Jonathan Oh ’27 (left) and Mwaita Nyakujarah ’27 (right) will serve as
Abbot’s 2026-2027 Cluster Co-Presidents.
Following the recent elections for next year’s Cluster Co-Presidents and Representatives, The Phillipian asked current Cluster Co-Presidents, Representatives, and Deans to provide insight into how these positions shape the Andover community.
Nafi Diagne ’26 described her weekly responsibilities as a Co-President of West Quad North. She outlined that her role involves attending formal meetings, such as Dean’s Table and Cluster Council, and fostering community at cluster munches.
“On Wednesdays, from 1-2 p.m., [we] have Dean’s Tables, which is all the Cluster Co-Presidents, the School Co-Presidents, and all the deans: Cluster Deans and the Dean of Students. We meet every week to talk about issues on campus, upcoming events for planning for the student body, and more. The next thing on Wednesday [nights] is we run cluster council, where two representatives [are sent] from each dorm in the cluster. We plan cluster bonding events, cluster meetings, and cluster dinners. Then there’s a cluster munch after cluster council until sign-in, where you’re just hanging out, being there as a face of the cluster, and interacting with students,” said Diagne.
She continued, “Every other Thursday morning, from 7:40 am to about when classes start, there’s student council, which has class representatives, student co-presidents, and cluster council. We plan [things] like Abbot [Semi-formal Dance] and class assassin. Then on Thursday evenings, usually there’s a [Growth and Accountability Plan] meeting or two.”
Jennifer Weissbach, Cluster Dean of West Quad South, explained the Cluster Representatives’ role in advocating for a student both before and during a GAP meeting.
“Our cluster reps are present for GAP meetings. Their responsibility is to reach out to the student who is sitting for the GAP meeting, meet with the student ahead of time to offer support, to help them with their reflection, to ask questions, and to get a better understanding of the situation. In the GAP meetings themselves, the intention is that [the cluster reps] have a large role, so they’re asking questions of the student, offering a student perspective, and really just being a student voice in the room to help navigate the conversation, whatever that looks like,” said Weissbach.
Eliza Francis ’26 is one of two Cluster Representatives from West Quad South. She reflected on the crucial balance between being empathetic and understanding of a situation and holding a student responsible for their actions.
“Something I specifically value and would recommend [to next year’s Cluster Representatives] is this idea of finding accountability within empathy. Obviously, empathy should be paramount and we should make sure to always treat our fellow peers with the utmost respect and understanding, but part of the reason why our Growth and Accountability system works is because it’s not just a pat on the leg. There’s an actual system in place to ensure that a student can be successful and not cause that harm to themselves or to any other campus member in the future. So we prioritize, ‘can we both look out for the student and then look out for the student’s behavior?”’ said Francis.
Amina Gorman ’26, a Cluster Representative in Flagstaff, elaborated on her responsibility as an expert on the Growth and Accountability Plan (GAP) and offering advice to students throughout the year.
“We are also supposed to be a support system before and after GAPs. If anyone has questions about how the GAP system works, even if they’re not in trouble, we’re not mandated reporters or anything. If someone has a hypothetical question about ‘how would this situation look in a GAP meeting,’ we are there to be able to give that guidance. We can also help people craft their reflections before their GAP meetings. A lot of times, people are kind of wary of talking to us. We are mandated to keep everything confidential, and we sign a contract,” said Gorman.
In an email to The Phillipian, Austin Washington, Cluster Dean of Flagstaff, highlighted the close community that student leaders intentionally aim to create through friendly interactions.
“These student leaders make the campus community richer simply by showing up and becoming a familiar face. We hope students come to recognize these student leaders as the kind of peers who would go out of their way to help a community member feel seen. That can mean doing something as simple as waving or saying hello when walking along the paths. It can also look like making an effort to be a friendly face at a cluster munch. These small acts of kindness go a long way toward making our campus feel more welcoming,” wrote Washington.
