Students attended Dr. Kington’s first Head of School munch
Dr. Raynard Kington, Head of School (HOS), hosted the first HOS munch of his tenure, in the Falls Music Center on Wednesday. Kington’s HOS munches will continue to occur twice a month for the rest of the year.
On January 24th, The Phillipian published an editorial inviting Kington to connect with students more, for example, by hosting munches in Phelps house. The editorial cited State of the Academy (SOTA) data from 2024, which indicated that 82.2% of students did not think that Kington connects with the student body. Kington said that establishing a connection with the student body had been difficult since the pandemic, and the editorial was a contributing factor to instating these munches.
“[An issue the editorial highlighted] was contact with students. That’s been a running issue. I started during the pandemic, during the lockdown. It’s been a complicated process of hitting the right rhythm, partly because my travels picked up more and we have these intense periods. During January, I went to New York, Bangkok, Hong Kong, Seoul, [and] San Francisco,” said Kington.
While Wednesday’s munch replaced the regular cluster munches, Kington said in the future the two will coexist with a schedule of HOS munches aligning with his travel schedule.
“[The HOS munches will] be a greater chance of random connections. I actually think random connections are good. In broader society, there’s a lot of evidence that people are not connecting as much as they used to. In almost every way imaginable, you’re seeing this contraction of social networks. And we’re seeing that [at Andover] too,” said Kington.
Kington later added in an email to The Phillipian, “I had been thinking about doing something along these lines off and on for a while, but the editorial certainly helped nudge me, along with conversations with my sons,” wrote Kington.
Hundreds of students attended the munch, with the line of students almost stretching out of the door. Along with allowing the student body to engage with Kington, Kaylee Xie ’28 noted that a schoolwide munch provided a targeted opportunity for kids to gather and socialize with each other.
“Other than [Paresky] Commons, there are not many places where people come together as a school community. This munch is kind of incentivizing people to come together and hang out with a lot of people,” said Xie.
Xie continued, “Even though we have normal munches, [this] allows for the community to come together more as a whole rather than clusters. In general, that is what munches should be: coming together and having fun for a little bit.”
On the other hand, Nathan Ramani ’27 said he preferred the less crowded cluster munch environments. He elaborated on the unique challenges that high turnout posed in terms of attendee experience.
“The line was just insane, and they had to change the rules about how many churros and empanadas people could get, and so towards the end of the munch, it just got really inconvenient. In my opinion, cluster munches are more about building community whereas this is not really about building community. This is about getting food and getting out of the crowds,” said Ramani.
Ramani continued, stating his appreciation for Kington’s participation at the event and encouraged Kington to continue casually engaging with the student body.
“It’s not the events that will increase the engagement with students, it’s [Kington] actually interacting with students. While he was in the line, he was talking to a bunch of kids just about how stuff is going, and I think that’s the way to increase engagement. I think [munches are] a good idea” said Ramani.
Editor’s Note: Four members of The Phillipian contributed to this article, including Editor in Chief Micheal Kawooya, Executive Editor Kate Rodgers, Staff Writer Niki Tavakoli, and Vedant Bajaj.
