Hugo Appen ’27 (left) walks with two best friends to class in the rainy aftermath of the nor’easter.
This past weekend, a powerful nor’easter swept through Massachusetts, impacting members of the Andover community on and off campus. Along with changes to student life, interscholastic sports games and other outdoor events were canceled throughout the weekend out of safety and transportation concerns.
Lisa Joel, Director of Athletics, described the effects of the nor’easter on outdoor athletics. She explained the process of coordinating these changes based on the type of sport.
“On Saturday, when we were exclusively playing off campus, we had games that were scheduled to be outside at Loomis Chaffee [(Loomis)], on their fields, all canceled. And then on Sunday, we canceled the girls’ soccer showcase that was also away in Connecticut,” said Joel.
She continued, “Sports are different in terms of what field surface they’re on, whether they’re on turf or on the grass. You can play games more readily on turf than grass, because grass gets soaked, and there’s pooling water… When there’s a lot of rainfall all at once, our fields can take on water, which creates pooling or muddy circumstances. So our grounds crew always does an assessment of fields and shares with us their status.”
Daniel Matloff ’28, a player on the Boys JV1 Soccer team, expressed appreciation for his game’s cancellation. Though unexpected for Matloff, it helped him catch up with his assignments.
“I was a little relieved I didn’t have to spend the whole day at Loomis… Last week, I had a lot of homework over the weekend, and I had a lot of majors this week. I felt spending 12 hours going to Loomis and back, I would really only have Sunday to study and do my work,” said Matloff.
Matloff continued, “[Because of the cancellation,] I was able to complete all my homework in a day and a half. As a result, I had a lot more free time to do stuff that I usually wouldn’t do over the weekend.”
On the other hand, Chizara Nolisa ’30 expressed frustration, reflecting on her experience staying indoors.
“Honestly, I feel like I wasn’t able to go out and do anything that weekend. I was just shut in my dorm all of Saturday, just doing work. It was really depressing, honestly… If you’re a boarder, you have to walk [everywhere]. You have to do this during the weekend, [and] if you [don’t] want to go outside, you have to want to stay in, unlike day students, who could just go inside their house,” said Nolisa.
In addition to boarders, many day students had to alter their routine as a result of the storm. Shijun Li ’28 shared his experiences navigating a power outage at his house, noting the frequency of such events.
“[The storm] disrupted basically all my plans. On Sunday, I had a Zoom class scheduled, but I had to cancel it because my power went out. Then, I had to come to campus on Sunday, which I don’t usually do because I had a lot of homework. I feel like storms like these, they happen a lot here. I definitely remember a lot of times when I was in middle school when my day was also disrupted by storms like this one,” said Li.
Oliver He ’28, another day student, described how the storm affected his plans to commute to Boston to celebrate an occasion. He explained how, for him and other day students who visit campus often, the storm changed the campus atmosphere.
“When I found out about [the storm], I was discouraged. I was scared that the [train to Boston] wouldn’t be an option because sometimes it’s unreliable. If there’s a storm, maybe a tree could fall onto the rail or something. But thankfully, the commuter didn’t have any problems,” said He.
He continued, “If I were to come to campus, it’s kind of suboptimal, because there’s not really a spot for day students to go on the weekends… Most of your friends are going to be in their dorms because it’s raining out. So coming to campus, the value of it is really diminished. As a day student, I come to campus. It’s my second home, even. But it’s that way because of my friends. I can’t really experience it that way because they’re all in their dorms.”
Some events featured on the Weekender were either postponed or canceled due to the storm. The Peabody Institute of Archaeology (Peabody) sponsors an annual trip to the Powwow, a Native American cultural event hosted at Harvard University. This year’s event, however, was cancelled due to weather concerns according to Robert Wheeler, Director of the Peabody.
Other events took place as planned, including a reception for an exhibition titled “America in the Making” on Saturday at the Addison Art Gallery. In an email to The Phillipian, Allison Kemmerer, Director of the Addison, explained the storm’s impact on attendance.
“Normally we get a little over 300 people to attend our openings. Saturday night’s number was 235. Given the dire forecast, we expected the worst, but in the end were pleasantly surprised with the turnout,” wrote Kemmerer.
The reception benefited from being indoors, requiring only minor changes to adapt to the storm, according to Kemmerer. She characterized the success of the event with a high engagement and turnout.
“Changes were minor and only logistical such as creating space for discarded umbrellas and wet raincoats. That said, our Director of Security and his staff prepared a detailed plan for escorting visitors out of the building in the event of a power outage. Thankfully, we did not have to employ it. Despite the poor weather, the opening was a great success. There was an energetic turnout, and attendees were highly engaged — not only with the artwork but also in lively conversations with one another,” wrote Kemmerer.
