Dear Seniors and Families,
We are eager to soon welcome you to campus! I write this communication today to help you prepare for the February stretch on campus. As many of you did in the fall, you will play an essential role this year in adopting, embracing, and modeling new ways of living in community together during a global pandemic. Our collective commitment to the Non Sibi Safety Pledge will be key in keeping our community and our neighboring communities safe and healthy, and enabling you all to remain on campus. We will build off of approaches that worked in the fall, adopt lessons that we have learned from peers, make adjustments as we receive more information, and support each other every step of the way. Our goal is to provide a special opportunity for you all to access our program from campus and with each other in a safe, supportive, inclusive, and joyful way.
Forms:
If you have not already done so, please be sure to sign and submit your Non Sibi Safety Pledge and your health forms as soon as possible. Forms were due September 1. If you are unable to comply with these expectations, you will be asked to access your Andover program from off campus. You may not register unless all necessary forms are completed and submitted.
Residential Expectations:
We will send out your residential assignments next week. As you know, we have needed to be creative, adaptive, and resourceful in the residential process to accommodate student needs while balancing dorm occupancy. You have been assigned to large dorms in singles and doubles (two-and three-room doubles) in the WQN and WQS quads, in Flagstaff, and in one boys’ dorm in PKN. Day students, we are so excited to welcome you to dorm life!
In dorm meetings and through communications from your house counseling team, you will receive explicit instructions and requirements related to meals, restroom use, common room usage, and traffic patterns in, out, and around your dormitory. The arrival quarantine in your dormitory will include three rounds of testing, and will conclude on February 10 unless test results indicate a high positivity rate. After the arrival quarantine, you will be able to engage with the members of your dorm more casually (without face coverings and in closer proximity). Adults will always wear face coverings and maintain physical distance.
Every student in every dormitory will have individual and collective responsibilities and chores such as keeping your own room tidy, disinfecting high-touch surfaces in your room, taking out the trash, sweeping stairwells, shoveling snow, and keeping common rooms clean. Together you and your dorm mates will take care of your homes on campus.
Seniors, thank you for offering feedback about your living preferences. We expect that all students will do their best to build safe, inclusive, supportive, and respectful residential spaces. While you will be living with peers whom you identified, we also expect you to embrace new friends, build connections, and prioritize relationship-building with peers and adults. I believe these friendships and relationships will be the greatest gift Andover will give you.
Please note: Once you arrive on campus, students MAY NOT leave campus. Students will not be permitted to walk downtown, travel home, or visit local friends/peers. Also, family and friends will not be able to visit campus. Once we all get through our initial quarantine, we hope to introduce the option of contactless food deliveries from local food establishments/restaurants to dormitories. As was the case in the fall, if we learn that students are not upholding the Non Sibi Safety Pledge, they will need to leave campus.
Coming to Campus – Registration:
For students arriving/traveling from outside of the U.S., please be aware of CDC requirements effective January 12. Proof of negative COVID-19 test result must be obtained no more than 3 days prior to departure.
Please ensure that all medical and insurance information is up to date and uploaded to the Medicat health portal, including a physical exam report dated after Feb 1, 2020.
Students should log into Medicat to sign up for a registration/testing appointment date/time.
If you have questions about signing up for an appointment slot or need help registering for the health portal, please email: sykeswellness@andover.edu or call (978) 749-4455. The health portal is also where you will complete the COVID-19 Symptom Tracker daily starting Friday, January 29.
Registration is between 9am and 5pm on the following dates:
Monday, February 1 and Tuesday, February 2
If possible, we ask that you register on Monday, February 1. This will give you an extra day to get settled on campus (no classes on 2/1 and 2/2). We need to limit the number of people traveling to and spending time on campus. Students, we ask that you do not bring more than one family member or friend with you to register and move in.
When you arrive for registration, your first stop will be the Borden Gym for your COVID-19 test. Once you receive a negative result, you will be cleared to proceed to your dorm. All students will receive a new BlueCard including those who received BlueCards in the fall. Campus buildings will only be accessible through card access, so please always carry your BlueCard with you.
You and your family member must limit your movement around campus and interactions with community members when you arrive on campus.
Student departure: March 5-6 (dorms close March 6 at 12pm)
