Andover’s remarkable herstory

Facing Forward, Together

Teamwork. Partnership. Collaboration. For generations, the best organizations in the world have relied on these principles in their pursuit of excellence.

Phillips and Abbot academies have benefited from these principles and from two formidable women-led teams that have embraced them—14th Head of School Barbara Landis Chase and Associate Head of School Rebecca M. Sykes, and Abbot Academy Principal Philena McKeen and her sister, Assistant Principal Phebe McKeen.

Chase’s 18-year tenure covered an array of initiatives, including the strengthening of financial aid, which led to the Academy’s need-blind admission policy; growth of outreach and global programs; and significant facilities improvements, from academics to athletics. Many of these initiatives were made possible by two campaigns that together raised $500 million. The focus during this period was on educating the “whole student,” which began with a restructuring of residential life and student services.

In a 2012 letter sent to Chase acknowledging her retirement, Faculty Emeritus Vic Henningsen ’69 wrote, “When you interviewed for the job, you said that you saw your charge as ‘supporting the main event.’ When Susan (McCaslin) and I interviewed you for the Andover Bulletin, you asserted ‘Good schools face forward.’ There, less than six months apart, were two statements of principle that you’ve followed throughout your long and successful tenure.”

The sisters arrived at Abbot in 1859 and set to work expanding buildings, grounds, and teaching resources, as well as improving the curriculum, the school’s relationship with the town of Andover, and bringing in well-known speakers such as Helen Keller.

With Dignity and Respect

Donna Brace Ogilvie ’30 and Linda Carter Griffith embody the Platinum Rule: treat others as they would like to be treated. A modern-day update to the Golden Rule, this tenet illuminated all that Ogilvie, an Abbot philanthropist, did—and all that Griffith now does as associate head of school for equity, inclusion, and wellness.

“You can’t always force people into a conversation or make them change their minds,” says Devontae Freeland ’15, who spent countless hours with Griffith as a Community and Multicultural Development (CAMD) student leader. “She always treated folks with dignity and respect.”

Griffith (or “LCG,” as she is known) aligns her work with the knowledge and goodness values of Andover. She often talks about the head, the heart, and the hand. “You need quantitative data and information (the head), but you also need stories from the heart,” she says. “And then, we need the hand, which is action to make the change so that we can positively impact one another and the world.”

Action-oriented also describes Ogilvie, one of Andover and Abbot’s most generous benefactors and the namesake of the Brace Center for Gender Studies. “I call her the grand dame of philanthropy and leadership,” says Board President Amy Falls ’82, P’19, ’21.

Much like Ogilvie, the Brace Center was ahead of its time. In the mid-1990s, topics such as gender fluidity were not regularly discussed as part of mainstream culture, let alone in a high school curriculum. Yet, it made perfect sense for a woman who knew that she wanted to continue Abbot Academy’s “tradition of boldness, innovation, and caring in education” in a way that showed dignity and respect to all.“

Donna was someone people listened to,” says Trustee Emerita Sandra Urie ’70, who worked with Ogilvie in the mid-1970s as part of Andover’s development office. “She cared deeply about Abbot and the education of young people, and she used her resources to have an impact.”

Champions of Change

Several generations separate Beverly Brooks Floe ’41 and Jane Fried, yet both women have made an enduring imprint on two of Andover’s most iconic and fundamental programs.

During the discussions related to the 1973 merger of Phillips and Abbot academies, there were many fervent arguments for and against. One of the most thoughtful assessments came from Floe, a lifelong advocate of women’s education whose adventurous spirit took her around the world as a journalist in the late 1940s.

“The idea to establish something to embrace the values of Abbot was an important feature of the merger,” says Sandra Urie ’70, former Andover staff member and trustee emerita. “It was essentially the linear descendant of Abbot and reinforced the ideas of creativity and innovation, never being complacent, always moving forward.”

In her 20-plus years as dean of admission and assistant head of school, Jane Fried saw firsthand the transformational effect of an Andover education and wanted to expand access.

Fried, too, had a vision to enhance the student experience. In her 20-plus years as dean of admission and assistant head of school for admission, research, and planning, Fried saw firsthand the transformational effect of an Andover education and wanted to expand access. Andover had always been generous with financial aid—even offering need-blind admission for a time in the 1960s and ’80s—but working with Head of School Barbara Landis Chase, Fried embraced an opportunity to strengthen Andover by reaffirming need-blind in the modern era.

Now head of The Brearley School in New York City, an independent K-12 school for girls, Fried leaves behind an Andover legacy that embodies the ideal of access for youth from every quarter.

“Jane is a change agent,” says Board President Amy Falls ’82, P’19, ’21. “Partnering with Barbara, Jim Ventre ’79, and her team, she drove the initiative forward and built support. She took what was kind of an abstract concept and put a face to it by showing the impact on actual kids.”