page_title: The Phillipian
section_title: Beginnings
hierarchical_section_title: The Phillipian / History / Beginnings
caption_attribution_description: English: This image is believed to be the first publication of a high school student newspaper in the United States, in 1857. The paper was titled 'The Phillipian' and was published by the students of Phillips Academy, Andover. Many Andover graduates went on to fight and die in the then-upcoming American Civil War.
context_page_description: The Phillipian is the student-run weekly newspaper of the American preparatory school of Phillips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts. It covers school news including controversies, campus events, sports, faculty appointments, graduations, and academic programs, and it serves as a training ground for students to learn about journalism. Many of its student contributors have gone on to careers in journalism and the media. The publication aims to foster a literary and journalistic spirit among its student contributors. It is regarded as the second-oldest continuously published paper and it is in its 142th year of continuous publication. It publishes a digital version as well as archives of past papers, and publishes on various social media platforms. The paper edition is printed weekly during the school year, and there is a summer edition as well. The publication gets revenue from an endowment fund as well as advertising revenues from local businesses, and students run the paper as a business. While the paper has faculty advisers, all editorial decisions are made by student editors, and it is editorially independent from the academy's administration.
context_section_description: The first edition of The Phillipian was published on July 28, 1857, making it the oldest preparatory school newspaper in America. The initial motto was Justitia fiat ruat caelum, a Latin phrase meaning "Let justice be done though the heavens fall"; later the motto became Veritas super omnia or  "Truth above all".
  In the decades after 1857, there is no evidence of publication until October 19, 1878, when The Phillipian began regular publication, making it the second-oldest continuously published preparatory school paper. The first masthead listed editor-in-chief Edward S. Beach and nine associates.
  In the 1880s, the paper covered issues such as disputes between students and the town of Andover, usually siding with the students, and covered the ongoing rivalry with Exeter and its paper. It described initiation rites of Andover's secret societies:
  He was first ordered to provide a supper for the society at his rooms... at twelve o'clock, he was sent out on the campus behind the Academy to wait for what might follow. At about one o'clock he was seized by his fellows, blindfolded, and ridden on a rail down to Pomp's Pond, those accompanying him rattling empty bottles all the time to give the effect of clanking chains. After arriving at the pond, he was buried in a grave up to his head, and then baptized with an abominable mixture of mucilage and ginger ale, this operation closing the ceremonies.
  — Claude Moore Feuss, 1917 (describing events of 1884)
  Andover's secret societies had become recognized by the school, as the paper reported in 1884.
caption: This image is believed to show the first publication of a high school student newspaper in the United States, dated July 28, 1857.
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