A Closer Look at College Admissions Uppers and Seniors
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Shh... Veritas Super Omnia Vol. CXXXII, No. 8 April 17, 2009 Phillips Academy “The Den” Previously Named For Former Soccer Coach Ryley By JULIA ZORTHIAN Most students at Andover ministration decided to name still remember when the Den the room after Ryley in memo- was called the Ryley Room. But riam, according to Quattlebaum. they would have to go back a “All the kids knew [Ryley]. generation or two to find An- He was very outgoing, and he dover students who remember was somebody that people, par- its namesake. ticularly students, felt comfort- James Ryley was well-loved able with. He had contact with by students and faculty alike on not only the soccer kids, but a campus when he worked at An- broad range of students through dover, according to Ruth Quat- his other responsibilities,” said tlebaum, School Archivist. Quattlebaum. Quattlebaum said that Ry- “There used to be a plaque ley was Andover’s boys soccer with [Ryley’s] picture in the coach from 1912 to 1946 and a Ryley room that disappeared member of the Office of Physical at some point. Nobody knows Plant. where it went. The Ryley Room “[Ryley] was a beloved coach, fell out of use at some point in and there’s a lot of affection for the ’60s and ’70s and it must coaches. He was also one of the have disappeared sometime dur- Commons workers and custo- ing that era,” said Quattlebaum. dial staff on campus that people Now, with a newly renovated just love,” said Quattlebaum. Commons, the Ryley Room will “He wasn’t like a teacher, undergo a name change. Before where there is an unequal power Commons reopened this spring, relationship. It was a much more the school temporarily renamed level playing field with someone the Ryley Room to “The Den.” like [Ryley,]” she continued. Paul Murphy, Dean of Stu- Before it was called the Ryley dents and Residential Life, said, Room, the student hangout cen- “Changing [the name] from Ry- ter on campus was an unnamed ley Room to a neutral name is a room in Commons. way to make it more attractive to A. Levine/The Phillipian The room was built in 1930 someone who may be tempted Students walk and lounge on the lawn in front of Samuel Phillips Hall on Wednesday as trees begin to blossom. in Commons, and five years to give money to the school for later, Andover’s Board of Trust- that building.” ees voted that it be turned into School administrators are a smoking and lounge room for still waiting for a donor to give A Closer Look at College Admissions Uppers and Seniors. the necessary funds and choose After Ryley’s death on De- cember 24, 1946, the school ad- Continued on Page 5, Column 1 Acceptance Rate Fall Back To 45 PA Sees Long-Term Decline in Percent After One-Year Spike Geneticist George Church ’72 Harvard, Yale Admissions By JULIA DEAN By LIAM MURPHY Sought Independence at PA In spite of a highly competi- “It’s tough when students go Declining acceptance rates have not taken as hefty a hit. tive year for college admissions, against the advice of the College at top American universities In 1968, 26 Andover gradu- By ALEX SALTON Phillips Academy has, for the Counseling Office, and apply to have led many Phillips Acad- ates matriculated at Yale. This “Everything sparked when I your studies, and I essentially most part, only seen a slight de- one of the Ivy League schools, emy students to find other col- number has also dropped, but came to Andover,” said George hung out with hoodlums and crease in admissions rates. which is not a realistic choice. lege options in recent years. by a smaller margin. An aver- Church ’72. people who were older than Amid rumors of falling ac- And then, on April 3, when all Matriculations at some Ivy age of 11 students matriculated A molecular geneticist and me. It was a very non-academ- ceptance rates for PA students, of the Ivies are sending out their League universities, particu- each year between 2004 and contributor to both the Human ic environment,” he said. 45 percent of Andover applica- notifications, that’s a lot of re- larly Harvard and Yale, have 2007, before the 16 matricula- and Personal Genome Projects, Church’s interest in biol- tions (1,232 out of 2,737 applica- jection,” said Anderson. decreased over the past four tions in 2008. Church said that his time spent ogy stemmed from his father’s tions) were accepted this year, Yale, Harvard, Brown, Princ- decades, according to John The 13 students who ma- at Andover was a period of work as a physician. said John Anderson, Director of eton and Stanford received Anderson, Director of College triculated at Princeton in 2008 transformation and evolution. “[My father] had this gi- College Counseling. Counseling. were a significant increase Growing up in Florida, ant physician’s bag for mak- This percentage of accep- Nine students from the compared to recent years. The Church’s peers were not a ing house calls,” said Church. tances is down by four percent Continued on Page 4, Column 1 Class of 2008 matriculated at average number of Andover source of educational or scien- “I would look in this bag and from last year’s 49 percent, but Harvard last fall, in stark con- graduates who matriculated at tific inspiration. there would be all these amaz- it is on par with the averages of trast to the 36 students from 40 Princeton between 2004 and “In Florida, all the peer re- ingly complicated medicines the past four years. The years years earlier, a typical number 2007 was six. In 1968, 18 stu- inforcement was for not doing and instruments for measuring 2005, 2006 and 2007 also saw for that time period. In 1968, dents went to Princeton, while heart rate and checking reflex- admissions rates of 45 percent. 242 students graduated from 20 matriculated there in 1978. es. There wasn’t really any way “Statistically, this year is no College Andover. “There was a sense of en- that I could pursue this inter- worse than previous years,” said In 1978, 30 students matric- titlement involved with going est independently in Florida.” Anderson. Admissions ulated at Harvard. The num- here… that if you’re going here, Church arrived at Andover Each Andover student was ber has grown smaller over the you are going to go to an Ivy,” in 1968 seeking personal and admitted to at least one school, Stats years, averaging around 18 stu- said Anderson. “With colleges, educational independence. according to Anderson. dents per year between 2004 it’s now more of a meritocracy He characterized his four- “Essentially 100 percent of See Page 4 and 2007, before reaching the year career at PA as a “time of the students will have a college new low point in 2008. questioning the status quo.” which they can attend,” he said. Matriculations at Yale Continued on Page 4, Column 1 “I was already primed to “It doesn’t necessarily mean that do so since I passed through a it’s their first choice, and it may huge cultural shift from Flori- in fact be their only choice.” Nicholas Kip ’60, Instructor in Classics, Found da to Massachusetts, and from This year, applications were a group of friends who did not numerous, with Seniors averag- His Passion at Andover’s ‘Nice-Looking Dump’ plan to finish high school to a ing 8.5 applications each. An- group who planned to run the derson said that this number By APSARA IYER world,” said Church. might have caused the specula- Courtesy Photo tion of an especially difficult ad- In September 1956, Nicholas Church found inspiration Continued on Page 6, Column 5 missions year. Kip ’60 arrived at Andover as a from his father, a physician. self-described “squeaky-voiced young man urged along by his Security Cameras Installed in Commons to mother.” Now, Kip is an instructor in the Classics Department, where Monitor Theft of Food, Backpacks he has taught Latin and Greek the loading dock, according He added that the new for over 40 years. By CHLOE REICHEL to Paul Robarge, Senior Food Commons was always go- Despite his current dedica- Service Director. ing to have cameras, but now tion to the school, Kip said that Twenty-three security Murphy said that these they are in located in places he has not always felt such af- cameras were installed as precautions were designed to like the lobby. fection for Phillips Academy. part of the Paresky Commons prevent the theft of food and Murphy said that the cam- Kip said that, during his renovations, including two other items from Commons. eras could be used to identify Andover interview, he told the A. LEVINE/ THE PHILLIPIAN in the lobby, one at the top Robarge said, “We hold people who did not belong in Dean of Admissions in 1956, Kip was once an Andover wrestler and a classics student. of each staircase, one in the about $50,000 of inventory at Commons to the police. “It’s a pretty nice-looking dump He realized his love for lan- that he still considered to be his Emporium, the convenience any given time in this build- “We knew that there were you have going here, but I don’t guages in an honors English favorite piece of literature: the store in the Den, and one at ing, and it’s under surveil- people eating in Uncommons want anything to do with it.” course taught by the promi- lyrical Odes of Horace.