A Whoops Turned Into a Wahoo!

An open house that went virtual as necessitated by Covid turned a “Whoops into a Wahoo” (shout out to Ms. Wish art teacher extraordinaire). Dozens of folks on Zoom and FaceBook live tuned in to a vibrant 30 minutes of festivities from a house tour to a chance to meet the fabulous Scholars to each Scholar sharing the symbolism of an elf-sized red chair. Viewers even heard from a singing snow-person.  

Behind the magic were our students, staff, board members and of course our phenomenal president, Gaby Nossif. 

Following the open house, board member Julie Childs shared a tribute to Gaby. 

"Gaby has been our President for 2 1/2 years and these last nine months have stretched and pulled her in every Covid direction almost imaginable. She hasn’t missed a beat starting back in March when the girl's flight and train tickets were purchased before the school committee publicly announced the close of school for the remainder of the academic year. Gaby somehow knew what needed to be done to keep our Scholars safe. This woman has great foresight. 

From that point forward, every meeting Gaby has held and every decision she has made, has been done with thoughtfulness, compassion, and deep understanding. There have been many moments, many difficult moments. One of the hardest and most heart-wrenching hurdles for Gaby was the realization that it would be best to keep our students here, in Andover, for Thanksgiving break. This was agonizing for her. Gaby especially fretted over the thought of Aisosa, our first-year student, not going home for Thanksgiving break. This was heartbreaking for her as our President and also as a mother who knows how hard that would be.

Gaby, you have gone above and beyond, you have worked and continue to work tirelessly seven days a week to keep our students, our staff, and the overall program functioning at the highest level possible during this unprecedented time. A pandemic! Who would have imagined? Gaby, the board wants you to know how grateful we are for you, our leader, during this rude interruption of covid. Thank you for holding us together with strength and grace.”

Hats off to Gaby and to all who made the open house so festive. Check out the gallery for a peek behind the scenes as the open house unfolded and if you missed the event, you can still catch it on FaceBook!