Students socialized and found community within one another at the Brace Center’s Tea Party.
On January 12, students made the trek to Abbot campus to partake in the Brace Center for Gender Studies’ first Brace Tea of the year. Complete with refreshments, Rice Krispie Treats, and cupcakes, the Tea was an opportunity for students to become more familiar with the Brace Center. The Brace Student Advisory Board and Dr. Patricia Har, Brace Center Director and Instructor in English, organized Brace Tea as a way to open the space up for students.
“We want students to feel welcome at Brace since everybody is encountering gender in one way or another, every minute of our lives, but we also wanted to provide a space where people can relax, have some food, have some tea or water, and decompress a little bit. I think if people then know where Brace is and come around more that’s wonderful, but it usually tends to be very informal, and I guess sometimes they’re playing a game, making a puzzle… Last year we had some coloring. I feel it’s just a place to be a person and not a student,” said Har.
Similarly, Prince LaPaz ’24, a Co-Head of the Brace Student Advisory Board, commented on the goals that they had for the Tea. According to LaPaz, he and fellow board members hoped to create a space for people to interact with others with similar interests in gender-related topics while having an opportunity to use the Brace Center space itself.
“The Brace Tea started last year, [and] basically, we started that just to have a space and a time to use the Brace Center, so that people would go after All-School Meetings and have a chance just to be in the Brace space and be in a space with others that care about gender. I think we’ll probably have, I imagine, maybe two or three more [Brace] Teas before the end of the year, at minimum. It depends on how free the Brace board is and what’s happening in the spring,” said LaPaz.
Students who attended the party mentioned its positive atmosphere. David Porto ’26, a first-time attendee of the event, commented on his experience overall and expressed how he enjoyed meeting new members of the community.
“It was a really fun event, I thought everyone there had a good time. There was pretty good food and pretty good snacks. I also thought that it was a nice environment to be in… Everyone was playing games, and I managed to have a fun time there and also meet new people,” said Porto.
Isa Matloff ’24 described how she enjoyed interacting with other students at Brace Tea. Matloff also highlighted Abbot’s long-lasting history and how the Tea gave some students a chance to become more familiar with Abbot campus.
“It was a very pleasant afternoon for me. I thought it was really great. I think it’s nice when people are able to go down and explore the Abbot campus, number one, and just get to spend time together and be in a space where people choose to be there, which is really awesome, but also getting to honor the legacy of Abbot and honor some of their tradition and that part of campus,” said Matloff.
Similarly, Olivia Isacson ’26 described how she felt that the event overall was very beneficial for newer students to be introduced to the Brace Center and Abbot campus. Isacson emphasized the area’s natural beauty and her own experience walking to the Tea Party.
“I think it was very helpful, especially to new students. We’re like, ‘Where is this Brace Center?’ I have never seen it. I just thought Brace was inside CaMD because the feminist clubs and the Gender and Sexuality Alliance [GSA] meet in CaMD. I do think it’s cool to go see Brace at Abbot campus because it’s part of Andover property. I think it’s a really cool space… it’s just gorgeous,” said Isacson.
Matloff said, “[The Brace Center] is the only… gender studies center for secondary [schools], which is a really awesome resource that we have on campus. I think it is underutilized because it’s so far away. People are less willing to attend brace presentations, and I think that Abbot campus as a whole, people just don’t want to go down there, so it sits there unused, which I think is a real shame. The Abbot legacy should continue.”
