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June 4, 2007
ANDOVER, Mass.— While the skies above were grey and threatening, the mood of the graduates was exuberant as Phillips Academy held its 229th commencement ceremony on Sunday, June 3, for the Class of 2007. The class is comprised of 327 seniors—171 boys and 156 girls.
About 3,000 people attended the graduation exercises, which took place in front of Samuel Phillips Hall. In a time-honored Andover tradition, the graduation procession of faculty and students was led by the stirring sounds of the Clan MacPherson Pipes and Drums of North Andover, Mass. Boys wore suit coats and ties; girls wore white dresses, and each carried a red rose. Following speeches by the head of school and the student body president, the graduating members of the senior class moved to the Great Lawn, where they formed a giant circle for the passing of the diplomas.
Sunday’s event followed a weekend of commencement celebrations, including a senior-faculty banquet, a senior concerto concert, and a candlelight baccalaureate service Saturday evening in Cochran Chapel.
In her commencement address to the graduates, Head of School Barbara Landis Chase harkened back to 1778, the year Phillips Academy was founded—a year that also saw George Washington and his army hunkered down at Valley Forge as the fate of the young republic for which they fought remained perilously uncertain. When the Academy was founded, said Chase, its graduates “were meant to serve and to lead the new republic.” Today, more than 200 years later, that “devotion to the common good” remains a core value of the school and its graduates.
“Many pundits would have us believe that yours is a generation so focused on the race to get into the right college that you have lost sight of all else,” said Chase. “I beg to differ. Your resilience and your care for one another and for the greater world have amazed us all.... I marvel at the idealism, joy in learning, and spirit of generosity you [have brought] to your lives here.”
That value of service to others, said Chase, was captured in the school seal, which Paul Revere crafted for Andover in 1782, even as the war for independence wore on. Two other values portrayed by the seal, which features an image of eight honeybees moving purposefully between beehive and blossoms, are thrift and industry. These values, said Chase, were important to the patriots of the Revolutionary era, and they remain equally important today.
While the word thrift sounds old fashioned, said Chase, it represents a value that has renewed relevance in an age where the need to conserve resources has become so apparent.
“Troubling things are happening on our planet; we need to understand them and take action soon,” said Chase. “Many of you have studied environmental science here and will go on to work in this area. With all our hearts, we wish you well.”
Finally, she spoke of industry, using as a metaphor the image of the seal’s bees working so tirelessly to “forage for nectar, build honeycombs, and protect the hive.”
“Phillips Academy is known as a place where the work is very challenging,” said Chase. “Why do we believe in hard work? Because nothing truly important was ever achieved without it. This is not a place where things necessarily come easily; but when you have achieved something, you know its worth.”
But while work should be challenging, she added, it should not be drudgery. On the contrary, “it’s important to remember that often hard work can be very satisfying and joyful.”
“Your teachers have chosen a vocation that gives them deep satisfaction and often, like today, great joy,” said Chase. “We hope that you, too, will find not only challenge but pleasure in the work you choose to do in the future, just as you have done here.”
The Andover Experience
School President Daniel Silk ’07 of Lowell, Mass., spoke to his classmates about what the “Andover experience” has meant for all of them. While there were many things that drew each of them to Andover, from the beauty of the campus to the quality of the education, ultimately, he said, the Andover experience is about the “lifelong friendships” and the “unparalleled sense of community” that Andover fosters.
“Andover has brought out the best and worst in us,” he said, “but whenever we have laughed or cried, celebrated or mourned, succeeded or failed, we have done so with our peers and mentors by our side.”
Silk praised the diversity of the student body, noting that the ability to share this journey with students from around the world helped enrich the Andover experience. “Diversity has two purposes on this campus,” he said. “The first, to become more accepting of new ideas and cultures; and the second, to develop and vocalize one’s own identity and thoughts.”
He also spoke of fun. Fun, he said, was the other key ingredient of the Andover experience. “No matter where we end up, we will forever remember our experiences at Phillips Academy. We will remember the classes we took, the games we played, the shows we saw or performed in. Mostly, though, we will remember the people we met here…. To outsiders, Andover is known for its history, its opportunities, its resources. But to those who have been a part of the school, Andover is all about the people with whom they shared the experience. While the people at Andover will always change, the community feel will forever remain, as it has for the last 229 years.”
In addition to handing out diplomas to each of the new graduates, Chase presented five major prizes to the following recipients:
- Alan Wesson of Harvey, La., received the Non Sibi Award, given to the student who has honored Phillips Academy’s non sibi (not-for-self) tradition through efforts on behalf of others. He will attend Yale University.
- Erika Roddy of San Francisco received the Yale Bowl, given to the member of the senior class who has attained the highest proficiency in scholarship and athletics. She will attend Stanford University.
- David Mauskop of Larchmont, N.Y., received the Faculty Prize for outstanding scholarship during the senior year. He will attend Princeton University.
- Rebecca Agostino of Andover received the Madame Sarah Abbot Award, given to a young woman for strong character, leadership, and outstanding scholarship. She will attend Duke University.
- Daniel Silk, of Lowell, received the Aurelian Honor Society Award for sterling character, high scholarship, and forceful leadership. He will attend Yale University.
This year’s graduating class includes 52 students from the town of Andover, as well as students from such other local towns as Lawrence, Methuen, Lowell, North Reading, North Andover, Haverhill, and Atkinson, N.H. Other U.S. cities represented by the students include New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, and San Francisco. International students hail from China, Germany, Italy, Japan, Korea, Romania, Saudi Arabia, Spain, and Thailand, among other countries.
The Phillips Academy Class of 2007 will matriculate at a total of 109 four-year colleges and universities. Top choices, accounting for nearly 48 percent of the class, include Harvard, 22; the University of Pennsylvania, 13; Stanford and Yale, 12 each; Columbia and Johns Hopkins, 10 each; Duke, Georgetown, and USC, nine each; Tufts, eight; and Boston University, Brown, Cornell, MIT, the University of Chicago, and Vanderbilt, seven each.
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