The Winter Trustee Weekend kicked off with faculty and students hosting trustees in their academic classes across campus on Friday afternoon to provide insight into the Andover classroom experience.
The weekend targeted the learning experience of the individual student, according to the Trustee Weekend press release. In addition to visiting classes, trustees and members of the faculty explored design thinking with Kiran Sethi, who founded the Riverside School in India to combine skill and academic knowledge with an understanding of current issues in the community such as democracy and human rights.
Trustees have woven elements of Sethi’s educational mindset, including her four design fundamentals of “Feel, Do, Imagine, Share,” into Andover’s Strategic Plan, “Connecting Our Strengths: The Andover Endeavor,” according to the press release.
Trustees also discussed new projects such as a new field house and squash complex to be located north of Phelps Stadium.
Other projects include the transition of Isham Health Center into full residential housing. Once the Rebecca M. Sykes Wellness Center finishes completion in December, Isham will become a 30-bedroom dorm with three faculty apartments.
Trustees also celebrated five members of the Andover faculty who were receiving teaching honors: Emmanuel Odjo, Instructor in French, Peter Neissa, Instructor in Spanish, Lani Silversides, Instructor in Math, Christina Landolt, Instructor in Music, and John Bird, Instructor in English.
These five instructors were acknowledged for their exceptional work all across campus and were recognized by faculty and students alike, according to the press release.
“[Bird] was quirky not only in personality, but in his teaching style too. When writing essays, intros were not a thing in his class; you just had to get straight to the point,” said Evie Elson ’15.
Trustees were able to attend classes Odjo’s French 400 class, in which he and his students examined women’s status in African society, as well as a piece by Winnie Mandela, a South African activist and politician and the wife of the late Nelson Mandela.
“Odjo is, hands down, one of the most wonderful people I’ve ever met… His genuine care and compassion never ceases to amaze me and continues to inspire me on a daily basis. Odjo’s outlook on life and teaching style is not only refreshing, but causes me to put life into perspective,” said Catalina Feder ’15.
Trustee Weekend also included a dinner in Paresky Commons, where members of the student Chamber Music Society performed a rendition of Peter Tchaikovsky’s “Souvenir de Florence,” Op. 70. Chamber Music Society will also perform the piece in March at The Shanghai International Arts Festival. In addition, the trustees approved the fundamental components of the 2015-2016 budget and engaged with representatives of the New York-based architecture firm Beyer Blinder Belle about campus master planning.
