The Exeter Bulletin, winter 2019

The Exeter Bulletin WINTER 2019

Bringing Tough Topics to the Table T E A C H I N G C O N V E R S AT I O N I N C O M P L E X T I M E S

Pg 18 Jason Jay ’95 promotes civic dialogue Pg 28 Exhibit sparks discussions on equity and race Pg 43 Alumni working for positive social change

REIGNITE

friendships and form new ones

RECONNECT

with faculty members

BE INSPIRED

by our students

COME BACK

to the Harkness table

JOIN US FOR

REUNIONS

2019 EXPERIENCE EXETER TODAY CELEBRATE YOUR EXETER OF YESTERDAY

Registration is now open for classes ending in a 4 or a 9.

Sign up by April 15 for an early-bird discount!

www.exeter.edu/reunions We will see you in May!

The Exeter Bulletin

Principal Bill Rawson ’71; P’08 Executive Editor Karen Ingraham Managing Editor Patrick Garrity Senior Editor Jennifer Wagner Class Notes Editor Cathy Webber Editorial Coordinator Maxine Weed Creative Director/Design David Nelson, Nelson Design Communications Advisory Committee Daniel G. Brown ’82, Robert C. Burtman ’74, Dorinda Elliott ’76, Alison Freeland ’72, Keith Johnson ’52, Yvonne M. Lopez ’93 Trustees President John A. Downer ’75 Vice President Wole C. Coaxum ’88 Ciatta Z. Baysah ’97, Suzi Kwon Cohen ’88, Marc C. de La Bruyere ’77, Walter C. Donovan ’81, Mark A. Edwards ’78, Claudine Gay ’88, Peter A. Georgescu ’57, Jennifer P. Holleran ’86, Sally J. Michaels ’82, Daniel C. Oakley ’80, Deidre O’Byrne ’84, Bill Rawson ’71, Dr. Nina D. Russell ’82, Peter M. Scocimara ’82, Serena Wille Sides ’89, J. Douglas Smith ’83, Morgan C. Sze ’83, Kristyn M. Van Ostern ’96, Nancy H. Wilder ’75 and E. Janney Wilson ’83 The Exeter Bulletin (ISSN No. 0195-0207) is published four times each year: fall, winter, spring and summer,

by Phillips Exeter Academy 20 Main Street, Exeter NH 03833-2460 Telephone 603-772-4311 Periodicals postage paid at Exeter, NH, and at additional mailing offices. Printed in the USA by Cummings Printing.

The Exeter Bulletin is printed on recycled paper and sent free of charge to alumni, parents, grandparents, friends and educational institutions by Phillips Exeter Academy, Exeter, NH. Communications may be addressed to the editor; email bulletin@exeter.edu.

Copyright 2019 by the Trustees of Phillips Exeter Academy.

ISSN-0195-0207 Postmasters: Send address changes to: Phillips Exeter Academy Records Office 20 Main Street Exeter, NH 03833-2460

WINTER

“I’M SHOCKED AT HOW FAR WE’VE COME, BUT HOW LITTLE WE’VE CHANGED.” —page 28

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IN THIS ISSUE

Volume CXXIII, Issue no. 2

Features 28 Picture Imperfect

Photography exhibit takes students beyond black and white

By Jennifer Wagner

34 Work of Arts

The Goel Center takes center stage with a grand opening celebration

Compiled by Patrick Garrity

Departments 34 24

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Around the Table: Meet the Staff, Heard in Assembly Hall, Campus Life at a Glance and more

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Table Talk with Jason Jay ’95

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Inside the Writing Life: Hrishikesh Hirway ’96

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Sports: Duncan Robinson ’13 enjoys the ride on his journey to the NBA

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Connections: News and Notes from the Alumni Community

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3 Questions With ... Layne Erickson ’18

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Profiles: Stephen Robert ’58, Kristin KearnsJordan ’87 and Bruce Edwards ’97

104 Finis Origine Pendet: Aiden Silvestri ’22 —Cover illustration Davide Bonazzi © 2019 W I N T E R

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Student members of the MLK Day Committee speak at assembly in January.

PHOTO BY CHRISTIAN HARRISON

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AROUND THE TABLE

What’s new and notable at the Academy

A Full and Equitable Experience

By Principal Bill Rawson ’71; P’08

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t Exeter, we want every student and adult to have

an equal sense of belonging and equal opportunity to thrive. How do we ensure an equitable Exeter experience for every member of our community, no matter their background or identity? This is a question of utmost importance as we seek to uphold the school’s founding mission to instill goodness and knowledge and thereby “lay the surest foundation of usefulness to [hu]mankind.”

The work to create and nurture an intentionally diverse school dates back to John and Elizabeth Phillips’ charge that Exeter admit and instruct “youth from every quarter.”

Today, we interpret that in the broadest possible sense. And we do so by building upon the hard work of generations of students, faculty and staff who have sought to make Exeter the intellectual community of depth and substance that it is.

We have more work to do, and it is imperative that we continue to act. Last January, the Trustees adopted a vision statement recognizing that diversity, equity and inclusion are critical to sustaining and strengthening our tradition of excellence in all aspects of life at Exeter. The vision statement makes clear that our obligation goes beyond merely assembling a diverse population: “Our commitment is to teach the skills, model the behaviors, provide the resources and cultivate the environment of inclusion” that will unlock the richness of that diversity. I encourage you to read the full statement at exeter.edu/DEIvision. It serves as a guiding document in our work to promote a reflexive climate of empathy, understanding and respect. As the Trustees state, “Excellence today requires nothing less.”

Stephanie Bramlett, our director of equity and inclusion, has had a busy first few months at Exeter working with the community to build a framework around the Trustees’ vision. She and I were among 22 PEA adults and six students who attended the

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National Association of Independent Schools’ People of Color Conference and Student Diversity Leadership Conference in Nashville last November. It was our largest adult contingent and first student group from PEA to attend these important conferences. On campus, Stephanie is collaborating with department heads and students in furthering existing initiatives and defining new ones. Our Dean of Faculty Ellen Wolff and Director of Human Resources Rachel Henry also continue their efforts to attract and retain an increasingly diverse employee base; and our Institutional Advancement Office led by Morgan Dudley is working alongside alumni and parents to ensure our greater Exeter community is as welcoming, inclusive and vibrant as the one on campus.

Our faculty also continue their scholarship and curricular work in this area with the spirit of innovation and collaboration that defines our school. Sami Atif, math instructor and interim dean of multicultural affairs, has developed math problems that address societal issues and provide students and teachers with real-world scenarios and a fact-based framework to explore important topics. During this winter term, the English Department, chaired by Nat Hawkins, is piloting a course for lowers designed to aid students in developing the appropriate skills and understanding to engage in respectful, productive conversations about race and identity.

You can read more about these examples in this issue’s cover feature (pg. 28).

These efforts extend Exeter’s mission to help students excel academically and develop an ethos of non sibi that will influence their life’s work. As you read this Bulletin, I hope you will be excited by what you see and feel drawn back to Exeter.

We would be delighted to have you visit campus, spend time with our students and faculty, appreciate the Exeter of today, and help us imagine the Exeter of tomorrow. E

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Exeter’s 16th Principal Announced

Watch the announcement and Principal Rawson’s remarks at exeter.edu/pea16.

B I L L R A W S O N ’ 7 1 TA P P E D T O F O R M A L LY L E A D T H E S C H O O L

By Patrick Garrity

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he Trustees of Phillips Exeter Academy

CHERYL SENTER

have named Bill Rawson ’71; P’08 the school’s 16th principal, removing his interim status after six months of “extraordinary” leadership.

President of the Trustees Tony Downer ’75; P’06, P’06, P’07 prompted a standing ovation at the conclusion of assembly on Jan. 25 when he announced that as the Trustees prepared to initiate the search process for a permanent principal, it became more and more evident to them that the right person was already on the job.

“Throughout the fall, individual trustees have been approached on an unsolicited basis time and time again by faculty, staff, alumni and parents, asking us — indeed, urging us — to consider extending Interim Principal Bill Rawson’s service by naming him the next principal of the Academy,” Downer said.

Those informal conversations prompted the Trustees to organize and conduct outreach within the PEA community to better assess impressions of Rawson’s leadership. Downer said Trustees spoke with more than 65 faculty and staff members and met with the Dean’s Council, a group comprised of students holding a broad array of leadership positions. Additionally, Trustees gathered alumni input through outreach undertaken by the 18 directors of the General Alumni Association who serve as representatives of the alumni body.

“Those engagement efforts conveyed to us a chorus of pronounced support for selecting Bill Rawson. … At the end of our process, the Trustees resoundingly decided that we have the extraordinary individual to lead our community forward.”

Rawson expressed to the assembly audience his excitement about the opportunities ahead.

“Attending Exeter was a transformative experience for me,” he said. “I am deeply committed to helping Exeter be the same for all of you, and all who will follow you. I am committed to doing all I can to support the Exeter of today, while working with all of you to envision the Exeter of tomorrow. It is with these responsibilities and commitments in mind that I have accepted this appointment.”

Rawson was initially appointed interim principal on

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Principal Bill Rawson ’71 addresses the community as the Academy’s 16th principal.

May 21, 2018, to serve a two-year term while the school searched for Principal Lisa MacFarlane’s successor.

MacFarlane announced last February she was returning to the University of New Hampshire to teach after serving three years as Exeter’s principal.

Rawson’s return to Exeter last summer followed a 32-year career at the international law firm of Latham & Watkins in Washington, D.C. Rawson earned a B.A. in American Studies from Amherst College and his law degree at Stanford Law School. He has volunteered in nearly every capacity at the Academy, from leading class reunions to serving as trustee from 2004-16. Prior to attending law school, he served as an Admissions officer at PEA, where he lived on campus, advised students and coached lacrosse.

“Most of you know that I worked in the Admissions Office for two years, from July 1976 to June 1978,” Rawson told students. “I then took a 40-year leave of absence. I am delighted to be back. I am excited to be your principal.” E

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CAMPUS LIFE AT A GLANCE

HOLIDAY CAROLS: ESSO volunteers serenade the RiverWoods retirement community.

SAFEKEEPING: Alex Singh ’22 joins her prep classmates at the time capsule ceremony.

ASSEMBLY: Jim Tselikis ’03 chats with Lucas Grandison ’20 after his remarks.

MAKERFAIR: Johanna Calderon ’21 and Sam Park ’20 collaborate.

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POLAR EXPRESS: Zach Morris ’20 crafts with a young friend.

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E/A PEP RALLY: Love Gym was a noisy place the night before this year’s E/A fall matchups.

RED BANDITS: Alan Xie ’19 and Ray Alvarez-Adorno ’19 invade Andover.

GO, BIG RED!: Julianna Merullo ’19 leads the cheers at pep rally.

BONFIRE: Emmy Goyette ’19, Ingrid Bergill ’19 and Ela Ferhangil ’19 get fired up as the bonfire tradition resumes on South Campus.

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LGBTQ+ Advocate and Ford Motors Exec Honored A L L A N D . G I L M O U R ’ 5 2 R E C E I V E S J O H N P H I L L I P S A WA R D

By Jennifer Wagner

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“Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” the AIDS state of Michigan as a epidemic, and commonplace civic-minded philandiscrimination and harassment thropist and nationally of gay people. Gilmour turned as a whip-smart executive, Allan the attention into an opportunity, D. Gilmour ’52 received the 2018 sharing his personal life with the John Phillips Award at a special world and paving the way for assembly in October. Academy others to follow.

Trustees honored Gilmour for He gave dozens of lectures his significant contributions to at academic institutions and business, academia and the civil corporations espousing incluliberties of the gay community. In sion in the workplace; advocated every role he’s taken on — includfor nondiscrimination policies ing Ford Motor Company vice and domestic-partner benefits chairman, Wayne State University before the Michigan House of president and LGBTQ+ advoRepresentatives; and founded cate — Gilmour has done the hard work to bring people the HOPE Fund, a technical-assistance program that together to further a common cause. strengthens organizations that serve the LGBTQ+ Growing up on a dairy farm in rural Vermont, haying community. fields and tending cows, Gilmour learned the meaning As Detroit’s go-to guy, he took on a leadership role and reward of a day’s effort at an early age. He arrived at with the Foundation for Detroit’s Future, formed to help Exeter as an upper in 1950 and struggled academically restructure the city’s debt and bring it out of bankruptcy. during his first year. Through perseverance and plain old There, advancing conversation and challenging convenhard work, he returned for his senior year and excelled tion, he made a long-standing investment in the city’s at a level that earned him entrance to Harvard, where he sustainability, prosperity and diversity. studied economics. He went on to business school and In a moving acceptance speech in the Academy attained his MBA in three semesters from the University building, Gilmour noted that while “it’s easy these days of Michigan, staying on one more year as a teaching to despair about our democratic system,” Exonians must fellow and Ph.D. candidate. Recruited by the Big Three work to fix it. He encouraged students to collaborate with automakers upon graduation, Gilmour decided on Ford, businesses and NGOs to ensure they don’t discriminate. where he remained for the next 34 years. He retired in And more importantly, he added, they must begin here at 1995 as second in command.

Exeter, by understanding their fellow students and valuBut even in retirement, Gilmour never slowed. He ing one another. “We older people look back and think chaired the Henry Ford Health System, an academic of the progress that’s been made,” Gilmour said. “The medical center, and took on corporate governance roles young ones look ahead and see what needs to be done, at half a dozen Fortune 500 companies. As president of and both are right.” E Wayne State University he increased student retention, boosted graduation rates and helped raise more than $212 Since 1965, Academy Trustees have presented the John Phillips Award to an million for the school’s capital campaign.

Exonian whose life and contributions to the welfare of community, country He also came out as an openly gay corporate executive and humanity the at nobility of character and usefulness to society that Connect withexemplify Exeter www.exeter.edu/exchange.

— an acknowledgment that made national news. It was John and Elizabeth Phillips sought to promote in establishing the Academy. To a courageous public statement for the 1990s — a time of hear Gilmour’s moving acceptance speech, visit www.exeter.edu/gilmour. nown in his home

DANIEL COURTER

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WILLIAM VIETOR ’21

Whether hanging out with friends in the lounge area, cramming for a test in the group study rooms or just enjoying the view, the third floor of the library persists as one of my favorite places on campus.

It’s always a treat to admire campus through one of the windows or to look over the balcony through the crest of the concrete arch as the sun sets: it’s comfortable, yet motivating. With its versatility, perhaps the third floor of the library exemplifies the Exeter experience.

— William Vietor ’21

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P E A’ S F I R S T - C L A S S P. O .

By Jennifer Wagner

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that euphoric feeling you get upon discovering a laminated card inside your Academy letter box imprinted with one simple word: “PACKAGE.” But just who makes those “aha” moments occur each and every day? “P.O. Joe” Goudreault, Exeter’s affable post office supervisor and mail slinger since 2005.

Goudreault came to Exeter from Apollo Computer and Hewlett-Packard, where he worked as a planning scheduler and new-product buyer. “I didn’t have a lot of experience with mail operations when I got here,” he says. But he applied his tech background and introduced new systems, such as electronic package tracking, into the Academy’s workflow. He also brought a co-worker from HP, Emily Carroll, who has remained by his side for the past 12 years as the only other full-timer in the mailroom.

We got postal with the pair to find out just what goes on behind the counter.

The job: Goudreault and a crew of eight work yearround, hand-sorting letters from plastic postal tubs and stuffing the mail slots of 1,076 students, 380 faculty and family members and 16 departments. Each slot is labeled, from left to right, top to bottom, 11 rows high, with an individual’s name. “We keep records of all the nicknames, too,” Goudreault says. “It helps with students who have the same last name or when they are called by something other than their given name. That happens a lot.”

Can you change your box location? Nope. “Sometimes we have a guy who is 6-foot-7 who has the lowest box,” Goudreault says. “But I can’t change it. They are ordered alphabetically. It’s the rules.”

Most interesting mail received: A pig, fruit flies and ladybugs for the science center. A bathroom sink, tires, computers and potatoes. “There was a fad of mailing potatoes for a while,” Carroll says.

Busiest seasons: Opening week of school (more than 300 packages passed through the Exeter mailroom each day during the first seven days of class this year) and Valentine’s Day (one year they delivered 1,096 individual items, including flower arrangements, love letters and candy).

How much mail comes in? On a monthly basis, the Academy post office receives 17,000 pieces of mail (magazines, letters and fliers), plus more than 5,000

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CHRISTIAN HARRISON (2)

h, the excitement! The joy! It’s hard to beat

Goudreault

Carroll

boxes. “We get bucket loads!” Goudreault says. “The box count is crazy,” Carroll adds. “It has tripled in the last five years.” She credits the uptick to easy online ordering and free shipping.

How much mail goes out? The mailroom ships up to 5,000 pieces of outgoing mail each day.

Personal processing: Each package that comes through the post office is touched by human hands — often up to seven times — from receiving it off the truck to delivering it to a student.

Have you ever lost a package? “There’s human error involved, of course,” Goudreault says. “But we do a lot of CSI. In my 14 years, there’s only been five packages I couldn’t find.”

More than a mail-slinger: “We try to take care of the kids,” Goudreault says, overlooking a tub of Twizzlers on the post office counter. “We see kids who open their mailbox and get a letter that maybe says they didn’t get into a college; they’re upset. We’re not their parents, but we ask how their day is going. We are a family community. … We get to know them as the years go on. We sit with them at lunch. It’s not all business.” E

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MUSICAL EXETER STUDENT PERFORMERS S H I N E O N S TA G E

Max Tan ’21

CarlyMae Buckner ’21 Concert Choir

Dacha Thurber ’20 and the Symphony Orchestra Hanna Pak ’19

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Moving Pictures DIRECTOR PHILIP ANDELMAN ’95 SHARE S THE SECRETS TO HIS SUCCESS

By Nicole Pellaton

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t was a cold call from the Cilley Hall dorm phone that landed Philip Andelman ’95 his start in a career that today boasts 43 director credits, a host of major brand commercials and three Clio awards.

As an Exeter upper, Andelman looked up the number for New Yorkbased portrait photographer Annie Leibovitz (using 1990s technology: the White Pages) and dialed. “You mean you want to work for free?” the Leibovitz studio staffer asked.

Andelman’s long-distance “Yes!” from Cilley resulted in a summerlong internship and ensuing experiences — more internships (a notable one at Columbia Pictures, where he was encouraged to ask as many questions as he wanted, including of studio executives), a film Philip Andelman ’95 visits the Goel degree from NYU, a small grant from Center and a filmmaking class.

Martin Scorcese, and a lightning-fast promotion at his first job. it became like a grad school for three years.”

Over the years, the highly sought-after director kept Throughout his visit, Andelman’s joy in seeing current branching out, succeeding first in music videos (see student work was palpable (“It’s so professional looking! philipandelman.com for examples, including Taylor Their talent is unbelievable.”).

Swift, Beyoncé, The Jonas Brothers and Lenny Kravitz), In classes, he generously shared tips (start creating an then moving to commercials. His most recent venture is feature-length films: He has one underway with Lionsgate online collection of images now and make it a habit; these can inspire projects for years to come), techniques (avoid and is working on concepts for more. long lenses, there’s nothing like being up close), and During a busy two-day residency on campus in critiqued student work. mid-December, Andelman immersed himself in Exeter Here are a few scenes from the director’s visit: life. Between visiting classes and eating meals with students, he made himself available to anyone with questions about his career and the work of making films.

Beginning photography class In response to a recurring query — How did you get to in Mayer Art Center where you are today? — Andelman responded candidly Andelman shows the music video of Taylor Swift’s “Safe that it was largely luck: being in the right place at the right & Sound” as an example of how he chooses techniques to time, making contacts, asking lots of questions. “Before fit a project. (He starts the creative process, he explains, I knew it, I had gone from fetching coffee to shooting by asking, “What’s right for this artist and this song?”). “I Britney Spears and U2 videos. I was 21 years old and way convinced her to do this thing that looked like a Danish in over my head. It was kind of the only way to learn. And film from the 1970s,” Andelman says, at a time when

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Students in Photography I crowd around the table to watch one of Andelman’s films.

video was moving to digital. He gathered 20-year-old film stock, old cameras and lenses. The shoot took place outdoors during a freezing Tennessee December. Swift is barefoot throughout. “It took two days and her feet were blue,” Andelman explains. During one scene, as Swift walks across a stream using carefully placed rocks, “it looks like she’s walking on water,” says Andelman. That, and the old-fashioned, dreamy look, “made the video.”

As the class breaks up, a student stays late to get advice on an upcoming project: a documentary of a music concert. “The whole thing is to have a point of view,” Andelman says. “What’s going to make what you have to say about the world different? Do you know?”

“Intersectionality,” says the student. “I identify as feminist,” explaining that she wants to explore issues of sexism, racism, homophobia and transphobia in her film.

“The best documentaries are the ones where the filmmakers go in expecting to tell one story and a better one unfolds before your very eyes,” says Andelman.

“Hopefully your curiosity will be unique to you.”

Advanced photography class in Mayer Art Center

“It’s crucial to do storyboards,” says Andelman as he walks an advanced photography class through the process of creating commercials. “You can abandon them on your shoot, but at least everyone is on the same page. And your shoots will turn into pandemonium!” he says brightly as W I N T E R

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he projects detailed planning layouts for a New Balance campaign.

Next, Andelman presses play on the finished commercial and the students pull in closer to watch. (You, too, can watch New Balance Declare Your Independence at philipandelman.com.)

After the showing, Art Instructor Cheryle St. Onge asks about the visual transition from a skateboarder, who performs a rapid 180 twist, to a New Balance factory worker, who stitches a shoe upper with a similar movement. “Was that planned?” “No!” says Andelman. “That was my editor, the best editor in the world. … I had no idea. That is the magic.” Andelman adds, “I hated being a photographer because everything is on you. But when you’re a director, the pressure comes off. If something is great, it’s not all you. It’s because you had a great cinematographer, a great editor, a great cast, a great production team. Coming up with ideas together is so cool.”

A classroom in Mayer Art Center

During a break between classes and an upcoming dinner with Lamont Gallery proctors, Andelman recalls his Exeter days when he convinced Theater and Dance Instructor Rob Richards to advise the fledgling film club, which still exists today. “You founded the Exeter Film Club?” asks an observer with excitement.

“Pioneers!” says Andelman. E

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NASA

“THE BIG QUESTION IS, ARE WE REALLY ALONE? Everyone wants to know

if there are space aliens. My opinion is yes, but they are really so far away that they have not come here yet to visit. It’s an awfully hard trip to make. It takes maybe 100,000 years for a robot to go to the nearest stars. Maybe some time in the future we’ll see a robot turn up from some other star system and we’ll say, ‘Hello, how did you know we were here?’

And think, ‘I hope you’re friendly.’ We’ve got a lot of possibilities in front of us.”

— John Mather, senior astrophysicist at NASA, Nobel Prize winner

Heard in Assembly Hall S O U N D B I T E S F R O M T H I S F A L L’ S S P E A K E R S E R I E S

To watch videos of these assemblies, go to exeter. edu/exeterlive.

Compiled by Jennifer Wagner “Evolution is a slow, purposeless, absolutely ignorant process that creates designs of stunning efficiency and ingenuity without comprehension. …

Competence without comprehension. Think of how that idea cuts against everything you’ve been taught. But from the point of view of Alan Turing and Charles Darwin, competence comes first. The mind’s understanding is the effect, not the cause.”

— Daniel Dennett ’59, philosophy professor at Tufts University

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“We are entering the greatest period of exploration in human history.

Why? Because of new remote-sensing technology. We are going to be able to see things and understand things we never even could have imagined just a short time ago. And that’s because of all of these technologies. So, learn them, be aware of them and use them. Some of you might be finding and discovering things we had no idea even existed in our past, in our present and in our future.”

— Steve Elkins, explorer, Emmy Award-winning cinematographer

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“IF WE ARE CONCERNED WITH THE SUFFERING OF ANIMALS, we need to look at how

“I am a leftist, liberal homosexual.

Who would have thought someone like me would end up working with the military to great success? I’ve been working with wounded soldiers for almost six years, using songs to help move trauma that’s been frozen in their brains out into the open so that they can find some relief. … I found that veterans and I connect at the wounded place. When you’re traumatized, there are no words to express what you need to say. The language of trauma is silence or a scream. If you’ve been silenced by trauma, it’s life-threatening. Songwriting and songs are lifesavers.”

— Mary Gauthier, singer-songwriter

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“Early on in my career, I made some films which started to veer into propaganda. It was like a form of protest, but with a camera. The audience was being smashed over the head by my films, and that’s not a great way to inspire people and get them to think differently. I realized that sophistication in filmmaking is essential. I can be passionate and an advocate by getting to audiences through their imagination, their compassion and their love of a good story, not by trying to convince them that is the only way to be in the world. Audiences are not stupid. You must never underestimate the audience. And when you make propaganda, you do.”

— Max Pugh, docu– mentary filmmaker, codirector of Walk with Me

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LAURA E . PARTAIN

DEREK GOODWIN

they are raised for food. This is an area where we inflict a vast amount of suffering on animals. The number of land animals used for food each year is 74 billion — that’s 10 times the population of the world.”

— Peter Singer, moral philosopher and professor of bioethics at Princeton University

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Breaking Through Gridlock J A S O N J AY ’ 9 5 B E L I E V E S C O N V E R S AT I O N I S O U R N AT I O N ’ S F O O T I N G F O R C H A N G E

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t the Harkness table, fluid and purposeful conversation is the norm. Everyone speaks, everyone listens and everyone learns.

But in the world beyond campus, discourse can be more debate than dialogue. Jason Jay ’95 works to change all of that, teaching students and corporate leaders the art of respectful communication.

We are living in a culture of “taking sides,” says the MIT senior lecturer. “It’s tree huggers versus coal miners. Liberals versus conservatives.” Conversation, Jay believes, can be our nation’s uniting force.

“There are a lot of contexts where we can harness this power of conversation — at the holiday dinner table, in a company boardroom or during a city policy meeting,” he says. “If you talk to your neighbor, your relative . . . if you can let go of righteousness . . . we can tackle the big social issues of the day.”

Jay’s desire to promote positive change can be traced to his upbringing in Boulder, Colorado, a city known for its liberal leanings and awe-inspiring mountain vistas. At an early age, his father instilled in him a pragmatic, solution-minded focus; his mother (an activist who once laid across the access road to a nuclear weapons facility to block traffic) ingrained in him a bias for direct action on social issues.

But some of his most formative experiences were in class at Exeter, where he says he honed “a deep belief in the power of conversation to support learning and growth, to explore tough issues and challenges, and to generate new ideas.” Jay came to the Academy in early 1992, halfway through prep year. Though he enrolled for the academic rigor, that first semester overwhelmed him. He contemplated returning to his old school but stayed, largely for the Harkness table experience, relishing it as “this highly engaged, intellectual conversation with the right number of people to have diversity of perspective, but to really hear from everybody.”

And it wasn’t only in the classroom that Jay learned the art of discussion.

He got just as much out of the informal Harkness circles in the common room in Abbot Hall, where he’d hang out with friends from Egypt, Hong Kong or Brooklyn — even, he says with a laugh, with some conservative Republicans.

“The quality of those conversations was really powerful,” he recalls. “Of course, it was ridiculous and we were insulting each other because we were

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boys in a dorm, but there was something about that spirit of conversation that really planted a seed.”

It’s a seed he continued to nurture. Jay earned a bachelor’s degree in psychology and a master’s in education at Harvard. He took an internship at Synectics, a creative consulting firm, where he practiced facilitating high-quality conversations to promote innovation. A postgraduate job at the consulting firm Dialogos gave him further exposure to the use of dialogue to support organizational improvement and leadership development. He went on to receive a doctorate in organization studies at the MIT Sloan School of Management, where he now teaches and directs the Sustainability Initiative.

“When my students try to make changes in organizations or build collaborations between companies and environmental groups, I want to know: Do they know how to engage with people? Do they know how to have a conversation? Do they know how to create together?” Jay says. “I zoomed in on conversation as a skill that we needed our students to cultivate. And I knew it would require pushing the envelope in our pedagogy — getting people to really reflect and dive into tough conversations.”

Jay shares his talking points in workshops, in TEDx presentations and in the book Breaking Through Gridlock: The Power of Conversation in a Polarized World. Jay and co-author Gabriel Grant call their technique “transformative contrasting,” suggesting that if you are having a tense conversation, try to “draw a contrast between what the other person expects of you and what you’re there to do; between the trade-off they fear they’ll have to make, and the new possibilities you’re there to open.”

It’s a strategy that can work for everyone. “The idea that some bounded set of people have the job of having tough conversations about tough issues and the rest of us kind of let it slide or avoid it — that’s not the world we’re living in anymore,” Jay says. “In a polarized world, everyone is an advocate. Whether it’s for the diversity of our workplaces, ending the opioid epidemic, immigration — all of these issues become very much part of the fabric of our everyday conversations.”

Unfortunately, much of the modern fabric of conversation — tweets, snaps, posts — is too impersonal to be productive, Jay says. “It’s a completely different context to have a conversation with another human being face-to-face versus over the phone or by email. … YouTube comments are probably the basest form of

human conversation,” Jay says. Anonymity doesn’t do civil discourse any favors, he adds. “People behave and express themselves in all kinds of ways that are denigrating and disrespectful that they would never do in a conversation over the phone, let alone in person when they’re looking someone in the eye.”

Social media algorithms further exacerbate this

“IN A POLARIZED WORLD, EVERYONE IS AN ADVOCATE. ...

ALL OF THESE ISSUES BECOME VERY MUCH PART OF THE FABRIC OF OUR EVERYDAY CONVERSATIONS.”

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“taking sides” culture by showing us things we already like and reinforcing a “filter bubble” phenomenon, Jay says. Facebook and other companies, now aware of how they have contributed to polarization, are making new efforts to “match-make” those who are ideologically different, which is a start, Jay says.

He’s heartened by podcasts such as Dylan Marron’s “Conversations with People Who Hate Me,” which moves polarizing online communication to genuine offline respect. In the podcast, Marron connects the recipients of hate comments with the people who posted them — establishing a real conversation between two human beings. It’s profound, Jay says. He’s also a fan of low-key gatherings of individuals that break down so-called “empathy walls” — those barriers that result from the “hiving off of ideological communities,” or the sorting of neighborhoods and congressional districts into ideologically homogenous zones.

“If our neighborhoods and our internet bubbles are not allowing us to have conversation, it means that we have to be more deliberate and find people who are in some way able to create civic dialogue,” he says. To that end, Jay is exploring the idea of “shared commitment.”

“Once you’ve crossed the bridge and built some context for creating new ideas together across the lines, it’s time to get into action. That requires sustained shared commitment,” he says. “We’re in a moment now for that to happen.” E

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By Patrick Garrity

“SAVE ON RECORDS,” the headline of the small, single-column advertisement says. “Singles just 80¢, Albums always $1 or more off!”

The ad, in the Oct. 22, 1958 edition of The Exonian, encourages interested parties to contact Joy Record Co., c/o Bill Buster in Peabody Hall.

Thus, a cottage industry was born, one that blossomed into a thriving enterprise at various campus locations for a decade, delighting music-loving Exonians, irritating local record stores, and ultimately fading from the scene after the store’s proceeds were pilfered in an Academy whodunit.

Buster, a new lower from Kentucky, bought newspaper ads throughout that first year to promote Joy Records — “For Only 85¢, WE WILL SEND A 45 TO YOUR GIRL!” declares one. He moved the store to his Wheelwright Hall room for his upper and senior years.

When Buster graduated in 1961, he sold the retail operation to three rising seniors. They expanded by renting two rooms above the Exeter Bookstore. Buster continued to supply the store’s inventory, even as the business changed hands through the years. By 1967, the store boasted a total of 600 45s and LPs. “Large numbers of folk and blues records were for sale Saturday. West Coast rock, hit parade, and soul sounds were also on hand,” The Exonian reported in a story about the store’s reopening for the new term.

Then came the break-in. A front-page headline in the Feb. 1, 1969, edition of The Exonian blared “Joy Boys Robbed; Authorities Remain Stymied.” The perp had emptied the cash box, swiping what was reported to be $50.

Michael Darby ’69, one of the store’s last owners, assured an Exonian reporter, “There is no reason to worry about the future of Joy. We will survive without any difficulties.”

But The Exonian archives include no further mention of Joy Record Company.

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Hitting All the Right Notes A C O N V E R S AT I O N W I T H C O M P O S E R A N D P O D C A S T E R H R I S H I K E S H H I R WAY ’ 9 6

By Daneet Steffens

F

LINDSEY MORTENSEN

or Hrishikesh Hirway ’96, the creative process contains multitudes of “microcosmic” decisions.

Unravelling and revelling in those mini, narrative choices has been Hirway’s career fascination. In 2014, he launched a biweekly podcast, “Song Exploder,” to bring the backstories of songwriting and recording to the masses. In each 20-minute episode, Hirway encourages his guests — who have included musical giants U2, Yo-Yo Ma and Bjork, as well as newer-

to-the-scene figures such as Christine and the Queens and Black Panther scorer Ludwig Göransson — to tell the tale of a single song. With four albums and numerous film and television scores under his belt, Hirway has both the street cred and astute ear to understand what makes others’ artistic juices flow. Each “Song Exploder” episode offers thought-provoking details and instant earworms, as when Kiwi songstress Kimbra discusses how her lyrics were inspired by dodging Manhattan traffic. We flipped the mic and asked Hirway a few questions about his life

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as a composer, producer and podcaster.

Q: What does a podcaster actually do, anyway?

Hirway: My friend Roman Mars, who started the network Radiotopia, calls what I do “writing with other people’s words.” That’s how I see my editing role on “Song Exploder.” The interview process is about gathering raw materials, then it’s up to me to figure out how to tell the story using those materials. When the interview is over, I’m thinking about the listeners. I have to build the story layer by layer, so that people don’t feel left out if they aren’t already a fan of the artist.

Q: There are some technical details in your interviews, but also amazing flashes of intimacy, like the Gorillaz’ Damon Albarn talking about the death of his partner’s mother. How do you meld the two?

Hirway: Some of the technical stuff I try to edit out because it can get very jargony; that’s not the spirit of the show. As long as there’s a kind of show-and-tell element, if they talk about something and I can give direct evidence of what that is or how it works — like playing a drum-machine sound while they’re talking about using a drum machine — then it can stay in the story. But really what I’m looking for is a sense of personal connection.

Q: Meaning you want to know the “how” and the “why” of a song.

Hirway: What I want most in “Song Exploder” is to know why someone decided to do something; what was their artistic intention? I was an art major at Yale, and part of the curriculum is doing these “crits,” where you put up your work and tell your professor and fellow students about the ideas behind your artwork and why you executed them the way you did. That really influenced “Song Exploder.” I’m trying to re-create the sense of the artist saying, “I did this, and this is why.” Looking for the reason why — what the source of inspiration was for them — is where the intimate storytelling comes in.

Q: Can you talk about your background in music?

Hirway: I’ve been a musician since I was at Exeter. I played drums in a few ad hoc bands, and piano and drums in the jazz band — that’s what started things off for me.

At college, I started playing music a lot more seriously,

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touring and making records. Then, after I graduated, I decided that that was what I wanted to spend my life trying to do. I’ve been working as a musician full time since 2007.

Q: Your music education is grounded in experimentation rather than formal training.

Hirway: Yes, I don’t have a background in proper music production or engineering. When I first tried to make an entire record myself — recording, writing, mixing, producing — I didn’t really know what I was doing. It felt right and it felt exciting, but I was also very aware that I was probably making strange choices in order to achieve what I was imagining in my head. You put all that imagination into solving a creative or technical problem, and the person who listens to the song may, at best, get the feeling that you were hoping to evoke. But they won’t know all the wacky contortions that you went through in order to pull that off.

Q: Sounds like a good idea for a podcast.

Hirway: “Song Exploder” was partly a response to that feeling and that kind of labor, knowing that there is so much interesting and creative problem-solving that goes on while trying to realize a song. I wanted to make something that could allow musicians to talk about that stuff.

Q: Do all good songs have a story to tell?

Hirway: I think musicians who get big pieces written about them, they get asked Big Questions, and they answer with Big Answers. I feel like there’s a limit to how much you can learn about someone that way. What I like about focusing in on a song — why I think that’s a good device for telling a story — is that there are so many decisions that have to be made, from the first conception to the final product, and each of those microcosmic things could ultimately shape the way the song turns out. When you reveal some of those decisions, you start to get a sense of what the machinery in this person’s mind looks like. That’s when you get a sense of what a creative mind looks like, what a creative identity is formed by.

Q: What’s your most memorable “Song Exploder” moment?

Hirway: Well, one thing I think that is exciting in this context is that there have been two guests on “Song Exploder” who I lived with in Abbot: Old Crow Medicine Show’s Ketch Secor — he and I were class of ’96 — and Arcade Fire’s Win Butler, class of ’98. Win wrote a song about me checking him in when I was a proctor. And my production assistant, Nick Song, graduated from Exeter last year. I am always thrilled by the ways that Exeter gets reintroduced into my life.

Q: After 150 episodes, you’re taking a break from hosting “Song Exploder.” What’s next for you?

Hirway: I’ll still be creative director of “Song Exploder” and doing the “West Wing” podcast, plus I’ll be a consulting producer, helping people with their podcasts and TV shows. I’m scoring the music for a video game, and I’ve got other projects of my own that I’ve been trying to get off the ground. One of the things I really love is coming up with the framework for an idea and then seeing it through — building a ship, and then launching it off. With “Song Exploder” I did that, and I’ve been on board the ship for so long that it’s been kind of hard to build another one. I’m really itching to build more ships, some for me, some for others. E 2 2 • T H E

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Alumni are encouraged to advise the Bulletin editor (bulletin@exeter.edu) of their own publications, recordings, films, etc., in any field, and those of classmates, for inclusion in future Exonians in Review columns. Please send a review copy of your published work to the editor to be considered for an extended profile or review in future issues. Works can be sent to: Bulletin Editor, Phillips Exeter Academy, 20 Main Street, Exeter, NH 03833-2460.

ALUMNI 1947—Bill Felstiner, editor. What Lawyers Do: Narratives From the Yale Law School Class of 1958. (El Bosque Editions, 2018) 1956—William Peace. Achieving Superpersonhood: Three East African Lives. (Strategic Book Publishing & Rights Agency, LLC, 2018) 1957—Carl Pickhardt. Who Stole My Child? Parenting Through the Four Stages of Adolescence. (Central Recovery Press, 2018) 1961—Stuart Rawlings. My Favorite Quotations, Volume 8. (Sierra Dreams Press, 2018) 1961—Geoffrey Craig. One-Eyed Man and Other Stories. (Golden Antelope Press, 2018) 1965—Granville Wyche Burgess.

Fork in the Crick: Rebecca Zook’s Amish Romance Book 2. (Chickadee Prince Books, 2018) 1967—Preston Zoller, as Preston Fleming. Maid of Baikal: An Alternative Historical Novel of the Russian Civil War. (PF Publishing, 2018)

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I N S I DEEX T OH N EI AWN RS I TI N I N RGE L V II FE EW

1972—Rob Dinerman, with Karen Khan. The Sheriff of Squash: The Life and Times of Sharif Khan Legendary Squash Champion.

(Karen Khan, 2018) 1974—Roger McNamee. Zucked: Waking Up to the Facebook Catastrophe.

(Penguin Press, 2019) 1980—Peter B. Josephson, with R. Ward Holder. Reinhold Niebuhr in Theory and Practice: Christian Realism and Democracy in America in the Twenty-First Century. (Lexington Books, 2018) 1989—Arturo Henriquez. Starting and Buying Businesses to Becoming a Seasoned Dealmaker: My Professional Journey. (Self-published, 2018) —The Dirty Secrets to Buying a Business Everyone Is Afraid to Tell You: You Don’t Need Experience or to Risk Your Own Money to Buy Your First or Next Business.

(Self-published, 2018) 1991—Sara (Hamblett) Bliss. Take the Leap: Change Your Career, Change Your Life.

(Touchstone, 2018) 1991—Holly (Singer) Chessman.

Amplify: Grow Your Reputation and the Kickass Career You Love. (Selfpublished, 2018) 1991—Jeff Kreisler, with Dan Ariely. Dollars and Sense: How We Misthink Money and How to Spend Smarter. (Harper, 2017)

2004—Anthony L. Riley.

In the Shadow of Grief: 21 Days of Discovering God’s Presence in Life’s Valleys.

(Self-published, 2017) 2009—Brendan Gillett. A Puzzle Is Still Made of Pieces.

(Self-published, 2018) 2014—JD Slajchert.

MoonFlower. (Selfpublished, 2018) BEYOND BOOKS 1964—L. Peter Deutsch, composer.

“Quadrants Vol. 2,” Pedroia String Quartet. (Parma Recordings, 2018) 1965—Granville Wyche Burgess.

“Common Ground,” musical play, performed at the New York New Works Theatre Festival, September 2018.

1974—Julia Lyford, curator.

“Cabot Lyford: War, Whales, Whimsy, Wings, Women and Workings,” exhibition on view at Rachel Walls Fine Art through Feb., 24, 2019.

1993—Liz Witham. Keepers of the Light, documentary. (Film Truth Productions, July 2018)

—“Current Trends in Management.”

(JAMA Facial Plastic Surgery, May 1, 2018) 2017—Gwendolyn Wallace. “Math 1619,” essay. (The Shell Game: Writers Play with Borrowed Forms, University of Nebraska Press, 2018) FAC U LT Y Erica Plouffe Lazure. “The Night Mare,” flash fiction. (Vestal Review, Issue 53, June 13, 2018) Matt Miller. “Age of Discovery,” essay.

(Hippocampus Magazine, Sept. 3, 2018) —“Winter Break” and “Ghazal: Augumtoocooke,” poems. (The American Journal of Poetry, January 2019) Alex Myers ’96. “Trump wants to deny my trans identity — and erase years of progress,” essay.

(The Guardian, Oct, 24, 2018) —“Playing House,” nonfiction essay.

(Lunch Ticket, Issue 14, Nov. 23, 2018) —“What Welcome Really Looks Like: Softening Hearts to a New Generation of Refugees,” commentary. (Yes! Magazine, Nov. 29, 2018) —“How to Fight the Latest Attempts to Erase ‘Transgender,’” commentary.

(Yes! Magazine, Dec. 5, 2018)

1994—Nicholas Weininger.

“Songs in Time of Peril,” choral work. (nicholasweininger.com) 1996—Jasmine Wagner. “Snow Has a Silent Strategy,” poem.

(Beloit Poetry Journal, volume 68, No. 1, 2018) 2003—Sagar Patel. “Opioid Use by Patients After Rhinoplasty.” (JAMA Facial Plastic Surgery, Nov. 9, 2017)

Willie Perdomo.

“They Won’t Find us in Books” and “We Used to Call it Puerto Rican Rain,” poems.

(The Common, Issue 16, Oct. 29, 2018) Ralph Sneeden. “The Retreats,” essay.

(AGNI, Dec. 10, 2018)

2001— Katie Farris.

Mother Superior in Hell.

(Dancing Girl Press, 2018)

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S P O RTS

Road Warrior D U N C A N R O B I N S O N ’ 1 3 I S E N J OY I N G T H E L O N G, R E WA R D I N G P AT H T O WA R D H I S N B A D R E A M

By Craig Morgan ’84

T

he Miami Heat’s coaches preach a

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simple message to their players. It applies to those on the NBA roster and those on the minor-league roster: You can’t skip steps.

It’s a perfect fit for Duncan Robinson ’13, who plays for the Heat’s developmental G League team in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.

Robinson has taken more steps than most in a basketball journey already marked by two prep schools, two colleges and two professional teams.

“I have such an appreciation for the whole process,” says Robinson, 24. “I’m very aware of the fact that things could have been very different had one thing changed here or there.

I feel like I put in a lot of work and I deserve to be here, but it’s not lost on me that I very well could have put in the same work and not be where I am.”

The dream Robinson is chasing is a lengthy NBA career, and his appreciation for this opportunity is apparent to Sioux Falls Skyforce coach Nevada Smith, but Smith sees another product of Robinson’s ongoing odyssey.

“He walks around with a chip on his shoulder and he should,” Smith says. “He has had to prove it at every level — and there have been a lot of levels — when people said he couldn’t do it. I think there are still people out there who think that, so it helps that he can lean back on all those experiences.”

Robinson’s basketball voyage began in earnest at Rye Junior High in New Hampshire, where he played with future Exeter teammate and classmate Harry Rafferty — with Robinson’s dad, Jeffrey, serving as the coach.

Robinson was the big man on campus, and Rafferty was the hotshot who had just moved to town from Wheeling, West Virginia. Both possessed the competitive fire that would serve them in their prep and college careers, and forge a lasting friendship.

“It was my first week at school; we’re out at recess and there’s this basketball court outside,” Rafferty recalls, chuckling. “Usually, you just shoot around. You’ve got

15 minutes. There’s not much time to do much of value at recess, but we started playing this 3-on-3 game and it was as intense as a seventh-grade-recess, 3-on-3 game could be. We were barking at each other, firing the ball after possessions, committing hard fouls. You would have thought it was Game 7 of the NBA Finals.”

Robinson was a 5-foot-7-inch point guard when he began his freshman season at The Governor’s Academy in 2008. By the time he reunited with Rafferty at Exeter for a postgraduate year in 2012, he was close to his current height of 6 feet, 8 inches. He led Exeter to a 28-1 record and the NEPSAC Boys Basketball Championship — the

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“I’M VERY AWARE THINGS COULD HAVE BEEN VERY DIFFERENT HAD ONE THING CHANGED HERE OR THERE.”

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COURTESY OF THE NBA

first in program history — scoring 24 points with 10 rebounds in a titlegame win over Choate Rosemary Hall.

He spent a year at Division III Williams College before transferring to the University of Michigan. In three seasons with the Wolverines, Robinson averaged 9.3 points per game and played in the 2018 NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Championship, where Michigan lost to Villanova. Despite a deft shooting touch and an uncommonly high basketball IQ, Robinson was not drafted by an NBA team, so he signed an NBA Summer League contract with the Miami Heat. His performance earned him a two-way contract with the Heat, allowing him to spend up to 45 days in the NBA this season while spending the rest of the year with Sioux Falls.

“Everyone uses our league in a different way,” Smith says. “For some, it is very much needed for their development. For some, it is about trying to reincarnate what they were. In Duncan’s case, he’s here to get stronger, to learn the pro game, to figure out how to use his IQ and length against quicker, more athletic guys, so he needs to get a ton of reps.

In his case, it’s for a true maturing, development of a lot of different parts of the game.

“The thing with Duncan is he’s been awesome since day one. He embraced the culture in Summer League and that’s why he chose to come here. He was in Miami all summer with the coaching staff and he understands what we expect from him.”

Robinson has played four games with the Heat this season (drilling his first NBA 3-pointer in a win over the New York Knicks), but he has spent the majority of his time in Sioux Falls, where he is averaging 19.6 points, 3.7 rebounds. 2.7 assists and 35 minutes per game. He had 32 points (10 3-pointers) in a loss to the Agua Caliente Clippers on Dec. 10. He laughs when comparing the cultural differences

between South Beach and Sioux Falls.

“Talk about polar opposites,” he says.

“Summer League was my first time in Miami when I got down there back in the beginning of August. That lifestyle kind of hits you in the face. There’s the fast cars driving around, everyone is trashtalking, and then you get to Sioux Falls and it’s flat, cold, everyone is bundled up and very polite. They’re two entirely different experiences but I can honestly say that I have enjoyed both.

“One of the things that has made the transition seamless is that despite the miles in between Miami and Sioux Falls, there is a carryover in culture.

They really make that a priority. I’m not super experienced in pro basketball, but I get the sense that some NBA teams are not as connected with their G League affiliates. Here, the same things are valued. The same things are taught.

The same things are expected on a day-to-day basis and there is always somebody from the Heat here, checking in on us.”

Robinson remains in close contact with all the coaches who helped him along the way, including Exeter coach Jay Tilton. He also remains fast friends with his teammates on that memorable 2013 team, including Rafferty and fellow classmates Chris Braley, Jordan Hill, Curtis Arsenault, Keon Burns, Davis Reid and Max Eaton.

“It’s cool to have that kind of support behind you, and I definitely try to have an appreciation for the people who have helped me along the way, the people with whom I have built relationships, and no matter how short the time I had with them, I tried to be really present,” Robinson says. “My pursuit has been basketball, but classmates of mine have gone on to do incredible stuff; stuff that is far more impressive than putting a ball in a hoop. It’s pretty cool to have had that experience and sat in a classroom with those guys and girls. It has helped me grow as a person.

“I understand that I am still a long ways away from what I’m chasing, but I feel like I can take the necessary steps to get there. I’m going to see it through as long as possible.” E

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FALL SPORTS

BOYS CROSS COUNTRY RECORD: SECOND PLACE AT INTERSCHOLS (2-0 IN DUAL MEETS)

Head Coach: Brandon Newbould Assistant Coaches: Bill Jordan, Nick Unger ’90 Captains: John Martel ’19, Charlie Neuhaus ’19 MVP: Will Coogan ’20

FOOTBALL RECORD: 0-8

Head Coach: Rob Morris Assistant Coaches: Patrick Bond, Rory Early, Tom Evans, Nick LaSpada, Josh Peterson, Jake Rafferty Captains: Jake Blaisdell ’19, Isaac Choate ’19, Kendal Walker ’19 MVPs: Jake Blaisdell, Cole Glennon ’19

BOYS WATER POLO RECORD: 13-4

Head Coach: Avery Reavill ’12 Captains: Troy Marrero ’19, Peter Tuchler ’19 MVP: Michael Carbone ’20

BOYS SOCCER RECORD: 9-4-5

Head Coach: A.J. Cosgrove Assistant Coach: Nolan Lincoln Captains: Behaylu Barry ’19, Jonah Johnson ’19 MVP: R. Nick Tilson ’19

GIRLS CROSS COUNTRY RECORD: FIRST PLACE AT INTERSCHOLS (3-0 IN DUAL MEETS)

Head Coach: Gwyn Coogan ’83 Assistant Coaches: Dale Braile, Dana Barbin Captains: Grace Gray ’19, Ashley Lin ’19 MVP: Gia Pisano ’21

FIELD HOCKEY RECORD: 7-6-2

Head Coach: Liz Hurley Assistant Coaches: Melissa Pacific, Mercy Carbonell Captains: Lydia Anderson ’19, Jane Collins ’19, Catherine Griffin ’19, Hannah Littlewood ’19 MVP: Jane Collins

GIRLS SOCCER RECORD: 7-9-3

Head Coach: Alexa Caldwell Assistant Coach: Aykut Kilinc Captains: Juliana Merullo ’19, Ogechi Nwankwoala ’19 MVP: Ogechi Nwankwoala

GIRLS VOLLEYBALL RECORD: 10-8, SECOND PLACE AT INTERSCHOLS

Head Coach: Bruce Shang Assistant Coach: Sue Rowe Captains: Sophie Faliero ’19, Jenny Yang ’19 MVP: Sophie Faliero PHOTOS BY MARY SCHWALM

PICTURE IMPERFECT PHOTOGRAPHY TAKES STUDENTS BEYOND BLACK AND WHITE

By Jennifer Wagner

P

ictures of teens decked out for prom in sparkling

gowns and suits studded with baby’s breath boutonnières don’t usually elicit outrage. But Gillian Laub’s photographs of racially divided dances in rural Georgia have that effect. “I’m overwhelmed by sadness and anger,” says prep Amelia Scott, who viewed Laub’s eye-opening portraits at the Lamont Gallery this fall with her English class. “I’m shocked at how far we’ve come, but how little we’ve changed,” she says. “The idea of segregated proms just completely blows my mind.”

Laub’s images were first published in The New York Times Magazine in 2009 as a photo essay, “A Prom Divided.” The article brought national attention to one town’s long-standing but little-known tradition, and forced an end to its practice of segregation. For the next decade, Laub continued to document the lives of the young people she met in Montgomery County and their community’s struggle with integration, ultimately producing this traveling exhibition and an HBO documentary about a racially charged homicide involving one of the students she had photographed years earlier.

Helping students visualize and confront the societal ills Laub reveals in shocking technicolor — including institutionalized racism, wealth inequities, police violence and gender conformity — is part of what inspired Marina and Andrew Lewin ’77; P’07, P’10 to underwrite the “Southern Rites” premiere exhibition at the Academy (see sidebar, “A Donor’s Influence”). “Race is the national trauma and a big issue right now,” Andrew Lewin says. “And I believe that we need to discuss it and people need to acknowledge it.”

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A visitor views Gillian Laub’s photographs on display at the Lamont Gallery

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“… ASKING THEM TO BE ABLE TO INTERPRET THE COMPLEXITIES OF THE PHOTOGRAPH WILL ALSO HELP THEM INTERPRET THE COMPLEXITIES OF THE ISSUES.”

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Hosting this show on campus is also a very visible way for the Academy to underscore its commitment to equity and inclusion and foster awareness of assumptions, empathy and compassion, both in the classroom and beyond. “I think it’s particularly important for students at this school,” Lewin says. “I’m hoping that what we’re doing by bringing this work and these voices here, is that we’re going to get the students to think.”

For months over the summer, English instructors —

including Christine Knapp, Michelle Dionne, Courtney Marshall, Wei-Ling Woo and Erica Plouffe Lazure — gathered to develop coursework to accompany the “Southern Rites” exhibit. They wrestled with ideas about how to effectively teach students to talk about the thorny topics

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P I LOT C O U R S E O N R AC E A N D I D E N T I T Y As part of Exeter’s ongoing work to teach its students the skills and behaviors necessary to thrive in a diverse and inclusive environment, the English Department, in concert with the Office of Multicultural Affairs, designed a pilot English 320 course for all lowers that brings race and identity explicitly into the curriculum. Through careful reading of primary texts, which may include Flannery O’Connor’s The Artificial Nigger, Shakespeare’s Othello, and selections from Toni Morrison’s Playing in the Dark and The Origin of Others, students will sharpen their critical-thinking, discussion and writing skills while being asked to think and talk about race, class, gender, sexual orientation, justice, injustice and other aspects of identity. “Teachers will set engagement expectations and frame every discussion in a way that will acknowledge the value of each student’s contribution to the class,” notes Stephanie Bramlett, director of equity and inclusion. Participation in OMA’s “Talk About It” conversations and meetings with advisers will offer support and remind students that they have a voice and agency in the course and on Exeter’s campus.

Laub lays bare. How can we help students get beyond the black and white, they wondered? “I think that what happens is that at first students are shocked that segregated proms have happened in their lifetime,” Knapp says. “For some of them, that’s a huge awakening, a kind of lightning strike. But I hope they go past that.”

Before her English 310 students ever stepped foot inside the gallery, Knapp devoted a substantial amount of time preparing them for what they were going to see.

She wanted them to not only view the art and analyze it, but to really be equipped to delve into its deeper meanings. To start, she asked students to consider a New Yorker cover illustration that illuminated the controversy and divide over gun control. “I chose that because I think it’s a loaded issue, but one that is also close to the hearts of a

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lot of teenagers and young people in schools who live in fear of gun violence,” Knapp says. A sobering fact: There were hate crimes investigated in the United States, either racially or ethnically inspired (two involving guns), on the day preceding, the day after, and two days following the “Southern Rites” opening at the Lamont Gallery.

Next she asked the students to find an image from their own lives that caused a strong reaction. They discussed how the image worked to elicit a response using the language of photography: foreground, frame, perspective, contrast. “I wanted them to be prepared to look at the photograph as a composition — as a piece of art,” Knapp says. “I thought that might make them more comfortable talking about the larger issues. It’s very easy to separate, this is good, this is bad, or this is black and this is white. I

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Andrew Lewin’s support of the “Southern Rites” exhibit at the Lamont Gallery is part of a long tradition at Exeter of bringing divergent voices to campus through works of art. “When I was an upper,” Lewin ’77; P’07, P’10 recalls, “Exeter invited Corliss Lamont, the grandson of the gallery’s founder, to speak at assembly and I was included in a subsequent student lunch with him. Corliss was certainly on the left of thinkers. But the school wanted us to have different viewpoints. That’s one of the things I internalized about Exeter.”

Corliss Lamont ’20; P’53 famously gifted painter Diego Rivera’s portrait Irene Estrella to the school’s permanent collection in 1954. At the time, he wrote to the gallery’s first director, Glen Krause, worried it may not be accepted due to the painter’s politics: “Of course, it is a completely non-political painting,” Lamont wrote, “but the hysteria is so great in this country at the present time that I feel I must check with you once more about the matter.” Krause responded, “Rivera’s readmission into the Communist Party is of no importance in the evaluation and acquisition of his painting; therefore, we will be pleased to accept your handsome gift.”

Moments like these, and an art history class with John Wharton, sparked Lewin’s lifelong passion for the arts.

A retired lawyer and investment banker, Lewin is a former trustee of the International Center of Photography, which organized “Southern Rites,” and works with the Magnum Foundation publishing photography books. This is the third art show he has brought to campus, including an exhibit in 2007 of contemporary Chinese photography reflecting the country’s rapid modernization, and, in 2010, Jo Ractliffe’s landscapes of the border war fought

by South Africa in Angola during the 1970s and ’80s.

Lewin not only believes in art, but in supporting the overall well-being of Exonians — particularly by exposing students to ideas of difference and offering opportunities for feelings of acceptance. “I’ve always felt that Exeter has had a very good moral touchpoint, in terms of the values that it has stood for,” Lewin says. “I remember when I was I here, they gave the John Phillips Award to a judge who helped desegregate South Boston. At Exeter, they’ve always encouraged different voices, as opposed to one voice, even if, at times, it’s a different approach.”

Combining notions of acceptance and deep moral values with action, Lewin was keen to incorporate the show into Exeter’s curriculum and inclusivity efforts, rather

Andrew Lewin ’77, photographer Gillian Laub, and Principal Bill Rawson ’71 at the “Southern Rites” opening.

than promote it as a stand-alone exhibition. “Exeter was really formative for me,” he says. “It gave me the tools to really look at things. What we are doing in this art gallery, with the classes, it is very much the Harkness method in the sense that students are teaching themselves. … They are reacting to the work, discussing it amongst themselves. I’m hopeful that there will be lots of interchange and they will teach each other.”

Laub’s work also aligns with Exeter’s non sibi credo.

“I like photographers who try and effect change and bring conditions to our attention,” Lewin says. Photography, unlike other artistic mediums, is particularly adept at documenting the world as it is — it literally captures a moment. When the camera is focused on drawing public attention to social issues, the work is known as “concerned photography.” Think of monographs by Walker Evans and Dorothea Lange, who humanized the impact of the Great Depression. “Photography is a medium that can help us understand and clarify issues, and concerned photography can bring things to the attention of people in a way that’s different,” Lewin says. “The photographs force us to understand certain basic dynamics. This work has a racial dynamic, but also an economic dynamic and class dynamic.”

Lewin hopes “Southern Rites” will make a lasting impact. “As rabbi and Jewish theologian Abraham Joshua Heschel said, ‘Indifference to evil is as bad as evil itself,’” Lewin says. “I want students to understand that they can in fact effectuate change. I think they will.”

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didn’t want them to do that. I think asking them to be able to interpret the complexities of the photograph will also help them interpret the complexities of the issues.”

The class was also assigned a reflection on Gordon Parks’ “The Restraints: Open and Hidden,” a pictorial essay that ran in Life Magazine in September 1956.

Part of Life’s “Background of Segregation” series, the article chronicled the day-to-day effects of segregation as seen through the life of one Alabama family. For homework, students wrote about a time they felt like a space was closed to them. They considered who controls those spaces, who decides who gets access and who does not.

The assignment made the impersonal, personal.

Finally, in late October, Knapp and her English class visited the (continued on page 102)

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RADICAL MATH In Mathematics Instructor Sam Atif’s class, the numbers tell stories. Calculations become conversations and math emerges as an essential tool to analyze and understand the world. With support from the Graves Family Teaching Innovation Fund, Atif has drafted more than 100 problems that provide insights into some of the toughest social issues of the day, including citizenship, gentrification, food deserts and wealth gaps in America. “All academic courses should,” Atif says, “inform the way we live our lives.” To that end, Atif writes substantive commentary to accompany his problem sets so that students and teachers can dig into the factual underpinnings of the numbers in a meaningful way. As interim dean of multicultural affairs, Atif is keen to discover new ways to facilitate discussions on diversity and inclusion and foster culturally responsive classrooms. “This is unlike any math, or for that matter, humanity offerings on the market,” Atif says. “To change the culture of a school, you first need to change the curriculum.”

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A WORK

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T H E G O E L C E N T E R I S C E L E B R AT E D WITH A GRAND OPENING WORTHY

O F I T S G R E AT B E A U T Y A N D P R O M I S E Compiled by Patrick Garrity

Top: Students present an adaptation of A Midsummer Night’s Dream for the Goel Center’s opening night. Below from left: guests gather in the lobby; David and Stacey Goel cut the ceremonial ribbon; actors run through rehearsal.

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ith its commanding position at the entrance to South Campus and its spectacular red signature wall, The David E. and Stacey L. Goel Center for Theater and Dance is a head-turner. Theater Instructor Sarah Ream ’75; P’09, P’11 said the space “is not only a facility enabling students to make art; it is art. It is a poem and it is one we will love and study and value for many years to come.”

In October, hundreds of alumni, parents, students and faculty gathered with many of the Goel Center’s benefactors to celebrate this magnificent new building. The two-day festivities included tours, Harkness learning sessions and the Mainstage’s debut performance: a cross-disciplinary adaptation of Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream featuring an ensemble of more than 120 students and nine instructors. The grand opening culminated with a formal dedication, at which the speakers saved their greatest appreciation for the infinite promise the Goel Center holds.

Keynote speaker Michael Cerveris ’79, a two-time Tony Awardwinning performer, shared a deeply personal story of how a role in an Academy theater production four decades ago helped him find his footing at the school — and a career path to follow.

David and Stacey Goel, the lead benefactors of the building, did the ribbon-cutting honors, punctuated by David Goel’s praise for the the way the arts “transform us as individuals and as entire communities because of this incredible power to give life to ideas — ideas that start conversations, create empathies, foster compassion and demonstrate possibility and drive real change.”

Ahead of the ceremony, Ream dug out a notebook titled “Planning for a New Theater.” Her entry from September 6, 2001, stated: “We need a facility that gives students the skills to discover not only who they are, but who they could be.”

In the new Goel Center, those discoveries are already underway.

PHOTOGRAPHY BY CHERYL SENTER AND MARY SCHWALM

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‘A DYNAMIC OF

INCLUSION’

Excerpt from remarks made by lead donor David E. Goel ’89 “My own time as a student at Exeter was dependent upon, to borrow from a Tennessee Williams line, the kindness of strangers. Stacey and I share our very own strong sense of obligation towards this school, and I have long believed that my time at Exeter changed the course of my life. Appropriately enough, as I stand here near the steps of our new Center for Theater and Dance, there’s no better metaphor for transformative power than this facility and the ability of the arts to, quite literally, bring dreams and ideas to life. Stacey and I believe strongly in the value of the arts and the role they play in educating us, precisely because of this power: The ability to transform us as individuals and as entire communities because of this incredible power to give life to ideas — ideas that start conversations, create empathies, foster compassion and demonstrate possibility and drive real change.

“At its core, the Exeter education seeks to bring us closer to the universal truths that make humans humane. Ideas like justice, ethics and integrity, compassion, and sympathy. If we commit to them and demand their application, all have the potential to provoke extraordinary changes in the human condition.

“So, to offer our students a world-class space where they can quite literally try on another person’s shoes and access a universe of ideas seems not only important, but in this era, necessary. As Picasso observed, every child is an artist. If anything, a place like this, by its very design, permits children to do what they do best: doubt, ask, explore, learn and grow. And let me point out what makes the arts such a profound tool for cultivating and transmitting ideas is that in the Center for Theater and Dance, the act of creation itself is incomplete without an audience. When it comes to the arts, the act of listening and bearing witness is as powerful and important as the act of speaking. Whether it is the call-andresponse of jazz, the emotional reaction to the language of movement and dance, or the words and actions on stage that inspire tears and maybe even a little laughter, there’s a dynamic of participation in the theater unlike any other place. It is a dynamic of inclusion. The arts foster not just ideas, but conversations about ideas. These conversations create empathies and form empathy, and from this, real communities emerge.

“The journeys created in this dynamic space between these exchanges of ideas and the act of witnessing them are the ones that have the power to change history itself. And our great hope is that this center will be the beginning of many such journeys for years to come.”

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Stacey and David Goel with Principal Bill Rawson

Principal Emeritus Tom Hassan and U.S. Sen. Maggie Hassan

Technical Director Cary Wendell (right) leads a workshop.

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Top: Kwabena Safo-Agyekum ‘02 and his dance company perform at the dedication ceremony.

Bottom: PEA dancers perform on the Thrust Stage.

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Clockwise from top: A scene from the play; Michael Cerveris delivers the keynote address; Music Instructor Rohan Smith conducts; the Goel Center’s signature wall; dancers assemble above the orchestera pit.

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A LIGHT IN THE

DARKNESS

Excerpt of keynote address by actor Michael Cerveris ’79

“As I walked to the campus yesterday, I had an extraordinarily vivid memory of my parents’ car pulling away with my little brother in the back seat, feeling like the only things I knew in the world had just disappeared down Front Street. My family has always been very close, and it was especially difficult for my father, from an Italian family, to conceive of leaving his child two long days’ drive away from home. But as teachers themselves, he and my mother made the sacrifice, because they felt my education was more important than their hearts’ ease.

“I, however, was not at all sure. This place, I don’t need to tell any of you, is intense. I felt like a fish in the Gobi Desert I was so far out of water. Here I was, this relatively long-haired kid from West Virginia, learning to tie a tie (something I’d never had need to learn), and further, learning to do it while running late to class. I didn’t have the thickest accent, but I didn’t sound like most of my classmates. More importantly, I struggled to catch up to thinking like them. Everyone seemed to know where they were going and what they were doing.

Classes moved so quickly, everyone was talking about grades and colleges. I felt like the slow kid everyplace I went. And I was as miserable as I thought humanly possible.

“And then came the auditions for the first play of the year.

“It was Shakespeare’s The Comedy of Errors. And I can still remember climbing the carpeted steps in the Fisher Theater and walking onto the darkened stage, lit (at least in my memory) by a ghost light and maybe a small, dim spotlight. Standing there on the bare stage, I did my monologue, and suddenly, for the first time since I’d arrived, I knew where I was. On that bare stage, I felt like I was standing on solid ground again. I wasn’t the most skilled actor there, not by any means, but I knew how this world worked. I knew how to challenge myself here, what the rules were and what was expected of me. And I knew it mattered to me to be there. In the end, I won the not-especially-coveted role of Angelo the goldsmith.

And while his five plot-advancing lines of dialogue were hardly an auspicious start, they gave me something that affected the course of my time at Exeter, and consequently, the rest of my life. That small part on that humble stage gave me a home, a tentative foothold in this dizzying place.

From it, I slowly learned to keep pace (more or less) with my peers. I figured out how to survive and eventually thrive here, and I ended up leaving with, I still believe, the finest education one can have. That sense of realizing my home on that empty stage is one that has accompanied me from basement studio theaters in the East Village to Lincoln Center and Broadway. It was very much a part of what I tried to express in a somewhat rambling acceptance speech for my second Tony Award a few years ago. It’s that small lighted place in the darkness where I feel most at home to this day. Not for the light it shines on me, but for the space it makes for us to push against the darkness around us.” E

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CONNECTIONS

News and notes from the alumni community

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Non Sibi’s Impact W H O W E A R E T O D AY A N D W H Y W E G I V E B A C K

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By Alan R. Jones ’72 and Nadia Saliba ’95, co-chairs of The Exeter Fund n our roles as alumni co-chairs of The Exeter Fund, we have been reflecting on our time as students; what the Academy means personally to us now; its impact on who we have become; and why it is so important for us to give back.

Exeter embraced us during some of the most formative years of our lives, creating a foundation that we have built upon as adults. The significance of adolescence and the Academy’s opportunity and duty to shape it is written in the 1781 Deed of Gift: “… how susceptible and tenacious they are of impressions, evidences that the time of youth is the important period, on the improvement or neglect of which depend the most weighty consequences, to individuals themselves and the community.”

When we take account of how our time at Exeter shaped our thoughts and actions in the years that followed our graduations, the importance of non sibi and the integral relationship between goodness and knowledge become more apparent. The Academy strives to teach a way of being in the world and interacting with other minds — a way of learning, but also a way of living.

The pursuit of truth and knowledge produces more certainty in dialogue and a deeper purpose in individual and communal relationships. At Exeter we learned that non sibi means thinking outside ourselves to others, to community and to society, and that we each have a responsibility to add to the greater good. We learned about non sibi at the Harkness table as we were taught the responsibility to listen as well as to share. We learned to respect other opinions even when they were very different from our own. We learned that we could solve great problems together better than we could alone.

Our experiences at Exeter are personal to each of us. For me, Nadia, Exeter is many things. It is the “aha” moments in class around the Harkness table when a question seemed to come together, and I felt excited about what I was learning and the process behind it. It is the friends I made while I was at the Academy and the people I met there who became my friends many years later. And it is the other Exonians who have become my

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friends even though our time at the Academy may have been separated by decades. Exeter is the richness of having a community of people who do an incredible variety of things. I have classmates and friends who are chefs, TV executives, photographers, start-up founders, doctors, and many other things; and they are exploring their careers in locations all around the world. There is no other period in my life when I have been surrounded by a group of people who later took on such a rich assortment of professional and personal challenges in later life.

For me, Alan, as a kid from South Central Los Angeles, I was introduced by my high school counselor to an Exeter alumnus who sponsored me to attend PEA’s Summer School program. I was fortunate to then receive a scholarship for the regular session and quickly discovered that I had not even come close to achieving my true potential. I had the privilege of learning from legendary instructors, serving as a proctor in Soule Hall, participating on the basketball To support The Exeter Fund, please and track teams, earnvisit www.exeter.edu/give. ing spending money by working in the “new” Academy Library and Wentworth dining hall, and, of course, experiencing my first snowstorm. Many of my closest friends even now are Exonians. Our shared experiences have lasted a lifetime. Exeter was an unrivaled opportunity made possible because someone saw in me a person that I had not yet come to know.

We give to Exeter, and The Exeter Fund in particular, because of how grateful we are for all the ways the Academy has impacted our lives. Our education and the community of people we know because of our experiences at Exeter have shaped who we are today. Because of this, we want to enable other young individuals to have an even greater experience.

We thank all of you who have helped make the Academy a truly amazing place for so many students, and we invite everyone to join us in giving back and making sure Exeter experiences continue for generations to come. E

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Layne Erickson ’18

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By Patrick Garrity native of Eau Claire,

Wisconsin, Layne Erickson ’18 spent three years at Exeter, living in Dunbar Hall, rowing crew, playing hockey and joining clubs, including the Fermatas a cappella group as a senior. A month after graduation last spring, as her classmates soaked up summer vacation, she was in basic training in preparation for the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, New York. “I tried a lot of new things; sleeping outside at night in a downpour, firing grenade launchers, learning combat first aid,” she recalls. “I was so far out of my comfort zone that I was afraid I’d never find it again.”

Now, Erickson is midway through her plebe year, a proud member of the 3rd Regiment, 3rd Battalion, Golf Company, or G3 (“Go, Gophers!”) — one of four Exonians in West Point’s class of 2022. We recently caught up with her to see how she was adjusting to life after Exeter.

How did you wind up at West Point?

I think I really got into the idea of the service academies when I wrote my History 333 research paper. As an upper, I was just beginning to dive into the college process, and I was searching for sources in the library when a book on West Point caught my eye. I ended up writing 17 pages on the service academy classes of 1980, the first classes of women to graduate. It was after all that research that I was completely sold on the challenge. The women I read about inspired me, and even now, it means a lot to me to follow in their footsteps and carry their legacy into an Army so vastly different from the one they entered upon graduation.

Are there any similarities between life at PEA and the USMA?

I have found that Exeter prepared me extraordinarily well for life here. For one thing, just having lived away from home for so long means that I’ve already developed a level of independence that my peers lack. The

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Erickson (right)

time-management skills I developed at Exeter have been exceptionally helpful here as well, and the workload is pretty similar. A lot of my friends here have found themselves struggling with the level of academic rigor and heavy workload, but I find myself all the time thinking about how much easier it is than at Exeter. I might not have appreciated the difficulty all the time while I was there, but I can’t describe how thankful I am for it now.

What do you miss most about Exeter?

I have never made connections so strong as those I made with my fellow Exonians. I miss how close our classes were, how I could name every person I passed on the path.

I miss being able to approach any teacher with a problem and know that they would go out of their way to help you in any way they could. I miss the culture, the art, EP. Exeter appreciated the strengths of every individual. It is that diversity, the intellectual diversity, the pursuit of beauty and excellence and passion, that I miss the most. E Read our full conversation with Layne Erickson, including how life in the barracks compares to Dunbar Hall, at www.http://exeter.edu/layneerickson.

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Planting Seeds of Hope

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By Genny Beckman Moriarty

inancier Stephen Robert ’58 has enjoyed a long and successful career on Wall Street. A graduate of Brown University, the London School of Economics and Columbia University’s School of Business, Robert started in investment banking with Oppenheimer & Co. in 1968 as a junior portfolio manager. He retired nearly 30 years later as the company’s CEO and largest stockholder.

But the 78-year-old’s greatest professional successes are far surpassed by the life-altering work he has done through his philanthropic missions. “Life is about empathy, it’s about hope,” he says. “That’s really what’s worth something. That’s what you leave behind.”

While serving on numerous charitable boards, Robert felt a desire to become more involved, in a holistic way, with the projects he was helping to fund. So eight years ago, he and his wife, Pilar Crespi Robert, established the Source of Hope Foundation to provide sustainable aid around the world in the form of food, water, money, medical care and education. “We’re working in often inhospitable places that are experiencing civil war, famine or terrible governments,” he explains. “We try to work in areas where we can make a real difference.”

Robert — who has chaired Brown University’s Watson Institute for International Studies and Public Policy, and is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and the Brookings Foreign Policy Advisory Committee — applies his knowledge of international relations when establishing small-scale, tangible projects in places such as Ethiopia, Haiti, Columbia, Palestine and Israel.

The couple fund the foundation largely by themselves, and make a point to visit each project site at least once a year. The Roberts don’t pay themselves a salary and only employ one assistant, so nearly all of the money they raise goes directly into helping others. “I like the fact that we’re not building up operating costs,” Robert says. “I like to say,

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‘We’re the founders, funders and staff of Source of Hope.”

Supplying communities with potable water, school supplies or medicine may lack the social prestige of more traditional philanthropies (“It won’t get your name on a building,” he says,) but Robert hopes more young people will follow his lead.

Robert’s commitment to aiding others was developed early on in life. “My parents believed in philanthropy,” he says. “I grew up thinking philanthropy was just something you did, like breathing.” The son of “loving and wise immigrants who had little formal education,”Robert was also one of the few practicing Jewish students in Exeter’s mostly white, Anglo-Saxon community that still had daily chapel requirements in the 1950s. (“I occasionally still find myself subconsciously humming lines to ‘Onward, Christian Soldiers,’ in synagogue,” he quips.) Remembering himself a lonely teenager who felt overwhelmed academically and socially, Robert says, “After my graduation ...

I took a bit of a break from Exeter.”

That break lasted nearly six decades, but a gratifying conversation about the Exeter of today with Ronnie Dixon ’07, a young alumnus working in the Office of Institutional Advancement, persuaded Robert to return to campus for his 60th reunion last year. Robert came away from both visits heartened and impressed by a school more welcoming and nurturing — and much more representative of the country at large — than he had experienced.

Invited to speak at assembly in September — in the same space where he used to attend chapel — Robert was humble, warm and witty. Praising “the beautiful diversity” he found on campus, he told the gathered Exonians that “the deepest meaning of life is how you help other people” and urged them to “chase their dreams vigorously” and become strong enough to take care of other people. He added: “Don’t think of it as giving back. It’s just what you do for your fellow humans.” E

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Rethinking Fatherhood

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By Genny Beckman Moriarty s a child-welfare advocate and court–

appointed attorney, Bruce Edwards ’97 often sees Maryland’s foster care system become a trapdoor for its neediest youth. Wanting to improve the odds for the children he serves, Edwards embarked on exhaustive research into parenting. His findings confirmed what he had suspected about the important role fathers play in child development: “Absent fathers have been linked to higher rates of poverty, substance abuse, failure in school, teen pregnancy, violent crime, depression and suicide,” Edwards says. “An involved father, on the other hand, shapes a child’s identity and moral values and improves their life chances.” Using this knowledge to mend fractured families, Edwards has worked tirelessly for the past decade helping fathers learn how to be fathers. “It’s been an arduous and rewarding journey,” he says.

Born to teenage parents, Edwards experienced firsthand the pain of not having a sustained relationship with his dad while growing up in Florida. During his father’s periodic absences, he found hope in the presence of positive male role models who lent critical guidance.

“Without their support and belief in me,” he says, “I would not be where I am today.”

Edwards’ earliest mentors were members of Kappa Alpha Psi, an international, predominately AfricanAmerican fraternity that sponsors community service, social welfare and academic scholarship programs. “They were college-educated, married and the fathers to many of my friends,” Edwards says. The men volunteered their time on Saturdays to form a mentoring group called The Psi-Kats. Edwards joined the program in middle school and participated for six years.

During a postgraduate year at Exeter, Edwards was a mentor in the Big Brothers Big Sisters program and a member of the Afro-Latino Exonian Society — experiences that laid the groundwork for his community

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activism. “My involvement with ALES planted a seed,” he recalls.

“We talked about a lot of discrepancies among communities of color and how we could go back to our communities and institute change.

Those discussions motivated me and struck my conscious nerve.”

Galvanized to help others the way his father figures helped him, Edwards has poured his energies into mentoring young people and giving men of all ages the tools they need to become better parents.

Through his work reconciling families within Maryland’s foster care system, Edwards learned that many men want to take a more active role in their children’s lives, but lack the confidence and know-how. “There’s a fear of failure among some men, which is rooted in generations of absentee fatherhood,” he says. “You have to tap into a mindset shift, and help them realize that you are perpetuating a cycle if you don’t get involved.”

With his wife, Rhonda, also a lawyer, Edwards established a legal advocacy firm, Advocates for Justice, Inc., that provides parenting classes, fatherhood engagement sessions and employment services. In his current role as the social services attorney for Caroline County, Maryland, Edwards implemented the Father Empowerment Initiative, based on the research for his 2016 book, The 14 Virtues of the Good Father. A labor of love, his book draws on his comprehensive research and years of experience — plus his own faith beliefs — to provide a formal framework for men hoping to create stronger bonds with their children.

Edwards’ relationship with his own dad has been healed as a result of his work, and his readers and mentees seem hungry for his message. Some, whose kids are now grown, see mentoring others’ children as a possibility for redemption. “I tell a lot of men, ‘It is a given to father your own child, but it’s really noble to parent a child who doesn’t have a father,’” he says. “They can’t get their child back, but maybe they can be a support for the next generation.” E

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Closing the Achievement Gap

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By Karl Wirsing

the organization’s network of 22 public middle and high schools to the next, and even (and one charter school) in the from block to block, Bronx, Brooklyn and Manhattan, students in New York and its more than 9,000 enrolled City can face radically different students. options for where they go to Eighty-six percent of Urban public school. More affluent famiAssembly students live at or lies are often able to navigate the below the poverty line, and system and enroll their children at half are first- or second-generthe most reputable schools, Kristin ation immigrants. Access to a Kearns-Jordan ’87 says, while the high-performing school should less-privileged simply don’t have be a priority, not an obstacle, for the same access. It’s an inequity these youth, Kearns-Jordan says, she noticed at her very first job adding that she largely took for after graduating from Brown granted the quality of her own in 1991. She vividly rememExeter experience when she was bers mentoring high school younger. More than 80 percent students and being struck by of ninth-graders enter an Urban this two-tiered system, in which Kearns-Jordan (left) with an Assembly school below grade lower-income students were Urban Assembly middle schooler level in at least one subject, but being denied a fundamental tool none are turned away for prior — consistent, high-level educaacademic performance. “For me, the equity mission tion from elementary through high school — for improvcomes before the education mission,” she says. “We are ing their futures. “I became focused on those inequities,” doing work that is good by students and also good by the she says, “and came to believe deeply that education is system as a whole.” the most powerful lever for achieving societal change.”

Each Urban Assembly school has a theme, such as Kearns-Jordan has carried that passion for expanding technology or criminal justice. Students get real-world educational opportunities for underserved communities experience through job shadowing, internships and for the last 25 years, from founding the Bronx Preparatory Charter School in 2000 to spending six years as executive industry partnerships related to their school’s theme, and each school has a dedicated college counselor. There director of the Tortora Sillcox Family Foundation, which is also a strong emphasis on social-emotional learning, works to help students overcome socioeconomic barriers making sure kids feel respected, secure and not afraid of and graduate from high school. “The whole ecosystem of education needs to change, the rules need to be reset, and bullying. “You can’t have high-quality academic learning where students don’t listen to one another, or where the quality needs to reach all kids,” she says. people feel emotionally unsafe,” Kearns-Jordan says.

The desire to rewrite those rules drew her to take over These approaches have helped the Urban Assembly as CEO of the Urban Assembly two years ago. Founded in make striking progress, including raising the average 1990, the Urban Assembly is a nonprofit that developed a graduation rate for its schools to 82 percent this year. unique model for organizing smaller schools in New York Kearns-Jordan is excited to share programming details City with a clear equity mission and in close partnership with other schools in New York City — and elsewhere in with the New York City Department of Education. In this the country. “The impact over four years of high school is public-private relationship, the city provides funding and huge,” she says. “Knowing [if] a kid comes to your school, the Urban Assembly schools act as innovation labs, testing they will end up in a better place than when they arrive, and implementing a wide range of initiatives before being that is really motivating.” E rolled out on a larger scale. Kearns-Jordan now oversees rom one neighborhood

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FROM EVERY QUARTER E XO N I A N S M A K E C O N N E C T I O N S AT H O M E A N D A R O U N D T H E WO R L D Please note, all photos are identified left to right unless otherwise indicated.

EXETER LEADERSHIP WEEKEND 2018 More than 250 alumni and parent volunteers and their guests returned to campus for Exeter Leadership Weekend last fall. Volunteers attended business meetings, heard Academy updates and gathered for good company. A highlight was the alumni-senior class dinner.

General Alumni Association President Ciatta Baysah ’97 (left) and Principal Biil Rawson ’71; P’08 (right) with recipients of the 2018 President’s Award, Robert Baldi ’03 and Eric Steel ’82. The award is given for exemplary service to Exeter.

Spencer Martin ’42; P’77, P’81

Katherine Aanensen ’12 and Una Basak ’90; P’19

Steve Del Villar ’93, Meagen Ryan Williams ’93 and Nate Brown ’95

Laura Lasley ’78 (Hon.); P’05, P’10, Sue (Cole) Ross ’77, Sue Kaplan ’79 and Monica Shelton Reusch ’77; P’08

Class of ’71 members Ted Gilchrist, Parker Shipton, Sam Perkins and John Karrel

See more event photos at www.exeter.edu/receptions.

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PHOTOS BY DAN COURTER

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Class of 2019 members Vinny Kurup, Hillary Davis, Lizzy MacBride, Lydia Anderson, Jane Collins and Abbie Benfield with Charis Edwards ’17

Barbara Bradbury P’09, P’20; John Bradbury ’59; P’78, GP’09, GP’20; Mitch Bradbury ’78; P’09, P’20; Anthony Chen ’78; P’08; Dan Lasley ’78; P’05, P’10 and Lisa Coburn ’78

Kojo Aduhene ’19 and Don Light ’59

Heidi Brotman ’84; P’21, Susie Peeler P’21, Emiliana Vegas P’19, P’21 and Yoon-Gi Hahn P’18, P’20, P’22

CHRISTIAN HARRISON

Ashwin Ranganathan P’21 with Bridgett and Dennis JeanJacques P’16, P’19, P’21

ELW provided the Parents Committee with an opportunity to meet and plan the year ahead.

PHOTOS BY DAN COURTER

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BOSTON The Exeter Association of New England offered alumni numerous opportunities to connect.

Exonians enjoyed walking the Freedom Trail on a beautiful fall morning.

Jamie Demopoulos ’18 and his mother, Margaret (Bravar) Demopoulos ’82; P’18, P’20, were ready to host Exonians at the Head of the Charles event in October.

A “Welcome to Boston” happy hour gave Trevor Marrero ’12 and Arjun Venkatachalam ’09 an opportunity to meet friends and welcome alumni new to the city.

Exonians answered the call of non sibi at the Cradles to Crayons Giving Factory in Brighton.

Rebecca Snelling ’08, Andrew Safir ’08, Stephanie Anklin ’08 and Laura Shen ’07

Kelly (Gittlein) Lewis ’96 with children Conor and Benjamin and husband Alan.

See more event photos at www.exeter.edu/receptions.

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EAST COAST PHILADELPHIA Cletus Lyman ’63 (second from right) graciously opened his home to the Exeter Association of Philadelphia for an outdoor garden party. Here he is joined by Ken Ford ’44; P’75, P’80 and his wife, Joanne, and Gregory Zhu ’18.

NEW YORK Sihang Weisenborn, Marc Fleuette ’81 and Mark Weisenborn ’98 enjoyed Family Day at Harvest Moon Farm and Orchard.

Exonians came together at a variety of events this fall.

Steve Mullin ’73, Mike Mahoney ’88, Ed Dippold and Deb D’Arcangelo ’82

Harry Potter trivia night for young alumni at Slattery’s Midtown Pub.

Alumni at the Non-Sibi Holiday Happy Hour in Midtown to benefit the Toys for Tots Foundation.

WASHINGTON, D.C. Suzi Guardia ’86 (standing, second from right) hosted an evening to remember and honor the late Dolores Kendrick, English instructor emerita. Here alumni from several classes gathered around the Harkness table for a discussion led by Sarah Ream ’75; P’09, P’11 (seated, far right).

EXETER Principal Bill Rawson ’71; P’08 (center) met with Dain Trafton ’56 and Emeritus Chair of the Mathematics Department Frank Gutmann ’52; P’85, P’87 for a conversation at RiverWoods.

UPCOMING EVENTS Join us at one of these upcoming Exeter Association Receptions.

You can view a full listing of all events and register online at exeter.edu/alumni, or call the Alumni and Parent Relations Office at 603-777-3454.

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Mar 5 London

Apr 18 Washington, D.C.

Mar 6 San Francisco, Peninsula

Apr 25 Seattle

Mar 7

Jun 4 Boston

San Francisco, City

Mar 9 Los Angeles

Jun 12 Greenwich

Mar 21 Philadelphia

Florida receptions in March details coming soon.

Apr 9

New York Luncheon

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COLORADO In November, The Exeter Association of Colorado welcomed Dean of Faculty Ellen Wolff P’17 to a reception at The Governor’s Residence, Boettcher Mansion, in Denver.

Emma Kim ’16, Dean of Faculty Ellen Wolff, Marsha Tharakan P’22, P’22, Alexander Masoudi ’22, Jonathan Masoudi P’22, P’22, Asha Masoudi and Claudia Sanchez ’20

Bryan Fields, Helen Fields ’02, Tara Righetti ’02 and Jeffrey Fruhwirth

Class of ’90 members Liz Rosas, Dominic Rivers, Lisa Waldorf and Margot Ryan along with Dominic’s daughter, Ingrid

Colorado First Lady Robin Pringle Hickenlooper ’96 with Ellen Wolff and Regional President Heather Baker ’89

Samantha Jacobson ’03 and her husband, Phil

Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper, James Vink ’63; P’98, his wife, Debby P’98, Pete Beaman ’63; P’96 and John Woodberry ’82

George Austen ’59 and his wife, Sally PHOTOS BY VICTOR ARANGO

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LOS ANGELES Exonians spent an evening in Hollywood engaging with an alumni and parent panel of entertainment industry professionals. Jackie Hayes ’85 moderated the event.

REUNIONS 2019

The panel: Sam Brown ’92, Jackie Hayes ’85, Greg Daniels ’81, Brandon Riegg ’95, Darin Friedman ’95, Rebecca Kearey P’21 and Kathy Franklin ’86

Each Exeter class hosts a reunion on campus every five years.

These events culminate a year or more of planning by classmates and the Alumni and Parent Relations Office and include informal gatherings, family activities, music, meals and plenty of time to reconnect with old friends and discover new ones. If your graduation year ends in a 4 or 9, we look forward to seeing you in May.

May 3-5 (Children’s Program) 1979 40th Reunion 1984 35th Reunion 1989 30th Reunion 1994 25th Reunion 1999 20th Reunion 2004 15th Reunion

Geoffrey Cheng ’12, Brandon Riegg ’95, Greg Daniels ’81 and Michael Kim ’16

May 16-19 1969 50th Reunion

Rome Jutabha ’81; P’18 and Sally Michaels ’82; P’12, P’14, P’17, P’19

May 17-19 1959 60th Reunion 1964 55th Reunion 1974 45th Reunion 2009 10th Reunion 2014 5th Reunion May 21-23 1944 75th Reunion 1949 70th Reunion 1954 65th Reunion Carla McKean, Adam McKean ’00 and Rob Ogden ’01

Matt Gannon ’87; P’21 with wife Rebecca Kearey and son Joseph

Follow us at /phillipsexeter

See more event photos at www.exeter.edu/receptions.

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E/A WATCH PARTIES Exonians and their friends gathered to watch the livestream of the Exeter/Andover games, played in Andover.

Big Red spirit was on display in cities around the U.S. and Canada.

SAN FRANCISCO PARENTS GATHERING Showing their school spirit, parents, friends and family gathered at an event hosted by Ann Chen P’21 (back row, left).

ANDOVER Cheering on Big Red in Andover: class of 2018 members Gavin Hickey, Brennan Simon, Reed Ouellette and Carson Fleming.

TORONTO Evan Sequeira ’10 (front row) hosted a combined Exeter/ Andover group to watch the games.

Jolina Dimen, Sarah Shepley and Magisha Thohir, all class of 2018, in Andover.

WASHINGTON, D.C. Lawrence Young ’96 (back row, second from left) and Caroline Thomas ’09 (front row, left) hosted a spirited event.

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EXONIANS IN EUROPE

LONDON Dominic Moss, Luke Browne ’14, Sang Park ’17 and Mike Shao ’16 gathered with other Exonians for a wine tasting and discussion hosted by Andrea Viera ’82 at her wine shop, The Last Drop.

Richard Harvell ’97, Kendra (Noyes) Miller ’97 and her husband, Jake

Alumni marked the 100th anniversay of WWI in Belguim and France in late summer, while fall provided an opportunity to connect in London.

Phil Johnson ’81, host Andrea Viera ’82 and Dick Schumacher ’83 (UK Regional Association president)

EXETER EXPEDITIONS Exonians traveled to Belgium and France with Emeritus History instructor Jack Herney (left) to visit the major battle sites, cemeteries and memorials of the Western Front. The group made a stop at the grave of Lt. Harry Butters, Exeter class of 1909, at Meaulte Military Cemetery in France.

See more event photos at www.exeter.edu/receptions.

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EXONIANS IN ASIA Alumni and parents gathered at receptions across Asia in November to meet Principal Bill Rawson ’71; P’08 and hear an Academy update.

Alumni and parents in Seoul welcomed Principal Bill Rawson ’71; P’08 (center) to Asia.

Hong Kong Alumni Reception hosted by Joe Ngai ’93 (second from left of Principal Bill Rawson ’71), Morgan Sze ’83 (far right) and Steve Lin ’87 (not pictured).

A dinner for Exeter parents was held in Hong Kong.

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The Exeter Association of Shanghai reception.

Taipei dinner hosted by Albert Ting ’90 (center, between Chuck Ramsay (left) and Principal Bill Rawson ’71 (right).

Manila dinner hosted by Helen Delgado P’95, P’97 (second from right), Zaki ’97 (far left) and Rashid Delgado ’95 (far right).

Exeter parents and alumni gather for a reception in Bangkok, hosted by Busadee and Suphachai Chearavanont P’22 (to the left of Principal Bill Rawson ’71).

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Picture Imperfect (continued from page 33)

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Lamont Gallery and examined the collection. Their task: observe, interpret, react and connect. “Study one picture and record what you see,” Knapp said as students fanned out across the gallery. “Write bullet points, fragments, concrete details. … Record shapes that invite your gaze to move through the photograph. … Notice the relationship between the subject and the background.”

At the back of the gallery, seated at a Harkness table the 12 students began to parse and share their thoughts. They moved from observation and inference to interpretation and reaction. “I was disturbed to see that this type of discrimination is still here,” said one student. “I thought discrimination would be gone, but there is still discrimination, and what is the way to

decrease it?”

Like the subjects in the photographs, the issues are complex. The reactions are emotional. The students are careful, engaged, simultaneously investigating their own notions and prejudices while discussing those of others. When students posed the question, “Why didn’t the black students protest?” they realized that the question itself passed judgment on the students of color in the community and assigned blame to them. After reflection, they refined the question and asked, “What obstacles prevented the black students from speaking out or protesting?” The students contemplated how, in their position as privileged individuals, it could be hard to understand why someone might not stand up for themselves. This led to a discussion of the systemic racism that allowed the segregated prom in this town to be a norm. “When the tradition is part of the majority it just gets institutionalized,” said one student. “If you’re part of the minority, it’s really hard to speak up against that.”

The class block ends, but the conversation continues in the dorms, in advisee groups and, of course, around the Harkness table in the coming months (See sidebar “English 320”). Knapp’s class will conclude the fall term by reading The Taming of the Shrew, where themes from the play of traditional courtship norms and expectations, clothing and appearance can now be understood through a wider lens.

“Our major writing assignment for the term will come out of the exhibition,” Knapp adds. “Hopefully, they’ll have something powerful, a weighty moment from their own life that they can really look back at and examine.” E

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“WHEN THE TRADITION IS PART OF THE MAJORITY, IT JUST GETS INSTITUTIONALIZED. IF YOU’RE PART OF THE MINORITY, IT’S REALLY HARD TO SPEAK UP AGAINST THAT.”

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‘Xocolata Calenta’

By Aiden Silvestri ’22

T DAVID NELSON

he cool winter breeze raises the hairs on my neck. A mug of hot chocolate, or xocolata calenta, rests on the metal table in front of me. Steam rises from the cup in swirls, dissipating into the chilly air. I take a deep breath. The sweet scent of pastries lingers in the street from the quaint family-style cafes. Small shops filled with souvenirs, sweets, and especially FC Barcelona merchandise line the streets, each named in a language I can’t understand. Behind my dad, a worn-down cement building is spray-painted with bright red and yellow.

It is the mural of the Barcelona fútbol star, Leo Messi, that attracts my eyes. His shoulders are hunched as he keeps his legs close together, his signature position before taking a free kick. A local, wrapped in layers of thick clothing, passes by gazing at his giant figure with a smile. A tourist points to the mural muttering words of admiration to his friend. I wrap my fingers around the mug and the warmth spreads up my hands. I lift the hot chocolate up to my nose. The rich scent reminds me of Christmastime as a kid, when I would sit around a fire with my family, a cup of hot cocoa in my hands; all of us talking and laughing. I lean down and perch my lips on the rim of the cup. I take a sip. The thick texture startles me, and the residue of the drink lingers in my throat. My dad chuckles.

“Different, right?” He grabs the mug from my hand and takes a big swig. Gulping it down, he breathes in deeply, leaning his head back and closing his eyes to take in the sounds of the city; bustling tourists negotiating prices with shop owners, rings of bicycle bells as bicyclists fly down the street. I blow into the cup and the liquid barely moves. Chunks of chocolate rise to the surface. I take another sip out of the mug, and in the sweet is a hint of bitterness. I swirl it around my mouth, letting the sugar be absorbed by my tongue.

I realize it is literally heated chocolate. I sip my dad’s water to dilute the strength of it. “I love it!” I say to him. E Editor’s note: Aiden wrote this piece as part of a descriptive paragraph-writing assignment for English Instructor Patricia Burke-Hickey’s class during fall term.

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5

LIFE-CHANGING WEEKS

EXETER SUMMER JULY 1 – AUGUST 2, 2019

Exeter’s summer experience has transformed over a century to become what it is today: a five week journey of discovery.

EXETER SUMMER students, currently in grades 7-12, represent a rich diversity of language, culture, religion and race. Students choose among 100 courses, 13 academic clusters and 15 sports.

Whatever sparks your interest, you will find it at Exeter.

603.777.3488

| EXETER.EDU/SUMMER | SUMMER@EXETER.EDU

20 Main Street Exeter, NH 03833-2460 Parents of Alumni: If this magazine is addressed to a child who no longer maintains a permanent address at your home, please email us (records@exeter.edu) with their new address.

Thank you.

Exeter for Educators

June 23-28, 2019

INTENSIVE, ONE-WEEK PROGRAMS FOR SECONDARY AND MIDDLE SCHOOL TEACHERS

PROGRAMS ANJA S. GREER CONFERENCE ON MATHEMATICS AND TECHNOLOGY*

For teachers focused on the impact and applications of technology in the classroom.

BIOLOGY INSTITUTE*

Choose two of four courses offered, and participate in advanced technique sessions and field trips.

ENVIRONMENTAL LITERATURE INSTITUTE

Spend a week in the classroom and doing fieldwork with fellow educators in the environmental humanities.

EXETER DIVERSITY INSTITUTE

Acquire new methods and materials for discussing race, class, gender, identity, diversity and inclusion.

WRITERS’ WORKSHOP

Discover what it means to be a teacher who writes and a writer who teaches.

REX A. MCGUINN CONFERENCE ON SHAKESPEARE

Small daily seminar groups explore how to teach the plays in a classroom.

EXETER HUMANITIES INSTITUTE

Explore the Harkness method of teaching, as taught

by Exeter’s experienced instructors. * College credit provided for select programs.

Live, learn and find inspiration with peers. www.exeter.edu/conferences2019 For conference details, including travel and lodging information.