Led by Co-Presidents Gracie Aziabor ’26 and Philip Meng ’26, new students were welcomed into the Cochran Chapel for the annual Matriculation Ceremony
Last Wednesday marked the official opening of campus for the 2025-2026 school year, with new students driving up to Snyder Center welcomed by cheers erupting on both sides of the road from the orientation leaders. The new students were also invited to several orientation events welcoming them to the school.
As a Blue Key Head, Frank Hu ’26 arrived on campus several days early to prepare for the new arrivals. In the days leading up to Wednesday, he attended meetings and leadership training to plan the logistics of orientation itself. On Wednesday, he cheered on new students as one of the figureheads of school spirit.
“On the day of the actual new students, all the Blue Key Heads gathered in [Susie’s] at 7:45 a.m. alongside the other orientation leaders [with] face paint, getting shirts on and getting hype. Then from 8:30 [a.m.] to 11:30 [a.m.], we were just yelling at that intersection between Main Street and Snyder. We were screaming at cars, I totally lost my voice. It went well, given the amount of energy we Blue Key Heads put into it,” said Hu.
Tommy Parr ’29, a new student in Eaton Cottage, described feeling welcome to the Andover community. The orientation activities helped him adjust to his new life and he found that the overall set-up facilitated a smooth move-in experience.
Parr said, “[The move-in] went well. The prefects who were already there helped us move in boxes, and the room was really well set up when we got there. It was fun learning about all the different events and programs that are here at Andover. I’m looking forward to the music programs and the ensembles that are starting this week.”
One returning student, Daniel Liu ’28, contrasted this year’s move-in process with last year’s. He noted that the reduced amount of time to adjust was apparent, but thanked his house counselors for facilitating the process.
“Compared to last year, the move-in process was a bit more hectic. I had less time since new students are given one or two [extra] days to acclimate better. I moved in the day before classes, so I had a lot of packages waiting for me that I had to set up, lots of furniture, and lots of organizational stuff. My house counselors helped streamline the process, [making it] more convenient overall,” said Liu.
Alessandro Reverdito ’29 was satisfied with the move-in process but commented that the icebreakers felt stale at times. He made suggestions to improve the activities in order to maximize efficiency and fun.
“Personally, I found some of the icebreaker activities to be repetitive. If there were slightly different activities then I would have gotten a chance to know some people a bit better and faster. If there was a more organization, because even when we were going around, not everyone was sure about where to go. More preparation would have helped to make the whole experience more useful,” said Reverdito.
Reverdito continued, “My Andover experience has been a relatively smooth transition, considering how big of a change it was. Overall, there was a lot of help for me to get oriented and ready for the school year.”
Dolly Nguyen ’27, a returning international student, described Andover’s dedication towards creating an intentionally open and welcoming community at New International Student Orientation (NISO). She noted her excitement towards being able to pass on the community to the new students.
“I remember Dean [Aquita] Winslow talking about intentionally belonging to a community, and how we should apply that concept into welcoming the new World Partner mentees. For me, being here for a year made me know so much about Andover, and being able to pass that experience on to younger kids and new students was really cool,” said Nguyen.
As a NISO world partner and prefect, Mwaita Nyakujarah ’27 recalled the numerous tasks required of her to help the new students adjust to the school. She noted that she was glad to have been able to meet new people and build relationships through the experience.
“As a student leader, the orientation process is quite strenuous. Doing NISO and prefecting at the same time, you need to go to a lot of buildings that are back to back, or you’re double booked at times. It’s definitely rewarding once everyone comes in. You get to see the people you are going to spend the next year [with and] the people who you’re going to start building bonds with. It’s really fun for that training process to culminate in meeting these people,” said Nyakujarah.
