In five weeks, the Seniors will walk across the Great Lawn for the last time as students. With midterms over, the Class of 2024 has started to collect their last experiences at Andover. The Seniors’ last class meeting occurred during protected time on April 18. The following week, members of the graduating class were invited to a conversation about alumni resources with Thomas Lockerby, Secretary of the Academy.
Max Huang ’24 spoke about the events of the final senior meeting and his feelings regarding the upcoming graduation. Huang expressed sadness about leaving Andover, noting that the term will give closure to his years at Andover.
“After the first period, all seniors gathered in the Chapel and the Cluster Co-Presidents gave us a briefing on senior policies before we graduate. Then, some of the faculty told us about the exciting events that are planned, including all of the events at graduation. I’m really excited because my time at Andover is coming to an end. This is a great time to reflect on all of the memories I have made and make some final new memories before I head out,” said Huang.
Emerson Kington ’24 expressed excitement about the upcoming senior activities this spring. He was especially excited about being able to make up for activities the Class of 2024 missed out on during freshman year due to Covid-19. Kington shared his thoughts on graduation and moving on from Andover next year.
“We got a snapshot of the upcoming activities for the senior class this spring, and [we discussed] graduation. I think one activity was an orientation activity that we didn’t get to do as freshmen [because of] Covid[-19]. I didn’t realize [graduation] was six weeks away until one of the faculty said it, but I’m pretty excited. I think that it is probably about time. I will miss this place, but it will be nice to move on,” said Kington.
Following the class meeting, Lockerby hosted a panel-format conversation with Student Body Co-Presidents Eleanor DeHoog ’24 and Ryan Lam ’24 to inform seniors about the next steps on their journeys of becoming alumni. The panel overviewed what it would be like as an alumni, which included ways Seniors can continue to support the school after graduation.
“These students are only going to enroll for another 40 days, and they will be for the rest of their lives, alumni. While student life is looming large for them, they will be alumni for far longer than they will actually have been students. The content was really to share with them [what] it’s like to start becoming alumni of the school, mostly how the school provides resources for them as they connect with each other and fellow alumni after graduation. [The content also included] expectations and hopes that we have of how they might volunteer to help fellow alumni and the school and support the school with philanthropic giving,” said Lockerby.
Ashley Park ’24 spoke on staying connected to Andover’s community post-graduation. This included what she was most excited about as an upcoming alumni as well as Andover’s large outreach. She noted that it was comforting to have a clear path of how events will work outside of Andover.
“The biggest thing that resonated with me is the reunions that happen every five years. I think that’s really what makes Andover a strong community because there’s not a lot of schools that have this strong system where they have over 25,000 alums who are still active within Andover. It was really nice to see that they had a concrete plan on how there are representatives for each grade who initiate these events, and they also have more specific events located all around the world,” said Park.
Lockerby spoke further about how becoming an alum of Andover is an experience that all students will go through, and upon graduation, students will enter into a strong alumni community. Lockerby suggests that students should anticipate this even before Senior year, and take advantage of the resources currently offered on campus in order to be impactful alumni.
“Students [should] think about this, to anticipate even as Juniors, Lowers, and Uppers, that they will eventually be graduates of Andover. So to recognize that there are so many resources and opportunities here, but they also have this opportunity [to be a part of an alumni] community that they are joining and [to] think about how fortunate they are to have that community and how fortunate that community will be to have them. Each [student] will materially change our alumni body, and that’s really exciting,” said Lockerby.
