sir leapsalot

“Veritas
Super
Omnia”
Recycle this Phillipian.
www.phillipian.net
Volume CXXXI, Number 5
February 29, 2008
Phillips Academy, Andover, Massachusetts
Arun Saigal ’09
Rejoins race
For President
SCHOOL Congress
TAckles Honesty
Honesty Issues Pervade
Classes, Sports, Dorms
And Discipline System
Kapoor ’09 Saw He Was
In Seventh Place Shortly
Before Voting Ended
By MELISSA YAN
Academic dishonesty is “only
the tip of the iceberg” for dishonesty at Phillips Academy, said Mark
Efinger ’74, Instructor in Theatre
and Dance.
Efinger participated in Monday’s School Congress, an opportunity for student leaders to join with
faculty members in small groups to
discuss honesty at Andover.
Topics included academic honesty, the possibility of an honor
code, honesty in the discipline
system, the promotion of honesty
at the administrative and student
level, and the relationship between
honesty, trust and integrity.
Several groups discussed academic honesty, while other groups
kicked off their discussions by
quoting the Blue Book: “Honesty is
the basic value on which this community rests.”
Nancy Lang, Instructor in
Math, said, “We discussed standards about notes, such as Cliffnotes and Sparknotes, and how different teachers might have different
expectations about how valuable or
useful these notes are.”
Some faculty members, like
Efinger, felt that academics were
overemphasized in the discussion
of honesty.
“I got sick of constantly attacking academic honesty issues,” he
said.
“The only time we really discuss honesty is in terms of academic honesty or what you get busted
for, which [adversely] emphasizes
the ideal of not getting caught,”
Efinger said.
Many faculty and students,
though, appreciated the attempt to
explore academic honesty.
Mary Doyle ’08, one of the students who led a discussion, said,
“There is a gray area for what is
honest and not honest. The difficulty is in reconciling the two ideas
and how to deal with that gray
area.”
Lang said, “We began to discuss some of the gray areas involving honesty, and I’m curious to hear
more from the student perspective
on that topic.”
Tiffany Li ’09 said that “little
lies” are often told in academic settings, but it is hard to distinguish
when those lies overstep boundaries.
In one room, students and faculty contemplated the possibility
that the increasingly competitive
college application process might
motivate more academic dishonesty.
Jonathan Stableford, Chair of
the Department of English, said,
“In this age, students are often
driven by practicality.”
The discussions also covered
issues of dishonesty outside of academics.
Continued on Page A5, Column 1
By TIM GHOSH
S. Sheu/The Phillipian
Students, emulating “mod” fashion, posed Saturday night at the Addison Gallery of American Art’s “Birth of the Cool.” See Page B6
ANDOVER INN Ad Hoc Faculty Committee Aims to Shorten School Year
CLOSES FOR
Three Days
Dining and Lodging
Officially Reopened,
But No Liquor License
By JACK DICKEY
and JULIET LIU
The doors of the Andover Inn
were temporarily closed from
Thursday, February 21 through
Saturday, February 23 in order to
transition between outgoing and
incoming managements.
The Andover Inn’s lodging
and dining services reopened on
Saturday, officially under new
managers Matthew Morello and
Alison Sudalter-Morello.
Tracy Sweet, Director of
Academy Communications, declined to explain why the Inn
closed, though she did say that the
closure achieved a goal.
Sweet said, “[The closing] allowed Phillips Academy to transition the business operation to new
management.”
Although the Inn has reopened, it lacks a liquor license,
said Sweet.
“It’s a complicated process. It
involves applications to the state,
and bureaucracy,” Sweet said.
Problems with the license
arose when Phillips Academy,
which owns the establishment and
leases it out to various proprietors,
transferred management rights to
By ANNIE LI
Shawn Fulford, Instructor in
Mathematics, is leading an unofficial
committee to shorten Phillips Academy’s school year.
Fulford’s committee, which includes Flavia Vidal, Instructor in
English, and Emma Frey, Instructor
in History and Social Science, is advocating for Andover’s school year
to correspond to Exeter’s in terms of
days on campus, by shortening the
year by four days. Those three members met in Uncommons on Monday
night.
Fulford’s committee also includes faculty from the Department of World Languages, Graham
House, Isham Health Center, the
Academic Support Center and the
College Counseling Office, she said.
The Phillipian is withholding the
VOTE
TODAY
Vote online for the
next Student Body
President.
End apathy now.
Continued on Page A5, Column 1
identities of these individuals due to
their wishes and the unofficial nature
of their committee.
During the Monday night meeting, Fulford presented her comparison of campus days, class days and
vacation days between Andover’s
academic calendar and Phillips Exeter Academy’s academic calendar.
Exeter has been her main focus
among peer schools in hopes of constructing an effective argument.
“I’ve been told, if I want to be
convincing, the only school we really care about is Exeter,” she said.
Fulford formed the committee
Fall Term with seven other faculty
and staff members to investigate the
effects of this year’s longer Fall Term
and shortened winter break, along
with other changes that have been
made to the 2007-2008 academic
calendar.
The committee’s goal is to make
By JULIET LIU
Amid loud dinner discussions
in Uncommons, Phillips Academy
students heard the voices of seven
presidential hopefuls in the first
debate of the Student Body Presidential race of 2008 on Wednesday
evening.
The seven remaining candidates are Malin Adams ’09,
Carolyn Brown ’09,
Lawrence Dai
’09,
Trevor Gulick-Stutz ’09,
Ishan
Kapoor ’09,
Arun Saigal ’09 and
William Thompson-Butler ’09. Dai
is an editor at The Phillipian.
During the debate moderated
by Jack Dickey ’09, News Director of The Phillipian, individual
questions were directed towards
“I learned this past year that
it’s really important for students
on campus to talk with their representatives. ... As a whole, if you
want to get something done, you’ve
got to get the students behind you,”
Adams said.
Candidates were also asked if
they believed that Student Council
should create a spending policy for
the presidential campaigns.
After Kapoor obtained corporate sponsorship from Red Bull
and received free packages of the
popular energy drink to distribute
on campus, some students and faculty expressed disapproval of this
practice.
“Last week, when I started giving out the Red Bull, I started having meetings with Dean Edwards
and cluster deans, and I started
Continued on Page A4, Column 4
Continued on Page A5, Column 5
Andover Finishes 11th in GREEN CUP
By WILL LINDSEY
After a month of turning off
light switches and unplugging
electrical devices, Phillips Academy took eleventh place in the
Green Cup Challenge’s final tally.
Andover’s average energy reduction for the month of February
was 12.2 percent.
The 31 participating schools
saved a total of $83,000. Berkshire School earned the top spot
in the GCC. Governor’s Academy
and St. Paul’s School placed second and third, respectively.
Schools compete in the GCC
to reduce their energy expenditure
Presidential Candidates Discuss Platforms Over Dinner
the candidates regarding their
platforms and their experiences at
Phillips Academy.
Brown and Adams were asked
whether they thought that their
experience with Student Council
would benefit or hurt them in this
election.
“I feel like my experience really helps me because it makes me
more aware of what Student Council can do and what it can’t do,”
said Brown, currently Secretary of
Student Government and a former
Lower Representative. “It allows
me to come up with ideas that I
know can get done.”
“I’d say this past year, which is
my first year on Student Council,
has been an eye-opener for me,”
said Adams, who is currently an
Upper Representative.
suggestions that are better for learning, health and productivity.
“The three things you need for a
good education are time with teachers, educational resources and energy. Both teachers and students need
to be energized to be engaged in the
material,” Fulford said.
In previous years, however,
the academic calendar has gone
through several drafts in an attempt
to lengthen the school year, a change
that Head of School Barbara Chase
felt was necessary.
“The faculty had a long series
of discussions and considered several models for how to lengthen the
school year before voting on the
current model,” wrote Dean of Studies John Rogers in an email to The
Phillipian.
Due to unforeseen complications in the election process for
Student Council president, Arun
Saigal ’09 returned to the field of
candidates for today’s voting, creating a pool of seven hopefuls instead of six.
Between 7:30 and 8:30 p.m.
Monday, February 18, the night of
the second round of voting, candidate Ishan Kapoor ’09 unintentionally saw that he stood in seventh
place on a live tally of the voting.
Kapoor said that he had wanted
to check his email in the Computer
Center and used a friend’s computer to do so.
That friend, who was granted
access to the live voting results,
had the results open on his computer when Kapoor checked his
email.
“I saw my name and position,”
Kapoor said.
Kapoor added that he had no
intention of finding out his position
in the race, nor did he see any other
information, including the specific
vote tallies or the positions of his
competitors.
Kapoor said that, after he saw
his position, he resumed “aggressive” campaigning, which included
sending emails and text messages
to all of his cellphone contacts.
Kapoor said he had previously
planned this strategy.
Before voting concluded at 9
p.m., Kapoor had moved into the
top six candidates, with Saigal in
seventh place.
On Sunday, Student Council
President Tantum Collins ’08 announced via an all-school email
that Saigal would rejoin the race,
due to “an unprecedented situation
with the voting that took place on
Monday” that “only recently” came
to Student Council’s attention.
kind of getting in trouble because
I was ‘buying the election,’” said
Kapoor.
He added, “Each can [of Red
Bull] had my ideas [on it] and it
was just a way to learn a little bit
about me. I was in no way trying
to buy the election. I think it also
showed that if I can get a corporate
sponsorship, I can be a good leader
in other ways.”
In another question, Dickey
asked Thompson-Butler and Gulick-Stutz whether their joint campaign weakened their platform to
“half of the ideas that would normally come with a candidate.”
“We actually have the same
number of ideas, and that was the
Continued on Page A4, Column 1
by the largest percentage, compared to a baseline energy consumption measurement.
The three winners of the
“Green Cup Hero” award were
also announced.
Photo Technician Will Edwards, Instructor in French Andrew Feinstein, and Co-head of
Eco-Action Lambros Theofanidis
’08 were nominated for their exemplary attitude toward sustainability.
According to PAnet, Edwards
was nominated “for proposing
steps that the Art Department
may take to reduce its energy
consumption, such as installing
more efficient lighting and water
conservation technologies for the
photo lab and for offering his time
to serve as a resource for students
interested in energy conservation.”
Feinstein was nominated “for
consistently using natural light in
the classroom during the Green
Cup and for his hard work in educating students in Rockwell about
the importance of energy conservation long before the Green Cup
started and throughout the challenge.”
Theofanidis was nominated
“for talking about conservation
Continued on Page A5, Column 6
Inside The Phillipian
M. Discenza/The Phillipian
Fans cheered for Boys Hockey against Exeter during
its 2-0 win on Saturday.
News
A4-A5
PA CompSci team takes first in high school competition.
IN-DEPTH
A6-A7
In-Depth explores handicap accessibility on campus.
Commentary
A2-A3
Nicole Okai ’10 wants more “cool” weekend events.
arts
Arts covers the Winter Pep Rally.
A8, B6
features
B4-B5
Features gets knocked down. But they get up again.
sports
B1-B3
Boys Hockey beats Exeter 2-0 to advance to playoffs.
M. Discenza/The Phillipian
THE PHILLIPIAN COMMENTARY FEBRUARY 29, 2008
A2
Volume
CXXXI
NUMBER 5
“Our Troubled
Generation” (2/22)
Cora D. Lewis
Editor in Chief
Jack Dickey
News Director
News
Christine Choi
Alicia Keyes
In-Depth
Emma Goldstein
Commentary
Harrison Hart
Sports
Matt Gorski
Mai Kristofferson
Jim Ricker
Arts
Charlie Dong
Nette Oot
Features
Lawrence Dai
Annalee E. Leggett
Zoe A. Y. Weinberg
Executive Editor
Managing Editor
Director of Production
Business Manager
Director of Photography
Advertising Director
Director of Writing &
Copy
The Phillipian Online
Berol Dewdney
Michael Discenza
Britt Peltz
Sarah Sheu
Erica Segall
Carl Jackson
Cartooning Director
Head of Circulation
and Publicity
Senior Associates
Publicity
Danica Mitchell
In-Depth:
Sudhandra Sundaram
Commentary: Anabel Bacon
Sports Coordinator:
Abby Levene
Arts: Scott Dzialo
Features: Eli Grober
Cartoon: Alex Cope
Emerson Stoldt
Eddie Zhang
Circulation
Arun Saigal
Jacob Shack
Patricia Yen
Head of Delivery
Joey Atiba
In All Honesty
It’s no lie; we need to take our values more seriously. Dishonesty,
even in minor forms, is becoming too common at Phillips Academy, and
we as a community need to take measures to create an atmosphere that
better promotes honesty, knowledge and goodness.
While students generally condemn egregious acts of dishonesty,
we condone smaller lies and acts of cheating. It is these lesser acts,
which are easier to get away with, that are becoming more and more
commonplace. These include lying about sign-in, places of study and
car permission, taking liberties with our calculator programs, copying
homework, talking about tests and quizzes with other sections of the
same class and reading Sparknotes in place of English readings.
These acts, while not as flagrant as plagiarizing a paper or looking
at someone else’s test, actually do more damage to one’s character. A
camaraderie of cheating seems to have developed at Phillips Academy.
Trading information about quizzes or copying answers from textbooks
has almost become routine, a part of our everyday lives. These seemingly
minute acts accumulate until they are shamelessly habitual, instead of
just “moments of weakness.” These consistent actions will soon begin
to define our characters.
Has the idea that “if you ain’t cheating, you ain’t trying” found its
way into the Andover mentality? Some see cheating as the easy way
out, a way to get by doing minimal work. But others see it as a potential
edge, a way to get a better grade even if you’ve already put the work into
the class. According to a Phillipian survey last month, most students
believe that Phillips Academy emphasizes academic success more than
honesty, so it almost no wonder that students feel pressure to succeed,
even at the cost of their own integrity.
Students continue to find ways to “work the system,” to do everything
we can get away with. The best way to address this problem is not to
fix the holes in the system; that would only require more supervision,
rules and discipline. To really reverse this trend, students need to have a
fundamental understanding of the importance of honesty – so that they
won’t want to “work the system” in the first place.
Phillips Academy’s Constitution charges the school to produce
students of good character. The Blue Book further proclaims that
“honesty is the basic value on which this community rests.” At a time
when professional athletes stand trial for cheating or lying and business
executives and politicians come under scrutiny for deceitful practices, it
is imperative that the school ensure that its students graduate as honest
members of society.
So what do we do?
First, students should lead by example. When students are entrusted
with responsibility, many will rise to the occasion, and when students
are responsible for one another, integrity becomes an expectation of
one’s peers, not the school.
Second, faculty should communicate more with students and form
close relationships with them. When students feel that teachers trust
them, this trust will foster high moral standards. Conversations after
class, during conference period or even in Uncommons, will contribute
to these relationships. And students are less likely to cheat in the class of
a teacher with whom they have a relationship, whom they admire.
Monday’s School Congress was an effective venue for ad-hoc
dialogue between student leaders and faculty. The Phillipian hopes
that opportunities like these will lead to more communication between
students and teachers. Strengthened bonds between instructors and
pupils outside of the classroom can have an impact unachievable within
academic buildings. Already, many teachers, house counselors, coaches,
and some advisers are great examples of adults who serious influence
students’ characters.
The Phillipian proposes that students and the administration work
together in a cooperative effort to educate students about honor and
integrity, to foster communication within the community and ultimately
to create a shared value of honesty and trust.
As students, we should not settle for a camaraderie of cheating, for
“working the system,” cutting corners and taking the easy way out.
We need to understand that our self-worth is not our GPA’s; it is our
character. And at the end of our time at Andover, our sense of pride in
our accomplishments and personal achievement can be unsullied by the
taint of dishonesty.
Corrections
In the photo montage of the lunar eclipse on the front page last week, the
times stated beneath the photos were inaccurate. The total eclipse concluded
around 10 p.m.
A news headline about Instructor in Spanish Peter Neissa last week
incorrectly implied that Neissa was inspired by a car accident that took place
in 1973. The car’s model year was 1973. The actual accident was in 1981.
An article about the Model U.N. trip to Washington D.C. mistakenly referred to the North American Invitational Model United Nations Conference
as the Georgetown Model UN Conference.
An Arts article about the IndoPak charity dinner last week failed to mention that the Bombay Club in Cambrdige, MA donated all of the food, thanks
to the initiative of Ishan Kapoor ’09.
In a photo caption for an Arts article about “A Taste of Honey” last week,
the names of Anabel Bacon ’09 and Eric Sirakian ’10 were misspelled.
The Phillipian regrets the errors.
Letters to the Editor
To the Editor,
I want to commend Jenn Schaffer on
an exceptionally thoughtful and wellwritten article. “Our Troubled Generation” was evocative, compelling, and a
call to arms. As a part of Generation X, I
may not always be optimistic, but I know
a powerful message when I see it. Well
done.
Rachel Vega
Administrative Assistant
Office of Physical Plant
“They Choose the Dean,
Not Us” (2/22)
To the Editor,
I was surprised last week to read Jacob Shack’s commentary “They Choose
the Dean, Not Us.” Although it goes
without saying that the “administration...
[and] not the students” should select the
Dean of Students, not even asking for
students’ input is just silly.
Shack admits that students’ input was
“surely helpful in the selection process,”
yet then goes on to say that because students get no say in the faculty hiring or
student admission processes, they should
also have no say in choosing the Dean of
Students.
Why ignore advice that is “surely
helpful”? Merely to maintain the status
quo?
Contrary to the implications of the
attached cartoon, selecting a Dean of
Students (or any other administrative
position) is not a democratic process.
As such, feedback from those students
who believe a potential dean is “cool”
or “giv[es] especially lenient penalties
to preferable students” can simply be ignored. But the administrators involved in
choosing a new dean are certainly intelligent enough to discern what comments
are based on perceived leniency and what
are based on legitimate opinions.
Many colleges - well, my college
anyway - actually do solicit student input
when hiring new faculty members. The
department in question has a few candidates come to campus, have lunch with
some students, then give a talk. Students
don’t make the actual hiring decision, but
their input is taken into consideration by
those who do.
Andover is not a college, of course,
and this particular process might not adapt
as well to the different setting. Most high
school teachers, even at Andover, do not
do serious research, and so a talk might
be less worthwhile; in any case, a good
public speaker may not be a good teacher. But students might be able to detect
someone who they feel will be a pleasure
to have in the classroom, or someone
who gives them bad vibes. What’s the
worst that could happen?
Nobody is denying that “faculty and
administration ultimately should be the
ones making the verdict.” But when selecting a new faculty member, or a new
Dean of Students, would listening to students’ opinions really be so terrible?
Dougal Sutherland ’07
[email protected]
“Actress Olivia Wilde
Campaigns for Obama”
(2/22)
Madam,
I write to follow up on a query addressed to The Phillipian this weekend
that, at the time of this letter’s drafting,
remains unanswered.
The Phillipian’s recent decision
to have a reporter cover his sister in a
News story constitutes an indefensible
repudiation of its charter, which calls for
“professional standards of accuracy, objectivity and fairness at all times.” How
can The Phillipian guarantee objectivity
and fairness in the reporting and writing
of a story on Olivia Wilde’s ’02 recent
decision to campaign for Barack Obama,
when it is covered and written by her
brother, Charlie Cockburn ’11?
The appended note mentioning the
kinship of Cockburn and Wilde, who was
born Olivia Jane Cockburn, testifies to
The Phillipian’s knowledge of the relationship prior to publication.
What unusual conditions, then, made
the story valuable enough to merit the
compromised ethics of having a brother
write about his sister?
Did the actress steadfastly refuse
to grant an interview to anyone but her
brother?
Did The Phillipian have no disinterested writers available to cover the story
in his place?
Given that The Phillipian’s Charter requires its members to observe the
“ethical responsibilities expected of them
as practicing journalists,” it is arrogant of
the paper to expect a student journalist to
overcome the inevitable conflict of interest in writing about one’s family. In doing so, The Phillipian betrays the same
values it professes to uphold.
If The Phillipian is serious in its expectation of ethical conduct befitting
a professional journalist, I would politely direct its editors to the New York
Times’ Ethical Journalism, which states,
“… staff members may not write about
people whom they are related by blood or
marriage or with whom they have close
personal relationships...”
While the report on a famous and
recently graduated alumna’s political activism may be of interest to the Phillips
Academy community, The Phillipian’s
editorial decision to flout journalistic
standards by publishing a story with a
recognized conflict of interest disregards
the reader’s expectation of accuracy, objectivity and fairness.
Sincerely,
Cassius Clay ’09
ADDENDUM:
Less than two hours before the deadline for letters, The Phillipian contacted
me with a long-awaited statement explaining that they “carefully reviewed
the article in question before and after
publication for the presence of any bias,”
and “fully disclosed the relationship between the author and the interview subject to inform the reader and address the
possibility or appearance of a conflict of
interest.”
This is true. The Phillipian’s editors fail to realize, however, that merely
declaring a conflict of interest does not
make it go away. If editorial wishes were
fulfilled as easily as this, newspapers like
the New York Times would not bother to
address this particular aspect of its ethical standards.
Avoiding the semblance of bias is
nearly as important as avoiding bias itself.
If standards of credibility are to be maintained, The Phillipian should not only
avoid bias, but also avoid putting itself
in situations where it appears as if bias
would inevitably arise. The Phillipian
has not defended the case that the story
was either so important or so difficult to
capture that violating journalistic standards was justified. It is on these points
that The Phillipian stumbles maladroitly.
Editor’s Note
At the time this article was assigned,
the relationship between the author and
the interview subject was not known.
When the editors of The Phillipian became aware of the relationship, we used
our discretion and determined that the
article was accurate, fair and appropriate for publication with a disclaimer. The
Phillipian does not promote the writing
of articles by persons with conflicts of
interest or personal relationships with the
articles’ subjects.
The Phillipian welcomes questions
about any and all editorial decisions.
Rock the Registration
Mary Doyle and
Philip Meyer
codependent
We live in an era of civic disengagement. It’s easier to be politically apathetic
– to join what some call a “why bother?”
generation – than to invest in the growth
and potential power of community and
state. But a democracy is only as strong
as the contributions of its citizens, and its
legitimacy is determined by the turnout
of voters. To participate in an election is
to affirm one’s state and government. The
strength of state undoubtedly contributes
to the strength of its individual citizens,
and, aware of this connection, the choice
to vote has become the choice of the educated person.
Our election system challenges its citizens; the very fact that voting in the U.S.
is a two-fold process, registration before
ballot-casting, demands more of an aware
citizen. But we must hold ourselves to a
higher standard; we must contribute to a
community of informed voters. That is the
essence of engaged citizenship and one of
the key antidotes to the disconnected, disengaged nation in which we live.
The informed voter is a pillar of our
nation’s democracy. Democracy is the direct result of active citizenship, so its existence validates the fight of our founding
fathers for a nation in which government
does not merely tolerate the voice of the
people, but the people determine the government.
Also, an informed population is undeniably attractive. The need to fulfill one’s
duty to become better informed would
inevitably lead to an increase in the enlightened interaction of peers. Discourse
would become commonplace as opinions
founded on fact are encouraged and natu-
rally grow stronger.
The need for the politically-educated
ballot-caster is growing more acute with
time, if only for what it represents. It is
especially pertinent to our generation,
for, by engaging now, when our country
in most vulnerable, we are setting a precedent for active citizenship in our own
time and in the generations of those who
follow.
In “Bowling Alone,” Robert Putnam
relates the falling voter turnout over the
past few decades to the decrease in town
meeting attendance to the increasingly-archaic presence of bowling leagues at your
neighborhood bowling alley. These are all
concepts that fall under the grand democratic idea of building a society from the
laymen up; these all contribute to an idea
of the everyman’s state.
We are better for my own participa-
tion in the greater cause. We are better for
my dedication to community and the development of the whole.
It is with the wonderful cooperation
inherent in a democracy that we are also
better for your community engagement.
And so we leave you with this plea: please
vote. Please educate yourself of the state
of today’s world and the real potential of
our future leaders. Please engage.
Voter registration will be run by the
Community Service Office at Senior Tea
and various weekend events through the
end of the term, including this Saturday’s
Coffee House and next Friday’s Fashion
Show. Email [email protected]
with any questions. To register on your
own, visit RockTheVote.Com.
If you are a U.S. citizen and will be 18
years old by November 4, 2008, you are
eligible for registration.
The Phillipian welcomes all letters to the Editor. We try to print all
letters, but because of space limitations, we recommend conciseness. We
reserve the right to edit all submitted letters to conform with print restraints
and proper syntax. We will not publish any anonymous letters. Please submit letters by the Monday of each week to [email protected] or to
our newsroom in the basement of Morse.
To subscribe, email [email protected], or write to The Phillipian,
180 Main Street, Andover, MA, 01810.
All contents of The Phillipian copyright © 2008, The Trustees of Phillips Academy, Inc. Reproduction of any material herein without the express
written consent of The Trustees of Phillips Academy, Inc. and the editorial
board of The Phillipian is strictly prohibited.
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Visit our website at http://www.phillipian.net
THE PHILLIPIAN COMMENTARY FEBRUARY 29, 2008
More Patrol, Please
Michael Yoon
victim
Last week, three alleged thieves were
arrested on campus after being seen climbing on fire escapes and found with a car
filled with copper downspouts. Phillips
Academy needs to take measures to better ensure protection from outside threats
without compromising student freedoms.
School shootings, such as those that
occurred at Columbine, Virginia Tech and
most recently, Northern Illinois University, are tragedies that almost all schools
across the nation have started to prepare
for. Here at Phillips Academy, we have
enacted measures, such as the Shelter-inPlace drill, to respond to extreme emergencies, such as a shooting or a hostage
situation.
Despite these measures, three people
were able to sneak onto campus and steal
copper downspouts off of buildings last
week, getting caught only after the downspouts had been removed from the buildings. We must be able to find a balance
between preventing criminals from coming onto campus and keeping our school
grounds relatively open to the community. PAPS, our first line of defense against
danger, must be empowered to take immediate action if necessary to protect
Phillips Academy students and property.
I know from personal experience the
degree to which our campus is open. Last
year, while walking back to Rockwell
after the Sadie Hawkins dance, I was accosted by someone of high-school age.
The white male, around 150-175 pounds,
grabbed me in a bear hug and threw me to
the ground.
When I returned to my dorm, I was
slightly reluctant to report the incident to
PAPS. An hour after my encounter, I had
been thoroughly questioned by a PAPS
officer. The next morning, I was again
questioned, but this time by an officer of
the Andover Police Department.
To my surprise, I was told that calling
PAPS had been the wrong thing to do. The
officer told me that I should have instead
immediately called the Andover police.
Although I considered the incident to be
rather insignificant, I was still encouraged
to bring the case straight to the authorities, not to PAPS.
I felt insecure and unsafe; Could
PAPS have done anything about it? Although my incident was not serious, what
if I had been hurt or traumatized? Would
calling PAPS have had no effect?
Although in the end I positively identified my “assailant” and received a letter
of apology from him, the ordeal nonetheless opened my eyes to the dangers of living on an open campus.
PA prides itself on being an independent, autonomous institution, apart from
the surrounding community. As opposed
to other schools, which enclose their students within their gates, Andover entrusts
its students with the freedom of access to
the surrounding area. While this makes
life more comfortable and convenient, it
also exposes us to outside dangers, such
as thieves and thugs. If a PA student were
to meet a stranger from outside the Phillips Academy community and the situation became dangerous, what options
would the student have for protection?
With no gates or boundaries to mark
Academy lines, Phillips Academy Public
Safety officers have a great amount of responsibility. They must constantly patrol
campus and carry out routine checkups on
buildings and dormitories. Luckily, hostile incidents are not common, but in the
case of a chase, what would a PAPS officer be inclined to do? According to Tom
Conlon, Director of Public Safety, in the
case of an emergency, “We call 911. They
always have an area car around here.”
As PAPS does not have the right to
detain or pursue suspects, the Andover
Police, as well as the greater Andover
community, are the greatest assets at the
disposal of PAPS. Conlon explained that
PAPS is also a part of the community and
uses that to their advantage, saying, “The
community acts as an agent for us.”
Despite having so many resources
at their disposal, ranging from the individual to regional, the campus is still an
open one and, therefore, is still at risk. To
Conlon, “It is a matter of identifying who
belongs and who doesn’t.”
To many students, the current security
level on campus is adequate, comfortable.
Anne Hunter ’10 feels safe, despite living
on the outskirts of campus. Hunter said,
“[Campus security] is pretty good, except
I got my bike stolen. I think the only reason things get stolen is because people are
careless, but you’d feel pretty safe even if
you didn’t have campus security.”
Hunter continued, “I just couldn’t
picture something like a shooting or a
massive hostage situation ever occurring.
I don’t see anything violent like that on
campus; maybe I don’t see it that way because the community around us isn’t like
that.”
With PAPS cars constantly patrolling
campus streets, we feel secure in their
presence. Even so, with no power to arrest
or pursue, they must rely on the Andover
Police Department to take action. This
ought to change so that PAPS may be empowered to make their own decisions in
the case of extreme emergencies.
Although working in conjunction
with the authorities is practical, PAPS
ought to maximize the protection they
can provide independently. By providing
PAPS with the right to make their own
decisions without the Andover Police, our
campus borders would not seem as open
to troublemakers.
A Different Kind of Party
Nicole Okai
andover socialite
Last weekend’s party at the Addison Gallery celebrating the “Birth of the
Cool” exhibit offered students a new, unexpected way to spend a Saturday night:
in an art museum.
While the event immersed its guests
into the “cool” 1950’s, Southern Californian culture, students couldn’t help but
feel older and more mature.
Thanks to the organizers’ effective advertising and creation of a sophisticated
atmosphere, many students dressed up for
the occasion.
“Birth of the Cool,” in comparison to
other exhibitions at the Addison, was an
exhibit that naturally called for an interesting dress code. The exhibit featured over
150 objects, including paintings, graphic
designs, architecture, furniture, film and
music from the modernist era and payed
homage to Los Angeles as a key American cultural center. Guests were asked to
dress semi-formally or “mod,” a 1960’sborn fashion trend that features geometric
shapes and wild patterns, which created a
festive ambience for the attendees.
Contrary to popular belief, the Student Activities Board (SAB), of which I
am a member, was not associated with the
planning of this specific weekend event:
it was an independent student initiative.
SAB in fact only advertised it on the
Weekender. Jacqueline Hall ’08 had been
organizing this student-directed gallery
event since Fall term. She deserves great
praise for this well-received artsy student
soiree.
The Global Classroom
Tori Wilmarth
class of 2014
One of my teachers recently asked our
class what will happen when we graduate from Phillips Academy. He reminded
us that our four years of work here will
culminate in the presentation of a piece
of paper, which will lead us to four years
at another institution, from which we will
also receive a little piece of paper.
We all know that a Phillips Academy
education offers students more than a diploma; the learning that takes place here
both inside and outside the classroom is
invaluable. However, while it is interesting to think of the four-year educational
cycle we are on, it is also worth considering the possibility of taking a break from
it and leaving academia to explore the
world with an interim year.
All of us know that the pace of life
here at Phillips Academy is grueling.
With too little sleep and an endless to-do
list, most of us would like to have a little
more free time. There are always things
we want to do, but we do not have (or
rather, do not make) the time for them.
Interim years give students that time. The
summer opportunities website describes
an interim year as “a year after graduating
from high school and before going to college in which students choose alternatives
to mainstream opportunities. It’s a time to
recharge, rethink…”
Another positive aspect of an interim year is that it gives participants a
chance to re-evaluate their goals. I know
that many people go into college with a
set plan of exactly what they want to do.
Now, I am by no means against planning.
I tend to make a lot of plans myself, but
I think that sometimes it is important to
stop for a minute to decide if the plan you
have is really worth following or is the
best one for you.
Princeton recently announced a new
initiative, called the “bridge year,” encouraging accepted students to take a
non-academic interim year devoted to
service in a foreign country. I personally
think this is a wonderful idea.
According to the Princeton website,
the “bridge year” program supports the
university’s unofficial motto, “In the nation’s service, and in the service of all nations.”
This “bridge year” initiative is a part
of a “Princeton in the World” program
recently undertaken by University President Shirley M. Tilgham. The program
hopes to send 10 percent of the incoming
class abroad on a need-blind basis before
matriculation. One of the four benefits
of the program outlined on the Princeton
website is: “It would prepare students
for a more meaningful Princeton experience.” I think this would be the case for
students who participate in this special
interim year.
Experience in the real world, outside
of the Andover bubble and academia
in general, adds significantly to lessons
learned inside the classroom. I am a firm
believer in the idea that we do not really
know who we are until we are challenged
by a situation that is not just different,
but by something that is also difficult and
completely outside of our comfort zones.
Such experiences allow us to test the
limits of our own possibilities and find
new passions. The “bridge year” program
provides a venue, as well as the financial
means and encouragement, for incoming
students to take meaningful risks and provide service in another part of the world.
As students at Phillips Academy, we
are often taught about the interconnectedness of our world; we learn about its varied cultures, peoples and problems. However, I can say from personal experience
that it is impossible to compare hearing or
reading about different sides of the world
to actually experiencing them.
This past summer I was able to travel
to Mumbai, India through the Niswarth
service-learning program sponsored by
our school’s community service and
CAMD offices. My time in India was
life-changing. It broadened my perspective greatly, helped me to fall in love with
another culture, forced me outside of my
comfort zone, and allowed me to reflect
on my goals.
Working with Indian students inspired
and rejuvenated my desire to increase my
own global understanding and awareness.
It also furthered my interest in working to
promote children’s rights and to decrease
poverty, both now and later in my professional life. If all of this happened to me
after three weeks of service in India, I can
only imagine the profound effect a year of
service abroad would have on a student.
Another great part of Princeton’s interim program is its commitment to community service. Although the “bridge
year” is not dedicated to traditional academic programs, community service is an
excellent way of learning in a different
way. It allows participants first and foremost to learn about the people, community, or problem they are working with.
The work associated with community service personifies problems and solutions,
which makes them both more powerful
and meaningful to those involved. Community service is one wonderful way to
get to know a community while also creating positive change.
Overall, I applaud Princeton’s new
“bridge year” initiative, which is one example of a growing commitment to service and global understanding. I encourage all of us to think about the program
and entertain the possibility of trying
something different.
A3
The Addison also deserves our praise,
as this event not only effectively appealed
to students, but was also inspirational. It
should not be forgotten and and should
definitely be repeated. There was a great
turnout despite competing with the Mardi
Gras dance in Borden the same night.
Some people did not attend because of
conflicting events like “A Taste of Honey.” Brenna Liponis ’10 thought that, “the
posters were very well done” and had
she had the opportunity to go, she would
have.
There were many good reviews from
all attendees, who seemed to be predominantly girls. Michelle Mariko ’10, who
only briefly attended the event, said,
“They used an interesting variety of mediums for the exhibit. It was just a little
repetitive. I was impressed with some
people’s attention to detail when they
were dressing in mod.”
As Andover students, we are so used
to dressing down and getting by each
class-filled day in casual dress. Having
the opportunity to wear formal clothes to
an event other than a trivial Sadie Hawkins dance allows students to experience
something new.
In the spirit of Miles Davis’s album
“Birth of the Cool,” from which the exhibit derives its name, this showcase
looks at the masterpieces of all types of
artists during the Californian postwar-era
society, a period of culture to which many
students had not been exposed.
In the showing rooms, there was a
theme-based display, whether house structures or old cartoons. There was a media
piece with animation, film and television
shows. As some curious students paused
to gaze at the pieces on the walls, others
rested on mod furniture, engrossed in the
Californian lifestyle. Everyone felt more
mature gazing at art while listening to
smooth jazz.
Instead of just being young, stressed
students shuffling from commitment to
commitment, an Andover student had
the chance to be a grown-up. Michael
Scognamiglio ’10 commented that he
“felt like an adult. It was almost like I was
at a big New York City party with supermodels all around me.” Though he was
joking (mostly) about the supermodel
part, he was not far from the truth.
The majority of guests said that it was
nice to do something that was different
from normal gallery events. It was also
interesting to dress up in a different style
other than the normal and more casual
weekend attire. Though it may not seem
apparent at the moment, “Birth of the
Cool” introduced something new.
On the weekends, students do not always have to dress down and attend the
same old dance in the “U-room.” They
should go to more events like this one to
experience sophistication and art all while
staying on campus.
We should have more events like this
that allow students to go to a mature event
because it creates a new, valuable experience. A sophisticated event like “Birth of
the Cool” does not always have to occur
at the Addison Gallery. It is possible for
such events to happen in the Underwood
Room, as well. But every once in a while,
students need that opportunity to be able
to sip mocktails and look at art, and pretend that aren’t actually at school but
someplace far “cooler”: a museum.
Victoria Sanchez
meeting’s speaker was simply digging up
the past, obsessing over old issues and
preventing the progress of our modernday minorities. I disagreed.
Also, even where ignorance is not
present, flawed assumptions still exist. As
I used the computers in George Washington Hall last Saturday, I heard a student
justify his assumptions, saying, “I know
it’s extremely stereotypical. But I’m from
Lawrence, so I can say it.”
The CAMD Office is charged with a
very difficult job. Educating an entire student body about the identities of their fellow students and promoting acceptance
is no small task; their other primary task,
providing support to minority students, is
in no way simple. Nonetheless, the office
does an excellent job, constantly adapting
to the expressed needs and concerns of
Andover students. For example, the office has recently supported the formation
of the clubs CAFÉ and Alianza Latina, as
well as the affinity group Mosaic.
Despite the Office’s work, there are
still students who believe that the CAMD
Office is a waste and emphasizes identity issues too much. However, if freshmen have never met Asians or Latinos or
even African Americans, and if St. Paul’s
School still has incidents of hate mail, the
CAMD Office is necessary to sustain an
open, honest community.
This honesty is perhaps CAMD’s
greatest legacy. Here on campus, I have
witnessed many discussions that, in other
locations, could easily have become hostile. However, at Andover, we are taught
to maintain a sensitivity to others while
still being honest. Programs such as
CAMD Scholars and CAFÉ help to facilitate these discussions, which are the norm
at Andover. These accomplishments are
critical, and if the Andover community
truly desires to move beyond superficial
cultural differences, we must continue to
engage in such open dialogue.
Why We Need CAMD
“minority”
When a school, such as Andover, has
an Admissions Office that prints off countless brochures advertising the percentage
of minorities at the school and an entire
office devoted to dealing with multicultural topics, race becomes an issue that
is impossible to ignore. At Andover, race
and how it plays into our lives constantly
remains at the forefront of our community’s thought.
In my time at Andover, I have heard
many different people question the need
for the CAMD Office and the numerous
speakers, workshops and events that address racial relations. I myself have questioned the need for the CAMD Office and
its multicultural clubs at one time, even
though I am a member of a “minority
race.” Despite my former doubt, I now
believe that the CAMD office is an extremely valuable resource to the Andover
community.
In my experience, in comparison to
other communities, Andover is extremely
open-minded on the subject of race. This
year alone, several of our peer schools
experienced incidents of hateful actions
motivated by race, events reminiscent of
attitudes of the decades before the Civil
Rights Movement.
Andover has yet to face an incident
like the one St. Paul’s is currently experiencing, in which hate mail was sent to
racial minorities, but our community still
has work ahead of it. Ignorance about
other cultures is prevalent on campus; I,
for example, had never interacted with an
Asian person before attending Andover.
Furthermore, after last year’s Martin
Luther King Jr. Day All-School Meeting, I discovered that a new student, who
happened to be a friend of mine, did not
believe that racism exists in our modern
day society. This friend believed that the
THE PHILLIPIAN NEWS FEBRUARY 29, 2008
A4
Debate Relocated To Reach PA CompSci Team Wins Invitational High School
Broader Audience at Dinner Programming Contest for Second Consecutive Year
Continued from Page A1, Column 4
whole point,” said ThompsonButler. “We had individual ideas
and put them together. Trevor and
I have different peer bases and different activity bases and we thought
that coming together would make
our platform stronger.”
Gulick-Stutz said, “[Thompson-Butler] and I are revolutionizing this process. By implementing
our ideas together, we can get a lot
more done in a shorter time.”
Dai’s platform primarily tackles the single issue of communication and proposes a system modeled after the successful Fishing
for Feedback exchange in Uncommons.
“I believe that communication
is the most important issue for Student Council right now,” said Dai.
He continued, “I’d like to think
[my platform] is an all-encompassing campaign because it’s based
on communication and it’s based
on student ideas…Through my
system, these ideas won’t be lost in
a whole mess.”
Saigal’s platform includes
more class trips, a reform of the
Disciplinary Committee system, a
proposal for an online report card
system and increased wireless with
the help of the Technology Office.
“I have the ideas and I have
done a lot with them,” said Saigal.
“If elected, I will definitely work
my hardest and work my best until
everything in my power and then
some is accomplished.”
The next round of voting will
take place today, Friday, February
29.
A number of students said that
the presidential debate gave them a
greater perspective of which candidate they might vote for.
“Actually hearing the candidates say their plans out loud was
sort of reassuring. You were able
to tell what they were passionate
about and what they weren’t,” said
Kathryn Quijano ’08.
Many listeners considered the
candidates’ public speaking skills
to be a large factor in their final
decisions.
“I think the one thing that I
was looking for was not so much
the issues, but how [the candidates]
spoke, because All-School Meetings are really important when it
comes to voting for a president,
since you want someone to be really charismatic and humorous in
their speech,” said Kyle Rogers
’09, a candidate eliminated in the
last round of voting.
Edward Zhang ’09 said, “It
was an opportunity to observe
their speaking styles as a taste of
future All-School Meetings.”
Stacia Vladimirova ’10 said,
“Seeing them debate helped me
decide because public speaking
always helps me make a judgment
about someone. The way a person
speaks in front of a crowd can help
determine the nature of their character, whether in reality they know
what they mean.”
However, some students were
not swayed by the debate.
Eleazar Vega-Gonzalez ’08
said, “I found that, under pressure,
none of the candidates managed
to be at the top of their game. Although I have faith in many of the
students that are running, under
pressure, they all seemed to stumble on their words.”
“It wasn’t so much a debate as
a [Question & Answer], so there
was no real reason to change my
vote. Nothing really controversial
was said,” said Tiffany Li ’09.
This marks the first time that
the presidential debate has occurred in a dining hall since the
2005 elections, when a debate between the final three candidates
was held in Ropes Salon in Commons.
Previously, presidential debates were broadcast live over
WPAA online.
Collins said, “One of the big
reasons was that we thought we
could reach out to more people
by holding the debate in Uncommons. It was done a few years ago
and it worked out quite well then,
so we thought it would be worth
trying, and I think it worked well
this time.”
However,
some
students
thought that the technical difficulties of the debates in conjunction
with the high levels of noise in
Uncommons created a poor atmosphere for debate.
By LAUREN KIM
While some Andover athletes
spent the past weekend demonstrating their physical ability,
others conquered their opponents
a week prior with brains, not
brawn.
Marking its second consecutive win, the Phillips Academy
Computer Science team swept
the 20th annual Invitational High
School Programming Contest,
held at St. Bonaventure University
in New York on February 15, defeating 12 other teams.
The Andover team consisted
of Alex Dehnert ’08, Benjamin
Niedzielski ’08, John Heroy ’08
and Jiageng “David” Luan ’09.
The teams were given one
computer and three hours to write
program solutions for nine problems. Andover solved all of the
problems correctly.
The challenges included simulating children’s games, analyzing
statistics and detecting tumors in
an MRI image.
In second place, the UnionEndicott High School team from
Endicott, NY solved six problems correctly. The Fairport High
School team from Fairport, New
York, took third place, solving five
problems correctly.
“One school at one point had
more points by solving more questions quicker but [they] got them
wrong,” Luan said. “Our team
took it slower and got every question correct.”
The contest judged teams both
on accuracy and speed, but the
time totals for all teams only included minutes on winning prob-
lems.
Litvin said, “Every program
had to be absolutely perfect – from
calculations to spelling and punctuation – or else the program was
considered incorrect.”
Litvin said that she believed
the team worked so well together
because of their grueling practices.
In preparation for the contest,
the team held practice for three
and a half hours at a time, during
which the team members tried to
simulate the actual competition.
The team challenged themselves by solving more difficult
problems than those included in
past contests.
Niedzielski said that when using the more advanced problems,
the team only answered half of
them correctly during the practices.
Heroy added, “Our practices
weren’t incredibly productive, and
we did not work well as a team.”
But during the competition,
Andover proved their practice performances wrong.
Dehnert said, “Most problems
were relatively straightforward.”
He said that any Comp-500 student could have figured them out.
Dehnert said that the challenge
was programming within the limited time restriction.
The team began the competition by dividing the work according to each member’s individual
strengths. Each team member then
brainstormed strategies to execute
once he was given access to the
team’s computer.
Niedzielski said that accurately typing up the problems before
submitting them became an issue.
Due to his skill in touch-typ-
ing, Heroy was chosen by the team
to complete the first problem. Heroy’s strategy was to sit down and
figure out the code in his head,
before writing the code on paper,
typing it into the computer, and
then continuing to think about the
problem.
“I needed time between each
step … to figure it out, to make
sure I didn’t have to spend too
much time debugging later,” Heroy said. “It’s a pretty long process, [with] intermittent periods of
typing and thinking.”
According to Luan, after a team
member proposed an algorithm,
the rest of the team analyzed the
code for any holes or mistakes.
Luan was optimistic going
into the competition, especially
since most of the team members
had significant programming experience.
Dehnert and Niedzielski had
participated in the competition last
year.
Every team member had participated in the American Computer Science League (ACSL), an individual computer science contest
that required contestants to complete one program in 72 hours.
Luan had also previously participated in the United States of
America Computing Olympiad
(USACO), a contest held six times
a year.
Litvin said, “[This year’s competition] was very well-run, and
the problems were very interesting
… the guys really enjoyed it, not
just because they won.”
Niedzielski said that he enjoyed the competition because,
“The problems were just hard
enough to be challenging, but not
an immense struggle.”
M. Discenza/The Phillipian
The Andover CompSci team solved all nine problems correctly.
Administrators Attend Fulford’s Committee Hopes to Address
NAIS Conference in NY Schedule Stresses by 2008-2009 Year
By CHARLES SHOENER
Three PA administrators are
planning for the future at the annual National Association of Independent Schools (NAIS) conference, titled “Schools of the Future:
Embracing the Educational Renaissance.”
Head of School Barbara Chase,
Dean of CAMD Linda Griffith and
Dean of Studies John Rogers attended the conference in New York
City from February 27 to March 1.
According to the NAIS website, “We…have turned to the past
for inspiration about our future…
[the theme] suggests that a new age
in teaching and learning is dawning.”
The conference aims to help
schools come up with original
ideas, as well as gain both technical and “how-to-do-it” support,
according to Myra McGovern, Director of Public Information at the
NAIS.
The conference offered over
140 workshops and included many
speakers.
Workshop subjects included
“Communication and Advancement,” “Management” and “The
Classroom Experience.”
McGovern said that the variety of workshops allowed people
to explore more than one avenue
and target their individual school’s
needs.
Featured speakers included
Mariane Pearl, who presented
“Fighting Violence: Open up a
Dialogue.” Pearl is the widow of
Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl, who was kidnapped and
killed in Pakistan in 2002.
Speaker Sir Ken Robinson
gave a lecture entitled “Out of Our
Minds: Learning to be Creative.”
According to the NAIS website,
Robinson is “an internationally
recognized leader in the development of creativity, innovation, and
human resources.”
The NAIS conference also
hosted the Global Education Summit (GES). According to McGovern, the GES is limited to 350 people specifically interested in global
education.
Created in 2006, the GES
“welcome[s] leaders of independent education from around the
world for further conversations on
global issues and the development
of global citizens.”
The two GES keynote speakers were Kwame Anthony Appiah,
a Princeton University professor
who discussed race and ethnicity,
and Kenneth Bacon, President of
Refugees International, a non-profit organization aimed at stopping
the Darfur genocide.
According to McGovern, the
NAIS expected over 6,500 faculty
and administrators to attend the
conference—the largest attendance
the conference has ever had.
McGovern said that the conference has traditionally received
very positive responses because it
bestows an “inspiration factor” on
attendees, which encourages them
to execute their new ideas at their
respective schools.
McGovern said the members of
NAIS pick the conference’s annual
theme according to recent major
topics and decisions in education.
McGovern continued that President of NAIS Pat Bassett helps
to select the themes that have included “Educating for Sustainability: How Far Will You Go?” and
“Opening the Doors to the Global
Schoolhouse…Today.”
The NAIS also sponsored the
People of Color Conference and
Student Diversity Leadership Conference in Boston from November
29 to December 1. 38 faculty members and six students attended the
conference.
Continued from Page A1, Column 3
This is not the first time that
Fulford has tried to alter Chase’s
plan to lengthen the year — last year
she proposed a “Rhythm and Rest”
calendar, which would have granted
students a day off every three to four
weeks.
Although her plan did not pass,
Fulford and her associates are still
hoping to make a change.
According to Fulford, Andover
and Exeter begin and end the school
year on the same days.
However, Phillips Academy students spend 202 days on campus,
159 of which are school days, while
Exeter students only spend 199 days
on campus, 155 of which are school
days.
The Exeter numbers Fulford
presented do not include Saturday
classes because they do not affect the
number of teaching days that count.
Because each school day during the week at Exeter is shorter, the
amount of time students spend in
class is approximately the same for
both schools.
The members of the committee
are looking for concrete and realistic
ways to shorten the academic year.
Fulford’s ultimate objective is to
reduce the number of class days by
four, to match Exeter’s numbers.
Some of her suggestions to reduce class days include adding an-
other three-day weekend during Fall
Term, extending winter and spring
break by one day, and having no
classes on Memorial Day in Spring
Term.
“[Right now] we are still thinking through some of the issues so
that when it opens up on a larger
forum, we can have an informative
conversation,” said committee member Frey.
Fulford said, “One of the arguments for making the year longer
was that Phillips Andover doesn’t
have as much student-teacher contact
as other schools, but if you take into
consideration the academic resources available to students, there’s really
a lot of time spent outside of class between students and teachers.”
Fulford and Vidal pointed out
that teaching continues outside of the
classroom, such as in the Academic
Support Center, the Math Study
Hall, the Language Learning Center,
and Writing Lab.
With academic resources expending teaching time that is not accounted for, some faculty members
feel the drag of a longer fall term and
effects of a shorter winter break.
In addition, Frey and Fulford
both observed that the cycle of fatigue among students this term
seemed to be every three to four
weeks, although School Physician
Richard Keller said that the influx
of Isham patients during the third
S. Sheu/The Phillipian
Fulford hopes to shorten the length of the school year by four
days to match Exeter’s schedule.
week of this term was not out of the
ordinary.
Keller said, “In terms of the fall
[term length], [Isham] was busier
than usual during assessment week.
Kids seemed more worn out and
tired. [Fall Term] seemed to wear on
both students and faculty.”
Some students and faculty felt
strongly against the extension of Fall
Term into the former winter break.
Vidal, who traveled home to
Brazil over winter break, was largely
affected by the decrease in vacation.
She said, “For the people who
have to travel internationally, that’s
not even two full weeks. For me,
the tickets are $1000 [one-way] and
I have to return the day after New
Year’s.”
“I think we are feeling the effects of short winter break now, and I
think we’ll see the effect of a shorter
spring break when we get back,” she
said.
Nicole Okai ’10 said, “It seemed
like Fall Term was the same length
as last year because of the nice
weather, but Winter Term is so much
worse because it’s colder and people
are getting sick. Still, it’s not fair that
Fall Term is three months and we get
a shorter break.”
Other students saw both good
and bad effects of a longer Fall
Term.
“Fall Term feels like winter and
spring combined, and during the
short Winter and Spring Terms we
don’t have a chance to pull our grades
back up,” said Anita McDowell ’10.
Winter break felt especially short
to some Seniors, some of whom
worked on college applications over
break.
“Most of the people I know finished their college applications during Christmas break, and it I think
the extra time would’ve helped a lot,”
said Madison McGreal ’08.
“What I was more mad about
was that most of my classes ran out
of material during the last week of
Fall Term,” she added.
Fulford, Vidal and Frey will
probably present their research and
opinions at the next faculty meeting
for open discussion and are hoping
that changes will be made to the
2008-2009 academic calendar.
THE PHILLIPIAN NEWS FEBRUARY 29, 2008
Faculty and Students Debate Honesty Ambiguities
Continued from Page A1, Column 1
Congress student leader Lydia
Dallett ’08 said, “There was a lot
of discussion about the small instances of honesty, for example car
permission. I’m always a bit concerned about students getting in
my car when they say they have car
permission, but they might not.”
Dallett continued, “In a school
as big as PA, we sometimes miss
out on building strong relationships
between students and teachers. We
might lose building those connections of trust and responsibility.
Students being dishonest probably
don’t feel like they’re disappointing
their teachers in the way they disappoint their mom or dad.”
Teachers and students also
noted a lack of explicit emphasis
on honesty at PA, despite the passage in the Blue Book. Many faculty members suggested an honor
code, requiring students to sign a
statement after each exam verifying their honesty.
Efinger, who graduated from
PA in 1974, said that when he attended Middlebury College, he was
surprised by its honor code since he
would never have “ratted out” anyone at Andover.
Efinger added, “The existence
of an honor code shows that the institution values honesty.”
He continued, “Society honors
the thief. However, the thief can
only steal the community’s sense
of honesty as long as the community tolerates it. Students need to be
empowered to honor their community and approach fellow students.
In the end, [taking action] should
come from the students. Faculty
should be there to help.”
Overall, both faculty and students agreed that the School Congress was a success.
Doyle said, “Faculty seemed
eager to get involved. When the
faculty comes over together from
their faculty meeting, they disperse,
and we get this completely random
mix of student and faculty members with people who know each
other and people who don’t. It’s a
neat product.”
Some faculty members would
like to see more come out of these
discussions.
Lang said, “I’d still like to hear
more from students about honesty
as a core value. At the meeting,
students might have felt uncomfortable being frank. What was said
only scratched the surface.”
Stableford said, “I wish we
knew what the next step was to
move forward. I really like the idea
of student leaders changing the
notion of honesty for all students,
creating a sort of underground or
cultural effect [without an administrative presence].”
Student Council President
Tantum Collins ’08 said, “School
Congress was first put in place to
allow students and faculty to keep
in touch.”
However, Collins said that
School Congress has always been
used and structured differently.
In the past, School Congress
was used as a question and answer session between students and
faculty, with no particular agenda.
Congress was also used by students
to give presentations to the whole
faculty.
Last week’s School Congress
was the second meeting structured
as small group discussions between
students and faculty.
Collins said, “[Student Council]
has always received a lot of support
for these School Congresses. Its
recent change into a small group
discussion format makes the most
of School Congress’ primary goal
of keeping students and faculty in
touch.”
Pres. Collins: “No One Did Three Chosen
Anything Intentionally Wrong” As ‘GCC Hero’
Continued from Page A1, Column 6
Continued from Page A1, Column 2
Patrick Cook-Deegan looked
up from his bicycle and discovered
he was no longer in Providence,
RI, but in the hills of Burma.
Through both pictures and
words, Cook-Deegan shared a
younger perspective on global
service during Wednesday’s AllSchool Meeting to inspire students
to become active global citizens.
Cook-Deegan, currently a senior at Brown University, founded
the Cycle for Schools organization
to fund schools in Southeast Asia
after an inspiring visit to the area.
He was originally recruited
to Brown as an all-American lacrosse player, but a world tour,
which included a visit to Southeast
Asia, during the summer after his
sophomore year “opened his eyes”
new management.
Stephen Carter, Chief Financial Officer, whose office administers the Andover Inn, which the
school owns, was out of town and
unavailable for comment.
The school transferred the operation from Oates and Bredfeldt,
a Maine-based company, to Morello Hospitality Group.
Morello and Sudalter-Morello,
as first reported two weeks ago in
The Phillipian, recently took over
administration of dining operations at the Inn.
The two formerly ran Savour
Kitchen in downtown Andover.
When exactly the formal management switch took place is unclear, though Sweet said that the
school would not disclose the precise timeframe of events.
Early Thursday afternoon, a
sign had been posted on the inn’s
locked door, stating that “... Due to
circumstances beyond our control,
the Andover Inn will be closed
for the immediate future for both
lodging and dining.” The sign had
been removed by Saturday evening.
The sign referred questions to
Oates and Bredfeldt, the outgoing
management, though the firm did
M. Discenza/The Phillipian
not return numerous calls from
The Phillipian throughout the Patrick Cook-Deegan was
inspired to become a global
week.
citizen after his time in Asia.
to the world abroad.
Cook-Degan said he was inspired to start Cycle for Schools
by real-life stories .
During his stay in a village in
Laos, Cook-Deegan witnessed the
decrepit condition of the village
school, a one-room hovel for approximately 750 village children.
“It put into perspective what
I’ve been given here [in America],”
he said.
After creating the Cycle for
Schools program in conjunction
with Room to Read, an organization dedicated to building schools
in Southeast Asia, Cook-Deegan
recruited sponsors for his bike ride
through Southeast Asia.
Cook-Deegan said that the
original goal was to raise just
enough to construct one primary
school in Laos, approximately
$15,500. In the end, he raised
over $22,500, enough to build a
library with the school and to fund
two K-12 scholarships for girls in
Cambodia.
“I basically called every single
person I had ever met asking for
their money,” Cook-Deegan said.
Cook-Deegan
made
his
2,800-mile trip across Southeast
Asia in the summer of 2006, a year
after his first visit to the area.
thing to offer to PA. I’m pleased to
be thought by the student body that
I still belong in the race,” he said.
Saigal said that he does not anticipate that his temporary absence
from the race will adversely affect
his campaign.
“I did shut down a bit, and I’ve
been gone for a week, but I haven’t
done too much different before
and after I was in the race,” said
Saigal.
“I still smile at people; I still
give hugs,” he said
Continued from Page A1, Column 6
Collins said in an interview
and recycling at dorm meetings,
with The Phillipian that the adminproviding his dorm mates with
istration brought this issue to his
tips on how to reduce their energy
attention at the Dean’s Table that
consumption and being an enviimmediately proceeded voting.
ronmentally aware student who
Collins said he would not ofwill reach into a trash can, pull
ficially announce what happened
out a used can and place it in the
until after voting for the final three
correct receptacle.”
ended because, “No one did anyTheofanidis said that he tried
thing intentionally wrong. The stoto be practical during GCC and
ry could be misinterpreted, and we
change his living habits in sustaindon’t want it to affect voting.”
able ways.
Collins was, however, able to Jack Dickey contributed reportHe was impressed with the
ing.
dispel some rumors he had heard.
work of the E-stewards, who were
“There was no glitch in the
able to raise awareness during the
code, and no one intentionally
challenge.
broke any rules of the election.
Though the GCC is over, the
This is also not the result of Arun
Eco-Action club is planning some
badgering anybody,” he said.
major events for the future.
Collins said that he and Vice
Theofanidis said, “What EcoPresident Jonathan
Adler ’08
Action would really like to do is
would provide “an adequate synopstart a farm on campus to teach
sis of the situation without blatantly
students about where their food
implicating people,” for those who
comes from. It would be a great
ask after 9:00 p.m. Friday, when
educational resource.”
results of the penultimate round of
E-Steward Michaeljit Sandhu
voting will be announced.
’09 said, “There is always room to
Saigal said he was happy to
improve. We did some things reremain in the race. “I’m glad I’m
ally well this year, the administrastill in because I think I have sometion got on board and OPP did a
lot to insure we were conserving
energy.”
sdickey
“The student participation
could have been better, but we
cchoi
don’t need to think about what we
The Burmese stories of harsh
akeyes
did right or wrong, but how we
lifestyles stirred Cook-Deegan to
can improve,” he said.
become an advocate for the liberation of Burma.
Cook-Deegan also met a boy
whose leg was blown off by a
landmine, which the military had
planted after it burned down the
village in order to prevent village
residents from returning to retrieve food.
Upon his return to the U.S.,
Cook-Deegan took a year off
Brown received the results of
from college and has been speakits
Steering
Committee on SlavBy COURTNEY KING
ing about his experience at high
ery and Justice — commissioned
schools and universities across the
Stanford and Brown are becom- by the university’s black president,
country.
ing more attractive to middle-class Ruth J. Simmons — in 2006 after
He also became an active families, thanks to financial aid in- a three-year investigation.
spokesperson and Northeast Coor- creases similar to those announced
Stanford’s reasons for increasdinator for the U.S. Campaign for earlier this year by wealthy univer- ing financial aid are independent
Burma, an organization based in sities like Harvard and Yale.
from the school’s history.
Washington D.C.
The new financial aid policies
Stanford student Sam Gould
Burma has been ruled under a will offer aid to 75 percent of cur- ’07 said, “It seems to me that the
military dictatorship since 1962, rent Stanford undergraduates and new FA policy is working toward
and has been plagued by political 40 percent of current Brown un- making schools like Stanford
problems for over 40 years.
dergraduates.
places for the best and brightest.
In September 2007, over
Both new financial aid ini- [When] money becomes less of an
500,000 people led by monks tiatives will go into effect in the issue, then the best applicants are
protested throughout the country 2008-09 school year.
the ones who are going to be atagainst the military dictatorship.
Stanford, which, like Andover tending the elite universities.”
Throughout his presentation, and many universities, has a needTo compensate for the expandCook-Deegan encouraged students blind admission policy, promises ed aid, both universities have to into become involved as global citi- to meet the financial need of all ac- crease their financial aid budgets.
zens. “It’s not that hard, difficult, cepted students. Under Stanford’s
On February 20, Stanford anor magical to make a difference.” new financial aid program, house- nounced that an additional $21
holds earning less than $100,000 in million would be allotted to its fiyearly income will no longer have nancial aid budget.
to pay tuition.
Its total financial aid budget for
At Stanford, students receiving the 2008-09 school year will be
full financial aid will be expected more than $114 million.
to contribute about $4,500 a year,
Brown will increase its finanearned from either a summer job cial aid budget by more than 20
or work on-campus. Brown has a percent, adding $11.5 million for a
similar protocol.
total budget of $68.5 million.
Additionally, those earning
Gould said, “What I’ve read in
less than $60,000 a year will not our school newspaper, The Stanpay room and board.
ford Daily, is that this is certainly
Brown’s new program covers something done in response to
full tuition for students with fami- other schools.”
lies earning less than $60,000 a
In a statement on Brown’s webyear.
site, Simmons said, “We have takFurthermore, Brown will re- en steps to ensure that our financial
move all student loans for families aid programs are competitive and
earning less than $100,000 a year effective.”
from financial aid packages and reGould said, “I’m sort of obliged
place the loans with grants in their to like this policy, because I will be
financial aid packages.
receiving free tuition next year due
Brown has also recently been to my parents’ income.”
urged to focus on offering more
He continued, “But I also think
financial aid to minority and in- it will be beneficial for the Stanford
ternational students, due to the community as a whole, because I
school’s history — Brown was believe it will yield a more diverse
founded with deep ties to slavery student body.”
and the slave trade.
Inn Now Under Cook-Deegan Biked Across SE Asia
New Mgmt.
By ADITYA MITHAL
A5
Knocked out
of the
Presidential
Race?
Write For News!
Stanford, Brown to Increase
Financial Aid for Upcoming Year
THE PHILLIPIAN IN-DEPTH FEBRUARY 29, 2008
A6
Accessing Andover:
Handicapped at Andover: Navigating
the Physical and Academic Terrain
J. Curtis /The Phillipian
Alice Hoffman ’11 came to Andover for a “top-rate education.”
By EMMA GOLDSTEIN
When Alice Hoffman ’11 received that thick envelope postmarked from 01810 last spring, she
was as ecstatic as any other newly
-admitted student.
She was an athlete, playing field
hockey, basketball and softball. She
looked forward to putting on the
Andover blue and taking advantage
of the other opportunities at PA like
squash and yoga.
But Alice’s expectations soon
changed.
At the start of June, Alice first
had difficulty walking and then had
to begin using crutches. By the end
of the month, her walking ability
restricted her to a wheelchair. She
called the events of June “really
fast” and “degenerative.”
When Alice was 12 years old,
she was diagnosed with a condition
for which she needed steroid treatments. The steroids, while effective
at treating her condition, began to
cause arthritis in her shoulders and
hip. Alice stopped taking the steroids when she and her doctor realized the side effects.
Alice always knew that there
was the possibility of losing her
ability to walk but said that she never really thought it would happen.
There was no question in Alice’s mind that she would still attend
Andover even after she began using
a wheelchair. Alice says, “I got in.
I’m still going.”
Before the Blue Keys were
screaming at the corner of Salem
Street, Alice arrived at Andover
to become familiar with the campus. She tried out different paths to
classes on her wheelchair.
Alice says that a lot of her time
Fall Term was spent “just getting
everything intact.”
Alice uses an electric wheelchair and charges it nightly in her
dorm by plugging it into the wall.
While her power chair has proved
effective on the terrain of Andover,
the snow has been difficult. She describes seeking alternate routes as a
result of snow accumulation.
Alice says, “When it’s really bad
weather a lot of times handicapped
ramps are clogged.” She explains
in detail the route she takes after
Wednesday All-School Meetings.
Winter Term, Alice decided to
become more involved with clubs.
She joined Philomathean Society.
At the first meeting she attended,
she had not realized that the club
met in the debate room of Bulfinch
Hall. She describes two boys lifting her chair up into the building
so that she could attend the meeting. “Their hands had cuts all over
them,” she says. Though she was
pleased that the boys had offered
to help, Philomathean has now relocated to the Unobskey Room for
easier access.
Alice fulfills the athletic requirement by going to New England Rehab each week for physical
therapy. Next term she will begin
doing her physical therapy with Brian Cox, Head Athletic Trainer. She
says she wishes that she could participate in sports at school. Alice
says that when applying to Andover
she “was definitely looking forward
to trying new sports.”
Alice applied to Andover because her sister also attended prep
school. She sheepishly admits, “My
sister went to Exeter.” She applied
to five other boarding schools, but
liked Andover the best.
Alice attended Annunciation Orthodox in Houston Texas, a
Greek Orthodox school, for middle
school. Annunciation Orthodox is a
very religious school that she says
she attended for “the top-rate education.” Along with cultural differences, she mentions the difference
in weather. Alice says, “It’s freezing
here.”
Walking may be in the near future for Alice. If she receives a hip
replacement this summer, as she is
hoping, she will regain some ability
to walk.
Alice lives in a three-story
house in Houston and her bedroom
is on the third floor. Her family
made no major renovations when
she became wheelchair bound, but
is now planning to move her bed
and a television down to the first
floor. Alice says “[When I’m home,]
everyday is ‘how am I going to get
here or there?’”
Coming to Andover was a big
step for Alice after only having been
in a wheelchair for three months
prior to matriculation. In late August she corresponded with Patricia
Davison, Coordinator of Student
Disability Resources at Andover.
Alice lives in the recently renovated Isham dormitory, which is fully accessible. The Office of Physical
Plant made sure that her room was
across from the bathroom and made
the door to her room automated. Alice says, “The school has been very
accommodating.”
While her housing situation is
comfortable, socially, Alice has experienced some difficulties because
of her handicap. Alice says “[Being in a wheelchair] does prohibit
me socially. Social events need to
be planned in advanced. It takes a
lot more work for me to do things
socially.”
Alice was unable to attend the
Fall Andover/Exeter Athletic contests because the school was uneasy
about her bringing her manual chair
and boarding the school bus.
Alice has been able to travel
home each break but follows a specific regimen. Because she is unable to bring her electric chair with
her, she uses her manual chair. The
same limousine company picks her
up from Andover each break to
drive her to Logan Airport. Once
she arrives at Logan, the Red Cab
brings her to her gate for departure
and she checks her manual chair.
On the plane, she is provided with a
specific seat for people using wheelchairs.
Alice thinks Andover could accommodate more disabled students,
but she is not sure most handicapped
students would want to enroll at
Andover. Alice says, “It’s still really
hard day to day if you are not the
type of person to say, ‘I need this.’”
Alice describes navigating
around desks and backpacks haphazardly left on the ground in
Uncommons. She misses the independence of walking. “If I drop
something on the ground, I can’t
just pick it up.”
Before Commons renovations
began, in order to access the upper-level dining halls or the Ryley
Room, she would go through the
kitchen and use a freight elevator.
She says with a smile, “The people
in the kitchen really got to know
me.”
Maneuvering in the Ryley
Room was a struggle for Alice.
Though she frequently went to the
Ryley Room during Fall Term, she
had some difficulties. She animatedly reenacts asking peers to “get
out of the way” when the crowd was
too dense to navigate.
Alice says, “Fall Term was really hard. I was still getting adjusted. Winter Term is much better. I’ve
found more of a group and I know
what I am doing.”
In Depth looks at the issues and implications of
handicap accessibility on prep school campuses.
Select Campus Dorms Inaccessible
to Students with Temporary Disabilities
By HANNAH LEE and
ZAINAB DOCTOR
Staring down at the flight of
stairs from the second floor was
overwhelming at times for Ariana
Remmel ’09. “Sometimes I was so
tired, I thought, ‘Oh my God, I’m
going to die.’”
Remmel, who returned from
winter break recovering from an
ankle injury said, “To get downstairs would take three or four
minutes because other people
would want to get down and I
wouldn’t want to be in their way,
so I’d wait for them to pass me. If
you went too fast you would trip
over your crutches.”
Given the large campus, students said that it was difficult to
get around quickly. However,
they felt that the school did a fairly good job accommodating their
needs.
Marlys Edwards, Dean of
Students and Residential Life,
said, “Temporary injury calls for
temporary support. Public safety
helps people with temporary injuries. If the student’s injury is
that great, then the student may
be suggested to take a leave from
school. Getting well is important.
And getting better may require
the student to leave to recuperate.”
Catherine Roden, house
counselor in Paul Revere and
Instructor in Chemistry and
Biology, had a girl in her dorm
who had a temporary injury. “As
a house counselor, I just make
sure that she’s okay. Looking
out that they’re safe,” said
Roden.
Remmel said that
her house counselor
in Johnson Hall,
Lixia Ma, Instructor in Chinese, “…always
brought me up
some food. By
the time I would
go downstairs
all the food
would be gone,
so she’d bring me
some dumplings or
snacks. She was so
sweet.”
“Every year we have
an average of two kids a
year that have situations that
are considered long-term. Others are limited temporarily, and
there’s a pretty good size of students who fit in this group,” said
Edwards.
Edwards said that handicap
accessibility “absolutely” plays
into rooming each year. “If there
is a student with a permanent disability, the parents would contact
Pat Davison, Dr. Keller and me.
Accessible* Campus Dorms
Bartlet Hall
Paul Revere Hall
Adams Hall
Rockwell House
Isham
Stuart House
*While many dorms on campus are partially accessible with
handicap entrances and elevators, these dorms are fully accessible and fit for students who are handicapped.
We would discuss what the student would need such as special
accommodations in the room.
Students with disabilities do not
go through the normal housing
lottery.”
Patricia Davison is the Coordinator of Student Disability Resources at Andover. She organizes accommodations for students’
daily life at Andover.
Davison said, “If
a student is handicapped, he or she
cannot
choose
what dorm they
want to go into, but
must go only to the
dorm with the right
accommodations.
There are only a
few dorms like that.
So yes, the room
may be
a single room,
which is hard for other students to
get, but the student does not have
the same number of choices as
other students.”
There have not been many students in the past who have needed
accessible dorm rooms, wrote Edwards in an email.
“We do have spaces that can
accommodate students who need
Peer Schools Vary in Handicap Accessibility Features:
special accommodations,” Edwards wrote.
Davison said, “As the school
makes improvements, the order of
the renovated buildings goes from
important to the less important.
So the buildings that everyone
needs access to would be done
first, then big dorms, then small
dorms, since not everyone needs
to have access to the smaller
dorms.”
Edwards said, “We have 42
dorms. Not all dorms will be
renovated so that they are handicap accessible. All larger dorms
will be handicap accessible, and
smaller dorms may be handicapped accessible, but may not
have handicap-accessible rooms.”
Edwards said, “Mr. Carter
and Mr. Williams of OPP both
had a series of discussions with
the ADA [Americans with Disabilities Act]. Through working together, they decided which
dorms and the number of dorms
would have handicap accessibility
for a variety of options.”
Davison said, “There is at
least one dorm in each grade
of each sex that has an elevator.”
She continued, “A student
may want to
visit a friend
at a dorm that
does not have
handicap accessibility, and the student should
not have to think about those
things, but it is hard to get all the
buildings to be accessible.”
Andover is working towards
accessibility in all dorm common
rooms and accessible bathrooms
in all dorms.
Negotiations with state have
led to six accessible dorms on
campus: Bartlet, Paul Revere, Adams, Rockwell, Isham, and Stuart. All of these dorms contain
elevators.
At Exeter ‘Universal Access,’ Two Deaf Students Experience Choate
By SHANE BOUCHARD and
CATHERINE CLEVELAND
Phillips Academy’s peer schools have
struggled to improve handicap accessibility and awareness on campus.
All academic and social spaces at Exeter and Choate are fully accessible, as are
many of the dormitories. Loomis Chaffee,
Northfield Mount Hermon and Groton are
all in the process of becoming more accessible.
Exeter
In October 2001, the board of trustees
at Phillips Exeter Academy issued a resolution guaranteeing “universal access”
to all students and faculty, regardless of
physical or mental disability.
“Our approach is two-pronged: first,
we plan to implement physical changes
to make the campus more accessible [to
handicapped students]…and second, we
aim to increase education and awareness
about the issues surrounding disabled students,” said Tom Hassan, Assistant Principal at Exeter.
Although there is no timeline for
when “universal access” will be achieved
at Exeter, Hassan said, attention is given
to handicap accessibility as buildings are
renovated or built.
Aesthetics are also an issue for historic
schools such as Exeter. “We are looking
to preserve the integrity of the historic
buildings on campus, while still allowing
for increased handicap accessibility,” said
Hassan.
The second element of Exeter’s “universal access” plan includes awareness
and education about disability issues on
campus and in the world. Exeter has invited many disabled speakers to all-school
assemblies. Exeter also has a community
service program called “Best Buddies,” in
How Our Peer Schools Address Accessibility
Exeter
- provides “universal access” to all students and faculty
- preserves the integrity of historic buildings while still allowing for
increased accessibility
Choate
- applies changes on an individual basis
- currently accommodates two deaf students
Loomis Chaffee
Northfield Mount Hermon
Groton
- in the process of changing the campus to be fully accessible
- gives keys for elevators to students who need to use them
- has four accessible dormitories
- does not waive athletic requirements for handicapped students
which students are paired with mentally or capped students are fully immersed in capped students have a variety of options
physically disabled children.
the community and there are no social or and are not stuck in one seating arrangement.
physical concerns.
Choate
If a student is not in a handicap dorm,
Choate Rosemary Academy has adLoomis Chaffee
there are temporary handicap ramps that
Loomis Chaffee is in the process of are also used for special events where
mitted disabled students in recent years
and has applied changes on an individual changing the campus to be fully handicap handicapped visitors are on campus. There
accessible.
basis.
are no special programs for handicapped
At Loomis Chaffee, most disabled stu- students, but there are a variety of sports,
Currently, Choate accommodates two
deaf students, one of whom requires a full- dents have been handicapped due to a tem- which are similar to a gym class, in which
time interpreter for classes, meetings and porary injury. The most recent student to a handicapped student can be accommosocial activities. The second student uses a attend Loomis Chaffee with a permanent dated in.
wireless communication system. “Choate handicap attended 10 years ago. “We are
Northfield Mount Hermon
has done a phenomenal job accommodat- pretty accepting here,” said Edward Kirk,
Northfield Mount Hermon (NMH) is
ing these deaf students, which was origi- director of Physical Plant.
Kirk said that there are various eleva- also renovating buildings and making sure
nally a daunting idea…Current technology and collaboration have worked well tors throughout the Loomis campus. These that accommodations are provided for
for us,” said Fran O’Donoghue, 3rd Form elevators can only be used when a key is handicapped students.
At NMH, Paul Bartlett, Chief of Caminserted, which is given to handicapped
Girls Dean at Choate.
“Initially, it is difficult to accommo- students when it is deemed necessary for pus Safety said “The school has done redate physically or mentally handicapped the student to use them. There is handicap ally well in ensuring that handicapped
students. There are many unforeseen dif- accessibility in every building except one. students have full access [to dorms and
In the theatres and sports stadiums, academic facilities]. We have four dorms
ficulties,” said O’Donoghue. After a brief
period of acclimation, she said, handi- there are removable seats so that handi- that are handicap accessible, with three
Our
Peer
Schools
dorms that have elevators.” As buildings across the NMH campus
are being renovated, ramps and elevators are being installed to insure handicap accessibility. However, some of the
older buildings still remain inaccessible to
handicapped people.
The NMH health center is fully accessible and contains full handicap facilities,
such as handicap showers.
Groton
Groton makes sure that all of its students can experience classes the same
way, regardless of disability.
At Groton, public buildings are mostly
handicap accessible. “Our schoolhouse,
for example, has ramps that come up to
the side and elevators for kids who have
difficulties” said John Niles, Director of
Communications. “We’ve had youngsters
who are close to fully deaf, and some that
are legally blind. We make as best we can,
with concessions to these impairments.
We have to find a way for that person to
experience the class,” said Niles.
However, Niles said, “we don’t waive
requirements,” which includes the athletic
requirement. Handicap students must participate in some way with athletics to fulfill graduation requirements.
Most of the handicapped students currently at Groton are temporarily handicapped. “In the 17 years I have been here
we have not had a student who has been in
a wheelchair permanently,” said Niles.
Niles said that this is probably because
a handicapped student would determine
when he or she was looking for a school
that Groton was not the best place for them
and would think, “This is not the school
for me.”
Niles said “we present a hospitable
environment, but possibly not a preferred
environment” for a permanently handicapped individual.
THE PHILLIPIAN IN-DEPTH FEBRUARY 29, 2008
H andicap Accessibility
A7
on
Campus
Andover Meets ADA and State Requirements for Facilities; OPP Will
Renovate Bulfinch and Pearson Within the Next Five Years for Accessibility
By SUDHANDRA
SUNDARAM
Central Building Accommodations
OWH Library
Pearson
George
Washington
Hall
Addison
er
nn
Be
Commons
Samuel
Phillips Hall
Morse
Gelb
Science
Hall
& e
nk ag
Ri l C
ith oria
Sm em
M
While all buildings on Phillips Academy’s campus are not
fully handicap accessible, they
are compliant with both the federal and state laws.
Both of these laws have several
subsets, but they don’t necessarily
overlap. Due to these inconsistencies, conflicts sometimes occur
between state and federal compliance rules.
There are different accessibility regulations depending on
the type of building. Academic
buildings and residential facilities
have different expectations from
the state and the federal governments.
The laws of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts are
stricter than the federal laws.
Regarding the handicap accessibility policies in Massachusetts,
Attorney E. James Perullo of Bay
State Legal Services, LLC said,
“My belief is that on a statewide
basis Massachusetts is more liberal on the [handicap accessibility]
issue and is one of the more handicapped-stringent states, meaning
that I think Massachusetts enacts
more laws to protect handicapped
persons.”
The Massachusetts Architectural Accessibility Board updates
and enforces regulations.
Andover constantly consults
lawyers, and the government to
make sure it is always in code.
“If you comply with the state,
usually you comply with the federal rules,” said Michael Williams,
Director of Facilities at OPP.
In 1990, the federal Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)
established laws regulating construction.
Bulfinch
Borden &
Memorial Gym
Key
Cochran
Chapel
Handicap Restroom
Elevator
Push Button Door
Facilities built before the regulations were put into place do not
have to meet the standard. If these
buildings are renovated, however,
they must comply with laws.
Williams said, “If you leave a
building untouched then you don’t
have to do anything to it.”
The only inaccessible academic buildings on campus are
Pearson and Bulfinch — they have
not been renovated since 1990.
Renovations of both buildings are
planned to take place within the
next three to five years to allow
for full accessible.
Though older buildings such
as Pearson and Bulfinch do not
need to be completely compliant, federal laws (specifically the
ADA) require that they need to
be have “reasonable accommodation.”
With regard to residential facilities, a five percent plan has
been put into effect. This means
five percent of the units in the
buildings need to be accessible.
At Andover there are 197 accessible beds out of a total 800 beds,
almost 25 percent.
Buildings and paths on campus pose problems for students.
However, some students recognize the school’s attempts to accommodate them.
Students with temporary disabilities said that they were occasionally late for classes. Students
said that their teachers were generally very sympathetic and understanding.
Alex Cope ’09 said that the
only class he had trouble accessing while temporarily injured
was English in Bulfinch Hall. His
teacher was willing to move the
class to the first floor so that it was
more accessible for him.
Farah Dahya ’08 said that “it
was fine” navigating campus on
crutches.
William
Thompson-Butler
’09 said, “Most of the buildings
around campus are accessible to
people who are handicapped, you
just have to go around a longer
route to get where you need to.”
He said that the school “provides
ramps and such so that they are
more easily accessible.”
Cope said, “I think they do
as best a job as that they can, the
only limitation is being such a
large school, which they can’t really do anything about.”
Cope suggested that the
school get elevators for Bulfunch,
one of the only inaccessible academic buildings on campus.
Taylor Smith ’10 said, “Getting into Bulfinch and Sam Phil
was difficult because there are so
many stairs everywhere.”
Andover, with consultants
from the state, took initiative by
instituting a campus-wide Comprehensive Access Plan. These
consultations in the late 1980’s
through the mid 1990’s led to a
modified approach and permanent time line.
“The school continues to invest time into making accessibility better. The school tailors
accessibility to the specific requirements of people here,” said
Williams. He continued, “The
school suits particular needs.”
Andover has made progress in
the past several years. Williams
said, “We’re in a pretty good spot.
We’re pretty far along. Could it
be better? Yes, but we’re in good
shape.”
Failure to comply with such
regulations can result in fines of
up to $1000 per day. The Massachusetts Office of Disability (MOD) policy is that public
buildings must be, “accessible to,
functional for and safe for use by
persons with disabilities”.
When Andover renovated Cochran Chapel in 1999, the school
received a variance from the
state. The variance allowed for
the chapel to have a side entrance
that was handicap accessible to
respect the historical integrity of
the building.
Rob Buka contributed reporting.
Andover Commission on Disability Evaluates Local
Establishments, Some Student Favorites Delinquent
S.Sheu /The Phillipian
Current Commons renovations will ensure full accessibility.
Renovated Commons
To Be More Accessible
By ALBERT MAGNELL
Commons renovations will
increase accessibility for handicapped individuals.
Peter Kleiner AIA from
Schwartz Silver Associates, is
the Project Architect for the remodeling of Commons. Kleiner
emphasized the importance of
accessibility in the design of the
new Commons. According to
Kleiner, Phillips Academy will
install “a large passenger elevator” and “all main entrances will
be fully accessible.”
There will also be more electric, push-button doors. The state
requires Braille on all new signs
containing text.
According to Kleiner, this
will be a greatly needed improvement. The upstairs of Commons
was not easily accessible to handicapped people. Only a freight elevator was available for access to
the top floor and Ryley Room.
Michael Williams, Phillips
Academy Director of Facilities said, “The freight elevator
worked, but it was not very gracious.”
The renovated Commons will
also meet the latest safety regulations. According to Kleiner,
Massachusetts state laws are not
as strict regarding safety as other
states. “Massachusetts is kind of a
crazy state … The Massachusetts
State Building Code excused a
lot of things for new buildings,”
he said.
The building will be much
safer than the old one. The
changes made to the new Commons will satisfy fire-safety regulations, which the old one did
not.
The project is expected to
last about fifteen months. Kleiner
said that “the contractor is great
and things are going well.”
Kleiner said that it’s too early
to determine whether it will finish on schedule. “There have
been no major problems or delays
so far,” he said.
News too difficult to access?
Write for In-Depth
E-mail:
[email protected]
[email protected]
By SOPHIA JIA
Only 29 percent of the businesses on Main Street are fully
compliant with the Americans
with Disabilities Act (ADA),
according to a recent study conducted from 2004 to 2007 by
the Andover Commission on
Disability.
Of the businesses commonly visited by Phillips Academy
students, the Andover Bookstore, Sweet Mimi’s and the
CVS pharmacy were notably
absent from the list of accessible stores.
Karen Harris of the Andover
Bookstore attributes the lack of
accessibility to the building’s
age.
“The upstairs isn’t accessible, but the first floor is, and
you can go into the back and the
children’s room,” Harris said.
“[The visiting author] Andre
Dubus came in either 1996 or
1997 so we put in a ramp then
for him,” Harris said.
According to Coppola, the
reason Sweet Mimi’s is considered inaccessible is because of
a law that requires “18 inches of
clear wall space” at the side of
the door so a person in a wheelchair can open the door independently.
Coppola said “We sent a
personalized letter to the businesses and the building owners
informing them what was wrong
... We will re-visit in the spring
just to make sure.”
However, according to Mimi
Queen at Sweet Mimi’s, so far
they have not had a problem
with accessibility. Queen said,
“Different groups came down to
measure my doorway and they
said my doorway was fine.”
Queen continues, “We’ve never
had a problem. Can they get a
wheelchair in the door? Absolutely, Can they get around the
store? Absolutely.”
Justin Coppola, Chairman
of the Andover Commission on
Disability, said “[The commission] awarded these forty-six
businesses with decals, a sign of
approval.” These decals, placed
in the store windows, indicate
that the facility was approved
by the Andover Commission on
Disability and have met all the
standards of the ADA.
The commission compiled
accessibility expectations into a
checklist to ensure fairness for
all businesses. Criteria included
a lever or loop handle operable
by a closed fist, a stable surface
leading to the door with a minimum width of thirty-six inches,
elevators to access multiple
floors, and a ramp with a slope
of one inch in height to twelve
inches in length if a ramp is
necessary.
The commission surveyed in
total 159 businesses with Main
Street addresses from Wheeler
Street North to Stevens Street.
They contacted the businesses
and made appointments for the
evaluations. Photographs were
taken for documentation and
evidence.
According to the study, 36
businesses, or 23 percent of the
total, need only minor adjustments in order to be fully com-
in and moving out. Our goal is
to review the new businesses as
soon as we can, otherwise the
information becomes quickly
out of date and meaningless,”
Coppola said.
The Andover Commission on Disability, established
in 1995, serves as an advisory
group to inform town officials
on the issues and needs of residents with disabilities. This
voluntary group worked with
the town of Andover to make
all town-owned buildings compliant with ADA regulations.
Coppola said “We also do
individual advocacy. If someone calls us needing help with
a problem, we help them. We
went from helping the town to
helping the residents.”
In fact, this was the beginning of what became the largescale quantitative evaluation
of Main Street’s accessibility.
The criteria were mostly based
Businesses frequented by PA students on Main Street that meet
the ADA requirements:
Bertucci’s
Dunkin’ Donuts
Starbucks
U.S. Postal Service
The Ultimate Perk
pliant. These adjustments include changing of door handles
and minor modifications of the
threshold of the entrance.
77 businesses, or 48 percent
of the total, need major adjustments in order to be fully compliant. These major adjustments
include the need of an elevator
or ramp, modifications of the
entrance and modifications of
the rest rooms.
According to Coppola, the
constant change of businesses
poses difficulties in keeping the
information up to date.
“There is a constant ebb
and flow of businesses moving
on wheelchair accessibility, although there were other criteria
such as audio alarms for those
with sight deficiencies.
Coppola said, “It is easier
for us to talk wheelchairs because it’s a physical entity. People have a hard time visualizing
other types [of disabilities].”
According to Coppola, the
evaluation was met with surprisingly little resistance.
“Some of the resistance was
in the initial contact. People
didn’t understand what we were
trying to do,” Coppola said.
“We’re very non-confrontational. We don’t get anything
by being obnoxious. We advocate for change, but nicely with
a teaspoon of honey,” Coppola
continued.
The evaluation complimented the Main Street Project of
Andover — a six million dollar
project that includes repaving
the sidewalks as part of a safety
and beautification initiative.
As part of the study’s recommendation, the commission
set a goal to raise the compliance rate to 40 percent by the
completion of the Main Street
Project and 50 percent within
a year of the completion of the
Main Street Project.
According to Coppola, the
problem in Andover is mainly
due to age. Coppola said “We’re
the typical old New England
town.”
Not only do businesses have
to comply with the ADA law on
a federal level, they also have to
comply with the Architectural
Access Board (AAB) Law on a
state level.
“There’s a constant battle
between state and federal [law].
You have to comply with the
most stringent law,” Coppola
said.
Under the AAB state
law, renovations worth over
$100,000 require the building
to meet state law.
CVS’s budget for its recent
expansion is over $100,000, and
therefore will include accessibility renovation.
The AAB law allows certain
exceptions. Coppola said “You
don’t have to comply with the
new state laws if [the building]
is built before 1968 and if you
don’t spend $100,000 in renovations.”
There are also incentives
for these businesses to become
compliant. According to Coppola, it makes sense to become
compliant because it can increase business.
Federal tax credits are offered for small businesses under a million dollars if they
are compliant, according to the
ADA federal law.
According to Coppola, at
least one bank in Andover is
offering low-cost loans to help
businesses on Main Street
achieve compliance.
Phillipian Arts
A8
February 29, 2008
Music
Review
Bon Iver
Winter Pep Rally
M. Discenza/The Phillipian
S. Sheu/The Phillipian
M. Discenza/The Phillipian
Phillips Academy gets pumped for the Winter Term
Andover/Exeter games.
S. Sheu/The Phillipian
Nathalie Sun and Andrew Khang
As the popular Hannah Montana
theme song rang through the Borden
Gym last Friday, the Boys Varsity
Hockey team filed in and stripped
down to their various fluorescent
feminine clothing. The stunned audience, composed of students, faculty members and alumni packed into
bleachers, soon exploded into deafening laughter as they attempted to
comprehend the scandalous scene
before them.
This was one of the many varsity team skits presented at the pep
rally Friday night.
This year, the winter term pep
rally, a much-anticipated event, featured some very unique and entertaining skits that kept the audience
excited and full of energy, breaking
up the monotony of Winter Term.
In addition to leading cheers,
the ten Blue Key heads performed
witty skits based on popular, contemporary television shows, as well
as sports-related fragments; a mock“ESPN” show counting down the
five best Andover/Exeter upsets was
used to introduce the various teams.
Thor Shannon ’09 said, “I
thought that the pep rally was really good, and very fun …Everyone
likes spirit and cheering for their
grades and for sports, and that’s obviously demonstrated by people going to games at A/E.”
The night’s entertainment began
with the Girls Varsity Basketball
team, who recapped the highlights
of their successful season. The
crowd cheered loudly as they announced some of the overwhelming
victories the team had, setting the
stage for the rest of the pep rally.
Girls Varsity Hockey chose to
do a student-written skit and entertained the unsuspecting audience
with popular anecdotes from YouTube. The team entered the varsity
court, half clad in red jerseys, and
the other half in Andover Blue.
Alissa Fromkin ’09 began by
presenting an exceptional version
of the MadTV “Can I have your
number?” skits. Fromkin went from
player to player, attempting in vain
to get their secret 10-digit codes.
Communicating
Through Music
S. SheuThe Phillipian
Chamber music students performed independently on Sunday.
Victoria Sanchez
Normally, musicians perform
under the direction of a conductor,
but this was not the case this past
Sunday when over 20 students
performed in the Academy Chamber Music Society’s concert.
Andover’s Chamber Music
Society does not function as many
other clubs do.
At the beginning of each
school year, students who express
interest in the organization can
speak to music teacher and performer, Holly Barnes, to audition.
Barnes then organizes groups
of students to perform together
based on their musical aptitude.
Chamber music is performed
by a small, intimate ensemble of
musicians without the direction of
a conductor.
Sophie Scolnik-Bower ’08
said, “Chamber music makes you
communicate when you are performing. I love chamber music
because it’s a unique experience
where you try to portray one idea
among several people, to communicate without words.”
Barnes also chooses the pieces that each group performs, and
they usually rehearse only once a
week with an assigned coach.
Because winter term is so
short, the ensembles only had
about one month to rehearse for
this past performance.
Scolnik-Bower said, “We
could have used another week
or two to rehearse, but with the
amount of time we had it went really well.”
At the concert, students and
faculty members jointly performed 12 pieces by nine composers, including well-known ones
by Handel, Mozart, Beethoven
and Mendelssohn.
A particularly excellent string
quintet was composed of Katie
von Braun ’09 and Barnes on violin, Jacob Shack ’10 on viola and
Bobby Chen ’10 and Rainer Crosett ’10 on cello.
Their performance of “Quintet in C Major, Op. 163” by Franz
Schubert was technically secure
and well put-together.
In addition, the performance
drew a full audience, most of
whom were Andover residents.
The audience sat at small tables covered in white tablecloths
and enjoyed refreshments around
vases of red carnations while listening to the musical performances.
Despite its length of two and a
half hours, the concert was engaging and kept audience members
entertained, as demonstrated by
the loud applause after each performance.
Andi Zhou ’09 said, “It was
absolutely fabulous. Great energy.
All of the pieces fit together really
well, and everything was in its
place. Excellent.”
S. Sheu/The Phillipian
Impressively, she wrote her entire
script herself, drawing inspiration
from the video, but changing the
themes and interrogating questions
to suit her teammates. Many lines
drew startled laughs from audience
member and favorite lines were
heard echoing throughout the gym
later that night.
Directly following was another
remake of a familiar YouTube video,
Harry Potter Puppet Pals’ “A Mysterious Ticking Noise.” The hockey
team performed “A Mysterious Tapping Noise” with tapping provided
by the hockey sticks of teammates.
Hockey co-captain Stephanie
Clegg ’08 said, “For ‘The Mysterious Tapping Noise,’ we gave the
roles out based on whose names
worked with the beats. [Co-captain
Kate] Foley [‘08] and I were sitting
in the PACC Thursday afternoon,
watching, rewinding, and watching
again the video and singing along
to it with different names. Let’s just
say, we got a lot of weird looks!”
Based on the raucous cheers, the
Girls Hockey skit was a major success.
Their faces intense with concentration, Uppers Brooks Dyroff
’09 and Nick Craven ’09 elegantly
introducted the Boys Hockey team,
dancing around the gym in matching skin-tight clothing. Through
their coordination and passion, it
was clear that they shared something special, which was later revealed when they scored the only
two goals during their game against
Exeter. As Dyroff and Craven finished, they joined the rest of their
team for what was arguably the
funniest and most outrageous performance of the night, in which the
entire team danced in sync to the
tunes of Hannah Montana. Clad in
nothing but skimpy outfits, they had
the audience in stitches by the end
of the song.
S. Sheu/The Phillipian
Hockey player, JJ McGregor names of players on the roster, only
’08, said, “Of the three years I have to realize that all were med-exed—
been a part of the team, this year’s but one. Class of ’10 recognized the
performance was definitely un- lone player remaining, Tom Hamel
’10, and began chanting his name
matched.”
During their climatic finale, they over and over. Hamel ran onstage,
circled around Michael McDonagh ripped off his clothes to reveal a
’09, decked out in “apple-bottom Superman costume, and ran down
jeans and boots with the fur,” and court to dunk the ball over the crazed
Luke Duprey ’10, as they collec- cheers of the crowd.
The winter term pep rally of
tively danced to Flo-Rida’s “Low.”
Michael McDonagh ’09 said, 2008 excited the student body for
“As a first-timer performing in a pep Andover/Exeter weekend. The
rally, I felt like it was a great oppor- amount of Big Blue spirit generated
tunity for the athletes to give back to during the various skits, dances and
the fans the support the players had cheers of the night was an impresreceived throughout their entire sea- sive sight to behold, and it was clear
son. I’m glad we were able to un- that it made a huge impact on the
performances of both the athletes
wind and have some fun before the
and fans during the Andover/
big game against Exeter.”
Exeter games.
Boys Varsity Swimming also
made a risqué entrance. Dressed
only in their team robes, they
proceeded somberly into the
gym and arranged themselves
down center court. One by
one, they unzipped their jackets and dropped them to the
floor, revealing nothing but
skimpy Speedos. The crowd
screamed, shocked and humored by the situation.
As always, SLAM made
the beat drop, causing quite
a stir from fans in the crowd.
Along with some more popular cheers, they prepared
several highly impressive
step routines to awe the audience and draw a deafening round of cheering and
applause.
Boys Varsity Basketball’s performance started
with Mike Palermo ’08 and
Matthew Jefferies ’08 impresively portraying Coach
Mo and Coach Schneider
in a discussion over who
S. SheuThe Phillipian
should play in the ExOscar Manzo ’08 and Sam Burwell
eter game. They called out ’09 perform with SLAM.
Ben Podell
It’s a rare and precious surprise
to discover an album as poignantly
touching as “For Emma, Forever
Ago.” Conjured up by Justin Vernon under the name Bon Iver, this
CD serves as a tribute to the ability
of seemingly simple music to be
emotionally complex. The album,
Vernon’s first production as Bon
Iver, was released on February 19,
and its soulful yet approachable
melodies make it a must-listen for
music fans of any genre.
Vernon was born in Wisconsin
and returned to the remote state
spontaneously for some alone time
after the split-up of his former band.
As Vernon’s MySpace proclaims,
“It wasn’t planned. The goal was
to hibernate.” However, isolated in
the remote wild and inspired by the
simplicity of life, he began to write,
his days eventually becoming comprised of “twelve-hour recording
blocks, breaking only for trips on
the tractor into the pines to saw and
haul firewood.”
The album is, quite simply, a
masterpiece. Each song blends easily and seamlessly into the next, creating a flowing, intricate web of gorgeous music. The lyrics are perfectly
written—abstract but nevertheless
effective. While some of the songs
are nearly overwhelmingly sorrowful, others are so deeply happy that
it makes us sad, like a mother at her
child’s graduation.
The album’s opener, “Flume,”
uses slightly off-sync falsetto vocals,
which alternate between unison and
harmony, giving the song an airy
and profoundly mournful feel. After “Flume” comes “Lump Sum,”
which begins with a spiral of voices
similar to a Gregorian chant, the vocal equivalent of an orchestra tuning
before a symphony. The “tuning”
pays off, its end result switching up
the tone set by “Flume” with a more
upbeat song carried by significant
momentum.
“Skinny Love,” the third track,
is likely to become the album’s biggest individual hit. “Skinny Love’s”
pulsing and somber opening chords
set the tone for one of the most heartwrenching songs in the album. The
lyrics drip with panging regret as
Vernon asks us, “Come on, skinny
love, what happened here?” nearly
drawing tears with each listen.
Bon Iver wraps up the album
with “Re:Stacks,” my personal favorite. This multi-layered song’s
meaning can be interpreted differently depending on one’s mood.
While, like the rest of the album,
this song is essentially made up of
Vernon’s voice and acoustic guitar,
in “Re: Stacks” there are points
where the vocals and instrumentals
send very different messages; the
guitar melodies can be tear-jerking
while the vocals sound hopeful and
love-inspired. It’s the perfect way
to close an all-together fantastic
album; I recommend “For Emma,
Forever Ago” for anyone and everyone who enjoys acoustic music
in the slightest.
What Would Richard Gelb Think?
listen to. Almost every dance at
Andover plays exclusively hip-hop
This Saturday the Gelb Science or rap, and it will be a nice change to
Center will be transformed from its have these other two genres of muusual academic state into a set for sic available as well. Although these
three themed dances. This new and hip-hop dances are popular, some
unusual location will be an exciting people might want to get a taste of
change for students bored with the another dance experience.
The top floor of Gelb will be ocrepetitive Underwood dances. The
cupied
by the hip-hop dance.
dances, which will be
The secspread across
ond
floor will
the floors of
Julian Danziger ’11 will be a host the TechGelb,
will
be based on DJ at the upcoming Gelb Dance nofunk dance,
the themes this Saturday. He offers Arts his and I can
promise that
of the 70’s,
people who
perspective on DJing for the
technofunk
like awesome
and hip-hop.
first time and his
beats and a
Cindy Efingood workout
expectations for the event.
ger, Director
will love this
of
Student
dance. The
Activities
playlists are
has provided the students with an
amazing set up in this surprising flexible, and all three DJ’s are still
location with the assistance of Pa- taking suggestions.
Finally, the groovy 70’s dance
tricia Russell, Head of the Division
of Natural Sciences. I will be DJing will occupy the first floor of Gelb.
the Technofunk dance, but I predict This dance will bring you back to an
that all three of the dances will be age where neon was hip and beats
were funky.
phenomenal.
I am very excited to be a part
Students will be allowed to wanof
this
new dance experiment, and
der the floors as they please, visiting
each dance individually. These dif- I hope it will give students an opferentiated dances will give every- portunity to broaden their horizons.
M. Discenza/The Phillipian
one a chance to expand the variety I’m sure that Gelb will be more Gelb will host three levels of dancing on Saturday night.
alive
than
ever
before.
of music they normally choose to
From the ground up: 70’s grooves, technofunk and hip-hop.
Julian Danziger
SPORTS
Phillips Academy, Andover, Massachusetts
Volume CXXXI, Number 5
February 29, 2008
ANDOVER/EXETER WINTER 2008
Wrestling
Girls Basketball
Six Wrestlers
Compete At
Nationals
Triumph Over
Exeter Leads to
Playoff Berth
Balanced Contributions
from Every Weight Class
Diperno ’09 Drops
Team-High 15 Points
By Scott Sanderson
By Sarah Onorato
Phillipian Sports Writer
Phillipian Sports Writer
Andover Wrestling crowned
three All-Americans in one season for the first
time in school
history.
Andover
made the long
trek down to
Wrestling
Lehigh, Pennsylvania to take
part in the National Prep School
Wrestling Tournament last weekend.
Seven members of Varsity
Wrestling qualified to compete in
Nationals by finishing third or better at Class A’s the weekend before:
Robert Palmer ’11, Duncan Crystal ’10, Ben Elder ’09, Scott Sanderson ’09, Reid Mosquera ’09, and
Co-Captains Hector Cintron ’08
and Shaun Stuer ’09. Palmer was
unable to wrestle due to an elbow
injury, so the remaining six traveled to Lehigh to compete.
First to compete for Andover,
Crystal narrowly suffered 5-0 loss
to an opponent from Germantown
Prep of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania at 112 lbs. Elder then faced
off against a wrestler from the
McDonough School of Maryland
who was seeded first at 140 lbs.,
and who would be crowned national champion by the tournament’s end.
Despite the overwhelming
skill and unusual style of his opponent, Elder wrestled hard and
refused to be intimidated, earning a moral victory by lasting the
entirety of the six-minute match
without being pinned.
Continued on Page B2, Column 5
W. Hunckler /The Phillipian
Nick Craven ’09 eludes an outstretched Exeter defender as he flips the puck to the front of the net during Andover’s 2-0 victory.
Craven had a breakout week for Andover, scoring the game winner against Exeter and the lone goal in the team’s playoff loss.
Boys Hockey in, then out, of Playoffs
By Matt Higgins
Phillipian Sports Writer
Andover
Exeter
2
0
St. Paul’s
Andover
7
1
After storming into the playoffs with a decisive 2-0 win over
arch-rival Exeter, Andover
proved to be
no match for
number
one
Boys
seed St. Paul’s,
Hockey
ending what
was an impressive season on a down note.
Saturday, Andover’s defense
and goalie Glenn Stowell ’09 shut
out Exeter and secured the team a
spot in the playoffs.
Neither team demonstrated
any offensive flow early in the
game, because the first period
was riddled with penalties and
injuries. At the end of the period,
Andover lost forward Tucker
Mullin ’08 to a shoulder injury
after a hit from behind in the Exeter end, and Andover was forced
to play on without one of its top
offensive threats.
The game headed into halftime tied at 0-0.
The second period was more
open, and both teams received
several good scoring opportunities. At about the 8:00 mark in the
second period, Captain Andrew
Cox ’08 sent a pass to Bobby
Farnham ’08, sending him on a
breakaway. Farnham could not
capitalize however, and missed
the net wide left.
Later in the period, Exeter
received a great chance in the
Andover end, but Stowell made
a difficult glove save to keep the
game tied at 0-0.
Andover came out flying in
the third period and was finally
able to break the deadlock. At
the 5:09 mark of the third period,
Nick Craven ’09 scored his third
and biggest goal of the season.
After the Exeter goalie made several impressive saves, the puck
squirted out to Craven in the slot.
He buried it through a scrum in
front to give Andover the first
lead of the game.
Andover defense stepped up
and prevented Exeter from tying the game. At the 15:55 mark,
Andover sealed the victory with
a second goal. Farnham received
a pass and skated down the left
wing. After making a move a the
blue-line, he sent a pass across to
Brooks Dyroff ’09 who buried to
shot in the upper left corner, giving Andover a 2-0 lead with just
two minutes remaining.
The Andover defense, behind
an 18-save shutout by Stowell, held the lead, and Andover
clinched the fourth and final playoff spot in the East division of the
New England playoffs.
Andover’s Cinderella story
came to an abrupt end Wednesday
at St. Paul’s. After going 13-1-1
in its past 15 games, Andover was
handed a 7-1 defeat by first seed
St. Paul’s.
St. Paul’s proved to be the
clearly superior team, jumping out
to a 6-0 lead. Andover was added
a goal off of a scrum in front of
the net to get on the scoreboard,
but St. Paul’s added another to
finish the game at 7-1.
Despite the disappointing
finish to the season, Andover’s
future appears to be very bright.
With a team composed of many
underclassmen, Andover can
only improve and should be very
strong next year.
Andover will lose forwards
Cox, Farnham, J.J. McGregor
’08 and Steve Bury ’08, Tucker
Mullin ’08, and John Burke ’08
to graduation. Defensively, Jack
Walsh ’08 and Pat Keegan ’08
will graduate this year.
Andover
Exeter
48
38
Tabor
Andover
51
26
In an exhilarating rivalry
game, Andover was able to beat
Exeter, opening up a spot
for them in the
playoff tournament. However,
Girls
in a tough first
Basketball round
game
against Tabor,
Andover made a quick exit from
the tournament, putting an end to
the 2007-2008 season.
On Andover-Exeter Saturday,
Andover took on its New Hampshire rival for the second time this
season.
Expecting a close game similar to its last one while having incentive to avenge its loss, Andover
came to the court with focus, energy and poise.
After losing seven of its last
nine games, Andover wanted to
finish its season on a high note.
And, of course, a win against Exeter would make it all the more
satisfying.
Leading Andover onto the
court were seniors Becca Zinmeister, Hailee Minor, Captain Kelly
Fox, and post-graduate Shannon
Neschke.
This was potentially the last
game for members of the class of
Continued on Page B3, Column 4
In Showdown, Explosive Offense and Tough
Defense Overpower Exeter Girls Hockey, 2-0
By Katherine Sherrill
Phillipian Sports Writer
Andover
Exeter
2
0
“The win against Exeter was
the perfect culmination of the season. We played
as a cohesive
unit, giving all
of our hearts.
It was the perfect end to the
Girls
Hockey
season,” said
Jamie Harisiades ’08.
Andover channeled the nervous energy of playing its season
finale into crisp, determined play
in a resounding defeat its rival by
the score 2-0.
Andover’s ferocious efforts
paid off when, late in the first period, Kaitlyn McInnis ’09 beat an
Exeter player low in an offensive
corner to open up a passing lane
for Harisiades, who crashed the
net. Harisiades managed to take
a quick snap shot, and the puck
found the back of the net to make
the score 1–0.
The team’s solid defense preserved its lead in the second period. Led by Co-Captains Kate Foley ’08 and Stephanie Clegg ’08,
the squad maintained its shape
and coverage down low, playing
physical defense against Exeter’s
forwards in Andover’s zone.
Andover’s offense matched
its ardent defense. After breaking
the puck out the zone with a pass
from Kellie Walsh ’11, Lindsay
Newman ’09 skated the puck to
mid-ice, and as Exeter defenders
continued to back up, she wound
up and took a slap shot just across
the blue line to make the score
2–0.
Alissa Fromkin ’09 played a
strong game in goal, earning the
shutout for Andover. Giving up
very few rebounds and positioning herself well between the pipes,
Fromkin stopped everything that
came at her and kept Exeter off
the board.
Exeter’s squad came into the
game boasting a 2 – 0 win over
Andover from earlier in the season. The opposition had many opportunities to score, and it tested
Andover’s strength throughout
the game. Late in the third period,
Exeter missed on an open net, and
if it had been able to capitalize
on other opportunities, the game
may have ended in a tie or in an
overtime fight for the win.
Every player played with her
heart and fed off of each other’s
hard work and energy to get the
win.
B.Podell/The Phillipian
Andover played with poise as Captain Brown ’09 prepares to drive the ball off the serve by her Exeter opponent. Brown lost
it broke the puck out of the zone her first match 3-0 but came back to win her second.
creating plays and work off one
another’s movement and play to
win the game. The team fed off
the intensity of Andover/ Exeter
to sustain its desire for a win.
After losing six seniors last
year, the team had trouble scoring
throughout the season, and finand won her second. She again she came back to win her second
By Megan Farquhar
ished with a record of 6-10-2.
fell during her third match but match. Captain Brown’s impresPhillipian Sports Writer
finished up the weekend strongly, sive victory avenged a loss to her
competitor earlier in the season.
Lydia Smith ’09 spectacularly winning her last two matches.
After Captain Brown lost Although Captain Brown lost
won three weekend matches to
capture sev- her first match in three games,
Lauren Wilmarth ’09 Places Ninth at Interschols;
Smith & Brown Finish in Top Ten at Tournament
M.Discenza/The Phillipian
Kaitlyn McInnis ’09 rushes the puck through the neutral zone with an Exeter defender on her
back. McInnis netted the eventual game-winner at the end of the first period.
enth
place
finish in the
2nd
bracket
at Interschols.
Although the
Girls Squash top three players on Andover
Girls Squash all placed within the
top ten in their respective brackets, the team finished the weekend
ranked 15th out of the 16 total
teams.
Joining Smith in recording top
ten finishes were Captain Carolyn
Brown ’09 and Lauren Wilmarth
’09. Brown took tenth place in
the first bracket and Wilmarth,
playing in the third bracket, came
in ninth.
Captain Brown commented,
“Strong teams usually have a
good top three, so it’s really impressive that our top three did so
well in their brackets.”
Smith won three out of their
five matches to place seventh at
the number two position.
Wilmarth lost her first match
Continued on Page B2, Column 4
Inside Sports:
All-American Wrestlers
Cintron, Mosquera & Stuer
Track
Ganner ’10 sets new Lower record.
Athlete Of The Week
Alissa Fromkin ’09
THE PHILLIPIAN SPORTS FEBRUARY 29, 2008
B2
Inexperienced Boys Basketball Ends Season
Team Overwhelmed by Exeter’s 13 Seniors, 73-46
By Jack Doyle
Phillipian Sports Writer
Exeter
Andover
73
46
Andover’s Boys’ Basketball
team fought valiantly in the second half of
last Saturday’s
match-up, outscoring Exeter
with significant
Boys
help from the
Basketball sharp-shooting
of post-graduate Tom Lavin ’08, who had a
team-high 21 points. Unfortunately, it wasn’t enough to come
back from a tough first half, and
Andover dropped its last game of
the season to its archrival, 73-45.
The biggest game of the year
for the young Andover team
started well, as both teams traded
buckets back and forth for the
first six minutes of the game. It
was by far the most packed game
all season for the team, as both
bleachers were packed with fans
and the walls were lined for the rivalry match-up. With ten minutes
left in the opening half, Andover
held the 9-8 lead.
From there, however, Andover
struggled to control the ball on
offense and collapsed on defense
as Exeter slowly gained momentum. Exeter took the lead in the
next minute on a short jumper,
and never looked back, going on
a 37-4 run to finish off the first
half.
Andover was hurt most by
turnovers, committing 17 on the
game that turned into numerous
A.Levine/The Phillipian
Tom Lavin ’08 pump-fakes a pass to get his Exeter opponent off
his feet. Lavin was the teams highest scorer with 21 points.
Exeter fast break points. On offense Andover struggled to find
openings for clean looks at the
basket, and only four players
scored for the first half in which
the team netted just 13 total
points.
After the 45-13 halftime deficit, however, Andover settled in
and started to gain some momentum of its own. On both sides of
the ball, the team began to box out
and get more rebounds, which it
had sorely missed in the first half
of play. By the end of the game,
the team had an impressive 15 offensive boards.
Lavin took control in the
second half, sinking four threes
and scoring 16 of his points. CoCaptain Mike Palermo ’08 also
heated up for Andover, scoring
nine points and grabbing four
rebounds. Khalid McCaskill ’10
helped out with five points.
Andover turned up the defense as well, slowing down the
Exeter attack and preventing fast
breaks.
By the end of the half, Andover
had outscored Exeter, 33-28.
Exeter was an extremely talented squad, packed with 13 senior players and two uppers.
The team has rolled to its best
record in school-history, as Exeter compiled a 17-4 overall record, and is headed to the Class A
playoffs ranked as the sixth overall seed.
The Andover loss was the
ninth straight for Boys Basketball
in the annual Andover-Exeter rivalry, Andover’s last win coming
in 2000.
Last year, Andover’s playoff
hopes were brought to an end
against Exeter, after one of the
best seasons in the past decade
for Andover.
Andover was simply overwhelmed by the experience of the
significantly older Exeter squad.
Andover’s young team had
just two returning players. For
most of the team’s players, it was
their first experience of the Andover-Exeter rivalry.
The game wrapped up the
2007-2008 season for Andover,
which finished with an overall
4-17 record.
However, the season was invaluable for the young team, as it
looks to build experience in hopes
of future success.
ANDOVER/EXETER Highlights
Girls Hockey:
W, 2-0 (2/23)
Key Performances:
Kaitlyn McInnis ’09: 1 Goal
Lindsay Newman ’09: 1 Goal
Boys Hockey:
W, 2-0 (2/23)
Key Performances:
Glenn Stowell ’09: Shutout
Brooks Dyroff ’09: 1 Goal
Nick Craven ’09: 1 Goal
A E
Boys Squash:
L, 1-6 (2/20)
Key Performance:
Jorden Zanazzi ’08:
Tops Exeter Opponent
Girls Basketball:
Boys Basketball:
W, 48-38 (2/23)
L, 46-73 (2/23)
Key Performance:
Key Perfomance:
Kourtney Diperno ’09:
Tom Lavin ’08:
15 points
21 points
Girls Squash:
L, 1-6 (2/20)
Key Performance:
Lydia Smith ’09:
Lone Andover Win
Girls Track:
L, 33-71 (2/13)
Key Perfomance:
Simone Hill ’08: 50 Yd. Dash (6.63)
Boys Track:
L, 32-72 (2/13)
Key Performances:
Anthony Morlani ’09: Hurdles
Jack Walker ’09: Vault, (10 ft.)
Girls Swimming:
Boys Swimming:
L, 91-95 (2/20)
W, 102.5 - 83.5 (2/20)
Key Performances:
Key Performance:
Peyton Morss ’10: 50 Free (24.87), Matt Mahoney ’11: 200 Free
100 Free (53.64)
(1:47.45),
Kristen Faulkner ’11: 500 Free
500 Free (4:48.65)
(5:14.61)
Wrestling
W, 50-13 (2/13)
Key Performances:
Chris Latham ’09: Pins opponent
Sam Newman ’09: 4-2 Victory
Congratulations 2008 Wrestling All Americans!
Last weekend at the national wrestling competition, held at Lehigh University, three Andover wrestlers, Hector Cintron ’08, Reid Mosquera ’09, and Shuan
Stuer ’09 earned All-American status. Andover has never before had more than one
student qualify in a year, and only nine have qualified in the past twenty-six years.
To qualify for this position, an athlete must place in the top three in his weight class
at Interschols, and then continue on to place top eight in his weight class at nationals.
The National Prep School Wrestling Tournament has been held every year
since the 1920’s, but this year was the first time in Andover history that the school
has earned three top-eight place winners. Competing against 120 other schools,
Andover finished 19th place, its second-highest placement at Wrestling Nationals
in history, and all athletes exceeded their seed placement. Andover’s history of AllAmerican Wrestlers is as follows:
1982 - Kevin Wattles, 3rd at 189lb
2002 - Dan Shvartsman, 1st at 135lb
1986 - Jeff Kent, 3rd at 189lb
2005 - Oludare Adedokun, 6th at 275lb
1990 - Jack Floto, 8th at 171lb
2006 - Akshay Paintal, 8th at 112lb
1991 - David Shumacher, 4th at 275lb 2008- Hector Cintron 7th at 171lb
1999 - Jeremy Hersch, 6th at 140lb
2008- Reid Mosquera 8th at 215lb
2000 - Dan Shvartsman, 7th at 112lb
2008- Shaun Stuer 5th at 189lb
Compiled By Kristen Faulkner
Track Competes at USATF Meet at Harvard;
Ganner ’10 Sets Lower Mile Record in 4:30.07
By Zahra Bhaiwala &
Dave Knapp
Phillipian Sports Writers
Girls Track
This past Sunday, a select
group from Andover Girls Indoor
Track
competed in
the
second
USATF meet
at
Harvard.
Many of the
Track
girls ran personal bests,
and the team
saw individual success in almost
every event.
Captain Simone Hill ’08 ran
in the last indoor meet of her
high school career, improving
her 60-meter dash by almost a
tenth of a second, from 8.23 to
8.14. Hill took eighth place in a
highly competitive group of 29.
Amanda Brisco ’10 took Andover’s best time in the 200-meter with a time of 28.08 seconds,
edging out her competition by a
significant margin.
Alexis Dawkins ’10 competed in both the Long Jump and the
400-meter dash, nearly shaving
off a shocking four seconds from
her previous time of 61.08.
Georgina Norton ’09 also
took off an impressive three seconds from her mile time, coming
in at 5:32 and in 16th place in a
field of 40.
Norton has been the most
consistent and invaluable distance runner for Andover this
season, but demonstrated that
she can sprint too.
Norton ran in the 4x400 team
relay and recorded the secondfastest split of the group. The
relay, clocking a collective time
of 4:26.94, was at its best of the
season for this team of four. This
event, like many others, took off
significant time from its previous
runs, a total of five seconds.
Sophie Shimer ’09, the lone
Andover hurdler in the 60-meter
hurdles event, displayed remarkable technique as she flawlessly
three-stepped the entire race,
a skill that most hurdlers take
months to perfect.
This meet proved to be a positive step for Andover runners as
they take a short break and then
resume training next week for
spring track.
While the indoor record of
4-3 was less than satisfying,
Andover is confident that the
outdoor season will reveal the
team’s true potential.
Boys Track
Running against top competition at the USATF Championships at Harvard, Charlie Ganner
’10 impressively set the Andover
Lower record in the mile with a
time of 4:30.07.
Although team points were
not tallied, numerous Andover
Boys Track runners recorded
spectacular individual accomplishments on the day.
Competing for the final time
this season, Andover experimented with a new 4x400 relay
team.
Throughout most of the season, the team had been hovering
around the 4-minute mark.
However, on Sunday, a new
all-star team of runners featuring
Ganner, Frank Pinto ’08, Captain
Lou Tejada ’08, and Mide Babatunde ’09 raced incredibly.
The team set a season best
time of 3:47.4 on the Harvard
track.
Although Ganner consistently dominated opponents throughout his season, he saved his best
performance for last, breaking
the Lower Record.
“It just felt like a normal
race.” Ganner said. Ganner was
aided by the fast pace set by the
steep competition of top high
school and college runners at
Harvard.
Babatunde participated in his
first meet since being named captain for the 2008-09 season.
He lived up to the billing, setting a personal best in the 400.
Also continuing to improve
was Dan Austin ’10 throwing
shot put and Anthony Morlani
’09, running hurdles.
Throughout the course of
the season, Jack Walker ’09 developed as one of Andover’s top
sprinters.After the Harvard meet,
coaches and players began to
look back on the season that just
ended and look forward to the
upcoming start of spring track.
Babatunde characterized the
season as a success. “Although
we didn’t have the undefeated
season that I hoped for… I saw
improvement in all my events,”
said Babatunde.
Although Andover fell short
in its goal of beating rival Exeter,
the many individual improvements in the final weeks of the
season give the team momentum
as it looks to the upcoming seasons.
Girls Squash Wrestling Beats Nation’s Best
Ends 2008
Season at 6-13
Continued from Page B1, Column 1
Continued from Page B1, Column 4
her third match in three games,
she pulled through in an impressive fourth match to advance to a
match for 9th place.
However, Captain Brown lost
her fifth and final match of the
tournament in a heartbreaking five
games.
Lizzy Chan ’08 also took tenth
place in the sixth bracket. Chan
won two of her matches over the
weekend.
Nicole Duddy ’08 came in
twelfth in the fourth bracket. After losing her first match, Duddy
won her second, but could not pull
through to win any more matches.
Andover put forward a strong
effort throughout the tournament.
The team truly displayed the progress it has made so far this season,
using their command of the serve
and their intelligent shot selection.
Although Andover’s final result of 15th place didn’t match the
team’s hopes, the team quickly
recognized the positives of the
season.
Wilmarth said, “I think we’ve
improved a lot this season. We
fought really hard and our scores
at Interschols don’t justly portray
how strong our team is.”
Captain Brown added, “We’re
a very young team, and we were
inexperienced at the beginning of
the season, but we have improved
tremendously since then.”
Ultimately, Andover’s match
time and experience proved to be
valuable this year and with only
two seniors graduating, the team
looks hopeful for next year.
Captain Brown concludes, “I
really think we can take everything
we’ve learned this year to have an
even better season next year.”
At 145, Sanderson first wrestled a “pigtail” match to gain entry to the main bracket, defeating
a wrestler from the Peddie School
of New Jersey, 10-2.
He then won his actual first
round match against Georgetown
Prep of Washington, D.C. by a
score of 5-3 after earning an unorthodox takedown from a scramble position to seal the match in
overtime.
Andover continued its seasonlong trend of dominating the upper weights, as Mosquera and
Co-Captain Cintron both recorded first round pins against opponents from the Forsythe School
of Missouri and the Germantown
School.
Co-Captain Stuer earned an
impressive 14-0 win, one point shy
of a tech fall, in his first match.
The competition quickly improved as the day wore on. In the
consolation bracket, both Crystal and Elder were eliminated in
close matches, and Sanderson’s
stay in the championship bracket
was abruptly ended when he ran
into the third-seeded wrestler at
145 lbs. and was pinned in under
a minute.
Undeterred, Sanderson was
determined to continue in the
consolation bracket and managed
to win one more match by a score
of 4-0 before bowing out in a rematch of his Class ‘A’ finals match
a week earlier.
The improved quality of opponents was not enough to stop
Andover’s trio of heavyweights.
The affectionately dubbed “Three
Amigos” all pinned in the second
round to advance to the quarterfinals.
Mosquera’s victory over the
fifth-seeded wrestler from McDonough Academy was impressive and he powerfully demonstrated that the seeding committee
had underestimated his skill by
placing him twelfth at 215.
All three Andover upper
weight wrestlers had guaranteed
themselves a spot in day two by
making the quarterfinals.
However, Co-Captains Cintron and Stuer were next facing
the number one seeds in their respective weights, while Mosquera
next faced the four seed.
All three wrestled well in
their final matches of the day, but
they came up on the short end of
the stick.
At day’s end, the Three Amigos were guaranteed top-twelve
finishes, but each needed one
more win in order to earn coveted
All-American status.
Day two proved to be a historic day in Andover Wrestling
history. Co-Captain Cintron began with a pin in his first match to
secure a place on the medal stand,
and just a few minutes later CoCaptain Stuer won a 10-2 decision
to do the same.
With two in the bag, it was
up to Mosquera to make this the
first year in Andover history that
the team has had three All Americans.
He proved up to the task, winning in dramatic fashion with 3-1
in overtime. With All American
status guaranteed for all three
wrestlers, all that remained was to
determine where in the top eight
they would place.
Cintron and Mosquera both
lost tough decisions to place them
in the match for 7th place. Stuer
won his next, then lost, placing
him in the match for fifth place.
In the finals, Co-Captain Cintron closed out his Nationals career with an overtime victory for
seventh place.
Stuer earned a commanding
decision over a rival from Roxbury Latin to take 5th place, and
Mosquera lost a close match 6-3
to finish 8th.
Overall, Andover went 1513 on the weekend in individual
matches, and the team now looks
ahead to its final competition of
the season this weekend at the
New England Championships.
Squash Places 10th at Interschols;
Meyer Takes 6th at 4th Flight
By Maggie Law
Phillipian Sports Writer
Dave Koppel’s ’08 consolation bracket championship victory
in the 4th flight
highlighted the
Andover Boys
Squash team’s
weekend at the
New England
Boys Squash Interscholastic
Squash Championships. After the final match
on Sunday, Andover finished in
10th place out of a total of 32
teams in New England.
Andover competed in the
“Class A” bracket of the 55th
annual New England Championships, which were held at Groton
this year. The team faced some
of the best competition in New
England, which included powerhouses St. Paul’s, Brunswick and
Phillips Exeter.
At Interschols, each team
member played in one of seven
mini-tournaments, earning points
for the team depending on the
outcome of their matches.
In the number seven flight,
John Bukawyn ’08 played some
of his best squash of the season.
He earned three wins and only
suffered one loss, which led him
to the 5th/6th playoff round. In
the consolation round final, Bukawyn dropped a difficult match
to a Choate opponent, 3-0.
Jorden Zanazzi ’08 competed
in the number 6 flight, cruising to
an opening match victory against
a Loomis opponent. In his next
game, Zanazzi struggled against
the number two seed from St.
Paul’s and eventually lost by a final score of 3-0.
Fighting an ankle injury,
Zanazzi used his mental and
physical tenacity to take his St.
Mark’s opponent to a fifth set.
However, Zanazzi could not convert down the stretch and lost 3-2.
In his final match, Zanazzi easily
defeated his Tabor opponent, 3-0,
earning him the 9th-place finish.
Playing in the number 5 flight
was Trey Meyer ’09, who placed
6th after winning two solid matches and losing twice to two seeded
opponents.
Dave Koppel ’08 lost a close,
well-fought opening match to a
St. Paul’s competitor who was
ranked first in the 4th flight. Koppel then moved on to win four
solid matches, earning him the
championship win in the consolation round.
Captain Graham Miao ’09
commented, “Dave really played
to his potential, utilizing his
strengths of great reach and pressure length well. He worked hard
and his prize was well-deserved.”
Andrew Chan ’08 played in
the number 3 flight for Andover,
losing three incredibly difficult
matches against St. Mark’s, Salisbury and Nobles. Chan utilized his
great skills and knowledge of the
game, but unfortunately couldn’t
land a victory.
Playing in the number 2 flight,
Tony Zou ’09 showcased solid
play throughout the weekend.
Zou’s best match came when he
defeated an incredibly skilled
Loomis opponent, 3-2.
Captain Miao played a strong
tournament in the number 1 flight,
shutting out the Salisbury number
one seed, 3-0. His longest and
final match consisted of tremendous retrieves, showing his great
patience. Despite his ability to
wear his opponent down, Captain
Miao lost his final match of the
tournament.
Miao remarked on the end of
the season, “I’m proud of how we
played as a team throughout the
whole season, and finally at Interschols, our strength and depth
manifested itself as a determined
team who drew faith from each
other and always left all we had
on the court.”
Coach Tom Cone also spoke
about the team’s improvement as
a whole. He said that it was clear
how much the team had improved
since the beginning of the season,
especially at Interschols. Many
players beat opponents they had
lost to during the regular season,
showing significant progress.
The field of players at Interschols was much tougher than
previous years, but Andover
showed strong perseverance
throughout the tournament. Overall Cone was thoroughly pleased
with the team’s performance at
Interschols, as well as throughout
the season.
THE PHILLIPIAN SPORTS FEBRUARY 29, 2008
B3
Athlete Of The Week
Alissa Fromkin ’09
Throughout the 2007-2008
Girls Varsity Hockey season, the
team continuously looked to its
most reliable player: goalie Alissa Fromkin ’09.
Fromkin, from Manhasset,
New York, was the key to much
of Andover’s success this year
as she continuously turned aside
opposing scoring opportunities.
With Andover’s offense
struggling to score all year,
Fromkin was asked to step up in
a big way.
Not only did Fromkin provide the outstanding goaltending
the team desperately needed to
stay in games, she posted three
shutouts along the way while
only allowing more than three
goals in a game just once.
One of these shutouts came
against rival Exeter this past Saturday, when Fromkin once again
put the team on her shoulders
and simply refused to let Exeter
get on the scoreboard.
Her teammates rallied around
her stellar play to pull out an
emotional 2-0 victory.
After being named Phillipian
Sports Athlete of the Week,
Fromkin spoke about her progression as a goalie.
Q: How do you continue
your training when you return to
Manhasset, NY during the summer?
A: At home, I play with a
friend on the NAHA (North
American Hockey Academy)
team.
My friend plays for the University of New Hampshire, so
it has been great to play with
someone of this caliber. We are
both very competitive people
and playing against each other
has only helped our games.
Also, I skate at Pat LaFontaine’s house. Pat is an NHL
Hall of Famer and arguably one
of the greatest US hockey players to ever play the game.
I play with him and his former hockey teammates in the
“old man league.” It’s fun to play
with these guys because they
strike a good balance between
having a great time and playing
competitive hockey.
Q: Has your work ethic
changed during your tenure
as the starting goalie from 9th
grade year until now?
A: Yeah. I definitely do a lot
more off ice with lifting. I’ve re-
ally been working to get physically strong so I can play at a
higher level. I’ve been a lot more
serious knowing now that I’ll
have to compete at the D1 level
down the road.
Q: What are your pre-game
routines? Do you have any superstitions?
A: I’m very superstitious.
I’m always the last one out of
locker room onto the ice, the last
one off the ice in between periods. I always tap gloves with
Jamie Harisiades ’08 before going into net. Before each period,
I skate to the center of the blue
line then skate backwards into
the net and hit the posts a total
of six times.
Q: Have you had any role
models during your time at
Andover?
A: During Freshman year,
Captains Julie Wadland ’06 and
Melissa Tetreau ’06 were amazing leaders, who created a winning atmosphere through their
tireless efforts. This year, the
seniors as a whole did a great
job of setting expectations and a
great example for the team.
Q: What was the most memorable moment of the season?
A: Definitely the Exeter
game. We really came together
as a team. We finally connected
offensively and the defense continued to play great. We definitely had our biggest crowd of
the year and it was really fun to
play with the environment in the
rink.
Q: What should we expect of
the team for next season?
A: We are losing a lot of core
talent; A lot of key players on offense and defense are leaving.
Two out of our four defense
and four forwards are graduating. Our team’s success will be
really dependent on how each
kid improves individually over
the off-season.
If everyone works hard
enough, I’m optimistic that the
wins will come.
Compiled By Jim Ricker
& Matt Gorski
Phillipian Sports Edtiors
Q: You personally had a very
impressive season this year even
though your offense did not put
up the numbers necessary to win
consistently. Where do you attribute your personal success?
A: Knowing that the team
had trouble scoring, there was a
lot more pressure to give up fewer goals. Although it’s tough to
play that way, I like the pressure.
Still, it’s tough when the team
didn’t score because I would still
feel bad about the loss and somewhat blame myself.
Q: As a goalie, how do you
find a way to train at Andover
during the off-season?
A: In the fall, I play for Assabet Valley, a Massachusetts club
team. We practice every Sunday
for an hour and a half and then
we have a game that same day in
the afternoon.
M.Discenza/The Phillipian
Girls Basketball Can’t Carry Momentum from A/E;
Team Falls to Talented Tabor Squad, 26-51
Continued from Page B1, Column 6
M.Discenza/The Phillipian
Captain Sara Ho ’08 concentrates on a difficult downhill section towards the end of her leg of her
3K relay loop. The relay team edged out St. Paul’s to place fourth overall.
Mimi Tanski ’11 Snags 15th at Interschols;
Discenza ’09 Races Personal Best in 6K at 21:19
By Eliza Dewey & Hillary Rich
Phillipian Sports Writers
The bitter cold and wind
on February 21 didn’t stop the
Andover Nordic Ski team
from giving its
all in the Prep
School Championships at
Nordic Skiing Proctor Academy in New
Hampshire.
Mimi Tanski ’11 had a breakout race, leading the Andover girls
squad with an individual 15thplace finish. In his first year on
skis, Mike Discenza ’09 fronted
the boys team with a hard-earned
31st-place and a time of 21:19.
Although the temperatures
continued to drop throughout the
day, the snow conditions were
fast. The racecourse was six kilometers long, a jump up from
the normal five-kilometer league
races and presented challenging
downhill corners. According to
Captain Sara Ho ’08, “There was
one pretty crazy hill that we had to
climb twice, so you had to make
sure you weren’t completely dead
after the first time up.”
The 6K girls team swept places 15 through 18, led by Tanski
and in close pursuit by Captain
Ho, Berol Dewdney ’09 and Kie
Watanabe ’08. All four came in
within 23 seconds of each other,
by far the closest of any other
team. Brenna Liponis ’10 rounded out Andover’s top female racers in 26th, missing the top 25 by
only a couple seconds.
Following Discenza’s incredible performance was veteran
Dave Holliday ’08 in a close 33rd
with a time of 21:53. The only Junior on the varsity team, Ben Ho
’11 came in 40th, crossing the finish in 23:48. Nathaniel Miller ’08
sprinted to the finish to grab 42nd
place.
After the morning individual
races, schools entered a team with
their top four skiers in the classic
relay. Each skier was required to
ski a three-kilometer loop, then
tag off his or her teammate in the
tag zone. Coach Keith Robinson was excited to see the effort
put into the race, saying, “Both
[events] came down to the relay
with our last leg overtaking the final skier from the other team.”
The girls relay team sent out
Tanski, Captain Ho, Watanabe
and Dewdney, just beating out
St. Paul’s for the fourth-place
finish. The boys team was represented by Discenza, Holliday, Ho
and Miller, with a strong finish
by Holliday bringing in the team
in 12th place to beat out a Hyde
skier in close pursuit.
Andover boys finished in ninth
place and the girls just missed out
on the top three places, grabbing
fourth.
Hillary Rich ’09 and her extraordinary talent propelled the
Andover Nordic Ski team to an
imposing performance at the
Lakes Region Championships on
Wednesday.
Rich competed aggressively
with Stephanie Crocker ’08 of St.
Paul’s and Heather Mooney ’11
from Vermont in the first wave.
Rich and Mooney pushed each
other throughout the first four
kilometers of the race, neck and
neck the entire time.
In these races the wax applied
to the skies makes all the difference. Rich struggled with her wax
and was eventually out-polled in
the last kilometer, where Mooney
pulled ahead. Rich passed the finish line roughly a mere 10 seconds
behind the strong Vermont skier.
’08 if Andover were to lose to its
rivals.
The only chance Andover had
at a playoff appearance was a win
in this highly anticipated matchup.
The start of the game was tilted slightly in Exeter’s favor. Exeter came out to an early but modest lead with some nice shots.
Meanwhile, Andover was
struggling to get the offense going. However, Andover settled
into the game and eventually
found its stride later in the half.
After some foul shots and
sharp shooting by Kourtney
Diperno ’09, Andover found itself emerging as the leaders of the
game.
By half time, Andover had
considerable control of the game,
and seemed to be keeping Exeter
in check fairly well.
The Andover defense was
great, and the offense was fairly
consistent, leading to an overall
solid game throughout.
While Andover preserved its
lead throughout the second half,
the game did seem to be much
closer than the scoreboard would
indicate.
While Exeter hit some big
shots in the last few minutes of
play, Andover was still able to
hang on, defeating Exeter by
double-digits. The final score was
Andover 48, Exeter 38.
Many players had standout performances in this rivalry
game. Diperno contributed a solid
fifteen points, adding in her fair
share as always.
Additionally, Ansley White
’10 and Minor showed their aggressive style of play, each grabbing seven boards.
Also notable was the doubledouble performance put up by
Megan Robertson ‘11, who posted
12 points and 11 rebounds of her
own in her first Andover-Exeter
game. Everyone made contributions to this complete team effort
in defeating Exeter.
The win put Andover’s final
regular season record even at
.500, with 10 wins and 10 losses.
While this might have fallen below expectations from the beginning of the season, the record was
sufficient enough to earn Andover
a playoff spot.
Andover’s first opponent was
the undefeated, always strong Tabor Academy.
Earlier in the season, Andover
suffered a devastating loss to Tabor by a wide margin of 35-59.
Hoping to improve upon that and
elongate its season, Andover traveled to Marion, Massachusetts
with purpose and a goal in mind.
However, this game proved
to be very reminiscent of the first
meeting of the two teams. Tabor
dominated throughout the 32
minutes of play, handing Andover
a loss by a score of 26-51.
Tabor has developed a prestigious girls basketball program, as
the team has reach the New England Class A championship game
for an astounding six consecutive
times. In Tabor’s 2006-2007 campaign, the team compiled a 16-2
record only to fall in the Championship game.
With Tabor’s dominating defeat over Andover on Wednesday,
the team improved its perfect record to 19-0. Despite having several key injuries in the contest,
Tabor showed its toughness by
persevering over an always competitive Andover team.
In the two match-ups this year
between Andover and Tabor, Tabor’s overwhelming size was the
clear x-factor in both decisions.
In both contests Tabor dominated
the boards, a key stat in controlling the tempo of the game.
This game marked the conclusion of the 2007-2008 Girl’s Varsity Basketball season.
With a final overall record of
10-11, Andover fell just short of
.500.
While the season might have
turned out differently than anticipated, Andover looks to build on
some promising young talent for
many years to come.
Andover will feature five rising seniors in next year’s team to
accompany two underclassmen
members. Even more encouraging is the fact that all members
of the team this past season, not
just seniors, made their presence
felt. This concept of a team game
helped to lead Andover to a welldeserved playoff birth.
M.Temple/The Phillipian
Hailee Minor ’08 fights through a double-team to put up a right
handed lay-up in Andover’s pivotal win against Exeter.
THE PHILLIPIAN FEATURES FEBRUARY 29, 2008
B4
Rules of a
Post-Writers’ Strike
Pick-up Artist TV Show Improvements
As the Winter Term nears its end, spring comes a knocking, and one thing is on everyone’s mind: what are
the three best ways to pick up girls? Well, everybody is in luck, as I just so happen to be a “pick-up” artist. The following are some very important rules I have developed for picking up girls, and for the ladies,
examples of how you should act when being “picked-up.”
Rule #1: A common misconception about women is that young
ones like to look older. Tell them what they really want to hear.
Me: Hey, babe, you’re looking hot tonight. Do you want some water to
cool down? Ha ha, I’m just kidding, I really meant hot as in “sexy,” get
it? But if you actually do want some water I’ll get it for you, I guess.
Girl: Um, no thanks. What’s your name?
Me: Billy, but my friends call me Thunder. Except for Jeffrey, he calls
me Bulldog sometimes. So how old are you, beautiful?
Girl: Um, 17.
Me: Wow! I never would have guessed that; you have the body of a
five-year-old.
Girl: Oh my God, finally a boy who thinks so! Let’s get out of here!
Rule #2: Be honest.
Me: Hello, sexy, can I buy you a drink?
Girl: Can you not see that I have a full glass sitting right in front of me,
jerk?
Me: Actually, I couldn’t see that. Your lineman shoulders were blocking
my view of the whole bar, chubs. Now do you want a drink or should
I take the five-minute walk around you and start hitting on your friend
over there?
Girl: Fine, I guess I’ll have a—
Me: Of course you want another one, pig.
Girl: What’d you say?
Me: Nothing, just tell me what you want.
Girl: I’ll have a Coke.
Me: Oh, come on, who are you trying to kid? Bartender! Can I get a diet
over here please!
Girl: You’re so rude.
Me: Yeah, but I also bet I’m the first guy to talk to you in a long time.
Girl: True dat.
Me: Double true.
The writers’ strike that has plagued Hollywood for months is officially over. Many of the writers have
decided to make a few changes to the shows, in preparation for their filming and release sometime in the
future. The names of the shows have been changed in order to fit with the change in plot and characters.
Here’s the lineup:
Grey’s Anatomy to Gay’s Anatomy
Meredith and Christina always seemed to be a bit
more than friends. Now we know why Meredith
could never commit to McDreamy.
Zoey 101 to How to Raise a Child as a
Single Teenage Mother 101
Zoey (played by Jamie Lynn Spears) is preggers.
Oops. But that doesn’t mean she can’t continue
to be a role model to all those preteens out
there. The show will focus on the difficulties of
raising a child at a boarding school, but overall
Zoey will be victorious in raising a healthy kid.
Of course, she will also graduate from Pacific
Coast Academy with high honors. The show is
an excellent example of Nickelodeon’s ability to
represent trends in the teen world.
House M.D. to House Unleashed
Dr. House finally makes the jump from weird and
mildly insane to completely insane. Sticking with
the old plot line, House will continue to make
stupid decisions regarding the lives of his patients.
Unfortunately, after going mentally insane the
decisions he makes regarding his patients will
no longer be valid and he won’t continue to save
lives. After a few episodes he’ll be fired and the
show will cover the aftermath of Dr. House’s
break down and dealing with him being loose in
the outside world.
Rule #3: Be daring. Experiment with other species.
Me: Dang, cow-girl! You finer than a fine point pen!
Cow: Moo.
Me: Moo, you say? What a coincidence! I’m really getting in the moo’d
too, heh heh. Wanna’ come to my place?
Cow: Moo moo.
Me: Alright, I suppose we can moo moo’ve it to a nice restaurant or something. I’m always up for it. Anything for you, you dirty heffer.
Cow: Moooooo.
Me: Ohhh, so you like it when I talk dirty to you? Alright, I can play that
game. Let’s see... I just want to chop you up into pieces and eat your juicy
tenderloin. And maybe afterwards we can cut off your hooves and make
some quality glue together. Would you be into that?
Cow: Moo?
Me: It’s okay if you’re not. We can take it slow.
—Billy Fowkes
Ugly Betty to Ugly Freddy
Tired of being ridiculed for her appearance, Betty
gets a sex change.
Lost to Found
They’re no longer “lost.” Duh.
My Super Sweet Sixteen to My Super
Sweet Seventeen
All the rich brats are on to their next birthdays.
It was too difficult for the producers of the show
to find kids as spoiled and obnoxious, so they
decided to use the same ones from previous
seasons. They debated featuring normally-behaved
kids on the show, but viewers said they enjoyed
watching the antics of the monstrously-spoiled
ones.
Desperate Housewives to Desperate
Houseflies
This show has dealt with all sorts of social issues
and has moved on to natural disasters. In the
wake of the tornado that destroys Wisteria Lane,
a swarm of killer over-sized houseflies enter the
suburban street and wreak havoc on the lives of
its citizens. Faced with chaos, the housewives’
infidelity rate doubles (yes, it can get even higher),
and friendships are lost and enemies are made in
the next season of this exciting show.
—Anneke Heher
It’s Leap Day.
Do you know where your children are?
We do. They’re in our van.
[email protected] - [email protected]
TopTen
Features Presents...
Alex moss goes 30 days without... glasses
I’m almost positive that everyone’s least favorite month is February. Sure, November might get a few votes now and
then, but four out of five of able-bodied duck-shooting red-blooded Americans can agree—February sucks. I mean, is it
winter? Is it spring? Why is it always dark? Why is there always a fine slushy substance covering the ground? Sure, it’s
occasionally fun to step in it and make funny sounds, but mostly it’s just inconvenient.
And if February weren’t bad enough as it is, I had to go and break my glasses before the month even started. It wasn’t
a clean break in half either, so I couldn’t tape them together and try to pull off the whole Harry Potter look. Anyway, I’ve
written in my journal for the past month, chronicling the longest time I’ve ever gone without glasses. Don’t laugh. Guys
can have journals too. It just means I’m in touch with my feelings.
Friday, February 1
This isn’t that hard. I do have one question though: How the heck am I supposed to watch Hey Arnold? Also, I think
I may have said hey to four inanimate objects today. They were all much friendlier than I expected.
Monday, February 4
Just to clarify–without glasses or contacts, my eyesight is about 20/4000. I can’t see more than six inches in front of
my face. And to whoever switched my Pepsi with an extra strength laxative: not cool, man. Not cool.
Friday, February 8
Crossing the street to Bulfinch is more or less a guessing game at this point. I generally go based on sound, but occasionally one of those silent hybrid cars scares the Scooby out of me. I think I speak for blind people everywhere when
I say screw the environment. Also, that unbelievably obnoxious beeping sound on Main Street that lets you know when
it’s safe to walk? It’s taken on a lot of added significance.
Sunday, February 10
I looked into buying a watchdog today, but they were all extremely hostile toward me and the owner of the store
kicked me out after about a minute. After I returned to the dorm, a friend of mine told me that not only was there a steak
in my back pocket, but I was wearing a Michael Vick jersey. Hooligans.
Thursday, February 14
I solved “Operation Hey Arnold” today by blackmailing someone into relaying the events of the episode to me. God
bless that football head and all of his wacky hijinks. (As for the blackmail, we’ll just say he enjoyed “27 Dresses” a little
more than he should have.)
Sunday, February 17
I think my teachers are starting to catch on. See, I can’t read the small print on most of my tests, so I just end up
putting random circles everywhere on the page with a few “yes’s” and “no’s” sprinkled in. This led to one of the more
awkward conversations I’ve had at Andover, almost on par with that time when my dorm counselor walked in on me
making out with a cantaloupe.
Teacher: Hey, Alex… you’re not blind, are you?
Me: I don’t think so…
Teacher: What does that even mean?
Me: I’m sorry, I’ve got to go.
Door: Breaks my nose.
Tuesday, February 19
I woke up in Isham with no idea where I was. I soon realized that I was surrounded by nurses.
Nurse #1: Wait, so he’s being blind on purpose?
Nurse # 2: Pretty much.
Nurse #1: What an idiot.
They tried to make me put on a new pair of glasses, but I executed a daring escape. It cost two human lives in the
end, but certain sacrifices have to be made for the sake of journalism. Our memories of those brave nurses will never be
forgotten.
Sunday, February 24
This is getting ridiculous. Not only have I started using words like accrued, but I’ve accrued 38 cuts. I didn’t even
know that was possible. I think I may have broken a record for either a.) Most times woken up in the snow with no idea
how you got there or b.) Most times a victim of that stupid prank where someone kneels behind you and a second person
pushes you over. Stupid freshmen. They think they’re so cool. I’m by far the worst blind person ever.
Thursday, February 28
It’s almost over. This has undoubtedly been the toughest of my 30-Days trials, and I have gained a newfound appreciation for blindness. I suppose I haven’t really learned anything else this month. Usually there’s a moral, but this time
there isn’t really one, or anything like it actually, except maybe that I’m stupid. At least it’s finally over.
What!? It’s a leap year? Whose stupid idea was that? [expletive deleted]!
—Alex Moss
Student Council Presidential
Debate Questions
10. How many Head of School
Weeks are you proposing?
9. What’s your opinion on
immigration?
8. How many boys does your
milkshake bring to the yard?
Could you teach me, without charge?
7. What do we eat? What do we eat?
6. Great shoes. Could I find a similar
pair at Marshall’s?
5. Two cars are 50 miles apart from
each other. If they travel in opposite
directions at a constant speed, how
will you create more day student
parking?
4. Sign-in. Communication. Change.
Please discuss.
3. Is that a ten dollar bill you’re
slipping into my hand?
And why are you winking?
2. What are you doing
Saturday night?
1. So what exactly is your platform?
THE PHILLIPIAN FEATURES FEBRUARY 29, 2008
Next to Kwanzaa and Hangnail Appreciation Day, Leap Day is probably one of the most overlooked
holidays of our generation. Leap Day only happens only once every four years and knowing this, one
would think that its occurance would be all the more special. But suprisingly enough, the members of this
so-called “newspaper” do not think it right to cover it in News, Commentary or even Arts! Therefore, the
journalistic duties fall to the only members of this institution who actually care about our readers—the
Features Section. So for those of you who think Leap Day is pointless, stop complaining and do what we
say. Listen to Leapy and obey. Spend the time and make a rhyme—please read our words today.
B5
Meet Leapy the Leap Frog,
The Official Mascot
of Leap Day!!!
Popular Leap Day Rituals
Hiding Under Chairs
Kids born on February 29 age much slower than everyone else because
their birthdays are only once every four years. Through a similar line of
thinking, this February 29 is still in the 1950’s, since the day itself doesn’t
“age” very quickly either. If you think about it, we’re probably still in the
Cold War come February 29 this year. You better be prepared if those
Ruskies get angry. In order to ready for such a drastic lifestyle change, listen to Elvis at the sock hop and go back home to watch the newest episode
of “The Twilight Zone.” After that, get under a chair, put your head between
your knees and pray to Leapy the Leap Frog that you make it to March.
Leapy Lesson #32:
“Condoms do not fully protect
against STD’s. The only surefire
way is to practice safe leaping.”
Sacrificing Lambs
If you despise Leap Days—or you don’t celebrate or even recognize
them—then sacrifice some lambs to the gods with the people of B.A.L.D.
(Bigots Against Leap Day). Hopefully, after the sacrifice, Leap Day won’t
return for at least another three years. Surprisingly, this unorthodox ritual
has been working quite well for the past few leap years. Also surprisingly,
lambs are very unwilling to be sacrificed, which can get pretty gosh darn
annoying. On the bright side – there’s enough tender mutton to feed the
whole village.
Not Working for a Calendar-Making Factory
Leap year is the year that calendar-making factories flip out. They go
crazy when they realize the amount of extra money it will take to print an
extra day in their calendars. In fact, many calendar-making factories don’t
even recognize Leap Day. My friend once worked for a calendar factory.
He didn’t really like the dental plan. And his Leap Days sucked.
Going to the Movies and Eating Chinese Food
Those who just don’t celebrate or recognize the Leap Day, such as myself, aside from being a day behind everyone else every four years, take this
day off to watch movies and eat Chinese food together. It’s like Christmas
for the Jews, except it’s Leap Day for idiots.
Serving your Community
Homeless people are bound to be even more bummed out than usual on
Leap Days because it just means one extra day during the year that they’re
homeless. But with your help, they won’t have to feel that way! Visit a local
shelter, and don’t forget to bring snacks!
And don’t forget to make your Leap Day resolutions!
Here are a few possible resolutions and hints at how to accomplish
them:
• Be more like Leapy the Leap Frog: Of course! Who doesn’t want to emulate our best amphibian friend? If you’re an Animorph, then this shouldn’t
be too hard. Otherwise you’re pretty much out of luck.
• Lose weight: Throw your diet pills down the drain, because all you need
to do is cut off your own head and you’ll have already lost eight pounds.
But be sure to sterilize your bonesaw before you do anything.
• Get onto “Dancing with the Stars”: I don’t really have much advice on
this one, but if you don’t make it and you’re still looking for a dance partner,
I’m always here.
• Befriend a Southerner. After all, they are technically human.
—Eli Grober
Leap Days of the Past
•
•
•
1848: Leapbekistan claims its independence from Featuria
after 47 minutes of violent war. Leapbekistan declares Februrary 29 as its independence day. Leapbekistanian government
officials soon regret this decision as they could only celebrate
once every four years.
1964: Leap Day at the Grand Canyon was highly eventful
because on that warm February morning, a group of daring
young men and women lined up on the edge of the Grand
Canyon ready to leap off the edge. There were no survivors.
1976: Leapsalot, an extremely popular leap frog, was officially recognized as the day’s mascot. With this nomination
came an uproar from various political and religious organizations claiming fallacy on behalf of the Leap Day Federation.
We can’t believe you’re
4 years old!
•
•
•
Riots broke out on the streets of New York City, home to the
Federation’s headquarters. 10 board members were forced to
leap out of their windows. People were leaping throughout
the streets. It was leaping crazy.
1988: Throngs of mourners gathered to pay their respects
and embrace the spirit of the late Leapsalot the Leap Frog.
Leapy the Leap Frog, his son, was inducted as the new mascot of Leap Day the same month.
1991: There was no Leap Day in 1991.
2004: John Reider, a newlywed groom, was married
to his wife, Barbara, on February 29 in the local community chapel. Statements released at a later date indicate that his marriage date was deliberately and strategically planned by Reider, as he would only have to
remember his wedding anniversary once every four years.
—Lawrence Dai, Eli Grober
Leapy Lesson #53:
“This Leap Day, be responsible.
Don’t drink and leap.”
Features Presents...
Leap Day
Birthday Cards
Our lovely little Janey,
It seems like it was just yesterday when you spent
countless hours in the bathroom, struggling with your
potty training. I will never forget the mess you made
back in ’94. That was one for the record books. But look
at you now—4 years old and living large. You’re just
growing up so quickly right in front of our eyes and we
can’t believe it. Happy 4th birthday! You’ll get the hang
of the potty some day.
HAPPY 21stBIRTHDAY!
Dear Grandpa Ezekiel,
We know you never thought you’d live to see today,
but alas, here we are. You’ve waited all this time—83
years to be exact—but we assure you, it’ll all soon be
worth it. You’ve finally become of legal drinking age
and we must celebrate. Grab your remaining living
friends in the old folks home and let’s hit up the bars!
Let us buy you your first beer. Careful though, all the
alcohol probably won’t be good for your liver. I mean,
after all, you are getting pretty old now.
Love,
Love, your favorite grandchildren,
Mom and Dad
Joseph, Henry, Lindsey and Hernando
Happy Sweet 16, Agatha!
Great Aunt Aggie! I’ve known you for over 40 years
now and from ever since I can remember, you’ve been my #1
mentor/role model. Lately, I’ve been pursuing a successful
career as a freelance floor tile painter, but I just can’t quite
cut it in the real world. I could really use your advice. I
know it’s your birthday and all, but I’d really appreciate it
if you could find the time to meet with me and help me out
of this pickle. And maybe afterwards, we can go somewhere
for your sweet 16! I mean, it’s not every day a girl turns 16.
I remember my party vividly. Bobby Peterson was there and
he looked so cute! Anyways, just let me know. I promise you
it’ll be great!
Sincerely,
“Little” Susie
P.S. I think Mom got you a new wheelchair for your birthday.
Don’t tell her I told you. *wink wink*
—Lawrence Dai
February 29, 2008
Phillipian Arts
B6
Too “Cool” for School: The Addison Goes Mod MOVIE
Review
S. Sheu/The Phillipian
From left: Ellie DiBerardino ’09 on base, Hank Williams ’08 on drums and
Max Meyer ’08 on keyboard performed jazz at the Birth of Cool party.
Natalie Cheng and Audrey Adu-Appiah
This past Saturday night, Andover
students were transported from snowy,
present-day New England to sunny 1950’s
California at the Addison Gallery’s “Birth
of the Cool” party.
The Addison got a swanky flashback
with the Saturday night party, complete
with deserts, mocktails, live performances,
swing dancing, outfits of bold prints, large
patterns and bright colors. The air of casual
sophistication was unique among on-campus events.
Emcee Thor Shannon ’08 said: “We
don’t really get to have this type of vibe on
campus… it’s something I’m really glad a
lot of people could see.”
The event, organized by the Addison’s
Director of Education Julie Bernson and
Jacqueline Hall ’08, was unprecedented in
its creativity. It was the first student-organized party in the Addison Gallery, and it
was an event where students could gather
and discuss art or just have fun. With its
themed dress code, the “Birth of the Cool”
party atmosphere allowed students to step
outside their normal personas and portray a
different character. According to Bernson,
it was an event “for the students, by the students,” an attempt made by the Addison to
reach out and appeal to a wider audience.
The Gallery’s bold move succeeded in
attracting unlikely museum-goers. “I think
[the party was] a great initiative,” said Maria Ferris ’09. “Otherwise I wouldn’t have
come to the exposition. Since it was on a
Saturday, I had more time.”
Initially, the event organizers wanted
to enhance the party’s artistic atmosphere
with student acts that reflected the time
period. However, they soon realized that
merely having acts that incorporated different art forms, which featured video clips,
paintings, architecture and music, would
contribute to the exhibit.
Students performed in the Kemper
Gallery, a room displaying geometricallythemed Karl Benjamin and John McLaughlin paintings.
Max Meyer ’08, who was asked to play
jazz music to enhance the cool atmosphere,
performed songs from the “cool era” of the
50s and 60s and revamped classic rock. He
said, “The Addison was a difficult venue to
perform in…it was different—the echoes
created the cool reverb effect of a big
hall and had the intimate effect of a small
hall.”
Tessa Pompa ’08, Hank Williams ’08
and Elise DiBeradino ’09 joined him with
a new take on the Beatles’ “Can’t Buy Me
Love” and the blues classic “Fever.”
It took some time for Azure to get accustomed to the new environment in the
beginning, but with enthusiastic audience support, they quickly grew comfortable singing pieces such as Bonnie Raitt’s
“Something to Talk About” and Frou
Frou’s “Hear Me Out.” Azure member
Tavie Abell ’10 said, “This exhibit has
so much energy, and we tried to choose a
song that reflected that.”
The subsequent fashion show featured many different takes on the “mod”
look. In the end, Farah Dahya ’08, who
admtted to Googling mod and borrowing some pieces of her outfit, won the
costume contest, recieving a $40 iTunes
gift certificate and the Birth of Cool CD.
The Yorkies performed old hits including “Jessie’s Girl” and “That Thing
You Do,” a Grasshopper Night favorite.
They were already pros at performing in
the Addison. “We usually have a Yorkies
performance to ourselves—I liked how
people dressed up and dressed classy for
this one,” said Chip Schroeder ’08, cohead of Yorkies.
Meyer said, “I was talking to one of
the workers here, and we should have
more things like this… it’s a change
from working in the library or slaving
away at our homework…[The party]
caters to all senses—between seeing the
art and feeling and hearing the music,
feeling the bass inside…It’s really a cool
experience.”
The night was certainly a great
change from the usual campus weekend
activities—a chance for the Addison
Gallery to broaden its on-campus fan
base and a chance for students to appreciate the art that is so close but sometimes feels inaccessible.
Student president Tantum Collins
’08 said, “The Addison is an incredible
resource that, with such busy schedules,
students don’t really get the opportunity
to come to. [The party] was a good catalyst to get students more involved in an
institution that has importance on a national and even global level.”
No Props, No Show: The Backstage Story
Lynx Mitchell
Despite the 23 and a half hours I spent
working as the assistant stage manager on
Lucas McMahon’s ’08 senior independent
project, “A Taste of Honey,” I never really
got to see the show. When friends asked
what the show was about, I just mumbled
that the acting was “really good” and
changed the subject.
I spent most of my time hanging out
in the upstage right wing, which meant
I couldn’t see the actors whenever they
moved to downstage right. Additionally, I
was running around helping actors locate
props and was therefore unable to see what
was going on onstage.
Several weeks ago, I expressed an interest in becoming a technical assistant for
the show. Scene and lighting designer Evan
DelGaudio ’08 responded with an email
informing me that I could be assistant stage
manager, and at the time, I had no idea
what responsibility that title entailed.
When I showed up at 12:30 p.m. on
“tech Sunday,” stage manager Katy Svec
’10 informed me of my duties. I was responsible for getting the props to the right
places at the right times and performing
various other duties that the actors weren’t
able to do, such as raising the back curtain
near the beginning of the show and turning off the cone-head light during intermission.
One of my original duties was to take
the ghost light off stage at the very beginning of the show, but we soon discovered
that if I took off the ghost light I’d end up
stage left and be unable to raise the curtain
on the opposite side of the stage. Eric took
over that duty, and I stayed stage right.
The Friday and Saturday night performances were the most exciting part of
the experience, and I realized the consequences of my responsibilities. It mattered
if I forgot to put the chocolates and flowers
stage left and Charlie Walters ’10 had to
walk onstage without them. Whether or not
I remembered to put the flower bulbs under
the bed during intermission would change
the entire scene. Although it felt like a lot
of pressure, it was exciting whenever one
of the actors used one of the harder-toplace props.
It was nearly impossible to stop laughing during the performances when funny
things happened onstage. For instance,
during the first show, Eric took large bites
of cake and biscuit and choked throughout
the lines that came just after. When Ellie attempted to throw a ring at Annabel, it accidentally hit the bed board and flew offstage
to the right of the audience.
We had to take down the set immediately after the Saturday night
show
so the “A Midsummer Night’s
Dream” crew could rehearse in Steinbach. Although I was dead on my
feet after stacking chairs, carrying wood
and sweeping until 11:30 p.m., we actually had fun. Actor Demetrius Lalane
’11 and lighting board operator Emily
Hutcheson-Tipton ’10 sang “Seasons of
Love,” and everyone dived into Katy’s
homemade cake.
“A Taste of Honey” had countless props
— from empty whiskey bottles and flower
bulbs to an ugly doll and clove cigarettes.
After Katy gave me a detailed account of
where everything should be for each scene,
I set about creating two prop tables, one for
stage right and one for stage left. I organized the props and then used tape to mark
off where they should be on the tables.
It took a long time to find all the props
we needed for the show. Certain things,
like Anabel Bacon’s ’09 backpack, we
ended up making right before the final
dress rehearsal. And due to an unfortunate
occurrence on Friday night, Eric Sirakian’s
’10 sketchpad had to be
mimed.
Raising
the
curtain was far
harder than
I
imag-
Winter Fashion
Rebecca Schultz
ined it would be. The timing wasn’t so
difficult; I soon memorized the line I was
supposed to start raising it on – when Ellie Shepley ’08 tells Annabel “…and we
have a lovely view of the gasworks!” But
the raising itself took real muscle power.
Securing the rope to the hook on the
side of the stage was another matter entirely. I’m not very good with knots and
got extremely confused trying to remember which ways to cross and twist the
rope. During the Friday show, the curtain
slipped a few inches as I was attempting
to secure the knot. Although my heart
was beating fast throughout, I managed
the task.
Few pay attention to the techies tiptoeing about backstage, and that’s the
way it should be. But it is nice to know
that the hours I spent poring over prop
sheets and obsessing over the whereabouts of the tin cup with the spoon in it
really helped made “A Taste of Honey”
the extraordinary production that
it was.
M. Discenza/The Phillipian
Dark hues are always in style for winter shoes, clothes
and nails. Graham’s dark green and black dress works perfectly with this popular winter trend while creating a chic
ensemble for semi-formal events.
Voted by the Senior class as most likely to appear in Vogue, Annabel Graham ’08 is
definitely fashion-forward. Graham is able to pull off any style, from casual to semi-formal.
Dressing for an evening affair can be tricky, but Graham proves her fashion savvy with
trendy peep toe shoes, sophisticated dress and well-chosen accessories. The outfit reflects a
mod, elegant style that is perfect for a gallery opening.
At a formal evening affair, a cocktail dress is the only stylish option. The lengths for
these dresses range from “skimming the ankle” to “above the knee.” Shorter, mini dresses
can be very attractive for girls who can pull off the look, and Graham certainly can. Younger women with great legs should definitely take advantage of them. Graham wisely wears
black tights, an especially smart way to avoid freezing for fashion. In particular, dark tights
make legs look slimmer. Tights were originally a fashion must for European gentlemen,
according to Fashion-Era.com. Now, tights are worn to shut out the cold as well as to accentuate a fashionable ensemble. And when the color of the tights matches that of the shoes,
tights can go beyond classy.
Accessories embellish every outfit. Graham’s necklace and nails both enhance her mod
style. When looking to imitate this style, choose a long necklace to help complete the look,
but make sure it doesn’t overpower the outfit. A tiny but important detail, Graham’s nail
polish is red, which is a classic, sophisticated trend that will never go out of style.
High heels are a must for an evening outing any time of the year. Heels can conveniently
add to an inch or two to one’s height, making them both trendy and functional. These flattering shoes can also give a lift to one’s confidence or add attitude to one’s trip down the
catwalk, even at the student-organized fashion show at the Addison. Graham is wearing
peep-toe shoes that literally let toes “peep” through the front. Peep-toe shoes have gone
in and out of fashion but recently made a major reappearance and are the ‘it’ shoe in the
fashion industry today.
S. Sheu/The Phillipian
Charlie Bartlett
Scott Dzialo
It may because of my age, but I love
teen comedies. There’s something about
the crazy plots, weird humor and predictable situations that make me laugh during
even the worst films. Unfortunately, teen
movies have fallen into a monotonous
trend, where new ideas are simply nonexistent. But with the success of “Juno”
came the realization that the old troubles
of teen life can be made fresh again.
Since “Juno’s” quirky wit quickly won
me over, I naturally had high hopes for
the prescription drug antics in “Charlie
Bartlett.”
Anton Yelchin plays the titular character in “Charlie Bartlett”, a wealthy teen
boy too smart for his own good. After
getting busted for printing fake I.D.s in
his room, Charlie is kicked out of his
preparatory school. Because Charlie’s
schemes have led to his expulsion from
every major private school in the area,
Charlie’s mother, Marilyn Bartlett (Hope
Davis), has no option but to enroll him
in the local public school. Wearing a suit
and quoting Latin on his first day, Charlie
manages to get beaten up within hours.
Fearing for her son’s safety, Marilyn calls
the family physiatrist, who quickly prescribes Charlie with Ritalin. After getting
high off the drug, Charlie decides to sell it
at school to gain popularity, and becomes
a dealer of medication to cure all sorts
of “teen” issues: depression, A.D.D. and
even panic attacks. While Charlie helps
everyone else sort out their problems, he
must face his own demons. With a jailed
father and a mother who takes her medication with a glass of wine, Charlie is left to
his own supervision, which often leads to
his getting into trouble with the school’s
Principal Gardner (Robert Downey Jr.).
Soon, the alcoholic principle is trying to
shut down Charlie while the student body
rallies behind their makeshift doctor.
When taken at face value, “Charlie
Bartlett” can come across as shallow;
a teen boy cures illnesses illegally with
prescription drugs while fighting against
“the Man.” But, despite the seemingly
trite topic, everything in this film has a
glossy finish to it. “Charlie Bartlett” really is “prescription perfect.”
Telling the story in an innovative way,
newbie director Jon Poll decided to film
the movie in vignettes that are separated
with quick cuts using film and music. The
result is a unique sound that blends seamlessly with the picture, often enhancing
what you are watching. Hip music and
sharp editing doesn’t break up the flow,
but rather keeps you interested through
the somewhat slow bits. However, given
the long setup of the story, “Charlie Bartlett” can hit slumps.
Luckily, the actors consistently manage to keep the storyline from becoming
stagnant. Yelchin plays his eccentric role
with a depth that proves him to be a credible actor. Adding to the insanity, both Davis and Downey Jr. make you believe that
maybe Charlie is acting out with good
reason. As the authority figures, Davis’
and Downey Jr’s characters should be the
rational leaders. And yet, the little nuances they add to their parts, the slight ticks
in their behavior, make you question their
sanity. All of these performances delve
deeper into what this movie is trying to
get at.
In the end, you’re left wondering
what the “moral” is, and here’s where
“Charlie Bartlett” might lose interest. It’s
easy to walk away from this movie and
conclude that it’s all about drugs, sex and
fitting in. And, for the first half of the film,
I thought that too. But those themes are
nothing more than the background stories
which add complexity the plot. Rather,
“Charlie Bartlett” asks a deeper question. “How are kids supposed to ‘grow
up’ when the adults around them are still
behaving as children themselves?” This
question is the one thing pushing everything forward. It’s the basis for the film,
and without it, “Charlie Bartlett” would
just be another bad teen comedy.
Using sarcastic humor and sentiment,
“Charlie Bartlett” becomes more than
just a teen movie. It relates to people of
all ages and backgrounds while entertaining throughout. It’s a movie that will stick
with you and, just like the drugs Charlie
deals out, will leave you wanting more.
Grade: 5+