLAYING IT FORWARD

In the last half century, there have been numerous important changes in women’s sports: the creation of the WNBA and the NWSL, women sports broadcasters and reporters, and coaches cracking the uber male world of the NFL and the

“I envision a future where discussing mental health is no longer stigmatized, especially among male athletes,” says Boesch-Powers, who also hopes that fans attend both women’s and men’s professional sports competitions with the same level of intensity and excitement.

Having the support of your peers is incredibly important, concurs tennis player Lena CiganerAlbeniz ’25. “I’d definitely like to see a bit more of a crowd at our games. The level of support Andover students receive is truly a high point of the school and I’d like to see that reflected more at sporting events.”

For alumnae athletes, times have changed dramatically—and for the better—since they were disparagingly called “tomboys” while playing sports. Just this spring, TV coverage of the women’s NCAA basketball tournament made history, with more viewers tuning in to watch the women’s final game than the men’s. Though barriers like equal compensation and lower media viewership still exist, alumnae and current female athletes look forward to a more inclusive future, where the focus is on the quality of the sport, not on the identities of the athletes.

“Without a crystal ball, it’s difficult to answer,” Nicolosi says. “But I am certain that in 20 years athletes will still be competing for trophies and awards. And they will learn and mature through their athletic participation, just as I did.” 

Read more online about these athletes’ favorite sports moments at andover.edu/magazine

Climate Artist Finds Her Rhythm

BY NANCY HITCHCOCK

When Sukey Bryan ’79 creates her art, she is aiming for viewers to have an experience—to hike up a waterfall in a city center, sit in a beaver pond and encounter patterns from “a frog’s-eye view,” climb over rocks in a mountain stream.

“I want people to feel like they’re a part of nature, to feel like they’re in it,” says Bryan, who earned a BA in fine arts from Yale University and an MFA from Maryland Institute College of Art. “I hope my installations keep nature and our environmental concerns top of mind.”

Bryan’s art features natural elements such as wildfires, waves, waterfalls, streams, skies, and icebergs. During a National Park residency in Denali, Bryan created a series of paintings to celebrate the beauty and mystery of the Alaskan glacier cycle. Many of her largescale paintings are based on her own photographs, sketches, and watercolors created during her travels. Bryan’s work has appeared in galleries and museums—including the Addison Gallery—

art centers, universities, and embassies around the globe from Finland to Fiji.

One poignant project, titled “The Truth About Climate Change,” involved designing environmental art at Grace Cathedral in San Francisco that coincided with the 2018 United Nations Global Climate Action Summit. Leaders from all corners of the world met at the cathedral to discuss climate policy and were welcomed by Bryan’s 60-footwide installation of Burney Falls, which cascaded down the grand staircase. As the artist-in-residence for six months, Bryan also crafted images of the Earth, wildfires, and plants that were hung throughout the cathedral.

“It was wonderful to showcase work that was an artistic echo of what was going on in the conference,” says Bryan. “In my work, I don’t want somebody to have to read a long explanation. I want it to hit them viscerally and let them explore it in their own way.”

Bryan’s art is imbued with movement and rhythm, which she credits to her passion for dance and music that was cultivated at Andover. She was drawn to Andover because of its strong academics

and a comprehensive dance program, led by instructor Cristina Rubio P’81, GP’12, ’17. Living on the Abbot campus was convenient for Bryan because all the dance classes were taught in the Abbot Gym. She also fondly recalls participating in theatre productions; singing in Fidelio, Cantata, and chorus led by instructor and chair in music William Thomas; and creating animation with art instructor Diz Bensley ’43, P’69, ’71, ’76, ’78, ’78.

“I love how all the things that you do early in your life or in your education can be a part of how you see things, what you create, and what you find joy in,” says Bryan. “I feel so lucky to be able to create this kind of art.” 

Read more about Sukey Bryan’s work at PA at andover.edu/magazine

“I love my job. I can finally watch all the TV I missed out on at Andover!”

—JONATHAN ADLER ’08

A writer for The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, Adler talks about the connections he made at Andover.

GREG HAMMER ’73

A SIMPLER WAY TO WELL-BEING

BY ALLYSON IRISH

No pain, no gain. The idea that one cannot achieve success without first suffering is accepted by many. Not Dr. Greg Hammer ’73. The retired pediatric cardiac anesthesiologist, intensive care physician, and Stanford University School of Medicine professor believes people can—and should—gain without pain.

“When things are painful or hard to do, most people are intimidated,” says Hammer. “They may never start at all or think they cannot succeed, so they don’t proceed. I wanted to develop something painless and easy to practice.”

And that’s exactly what he did.

After seeing many physicians experience burnout and leave their jobs, Hammer joined the Stanford WellMD Initiative, amassing data and sharing recommended approaches with other physicians. This work culminated in his best-selling book, GAIN Without Pain: The Happiness Handbook for Health Care Professionals

The book details a simple three-minute daily meditation that can be done easily, anywhere. “As our physical well-being is based on the three essential elements of sleep, exercise, and nutrition, our spiritual well-being is supported by four pillars: gratitude, acceptance, intention, and nonjudgment. That’s the essence of the GAIN method.”

An Advaita practitioner who has been meditating since his 20s, Hammer says the GAIN method promotes overall well-being and harmony between body and mind, not only for physicians but for everyone. He is currently working on a new book that focuses on the importance of mindfulness for those who care for adolescents.

“Teens are facing unprecedented challenges,” says Hammer. “We really need to help them, but first we need to help ourselves so we can model the appropriate coping strategies.”

A Harmonious Partnership

Kayden Fund Inspires 50+ Years of Creative Connection at Andover

BY KATIE FIERMONTI

It’s truly the gift that keeps on giving. More than 50 years ago, Bernard and Mildred Kayden P’71 designated a fund to bring professional, world-class artists directly to the Andover campus. Little did they know the transformational effects their generosity would have on decades of Andover students.

Established in 1970, the Kayden Fund invites renowned artists and ensembles to present master classes, workshops, lectures, and performances—rotating annually among the theatre, dance, music, and arts programs. Kayden Guest Artists have included Wynton Marsalis, Paquito D’Rivera, Denyse Graves, and others, with all events free and open to the public. Additionally, a portion of the gift supports classroom visits by prominent journalists.

The couple’s forward-thinking gift remains an example of the powerful impact donors can have when they align their personal passions with Academy priorities. Indeed, alumni, families, and friends have strengthened all aspects of

Andover’s learning community through similar funds across the school’s history.

“My mother was a theatre composer and lyricist, and my father admired her musicality,” says Jerold Kayden ’71, who with his wife, Stephanie ’91, stewards the fund for his parents, now deceased. “The point of their gift was and is to provide Andover students with unparalleled opportunities to meet and learn in person from great artists, rather than observing them on stage. That interaction can be life-altering.”

And often revelatory, says dance teacher Judy Wombwell P’01. She vividly recalls the spontaneous joy that erupted when 10-time Grammy Award–winner Bobby McFerrin once led an unexpected improv class. There was also the time celebrated dancer Bill T. Jones made an instant impression by inviting students to chase him around the studio as a way to introduce themselves.

“It was a magical moment and he just immediately captured kids at their level,” says Wombwell, noting that it’s those genuine connections between the performers and students that hold the most significance and linger in memory.

“I learned so much from rehearsing and performing with Marjorie Folkman and Mark Morris in 2009. It changed my life. If we want to continue to stand out and create forward-thinking, empathetic leaders, in the way Andover has for centuries, then this kind of investment is more necessary than ever.”

“It’s just what you always hope—that the audience will have some experience together that moves them.”

The impact of the Kaydens’ gift reverberates far beyond music and dance classes, says Abbey Siegfried P’25, ’26, the George H. Billings ’68 Chair of the Department of Music.

“Funds such as this one have such depth and range. They affect so much more than a particular department or program,” she says. “When jazz drummer Terri Lyne Carrington was here in the fall, she gave a concert and performance, but she also spoke at an All-School Meeting about gender and music. She

met with student leaders and rehearsed and workshopped with our jazz band. It was entirely interdisciplinary, and that happens with every guest artist.”

Siegfried and Wombwell believe that the Kayden Fund—and others like it— are crucial for maintaining the school’s singular learning experience. “We would not exist without philanthropy,” says Wombwell. “I’d never be able to express my gratitude appropriately, to the Kaydens or to other donors.”

“Potential investors should think about the depth and breadth of programming these funds can offer,” adds Siegfried. “It’s about broadening the view for our students and giving them windows through which they can see

themselves. It’s the most exciting work we do, and we are just so appreciative of donors who partner with us.” Jerold and Stephanie Kayden— themselves longtime donors to myriad campus initiatives—hope the Kayden Fund continues as a successful model of philanthropy for other donors, long into the future.

“For us, bringing in working artists from beyond the campus can only add to an already wonderful educational experience,” says Jerold. “That’s why we give to Andover. It’s a winning combination.” 

From dance to music and everything in between, donor gifts like the Kayden Fund spark meaningful moments for generations of students.

Through the Kayden Fund, world-class artists encourage students’ creative ambitions through master classes, workshops, performances, and more.

Guest Editor Nicholas Thompson ’93 on AI, Andover, and the Future of Journalism

Q&A

AI is changing the game across industries. What tools and platforms would you recommend right now for exploring and experimenting?

Since writing his first stories for The Phillipian , Nicholas Thompson has made a mark as an innovator in journalism. Before joining The Atlantic as CEO in 2021, he was the editor-in-chief of Wired a writer and editor at The New Yorker, and co-founder of The Atavist, a digital magazine.

In early April, The Atlantic co-founded in 1857 by Andover author and abolitionist Harriet Beecher Stowe—won the American Society of Magazine Editors’ top prize, the National Magazine Award for General Excellence, for the third consecutive year since Thompson took over the publication’s business operations.

Andover magazine caught up with our guest editor at The Atlantic’s New York City office. With book number three in the works, co-founding an online AI platform, leading discussions around the globe on the next big things in tech, running the Boston Marathon for the fifth time, and continuing to embrace the adventure of change, Thompson says the future is “exciting, very exciting.”

The amount of change we’re going to have because of artificial intelligence is crazy, and the decisions we make as a society about how to prepare for that change—how to withstand it, how to get the best and not the worst—are going to be hugely consequential. So, the opportunity to be involved in discussions about change is important. I strongly believe that everyone should be experimenting with AI and testing out as many tools as they can. I use ChatGPT, Gemini (formerly Bard), Perplexity, and Claude every day at work to help me understand things. I use Dall-E and Stable Diffusion to create images. And I was just testing out Suno to make songs for my kids to listen to on a car trip. If we purposefully build in a little time to experiment with AI, we can make cool stuff and learn while we do it.

You’re a competitive runner, holding the American record in the 50K for the 45-49 age group. In a Wired article, you wrote about “finding the gear” you didn’t know you had while on the boys’ cross-country team at Andover. Can you describe that moment and the power of realizing what you were capable of?

This is one of the most interesting moments of my time at Andover. I started running almost by happenstance. I thought I was going to make the varsity basketball team. I didn’t even make JV2. So, January of my sophomore year, I started indoor track, running the two mile. And I wasn’t particularly good. I’m running 11:43, 11:40 for two miles. There’s one guy, Mike Blanton [’91], who’s way ahead of everybody. When it’s time for the New England Championships, the coach picks two people. Of course, he’s going to enter Blanton—but then he picks me too. I was surprised. We went down to the Moses Brown Track in Providence and it was a different size from ours, so I didn’t

know how fast I was supposed to run each lap.. I remember going through the first mile and hearing them call 5:25 and I was like, wait, what? I can’t run that fast. I’ve never run a mile that fast. And then I finish at 10:48, 45 seconds faster than I had ever run in my life. It’s the new sophomore indoor class record. It was insane.

That day—and Coach John Strudwick’s decision to run me—set me on a career of running. I’m still running, still competing, and I love it. But with it also came a deeper understanding of myself from that attention that shifts inward as you run. I’m very grateful for that choice. Thanks, Coach.

You’re known for discussing the future, but your books touch on the past. How does Andover tie into your next book?

My father [Professor W. Scott Thompson ’59] and I both have deep

connections to Andover. Although our lives are parallel in certain ways—we both went to Andover, Stanford, and spent a lot of time post-college in West Africa—we also have some rather vast differences. One of the ways that he and I connected was through running.

When I was 6 or 7, he was divorcing my mother. He was coming out of the closet and going through a professional transformation. A lot was happening in his life, and he started to run intensely.

I started running with him. Then when he was gone, living in Washington, I stopped running and didn’t start back up again until Andover. We communicated a lot through running, about running. It had been a very important part of my father’s life and understanding the role that running played in his life, and the ways that it helped me communicate with him and helped us maintain a good relationship, despite the complexities of his later years, is the subject of this book.

Good journalism is more important than ever. But as the news industry continues to decline, what are your predictions for the future of journalism?

People want to read. They want reliable information. There are ways to do this. I think of my job now—and into the future—as being able to identify what the opportunities are and what will change in the next couple of years. I take those assumptions about what will change, maybe it’s the way people want to receive their information or the advertising models, and make sure our business strategy adapts and evolves. Journalism is important to civic society. There will always be innovative ways to keep it going. Will it be easy? Probably not. But it’s definitely doable. 

PHOTOS BY KEZI BARRY ’02

Nicholas Thompson ’93 at The Atlantic’s New York City offices.

The spiral staircase inside The Atlantic is lined with books by authors who have written for the magazine during its 167-year history.

Commemorates Anniversary

Two large-scale art installations by Jennifer Cecere ’69 were recently installed on campus in celebration of the 50th anniversary of Abbot Academy and Phillips Academy becoming a singular institution.

Constructed of white laser-cut aluminum, the two works of art feature a lace pattern representing a doily. Cecere’s art highlights domestic activities, such as knitting and crocheting, which are primarily creative outlets for women and often overlooked.

Abbot Doily Bench is 9x5x8-feet and is located on the Abbot campus; Women’s Work (shown in photo) is 20 feet in diameter and hangs on the facade of the Addison Gallery of American Art.

Jennifer Cecere, Women’s Work (digital rendering), 2024, laser cut aluminum