A cultural fair celebrating the Day of the Dead will take place during H Block this Thursday in the cafeteria.
The fair will include a variety of hands-on activities, music, and food, allowing students to explore several popular Mexican traditions. The event has been organized by students from the Spanish Conversation Club led by teacher Sylvia Danos and AP Language and Culture classes taught by Indira Garcia. This will be Andover High School’s first year hosting this celebration.
“Students from all world language classes will have the chance to experience one of Mexico’s most meaningful and beautiful traditions,” said Danos.
Stations will include the traditional ofrenda (altar), calaverita (mini skull) painting, papel picado (colorful, decoratively cut paper), the classic Mexican game Lotería, and a chance to try traditional Mexican sweet treats.
Students can participate by signing up for the H3 block with their world language teacher, who will then bring them to the cafeteria where the fair will take place.
“This celebration reflects the values of love, memory, and cultural identity that are central to many Latin American traditions,” said Danos. She added that experiences like this help students appreciate the richness and diversity of the Spanish-speaking world while fostering empathy and global awareness.
Traditionally celebrated in Mexico and other Latin American countries on November first and second, Día de los Muertos honors deceased loved ones through family, music, food, and art. A key tradition is the creation of an ofrenda, or altar, decorated with photos, candles, and offerings to remember loved ones who have passed.
AHS has showcased the student-made ofrendas for the last seven years as a part of the World Language Department curriculum. This year, Danos and Garcia decided to go all out, believing that it is essential for students from other language programs to learn about this celebration.
Danos is excited to see students from diverse language backgrounds come together to celebrate culture, creativity, and diversity: “Enjoy music, crafts, food, and culture, all in one H Block!”
Daydream Andover is a two-day hackathon for high school students that will be held at Merrimack College on September 27 and 28, with prizes available for the winning teams.
At a hackathon, students come together to code a project over a short period of time. Daydream is a game-jam, which is a subcategory of a hackathon, where students will collaborate to create a video game during the event.
The hackathon is being organized by a team of three students, AHS seniors David Shi and Jessie Wang, as well as Emily Fang, a senior from Phillips Academy. Designed to be beginner friendly, Wang, Shi, and Fang are hosting workshops for beginners during the event to give them the tools they need to build their projects.
“We’ll teach them how to make a project on Godot, one of the simplest languages to make a game… we run workshops, and then we let them code,” Wang said. She added that artists and musicians are also encouraged to come to Daydream, as their contributions are essential to designing a game.
The first day of Daydream runs from 10am to 8pm, and students are encouraged to start their games the moment they arrive. Teams of up to four people are allowed, and team selection can happen at any time during the event. Each game will follow a set theme which will be announced on the day of the event.
“We get to pick one out of the ten themes that are sent to the organizers, but those haven’t been released [to the public] yet…basically, it’s a mystery,” Wang said.
Amenities will also be provided for coders during the events, including lunch and dinner on both days. There will also be prizes for the top three teams after being judged by the organizers.
Wang, Fang, and Shi all came together to host the event out of a shared passion for hackathons, bringing Daydream to Andover by working through the California-based nonprofit Hack Club.
“We had the best time ever [at Shipwrecked, a hackathon held at Cathleen Stone Island]. I met friends that I never thought I would meet… [hackathons] opened my mind to new ideas, it’s a very valuable experience,” Wang said.
Shi agreed, adding that “you get to learn how to build a lot of cool things, and make lasting connections.”
When asked what they hope students will gain from the event, Fang stated that she simply hoped that they would “gain a new friend,” as well as get their foot into the “doorway into programming.”
Daydream is accepting sign-ups until the day of the event, at this link.
AHS Film Club president Scott Strellis is working on directing his first original film, Horizon. Far from a simple project, Horizon has and will continue to use up a lot of time for preparation and collaboration.
For Strellis, filmmaking has always been more than a hobby. “[Film Club has] been doing a lot of short films, preparing for this throughout the years,” he explained. Now, as director of his first film, he is putting all those lessons into practice. “Directing is mainly about being as creative as possible, communicating well with others, and finding a good workflow,” Strellis said.
Horizon tells the heartfelt story of a teenager grappling with loss and responsibility. “It’s a coming-of-age sailing film,” Strellis said. “The main character tries to find out what his identity is through sailing, because he’s had some hardship with loved ones passing away, and he has to take a lot of responsibility for himself, in terms of growing up.”
While Horizon is Strellis’s first time directing a project, it’s not his first experience on a film set. Two years ago, he helped with little things in the creation of Bonsai, another student film. That experience, along with the support of the AHS community, has been very valuable in helping him learn the skills he needs to create his own movie. “The resources at the high school let me show all my creative ideas and really help with the workflow,” said Strellis.
Collaboration is important to the creation of Horizon. Strellis is working with senior Ben Murfitt and sophomore Rohit Perugupalli to write the script and put it all together.
“Since I am not as experienced with playwriting, it has been an enlightening and educational experience,” said Perugupalli. He also explained that overall, the experience has been pretty positive.
Faculty advisor Daniel Brennan, who previously guided the Bonsai project, is offering mentorship, and former student Nate Allen has provided advice and encouragement as well.
“There’s a QR code on the forms [hanging around school]. We did the major casting already, but we’ll always have open parts for extras and those who just want to stop by for cameos,” Strellis said.
By Janaesa Macasaet & Ariana Teasdale STAFF WRITERS
A room full of people. A stage, bathed in light. The spotlight on Graham Igo. Murmurs spread throughout the crowd as the unexpected 15-year-old confidently strides out onto the stage. As cameras face him, he takes his spot in the middle. Clad in a professional blue velvet suit and tie, Igo captivates the audience’s interest.
Igo spoke at the inaugural TEDxAndover event held at the Andover Country Club this past October. As he stepped on stage, Igo posed the question “how many of you have ever heard the term ‘be yourself’?” His speech, “The Cost of Fitting In,” featured personal anecdotes and skillful commentary on the societal pressures to conform, and the emotional effects of those pressures.
“I focused on others instead of myself, and when I did experience short-term satisfaction, I felt unfulfilled,” Igo said. “I was [just] doing what others were doing, which built up a lot of emotions.”
TEDx events, different from TED conferences, are local and independently organized events. TEDxAndover is a newly established platform, organized by Andover resident Menka Hariani, that provides people with an opportunity to share meaningful ideas. Hariani was determined to create a platform in which she could empower diverse voices. Driven by a strong sense of purpose, she started working on the event application last year, and obtained the license for it in August.
“As an organizer I was responsible for everything:” Hariani said, “finding the right speakers… pitching them… refining their scripts, finding the venue, all of the marketing… [in addition to] developing and designing the entire website.”
In just eight weeks, Hariani organized the first event, featuring five speakers and one performer. With overwhelming support from the Eagle Tribune and the AndoverMums Facebook page, the event was quickly assembled, and sold out with 100 people attending.
STAFF PHOTO/ Janaesa Macasaet Organizer Menka Hariani introducing the first speaker.
“With very little time, and not having enough background in event management, there were a lot of challenges…,” said Hariani. “I feel very fortunate and lucky that I got to work with people who delivered very high quality…work and made it…successful.”
Featured speakers presented on a range of topics, from health and well-being to life strategies. In the lineup was AHS sophomore Graham Igo. Sharing the stage with highly accomplished individuals—an Olympic gold medalist, a Harvard professor, two CEOs, and an NBA dancer—Igo was surrounded by those with far more experience. As a high schooler, he provided a unique, younger perspective. Drawing from his middle school days, he discussed his own struggles with identity and how he was pressured by peers to fit in.
Even as a first-time formal public speaker, Igo was confident in his abilities to deliver a talk. In order to prepare, speakers work with volunteer coaches to completely memorize their speeches. After intense practice, Igo presented with ease.
“I read my speech a million times,” Igo said. “Just went over it line by line, trying to remember each part.”
Igo was not the only AHS student on stage, however. Hariani’s daughter, sophomore Jiya Jotwani, was the host. Hariani proposed the idea, though Jotwani was still required to go through the application process, with the chance of being rejected. With note cards in hand, she warmly introduced the speakers, supported by friends in the audience.
“At first it made me really nervous. I felt a lot of pressure to not mess up,” Jotwani said. “But then, when we took a break… all of my friends told me I did super good and so I felt a lot more confident.”
Though initially attending the event to support host Jiya Jotwani, sophomores Grace and Hannah Arnold were quite impressed with Igo’s courage.
Grace Arnold said, “[Igo’s speech] was really interesting…because he’s speaking to a room of primarily adults, by himself, and…giving a speech on something that a lot of people might…not accept him for. I think that was a really good example to set.”
The journey to uplift Andover voices has yet to end, however. A full-day TEDxAndover event is scheduled for June 2025, with hopes for ten speakers and two performers regarding the topic of invisible threats, which are problems people often disregard as harmful.
Hannah Arnold, approached by Hariani, has newfound inspiration to deliver her own speech after seeing well-established speakers and fellow classmates gain the chance in a lifetime. From her own experiences, she’s interested in speaking on learning strategies as well as how to handle chronic pain as a longtime soccer player.
Hariani encourages people of all kinds to speak. “When I am looking for a speaker, I am only looking for great ideas. I don’t care what the background of the person is, I don’t care where they’re coming from; I’m only looking for diverse voices and great ideas that are worth spreading,” she said. All she hopes for is to “strike conversation in the community”.
Interested in being a TEDxAndover speaker? Applications open January 2025. Refer to tedxandover.com for more information.
Student Government and the Jungle organized the celebration, which consisted of pie-eating contests, tug-of-war, and team competitions. This year, students took a major role in planning, as opposed to last year’s rally, which was mainly coordinated by Interim Principal Betty Taylor. The rally was attended by the entire school and had participation from students, teachers, and even Principal Jimmy D’Andrea.
The pep rally is a tangible example of all the work student organizations, such as Student Government and the Jungle, do. Senior Salma Ali, a member of Student Government and one of the main pep rally organizers, said, “We want to get more people excited. A lot of people want to skip the last day or skip the pep rally, so we want to get people more excited, which is why we’re having the Jungle leaders as MCs. [Hopefully] they’ll get people hyped and push them to get involved and be a part of it for the next [few] years.”
Student participation is the heart of any successful pep rally, and at AHS, the energy students bring is unmatched. From chanting school cheers to yelling for their friends, the enthusiasm from the students sets the tone for the event. This year, a number of fall sports, from girl’s swimming and diving to golf, participated in the pep rally. The event planners hoped that competing in events like tug-of-war will serve as bonding experiences and demonstrate team unity.
Unlike in past pep rallies, there was no teacher dance or speech from football coach Ernest Perry. Additional activities are the balloon relay, band performances, and Jungle Leaders also acting as MCs. These changes will hopefully allow for greater student engagement.
STAFF PHOTO/ Jillian Slotnick Students collide during relay game.
The planning and care put into the pep rally is obvious, and reflected by the palpable excitement shown by the students during the event. Connor Acheson, a captain of the football team, said, “I love [the pep rally]. I think we should have more [of them]. I think the team and everybody in the school get super excited, and it’s a lot of fun: super high energy. And it definitely helps before the big game.”
Perry expressed a similar opinion. “The school really likes it and the players seem to like it [as well],” he said. ”Everybody’s really into it. The energy is great, especially so close to the game. I think it really gets us into that mindset of the Thanksgiving [game] and needing to give it our all because it’s the last time we’ll step on that field this season.”
According to Ali, the annual pep rally does not only increase excitement for the Thanksgiving Day football game, but also elevates overall school pride. By bringing the whole community together, it forms a stronger bond between AHS students. Even administrators have noticed the positive change pep rallies and the presence of the Jungle has on school spirit.
Athletic Director Wayne Puglisi said, “I think that the Jungle has had some great turnouts for our home football games. They’re very supportive of other sports [as well,] which is great to see since that’s not been the case in the past. I feel like school spirit is slowly coming back [after COVID and our changing leadership]. Just the way that students act in the Jungle, how they cheer, and what they do for the different teams and different programs; it’s pretty cool.”
Andover High School seniors will play in the charity football game on November 25 at the AHS football stadium. This tradition has been happening for over 28 years, and the proceeds are donated to charity after each match.
Formerly known as the “powderpuff” game, the event consists of the usual aspects of a football game but with gender roles reversed. The cheerleaders for the night will be senior boys, whereas the players on the field will be girls from the grade. If any non-gender-affirming students wish to participate, they are welcome to join either team, depending on where they feel most comfortable. Traditionally, the football players are trained by the captains of the cheerleaders, and the cheerleaders are trained by the captains of the football team.
Senior Will Dever, one of the football captains said, “[The charity football game is primarily to] raise money, but also to… bring the school community together and just overall have a good time with the senior class, the ones you were never super close with but now you have a chance to connect with.”
The funds received for the charity football game will be donated to local charities. According to Holly Breen, a longtime AHS staff member and one of the organizers of the game, it hasn’t been decided where the proceeds will go this year. Last year, they were given to Neighbors in Need, a charity that focuses on stopping hunger in Lawrence and the surrounding area.
Breen also said the majority of planning has been done, but some administrative duties remain. For example, the t-shirts that have been sold in the past with team names are still in progress, since the team names are still being decided. However, the last day to vote for a team name is Friday, November 1st.
Breen talked about how this tradition has been happening for as long as she can remember. When asked about a notable memory from this annual event, she recalled that one night, “We had an absolute pour down [of a] rainstorm where we had to do it in the field house.” In addition to this memory, Breen noted that every charity football game is remarkable, due to the entertaining half-time shows, competitive spirit throughout the night, and most importantly, for being an opportunity for all Andover citizens to give back to their community.
Principal Jimmy D’Andrea has introduced a new method of communicating with AHS families this year: a newsletter delivered via phone call.
In previous years, AHS updates were only conveyed to families through email. While this method worked for some parents, others who may not have had time to thoroughly read the letter had to rely on their students to learn about school news. However, with a new principal comes new traditions, as the school has seen during D’Andrea’s time at AHS.
These Sunday-night phone calls go live every week around 7 P.M. They include around two minutes of information about events and changes around the school.
“I try to think from the perspective of, ‘What are the key things that parents and guardians need to know related to the school as a whole?’” said D’Andrea when asked about how he decides what to tell families about each week. “They’re things that students may mention to their parents, but it’s also helpful for the parents to have access to this weekly news so that they can support their student.”
Students and parents around AHS have expressed appreciation for the new form of news, feeling that it helps make it easier for families to stay connected and involved with the school.
“Every Sunday night, when the phone rings, my parents are quick to answer the phone. They’re very excited to hear the principal’s message,” said Henry Kane, a senior. “I think it’s really helpful for families to stay informed and be prepared for the week ahead.”
D’Andrea hopes that parents and students alike will benefit greatly from these quick and easy broadcasts, learning about school events from parent-teacher conferences to homecoming dances and getting more involved than ever before.
Andover High School’s fall musical, “Into the Woods,” incorporates new fairytale characters into the beloved 1986 Stephen Sondheim musical, adding more roles.
The new characters Hansel, Gretel, Goldilocks, Rumpelstiltskin, the Huntsman, and Tom Thumb each shed light on views never seen before. Director of Theater Arts Susan Choquette previously directed the musical 18 years ago, and has once again decided to add new characters to challenge the cast and include more people in the production.
While “Into the Woods” has many feature roles, there is no ensemble. Gabriel Cordio, a freshman playing Rumpelstiltskin, finds the new characters make the stage and songs sound fuller.
“On the stage, all the fairytale characters are going to be in their costumes, so it’s cool to see there’s Rumpelstiltskin, there’s Goldilocks… It helps fill out the play. [Because] “Into the Woods” is all the fairytales combined, adding more is going to look cooler,” said Cordio.
Many find the addition of new characters to be beneficial to give more people a chance to participate in the show. In addition to supporting upperclassmen who plan to pursue theater beyond high school, the production also provides underclassmen, especially freshmen like Cordio, valuable opportunities––even in smaller roles.
“It allows the Drama Guild to be more inclusive,” said Grace Armstrong, a sophomore playing Goldilocks. “I think they added the parts to show that you [could] still be in the production even if you don’t have a main role.”
The lack of ensemble in the original “Into the Woods” leaves out many possibilities––the incorporation of new characters explores these possibilities.
“I think it creates a larger world,” Choquette said. “To expand the world, especially when the giant starts to wreak havoc… the giant impacts more characters than are in our focus. There’s a whole kingdom out there that’s being affected.”
Armstrong echoed this opinion, pointing out that the added characters give the audiences different perspectives and reactions to the conflicts in the musical.
Nonetheless, the addition of new characters does not come without a lack of challenges. Without direct guidance from the original script, actors must research and explore the resources given to them by Choquette in order to depict their characters the right way.
“When you’re trying to portray a character that’s not in the actual play, you have to make sure you portray the character, but also not take away from the actual story,” said Cordio.
Some roles, on the other hand, have a different type of challenge altogether. Armstrong mentioned that as Goldilocks, she doesn’t have any lines, making it difficult to show different emotions. Some actors must rely on body language to portray their characters.
Despite these unique challenges, the fundamental work stays the same. All roles require research, whether the role is a fictional character or one that has always been part of the script, according to Choquette.
“I hope this experience has given actors in this show some practice doing that research, because the next play they do, they’re going to have to do the same thing,” said Choquette. “What they can’t find, they get to add. And that’s really the fun of being an actor.”
Still, when choosing new characters, Choquette made sure they contributed to the original musical’s theme. They go into unfamiliar territory, which creates conflict and drives the story.
“They go into the woods, wherever that is, in search of something…they get in trouble, and a lot of these characters share that,” said Choquette.
The event was held on September 29 from 4:00 to 7:00 pm, departing from 60 Rowes Wharf in Boston. Activities included a picnic dinner, a DJ, dancing, and views of the sunset. The decision to renew the event was made by the Senior Board advisors, health teacher Holly Breen, and math teacher Scott Armstrong.
Previously a longstanding tradition for seniors at AHS, the boat cruise was last held in 2019 before being canceled due to the pandemic. “When I was the Senior Board Advisor in prior years, we always had the boat cruise, which was always a phenomenal event,” said Breen. Another reason for bringing the boat cruise back was in order to spread senior events throughout the school year. “We don’t want to just have senior activities at the end of the year,” said Breen, “we want to get seniors really starting to hang out together and to be a group and community at the beginning [of the year].”
According to senior Shreya Desai, a member of the Senior Board, a large school issue the Senior Board is focusing on tackling is the lack of school spirit. “We all felt like we had no fun senior events until the end of the year with Senior Week. And with the beginning of the year so stressful for seniors with [college applications], we wanted to give seniors a little more fun.”
320 tickets were sold, according to Breen, out of 410 seniors at AHS. “A big part of that success has been the students on the Senior Board,” said Armstrong. “Their biggest part was getting the word out and getting people to come, which they clearly have been successful at.” Senior Aidan Loucks, another member of the Senior Board, stated, “Our goal is to make this a super fun year for everyone, and get as many people attending and engaging in community events like this.”
STAFF PHOTO / Brandon Nguyen Seniors look out at the Tobin Bridge in Boston Harbor from the cruise
The boat cruise isn’t the only event the Senior Board has planned this year. “We have Homecoming on October 19, and the charity football game will be the Monday before Thanksgiving,” said Breen. “We’ll also do the Halloween Costume Contest, and we want to do another event in February or March that’s open to all seniors.”
Loucks and Desai both agreed that their main goal with upcoming events is to increase the turnout. “Attendance wasn’t quite as we wanted [last year] for Homecoming while I was on Junior Board, but this year we’re hoping to turn that around,” said Loucks. “We’re going to work with the Junior Board this year,” said Desai, “to try and bring some new ideas to Homecoming and other future events.”
Overall, the Senior board is working towards brightening up the school and creating a closer community for AHS seniors. “I hope more students just get involved and participate in what we’re planning,” said Armstrong. “I think it’s really going to enhance the culture, but more importantly, it’s going to be fun for everyone.”
It all began when senior Richard Chen, discovered the competition at the end of the 2022-2023 school year. He attempted to recruit classmates but initially found little interest. Richard then approached Daniel Donovan, a physics teacher and the Physics Club advisor, and later, the team of eight’s mentor. Donovan’s initial response was skeptical. “He was like, this is an absolutely crazy idea, and it’s never going to happen,” joked senior Jaiden Li.
But the team – Theo Buckridge, Richard Chen, Samyak Jain, Jaiden Li, Daniel Lin, Zach Medjamia, Hari Palaniyappan, Robert Zhu – known as the SPEEDers (Smith-Purcell Effect Emission Determination) persevered. They began working on their proposal at the start of the following school year, brainstorming a number of ideas before settling on Smith-Purcell radiation. This lesser-known phenomenon, first discovered in the 1950s by Smith and Purcell, occurs when a beam of electrons passes over a metal grating, causing the emission of light.
The team’s proposal focuses on the unique properties of Smith-Purcell radiation. “It’s a non-intrusive method of diagnosing a beamline,” explained Li. A beamline is a line in a particle accelerator along which particles travel, and “diagnosing” means measuring its properties. “Essentially, that means that it’s very safe to conduct, and there’s also potential applications in healthcare with regards to X-rays.”
STAFF PHOTO / Tommy Kruecker-Green Winners of “Beamline for Schools” competition, along with AHS physics teachers Mr. Donovan, Ms. Givens, and Principal D’Andrea and Superintendent Dr. Parvey
The non-intrusive nature of Smith-Purcell radiation in measuring an electron beam is a key advantage. “When you run the electron [beam], you don’t actually run the electrons through the grating; you run it over [the grating], and so the beam continues on,” Zhu clarified. This means scientists can measure the beam’s properties without disrupting it, keeping the beam intact for other uses like medical treatments. To develop their proposal, the team gained access to a library of physics papers through the school librarian, John Bérubé. They also used Onshape, a cloud-based CAD (computer-aided design) software, to create 3D models of their experimental setup. Li got involved just a week before the submission deadline to create this computer simulation.
Remarkably, the team completed their final proposal in just one week. “It was a very last-minute thing,” admitted Zhu.
At DESY, the team, accompanied by Donovan, and physics teacher, Cynthia Givens, had plans to run an electron beam over their designed grating and observe the resulting Smith-Purcell radiation. “We’re pretty much just gonna be running the beam and trying to observe the Smith-Purcell radiation,” said Zhu before they left for Germany. “And we’re gonna be tweaking things and trying to see if it matches our predictions for how much we’ll see, what we’ll see, what frequency, and so on.”
The students have ambitious goals after observing the radiation. They hope to code a simulation for GEANT4, a toolkit used by CERN for simulating particle interactions. “The thing with the Smith-Purcell effect is that there isn’t a module for it in GEANT4,” said junior Buckridge. “So we would be the first to code that.”
The team sees this once-in-a-lifetime trip as an opportunity to experience the international scientific community firsthand. “It’s just really great to have experience working with these tools that actual scientists use in the actual field,” said Zhu. “We definitely want to learn more about what the scientific community is like outside of just Andover or outside of just the U.S,” Li added.
