The Board of Trustees arrived on Andover’s campus on November 2 for the first Trustee Weekend of the 2023-2024 school year. A major highlight was raising the final beam for the new music building, Falls Hall, which is set to be completed in Fall 2024.
Falls Hall is named in honor of the President of the Board of Trustees, Amy Falls ’89, P’19, ’21 and her husband, Hartley Rogers P’19, ’21. Falls commented on the ceremonial raising of the beam, explaining the meaning behind the American flag and small tree that were lifted with the beam.
“It felt like the community coming together and celebrating that which is good and enduring at Andover. And it felt particularly important in this moment of terrible bloodshed and grief. So it actually meant more to me, then just like a beam, but it was something bigger than that, and I think, frankly, much bigger than the building itself… The beam going up with the tree symbolizing life and the flag symbolizing maybe that we can be a good country with a good impact on the world,” said Falls.
During her time as an Andover student, Falls took an art class nearly every term, not because she was naturally gifted in the subject but because she loved the escape it offered her. She hopes that Falls Hall can embody that experience she had as a student.
“What [Falls Hall] really is, is a love of Andover and the Andover community and the students. And the reason the music building felt important was we needed it, but also, music is like all the arts and sports and extracurriculars. It’s hopefully a source of joy, and having a beautiful space to refresh your spirit. Maybe you’re an awesome musician, maybe you’re just learning how to play, maybe you’re just using it as a study space. But I think creating these places where people can transcend the sadness, and the trauma really of life [is important],” said Falls.
Another ongoing project the Trustees are involved in is the campus “Master Plan.” As of now there are discussions of possibly building new dorms, but it has yet to be finalized.
“So it is true that we are thinking about building new dorms, it is not true that we are going to build their dorms. So it is one proposal in a Master Plan for the campus. And if we build new dorms, there would also be a question about how those dorms get populated… There are three different things. It could be a bigger school. It could be…changing boarding [to a] day [student] mix. It also could be [removing] some of the very small dorms of four or five people… So nothing’s been decided, but they could serve any of those purposes,” said Falls.
If new dorms do get built in the future, Falls spoke about why she believes additional large dorms could benefit the campus and the student body.
“There is some value in these slightly larger, 30 person dorms because part of what I think is so special about the Andover experience, and I really felt this way as a parent, was the other kids… It’s a unique moment to meet people at a very unique time in your life from all over the world. And I think there can be a tendency to get into a group and stay in that group. And I think that the benefit of being in a 20 or 30, person dorm is you still have your close friends, but it keeps you meeting, and engaged with a wider subsection of the population,” said Falls.
Falls also reiterated that the Trustees make a joint effort to stay in touch with the student experience. Falls feels that being a parent of two alumnus has helped her understand the needs of students and empathize with fellow parents.
“I think [as a parent] you have a better sense of what students are experiencing. Albeit a biased sense, because it’s coming from your student. I think the board tries to listen to students, I think it’s important to get the student experience… I have often found, and I know a lot of my board colleagues agree with this, that the best part of the board meetings are those student interactions, and I can tell you frequently insights come up there that we talk about,” said Falls.
