Mid-February is very cold, with biting westerly winds and fresh snow that causes snow-blindness.



Yet we know that the Admission Committee is meeting long hours every day, studying and discussing approximately four hundred application folders, each containing reams of essays, parent letters, recommendations, test data, and other materials.  We are enduring mid-winter, but this is a sign of approaching spring. Next September, we will welcome approximately 110 new students. Of the applications we're processing in this "first round," we're likely to offer admission to about 140, of which we expect approximately 90 to enroll.





(I told you we are snow blind!)



Let's see what those new students will join.



On one hand, they'll join a lot of people who are working really hard.











They'll be joining a community imbued with art. Each week, as you enter Slocumb Hall, you pass an alcove dedicated to the very latest student art installation. Today, the north wall invites us to complete the sentence "Before I die...." and the opposing walls stretch our concepts of spiritual freedom.



Ensembles performed in the Wise Center Saturday night.





They'll join a community that has a tree both as a logo and as a metaphor. For as certain it is that we have common roots and trunk, there are branches and limbs and off-shoots to this organization that reach out far. Athletic programs spawn Olympians, art programs spawn highly accomplished professionals. There's a horseback team that--in addition to all of its equestrian accomplishments--is helping to win over "Clint," a horse that lost trust in people early in his life, and who is experiencing gentle love for the first time. For more insight into Clint, read this article from the Andover Beacon.