Abbot Hall (Phillips Exeter Academy)

Abbot Hall is the oldest dormitory at Phillips Exeter Academy in Exeter, New Hampshire. It was named after the school's second principal: Benjamin Abbot. [ [http://www.exeter.edu/libraries/4513_4622.aspx Phillips Exeter Academy | Academy Chronology ] ] Members of Abbot refer to themselves as "Abboteers" and frequently greet each other with the "A-clap," formed by making a triangle (an 'A')with one's hands and then clapping the other Abboteers 'A'.

Faculty

The current head of the dorm is Inna Sysevich, instructor in Russian. Other dorm faculty include Thomas Giblin, instructor in history, and Nicholas Unger, instructor in the classics. Abbot faculty are noted both for their extreme popularity among their students and also for an easy-going approach to Academy policies. For example, Mrs. Sysevich (known to the dorm as "Momma") often takes students for walks around campus after midnight.

Notable Members

In the tradition of many other Exeter dormitories, Abbot Hall elects Dorm Proctors. Proctors are those upperclassmen identified by both faculty and residents as leaders within the dorm. Elected by ballot and a committee of present proctors and faculty members, Dorm Proctors are leaders and role models within the dorm. Below is a list of past and present proctors of Abbot Hall.

Abbot Hall Dorm Proctors
"2008 - 2009 Academic Year"
Osei Boadu
Nathan Bu
Alistair Fatheazam
Alex Rafter

"2007 - 2008 Academic Year"
Luis Burgos
Dylan Gallagher
Eamon Kelley
Marc Patterson
Xin Xu

"2006 - 2007 Academic Year"
Christopher Brennan
Luis Burgos
Joe Corning
Remeike Forbes
Sheridan Lardner

"2005 - 2006 Academic Year"
Erik Anderson
Hal Ebbot
Justin Sexton
Gabriel Taveras
Alex Godfrey

[2008-2009 Ebook]

In addition to the proctors, Abbot Hall has a long record of on-and off campus leadership. Currently, Abboteers hold the following positions;

Student Council Secretary: Ingwon Chae '10
Head Tour Guides: Alistair Fatheazam '09, Osei Boadu '09
Debate Team Head: Michael Ambler '09
Varsity Water Polo and Varsity Swimming Captain: Alex Rafter '09
Varsity Swimming Captain: Nathan Bu '09
Students for a Democratic Society Head: Will Ford '09

Awards

2008 Negley Prize for a paper in American History: Alistair Fatheazam- Alistair won this prize for his paper on the involvement of the CIA in Guatemala.

Location

The dorm is located in the center of campus, immediately to the east of the Academy Building. On this east side a row of dormitories extends further towards the school bookstore. These include Soule Hall and Hoyt Hall. Peabody Hall is located just south of Soule. Due to the close proximity to the Academy Building and thus the assembly hall, few Abboteers regularly attend assembly.

Traditions and Rivals

As the oldest dorm on campus, Abbot Hall has a rich and unique set of traditions associated with it. Most famously, members gather in the common room each spring to throw water balloons at foolish passer-bys. The Abboteers spare only members of the dorm, girlfriends of Abboteers, and faculty over sixty.

In addition, Abboteers crown a King Prep each spring, recognizing the prep who was least annoying and whiny during the previous three terms. After being selected by the previous King Preps, the new King Prep is presented with the stuffed Abbot Armadillo, which he keeps in trust for the future winners of the extremely prestigious award.

Soule and Peabody comprise Abbot Hall's traditional rivals- for examples, during dorm football season when boys' dorms across campus compete, the Soule-Abbot match is always a noteworthy game (although due to Abbot's dorm football dominance the Abbot-Cilley game has recently been more highly contested). Abbot Hall was back-to-back dorm football champions, winning in 2004 and 2005.

Peabody, on the other hand, is more of a social rival. The two dorms are often engaged in water balloon fights in the warm months, and snowball fights in the colder ones. Traditionally, Abbot Hall will win the snow and balloon fights with Peabody, as the vast majority of students occupying Peabody are "shut-ins"; that is, students more occupied with playing DOTA or watching pornography than participating in Exeter social life.

References