Dear alumni, families, and friends,
All of us at Andover send our best wishes for health and safety to you, your colleagues, and your families during the extraordinary crisis that is touching every corner of the world. Our thoughts go especially to those alumni, parents, and other family members who are serving critical roles in their communities as healthcare workers, first responders, policy makers, innovators helping to define therapies, and those who deliver much-needed supplies and support. Thank you for your resilience and non sibi spirit.
Earlier in March, the Academy announced that responding to the global COVID-19 outbreak had led to the decision to teach a portion of Andover’s spring term remotely and to cancel all advancement activity for the month of April. As the crisis has continued to expand and the Commonwealth of Massachusetts has enacted longer-term restrictions, the school announced today that we will extend remote instruction for the entire spring term. I write this afternoon to share more information about the impact of this decision.
This extended shift of campus activity affects two iconic and beloved Andover traditions: We have decided to postpone the celebrations of Commencement and Reunions. For seniors and alumni in the “0 and 5” classes, this outcome will be especially disappointing. Reunion committees have been working together for months to plan fun and meaningful programs and to raise class gifts in celebration of these important milestones. That work is not lost, however, and we look forward to working with them to carry it forward.
We plan to harness the Big Blue spirit in a double dose by holding Reunion celebrations for both “0s and 5s” and “1s and 6s” in June, 2021. We’ll surely shatter total attendance records, we’ll definitely need a few more tents, and the campus will be buzzing with traditional class nostalgia combined with cross-class connections we’ve not seen before.
Reunion planning and gift committees will be hearing from their OAR liaisons in the next few days to begin to plan over the coming months. There will be innovative ideas that come forward and we are excited to see what those will be. There will be some questions that arise that we don’t yet have the answers to and we ask for your understanding. As always, please be in touch with any of us should you have a particular concern we can address.
While we will also be cancelling or postponing other on- and off-campus events planned in May and June, we are also planning to continue to engage our community in other ways. We’ll soon restart regular eNews updates and will be posting more stories on Andover’s social media channels. Several have asked us about continuing to make charitable gifts, which are deeply appreciated. We are looking to find an appropriate time for a rescheduled PA Giving Day, hopefully later this spring.
The worldwide pandemic has affected everyone in the Andover family and we have begun to learn of some who are battling the illness themselves. Please know that we are keeping you in our thoughts each day. As we have connected with many of you over the past few weeks, we have been inspired by your compassion and non sibi spirit and we are incredibly grateful for your friendship to each other and to our school.
Please direct any questions to alumni@andover.edu.
With best wishes for your safety and wellbeing,
Thom Lockerby
Secretary of the Academy