For the 2024-2025 school year, students will now gather for All-School Meetings (ASM) every other week in a new effort to prioritize quality speakers and improve student engagement. This new system has now returned to the old schedule implemented in the 2021-2022 school year, after changes that led ASMs to alternate between Thursday and Friday every other week in the 2022-2023 school year before every Friday in the 2023-24 school year.
Last year, the switch to weekly ASM was intended to cultivate community and bring the student body together. Merilee Mardon, Deputy Head of School, noted that while the meetings united Andover, the schedule also had its pitfalls.
“The positives [of weekly ASM] is that it is so great to get the whole school together every week because it’s a wonderful school. It’s so nice to hear the great questions from students. There were these moments that were really beautiful, and the whole school’s together. It’s also true that on Friday, students might be coming from two long blocks in a row, and ASM is right before lunch, not every seat is awesome, and not all the acoustics are awesome. Sometimes things did not go that well,” said Mardon.
2024-2025 Student Body Co-President, Nate Liang ’25 elaborated on student feedback that pushed for the change in the ASM system. When ASM isn’t meeting, Liang explained that popular events will improve student engagement, helping the selected speakers reach the Andover community more effectively.
“When people came in to talk about their views, a main theme that came up was that the level of engagement in traditional ASMs just wasn’t there anymore. We know that a lot of people were really excited about Snooze the Blues activities from last winter so we sort of just wanted to build on that kind of hype… to keep student engagement generally at a high this year,” said Liang.
Henry Zimmerman ’27 reflected on how this biweekly format will allow for more student attentiveness at ASM and provide room for community-building initiatives every non-ASM week. He also recognized that it will take time to evaluate the new format and determine the success of the new system.
“The changes to ASM provide a space where students are more engaged at least every other week. And then when they do come to ASM every other week, they are more receptive to the amazing lineup of speakers we have. On days that aren’t [ASMs], there are many opportunities for community building and more targeted initiatives [that were] previously lacking in scheduled time,” said Zimmerman.
Reflecting on how the new ASM system has changed her scheduling, Star Nunez ’26 commented on how the biweekly ASMs have the potential to provide students with more time. Nunez also commented on the diversity of the speakers and the importance of a theme.
“[Andover] should just give the whole block off, [then] I would have the opportunity to be more productive. It could be protected time or another conference period. That would help a lot. [They also] need to diversify their speakers, and have a better plan in regards to how they will connect with each other throughout the entire year,” said Nunez.
Nunez’s sentiment about diversifying speakers is shared by many Andover students. Last year’s State of the Academy found that 43.7 percent of students do not believe Andover promotes ideological diversity in its selection of speakers. With the 2024 elections coming up, learning how to navigate a politically charged climate is essential for Andover students. With this in mind, Mardon explained that biweekly ASMs will incorporate speakers aimed to improve political discourse on campus.
“One of the things we are trying to do this fall is focus on the skills we want students to have. We want to give students the ability to be independent thinkers, make their own decisions, and have respectful conversations with other people. We should lean into helping them find and discern information. For example, Mr. [Leon] Calleja, [English Department Chair], and Neil Siegel, a Duke law professor, are going to look at the Constitution,” said Mardon.
The switch will also allow for students to have more input in ASMs. Saraya Angbazo ’25, the other 2024-2025 Student Body Co-President, noted how the incorporation of student interests in ASM planning will increase engagement.
“A lot of student clubs on campus… have a type of input into what speakers are selected. I know, that for MOSAIC [Andover’s mixed-heritage affinity group], we’ve already selected a speaker in January. The first day when we come back in 2025 will be for Mixed Heritage Awareness Week. With this higher exclusivity of who gets selected to come to speak at ASM it’s having a positive effect on leaning more onto student clubs, [and] into what speakers will come and talk to our student population,” said Angbazo.
Liang continued, “Because this year is an election year, the school is inviting more speakers to discuss political topics. Hopefully this will increase engagement across the student body and help inform students on relevant issues.”
