A Newsletter from the Abbot@Andover Committee Winter/Spring 2021 Edition
“...celebrating and facilitating interaction among Abbot alumnae and perpetuating Abbot’s spirit within the Andover Community.”
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A Note from the Chair: Noreen Markley, AA ’73
Close your eyes! I’d like to challenge you to think about the winters that you experienced while at Abbot. What comes to your mind?
Is it the wintry Abbot Walks on weekend afternoons, when the snow looked almost blue-tinged from the late afternoon sky? Is it the indoor sports – ballet, fencing, and basketball, or the casual outdoor sports – like ice skating on the rink or an impromptu snowball fight? Is it the promise of hot cocoa or hot coffee when you come inside, exhausted but exhilarated from the exercise?
Maybe you remember Abbot winters as being difficult from time to time. The holidays had ended, and the grind of academics was real. No amount of Anadama bread or Heavenly Goo could help you conjugate the French verbs successfully or make American History simpler to understand.
Even with a range of emotions, happy memories tend to stay with us. An unexpected Valentine from your Abbot Big Sister. A kind word from a teacher, acknowledging your hard work. The overarching realization is that, even after the bleakest winter, spring always arrives.
Now you can open your eyes! Why don’t you share your memories with your closest friend from Abbot? She would love to hear from you.
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Connecting to Abbot Academy—From the Head of School
“Our dog, Ares, has given us a wonderful excuse to take long walks exploring the campus, but to be fair, Peter (born and raised in North Dakota) has been far more frequently the dog-walker during winter! Early in our time here—when the weather was warmer—we especially enjoyed walking the Abbot campus. It took us a few attempts, but we have found the Secret Garden that the girls of Abbot long used as a quiet area to reflect and enjoy nature.
Raynard S. Kington, MD, PhD, P’24
Phillips Academy 16th Head of School
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Photo of Secret Garden 1929
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Abbot Alumna Inducted into the 2021 Andover Athletics Hall of Honor
Elizabeth “Bets” Kent AA’73 will be inducted into the Andover Athletics Hall of Honor in June of this year. Bets was a member of the United States Women’s 1980 Olympics Rowing Team. She also spent several years on the Women’s Olympic Rowing Committee, as well as being a member of the Investment Committee of the National Rowing Foundation.
Bets asserts that while her athletic endeavors have been rewarding, they are made even more meaningful through her participation on the rowing committees that run the sport. This work has enabled Bets to make a positive difference for other athletes. She frequently refers back to her participation on Abbot’s field hockey and tennis teams which taught her the value of hard work through consistent training and good coaching, the confidence to be a pioneer, and the perseverance and dedication to achieve elite athletic goals.
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The Abbot Endowment Fund and Abbot Footprints
The Abbot Academy Endowment Fund (AAF) thanks their generous donors for their continued support. AAF grants keep Abbot alive on the Andover campus leaving “Abbot Footprints” from the Circle to the Hill. The documentation of these projects, or Abbot Footprints, can help transport us to campus through videos, pictures, and stories of grants in action. Abbot Footprints are extensive whether it is funding a new telescope, a female wrestling program, gardens, or new hymnals for Cochran Chapel. One 2018 project was a collaborative effort between the Andover Girls Science Club, Andover students, faculty, and staff where 60 middle school girls from Lawrence and Carlisle were hosted for a STEM day on the Andover campus.
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A Conversation with Julia Alvarez ’67 and English Instructor Jineyda Tapia
Julia Alvarez has written novels (How the García Girls Lost Their Accents, In the Time of the Butterflies, ¡Yo!, In the Name of Salomé, Saving the World, Afterlife), collections of poems (Homecoming, The Other Side/El Otro Lado, The Woman I Kept To Myself), and nonfiction (Something to Declare, Once Upon A Quinceañera, A Wedding Haiti). In 2015, Ms. Alvarez was awarded the Alumni Award of Distinction. Ms. Alvarez is a recipient of the 2013 National Medical of Arts.
Jineyda Tapia is an English Instructor at Phillips Academy. She is also an Associate Director of Andover Bread Loaf and has met Ms. Alvarez through her ABL work. Ms. Tapia teaches Alvarez's books and collaborates with community members and the Director of the Lawrence Public Library on their current speaker series.
Please click here for further information and to register for this exciting virtual event.
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The Abbot Inkwell
When you saw “Abbot Inkwell” did you think of dipping a pen into a bottle of ink as in days of yore? Far from it!
Andover Students have launched the first news outlet dedicated to the Brace Center for Gender Studies. The stories and interviews will be published on the Brace Center website under the banner of the “Abbot Inkwell”. These stories will concentrate on gender equity and justice both on campus and around the world.
We will simply let the students share their gratifying reasons for choosing the Abbot name in their own words, “We also would like to bring your attention to the legacy of Abbot Academy on the Andover campus beyond the name of the Abbot Cluster. Abbot’s contributions to Andover’s current traditions and co-curricular offerings include our literary magazine – the Courant, the newly announced sport option – Abbot Walks, the bagpipes at graduation, Abbot Grants, our dance program, the Fidelio Society and so much more. Our name, the Abbot Inkwell, is our way of honoring the voice of the women of Abbot whose contributions to our school, we so often forget.”
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A Treasure from the Abbot Archives
Used by students, faculty, and outside scholars alike, the Abbot Archives serve as an invaluable on-campus resource for Abbot-related materials. The Abbot Archives were professionally cataloged and digitized via the Abbot Archives Project spearheaded by Leslie Hendrix, AA ’73. Our intention is to feature an interesting and fun “treasure from the Abbot Archives” in each newsletter.
“A Widening Circle” was written by Loren Gary for the occasion of the rededication of the Abbot Circle in 1997. In this booklet, Gary addresses the physical plant and landscaping of the Abbot campus. The evolution of Abbot as an institution was reflected by changes on the campus and Gary recounts these in fascinating detail.
Focus is also placed on the evolution of the Abbot Circle itself. It is traced from roads fronting the campus, to a quadrangle, and finally to a full circle, symbolic of so much of Abbot’s spirit and sense of place and memory. Alumnae will be very proud of the Sacred Circle and the Academy it exemplifies as they read this pamphlet.
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Unwrapping the History of Chocolate and Making Heavenly Goo
Hosted by the Abbot@Andover Committee on February 7th, this virtual presentation was both instructional and nostalgic. Priscilla Martel AA’74 shared her expertise on the history and health benefits of chocolate, and Jina Corneau, PA’03, a pastry chef in San Francisco, led attendees through the making of “Heavenly Goo”. A delicious time was had by all! While the presentation is not available, we can send along the recipe if you’d like. Please email alumni@andover.edu.
“My first time making ‘Heavenly Goo’, many, many years ago, I served it at a small dinner party. Later, the women guests wondered where all the men were, we found them in the kitchen, with spoons, licking the baking dish! Been that way ever since!” Sandra Castle Hull ’58.
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Abbot@Andover Committee Chair: Noreen Markley ’73 Vice-Chair: Shirley Rae (Lee) Sullivan ’68 Committee Members Blakeman Hazzard Allen ’66 ∙ Mae Concemi Bradshaw ’62 ∙ Jane Christie ’58 ∙ Sandra Castle Hull ’58 ∙ Elizabeth Humstone ’66 ∙ Sara Ingram ’71 ∙ Lynne Moriarty Langlois ’62 ∙ Cornelia Weldon LeMaitre ’53 ∙ Chandri Navarro ’82 ∙ Lori Goodman Seegers ’73 ∙ Ruth Sisson Weiner ’66
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