News
Silversides to Step Into Bewig’s Shoes as College Counselor
Bachelor Enjoys Smooth Transition From College Admission Officer to College Counselor
By Andrew Cho
Published on May 27, 2010 in CXXXIII no. 13Stephen Silversides, Associate Dean of Admissions, will replace Carl Bewig as Associate Dean of College Counseling next year.
Bewig is retiring at the end of this year under the Voluntary Retirement Incentive Program (VRIP).
Silversides said, “College counseling has been a career aspiration of mine, and I am very excited to be working with the students next year. I realize that the college admission process can be stressful for many students, and I will be fully committed to helping my counselees navigate the process and find the right school for them where they will most enjoy their college life.”
Bewig, who has served as the Associate Dean of College Counseling for the past 24 years, said, “I think Mr. Silversides is very qualified for the job and given his previous experiences working as an admission officer at Colgate University, he brings good and relevant knowledge into the profession.”
Following Bewig’s retirement,...
Two Andover Students Head to Maryland to Participate in Physics Training Camp
By Brian Delaney
Published on May 27, 2010 in CXXXIII no. 13David Field ’10 and James Lim ’12 traveled to the University of Maryland, College Park this week to participate in the United States Physics Team Training Camp.
The camp is designed to educate the top 20 qualifiers from the prerequisite exam and filter the participants to determine the five members of the U.S. Physics Traveling Team that will compete in the International Physics Olympiad this July in Zagreb, Croatia.
The selection process began in January when over 3300 students took the first round exam. Field and Lim, along with eight other Andover students, were selected as national semi-finalists.
The ten Andover students took yet another exam but only Lim and Field qualified to attend the camp in Maryland.
Lim said, “As a first-year team member, I hope to get myself ready for next year’s session, when I will be a returning member and have a much better aim for the [International...
Harvard Professor and Andover Grad Present on Sleep
By Raeva Kumar
Published on May 27, 2010 in CXXXIII no. 13James Quattrochi, Lecturer on Molecular and Cellular Biology at Harvard University, teamed up with Justin Chew ’07, a Harvard neurobiology major, to educate Andover students on the value of sleep and its effect on a student’s test taking ability this past Wednesday. Chew said, “One of the main reasons I wanted to come back [to PA] and do this was because I wanted to spread this method of teaching. It’s a really new and innovative way to teach, [because] the learning is in [the students’] hands.”
Chew is one of the students in a class Quattrochi teaches that heavily utilizes case studies. The class examined nine scenarios in total this year, using Internet forums as tools to interact with their subjects to gather data.
The presentation, made possible by the Phillips Academy Science Club, featured an in-depth interactive case study based on two real-life Harvard Law School students, Karin...
Funds Raised for Commons Worker
Over $1000 raised from fundraisers across campus
By Apsara Iyer
Published on May 27, 2010 in CXXXIII no. 13A devastating fire destroyed the home of Paresky Commons staff member Deyanira “Bola” Espinoza, prompting fundraisers by Andover students and faculty this past weekend. The fire started after a six-year-old boy, who did not live in Espinoza’s house or the neighborhood, started playing with matches and accidentally set a bunk bed mattress on fire. The fire spread and burned down Espinoza’s home. At the time of the fire, Espinoza had taken her four children to a nearby park. No one in Espinoza’s family was injured. Members of the two other families that share the triple-decker building are also not injured. After hearing about the fire, Espinoza said, “I didn’t know what to do at that time. I was going crazy, because even my mom wasn’t there, so I didn’t have a place to stay. The first thing I did was go to my friend’s house, and I...
Study shows that 26 percent of boarders have left the dorm after final sign-in; 15 percent of students have cheated on a test
By Danny Gottfied
Published on May 27, 2010 in CXXXIII no. 13The percentage of students who report having consumed alcohol on campus has decreased, the number of self-identified hard drug users has dropped slightly and the number of students who believe the Disciplinary Committee system is fair has risen according to the 2010 State of the Academy Survey.
556 Andover students participated in the survey, 55 percent of which were female and 45 percent being male.
Boarders provided 71 percent of answers for the survey while day students provided 29 percent of responses.
According to the survey, 28.7 percent of students have used marijuana. Of students who reported using marijuana within one week of taking the survey, more than a third reported being ‘sometimes’ or ‘rarely’ happy.
4.5 percent of students reported using hard drugs or narcotics, including cocaine or heroin. 9.3 percent of students have used hallucinogens including LSD, psycoblin, also known as ‘shrooms’, or salvia. 7.4 percent of students have...
Seniors Gift Sees 89 Percent Participation Rate, Class of ’85 Plans To Match Gift if Participation Reaches 90 Percent
By Dennis Zhou
Published on May 27, 2010 in CXXXIII no. 13Andover students and alumni bridged a 25-year gap to collaborate on the Class of 2010’s Senior Gift.
The Class of 1985 pledged to match the Class of 2010’s donation up to $10,000 if student contribution reaches 90 percent, hoping to spark student participation in the Senior Gift. As of now, the Class of 2010 remains very close to reaching its goals. Deborah Murphy ’86, Director of Alumni Affairs, said that 89 percent of Seniors have contributed to the Senior Gift.
At 89 percent, this year’s Senior Gift has already achieved the second highest student membership rate in Andover’s history. The Class of 2009 holds the all-time record of 93 percent.
“[2010] set this goal to reach 90 percent from the beginning. It’s incredibly exciting that they’re so close,” said Murphy. “Hopefully, every student feels that they have a reason to donate to Andover,” said Murphy. “The Senior Gift is about...
Students to Engage in Academic and Athletic Endeavors Over the Summer
By Danny Gottfried
Published on May 27, 2010 in CXXXIII no. 13Andover students keep themselves as busy during the summers as they do in the school year. This year, student summer plans range from working in laboratories, competing in national law competitions and attending athletic recruiting camps.
Luke Hansen ’11 will be working at the Research Science Institute, a program held at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. At RSI, Hansen will be working with a mentor in the fields of biological and molecular technology.
Hansen will also work in the same laboratory that he worked in last summer at Dartmouth College’s Thayer School of Engineering. “[Last summer] I worked with a protein called GCSF that stimulates white blood cell growth after chemotherapy in cancer patients,” said Hansen. “We want to make it more efficient so patients don’t need to go through as many injection cycles.”
Hansen said that he feels passionate about his work because it enables him to work with...
Discipline at our Peer Schools How Choate, Deerfield, Exeter and Loomis Deal with Discipline
By The Phillipian
Published on May 27, 2010 in CXXXIII no. 13With 15 student disciplinary representatives, student involvement in Andover’s DC system is larger than student participation in the DC systems of its peer schools.
Andover, Phillips Exeter Academy, Loomis Chaffee, Deerfield Academy and Choate Rosemary Hall have similar disciplinary procedures.
At all five schools, one member of the administration holds the right to make the final disciplinary decision, even if their decision opposes the committee’s recommendation. Exeter’s disciplinary committee holds more power in decision-making.
Paul Murphy, Dean of Students and Residential Life, said, “I think that the final [disciplinary] decision [at Andover] should be up to the Dean of Students, because it alleviates the pressure on the Disciplinary Committee of its ultimate responsibility in decision making.”
At Andover, the Head of School is not involved in the disciplinary process.
“We’ve moved away from the model where the Head of School makes all decisions. The Dean of Students makes the final decision and...
State of the Academy: Part IV
By The Phillipian
Published on May 27, 2010 in CXXXIII no. 13Please click HERE to State of the Academy: Part III. You will need a PDF viewer to be able to read this article....
Wheeler Fabricates PA Record
Andover Administration to Cooperate Fully with Further Investigations
By Brian Delaney
Published on May 20, 2010 in CXXXIII no. 12When Adam B. Wheeler applied to Harvard University with a perfect record from Phillips Academy, it was just too good to be true.
According to a press release from the Middlesex District Attorney, Wheeler has been arraigned on 20 offenses involving larceny, identity fraud, falsifying an endorsement and pretending to hold a degree. One of the falsifications was a transcript from Phillips Academy on which he claimed nearly perfect grades.
However, the press release stated, Wheeler fabricated the application that he sent to Harvard University, and never attended either Phillips Academy or Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).
Tracy Sweet, Director of Academy Communications, said, “The individual arrested in connection with this case has had no association whatsoever with Phillips Academy. The Academy will continue to cooperate fully with the district attorney’s investigation.” “The Academy has cooperated fully with the [District Attorney’s] ongoing investigation, but, until this week, has had few...