<p>naaaah I was a boarding students but my BS was in France and not half as organized as any of the US schools. Are campus was scattered all over the town. Sometimes a class finished and another started immediately on the other side of town and we had to sprint.</p>
<p>I’m not complaining…it makes the walk from Abbot seem like nothing.</p>
<p>Though her name may still be on the door, Ms. Bouyea is taking a year off from Andover to go to graduate school. The list of HCs online is accurate for 2009-2010. </p>
<p>[Phillips</a> Academy - House Counselors](<a href=“http://www.andover.edu/StudentLife/ResidentialDayStudentLife/Pages/HouseCounselors.aspx]Phillips”>http://www.andover.edu/StudentLife/ResidentialDayStudentLife/Pages/HouseCounselors.aspx)</p>
<p>Ms. Milkowski is a very nice science teacher who used to work at Andover (several years ago) and is back at the school this year.</p>
<p>Nicest dorms on campus are out in the Quads. Adams and Johnson (both upperclassmen girls dorms) were recently renovated. They are spacious, comfy, have wireless internet, and nice televisions in the common rooms.</p>
<p>Freshman dorms tend to be a bit on the older side, but in general we are pretty spoiled in terms of housing. I dread the day I’ll have to share a single room with 2 or 3 other guys.</p>
<p>PABlue, sounds like you are a guy. Are you familiar with Rockwell? It’s rarely commented on here. Anything, good or bad, to say about the dorm and/or the conselors?</p>
<p>yeah, definitely. I lived in Rockwell my freshman year. It’s a pretty great place to live on campus because its (relatively) centrally located compared to America House or Draper Cottage. Rooms aren’t enormous, but they are comfortable enough. My biggest thing was the presence of carpets. Some of the other dorms don’t have carpeting in the rooms and the tile floors tend to get freezing in the winter. Also, in the basement common room there is a pool table, ping-pong, and a tv, so that stuff is always fun.</p>
<p>The house counselors, Mr. Mundra and Mr. Hoenig are great guys, however they do run a pretty tight ship. Freshman typically complain about the strictness in terms of sign-in and lights out, etc. But it tends to be the norm in every freshman dorm because the school really wants to instill a sense of discipline in the kids since they are away from home for the first time (for most kids).</p>
<p>The one downside i found to Rockwell (besides the stictness) was probably the lack of cohesion. I’m not sure if it was just my year, but I found that in the smaller dorms all the guys bonded really well. In Rockwell, there were so many kids so people typically branched off. It’s not to say that kids weren’t friendly, but rather that the entire dorm wasn’t best buds.</p>
<p>Thanks, PABlue! It does sound like a comfy and fun filled place. The counselors this year are Mr. Hession and Mr. Levine. I don’t know if you know them. If the level of strictness is the “norm”, I guess they may be about the same. Well, as parents I am not too concerned about their being too strict. :)</p>
<p>The lack of bonding IS a big downside. I was hoping that by living in a bigger dorm, my son could find pals with similar interests and compatible personalities more easily and make some really good friends. I guess it doesn’t work that way. When you have too many peopel to 'choose from", you lose focus and get distracted instead of working on one friendship. Is that it? Anyway, thanks for the info and the insights!</p>
<p>Well, don’t get me wrong. I’m not saying that the kids don’t have similar interests or anything. I guess it really varies year to year. My freshman year my hallway had a weird dynamic and we weren’t all the best of friends (I guess the same thing could happen in a small dorm). I really wouldn’t worry at all because Andover has such a great, big, diverse group of kids that your son is sure to find his niche. The friends you make in your dorm are only a part of the entire Andover experience. Joining a club, playing a sport, even just being in class gives him the opportunity to meet lots of new and interesting people.</p>
<p>Hm…I’ve definitely heard the name Mr. Hession, but I don’t think I know him personally. Sorry I can’t help you out there.</p>
<p>Mr. Hoenig is still the HC on the other side of Rockwell; Mr. Hession is living on Mr. Mundra’s side for a year (while Mr. Mundra is on sabbatical)…Mr. Levine is new to the school.</p>
<p>oh, Mr. Levine must be a teaching fellow. His apartment is up on the third floor for added supervision.</p>
<p>S’s room is on the third floor. He may not like the 'added supervision", but I am certainly ok with it. :)</p>
<p>As I’ve said before, the 3rd floor can be brutally hot, but Rockwell is a pretty nice dorm. Mr. Hession is nice, and I’d imagine he’s more likely to be strict than laid back.</p>
<p>Sep must be hot. Is May as bad?</p>
<p>September tends to be really warm. May is not as bad - spring tends to just be starting then, but it can get hot some days.</p>
<p>bring a fan</p>
<p>You bet! a big and strong one, but it’s still not an air conditioner, when there is no cool air to blow, no matter how hard it fans it wouldn’t do the trick. oh well, it’s just a month out of a school year.</p>
<p>Returning from Maine today, fif and Mrs. fif detoured into Andover (nice town) to have a quick lunch with an old amigo. While there we drove through PA for the first time in over 30 years. Quite beautiful and impressive. Love the chapel, greens and the war monument. Ditto the athletic fields. One jarring exception: those “new” dorms, Nathan Hale, Stearn etc. are, what’s the word fif is looking for here, oh yeah, FUGLY. Early American Days Inn. Ouch.</p>
<p>“FUGLY” is that…fun + ugly ;)</p>
<p>I’m not overly fond of the PKN dorms, but they have nice common rooms. Some of the rooms on the second floor a nice, but I wouldn’t really want to live in them. But then, it’s a high school…the housing is mostly as good as college housing, so that’s still pretty impressive.</p>
<p>it’s nicer than a lot of collegiate housing.</p>
<p>the PKN dorms don’t look so nice on the outside, but the rooms themselves aren’t so bad.</p>