New Marketing Course Explores Social Media In-Depth

Articles, Education
November 22, 2022
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Angela Mac and Anusha Sambangi
LAYOUT EDITORS

A new course at Andover High School, Advertising & Social Media, offers insight into lesser-known aspects of social media—marketing and branding.

The course is taught by Ashley Kinsman and Karen Stevens. In Advertising & Social Media, students learn how to use various marketing strategies, brand themselves, and other different business tools. With Generation Z being one of the first to grow up alongside technology, a course about social media may seem obsolete; however, Advertising & Social Media is a course that offers skills and concepts that students can take with them into the real world. This includes how social media can be used to market brands, celebrities, and ourselves and possibly make an income.

“Some of the fun things about the class are just exploring how to market to more modern-day technology… and how you can use marketing as a tool,” said Kinsman. “I think they’re very real-world skills,” she continued, “[the class] allows you to explore real-world concepts and how we can relate them to a classroom.”

This semester, Kinsman and Stevens run two half-credit sections of the class, each with 24 students. Both teachers look forward to running the course this year and are happy with how it has been going.

There are a variety of reasons why students enroll in Advertising & Social Media. AHS junior Amelie Pinard runs the Cheering on Children club at AHS and stated that she “wanted to know more about… what [she could] do to promote [her] club on social media, and…what effects that would have on the club itself.” Pinard recommended the course to any interested students, explaining that “we’re going to have to learn more on social media for advertising [in the future]” and that these skills could lead to better networking and countless new professions.

This year, students started by researching different types of blogs ranging from food to politics, then they compared them and noted the specific blog components that caught their attention.

Pinard “chose a cooking blog, and what [she] really liked [was] the organization and [the] different recipes you could choose from.” Students, after researching their blogs, started to create their own. In addition to learning about blogs, students looked into negative and immoral marketing.

In the course, students can gain a new perspective on current events that connect to the material they explore in class. In light of the controversy regarding Adidas’ former partnership with Kanye “Ye” West, Pinard commented that West “said some things on his behalf that [gained] them publicity, but it wasn’t necessarily moral. It was interesting to see how big brands were using that.”

Andoverview

Articles

NEASC Visit Highlights AHS Goals

April 3, 2026

Anushka Dole || ONLINE EDITOR

Andover High School hosted a re-accreditation visit from the New England Association of Schools and Colleges (NEASC) from March 16-18, as part of a decennial review process designed to evaluate how well AHS supports student learning and identify areas of improvement.

According to Assistant Principal Alicia Linsey, the process started during the 2023-2024 school year with a visit from the Collaborative Conference team, a group of visiting educators from across the New England area. In preparation for the visit, a team of AHS faculty members and administrators was formed.

“We picked out priority areas and presented those to this visiting NEASC committee … and they agreed with [our priority areas],” said biology teacher Lindsey L’Ecuyer, the AHS committee’s science department representative.

There were five priority areas that AHS pledged to work on starting in the 2023-2024 school year: developing the Vision of a Graduate, implementing consistent curricula throughout all departments, vertical/horizontal alignment across departments and throughout grades, promotion of school pride, and building infrastructure.

The Vision of a Graduate outlines the skills and values that the school hopes to instill in every student by the time they graduate.

Vertical alignment refers to improving coordination between teachers across grade levels to ensure student skills build progressively, while horizontal alignment emphasizes greater collaboration between teachers across departments.

“[The committee is] working on … finding time in the school day for teachers to collaborate more,” L’Ecuyer said, adding that AHS has begun standardizing curricula to support this effort.

“There are committees in the school that have been working on documenting curriculum in a consistent format for our core classes … freshman English, for example, [and] biology,” L’Ecuyer said.

Linsey mentioned that students and parents also play a role in the accreditation process. A team of visiting evaluators—distinct from the Collaborative Conference team—conduct interviews to gather student perspectives on the school climate and learning experiences.

Although the committee leads the reflection process, administrators are then responsible for implementing action plans based on their findings. In accordance with these plans, faculty members must provide evidence of integration of the district goals.

L’Ecuyer emphasized that NEASC accreditation is more about reflecting on and improving school processes than it is about recognition.

“It’s less of a badge as it is opening yourself up to reflecting on and documenting what you do well and what it’s like setting goals for your school,” L’Ecuyer said.

Beyond internal reflection and planning, the “badge” that the reaccreditation process provides does carry additional, tangible benefits for students. It reassures families and colleges that AHS maintains a rigorous academic program, and that it’s constantly working towards improving learning.

“My understanding is that colleges know Andover High School—they know what our programs are like,” L’Ecuyer said. “[Because] of [accreditation] … they know the kinds of students that graduate from here, and what skills that [they] have.”

Accreditation also plays a role in the school’s ability to receive funding.

“NEASC accreditation is required for eligibility to receive some private, state, and federal grants, loans, and other federal funds,” Linsey noted in an email.

Articles

School Committee Picks Interim Superintendent, Searches for Permanent

April 3, 2026

Clara Strong || COPY EDITOR

Following Superintendent Dr. Magda Parvey’s announcement on January 12 that she would be leaving the School District, the Andover School Committee appointed Keith Taverna as an Interim Superintendent until June 30.

Parvey, who had served as superintendent since 2021, has returned to New York to fill another superintendent position there. Her final day at Andover Public Schools was March 1. After that, Taverna, Andover’s Assistant Superintendent of Administration and Finance since 2022, took over. He has worked in school administration in Danvers and Andover for 17 years.

In a January 15 statement, the School Committee announced Taverna’s appointment and said he would “provide continuity and stability as the committee begins an extensive search for a permanent superintendent.”

School Committee Chair Shauna Murray explained that the committee was under time pressure to choose an interim quickly, but because Taverna was already deeply involved with financial and logistical matters, and with budget and redistricting issues coming up this spring, he was the natural choice.

Taverna said that his roles haven’t changed that much. Before, his oversight included the “budget … food services, transportation, custodial services, facility maintenance, [and] payroll.” He said that he didn’t want to change much as interim superintendent, “just keep steering us toward success.”

He also expressed excitement about “spending more time with students, getting to be in classrooms, really supporting our staff and our students, [and] hearing the voices from all of those different fronts.”

Taverna said that if he could stay on as permanent superintendent, “it would be a wonderful opportunity … and we’ll see what the School Committee decides.”

However, the committee is broadening their search to find a permanent superintendent by July. On February 9, they submitted a Request for Proposal (RFP) to alert search firms that Andover is looking for a superintendent. Search firms, companies that help communities find and hire candidates for positions like the superintendent role, then submitted proposals for how they would help by surveying the community and proposing candidates.

On March 10, the committee decided on the firm the New England School Development Council (NESDEC), who recently helped searches in Amesbury and Stoneham.

“So far NESDEC seems great.” Murray reported. “We’re really excited to start working with them.”

Murray said the current committee needs the help, as they were “essentially a rookie committee, and … [hadn’t] been through this process before.” While member Lauren Conoscenti had six years of committee experience, on March 24 she cycled off, and currently no one on the committee has more than two years of service.

If the committee is unable to find a permanent superintendent by June, they may either extend Taverna’s contract, or appoint a “bridge” superintendent. This position would be temporary, but longer than the interim position, and involve appointing someone to be superintendent just for the 2026-2027 school year. It would allow the committee to search more thoroughly and carefully for a permanent superintendent.

However, if a bridge superintendent was appointed, the permanent superintendent would take over next summer, right in the middle of negotiations for the teachers’ and instructional assistants’ contracts. Therefore, the committee hopes to fill the position permanently by July to ensure continuity in the superintendent position.

Murray emphasized the need to gather input from groups all over the community, including students, faculty, parents and families, administration, town officials, and more.

From March 30 to April 10, a survey will open to find out what the community values in a superintendent. Plus, during the week of April 13, NESDEC will conduct four focus groups from various town stakeholders, including students, and School Committee members will conduct community outreach.

“There’s a lot that I think high school students in particular can share about their experiences,” added Murray, “that will be really fascinating for [the committee] and helpful to us in our journey.”

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New Marketing Course Explores Social Media In-Depth

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