The Senior Celebration Dinner is an annual tradition that brings Andover Seniors together to share a meal with various Andover alumni and trustees. This year’s dinner featured two-time Olympic gold medalist and alumna Caroline Lind ’02, who attained the title of the #1 Female Rower from the International Rowing Federation in 2014. The keynote speaker and other various attendees at roundtables fostered an evening of discussion and connections amongst guests.
Naomi Mashburn ’08, Assistant Director of Alumni Engagement, communicated that connections were among the primary goals of the senior celebration dinner. Mashburn, whose work focuses primarily on alumni engagement through the Student Alumni Representatives (STARS) program, elaborated on the opportunities offered by the event.
“The dinner is meant to feel welcoming and familial. We hope seniors find these conversations to easily cross generations and a variety [of] Andover experiences. We are so pleased that the senior class attends in such high numbers, taking advantage of this special opportunity to meet with alumni who care deeply about this institution and who will serve as their network for years to come,” said Mashburn.
Sophia Tabibian ’26 commented on how the Senior Celebration Dinner represented something entirely different than the other senior events.
“What made this event really special was that it was about forming bonds across different grades, and a lot of senior events are focused on strengthening the bonds within your own grade. But it was special that this one was centered on that and also how [we are] going to pay this forward. How are we going to look at ourselves in the future, and who do we want to emulate? A lot of senior events are about endings. Whereas being an Andover alumni is just the beginning. We’re entering a new chapter of Andover,” said Tabibian.
Denys Tereshchenko ’26 agreed with Tabibian’s sentiment, and reflected on how the dinner offered seniors a rare chance to gain perspective on life beyond Andover, even during the very busy final stretch of senior year.
“We can get more perspective on how we want to go moving forward, but also how we want to enter to go forward, which is harder to apply as a Senior because as a Senior, our focus is, especially in this stretch, we want to finish, we want to do all the stuff that we’ve already set out to do,” said Tereshchenko.
Tereshchenko added that the organization of the event allowed all students to meet and converse with alumni at their tables, creating a comfortable environment for conversation.
“It was cool because it was very nice that they shuffled [so] you structurally can’t have an all students table because they already have a certain group table. You have as many alumni per table as many students. It’s also nice that we managed to be able to choose as groups of students where to sit because that made the conversation flow more naturally,” said Tereshchenko.
Tasha Bohorad ’26 also commented on the event’s atmosphere, stating that the dinner felt far more relaxed and conversational than she had initially expected. As a STARS member, Bohorad explained that she had enjoyed listening to alumni’s remarks and experiences with life at and beyond Andover.
“It did not feel awkward at all. I didn’t feel like I was under a lot of pressure. It was just a conversation with my friends… [the alumni] were really fun to talk to. I’ve been doing stuff with alumni for at least two years now, since I was an upper, and I just love talking with them. I love hearing about their experiences as a student and sharing my experiences here. Seeing what they do now is really cool to me because a lot of people have conventional and unconventional paths,” said Bohorad.
