June 20, 2021
Endowing a Community
A new gift to strengthen equity and inclusionWhen Jennifer Yen ’93 set foot on Andover Hill, she made it a point to immerse herself in the school’s increasingly global community. “I arrived from Hong Kong, and Andover was the first place I engaged in open discussions with such a welcoming, diverse group of peers,” she says.
Three decades later, Yen and her husband, Ken Horne, view campus goals for greater equity and inclusion as all the more urgent—and necessary. The result? A vital endowed gift toward this long-standing Academy ideal and Knowledge & Goodness campaign priority.
Gifts to equity and inclusion help create opportunities for all students to cultivate their talents and thrive, and the newly established Yen-Horne Fund will be no different. Such donor support fortifies ongoing and wide- spread initiatives—from developing related coursework and student research projects to promoting robust campus programming and professional development for faculty and staff.
My advice to students is meet as many people as you can, from as many different backgrounds as possible.
”Thanks in part to these efforts, Andover continues to attract a diverse community of learners. Fifty-three percent of students identify as individuals of color and 20 percent as LGBTQ+, with scholars currently representing 49 countries and 42 states and territories.
Yet the work to ensure the best possible environment continues, and the school’s Anti-Racism Task Force is another inspiration for Yen’s gift. The recommendations that emerge from the 20-member task force—composed of administrators, faculty, staff, alumni, trustees, and parents—will likely provide more ways for the couple’s fund to have a substantial impact. And will hopefully motivate other donors as well.
“When students feel a strong sense of community and confident in their own identity, the academic experience becomes richer for everyone. Students gain new insights from challenging conversations, their cognitive and intellectual abilities grow, and their cultural competencies deepen,” says Linda Carter Griffith, associate head of school for equity, inclusion, and wellness.
Yen wholeheartedly agrees. “My advice to students,” she says, “is meet as many people as you can, from as many different backgrounds as possible. There is always so much to learn from one another.”
Originally printed in The Vista: Views from the Knowledge & Goodness Campaign, spring 2021
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