October 17, 2017
What I did this summer: Andover connections in unexpected places
Alumni and students bond at summer campsby Allyson Irish
Ahhhh, summer camp. You can smell the fresh pine needles, taste the warm marshmallow s’mores, feel the cool lake water, and hear the … Bell Tower? Not exactly, but Big Blue connections were strong this past summer at two New England camps, which goes to show that Andover is everywhere!
Matt Grottkau ’17 and Milisa Galazzi ’84
The owner and director of Brewster Day Camp on Cape Cod, Milisa Galazzi ’84 has been working at the camp since she was a girl. At Andover, Galazzi was Flagstaff Cluster president and captain of Girls Crew; she spent her high school and college summers helping at the camp. In 1997 she became director, but never had she hired an Andover grad—that is until this past summer.
As Galazzi tells the story, recent grad Matt Grottkau’s ’17 family had just purchased a second home on the Cape and Matt knew he wanted to work there in the summer. Matt used Andover’s alumni mobile directory, Evertrue, to search for Cape Cod businesses owned by alumni and voilà—a match!
We found each other because of the strong Andover alumni network, but we also thoroughly enjoy working together because we share a common bond in Andover’s core values of non sibi and finis origine pendet.
”
Kai Charland ’21, Camp Belknap Division Leader Peter Benson ’14, and Aki Charland ’19
Meanwhile, farther north on the shores of Lake Winnipesauke in New Hampshire, two PA students found another Big Blue connection.
The sons of Associate Director of College Counseling Aya Murata, Kai ’21 and Aki Charland ’19 have gone to Camp Belknap in Wolfeboro, NH for five and three years, respectively. This past summer, they were happily surprised to meet division leader Peter Benson ’14 at the camp for boys.
“It was a wonderful Andover moment,” says Murata.
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