Head of School Raynard Kington sank into a couch in the Freeman Room (comfy chair room) to tell a bedtime story to an admirable student turnout. Andover’s OWHL Book Club hosted a pajama party in the Oliver Wendell Holmes Library (OWHL) last Friday night where Kington selected a book to tell which related to him about Jamaica.
One attendee, George Stoody ’24 recapped the event. He highlighted the emphasis that the book club put on to get a chance to relax and take advantage of all that the OWHL has to offer.
“It was hosted by the OWHL book club. They had [Dr. Kington] as a special guest, and he came and read the story. [Afterwards], we were able to check out any books we wanted. The story was really fun; it had some good plot twists and turns. [There was] some good food [like] cookies and chocolate milk. You were just supposed to hang out. It was a pajama party, so it was very chill and to enjoy the books that the library has access to,” said Stoody.
Sahana Manikandan ’26 played a key role in the organization of the event. She recalled that she was inspired to further allow Andover students to relax and connect within the Andover community.
“We thought students become very busy [with] schoolwork, so this was a way to help peers connect and read what they wanted to. In regards to having Dr. Kington read a story, we thought that that would be a way for students to get to know him better and come together and listen to a story before they go on their own and read their own stories,” said Manikandan.
Manikandan also recalled some of the challenges that the club faced during the planning process. She highlighted student attendance as one of the primary concerns and noted the many ways in which the club sought to mitigate that problem.
“Our greatest challenge was ensuring that people would show up, because the one thing that we did was to put in all this effort, and have [our Head of School] come and speak, but no one would show up, so we made it a big effort of ours to spread the word, put it on Instagram, or on actual paper posters and put them up everywhere around school,” said Manikandan.
Michael Blake, Librarian and faculty advisor, assisted the book club throughout the planning and hosting process. Blake noted the impressive student attendance, however, stated his wish that even more students could have had closer interactions with the Head of School since most students at Andover do not see or have contact with him much.
“It was a well-attended event. I wish other students had been there to see [Dr. Kington] in a role that wasn’t the Head of School role. He was a storyteller. It was really interesting to see him in that role, and he did a very good job. [It was a] great success. He read for about 20 minutes. [It was a] very engaging short story. [After], he talked about the type of story it was, and why it was intriguing for him to read [it],” said Blake.
Spencer Salhanick ’24, another attendee of the event also noted the unique experience he had witnessing Kington in a relaxed environment. He also admired the book that Kington read, recalling his interest in it and the new subject that he was exposed to.
“It’s cool to have this contact with Dr. Kington because I think one of the things people say about him is that he has less contact with students. I think closing that gap is something that’s definitely cool and worthwhile. It was also really cool because he read a book from the Caribbean that represented him in a way, [which] I thought was interesting because I never would have thought to read those books,” said Salhanick.
