Student-Athletes Visit Elementary Schools

Articles, Community, Sports
May 23, 2022
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Jacqueline Zhu
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Andover High School students participating in the Warrior Way program visited Andover’s elementary schools on Friday, April 15.

According to physical education teacher Brittany McNally, who advises the Warrior Way program along with Assistant Athletic Director Kerry Cashman, Warrior Way is a student leadership, community service, and mentoring program designed to promote positive values in Andover Public Schools. Founded in 2009 by AHS physical education teacher Carol Martini, it aims to foster leadership among AHS students while encouraging students of all grades to demonstrate the ideals of the program.

COURTESY PHOTO / Brittany McNally
Warrior Way participants teaching a lesson to South Elementary School students

Every year, Warrior Way participants visit the elementary school that they went to. If there are too many students at one school, the upperclassmen will be prioritized and the underclassmen will be assigned to a different school. If students did not attend elementary school at a public school in Andover, they will be assigned to a school that needs more students.

During the April 15 visits, Warrior Way members performed a variety of activities with the elementary students and accompanied them during their classes, lunch, and recess. “We showed [the students] a video filled with clips from different clubs, sports, and activities at the high school,” stated Emma Reilly, a junior and Warrior Way participant.

The elementary students were also given lessons which varied based on their grade. Each grade level focused on a specific theme — “Friendship and Caring” for kindergarten, “Enthusiasm and Effort” for first grade, “Teamwork” for second grade, “Cooperation” for third grade, “Sportsmanship” for fourth grade, and “Character” for fifth grade. Fifth grade students also completed a self-assessment reviewing the positive character traits they’ve learned throughout their years of being a part of the Warrior Way program.

“For fifth grade specifically, [students] played a directions game to illustrate the importance of listening to others and cooperating with peers,” said Reilly.

“The third graders that I was with [gave] us examples of respecting/cooperating with others,” stated Nasha Palsetia, junior. The students later drew their examples out on a piece of paper.

McNally and Cashman worked with elementary school administrators and student leaders to organize the visits. “We communicate with the elementary school administrators to schedule the visit and get lists of how many classrooms, students, etc. there are at each school,” explained McNally. “Our leadership team prepares a folder for each individual elementary classroom. The folders contain all materials necessary for the grade-level lessons that will be taught during the visit.”

COURTESY PHOTO / Brittany McNally
Warrior Way participants performing activities with South Elementary School students

“As a Warrior Way chairman, we organized the whole event and selected all of the participants,” said senior Charles Higgins. Students are selected based on a variety of factors, including attendance, character, leadership, and extracurricular activities.

This year’s visits were the first in-person visits since before the COVID-19 pandemic. “Our last in-person visit was in 2019,” stated McNally. Virtual Warrior Way programs were created in 2020 and 2021.

When asked what their favorite aspects of the visits were, Warrior Way participants gave a variety of responses. “One of my favorite parts of the visit was recess,” said Palsetia. “Many of the students wanted their leaders to play several activities with them, and my class’s favorite was duck duck goose. The game had become so popular that third graders from other classes joined in!”

Reilly’s favorite part of the visit was giving back to the community. “I went to South Elementary myself, so being able to go back to the place that fostered my love for learning and the town of Andover was really special,” she said. “All the elementary school teachers told us over and over again that Warrior Way was the students’ favorite day of the year, and being part of that was amazing.”

Andoverview

AHS Class of 2026 Graduation: A Sentiment of Gratitude

June 11, 2026

Abby Chachus & Kendall Murphy || STAFF WRITERS

A hush falls as a sea of navy gowns, a rising tide of Andover High School graduates enters the Tsongas Center just before 5 o’clock on June 1, 2026. There is something distinct about moments like these. A goodbye that is bittersweet among both the audience and the seniors.

According to Graduation Committee member Ella Murphy, it is a goodbye to “Halloween costume competitions that never disappoint, lunches, wrap lines and vending machine trips,” seemingly inconsequential things, but the memories will stick with all of the students as they move on to their future endeavors.

The graduation speakers shared the value of these moments and their gratitude for the people that helped them along the way. As the ceremony commenced, the opening speakers Zachery Pan and Murphy welcomed everyone and encouraged them to acknowledge their shared experiences at Andover High School. “These moments, these memories, these faces. None of us got here alone.” said Pan.

Their speech gave time to deliver some truly meaningful thank you’s, “beyond the formalities” as Murphy put it, to the teachers and staff that showed up each day with “patience, support, and dedication.” Furthermore, they recognized that this gratitude is not solely meant for the significant ceremonies.

“Gratitude is kind of strange. We tend to save it for the big moments. The ceremonies, the stages, the audiences,” said Murphy.

“But let’s be honest—the people who actually changed your life probably weren’t standing on a stage when they did it,” continued Pan.

They concluded the speech with a request to the graduates to thank those who changed their lives in both the big and small moments, even if it feels unnecessary.

Before graduation, other seniors expressed similar thoughts, like reflecting on the journey that got them to where they are today.

“To all my teachers: thank you for everything. I would not be here without any single one of you.” said Christopher Reardon.

Thomas Enman advised underclassmen to “just enjoy every little minute you get at AHS.”

Vignesha Jayakumar, class essayist and valedictorian, echoed this same sentiment of appreciation, reinforcing Reardon’s message about the lasting impact of teachers and support systems. “We were galvanized from a community of supportive teachers and staff who didn’t just teach us subjects, they taught us how to think, how to question, how to care,” said Jayakumar.

He also mentioned the importance of one learning from their fellow graduates. “We learned as much from each other in the hallways and the bleachers as we did in the classroom,” he said.

After Jayakumar, Graduation Committee members Ben Pelt and Kari Belson spoke. First, Pelt announced the Class of 2026’s class gift to AHS. Next, Belson named Scott Armstrong the 2026 Distinguished Citizen (see page 4).

When Principal Jimmy D’Andrea took the stage, he, like all the other speakers, expressed the value of gratitude, a central theme that resonated throughout the ceremony. He began by thanking each group that got each member of the graduating class to where they were standing in the Tsongas Center, about to leave the comfort of being an AHS student and moving onto becoming alumni, highlighting the strong support system and sense of community that defined the graduating class’s journey.

He also encouraged each graduate to “personally reach out and thank those individuals who made a difference in [their] lives,” reinforcing the ceremony’s message of appreciation, reflection, and recognition for the people who helped shape their high school experience.

Interim Superintendent Keith Taverna encouraged graduates to continue to make the community proud with the positive impact they will bring to the world.

To conclude the ceremony, Graduation Committee members Chloe Ahn and Margaret Farabaugh brought everyone together one last time. “Tonight we stand together because of the strong and spirited community we have built,” said Ahn.

Ahn concluded, “As we become graduates of Andover High School, we step into the world with purpose, passion, and pride… Congratulations class of 2026!”

Students, Faculty Travel to Scandinavia Over Spring Break

June 11, 2026

Samin Faiz || STAFF WRITER

Forty-two Andover High School students and seven chaperones visited Scandinavia this April.

After a six-hour flight from Boston to Reykjavík, Iceland, followed by a two-hour flight to Oslo, Norway, the group began their ten-day-long tour the Thursday before spring break. Through a combination of bus rides, overnight ferries, and countless miles on foot, the group made their way through five Northern European countries: Norway, Denmark, Sweden, Finland, and Estonia.

“I’ve been traveling with students since 2005, so this might be my 17th tour,” said Brian Shea, English teacher, organizer, and chaperone of the trip. “We’ve now done all of Europe, so Northern Europe was sort of our last frontier.”

Apart from the chaperones, the group was accompanied by a tour director named Yulia, whom Shea worked closely with to structure the daily itinerary and ensure a smooth trip.

In Scandinavia, English is widely spoken, so the language barrier was never a problem for the group. Sometimes, however, the students made connections in ways that transcend the spoken word.

“I played soccer with a bunch of people in Sweden,” recalled Hannah Arnold, a junior who participated in the trip. “That was probably the highlight of the trip for me.”

Arnold is no stranger to international travel. Just two months earlier, in fact, she joined her classmates on another school trip to Peru over winter break. However, for her twin sister, Grace Arnold, this was a brand-new experience.

“I met a lot of new people that I’ve never met before, especially people not in my grade,” Grace said. “It was really nice because I met a lot of great people through that and got to spend time with people I wouldn’t usually get to spend time with.”

The trip offered a flexible balance of group tours and independent exploration. “We had a lot of free time,” Grace noted. “We got to explore cities on our own and shop where we wanted. As long as you stayed in groups of three or more, you were free to roam the city.”

Students observed the region’s distinct economic models. Through agreements within the European Union and the Nordic Council, higher education is heavily subsidized or entirely free for regional citizens.

“It’s really interesting. They tax wealthier people a lot more and their overall tax rates are a lot higher,” one student observed. “The way they reinvest money back into infrastructure contributes to stronger public infrastructure. Education and health care are free, and they even offer stipends to cover the cost of living. Essentially, you pay a lot of taxes, but you get a lot in return.”

Students also noticed the societal impact of these safety nets. “Their unhoused population is significantly lower. If you want help, those systems are available to support you.”

The travelers’ curiosity and maturity left a strong impression on the faculty.

“These kids were wonderful,” said Shea. “All of the students were engaged. They were paying attention. They were enjoying it. They were wonderful travelers. To me, that was the biggest thrill.”

With the preparations for next year’s destinations already underway, the future of travel programs at AHS seems to be brimming with opportunities.

“Next year, we have two tours,” said Shea. “We’re running one tour to Barcelona and Madrid in February, and then we’re running another tour to Greece in April.”

Such opportunities are often highly selective at other schools, but luckily, these trips remain open to the entire student body at AHS.

“There’s no application process,” Shea emphasized. “We’re not looking at grades. We’re not looking at behavioral records. Anybody can sign up when we offer these tours. I put them out there, and I’m like, ‘If you want to go, come.’”

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Student-Athletes Visit Elementary Schools

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