E/a Challenge Moved to the Spring Term
The long-standing rivalry between Exeter and Andover rekindles every fall term with the anticipation of the fall Exeter/Andover (E/a) games and, in more recent years, the E/a Challenge. In the week leading up to the games, students on campus show their school spirit in red while alumni have the opportunity to participate in the E/a Challenge, a competition to see which school has more active alumni donors. However, due to unusual circumstances including political tensions following the election, the Exeter and Andover Alumni Offices decided to postpone it until the spring.
“I think moving the E/a Challenge to the spring is a really good idea, especially with how much drama there was around the election.”
Associate Director of the Exeter Fund, Jan Gosselin, explained that the Exeter Fund Office worked to determine the best time to conduct the E/a Challenge while considering the current events that may affect participation rate. If the challenge ran during the week leading up to E/a on Saturday, Nov. 12, it would have overlapped with the presidential election and Veterans Day. Gosselin felt that promoting the challenge last week and asking for donations would not have been respectful to the alumni. “Both schools determined it would be unfair and unsuitable to ask hundreds of alumni volunteers to make calls and send emails during this time period,” she said.
In previous years, the Exeter Fund Office organized the challenge with the Andover offices and encouraged alumni of the 15 most recent graduating classes to donate to their respective schools. The school that received the most gifts and garnered the most participation won the challenge. The winning school hung its flag on the losing school’s campus the Friday before E/a as a symbol of pride. The first challenge ran in fall 2011, and it has continued each year with the exception of fall 2012. Last year, Exeter lost the E/a Challenge with 1,494 alumni donating as opposed to Andover’s 1,793 donors.
The challenge helped recent graduates show their Exeter spirit while still helping the school with donations. The Exeter Fund contributes about eight percent of the total Phillips Exeter annual budget to benefit several aspects of the school such as faculty support, financial aid, athletics, arts, technology and student life.
Minh Nguyen ’16 thought the E/a Challenge was a good way for alumni give back to the community. “[The E/a Challenge] demonstrates the generosity of the alumni and how grateful we are for our education,” he said. Nguyen also added that the challenge gave additional resources to the institution.
Alyse Clinton ’16 expressed her support for all of the efforts made by the Exeter Fund Office to raise money for students at the Academy. She explained that she only attended Exeter due to the generosity of donors. “I want other kids to be able to have the amazing experiences I did, and donating is how I can help to make that happen. There are so many kids out there who deserve this kind of education and these opportunities,” she said. She felt disappointed when she learned that the E/a Challenge was postponed because she did not understand why the week of the election would affect the competition. “I honestly didn’t know that it was due to political tensions. I don’t know if I missed an email or if they just aren’t making it very public but I had no clue,” she said. She felt that people should put the nerves of the election aside and have pride for their high schools.
Upper Rachel Moberg, co-head of Exeter’s donor awareness and appreciation club Giving Thanks, approved of the challenge’s postponement. “I think moving the E/a Challenge to the spring is a really good idea, especially with how much drama there was around the election,” she said, emphasizing that the goal of the Challenge is to collect the most donations to support the school and the people on campus. “I know that if I were going to donate money, I would have forgotten about it because I would be so caught up in the election,” she said.
During the E/a Challenge in previous years, Giving Thanks raised awareness around campus so that students could reach out to alumni friends. Posters of the lion rampant and Andover’s gorilla mascot Gunga with a thermometer were filled as alumni donated over the week to update students on the leading school. Moberg explained that the posters raised competitive spirit. However, the Giving Thanks club did not make posters this term because of the anticipated tension from the election. Moberg believed that this change will benefit both Exeter and Andover. “I’m sure both schools will get more donations in the spring than if we would have gotten if kept it in the fall,” she said.
Last year, Exeter published a video featuring religion instructor Russell Weatherspoon and former Executive Director of Alumni Relations and International Gifts Harold Brown encouraging people to donate. In addition to the change in schedule, Gosselin said that there will be updates to the competition itself. After conducting the Challenge for several years, she explained that many alumni suggested ways to alter it. “In order to make the necessary changes to the Challenge, we needed more time and thus moved the Challenge to the spring. Stay tuned for details in the spring.”