Commentary
Free Love, in Peru
By Erica Harris
How do you describe an experience that turns your life upside-down and makes you a better person? How do you describe an experience that only lasted three weeks but introduced you to some of the best friends you’ve ever had? How do you describe an experience that teaches you to appreciate all the beauty and wonder halfway around the world?
This summer I went to Peru, and it changed me more than I could ever imagine.
On the surface, my program was like any other that Phillips Academy students attend in the summer. I was with a group of about 25 high school students, living and speaking Spanish in a small town in the Andes called Urubamba. We worked on service projects with a program called VISIONS, which included building bathrooms and furniture for a preschool and irrigation canals for local farmers. We learned about Peruvian culture by visiting...
A Message From Head of School Barbara Chase and Assoc. Head of School Rebecca Sykes
By Mrs. Chase, Head Of School and Mrs. Sykes, Associate Head Of School
Welcome!
Both of us are pleased to welcome the student body to this 2008-2009 school year. With the leadership of the great Class of ’09 and the infusion of energy and talent brought by new faculty and students, we are looking forward to an exciting year.
The opening has been one of the best ever; even Hurricane Hanna cooperated, for the most part! Thanks especially to the Blue Keys, proctors, prefects, and orientation leaders for welcoming new students and their families, assisting the boarders in moving into the dorms, and helping all the newcomers find their way around campus.
This year Mrs. Chase will intensify her travel for the campaign and will be “on the road” periodically to raise support for initiatives like need-blind admission, faculty compensation, global programming, and critical renovations like Paresky Commons. When Mrs. Chase is away, Mrs. Sykes, as Associate Head, will be here to fill...
The Class of 2012 Looks Forward
By Daniel Schultz, Bryan Ha, and Carlie Danner
For the first issue of the year, Commentary asked three Juniors to write about their first week at Andover. We don’t know whether they sustained mild concussions during Search and Rescue Orientation or just swallowed thebrochures, but so far they all seem pretty happy to be here. Welcome, ’12. Daniel Schultz When I was only eight years old, my brother Josh ’06 matriculated at Phillips Academy. And after he graduated, my sister Rebecca ’09 arrived as a new Lower. So, for the past six years, all that I have ever heard them talk about has been the diverse social life at Andover and the hard work that came with the many freedoms students were given. I proceeded to come every October for Parents’ Weekend, dreaming about attending Andover myself. At every opportunity to write my nametag, I would add ’12 at the end of my name. The...
Manifesto
By Cora Lewis
Many college applications require a Personal Statement of five hundred words, because that is the exact number that perfectly encapsulates the essence of an individual – his or her unique qualities, abilities, hopes, dreams, potential. And, in the process of attempting to write one this summer, I determined that it would be easier - and ultimately more rewarding - not to. I wrote this instead.
A former Editor in Chief of The Phillipian wrote in the first issue of the year that Andover is where fun goes to die. While far from original, this sentiment had and still has a ring of truth; cooped up in New England with a thousand other hormonal, ambitious adolescents, high expectations, mountains of work and other innumerable pressures, sometimes it feels too easy to buckle under the mess of it all, to allow the difficulties and drama of boarding school life to...
A Balanced Ticket
By Chris Meyer
Democatic vice-presidential nominee Joe Biden is superior to his Republican counterpart, Sarah Palin, in numerous ways. First, he has over 35 years of experience in the Senate. Second, he possesses a fiery spirit that compensates for Obama’s refusal to attack his opponents. Third, he has years of foreign policy experience that cover up Obama’s thin resume in this particular area. Finally, his working class roots will help Obama reach out to white, blue-collar voters.
Palin, on the other hand, brings only about two years of experience as the governor of Alaska, an extremely partisan agenda and no foreign policy experience whatsoever. Her growing celebrity status only will hurt McCain, and she is showing little promise in attracting former supporters of Hillary Clinton. I don’t know about you, but I know who I would rather have as my VP.
The criticism that has loomed over Barack Obama for his entire...
More Than a Hockey Mom
By Sebastian Becker
The Democratic and Republican National conventions are over, schools are back in session and the presidential campaigns are all fired up. The summer has been eventful: Beijing hosted a controversial Olympic season teeming with record-breaking athletes, Russia’s invasion of Georgia gave the U.S. chilling flashbacks from the Cold War and the two Presidential candidates picked their running mates. Barack Obama’s seemingly safer pick, Senator Joe Biden of Delaware, has been praised for his experience and record in Washington. On the other hand, John McCain’s running mate, Governor Sarah Palin of Alaska, has energized the conservative base but has drawn harsh criticism from the left. As an independent, I strongly support non-partisan solutions and hoped McCain would select Joe Lieberman. However, although I don’t agree with her politics very often, Palin, an intelligent and politically shrewd pick, would make an effective Vice President.
Sarah Palin’s critics have belittled her...
Finding a New Consciousness in India
By Anabel Bacon
And what were you doing three days ago?” I was sitting in a bus in the flaming heat of Mumbai, India, and Mr. Mundra’s question made me think. Three days ago, I’d been sitting in Andover at my dining room table, eating take out from Bertucci’s to the soundtrack of crickets chirping and turning on the air conditioning. Three days ago, I had been taking off makeup and contacts and falling asleep in a bed big enough for three. I had been comfortable then.
A lot had changed. Now my ears were screaming for relief from the incessant chorus of car horns blasting through the window and my eyes were itching behind my glasses from the air pollution. I was on my way back to a cramped room that I shared with two other girls, one from Andover, one from India, sleeping on a bed barely big enough...
The Other Side of Beijing
By Charlie Dong
When I visited Beijing this summer, I met an 18-year-old girl named Jiao Xie who likes pandas, badminton and the color pink. She works six days per week for almost 16 hours per day, and she makes the equivalent of around $25 each month, half of which she mails to her family in the countryside.
Beijing has been covered with a skin of gold leaf for the Olympics. Tourists marvel at the magnificent buildings, the cleanliness and the well-trimmed flowers planted in the shape of athletes that line the roads. They are stunned that they can get a two-hour full-body massage for less than ten dollars, and they applaud as the 16-year-old girls on China’s gymnastics team put on a performance worthy of a gold medal.
But what about the other end of the stick? Tourists take three meals per day and a place to sleep at night for...
At Least I Know I’m Free
By Jenn Schaffer
Somewhere in the jungles of the South Pacific, a man fights. As you read this, he is in danger of being killed by the Abu Sawai insurgents of the Muslim region of the Philippines. He is an American naval officer, a husband, a father of five and he is my uncle. Today, he fights terrorism in the land of my ancestors so that you can be free. Yes, you. It doesn’t matter if you’re an American citizen, right now you are being protected by men and women like my uncle. He cares about your rights and he wants you to be free.
But do you care, Andover, that at any moment of any day, somewhere a soldier fights for you? Does it mean anything to you that he could be leaving behind three sons, two daughters and one niece whom you pass on the path everyday?
I hope it...
A Different Kind of Diversity
By Sebastian Caliri and Jorden Zanazzi
Above a whole host of other virtues, Phillips Academy places a high premium on diversity. Accordingly, our school has a student body drawn from a spectacular variety of ethnic and socioeconomic backgrounds. But those are only two types of diversity. While we are succeeding by some definitions of the word, by other measures we are wholly failing in our mission to educate “youth from every quarter.” That is to say that when eight percent of Andover faculty members and roughly twenty-five percent of Andover students identify as politically conservative with the lion’s share of the remainder calling themselves liberal, we can be sure we are doing something wrong. The most pertinent reason behind taking in students from diverse backgrounds is to bring a wide variety of experiences and opinions to our campus. But what is the point if, no matter the color of one’s skin or the...