It’s official, the Feaster Five is back for their 34th annual event with in-person and virtual options available for all participants.
After a whirlwind past couple of years with COVID-19 uprooting much of society, there are a few things coming back to some sort of normal. The 2020 Feaster Five was held virtually and participants were asked to submit their times to the Feaster Five website. This year, while a virtual option is still available, there is also an in-person choice.
“We are working very closely with town officials to make sure we have the safest race possible,” stated Stephanie Guyotte, a Feaster Five Committee Organizer. “We are scaling back our pre-race expo and planning more of a registration and number pick-up at the YMCA [and] we will follow any state or local guidelines at the race start.”
Be prepared to wear a mask for at least the beginning of the run. While COVID-19 cases are significantly lower, with much of Andover being vaccinated, participants are still required to wear masks in schools, workplaces, and large groups.
According to Guyotte and the Feaster Five website, for the virtual option, with runners being required to sign up through the website and chooe which race packer they would like dring the pick up times. They will then record their own times and submit them through the Race Roster’s mobile app. “[runners] can sign up through our website, pick up a race packet during the pickup time, run on [their] own, and submit [their] time through our partner Race Roster’s mobile app.”
With the high vaccination rate in Andover, the possibility for a closer and more warming Thanksgiving is very possible, bringing much joy to the community. John Jannetti, a science teacher at Andover High School,is, as usual, extremely excited about the race. “I’m looking forward to having a large crowd!” exclaimed Jannetti. “I love seeing all of those people. I love seeing all of my fellow townies running. Former students that come home from far away, whether they are still in school or graduated from college, all come back for Thanksgiving.”
“I think having the option to participate virtually and in person is actually really exciting, because it will encourage more participation than last year,” said AHS junior Alex McNally. “It’s really really important that we get back out there and [participate] in these really really awesome causes.” Though McNally isnt able to participate in Feaster Five this year, they have run for years before.
As Feaster Five is slowly going back to normal, Table Talk apple pies will be given at the finish line.
The Feaster Five will be having its regular 5k and 5-mile options, along with the Kids Fun Run.
From the beginning of Molly Kiley’s freshman year, it was clear that she was going to be a competitive runner for Andover High School.
A significant boost for the Girls Cross Country team at AHS, Kiley quickly rose to become the number one runner for Andover girls and has maintained that spot well into her junior year. At the same time, she continues to gain impressive personal records for herself.
“I first started running the summer before freshman year,” recalled Kiley, adding that she “knew [she] wasn’t going to make the soccer team, so [she] just decided to do cross country.”
For many athletes, the transition from middle school to high school athletics can be a bit of a jarring experience, with many students experiencing getting “cut” from a team for the first time. Cross country is one of the few fall sports that is non-cut, therefore many athletes from a multitude of sports end up joining the team. It can be an eye-opening experience for many kids, especially if they previously hated running but suddenly discover they have a natural talent for it.
For Kiley, freshman year was “a lot of fun,” and full of learning experiences. “Going into the season, I didn’t have any expectations, but my goal was to place at the Merrimack Valley Conference championship,” stated Kiley. “My other goal for freshman year was to break 20 minutes [for the 5k] and qualify for the All-States meet.” Even though Kiley did not qualify for All States freshman year, she did break 20 minutes in a 5k race and hopes to make All States this year.
STAFF PHOTO / Camille Storch Molly Kiley during a race
Sophomore year took a bit of a downhill turn with Kiley getting injured. Kiley added that she was “really down on [herself] sophomore year, thinking [she] peaked freshman year.” Yet, she recalls how the most important part of healing an injury is time, patience, and diligence with physical therapy and strengthening, all of which Kiley focused on as a tenth grader.
Now, in her junior year, Kiley is back at full capacity and continues to break her own records. Most recently, on October 30 at the Merrimack Valley Conference meet, Kiley won the girls 5K varsity race with an astonishing time of 18 minutes and 27 seconds, equivalent to running at 5:57 mile pace for 3.2 miles. She finished 42 seconds ahead of the second place runner, Miana Carabello of Methuen.
What are the keys to Kiley’s success? “I think summer training is super important,” said Kiley. “I go to Peabody with other girls on the team, and we work really hard over the summer, and that definitely gives us leverage for the fall season.” For Kiley, running is a year-round commitment, as she trains in the summer, runs cross country in the fall, and then runs track in the winter and spring.
Sue Kiley, coach of AHS girls and boys cross country, also happens to be Molly’s mother. Having her mom be her coach for almost three years now has been an extremely valuable experience and one that she will miss in college. If Kiley is to continue running at the collegiate level, she stated that she “would need to vocalize better” concerns about injuries and aches to a college coach. “It’s easy to have my mom understand what’s going on in my life, whereas a college coach might not know me as well,” reflected Kiley.
In regards to her future, Kiley believes she definitely wants “to run in college, and [she] would miss it if [she] didn’t, but [she] is not entirely sure what that will look like at the moment, because academics do come first.”
Walking down the bustling corridors of Andover High School during the past couple of weeks, students could not fail to notice that several of the bathrooms have been out-of-order and off-limits.
This phenomenon is not particular to Andover. All across the country, toilets have been intentionally clogged and sometimes even removed, along with mirrors and soap dispensers having been ripped off walls. This is a result of the “Devious Licks” challenge on TikTok, in which students vandalize school property and then post about it online, in hopes to go viral. Similar destruction has occurred at Andover High School in recent weeks – although no officials have confirmed the details of that damage – and TikTok is likely the driving force here as well.
Assistant Principal Scott Darlington described the situation in the bathrooms as being “very concerning to our school and also to each student and adult in the building,” although he did not describe any specific details of the vandalism and could not confirm that the TikTok challenge played a role. Darlington went on to say that much of the vandalism that has occurred in Andover has been in the boys’ bathrooms. There have been a few acts of vandalism in the girls’ bathrooms as well, although these cases were “minor compared to the boys [bathrooms],” Darlington noted.
Currently, disciplinary action being taken against individuals involved in the vandalism has been in accordance with the AHS Student Handbook. Since vandalism is considered a crime, a variety of measures are being used to manage the situation. In some cases, police-involved school investigations have had to be carried out.
Darlington also shared that monitors are checking the bathrooms more frequently and a sign-in and sign-out sheet is being used for the boys’ bathrooms.
STAFF PHOTO / Camille Storch Outside the second floor boys’ bathroom. Sign-in and sign-out sheets have been used in conjuction with bathroom monitors to resolve this issue.
Anecdotally, it has been observed that the pandemic has brought some behavioral issues in kids to the surface. This is well documented in scientific literature. In the medical journal, The Lancet, Amy Orben and colleagues review evidence from numerous pre-pandemic studies that suggest that adolescents are particularly sensitive to social stimuli, and have an increased need to interact with peers; therefore, physical and social distancing may have had a negative effect on this age group.
Mr. Darlington acknowledged that all students this year are likely both academically and developmentally behind as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, and he emphasized that “the current 9th graders were only in 7th grade when COVID began so they missed having a normal 8th grade year.” As a result, freshmen and sophomores especially may require more guidance in following school rules.
Darlington stressed that nevertheless, there is no excuse for any of the acts of destruction that have occurred. He additionally reiterated that it is imperative that students realize the enormous cost that comes with this vandalism. Not only is there a financial cost to the school, but it also “impacts [students’] ability to access a clean and functioning restroom” and is “creating more work for the custodians [who] have to clean up and repair any vandalism.”
With regards to TikTok and social media itself, Mr. Darlington pointed out that students must be aware “that taking photos or videos of anything or anyone in school and then posting it online is a violation of school rules.” He expressed the hope that the kids involved in the vandalism have learned important lessons from their mistakes.
Andover High School teacher Kristen McDonie opened an independent bookstore in Lowell this August.
McDonie, who teaches French, initially opened Lowell Book Company in November 2020, running the company online. She now has opened a physical bookstore in Mill No. 5 in Lowell, where she lives. She manages the store and also has two part-time employees.
Opening a bookstore has been McDonie’s dream for the last few years. “I love teaching,” she said, “but there has always been a part of me that wondered if there were other things that I could do.”
STAFF PHOTO / Avi Shapira McDonie in her bookstore on the grand opening day.
Before and while running the online store through bookshop.org, McDonie did a lot of research on running a bookstore. In addition, she took part in a business accelerator program over the summer to learn more about the business side of bookstores.
McDonie expressed that running a business from home was overwhelming. “[Y]ou have to make a choice to mentally disengage from the business because it’s all in your home,” she said. “[Y]ou have to work really hard to… be relaxed and present with your family. Having a bookstore is nice because it’s actually the physical space. I’m not always looking at everything.”
Today, many people buy books online instead of in stores, due to the wide selection available and lower prices. However, McDonie decided to open a bookstore because people still have an interest in purchasing books in-person. “[The physical store] gives you the whole experience of handling a book,” she says. “Being able to [physically] handle a book before you commit to it… makes you love the book even more at the end.”
Opening a business is about filling a need in the community. At this time there are no other local, independent bookstores in Lowell, and the nearest Barnes & Noble is in New Hampshire.
The store carries both new and used books, and books by local authors. Poetry is especially popular—Lowell has a strong tradition of poets, including Jack Kerouac, a famous 20th century poet.
STAFF PHOTOS / Avi Shapira Lowell Book Company on grand opening day.
McDonie hopes to be able to host events in the shop, and has already partnered with the Lowell Reads program run by the local library to host a writing workshop in a coffee shop across the hall.
McDonie plans to continue work as a teacher in the future in addition to running her bookstore. She finds it exciting to run a business because she has a lot of say in what’s happening. “My favorite thing is knowing that I’m building something from the ground up, building something from scratch, leaving a legacy for my family, for my children. Building something that can grow and having the ability to control the direction that it goes,” McDonie said.
Mill No. 5, where the store is located, is a refurbished textile mill where the 4th and 5th floors have been converted into storefronts for small businesses. The mill is located at 250 Jackson St. in Lowell. The shops in the mill are only open for limited hours: 5-8 p.m. on weekdays, 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Saturdays, and 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sundays. This makes it easier for McDonie as it means she is never teaching when Lowell Book Company is open.
You can learn more about Lowell Book Company at their website, lowellbookcompany.com, or by visiting them in Mill No. 5. One upcoming event in the store is a Q&A and reading with local author Tracy Guan on October 24. More information about this and other events can be found on their website.
STAFF PHOTOS / Camille StorchParticipants walk and run the five kilometers long Step Up for Colleen event to honor the legacy of Colleen Ritzer. Money raised from the event will…
Many of the cafeteria staff have not returned to the school after AHS went remote in 2020. Due to this shortage of staff in the cafeteria, the Snack Shack is closed indefinitely.
The Snack Shack was a reliable option for many students as it provided an alternative for lunch and snacks before and after school activities. However, it was not open during the 2020-2021 school year and has continued to remain shut down.
“It was really great, as school meals often weren’t enough to get me through the school day and cross country practice. Getting a yogurt parfait or a muffin really helped get me through the day and I miss it a lot,” said Brandon Zhao, a senior.
Many believed that the closure was due to the COVID restrictions. “The Snack Shack isn’t ‘necessary.’ It’s an add-on to lunch, so I think that the school wanted to limit crowding in large areas with food. And so, they decided to not open it these past two years,” said Carol Yu, a senior.
STAFF PHOTO / Shravya Sathi The doorway to the Snack Shack in the cafeteria
However, Gail Koutroubas, the director of food services, revealed that she would be very happy to bring back the Snack Shack if she can find more staff. “All the staff is new, and the new staff that we have is limited because there are no applicants,” said Koutroubas.
She is hoping to get some more staff in order to put back the Snack Shack and made-to-order deli. “They just need to love kids. They don’t need a food service background to serve lunch. Parents could even come in and help us… we would hire them on a temporary basis!”
Even if she gets more staff, another complication is getting the food for the Snack Shack to the high school. There is a bigger supply chain problem going on past the school. On top of that, there are not many drivers, nationwide, to get the food from the warehouses to the schools.
“When the pandemic came, and everything shut down, there was a certain percentage of people that left the workforce. A certain amount of people left the food service,” Koutroubas said.
While the future of the Snack Shack is still in question, there is a consensus that it is a part of AHS that is very missed.
The Snack Shack was a place that had many options that the students liked, such as bagels, yogurt, smoothies, popcorn, coffee, muffins, and candy. Some students claimed to use the Snack Shack more than the regular lunch lines. If they were hungry, students would grab something quickly between classes. Teachers would even bring their classes down to the cafeteria so that their students could grab food from the Snack Shack.
“If you can get me some parent volunteers or something, I will open up that Snack Shack faster than you can say Snack Shack,” Koutroubas said.
Everyone loves lunch. You get to sit with your friends after your classes, you get to socialize with them, and this year, you also get free lunch on top of that! Unfortunately for students, an issue has been arising, especially during fourth lunch.
For the past couple weeks, some students in fourth lunch have experienced the cafeteria running out of food to serve. Students going into the lunch line have come to the front only to be told, “Sorry, we are out of lunch.” I, myself, have experienced this issue. It was on one of my days where I’m at the school until 7 p.m. due to clubs so having lunch is very important. Some lunches are even locking the kitchen doors, refusing to allow students to get food ten minutes after lunch starts in order to combat students grabbing a second lunch.
“I’m a person who eats a lot and therefore needs seconds,” said junior Abby Spewock, “I know if I go to take seconds, someone in the fourth lunch will probably not get food. No student in the public school system should feel guilty for taking more food or being hungry.” This is a point that many people in the student body share as this is a very big issue. Another key fact that seems to be overlooked is the need for larger portion sizes, especially as many students are involved in afterschool activities that require a significant amount of fuel to give them energy. One piece of pizza and a small serving of salad might be enough for one person, but might be very little energy for someone else. Having more of a variety in serving sizes would help more students in feeling fueled up after lunch.
Many of the students who need more to eat either do sports or stay after school for clubs, hours after school has ended. Now imagine if they didn’t receive lunch during the school day. They would be famished by the time they came home, especially if they didn’t have breakfast. The students then take seconds during the school to accommodate for the fact that they are still hungry after one serving, which, as Spewock mentioned, risks taking another student’s lunch away during fourth lunch.
The reason for these troubles are pretty simple: COVID-19. This has caused many problems for everyone of all ages and professions. During the beginning of the pandemic, it was difficult for many individuals to keep their jobs, with the restaurant industry suffering heavily. When Andover schools closed, many of the kitchen staff left and never returned. Since schools continued to remain fully remote for the rest of the 2019-2020 school year, the kitchen staff had to leave to seek other employment elsewhere.
STAFF PHOTO / Philippa Konow View from the cafeteria stairs during breakfast on Tuesday October 5, 2021.
Many truck drivers working for food shipment delivery services also lost their jobs. According to Gail Koutroubas, the APS Nutrition Director, “There is a huge nationwide shortage of truck drivers. An example is, I ordered fresh produce… I ordered 25 cases of snack pack carrots. I didn’t get any of them in shipment. I ordered 25 cases of sliced apples. I didn’t get any.” This issue with the shortage of drivers is causing individuals, like Koutroubas and her kitchen staff, to struggle to find ways to make ends meet. This isn’t an issue about not ordering enough food for all the students, this is an issue with there being no one to deliver the ordered food to the schools.
For parents, graduated siblings, etc., who are looking for some work, APS schools are hiring in the kitchen. “We pay $15.97 an hour to start, and we need people even if it’s just for 4 hours,” stated Koutroubas. Just those four hours alone can help bring back the fully functioning cafeteria for the ease of the students and the staff as well!
As suggested by Koutroubas, there is a possibility for student assistants during H-block class so students can help serve food for those who missed breakfast! This will give all students the opportunity to have some breakfast in their stomach so they can get through the day. this would be able to bring together the students to achieve a common goal; avoiding hunger in the student body during the day.
There are steps being taken to help this situation get resolved. We all love lunch and miss the beloved Snack Shack, but if we all work together as a community, we will be able to get to a very much normal as close as we can. We just need some good old team work to help! If you think that one lunch won’t be enough for you, bring one from home until this is sorted out. If you see someone without food and they are hungry, if you have something that you are too full to eat, offer it to them!
On a beautiful, warm, breezy Saturday afternoon April 24, about 30 volunteers worked together to plant over 300 trees in total, exceeding the initial goal of 256 trees by nearly 20 percent.
The initiative was run by the Environmental Club at AHS, headed by co-presidents senior Yashvi Gosalia and junior Eva McKone. They worked with an organization called Tree-Plenish, a platform created to help students offset the carbon footprint of their school’s paper usage. For AHS this means offsetting the use of 2.6 million sheets of paper.
This isn’t the first time the Environmental Club has tried to plant trees on an enormous scale. Last year, their goal was to plant a tree for every student at AHS. Unfortunately, while there were no shortage of saplings, the trees that were available would have needed routine maintenance, and the logistics of caring for that many trees could not be worked out. The Environmental Club tackled the task again on a smaller scale this year, and partnering with Tree-Plenish allowed them to accomplish their goal of planting a huge number of trees. Andover residents purchased either a douglas fir, river birch, or red maple tree to be planted on their private property. April 24, the volunteers drove around and planted the more-than-300-trees they ordered.
While working with Tree-Plenish to accomplish this huge project is one of the more complex undertakings the Environmental Club has pursued this year, it is far from the only one. They have also worked to get electric car charging stations implemented on the AHS campus for future use by students and other Andover residents with electric cars. The goal is to make it more convenient to have an electric vehicle in the hopes that more people will decide to use them. There are 12 buildings in Andover running entirely on solar energy sourced from a solar panel field in Palmer, including AHS. Since the charging stations will be on the AHS campus, they will be in the same electricity zone and will run on 100 percent solar energy.
STAFF PHOTO / Erin Li A line of electric vehicles meet up at the AHS parking lot to drive down to main street to promote electric cars.
STAFF PHOTO / Erin Li AHS Environmental Club members organize the electric car drive-by event. From left to right: Eva McKone (president), Courtney Duffy, Yashvi Gosalia (president), Ravi Diaz, Sadie Rooney
Not all of the projects the Environmental Club takes on are as monumental ones. They regularly do trail cleanups, an exercise junior Claire Dolan, a member of the club, really enjoys. “It’s always really fun after school to walk around and talk to everyone in the club and pick up some trash just to keep that area [of Baker’s Meadow] clean,” she said. “I also really like working in the garden with students from the club.”
STAFF PHOTO / Erin Li Courtney Duffy and Sadie Rooney stand next to a poster they made for the event to promote electric vehicles. The event occurred on 4/30 and it consisted of an electric car show and educational messages.
The Environmental Club has truly come a long way, being revived under Gosalia and McKone’s leadership after having no clear direction in their sophomore and freshman years respectively. Gosalia recalled, “I had gone to a couple of meetings and the thing that I remember the most about that was just how empty the classroom always was. We had maybe 5 or 6 people that were coming consistently.” When she discussed this with McKone one day, the two became determined to change the way the club was run. They approached Melanie Cutler, science teacher and advisor for the club, and they have been co-presidents ever since (that’s three years running!)
Throughout experience organizing events, volunteering with various organizations, attending strikes and more, McKone said that her favorite part of advocating for the environment is “having a group of like-minded people working toward one goal. It’s really rewarding to see everything follow through and to see that we can make an impact in our community.”
Getting Involved
Senior Sophie Rainville is taking the Environmental Sustainability Internship Course this year. She has been using a grow cart with four racks in a room next to the cafeteria to grow lettuce, basil, and cilantro, which is being used in school lunches.The goal was to provide fresh organic food to the AHS cafeteria. “Working on this project is very fulfilling because the process does not take long and it is fun to see the plants grow,” Rainville said. “My favorite part is being able to bring the food into the cafeteria knowing it will be used,” she added. “It is cool to know that someone who is eating a salad at lunch is eating lettuce grown in the cafeteria.” Her hope is for more grow carts to be used in the future. She would love to get the community involved through bringing her produce to farmers markets, and her ultimate hope is that it could be used as a learning tool in science and special education classes. She said, “I was inspired by the way that growing things can help people. I think it is…a learning opportunity for people to see something they planted grow.”
McKone explained that, as Sophie demonstrated, in environmental advocacy, there are different kinds of work you can do. “There’s the political side and the classic ‘go out in nature and save the earth’ kind of thing,” she said.
On the political side, Dolan had a few tips for how you could get involved. For example, you could volunteer to phone bank for candidates who champion green legislation you support, or you could write postcards to voters. She said, “Climate change is an issue that isn’t really visible in our government. And state-wise, we have a very small percentage going towards work that centers the climate and advocating for that is really important.”
If that kind of work isn’t your thing but you still want to volunteer, there are many other organizations that you can work with. McKone is involved in an organization called the Tomorrow Project (https://www.tomorrowprojectus.org/), a program led by youth volunteers that partners with elementary schools to educate kids about the importance of being sustainable. Hands-on projects and interaction between the older students and younger students aim to make an impact that will excite kids to lead green lifestyles. Another place to volunteer is Andover WECAN (https://andoverwecan.org/), a community-based group of volunteers with all sorts of projects. Dolan helps to write the blog about ways people can help in Andover. Dolan said, “Even joining one organization can get you very far, because people have great connections and everyone’s really helpful with tips.”
On a personal level, there are a number of ways you can make the way you live more sustainable. Sustainability can easily be intimidating, but Gosalia made a fantastic point to remember when it feels this way: “The aesthetic of being sustainable is often a lot more work than it actually is to be sustainable…a lot of times, people feel like in order to be sustainable, you need to buy new things. But that’s actually the exact opposite of what you should be doing…Sustainability really comes with using what you have to the most that it can be used. So instead of buying new clothes that are ethically or sustainably made, just keep wearing the ones you have and mend them…It’s a lot easier than it looks online.”
You can also try going vegetarian one day a week. According to Kathy Freston, health and wellness activist and author in the Huffington Post, enough water to supply every home in New England for four months could be saved if everyone went vegetarian for a day. You can see the article here at https://www.huffpost.com/entry/the-breathtaking-effects_b_181716.
McKone emphasized that the most important aspect of doing this kind of work is not to give up even if you feel disheartened. Dolan echoed this sentiment, saying, “You can feel not very valuable in the issue of climate change because it’s very large, on a global scale. Your work matters a lot no matter how big or small it is. All people are valuable to the movement and working towards combating climate change.”
2.6 million sheets of paper
Used by AHS collectively, all offset by trees planted in a project run by the Environmental Club
1,800+
Streetlights that are energy-efficient LED lights throughout Andover
1.2 million tons of CO2
Greenhouse gas emissions prevented in the US if everyone went vegetarian for one day
Former AHS Grads on the Campus Experience in the Pandemic
By Erin Li
STAFF WRITER
We remember saying goodbyes to the seniors who graduated last year and the years before that, but do you ever wonder how they’re doing in college now? As this crazy school year is coming to an end for the high school class of 2021 and the college students, have you ever just wondered how the pandemic has affected them? What does college even look like now and what struggles do they need to face? ANDOVERVIEW interviewed past AHS graduates to check in on their college experience under the pandemic and to see if they had any tips for the upcoming freshman students going into college.
This year, most colleges went remote with a choice of hybrid classes and living on campus. Even though it was expected that the pandemic would change the whole on-campus life experience, Rebecca Song, a 2020 AHS grad and a freshman at UMass Art, told ANDOVERVIEW that she still chose hybrid over remote: “The experience is obviously not the same, but I feel like if I were in person I think I will be more focused and attentive.”
According to Song, in her school, most of the upperclassmen chose remote classes but a lot of freshmen chose hybrid to fill their first-year class requirements. Her only hybrid class this year is figure drawing, which is a freshman year required class for art students where they bring their art materials into a room and draw different models every two weeks. You can take this class online too; however, when it involves nude models, the teacher won’t be able to host a zoom meeting.
When asked about what she dislikes the most about college during the pandemic, for her it’s the absence of engagement in class, and lack of motivation. Song said, “Sometimes I felt like I didn’t have access to help, or like I couldn’t ask for help.” With online classes, students tend to find it awkward to stay after class to ask questions. Since the teachers can’t help the students physically face to face, it became an effort to reach out and email the professors or social workers for help.
This struggle to connect is also true with making friends especially for the class of 2020 going into a brand new environment. Usually, you would make friends through in-person classes, school clubs, and activities, etc. But this year everything shifted online, changing the main source of creating friendship to school Discord servers, Instagram direct messages, and other social media platforms. Even though you can’t hang out with a huge group of friends to grab food or study together in the library, people are trying to make it work. “In Discord channel, people will coordinate little things like going to the Blick store to get art materials, running errands together… a few people go and that sparks conversations,” Song added.
Along with all the struggles of finding motivations or making new friends, oddly enough, there are also perks to the pandemic college life, such as being able to attend online classes more easily or having bigger dorm rooms all to themselves. Sherry Wang, a 2018 AHS grad and a junior at Bentley University, said, “To be honest, I haven’t missed a single class this semester because they were online classes. Before when they were offline it was easier to not go to classes when all your friends didn’t want to go.”
Of course, another big part of the college experience is residential life. Because of the pandemic though, there are strict restrictions on college dorms and visitors. Students from outside the school are not allowed to enter dorms, they are required to take COVID tests every week and show an indication of the negative result when entering any buildings on campus. The public facilities on campus changed too: libraries are often not open now but only available for curbside pickup, the study rooms are limited to fewer than four people, and these restrictions differ for each school. For the students studying in Boston, some of their social activities during the week are running errands, grabbing food and drinks, or just hanging out with friends around Newbury Street or at the Boston Common Park.
According to Wang, “It feels more like living your own life and surprisingly grocery shopping became my favorite activity.” As an upperclassman living in a suite with her own individual kitchen, Wang started cooking more during the school year. Grocery shopping became the number one activity she looks forward to because it’s a reason for her to leave her room and breathe in some fresh air from the outside.
To provide a better experience for the students, colleges have also been trying their best to create student bonding activities to relieve stress, make opportunities for friendships, or just create some kind of normalcy during this abnormal year. Some of the common activities are online bingo, movie nights, or even arts and crafts nights. According to Wang, Bentley University continued its annual Spring Day event, which this year was April 16-18. Usually, they would have an in-person concert where all the students come together but this year they had a virtual concert featuring Tinashe, 24kGoldn, and Jeremy Zucker. During the three event days, there were different free food trucks every day on campus serving ice cream sandwiches, burgers, fries, tacos, fried chicken, whoopie pies, etc. These are some great activities to bring students together in a safer way during this special time as well as providing some late-night snacks to fuel up their motivation again.
STAFF PHOTO / Erin LI Former AHS 2018 grad Sherry Wang holding a whole plate of food she received during Bentley’s Spring Day Event on April 17th, 2021.STAFF PHOTO / Erin Li An example of the variety of food Bentley provided during their 2021 Spring Day Event to help students to bond together and relieve stress.
The past AHS grads sure have had a very special college year under the pandemic, there are lots of struggles they had to face and resolve but there are also little surprises they found on the way to make isolation a bit better. What will the college class of 2025, this year’s high school seniors, experience next year? Who knows, but it may not be a bad idea to start reaching out to make new friends on the internet, go grocery shopping, or try to cook (without burning your kitchen down)!
Tips From AHS Grads
“Bring your spices, bring your salt, bring your pepper, bring your chili bean sauce, sriracha, because they don’t have that in college.”
Rebecca Song (2020 grad)
“If you’re struggling, others probably are too. Reach out to your peers even if it seems intimidating.”
Henry Chen (2020 Grad)
“Don’t miss any of your classes.”
Sherry Wang (2018 grad)
“Form study groups. Learning on your own is going to get harder from here on out.”
Henry Chen (2020 Grad)
“Find your roommate ASAP or rent a house ASAP.”
Christina Zhou (2020 grad)
“Random roommates are pretty, well, random. Learn to get along with people that frustrate you, at least to be able to amicably resolve conflicts.”
Henry Chen (2020 Grad)
“Be prepared to feel overwhelmed but also know that you are never alone.”
Students Share Activity Ideas Planned for Upcoming Break
By Shravya Sathi
ASSOCIATE EDITOR
“I can’t wait for this summer,” said Riley Caruso, a junior at AHS, who hopes to spend the summer with loved ones. “With the vaccine rolling out and the cases decreasing, we can finally get out and do more things with friends and family– safely, of course.”
After a long wait and the loss of summer 2020, this vacation is especially exciting for us all. With the year coming to an end, students have begun planning their summer by partaking in a wide variety of unique experiences from camp counseling, to internships, to international trips.
Tatum Shaw
For senior Tatum Shaw, this summer will consist of working at Faz’s Hooptown Camp where she will be coaching children in basketball and playing games with them. “The camp is so fun to be a part of and I love hanging with the kids and giving them guidance. I look forward to it every year,” she said.
The Hooptown experience is not new for her. She has been attending Hooptown since a young age and when she got old enough to be a coach, she couldn’t wait to apply to the position. Other than working at Hooptown for seven weeks, Shaw hopes to “hang out with friends and family, go to the beach, hike, and [play] in some basketball tournaments.”
Hanna Saad
Junior Hanna Saad hopes to attend welding school this summer. “I want to do specifically fabrication welding at [Lawrence Technical High School],” he said. Welding is one of his hobbies and it is his safety net for a future job.
In addition to welding school, Saad will be biking a lot with his friends. He has a goal of hitting 1,000 riding miles over the summer.
COURTESY PHOTO / Hanna Saad Hanna Saad, a junior, is practicing welding with an exhaust pipe at his gas station.
Tomas Loureiro
Similarly, senior Tomas Loureiro will be working for the Andover Youth Services (AYS). “At the youth center, I help run programs that include basketball, workouts, boys group, and more,” he said, adding that this year, many of the programs that will most likely run are outdoor trips and adventures.
As a child, Loureiro spent a lot of his time at the center, and received the opportunity to work there at the start of this school year. Therefore, this will be his first time working over the summer at AYS.
“COVID will likely make it more difficult to do certain activities as it has over the fall and winter, but either way, it’ll still be a lot of fun,” he said.
Shohini Lala
Some students are taking on academic and enrichment experiences this summer. Junior Shohini Lala hopes to take a physics class through a local community college.
She would like to major in a biology-related field and hopes to take this class to help build a good academic foundation before she enters college. “I didn’t get the chance to take it through the school and with everything online it is easier to [get this opportunity],” she said. “We are so close to normalcy. I’m positive that this summer will be amazing!”
Saima Rahman
Junior Saima Rahman hopes to be working at Shawsheen School with the Bridge preschoolers. “It’s a really great learning experience and the kids at Shawsheen are amazing,” she said, adding that Bridge is a half-day school where they teach, play, and work on skills with the children.
Her mother has been working at Shawsheen for several years and Rahman has been able to get to know the school and the teachers there. Many of them encouraged her to apply for a summer job at Shawsheen. She was supposed to start working last year, but due to COVID, there was no summer school.
Sadhana Venkatesh
Junior Sadhana Venkatesh has two unique experiences planned out this summer. She will be teaching violin to children and adults and will be conducting a personal project on education. She will be continuing to teach Indian classical violin to children and adults, as she continues her own training in this art. She has been learning for the past seven years, and started assisting and taking classes a year back. All the online teaching “[has] really helped [her] to understand perspective and how to communicate better and how to allow [her] intentions to come across well,” she said.
Inspired by this year’s learning and teaching, Venkatesh wants to start a personal project on education. “With the pandemic, it’s become really apparent to me, and to many other people, that grades have been our biggest motivators in learning,” she said as she talked about her own learning experiences.
Venkatesh remembers that she used to be very excited to learn, and definitely lost that after middle school. She hopes to reverse that by understanding why children get demotivated to learn and also hopes to bring this to a greater level and fix a bigger issue. “I really want to see if this can be taken anywhere and see if there is any reform that could happen with this,” she said.
COURTESY PHOTO / Sadhana Venkatesh A screenshot of Venkatesh’s performance recording. She was performing for the virtual recital at Chinmaya Mission named “Thyagaraja Aradhana.”
Pritha Yalakkishettar
Junior Pritha Yalakkishettar will be helping out with the COVID vaccine this summer and hopes to continue this job through the next school year. She will be working at one of the Greater Lawrence Family Health Care Centers, which is an organization her mother works with. This is the first time Yalakkishettar will be working. “I would be registering patients coming in for the COVID-19 vaccination,” she said.
In addition to working at the clinic, Yalakkishettar would like to spend much of her time with friends and family. “I hope I get to hang out with my friends a lot more,” she said. “We have many activities planned like paint nights, pool parties, picnics, a day in Boston, etc. We’ve written them all out and are determined and excited to do them. Since COVID ruined any and all 2020 summer plans to do with everyone, we’re hoping the things we do this summer will make up for that.”
