|
An
international
|
Hal McCann, who is retiring from Andover in June, is a man at home in the world. He speaks Spanish fluently and as former resident director of School Year Abroad lived in Spain for many years. He has traveled in Ecuador and the Galapagos Islands; he has climbed up the sawtooth of Machu Picchu and bicycled down into the South American rain forest. After retirement, he will walk 500 miles from France across the top of Spain on the Camino de Santiago. This is a man who has a traveler's sense of wonder. And that is precisely what he has given Andover—a sense of wonder at the world and its people. During his 24 years at PA, Hal has taught Spanish, coached and advised students, and as executive director for 11 years led School Year Abroad from a small, struggling program to the robust enterprise it is today. Most recently he served as international student coordinator in the Office of Community and Multicultural Development. In this position, he not only counseled international students and helped us understand their special concerns, but he taught us all many travelers' lessons. Hal taught us that during dinner in Egypt it is good to leave some food on your plate as a compliment to the chef. He taught us that in Japan people may smile when they are sad or confused, and in Hong Kong it is considered polite to make noise when you eat. He taught us that the ok sign—making a circle with your thumb and finger—is definitely not ok when flashed in Brazil. He taught us that in every culture when people greet each other they tend to open their eyes wide and wrinkle their foreheads . . . the only custom we all have in common. Such details are interesting and amusing, but they are also the nuts and bolts of a house that Hal helped build at Andover—a house where people from all over the world learn how to give each other respect. Hal always respected the students he taught, the athletes he coached, the colleagues he led and those who led him. In recent years, he has helped teach us how to respect each other, one detail at a time. Hal was raised in Orford, N.H.—"the sticks," he calls it—on a 285-acre farm with the nearest neighbor a mile away. He attended a two-room schoolhouse, then went on to Phillips Exeter and Williams College, making his mark as an athlete at both institutions. Wiry, strong and coordinated, he excelled at wrestling and lacrosse; he was the 1956 New England wrestling champ at 117 lbs. and was named Honorable Mention All-American in lacrosse while at Williams. There he majored in English and after graduation took a job as an English teacher. He quickly learned that though he loved the teaching, English was not his calling. Hal boarded a plane for Madrid to polish his Spanish, and soon afterward landed a job teaching that language at the Mount Hermon School in Massachusetts. For the next 14 years, Hal taught Spanish, coached soccer, wrestling and lacrosse, and served as a house counselor. Gradually he moved to administrative posts, including the modern language department chair at the newly formed Northfield Mount Hermon School. When he left Northfield Mount Hermon for PA in 1976, he served as director of both Northfield Mount Hermon's Summer School and its International Studies Program to six foreign countries. In 1964, Hal had met his wife, Becky. She, too, spoke Spanish fluently, and she and Hal have been a remarkable team ever since. Their daughter Kelly ’86 works in computers in New York City; their son Ted, two years younger, is a sculptor in graduate school at Yale. Hal and Becky, who is also a Spanish instructor at PA, have worked together nearly all their professional lives—always in the same building and often as each other's boss. And they've taken turns at the wheel of family decisions. Their move to Spain with School Year Abroad interrupted Becky s work as chair of Andover's Spanish department, so in time they moved back to Andover so Becky could continue her career at the academy. Though Hal will be retiring, Becky will still be teaching, so he will be on campus next year even in his retirement. He plans to travel of course, but also to do volunteer work in nearby Lawrence, Mass., for Habitat for Humanity. In a remark that reveals his heart and his humility, he says emphatically, "I'm hoping I can at least do something to serve the greater good." An experience Hal had in 1965, while teaching at Mount Hermon, gives a clue to the future. While Hal was a man of exceptional energy, the 40 boys on his floor, the daily classes and double wrestling sessions each afternoon took their toll. On a particularly bitter cold day late in the winter, he coached the school's wrestlers through a spirited but exhausting three-hour practice, leaped into the shower, checked his watch—4:45 p.m.—and raced across campus to his fourth class of the day. He arrived just in time to hand out quizzes to his students. The room was warm and brightly lit. Hal s frozen hair began to thaw. He sat down at his desk. Then he thought perhaps he'd lay his head down . . . just for a moment. Hal conked out instantly. The boys finished their quizzes, gathered them in a pile, and set them neatly on Hal's desk. Then they tiptoed out of the room to avoid waking their teacher. Although still very young, Hal had already taught these boys what all travelers through life need to know: the meaning of consideration and respect. Nina Scott is a faculty member in the English department and is author of Smart Soccer, a book of sports psychology for young athletes. Copyright, Phillips Academy, 2000 |
|
