Andover magazine — 2016 Commencement Issue by Phillips Academy

sue s I nt

e m e nc

6 1 0 2

e m om

Christina Schoeller and Sarah Eikenberry

Class of 2016 CONTENTS

Editor's Note Need a 2016 Commencement Program? Please e-mail Crystal McGuire at cmcguire@ andover.edu to receive one in the mail. Please include name, mailing address, and quantity. Thank you.

A Big Blue Alumni Welcome

Promenade

Community Convocation

Senior Concert

Baccalaureate

Address to the Class of 2016

Senior Art

Outtakes

Class of 2016/By the Numbers

Please provide photo caption

Roshan Benefo, Josh Jordan, James Taylor, Miles Harris, Peder Bakken

Andover | Commencement 2016

COMMENCEMENT 2016

Volume 109 Number 4 PUBLISHER

Tracy M. Sweet Director of Academy Communications EDITOR

Allyson Irish MANAGING EDITOR

Jane Dornbusch DESIGNERS

Ken Puleo, Jeanne Abboud PHOTOGRAPHERS

Gil Talbot, Bethany Versoy © 2016 Phillips Academy, Andover, Mass. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher. Andover, the magazine of Phillips Academy is published four times a year—fall, winter, spring, and summer—by the Office of Communication at Phillips Academy, 180 Main Street, Andover, MA 01810-4161. Main PA phone: 978-749-4000 Changes of address and death notices: 978-749-4269; alumni-records@andover.edu Phillips Academy website: www.andover.edu Andover Magazine Phone: 978-749-4677 E-mail: andovermagazine@andover.edu Periodicals postage paid at Andover, MA and additional mailing offices. Postmasters: Send address changes to Phillips Academy 180 Main Street Andover, MA 01810-4161 ISSN-0735-5718

Join us on Facebook

YouTube

Instagram

EverTrue

Linked In

SmugMug

Twitter

PA Mobile

Andover | Commencement 2016

A Big Blue Alumni Welcome Dear Class of 2016, Your Commencement day was one that you will never forget, we are sure. At 5:45 a.m., a few of us sat on the stairs in front of Sam Phil. We gathered there to make the call: inside or outside? The sun peered through the clouds as it rose for the day. We knew the beams of sunlight would be short-lived; the rain was coming. But we also knew it was only rain—no thunder or lightning. Yes, folks would get wet, but we knew the Class of 2016 had a spirit that would embrace the challenging conditions. When we gathered in Cochran Chapel for the Community Convocation on Friday evening, we heard messages about overcoming challenges from Andrew Wang and Taylor Crutison. But more importantly, they talked of the support that Andover provided to address these challenges. Dr. Hawthorne’s remarks demonstrated that reliance on community to get through tough times is not reserved for the students of Phillips Academy; it extends to the adults here as well. Saturday evening, families gathered for Baccalaureate. Messages of support, challenge, and strength were shared by instructor Seth Bardo and senior Arzu Singh. Mr. Bardo has taught thousands of students who have continued on from Andover to travel a vast array of paths. One such former student is Ai-jen Poo ’92, who, earlier this spring, came back to campus to receive the Claude M. Fuess Award. During her speech, Ms. Poo took a moment to thank Mr. Bardo for inspiring her even now, nearly 25 years later. That is the Andover journey. It continues for life. As you leave the 01810, you will each travel a different path, just as you each came here by a different path. But now you are surrounded by 25,000 family members around the world. At Commencement, 2016 copresident Annette Bell recalled a friend who helped her during a difficult time here. That support remains. Copresident Theo Pérez thanked his Stearns housemates. As you continue on your life’s journey, look ahead and look wide for the expanding network of alumni who also cherish Andover. And remember to turn back and extend a hand to future Andover graduates who will also rely on that support—rain or shine. #Andover4life.

Jenny Savino

Director of Alumni Engagement

Misty Muscatel Davis ’01 President of Alumni Council

Andover | Commencement 2016

1 1

Promenade

6 1. Jax Ross ’17, Miguel Nascimento ’17, Gardner Wilson 2. Front: Payton Jancsy, Diego Chavez, James Flynn Back: Victoria Bergeron, Fran Trautmann, Caroline Shipley 3. Vienna Kuhn with her grandmother Madeline Kuhn 4. Avery Jonas, Fadzi Gambiza 5. John Lim, Diana Ding 6. Kieto Mahaniah, Louisa Boyle (Central Catholic High School ’16)

7. Claire Ressel, Kelly McCarthy

Andover | Commencement 2016

10 8. Savannah Mastrangelo, Alessa Cross, Sloane Sambuco, Tamar Sifri, Lily Augus, Christina Schoeller, Victoria Bergeron, Sarah Eikenberry, Anna Kramer, Susie Pratt, Claire Kister, Claire McDonnell, Olivia Picchione, Isabella Haegg 9. Methin Paspathong, Mika Lee, Mick Sornwanee 10. Luke Bitler ’17, Sam Hawley, Paloma Blandon ’17, Alex Cao 11. Matt Wesoloski, Caroline Shipley 12. Skylar-Bree Takyi, Chiraag Gohel 13. Elizabeth Duserick, Danielle Liu ’14, Sasha Newton

14. Ian Blythe, Kate Connick 15. Front: Madison Pettaway ’17, Camille Little ’17, Fadzi Gambiza, Auguste White ’17, Ashley Scott. Back: Jayshawn Fuller ’17, Nate Redding, Avery Jonas, Alexis Lefft, Justin Williamson 16. Paloma Blandon ’17, Alex Cao, Ellie Shang, Tora Liu, Sabine Nix, Eric Lee

Andover | Commencement 2016

2 1. Dylan Norris, history and social science instructor Nile Blunt, Dewitt Burnham, Christian Milotte, John Isenhower, John Simourian

Community Convocation 4

2. Student speaker Andrew Wang 3. Elizabeth Duserick, Kieto Mahaniah 4. Student speaker Taylor Crutison

5. Assistant director of admission Terrell Ivory â&#x20AC;&#x2122;00 6. English instructor Tasha Hawthorne

7. Student speaker Brittany Amano 8. Sadie Holmes, Sam Hagler, biology instructor Christine Marshall-Walker, Noah Belser

Andover | Commencement 2016

Senior Concert

3 1. Yuji Chan ’18 2. Cindy Chen ’18, William Hartemink ’17, adjunct bassoon teacher Neil Fairbairn 3. Janice Cheon 4. Florian Geyer

5 4

Andover | Commencement 2016

Baccalaureate “Andover has taught us all to take failure— and its accompanying disappointment and sadness and anger—in stride. And this strength of spirit and mind will stay with us long after we turn the corner of Chapel Avenue tomorrow morning.” —Arzu Singh ’16

“Through classroom discourse and myriad experiences, your moral compass has become more finely calibrated at Andover. Now as you leave, continue to trust its navigation. Have the courage to act.” —Seth Bardo, English instructor

“Youth from every quarter, I challenge you now to go out into every quarter of this hurting and hopeful world. Take your knowledge, take your skill, take your privilege, and give it away.” —Todd Yonkman, father of Fiona Yonkman ’16

Andover | Commencement 2016

Congratulations

Class of 2016! Address from Head of School John Palfrey, June 5, 2016

elcome, everyone—trustees, faculty, and staff; faculty emeriti; alumni, families, friends; and, most of all, our beloved students. Thank you for your presence with us today. I would like to start with a note of gratitude to the adults in the Andover community. Our community thrives as a direct result of individual and collective diligence, support, and love. To all the adults who care for our students, who select our students in the admissions process, and who teach them all the way along, let us all express our thanks to these wonderful people this morning. Please join me in a great big round of applause for the faculty, staff, and faculty emeriti of Phillips Academy. To the parents and grandparents, guardians and friends: Thank you, too. Thank you for the gift of time with the students you have sent to us. I know, for many of you, that it felt like a great sacrifice to part with your children so early, for so many days out of the year—whether as boarding or day students. For this gift of time, you have our enduring thanks. The students you have shared with us have done you very proud. And to the great Class of 2016: Theo and Annette, thank you for your inspiring words this morning. Thank you for your exceptional leadership this year and all the years you have been with us. To every member of the Class of 2016: Thank you and congratulations. You are a spirited group—a brilliant group—worthy of the honor we pay you today as we pronounce you graduates of Andover. Your

Head of School John Palfrey

talents have been well on display these past few days, in our ceremonies and concerts. How beautiful was that Baccalaureate service last night? I will always remember you. You and I arrived at Andover together, four years ago. You are the first class that I, as head of school, have been with all the way through. It has been a delight to watch you grow and thrive here. I remember you as you were when you arrived at Andover, whether that was four years ago—which seems quite a long time now—or this past fall. It is safe to say that every one of you has changed as a result of being at Andover—as a result of being with one another, in this very special place. As we celebrate the great diversity in our community, I am struck by a wonderful Andover | Commencement 2016

1 3

combination in the Class of 2016. Many of you are the first in your family to attend boarding school—though perhaps what is more noteworthy is that a significant number of you will be the first in your family to attend college. We also have graduates whose families have been connected to Andover for literally hundreds of years— including one family with a graduate from the Class of 1816, exactly 200 years ago, and a graduate today, in the Class of 2016. Whether your family is here at Andover for the first time, the second time, or the umpteenth time, you have brought much to this community. You have done well at Andover, you have done Andover well, and we all have high hopes for what you will do with the goodness and knowledge that you have gained while you have been with us. We are delighted to be connected with you from here on out. 12

Andover | Commencement 2016

My topic this morning has to do with the world beyond Andover, the world you enter, for good, this afternoon. I hope that today, this commencement—meaning, of course, a new beginning—is a chance for you to reflect upon where you have been over the past few years as well as how you might act, in the future, to make the world a better place. How, in short, will you apply the knowledge and goodness that you have learned here when you get out there? You leave us at a time of enormous transition in society. The one thing I suspect we could all agree on—regardless of political persuasion—is that the rate of change is unprecedented in human history. The problems that humanity will need to address together—and which will affect your generation for even longer than my own— make for a very long list. We face these problems when some of our key political

institutions are not in the best of shape. The American political system, for one, is fractured—the United States Congress has a hard time reaching decisions on just about anything, candidates seem to be rewarded for making the most outrageous statements they can, and the common ground between American political parties appears to be microscopically small. During your time at Andover, some of you have already focused on addressing the big social issues of our time. Perhaps you agree with the economist Jeffrey Sachs, who wrote that “achieving sustainable development on our crowded, unequal, and degraded planet is the most important challenge facing our generation,” and you were among those engaged with Eco-Action in its work on climate change. Perhaps your concern is global poverty and hunger, and you worked on a Real World Design Challenge to help

1. Board of Trustees President Peter Currie ’74, James Antoine 2. Elizabeth Duserick, Kristen Overly, Alex-Maree Roberts 3. Claire Tao 4. Bennett Michaels, Justin Williamson, Christopher Kralik, Lavon Burgo, Jack Vogel, Jumaane Ford, Christian Cruz 5. Gil Cline, Veronica Nutting, Sarah Schmaier 6. Justin Williamson, Tessa Jarden, Chiragg Gohel, Rohan Dixit 7. Andrew Wang, Lexi Johnson, Jo Pandji, Isabella Oliva

feed the billions who are hungry. Perhaps you traveled with a Learning in the World group to help bridge cultural gaps across nations and peoples. Perhaps you led a Technovation challenge to imagine and start building the next big startup, to create jobs and solve social problems at the same time. Today, I want to focus your minds on a particular challenge and opportunity that lies before you. As we rush to solve these huge problems, we often reach to technology to help us do that. As you know, I am myself very excited about what our use of technology can bring. On this campus, we have used technology in new and exciting ways in our classrooms, and we have been finding ways to use technology to share what we have at Andover with others far from here. At the same time, I fear that the unfettered use of technology will bring with it bigger problems than it solves.

Your time at Andover has been marked by the rise of many different technologies. Consider the sharp increase in the use of drones over the past four years. That Real World Design Challenge team from Andover that won the Massachusetts challenge? This team proposed the use of a drone to aid farmers in their efforts to grow crops more efficiently and healthfully. The United States relies increasingly on drones for important combat and intelligence missions. Less profound, but more likely to affect you directly: Amazon.com announced earlier this year that it is testing the use of drones to deliver your packages—perhaps those who follow you at Andover will get their packages directly at their dorms, instead of at Central Services in GW. These drones can save lives, improve the economy, and help feed the hungry.

The same goes for self-driving cars. If Andover were in San Francisco or Silicon Valley, we’d already see Google’s self-driving cars making their way around town. These autonomous cars are well on track to come into mainstream use before long, with the promise of reducing traffic fatalities, saving tens of thousands of lives in the United States alone each year. The list of things that are in the process of being transformed is growing with enormous speed. Artificial intelligence— derived, as you probably know, from the work of Marvin Minsky, Phillips Academy Class of 1945, who visited us this past year and who passed away recently—is behind these many changes. These changes are coming to our kitchens—through the Internet of Things—and into every workplace. These innovations are automating language translation, transforming Andover | Commencement 2016

2 1. Nick Latham, Olivia Picchione 2. Harper North, Carmen Bango, Linda Hanxhari, Helen Simpson, Madeline Kemper, Thomas Marshall, Marcello Rossi 3. Clan MacPherson Pipes and Drums leading the procession

4. Kelly McCarthy, Nora McNamara-Bordewick, Haley Avery, Emily Anderson, Sara Luzuriaga

5. The joyous implosion of the Commencement Circle 6. Sarah Rigazio 7. Nate Redding 8. School Copresident Annette Bell

industrial production, and altering our economy in radical ways. What do these profound changes mean for you, soon-to-be graduates? One might draw the conclusion that the important thing is for graduates to know how to master this array of automated systems. To some extent, that is surely true. There are jobs to be had in programming, security, and marketing of new technologies. The government, of any nation you come from, needs you to help secure systems and borders—in cyberspace. The private sector needs you, to grow and to expand our economy, in the United States and around the globe. That is all true—and I do hope some of you pursue these kinds of occupations. I know you will be quite successful if you do so. The bigger conclusion that I draw, though, 14

Andover | Commencement 2016

is that we also need the humanists. I hope that all of you, with your newly minted Andover diplomas, will take full advantage of the liberal arts experience you have had here. To solve the problems that come along with advanced technology, society will need people with expertise that is deeper than the technical. Increasingly, companies and governments are finding that the people needed to tackle computing problems have not just technical expertise, but the kind of imagination that comes from a liberal arts background. Think ahead, beyond the immediate. Imagine the kinds of thorny issues that we can expect from a world that is more automated than it is today. With more computers making more decisions, including life-anddeath decisions on the roads and in the air, in our waterways and in all imaginable forms

of transit, we need ethicists who will set sensible rules ahead of time. Two self-driving cars, for instance, find themselves on a collision course. What answer? Perhaps imagine a drone in the mix. Though tricky, this problem turns out not to be a new one. There is a long philosophical tradition of the Trolleyologists, who have considered such problems for roughly half a century. The Trolleyologists were a group of moral philosophers who took up a series of questions that may sound quaint today. While there are variants on the problem, it goes something like this: A trolley—in our parlance, a train—goes out of control. It is speeding toward a crowd of people. The people in the crowd face certain death if the train hits them. You are standing nearby. You realize that you

“There are a few things that you can't possibly leave here without knowing: 1. Tenni-golf is a sport. 2. B ruegger’s and Starbucks are all you need on a Saturday morning. 3. T he Den is a place for when you have nothing else to do. 4. Ornithology is a real science. 5. You will always have a home on The Hill. Class dismissed.” 6

could save them: By flipping a switch, you could send the train in another direction, onto a spur. In doing so, you would divert the train and surely save their lives. Here’s the rub: A man is chained to the tracks on the spur. That man would be surely killed if you divert the trolley away from the other group. The Trolleyologists spent their time wondering: Should you flick the switch to save the group of lives and kill the one man? Though the language sounds old-fashioned, the topics that the Trolleyologists took up long ago are about to explode with frequency and importance. It turns out, you have huge advantages when it comes to tackling hard problems like this one and the others you will face—problems that have eluded those of us who are a bit older than you are. At Andover, you have learned much along these lines. You have

— Annette Bell School Copresident

devoted yourself to the study of a broad and deep set of materials and topics. You have all engaged in the arts, in the sciences, in the study of languages, in English, in history, and in philosophy and religious studies. You have learned, in a long and grand tradition, how to make good decisions. Sound human judgment is an essential element of a strong society. Especially as we head into a more and more automated world, the decisions that humans make—often up front, or ex ante, before the problems occur—will only take on a greater importance. This liberal arts tradition is not new. Nor is it by chance that you are well-prepared for these hard issues. In his inaugural address as headmaster of Andover, John Mason Kemper took up a similar theme: “There must be faith that in every human being there is a generosity of spirit which

will respond to decent treatment and the stimulus of selfless leadership. Tolerance, sympathy, respect must inevitably result in teamwork. Teamwork, in turn, can solve many community problems far beyond the capacity of any individual to solve.” Kemper also said, that day, that “...knowledge of many fields, a wide range of interests, will enhance the understanding of the interrelation of events and activities.” The Andover of today—your Andover—is not far different from the Andover of 1948 in these essential respects, no matter how many drones may swirl overhead. You have a second essential advantage. You are bridge-builders. We have asked you, in many ways and in many contexts, to spend time with other youth from every quarter. You will bring to these essential, emerging problems your ability to get along with Andover | Commencement 2016

1. Jennifer Kim peeks back at the procession 2. School Copresident Theo Pérez 3. Gathered between Trustee President Peter Currie ’74 and Head of School John Palfrey are the recipients of the five awards announced at Commencement: Arzu Singh (Non Sibi Prize), Tyler Lian (Faculty Prize), Ashley Scott (Madame Sarah Abbot Award), Theo Pérez (Aurelian Honor Society Prize), and Caroline Shipley (Yale Bowl).

1 2

“If my time at Andover has taught me one thing, it’s that if you set for yourself an impossible goal and work at it tirelessly with all the ingenuity and industry you can muster, you can and will get a four.” — Theo Pérez School Copresident

one another and to listen to one another. I know that we have not been perfect at that these past four years. (We have not been perfect at that these past four weeks, for that matter.) But I put great stock in the fact that you’ve had a lot of practice. You have lived, worked, argued, and played alongside an extraordinarily diverse group of peers and faculty. You have disagreed with one another, quite vociferously at times. You have hurt one another’s feelings and you have struggled through hard days and long nights. But here you all are. You come together today as a class, the Class of 2016, graduating together. I can’t possibly say what the biggest problems of tomorrow will be, exactly. But to solve the problems that face society today and will face society going forward, I am certain that we will need people who can listen to one another; people who can appreciate other points of view; people who 16

Andover | Commencement 2016

cherish diversity in all its forms; and people who can work across difference, turning the other cheek, setting aside hate and anger— choosing, instead, empathy and love. The founders of Phillips Academy and Abbot Academy were devout Christians. Though today we do not invoke religion as often as 238 years ago, I am reminded of a passage from Isaiah 1:18: “Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord.” Those who have gone before us have also urged us to do so in the spirit of making a difference. In the words of former Abbot Academy principal Phebe McKeen: “Girls are urged to consider their education incomplete till they have learned to do some one thing that the world will count it worth paying for.” We seek, at Andover, for our work to be connected to the world at large—just as the Abbot women of the past urged their graduates. We talk of an “Andover bubble,”

but we aspire to be more than a place of isolation. Through our work on campus and in off-campus community engagement, we aspire to make a difference in the world. Mostly, though, we aspire to do that through you—our graduates. What you go on to do is the source of our greatest hope and our greatest pride. You may have thought your work at Andover has just concluded; I am here today to tell you that your work at Andover is just about to begin. That work is not about exams or races or concerts or plays or art installations on campus—it’s about how you will act in a world that needs your care, your support, your leadership, and your good human judgment. As we bid you adieu, we have enormous faith in what you, the Class of 2016, will do—in all your humanity, with all your grace. Congratulations, and Godspeed. Thank you.

Nico Ciccia

Jenny Huang

Senior Art Kelsey Norris

Kelsey Norris Margot Shang

Larissa Danovitch

Tiffany Bauman

Robert DeLaus

Andover | Commencement 2016

Outtakes

Andover | Commencement 2016

308 Graduates on June 5

2016 graduate with a family member in the Class of 1816

Andover | Commencement 2016

Class of 2016 By the Numbers

Candles lit during Baccalaureate

Roses purchased for graduates

315

1,361

Inches of rain on Commencement day

1.09

Foreign countries represented by graduates

Bagpipers in Clan MacPherson Pipes and Drums

U.S. states represented by graduates

2010 Last year it rained on Commencement

Andover cupcakes served at dessert reception

1,020

Chairs set up in front of Samuel Phillips Hall

3,000

Buses that took graduates to the prom

Phillips Academy, Andover, Massachusetts 01810-4161

Periodicals Postage Paid at Andover MA and additional mailing offices

Households that receive more than one Andover magazine are encouraged to call 978-749-4267 to discontinue extra copies.

From top center, clockwise: Michael Demsher, Jules Comte, Jenny Huang, Tevis Vitale, Lauren Luo, Joel PeĂąa, Ian Tan, Elizabeth Latham, Jake Kim, Jonathan Jow, Michael Shen