Top Ten Reasons to Come to Andover

Submitted by Tiffany, Class of 2009 (Highland Park, IL)

#10--Because PA students don’t take themselves too seriously.

Whether it’s our improv troupe joking about sleep deprivation, our student newspaper poking fun at “senioritis,” or an All-School Meeting where our head of school sings, Andover has a pragmatic, down-to-earth sense of humor.

#9--Because when your parents ask you what you learned at school, you’ll actually stop to answer.

Andover can bring kids closer to their parents, because when you spend more time doing things you’re passionate about, you spend less time worrying about the little technicalities and trip wires of life. When you spend more time talking to your parents about your latest debate in history class, you spend less time fighting about your grades or whose job, if you’re a day student, it is to do the dishes. Maybe you can even employ those debating skills when it comes to the dishes.

#8--So you can expand your horizons.

You can try out for a DramaLab, a casual, one-act, student - directed - casted - acted - produced - managed play. You can take instructional crew - or-dance - or - tennis - or - squash - or - any number of others. You can start a band or join our singing groups. You can study the stars in our observatory or write biting articles about Hollywood ones for our student magazines.

#7--Because we open the doors for each other, we say “hi” on the path to people we’re only vaguely familiar with, and we sit with whomever we want.

Every high school has its own social drama and groups of friends, as PA, of course, does, but for the most part, here we’re too busy asking you about your game this afternoon or that test yesterday to care what you wear or where you’re from.

#6--Grow beyond television.

Addicted to Gregory House’s witticisms? Grey’s Anatomy’s drama? Can’t break out of Prison Break? Lost in Lost? PA students learn how to kick the habit, not because they don’t have the time, but because between our classes that inspire you and our clubs that enthuse you, your life here on Thursday nights will be more interesting than anything prime-time television can offer.

#5--Because that intimidating tri-varsity senior boy dons a blue miniskirt and face paint for everyone else’s sports games.

Blue Key Heads are like cheerleaders, student leaders, and the Energizer Bunny rolled into one, and yes, the boys wear miniskirts when we have games. Every game.

#4--Arabic, Chinese, Japanese, German, Spanish, French, Russian, Latin, Greek.

If at any point in that list you did a little dance of excitement in your head (consider, too, spending a term, year, or summer abroad studying that language!), you know PA is for you. Because at our school, our foreign language teachers dance, act, scream, juggle, mime, cook, and show their enthusiasm in a million other ways. All, of course, while speaking only the language you're learning.

#3--Come for the campus.

Climb Sam Phil's long, elegant white steps in the morning. Look at the Memorial Bell Tower around 5 p.m., when the trees slash dark lines across its lights. Be comforted by the warm light of Gelb Science Center at night. Walk into our neo-Gothic chapel and look up at its intricate carvings and vaulted ceiling and feel embraced, not lost. Enjoy the beauty of Andover.

#2--We love our school.

Few students graduate Andover without donning some piece of clothing bearing the school's name, and most of those items represent a particular part of life at Andover: we have dorm, cluster, class, and sports apparel, any of which can come in the form of t-shirts, sweatpants, and most popular, hoodies. Students who tour prospective families are eager to share their love and knowledge of the school. Go Big Blue!

#1--Come to be independent.

Because for all the limitless possibilities and amazing adult support, Andover is what you make of it. You need to reach out to students, to teachers, to opportunities. You need to want to learn, to grow, to experience as many aspects of this school as possible. PA has the resources, the teachers, the classes, the sports, the clubs, the campus, but the students are its pace, its atmosphere, its rhythm and shape. You will learn initiative, perseverance, and what you can accomplish when given the chance.