The Phillipian, Vol. CXLVI. Writing for The Phillipian was her first experience with journalism; Hassanein would go on to become a staff writer and study at the School of the New York Times over the summer before her Lower Year. Before becoming EIC, Hassanein was a member of the Varsity Diving team and a Day Student Mentor. In retirement from The Phillipian, she uses her time to play piano and spend time with her friends.
I decided to join The Phillipian because it was the only club running on campus [during Covid-19]. I started writing for the Arts section and I… wrote a few articles for the News section. I think I started maybe the third or fourth week of my Freshman Year, and then I kept writing every single weekend just because I liked it. I had no idea what Upper Management was. I didn’t know what Editor-in-Chief was. I was purely writing to do something and connect with the community on campus. I remember just being so proud. I think it was in January or February [when] I finally got my [first] solo article, and it was a movie review of the top ten best Netflix movies, and so I remember watching all these movies that weekend so I could rank them. I was just so happy to be writing this article, and so proud of myself. I think that’s why I’ve really enjoyed it because I had something at Andover that was my own.
[The School] was in Washington DC and it was taught by a New York Times journalist… While I was there, we got opportunities to interview people on the streets in DC and we actually went into DC directly after Roe v. Wade was overturned at the Supreme Court. So, we went to that protest and interviewed people on both sides of the issue, and I think that was really the first moment that I was like, ‘Wow, I can make an impact on people’s lives,’ and reporting on live events in front of me. I was really interested in and being in that environment at the Supreme Court and that was intriguing to me.
I had a bunch of commitments last year, but [this year] I didn’t really do that much because of Editor-in-Chief. I’ve always played piano for the past seven or eight years, [but] I had to drop that [when I was] Editor-in-Chief and now I’m getting back into it. I have my Senior recital this spring, and I’m playing Swan Lake, which is a really big piece… I’m just getting back into doing that sort of stuff and… hanging out with my friends now and enjoying all those aspects of Andover and being on campus.
Jackie Kennedy Onassis, because I think she was a really powerful woman in different ways. I’ve also always been interested in fashion — I just took fashion history this Winter Term. I love seeing political figures like Jackie O., being first lady and how she interrupted the fashion game through her power. It’d be really interesting to sit down with her and talk about her life. She had lived a really interesting life and a very privileged life, so I would love to interview her about that.
I’ve interviewed really cool people, but I have to say my favorite experience was [being] in the Newsroom, just hanging out with my fellow editors and UM members. Specifically, I have to shout out Vera [Zhang ’24]. She was just really incredible this whole year. We used to sing ABBA songs together in the Newsroom, especially when it was late and the paper was getting in late, and she was always such a bright positive light and became one of my closest friends, so anytime with her in the Newsroom was always a good time. We loved to sing and goof around, and I love Vera.
One of the main things that I wasn’t expecting about Editor-in-Chief was that a lot of people have a lot of different opinions, and you’re going to get a lot of emails about people expressing their opinions. Dealing with that in a constructive way, not taking it too personally, and understanding that it’s a comment on the paper and not necessarily something I personally am doing. Those were all really good learning moments for me: [learning] how to take those comments to make the paper better instead of sitting around feeling bad about it. Those are moments where I really grew as a person and I had to dig in deep to find the confidence and all of that to keep going and continue making the paper better.
It doesn’t really matter what you do. [What matters is] how you treat the people around you. The Phillipian is great and all, but if you aren’t a kind person at the end of the day — if you aren’t bringing positivity and helping and supporting the people around you, if you aren’t being a good daughter, if you aren’t being a good friend, if you’re not being a good teammate — those things are going to live on much longer than any of the work you do at Andover. That’s what I really learned throughout these past four years, is just to be a good person, support your friends. Be a good daughter, [and] remember the things that are important in life… It’s good to keep that perspective and remember [to] just first, be a good person.
I wrote this [article on how] a faculty member, Tom McGraw, had passed away and I interviewed all these people for the article and it was really great… We did a big spread of all these quotes because he had impacted so many people at Andover, and I really, really liked learning about Tom’s life. That was a moment where I realized The Phillipian is much bigger than me. We’re writing articles… that are going to live in the archives forever, and to be able to hear how people talked about this teacher who impacted so many of his students and was such an incredible person, that was really, really heartwarming to me… Getting that perspective [that] at the end of the day, how you treat people is what’s going to last much longer than the work you do.
Start writing. It doesn’t matter if it’s bad or good. I remember when I wrote my first article, my co-writer, who was a Lower at the time, I was a Freshman, they would just tell me to write. I was so scared to write my first [para]graph and I didn’t know what I was doing, but they were just like, ‘Write it, just start writing.’ That’s really important. If you start writing, you’ll get better and it doesn’t matter how bad you are. There’s Associate [Editors] and Editors to edit [articles]… Write and love what you’re doing. If you don’t like it, then don’t do it.
I’m one of those people [who] do not live with regret, so I would absolutely do nothing different. I truly, truly believe that everything happens for a reason, like God has a plan for my life, and I’m going to trust the path, and I don’t have any regrets. I wouldn’t do anything different. Everything’s a learning opportunity. Everything has several silver linings, and [for] the path for the next four years, the path for the rest of my life, I’m just going to keep working hard and doing what I love and it’ll all figure itself out. The past four years at Andover, I’ve learned so much, and I’ll bring that into my next chapter in this life.
