Andover ABC News...

Dozens of people enjoyed holiday cheer at our open house Sunday afternoon. Past presidents, neighbors, long-time residents and interested newcomers to town, met the scholars, enjoyed refreshments and toured the house. Check out the photos!

The big October snowstorm knocked out the power, but not the fun for the Andover A Better Chance (ABC) students. With their Main Street home in the dark, ABC President Mary Pritchard and her husband Matt Dallett, took in all the students along with a group of boarders from Brooks School in North Andover. In addition two of the ABC students had their mothers visiting for the weekend. Needless to say it was a very full house!

ABC Scholars are active volunteers as they tutor children at Memorial Circle and Esperanza.

The ABC house is alive again with the sounds of scholars sharing summer stories, school questions and preparing for the year ahead.

On June 6th Daree Colon and Henrica Bresil walked across the dais at Tsongas Arena to receive their diplomas as part of the Andover High School class of 2011. As president Mary Pritchard summarized, "This is what it is all about!" Everyone in attendance enjoyed the happy scene with many emotions overflowing. The ABC cheering section was about 35 people strong with many of Daree and Henrica's family members in attendance. "We were a proud group", exclaimed Pritchard.

Scholars from Andover A Better Chance are volunteering their services twice a month this school year at the Cor Unum Meal Center. Here (from left) Felicia Reyes, team leader Dareé Colon, Henrica Bresil and Jazzare Mays wear aprons as they prepare for work at the Lawrence service for people in need.

Senior Henrica Bresil (fourth from right) was in 8-person Boat A of the Greater Lawrence Rowing club that participated in the Textile River Regatta in Lowell. More than 3,000 rowers and 600 shells competed during the major rowing event.

Andover A Better Chance sold refreshments at the town's annual Art in the Park to cover ABC scholars' expenses. On the food line are (from left) 9th-grader Monique Espinoza, senior Darée Colon and ABC Board President Mary Pritchard.

Hospital emergency rooms are filled with the fallout of violent crime. Sometimes, the victims and the perpetrators are one and the same. Dr. Cooper, who went on to Yale from Andover ABC, vowed to counter this cycle of violence. He and others at the University of Maryland Medical Center in Baltimore have developed outreach program that appears to be working, and it has been modeled by others.
-- NPR 'All Things Considered'

An A Better Chance student while at Milton Academy, met with current Andover High School students in the program during his recent visit to town. From left, he poses with Camilla Ekokobe, Justene Salomon, Henrica Bresil and Felicia Reyes. The goal of the ABC program is to encourage talented students of color to develop their gifts and assume positions of civic and professional leadership. Andover is completing its 44th year with ABC and 125 ABC students have graduated from Andover High School.

ANDOVER — In a class called "Money Smart for Young Adults," nine Andover High students learn to balance their checkbooks, understand interest rates and navigate their way through the college financial aid system.

This is one lesson that the teens — among a demographic often called "Generation Debt" — will most definitely use later in life. They are, after all, growing up during a recession.