Midway through Winter Term each year, Andover students complete a written reflection titled “A Letter to the Adults in my Life,” where they reflect on their past year’s experience. Following the reflection, students meet with their point person to discuss the reflection, which is eventually shared with parents and made available to campus adults.
Students were alerted of this year’s reflection via email by Aya Murata, Assistant Dean of Students, on January 13. Murata encouraged Andover students to embrace this letter as an opportunity to reflect on their time at Andover, rather than as an additional obligation.
“The hope is that students feel that they can be vulnerable and honest in taking a hard look at themselves and where they’re at,” said Murata. “Most students, when they come here, pride themselves on their level of independence to a certain degree and feel very independent. But you can’t be in a solo act. In this place you need to be able to lean on others. You gain a lot from those relationships and the interconnected web of being in relationships with others.”
Several students expressed appreciation for the opportunity to reflect on their time at Andover. Philip Molina ’28 noted that the reflection reminded him to be grateful in a demanding academic environment.
“At Andover, it’s pretty easy to forget that being here is a privilege, as it can sometimes feel like a burden with all of our classes and busy work. Stepping back and taking the time to actually appreciate everything about this place really made me grateful,” said Molina.
As a new student, Chance Hernandez ’29 expressed that the reflection’s timing could be improved due to approaching midterms. Hernandez highlighted suggestions for the reflection.
“When I first saw this email, even though being introspective and aware of yourself and your goals is important, this wasn’t given at the best time. It feels like we’re just getting another thing to do that we need,” said Hernandez. “It comes out of nowhere. I didn’t know that I’d get one until the day that I got the email. There could be some more words spared to explain [its usefulness] for the person completing it,” said Hernandez.
Some students noted that every student’s mindset determines how personally valuable the reflection is. Frank Hu ’26 viewed that students who approach the reflection openly were more likely to benefit, and found the in-person check-in an effective means of student support.
“It’s really a mentality thing. If a student thinks that it’s important to complete, then the student will get a decent amount out of it. But if it’s just seen as busy work that you have to do, and you don’t really take the time to think, then I don’t think it’s very helpful,” said Hu.
Hu continued, “In my Lower year, my conversation with my point person felt nice [as] someone was checking in on me. At a big school like Andover, it’s easy to feel lost in the crowd. It’s nice to get a little bit of one-on-one attention just to make sure everything’s all right and things are going smoothly.”
Hannah Oh ’27 expressed that the reflection tends to be more useful to lowerclassmen. Over time, though, she mentioned that its helpfulness diminished.
“For me, it was more helpful as a lowerclassman because it’s kind of hard and there were so many thoughts in my head. I feel like the mid-year reflection really helped me in my [Junior] and Lower years. But now that I’m an Upper, I’m in the groove of things so it feels like an unnecessary step that I have to take, but it’s different for everyone,” said Oh.
For Quentin Cynn ’28, speaking with his point person was more useful than writing the reflection. He explained that writing the reflection did not encourage him to reflect in the way a conversation would, and shared a potential change.
“I would scrap the essay part, and just have it be a longer conversation with your point person. Because in a conversation you can’t be idle, you have to actually put thought behind your words. That’s more helpful than just brain-dead writing. So if I had to change something it would be to do a 30-minute talk with your point person,” said Cynn.
