News

Club Leaders Hand Over Reins to Underclassmen

As Seniors shift their attention to tanning on the Great Lawn, underclassmen are assuming leadership roles for a variety of clubs on-campus. Pot Pourri, Asian Society, Philomathean Society, Model U.N. and many other clubs have announced their new boards. Chris Meyer ’11 and Kate Wiener ’11 will assume co-presidency of the Philomathean Society for the 2010-2011 year. Wiener said that she plans on creating a more inclusive atmosphere for their society in the coming year. “[Philomathean Society] has a deep history, but I want to make it more fun and welcoming for those who find public speaking difficult,” she said. Meyer said, “There is a certain reputation that Philo is overly competitive.” He explained that his board will change the reputation of the club to be more member-friendly without losing the competitive edge that they pride themselves on. Wiener said, “That being said, I think that we’ve done a good job for those who are passionate about debate. It’s filled with really talented people who love what they do.” Jennifer Schaffer ’10, Outgoing Co-President of Philomathean Society, said, “We are really excited for Chris and Kate. We have absolute confidence that they’ll lead the club well.” Schaffer said, “The things I’m going to miss are the little things. Things like working with my Co-President Sebastian Becker ’10, those were the most fun parts of Philo.” She said, “I think that Sebastian and I brought a new energy to Philo. We also had a very successful year on the novice, advanced and international level.” Schaffer will always remember when Andover hosted the most-attended DANEIS (Debating Association of New England Independent Schools) conference of the year. “It was great seeing all of these people running around debating. It was a huge ordeal,” Schaffer added. Hoonie Moon ’10 has handed over the presidency of the Model United Nations club to Jeremy Hutton ’11 and Kerry Lanzo ’11. Hutton says, “Model U.N. traditionally has a great turnout for the first week and then a drop in attendance. I want to see that first turnout continue.” “[At the national conferences] people get to compete with students from around the world. They are a lot of fun and I would like to continue [sending delegates to them],” Hutton continued. Under Hutton and Lanzo’s leadership, Model U.N. will begin to hold mini-conferences in order to attract more people who are interested in the club. Moon said, “Both Kerry and Jeremy have done a great job leading the team. I’m very confident that they will do a very good job.” According to Moon, his most memorable experience as President was when his board hosted a Model United Nations that included 5 schools and 140 delegates. “[The conference] was memorable because I’m sure if you talked to those who participated they would say how much they enjoyed it,” Moon said. Amber Quiñones ’11 will serve as the President of the Student Activities Board for the 2010-2011 school year, taking over for Alec Bingaman ’10. The new Student Activities Board plans to have more new, creative activities in the future as opposed to the annual events, such as Karaoke Night. “I just hope to make next year fun for myself, the board, and the school. The reason I had fun this year was because of the work the Students Activities Board put in for the weekends,” said Quiñones. “Hopefully, I will continue to bring fun to Andover. The first few weekends have been very successful,” Quiñones continued. Haley Scott ’11 will be stepping into the shoes of Claire King ’10 as the new Editor-in-Chief of Pot Pourri. One of Scott’s goals for next year’s yearbook is to have the entire student body photographed. “It is important for us to cover everyone so that everyone can relate to the book,” Scott said. To work towards this goal, Scott plans to send photographers to more events as well as classes and All-School Meetings. Scott said, “In the past few years we have produced some high quality books. So, [I hope] to continue [making] high quality yearbooks.” “I’m definitely going to organize [the yearbook] differently. I’m going to try to reduce the boring parts. I want to reduce the number of dorm pages and replace them with events people want to remember,” said Scott. Hector Kilgoe ’11 and Erica Morales-Jobse ’11 will be returning in the 10-11 school year as the Alianza Latina Co-Presidents. To Kilgoe, one of the most memorable moments of this year was the appreciation desert for the commons workers. “No one else on campus does an appreciation event so it seems like it’s an event that we should do. It’s also nice to know the people who handle your food,” Kilgoe said. Kilgoe hopes to improve the planning of Alianza Latina events and organize the club projects with stricter deadlines. Kilgoe said, “I want the whole campus to know that we exist and that we are here to educate the campus about the Latino community and celebrate Latino culture.” Jack You’10 will be handing over his duties as the President of Asian Society to Elisa Li ’11 and Seyoung Lee ’12 for the following year. “Elisa and Seyoung worked hard this year and it is the first time in a while that we have had a co-presidency,” said You. “I’m confident in our choice because I feel that they have a great balance of hard work, detail, and being outgoing,” he continued. You said, “The whole board is very balanced in terms of personalities and they will reach out a lot on campus.” You said that his most memorable moment as President was putting together the Asian Arts Festival. “I spent a lot of time organizing [the festival] and it was memorable for me to see it happen,” he said. Jackie Lender ’11 and April Liang ’11 will stand at the helm of the Community Service Program as Program Co-Managers for the 2010-2011 year. According to Lender, there are two program Co-Managers and three heads of individual categories of community service on campus. Lender said, “I want to continue holding group meetings. There are usually about 30 of us and we are able to learn from each others’ success.” “I really am looking forward to working with them next year,” she said.