On Friday, The Courant’s launch party transformed the patio outside Susie’s into a vibrant celebration of student writing, publication, and artwork. The party, organized by Co-Editors-in-Chief Maggie Fulop ’26 and Keren Song ’26, marked the return of a Courant tradition that had faded after the pandemic, bringing together readers, contributors, and faculty members all across campus.
Founded in 1873 by students at Abbot Academy, The Courant is Andover’s oldest literary magazine, and remains one of the school’s significant outlets for student literature and visual art. Song elaborated on the magazine’s history.
“The Courant is Andover’s oldest and most premiere literary magazine. It was originally made to rival the Phillips Academy Mirror, which was the Andover boys’ counterpart back then… The Courant annually publishes one issue. This is our annual issue, and it featured student prose, poetry, ceramics, paintings, photography, and the invisible work of a whole team of students working to make it happen,” said Song.
Although The Courant had continued selling magazines in recent years, the board wanted this year’s launch to feel like a fuller celebration of student publications. Song explained that since the pandemic, many publications had struggled with readership and activity, so the launch party became a way to reintroduce those groups to the campus community.
“As far as we know, there were launch parties like the one that we hosted last Friday [in the past], but since the pandemic we haven’t had a proper launch party. We’ve had more magazine sales, but we decided that it’s been long enough that it’s time for us to bring it back, and also at the same time reinvigorate student publications on campus that had been still struggling with the impact of the pandemic on their readership and activities. So we invited PA Food Society, the Revere, the Science and Tech Review, The Andover Edition, F-Stop, and more to our launch party. It was a joint student publication celebration where our goal was to acknowledge and celebrate student talents across many fields, especially in literature and arts,” said Song.
Fulop recounted the many moving parts that went into executing the launch party.
“It was really nice working with Keren and the rest of The Courant UM to make the event happen. When I first brought up the idea for a bigger communal launch party early in the spring, we had some concerns about logistics, but thankfully everyone was willing to take on the extra work. It took a lot of meetings with Mr. Capano, and effort on the board’s part to shift our publication timeline earlier to allow us time for planning the party. Our advisors, Dr. Erdmann and Mr. Calleja, were both incredibly supportive, and we are really lucky that other clubs took the time to participate. The whole thing was truly a group effort, and it was really satisfying to see our shared vision come to fruition,” said Fulop.
Song described the decorations, food, and music as central to the event, while also emphasizing the joy of preparation alongside peers.
“Well, [the launch party] was amazing. We had a color scheme going on… we had tablecloths and decorations that were black, white, gold, and silver. Putting up the decorations with my friends that I had been working with for the past year was really fun. We also had amazing food catered by Commons. We had cheese platters, berries, crackers, a sheet cake that said ‘The Courant Launch Party 2026,’ and drinks. We also had a zine-making station. The variety that we could offer, and the process of preparing [for it] with some of my closest friends, was really fun,” said Song.
Song also recalled observing writers actively speaking with friends who had come to support them, as well as faculty members celebrating their students’ writing and art.
“I saw a lot of relationships [being] affirmed and strengthened by the launch party… A lot of writers were happy that their friends came to see and buy an issue and chat with them about their works. There were English department teachers and other department faculty members there to celebrate their students’ works. It was just very heartwarming to see those connections formed, fostered, and further strengthened by student voices that were reflected in The Courant. We’re hoping that it’ll become an annual tradition of The Courant,” said Song.
