The Exeter Bulletin, winter 2015

The Exeter Bulletin WINTER 2015

EQUAL

FIVE ALUMNI SPEAK FROM THE FRONTLINES OF

ACCESS Good to

E D U C AT I O N R E F O R M

Schools

ALSO: • The impact proctors have on dorm life • Non sibi triumphs over one selfish act • Table Talk with Tod Williams and Billie Tsien

EXETER REUNIONS 2015 REUNION DATE

CLASS

YEAR

May 1-3

1985

30th

1990

25th

1995

20th

2000

15th

1955

60th

1960

55th

1970

45th

1980

35th

May 14-17

1965

50th

May 15-17

1975

40th

2005

10th

2010

5th

1945

70th

1950

65th

May 8-10

May 19-21

Connect the past, the present and the possible.

FOR MORE INFORMATION VISIT WWW.EXETER.EDU/REUNIONS OR CALL THE ALUMNI AND PARENT RELATIONS OFFICE AT 603-777-3264.

The Exeter Bulletin Principal Thomas E. Hassan ’56, ’66, ’70, ’06 (Hon.); P’11 Director of C ­ ommunications Robin Giampa

WINTER

Editor Karen Ingraham Staff Writers Mike Catano Nicole Pellaton Class Notes Editor Janice M. Reiter Contributing Editors Edouard L. Desrochers­­ Karen Stewart Creative Director/Design David Nelson, Nelson Design Editorial Assistant Susan Goraczkowski 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 G. Thompson Hutton ’73 Vice President Eunice Johnson Panetta ’84 Mitchell J. Bradbury ’78, Wole C. Coaxum ’88, Flobelle Burden Davis ’87, Marc C. de La Bruyère ’77, Walter C. Donovan ’81, John A. Downer ’75, Mark A. Edwards ’78, Jonathan W. Galassi ’67, David E. Goel ’89, Thomas E. Hassan, Jennifer P. Holleran ’86, Deidre O’Byrne ’84, William K. Rawson ’71, Kerry Landreth Reed ’91, Dr. Nina D. Russell ’82, J. Douglas Smith ’83, Morgan C. Sze ’83, and Remy White Trafelet ’88 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 2015 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

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“I REALLY BELIEVE THAT IT’S ESSENTIAL IF YOU VALUE YOUR COMMUNITY TO TAKE PART IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF ITS MEMBERS”

—page 34

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IN THIS ISSUE

Volume CXX, Number 2

Features

24 Equal Access to Good Schools

The frontlines of education reform through the eyes of five alumni

By Katherine Towler

30 The Proctor-Prep Connection

How role models impact the Exeter experience for students

By Daneet Steffens ’82

36 The Ripple Effect

One selfish act triggers a groundswell of goodness

By Debbie Kane

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Around the Table: faculty news, trustee corner, E/A weekend, and more.

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Table Talk with architects Tod Williams and Billie Tsien

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Inside the Writing Life: A Conversation with Author Roland Merullo ’71 by David Weber

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Sports: Undefeated, for a Fourth Time, by Craig Morgan ‘84. Plus, fall sports roundup.

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Connections: News and Notes from the Alumni Community

Departments

40 Profiles: Morris Miller ’84, Clare Flynn Levy ’91, Dustin Zubke ’09 104 Finis Origine Pendet: 2018 Time Capsule Snapshots —Cover Illustration by James O’Brien W I N T E R

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PHOTOGRAPH BY CHERYL SENTER

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D E PA RT M E N T

AROUND THE TABLE

What’s new and notable at the Academy

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Taking Inspiration from Every Quarter

By Principal Thomas E. Hassan ’56, ’66, ’70, ’06 (Hon.); P’11

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DAMIAN STROHMEYER

n my sophomore year of high school I had a French teacher, Ms. Fortunes, who had extremely high expectations for all of her students, especially those, like me, who claimed to be linguistically challenged in terms of learning a foreign language. Ms. Fortunes maintained no one fell into that category and therefore we were all capable of excellence.

I struggled mightily in that class, and one day my French accent and verb conjugation finally clicked. I didn’t appreciate it then, but Ms. Fortunes had instilled in me the desire to place the bar high not only for myself but also for my own students, as well as my colleagues.

High standards should be something every student has the opportunity to strive for, and every school should have the necessary resources to set and meet expectations for excellence. We know that, unfortunately, this is not the case in many of America’s school systems. We should never forget how extremely fortunate we are here at Exeter. The alums profiled on page 24 have not forgotten. Laurisa Schutt ’88, director of Teach for America in Delaware, sums it up when she says, “It’s our obligation to serve.” Laurisa and four other

Principal Tom Hassan with students from one of the math classes he teaches each year.

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Exonians talk about their work in education reform — from forming charter schools to informing government policy to empowering teachers, all in an effort to provide more equitable avenues to good education.

At Exeter, of course, we have the resources in place to expect academic excellence and to help nurture a sound moral character. On page 36, Debbie Kane writes about the profound acts of goodness that arose from an unfortunate situation.

Thanks to the power of the Exeter community, a theft on campus sparked a surge of community support, which led to new grants to fund student-led non sibi community outreach projects.

Students can be incredibly inspirational, especially those willing to mentor or guide others. A number of years ago now, a new Exeter upper, Annie Riley ’03, approached me with the request to start a Best Buddies chapter on campus, which would connect volunteers to people with

disabilities, like my own son Ben, who are in need of true friendship.

That program, which I’m proud to have advised since its inception, is now among the most popular of our student social service options. On page 30 of this issue you can read about another important group of student leaders: our dorm proctors.

These seniors, or big “brothers” or “sisters” as they are often referred to by their dorm mates, have helped preps and other new students find their version of “home” at Exeter in a meaningful way.

Maya Angelou once said, “I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.” The stories in the pages that follow will inspire us all to keep the bar high. Amazing things follow when you are pushed to do your best with your mind and your heart.

And, I have been truly blessed at Exeter to have had countless opportunities to learn and grow from others. E

HIGH STANDARDS SHOULD BE SOMETHING EVERY STUDENT HAS THE OPPORTUNITY TO STRIVE FOR...

EXETER HONORS MILTON HEATH JR. ’45 Heath served as the main author or legal adviser for nearly every piece of environmental legislation that passed through North Carolina’s General Assembly from 1967 through 1983. He helped draft regulations such as the Environmental Policy Act of 1971, which required the state to examine potential negative effects on natural resources before spending public money. He also authored bills to prevent development along North Carolina’s coastlines and mountain ridges, ensuring these areas would remain untouched for future generations to enjoy. Because of Heath’s work, North Carolina’s environmental policy became a model that other states followed.

During his time as a professor, Heath also trained hundreds of soil and water conservation supervisors from across the state, teaching these public officials how to uphold the law to conserve and protect natural resources.

Each year the Trustees present the John Phillips Award to an Exonian whose Milton Heath Jr. ‘45 speaks life demonstrates founder John Phillips’ with students after an ideal of goodness and knowledge united assembly held in his honor. in character and service to mankind. E

DAN COURTER

Milton Heath Jr. ’45 received the 2014 John Phillips Award at a special assembly in October. Heath spent his entire career in public service, teaching for 51 years at the University of North Carolina’s School of Government where he also served as legal counsel to several North Carolina House and Senate committees and authored seminal laws on environmental protection and conservation.

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Organized ‘Die-in’ Part of Community Response to Ferguson and NYC

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NICOLE PELLATON

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n Dec. 5, about 100 student protesters gathered on the Academic Quad and collectively lay on the ground for four and a half minutes — representing the number of hours Michael Brown’s body lay on the street in Ferguson, Missouri, after his shooting.

The die-in, organized by leaders of the student club Afro-Latino Exonian Society, was one of many activities and conversations occurring on campus, formally and informally, in the wake of Brown and Eric Gardner’s deaths. Principal Hassan called a special all-school assembly on Saturday, Dec. 6, where Dean of Multicultural Affairs Rosanna Salcedo shared frank and personal challenges associated with talking about race, privilege and equity in the Exeter community. She encouraged us to consider how these conversations, both nationally and locally, are important to and necessary for all of us. History instructors Erik Wade and Bill Jordan provided a historical framework around race in our country, including an outline of legislative responses and the roles of dialogue and activism around discrimination, oppression and equality.

On Sunday, Rev. Bob Thompson ’72 opened Phillips Church to serve as safe, supportive space for community members to share their own stories, as well as their thoughts and feelings about the events in Ferguson and about race in the United States. A similar forum was also held in the church on the following Sunday.

It is hoped that this collective experience along with other platforms like the annual MLK Day will help to provide students and faculty with a common context from which to have more effective dialogue about issues of race, privilege and equity at Exeter. And it is understood that this is just the beginning — that ongoing, and sometimes difficult, dialogue is necessary. E

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FACULT Y WIRE BETSY DOLAN RECEIVES EXCELLENCE AWARD IN COLLEGE COUNSELING

Betsy Dolan (second from left) receives the award from Marty Elkins ‘75 (center).

In September, Director of College Counseling Betsy Dolan was awarded the Marty Elkins Award for Excellence in College Counseling during the Association of College Counselors in Independent Schools general membership meeting in Indianapolis.

The association’s highest honor, the award was established in 2010 to honor individuals who embody the organization’s mission and enrich the college counseling profession.

BILL GLENNON INDUCTED INTO HALL OF FAME

Physical Education Department Chair Bill Glennon, PEA head football coach for 22 years (1991-2013), was recently inducted into the New England Preparatory School Football Coaches Association Hall of Fame.

The NEPSFCA Executive Committee can also name a NEPSAC Championship Bowl game after the inductee on a rotating basis (usually three years). This was the first year of the Bill Glennon Bowl for NEPSAC Class A (PEA’s league).

Glennon was at the Nov. 15 game to present the Bill Glennon Bowl to Rosemary Choate Hall, after its win over Avon Old Farms.

Bill Glennon (left) stands with Head Football Coach Emeritus Kevin Driscoll, from Avon Old Farms School, and Director of Athletics Ned Gallagher, from Rosemary Choate Hall, at the inaugural Bill Glennon Bowl Class A football game in November.

TWO CHAPBOOKS FORTHCOMING FROM ERICA PLOUFFE LAZURE

In October, English Instructor Erica Plouffe Lazure’s Heard Around Town won Arcadia Magazine’s fiction chapbook contest and will be published in July. Lazure wrote the collection of 28 flash stories in 28 days last February. Bob Shacochis, author of The Woman Who Lost Her Soul, says the stories, “like a community songbook, create a neighborhood of souls that invites us to sit down on a town bench and listen to the world go by.” Red Bird Chapbooks will also release Lazure’s fiction chapbook, Dry Dock, this year.

Her fiction has appeared or is forthcoming in McSweeney’s Quarterly Concern #29, Flash: the International Short-Short Story Magazine, Greensboro Review, Meridian, Litro, American Short Fiction, Microliterature, Monkeybicycle, Booth Literary Journal, and elsewhere. A short collection of her flash fiction is forthcoming in an anthology, Turn, Turn Turn, by ELJ Publications. E W I N T E R

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Designing the New Center for Theater and Dance TA B L E TA L K W I T H A R C H I T E C T S T O D W I L L I A M S A N D B I L L I E T S I E N

By Nicole Pellaton

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opened, LEED Platinum-certified Barnes Foundation in Philadelphia, conceived as a “gallery in a garden and a garden in a gallery”; Tata Consultancy Services in Mumbai, India, with panels hand-carved by local

FRED CARLSON

s she watched construction of the Academy Library during the summer of 1970, little did Billie Tsien, then a Yale undergraduate teaching at Exeter’s Summer School, dream that one day she’d design a performing arts center that would stand 700 feet from Louis I. Kahn’s landmark building, one she reveres for its “timeless” design.

The husband-and-wife team of Tod Williams and Tsien, recently awarded the National Medal of Arts, has been selected to design Exeter’s center for theater and dance, a building expected to strengthen and broaden Exonian involvement in the performing arts, just as the Academy’s most recently completed academic building, the Phelps Science Center, placed science at the heart of an Exeter education in 2001.

The 56,000-square-foot center will incorporate a large main stage with an orchestra pit and an intimate apron stage; flexible teaching, rehearsal and exploration spaces to be used extensively throughout the year; areas for technical design, craft and storage; and a lobby capable of hosting events.

Known for their sensitivity to context and innovative use of materials — one critic has said their works “beg to be touched” — Williams and Tsien create buildings that are “not signature as such, but that find a resolution to a specific program and a specific place,” Williams says. Their award-winning projects have included the American Folk Art Museum in New York, with its sculptural sand-molded, white-bronze façade; the recently

artisans from local stone; and the Cranbrook Natatorium in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, with 30-foot ceiling oculi and mahogany wall panels that open to reveal the sky and landscape to swimmers.

No strangers to New England, the architects recently completed the Center for the Advancement of Public Action at Bennington College, and are currently working on the MacDowell Colony library in Peterborough, New Hampshire, and the expansion of the Hood Museum at Dartmouth College. For Bennington’s largely brick and wood campus, the architects were inspired by Vermont’s history as a marble producer. “We surprised ourselves and the college by making a building in white marble,” Williams says, resulting in a light-catching building that

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“looks quite beautiful in the winter and also in the summer.”

“When I think about Exeter, I think of the buildings being very strong volumes on a landscape — this is not a place where buildings hide,” Williams observes. Although the architects say it’s too early in the process to identify the materials they’ll use, they’re drawn to the classic New England character of Exeter (“It’s impossible to think of Exeter’s campus without thinking of brick,” they explain), but respect its historical evolution and the need to “be alert to other influences that come into play.”

“We’re very aware of the sense of warmth in buildings,” says Tsien, who starts designing from the interior, with an aim to create quiet and serenity, “a very calm center,” in all the firm’s designs. “Color will play a particular role,” she says of the new center.

“We want to make sure that when you walk in the door, or even before you walk in the door, you feel as if you’re being welcomed, in a way that makes you feel happy.” Williams adds that although the building “may feel massive on the outside, it needs to feel light on the inside”; brightness will be important, expressing “a vibrancy that says something’s alive here.”

A key difference between the Exeter commission and other performing arts centers the firm has designed is the age of its major users, teenagers, and the need to encourage curiosity, experimentation and imagination, even in students who may not be involved in theater or dance programs. “This means that things need to be simpler,” Williams says. “They need to indicate all the aspirations that anyone would have academically, intellectually or physically, but they need to be user friendly. That’s a terrific challenge — something we really relish.”

“The issue of curiosity will be terribly important,” he adds. “You want to stimulate curiosity. At the same time you need to create a private space to express yourself. To take risks. To succeed and fail. To fail and succeed. These are principles that are so deeply embedded in the best schools. They’re ones that we all should be addressing, and that we should address with

whatever program we have.”

Social spaces will “make this a memorable and connective experience, so that it’s not only what happens when you’re in the theater, but also what happens when you’re outside the theater,” Tsien says. The building’s “sense of openness,” she adds, will encourage all students to “feel welcome and invited in to participate or observe.”

The center, which will be constructed on Court Street where the tennis courts now sit, will connect the south side of campus — primarily athletics, housing, fields and woods — with the north side, home to six of Exeter’s eight academic buildings. “There’s a very strong divide today between the two halves of the campus: the academic buildings feel settled and more traditional and the athletic feel rather brutal,” says Williams, who feels the need to bridge this “problematic disjunction” without “parroting either one” using both building and landscape design. The concept of a gateway “is a natural requirement of this building,” he adds, but one that should not be overemphasized. “It’s important to celebrate this as a building, as a place and as an activity.”

Delighted to be working in the “shadow of a giant like Kahn,” Williams freely acknowledges that architecture requires an awareness of the environment and efficiencies that did not exist when Kahn designed the Academy Library: “Buildings that are more efficient than we could have imagined even 10 years ago are requirements. . . . We want to make sure that any requirements are adhered to so that the building is not a burden, that it’s an exemplar of the kind of building that one should build today and in the future.”

The architects are looking forward to “embarking on a wonderful adventure,” says Tsien, which will include visits to campus, gathering input from theater and dance faculty, meeting students, watching performances, and exploring the new building’s site and the broader campus and town. E

“YOU WANT

TO STIMULATE CURIOSITY.

AT THE SAME

TIME YOU NEED TO CREATE A

PRIVATE SPACE TO EXPRESS YOURSELF.

TO TAKE RISKS. TO SUCCEED AND FAIL.

TO FAIL AND SUCCEED.”

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SPOTLIGHT ON PERFORMING ARTS Aniruddha Knight, a ninth-generation interpreter of Bharata Natyam, led workshops and performed a concert of traditional South Indian dance and music.

Students treated audiences to Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night at Fisher Theater.

Inspired by water, the Fall Dance Company explored the theme through movement, music and poetry.

Academy Award-winning screenwriter Jean-Claude Carrière worked with students and performed his one-man adaptation of The Mahabharata.

Visit www.exeter.edu/performingarts for more.

More than 250 students performed in eight ensembles at the annual Holiday Concert.

Renowned pianist Sean Chen gave a performance in Phillips Church and taught a master class during his two-day residency.

P H OTO C R E D I T S, C LO C K W I S E F R O M TO P L E F T: M I K E C ATA N O, C H E R Y L S E N T E R , N I C O L E P E L L AT O N , R A C H E L L U O ‘ 1 7, COURTESY SEAN CHEN, DAMIAN STROHMEYER

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The Buzz Around Brick-Oven Pizza ELM STREET DINING HALL GETS A MAKEOVER

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he foodie talk around campus early in the fall term was all about pizza — specifically the hot, fresh pies being baked in Elm Street Dining Hall’s new brick-lined hearth oven. It’s one of several new serving stations that depart from the dining hall’s traditional, linear food queue and provide diners with a more individualized experience.

Designed by Architectural Resources Cambridge, the Elm Street renovation occurred last summer, and the dining hall opened at the start of school with much fanfare. In addition to the brick-oven cooking area, stations include “world’s fare,” a deli, a salad bar, and a waffle center — all located within a central food-serving area.

Digital menu boards display the day’s offerings and nutritional information and expanded shelving for backpacks accommodates peak traffic during the day. Bon appetit! E

A R C / A R C H I T E C T U R A L R E S O U R C E S C A M B R I D G E , WA R R E N PAT T E R S O N P H O T O G R A P H Y ( 2 )

In addition to pizza, the hearth program offers roasted meats, casseroles and calzones.

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New lighting and terrazzo flooring give Elm Street a brighter and more open feel.

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A Lifetime of Education

By Mitch Bradbury ’78; P’09

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ever underestimate the seed planted by the chance meeting of a stranger.

BRIAN CROWLEY

In 1990, I started my first “big” job out of graduate school as the assistant clinical director of the Narcotics Rehabilitation Center in East Harlem, where we treated over 750 heroin addicts each day. I was happy and feeling successful. It was Christmas Eve, and although Jewish, I have always relished the feeling of levity and goodwill supremely palpable at Christmastime.

I had never been afraid of heroin addicts. I had worked in a methadone clinic in graduate school during the HIV/AIDS crisis, and I had grown up living across the street from a private methadone clinic. On Christmas Eve, I was heading into the grocery in front of which a disheveled homeless man was panhandling. He was cold, shaking, with swollen hands, nose and eyes running — in acute opiate withdrawal, horribly uncomfortable but rarely itself lethal.

My heart dropped. I asked him if he was “jonesing.” He asked if I was a cop. I told him I was a neighborhood kid who had grown up with the ability to do something for him and I handed him my card. I promised him that I would get him straight, and I gave him 20 bucks. Honestly, I was absolutely fine with his intent to buy a moment’s comfort on Christmas Eve if it potentiated change for the future.

Two years later, he walked through the front doors of my clinic with my card. For a year he was in and out of treatment, and I was happy to see him every time. I had another chance to fulfill my promise. His second year was clean and consistent. He became domiciled, had dental work, had a beautiful new smile and a job working in a dry cleaner shop. He now owns that dry cleaning outfit and has been drug free for over 20 years.

I was not a standout at Exeter. I was an average student and athlete at best. One might say I was a late-bloomer. My adviser would not have predicted that I would have found core identity in service to Exeter, one day be addressed as Dr. Bradbury or have been offered a position on the Israeli National Lacrosse Team. Despite his early character assessment that “the pleasures in which you partake, Mr. Bradbury, are equally available to a chimpanzee,” I knew that even my apparent minimal efforts were fully supported, and that it didn’t end there.

While I spent the majority of my time on club athletic teams and on some form of disciplinary action, I always knew that I was in a place and amongst people that created fertility for the soul and for the future.

For me, Exeter has been a lifetime of education that continues to guide my growth and direction, especially as I sit amongst other Academy trustees. I am honored to have the opportunity to contribute to the structure of other great beginnings. As a trustee, I’m a voice that represents a work in progress — it’s not my current accomplishments that bring me to that table, but recognition of my own potential. It’s hard to imagine that after 234 years, Exeter might also be a work in progress, but it is. My drive is to keep the process going, within myself and here at the Academy — to make sure that Exeter remains as defining an experience for students as it was for me.

I can’t help but think I understand, in some capacity, the joy my patient must feel as he sits and reflects on where he is now and where he began. E

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HEARD AT ASSEMBLY… On September 19 “Over their lives, and often without people realizing it, the Kochs have played a key role in influencing the direction of our country.

There are certainly people that deeply, deeply disagree with their views and with their agenda. But there is no question that they have had a profound effect on the world we live in.”

On September 23 “I want you to think about college as an institutional opportunity.

It’s an opportunity to learn how to live in a world of institutions in such a way that if you so choose, you can change them; if you so choose, you can build them; if you so choose, you can continue to move along with what’s already there but be conscious of what’s already there. You need to be conscious of the ways the incentive structures in the organizations in which you choose to participate are influencing the kinds of decisions that you make and the kind of opportunities that are available to you and to others as well.”

—Daniel Schulman, author of Sons of Wichita: How the Koch Brothers Became America’s Most Powerful and Private Dynasty

—Dr. Mariko Silver, 10th president of Bennington College

On October 17 “One of the things that’s really remarkable from the beginning of recorded time is that adults have always said of adolescents, ‘What possessed you to do that?’ What’s so interesting about the current state of neuroscience is that we’re now starting to understand that. ... It turns out that we can’t accelerate that process of arriving at mature judgment. It just takes time. It improves with age but not with practice. ”

On October 28 “Failure is not a stop sign but a detour — anything can happen on that road. You would be surprised how many people are afraid of learning, and it’s because they associate it with failure. The thing about mistakes is that you will make them; just don’t make them a second time.”

—Stew Lyons ’69, “Breaking Bad” producer

—Dr. Gail Rosseau P’15, neurosurgeon, pictured here with her son, Brendan Rosseau ‘15.

On November 14 “It’s important for students your age to not get too locked into what you think your profession is going to be. It is beyond difficult imagining what the world is going to be like and what the major demands of society are going to be in five or 10 years. It’s so important for all of you to keep a very open mind as you pursue your studies here and contemplate the future. Most of all don’t be so focused on instant success. Don’t be afraid of failure.

Failure is sometimes not failure.

It can feel bad in the moment but you have to keep a long view of things. You all are being educated here to have passions and hopefully to make the world a better place. There is a critical shortage of such people right now.”

On December 5 “They were mostly 19 years old, and I think it’s fair to say they were filled with a sense of naivety and a young man’s sense of invincibility. And away they went into what turned out to be a tough area of Baghdad to win the war.

That’s what they were going to do. I went with them not to write about the Iraq War, rather to use war to answer a more intimate question: What happens to someone who goes into a war at such a moment?”

—David Finkel, author of The Good Soldiers and Thank You for Your Service; 2006 recipient of the Pulitzer Prize

—Jill Abramson, former executive editor of The New York Times

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P H OTO C R E D I TS, C LO C K W I S E F RO M TO P L E F T: C O N N O R B LO O M ‘ 1 5, M I K E CATA N O, N I C O L E P E L L ATO N , M I K E CATA N O, N I C O L E P E L L ATO N , C H E RY L S E N T E R.

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School spirit was in abundance at Phillips Academy on Nov. 8, where Exeter and Andover athletes met for their annual fall E/A showdown.

Being on Big Blue turf didn’t dampen the show of support from Red Bandits and the hundreds of PEA students who cheered on the football, soccer, field hockey, water polo and volleyball teams. For a wrap-up of all the action and access to final scores, go to www.exeter.edu/ bulletinextras.

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JOHN HURLEY (ALL)

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Inside the Writing Life A C O N V E R S AT I O N W I T H R O L A N D M E R U L L O ’ 7 1

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viewed Roland Merullo ’71; P’16 about the author’s prolific writing career, which includes 13 novels and four works of nonfiction. Merullo’s novel, In Revere, In Those Days, was a Booklist Editors’ Choice and a Maria Thomas Award winner. Merullo was also a finalist for the L.L. Winship/ PEN New England Prize. His most recent work of fiction, The Return, was released in October. Merullo has also had essays published in The New York Times, Outside Magazine, Yankee Magazine, Newsweek, and The Boston Globe.

Weber joined PEA’s English Department in 1970 and has had five essays on teaching published in Independent School magazine. Weber has also co-edited three books for PEA Press and compiled and edited Civil Disobedience in America: A Documentary History for Cornell University Press.

AMANDA STEARNS

meritus English Instructor David Weber ’71, ’74, ’83 (Hon.); P’92 inter-

Q: We tend to think of artistic creation as pretty solitary, but your acknowledgments to your wife, Amanda, look like bedrock to me. Has there been any other way in which you have experienced writing as collaborative?

It took me 12 years to publish my first book. I was a carpenter for seven of those years and wrote after work and on weekends, with very little in the way of encouragement beyond Amanda’s words and support. But one of my carpentry customers, a man named Michael Miller, was a poet and dramatist, and when he learned I was writing (to this day I don’t know what made me mention it to him) he started meeting with me every week.

That went on for several years. He’d give me extremely detailed criticism, recommend books and films, counter my fears by telling me about all the famous writers who hadn’t published anything until they turned 40 or 50 or 60. I was 30 when we met, and thought I was old. My first novel came out when I was 37, and I had accumulated a lot of rejections before that joyous day and had published almost nothing. I understand now how incredibly generous Michael was with his time. I don’t know that I ever would have published a book without his help.

Q: Does the act of writing allow you to enter a space where it’s only yourself you need to please? Or do thoughts of agents, publishers, other writers, or readers enter in?

I think you really have to work to keep agents, publishers, and especially critics out of the room when you write. At the same time, in order to improve, especially in the early going, you have to be open to criticism and suggestion, so it can be a tightrope walk sometimes. I support my family only from my writing, so I can’t indulge myself and write a 2,000-page essay on the meaning of life, or golf, or learning to swim, or my love for my daughters. But I’ve gotten pretty good at going into my interior room and mining my own truth, even if it’s eventually packaged in a way that will please publishers and bookstore owners. Before I started In Revere, In Those Days, I was well into another book, hundreds of pages, and it just felt false to me, as if I were writing to please some outside critic and not from my center. One night, I just said, “Screw this,” out loud, put all that work aside, and wrote 30 pages of In Revere in a couple of hours. That felt right.

Q: Do you think of writing as existing above all in its own realm, called art? Or do you want your books to act in some way on the worlds of culture, politics, society — or even on the inner lives of readers?

There is art to it, and art is essential to any healthy society, but I take a workmanlike approach to writing books. It bothers me a great deal to hear writers talk about their work as if they have a special line to God or something, or as if it’s “torture” to face the blank page. People who value

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words should use that one more carefully. Writing reminds me very much of carpentry, in both its methodical aspects and the need to think ahead . . . though my body hurts less after writing a novel than it did after building a deck or a garage.

I’m all about the inner lives of readers, and the interior life in general — an area we tend to ignore as a society. But I feel that, in order for it to matter, the interior dimension must be linked to our outer lives, to things like politics, for one example. I try to clean out my own inner world, so I can make something there that works in the exterior world, and, more importantly, so I can be a better father, husband, and citizen of the earth.

I’M ALL ABOUT THE INNER LIVES OF READERS, AND THE INTERIOR LIFE IN GENERAL— AN AREA WE TEND TO IGNORE AS A SOCIETY.

Q: By this time, do you write intuitively, having internalized the skills you needed? Or does technique remain a conscious focus?

I write almost completely intuitively. Early on, I’d study the work of other writers, but I’m not a particularly analytical or scholarly soul. I don’t outline, try not to overanalyze. When I taught in college — 10 years at Bennington and Amherst — it wasn’t especially enjoyable for me to analyze the great works of literary art, to break them down into pieces and try to explain why they were so good. Some of that is a teacher’s job, of course, necessary and good, but to me it was too often like eating a delicious piece of pie and having to sit there and talk about the ingredients in elaborate detail. I just wanted to eat the pie. And now I just want to bake the pie. My feeling is that, if you go down deep into yourself — beyond the purely intellectual level — you can maybe write something that reaches down deep inside the reader; you can connect with them in the most profound way. I think about technique very little now.

Q: You have published 13 novels but also a good many op-eds and seven volumes of what one could call memoirs or, in PEA terms, book-length meditations. Is it always obvious to you at the beginning whether a particular idea is pulling you toward fiction or toward something else?

Usually, yes. Fiction offers a certain freedom — you make up the world — but also has a certain weight of responsibility — you have to make up the world. Nonfiction is the mirror image of that: less freedom, but less strain on the imagination. Some ideas fit one or the other more easily for me. I’ve enjoyed writing the three Buddha novels, because the road trips in them are true to my actual journeys. They form a skeleton of fact, and on that skeleton I have the freedom to put the fictional aspects, the characters and conversations. My favorite form is actually the essay, but I don’t get to do much of that these days unless I squeeze in something between books.

Q: You have a long and remarkably productive writing career to look back on now. Can you tease out a couple of especially satisfying moments or events?

There have been many good times, David, and a fair number of frustrating ones, too. Writing is such a solitary profession that it’s extremely satisfying and often very moving to get emails and letters directly from people you touch and might never meet. But here are a couple of more public moments: After I published A Little Love Story: A Novel — in which the main female character has cystic fibrosis (as does one of our daughters) — I was reading/talking at a bookstore in South Dartmouth, Massachusetts. A young woman came up to me after everyone else had left and she said she had CF and that she appreciated what I’d written about the social aspects of the disease — the way, with more severe cases especially, it can cause problems with dating and relationships. She told me I’d gotten it right, and that seeing it in print had meant a lot to her. She’d driven something like an hour and a half to tell me that.

And a few years ago, the city of Danbury, Connecticut, did a community read with Breakfast with Buddha — Western Connecticut State University, the high school, libraries, book groups, individual citizens — and the people there bought so many books, and organized it so well, and treated me so graciously that I won’t ever forget it. At the end of the two-day event, I spoke to five or six hundred people in a large auditorium, and there were great questions and comments. An author’s dream, really, to feel that kind of appreciation for something you’ve put on the page. E

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Alumni are urged to advise the Exonians in Review editor of their own publications, recordings, films, etc., in any field, and those of classmates. Whenever possible, authors and composers are encouraged to send one copy of their work and original copies of articles to Edouard Desrochers ’45, ’62 (Hon.); P’94, P’97, Phillips Exeter Academy, 20 Main Street, Exeter, NH 03833.

ALUMNI 1943—Samuel R. Ogden Jr. -13 (poems). (Open Field Press, 2014)

Through Four Decades.

(Pen and Sword, 2014)

1971—Roland Merullo.

The Return. (PFP Publishing, 2014)

1944—Edward M. Lamont. The Forty Years that Created America: The Story of the Explorers, Promoters, Investors, and Settlers Who Founded the First English Colonies.

(Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 2014)

1971—Doug White.

Abusing Donor Intent: The Robertson Family’s Epic Lawsuit Against Princeton University. (Paragon House, 2014)

1955—Peter Sears.

Small Talk: New & Selected Poems [Northwest Masters (Unnumbered) Series].

(University of Washington Press, 2014)

1947—Donald Hall.

Essays After Eighty.

(Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2014) 1952—Karl Ludvigsen.

Professor Porsche’s Wars: The Secret Life of Legendary Engineer Ferdinand Porsche Who Armed Two Belligerents

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Tendencies of Storms (Librairie les Idées, 2014)

1972—Victor Bevine.

Certainty: A Novel. (Lake Union Publishing, 2014) 1972—Rob Dinerman.

Selected Squash Writings.

(CreateSpace, 2014)

1963—Peter Beaman and Lisa Occhipinti, photographer. Blacker

2006—Braden T. Curtis [as Tan T Curtis]. Season of the Dark [Kindle edition]. (Amazon Digital Services, 2014) FORMER FAC U LT Y/ FORMER BENNETT FELLOW Victor L. Cahn. Walking Distance: Remembering Classic Episodes from Classic Television.

(Resource Publications, 2014) Lucy Ferriss. A Sister to Honor. (Berkley Trade, 2015)

1956—William Peace.

Hidden Battlefields.

(Strategic Book Publishing & Rights Agency LLC, 2014) 1962—George J. Berger [as G.J. Berger]. South of Burnt Rocks West of the Moon [Volume 1; Writer’s Choice]. (Privately published, 2012)

1996—Jasmine Dreame Wagner. Rings. (Kelsey Street Press, 2014)

1980—Heather Cox Richardson. To Make Men Free: A History of the Republican Party. (Basic Books, 2014)

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S P O RTS

Undefeated Finish, for a Fourth Time B O Y S C R O S S - C O U N T R Y C A P TA I N S TA L K A B O U T THEIR WINNING SEASON

Q

By Craig Morgan ’84 uincy Tichenor ’15 cannot pinpoint when the bond with his cross-country teammates

solidified. There are too many seminal moments to consider.

“This group of guys is so close and it’s such a funny, quirky culture,” Tichenor says.

“With all the friendships we’ve built and all that we’ve been through, the run we were on became personal for even the alums of the program.”

That run has ended for Tichenor, fellow captains Holden Hammontree ’15 and Will Li ’15, and the other seniors on this year’s team, but it ended in style. Exeter capped a streak of four consecutive undefeated seasons with its fourth straight Interschols title on Nov. 9 at Hotchkiss School in Lakeville, Connecticut.

Tichenor led Exeter with a second-place finish and a time of 15 minutes, 57 seconds that broke the course record, and Max Larnerd ’15, Hammontree, Ryan Betz ’15 and Cam Corso ’17 sealed the deal by finishing seventh, 13th, 16th and 22nd, respectively, to help Exeter to a winning score of 60 points, nine better than second-place Andover.

“Winning four straight was obviously incredible, but what was special about this year was that everybody had to make that decision to commit to each other. Our success was contingent upon the fact that we needed each other,” Hammontree says. “In the past, we trained incredibly hard and we were very talented so it all came pretty easily to us, which was fun, but I don’t feel like we always had to compete to the best of our ability to win.

“There was no margin for error this season. . . . so it was cool to still accomplish our goals and it was also cool that it came against Andover.”

Li had little background in cross-country when he arrived at Exeter for his prep year. He had played soccer his whole life, but he wanted to try something new.

The tryouts were intimidating.

“I had no preconceptions about being the fastest kid on the team but those first couple weeks were a wake-up call,” he says. “The training that they put us through was really tough and the guys were all so committed.

“They ran 60 to 70 miles a week and some of them had run a marathon over the summer, so having that as a standard really kept our team in check and motivated everyone to put in the work.

At the same time, nobody really flaunted their ability, and that really attracted me to the sport right away. Everybody was very welcoming and there was just this approach that you do what you have to do.”

All three captains credit the runners who came before them with creating a culture of acceptance and excellence that drove the team to unprecedented heights. The program even has its own Facebook page where everyone keeps in touch. But the tone for the program was set by coaches Brandon Newbould, Bill Jordan and Nick Unger ’90.

“I’ve played just about every sport possible — soccer, basketball, football, baseball, water polo, swimming, crew, track — and I’ve never had coaches so amazing and so supportive,” Tichenor says. “With Coach Newbould, you just want his respect from day one because he’s this commanding presence who just keeps to himself.”

There were more than a few occasions, however, when the coaches’ personalities emerged.

Each season, the team celebrates a day known simply as god day.

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DAMIAN STROHMEYER

“Everybody dresses up as gods, with most of us just wearing togas because it’s not like we have access to a whole lot of costumes,” Tichenor says.

The patron god of the cross-country team is Krom, whom the team refers to as the god of pain.

“He plays a big role in the team dynamic,” Tichenor says. “You must appease Krom in order to accomplish what you want. You must submit yourself and your body to pain and then push forward.”

As the pressure mounted to complete the unprecedented four-year run without a loss, the team knew it would have to face its biggest threat, Andover, in the penultimate race of the season.

“I had never felt the rivalry so keenly as I did then,” Hammontree says. “We had always kind of whipped them before, but now that they were so close to us, we really wanted to beat them to prove we were the best Phillips.”

Exeter captured that race by a mere two points, setting the stage for Interschols.

“I remember talking to Will and Holden about the fact that there was a lot riding on us as the team that could make history,” Tichenor says. “We didn’t want to let everyone down. We didn’t want to let each other down.

“The whole day was just butterflies and intensity and the course is just brutal, but the whole time I was running, I just kept thinking, ‘Krom, Krom, Krom.’”

When the race was over, Li, Hammontree and Tichenor said they all received texts or messages from the team’s alumni congratulating them, with one even breaking down in tears.

“We took it so seriously for four years,” Hammontree says. “It’s still just high school sports, but in retrospect, I feel a lot of gratitude toward the guys who had a vision for the program. They demanded a lot out of everyone and they were special people and great leaders.

“It was the perfect time to be a runner at Exeter and I feel so lucky to have been a part of that.” E

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Cross-country co-captains and seniors Quincy Tichenor, Will Li and Holden Hammontree.

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FALL SPORTS GIRLS SOCCER RECORD: 2-15-1

Head Coach: Hilary Coder Assistant Coach: Lindsey Mitchell Captains: Charlotte Dillon ’16, Jacie Lemos ’16, Michaela Streep ’16 MVP: Jacie Lemos

BOYS CROSS-COUNTRY RECORD: 4-0 NEW ENGLAND CHAMPIONS

Head Coach: Brandon Newbould Assistant Coaches: Bill Jordan, Nick Unger ’90 Captains: Holden Hammontree ’15, Will Li ’15, Quincy Tichenor ’15 MVP: Quincy Tichenor

FOOTBALL RECORD: 2-6

Head Coach: Rob Morris Assistant Coaches: Rory Early, Dick Eustis ’57, Dave Hudson, Kevin Kiley ’99 Captains: Will Edwards ’15, James Quinn ’15, Brendan Rosseau ’15 MVP: Will Edwards

WATER POLO RECORD: 12-6 3RD PLACE AT INTERSCHOLS

Head Coach: Don Mills Assistant Coach: Andrew McTammany ’04 Captains: Conrad Diao ’15, Brooks Saltonstall ’15 MVP: Brooks Saltonstall

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BOYS SOCCER RECORD: 13-4-3 QUALIFIED FOR SEMIFINALS AT NEW ENGLAND TOURNAMENT

FIELD HOCKEY RECORD: 5-11-1

Head Coach: Chelsey Feole Assistant Coaches: Liz Hurley, Melissa Pacific Captains: Marley Jenkins ’15, Carly Perreault ’15 MVP: Marley Jenkins

Head Coach: A.J. Cosgrove Assistant Coach: John Hutchins Captains: Ted Hart ’15, Sterling Weatherbie ’15 MVP: Sterling Weatherbie

VOLLEYBALL RECORD: 19-1 NEW ENGLAND CHAMPIONS

Head Coach: Bruce Shang Assistant Coach: Scott Saltman Captains: Brooke Detwiler ’15, Jenn Hawley ’15 MVPs: Brooke Detwiler, Katya Scocimara ’16

GIRLS CROSS-COUNTRY RECORD: 3-1 3RD PLACE AT INTERSCHOLS

Head Coach: Gwyn Coogan ’83 Assistant Coaches: Dale Braile, Shane LaPointe Captains: Elsa Chinburg ’15, Clara Hobbie ’15 MVP: Christine Hu ’17

ALL PHOTOS BY MIKE CATANO, EXCEPT FOOTBALL,BY CONNOR BLOOM ’15.

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EQUAL

ACCESS Good to

Schools

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THE FRONTLINES OF

THROUGH THE EYES OF FIVE ALUMNI

BOB HORTON

E D U C AT I O N R E F O R M

By Katherine Towler

E

ducation reform entered the national consciousness in the 1980s with the publication of “A Nation at Risk,” a groundbreaking presidential-commission report that sounded the alarm about falling test scores and the ability of the United States to remain competitive as other countries “IT’S OUR OBLIGATION pulled ahead in educational TO SERVE. I LIKE TO achievement. “A Nation at Risk” about the agony of a decision to made clear the need for reform pair this wrap with this pair of THINK OF TEACH FOR and jumpstarted a movement pants. I was making $350 pillows.

AMERICA AS NON SIBI that continues to this day. Three I had two babies, a business plan IN ACTION.” decades of local and national that required a lot of travel and a ­— LAURISA SCHUTT ’88 efforts have introduced such distinct feeling that my work had innovations as charter and magabsolutely no meaning at all.” net schools, brought attention to When she was asked to serve the needs of rural and inner-city on the board of an urban charschools, and generated plenty of debate. The Bulletin ter school, Schutt says she was introduced to a world went in search of alumni who could shed some light she had not known before. She mentored a 5-yearon where we currently stand. old who lived in a shelter and talked about being Five alumni on the front lines of education beaten. “I began to understand how hard it was for reform agreed to speak about what drew them to the her to learn — and the expertise and supports necesfield. Notable for their diverse backgrounds, they sary for her success,” she says. “It changed the way I span five decades in their Exeter class years, from see everything.”

1962 to 2006. Some knew from early in their careers Schutt came to Teach for America-Delaware that they wanted to work in education; others found in 2012 after serving on the boards of a number of themselves there through chance encounters and schools and education and policy-related nonprofdisillusionment with the private sector. However its. She manages a corps of 60 teachers — a combithey arrived at their current work, they have one nation of recent college graduates, career changers passion in common: the desire to impact the lives of and military veterans. Established in 1990 with a underprivileged children for the better and to give mission that all children deserve the opportunity for them equal access to quality education. an excellent education, Teach for America’s minimum two-year commitment of teaching in a low-income school is often the starting point for a career LAURISA SCHUTT ’88 in education or a related field. Partner schools who TEACH FOR AMERICA hire TFA corps members routinely have child povLaurisa Schutt ’88, director of Teach for Americaerty rates of more than 70 percent, many as high as Delaware, did not set out to work in education. In 98 percent. her 20s she lived in Asia and ran her own design “When you bring people into this movement, firm, selling feathered clothing and home decor to their eyes are opened about the need for equity,” high-end stores such as Neiman Marcus. After the Schutt says. The fact that so many Teach for America events of 9/11, she felt compelled to re-evaluate: “I alumni stay in education speaks to the transforming was listening to fashion designers in New York talk

ILLUSTRATION BY JAMES O’BRIEN

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power of the experience. Thirteen percent of those who sign up to work with Teach for America say they plan to continue working in the field, yet 67 percent remain in education afterward. This, Schutt notes, is even more impressive when you consider the hours and commitment Teach for America requires for content, technical and adaptive leadership instruction.

Teach for America is now recruiting college students in their junior rather than senior year and providing a longer training period in order to bet-

Phillips Exeter, where we received the best education possible, it’s our responsibility to be aware of what is happening right here at home and to figure out the levers of change. It’s our obligation to serve.

I like to think of Teach for America as non sibi in action.”

BRYAN CONTRERAS ’91 KIPP HOUSTON

Bryan Contreras ’91 grew up on the north side of Houston in a low-income neighborhood where he now works to see that high school graduates become the first members of their families to attend college. As a first-generation college graduate himself, he knows how long the odds are and how much perseverance it takes to get there.

Contreras came to Exeter as a prep and struggled to find his place. He learned from this experience that fitting in socially is as important as achieving academically. When he decided to leave Exeter midway through sophomore year, his dorm mates stayed up all night trying to talk him out of it. He could not be dissuaded. After a year and a half back in Houston, Contreras returned to Exeter to complete his senior year.

“My father was incarcerated and I was distracted,” Contreras recalls of his first stint at Exeter. “I could not focus and I isolated myself. I finally realized I needed to prove to myself that I could do it and came back for my senior year.”

Contreras works with the Knowledge Is Power Program (KIPP) network of charter schools in Houston, serving as the executive director of “OUR STUDENTS KIPP Through College. KIPP NEED TO BE STRONG was founded in Houston in 1994 ACADEMICALLY, BUT and manages 141 schools in 20 states and Washington, D.C. In ter prepare teachers. Another THEY ALSO NEED Houston, KIPP’s largest region, effort Schutt is excited about TO LEARN TO BE KIPP comprises 22 schools enrollis the focus on recruiting more RESPONSIBLE AND TO ing 11,500 students. KIPP schools corps members from the neighwork with underserved students borhoods and schools in which BE GOOD CITIZENS.” in low-income neighborhoods Teach for America partners so ­— BRYAN CONTRERAS ’91 and stay in touch with their gradthat these teachers are role moduates, providing significant supels who bring to their work a port services for those in college and embarking on complex and rich understanding of the challenges careers. their students face.

Contreras oversees the support services KIPP There is an urgency to Schutt’s passion that gives offers its alumni in college. “Our graduates need a her a clear focus: “When we come from a world like

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lot of social support,” he explains. “They are adjusting to the academic pace in college and to being independent and on their own. It’s a cultural as well as academic transition.” KIPP helps students put together financial packages that minimize the number of hours they need to work while in college so they can focus on their studies, and sponsors social events that bring together KIPP alumni in a given area.

Contreras’ job also entails managing career awareness, college prep programs and college counseling for students in grades 7 through 12 in the Houston schools. In addition, he works with teachers and administrators in kindergarten through grade 6 on what their students need to do to get “WE HAVE THROWN ready for a college preparatory LOTS OF MONEY AND program.

Many of KIPP’s students must EFFORT AT EDUCATION overcome a great deal just to get REFORM. SOME OF to school each day. This is why, THIS HAS PAID OFF, Contreras notes, KIPP emphaof more than 20 books on the sizes teaching social skills and BUT NOT ENOUGH FOR topic, including Leaving No building character. “The chalChild Behind: Options for Kids ENOUGH PEOPLE.” lenge is helping students underin Failing Schools and Charter ­— CHESTER FINN ’62 stand the importance of deferred Schools in Action: Renewing Public gratitude. It takes multiple layers Education, he has spent his career of work to be prepared for college, and they won’t researching and writing about education and advosee the results of some of this work right away. Our cating for change. A professor of education and pubstudents need to be strong academically, but they lic policy at Vanderbilt University from 1981 to 2002, also need to learn to be responsible and to be good he has also served as an assistant secretary in the citizens.”

U.S. Department of Education. In the past decade, In the neighborhoods where KIPP schools are he has headed the Thomas B. Fordham Institute in located, only 8 percent of young people have comWashington, D.C., where he currently serves as a pleted a college degree by age 24, compared with senior fellow and president emeritus. He is also a 80 percent in higher-income areas. KIPP is exceedsenior fellow at Stanford’s Hoover Institution, where ing that, with 54 percent of its graduates completing he chairs the Koret Task Force on K-12 Education. college degrees, and 98 percent getting high school Finn sees two significant changes in the field diplomas. “We have lots to celebrate, but still lots to over the last 60 years. “The national education picdo,” Contreras says. “We need to see college gradua- ture is very different from life in the 1950s, when I tion rise another 20 percent to close the gap.” was in school in Dayton, Ohio, before going off to When Contreras applied to Exeter, he was interExeter,” he says. “We measured schools by inputs viewed by an admissions representative in Houston. then — how many subjects were offered, the faciliHe remembers telling the interviewer, “I’m going ties, and so on. Now we judge schools by outcomes to come back to this community and work here. I’m — how many kids graduate and how much they going to help make change.” Today that is exactly learn. We have shifted to educational results as the what he is doing. key metric.”

The second change involves the increased choice families have in deciding where to enroll their chilCHESTER FINN ’62 THOMAS B. FORDHAM INSTITUTE dren. In the 1950s, attendance at local public schools or Catholic schools was assumed, with a few students For more than 40 years, Chester Finn ’62 has been attending independent schools like Exeter. The effort at the forefront of education reform. The author

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being changed,” he says. A basic public school, he adds, does not have the resources or time to do this.

“There is a vast complacency in the United States,” Finn says of the overall picture. “We don’t look at education as a national challenge. The majority of middle-class parents think their kid’s school is doing OK. They don’t know that kids in Singapore are doing better than kids here and they don’t know why they should care.”

JENNA LEAHY ’06 CASA ACADEMY

Jenna Leahy ’06 became interested in education reform as an undergraduate at California’s Scripps College, when she signed up to volunteer at a school over the border in Tijuana, Mexico. “I was blown away by the poverty,” now, Finn notes, is to create more she says of this life-changing choice and better choices through ­— JENNA LEAHY ’06 experience. “I became conmagnet schools, charter schools, nected to the children and and other options. Almost 50 pertheir families and to the Mexican culture, which is cent of students today attend schools their parents very warm and loving.” chose for them.

Leahy received a grant from her college to return “These are seismic changes in how we think to Tijuana for the summer to teach at a mission about education in the United States,” Finn says. school. She found that teaching came naturally to her, These shifts, along with other reform efforts, have led and on her graduation from college took a three-year to some important improvements. Nationally, stuassignment with Teach for America in Phoenix. For a dent test scores in math have risen at the fourth- and day student at Exeter who walked to school througheighth-grade levels, with smaller gains seen in readout her four years at the Academy, this was a long way ing scores. High school graduation rates have also from home, but she knew it was where she wanted to risen, and cultural indicators such as rates of teen be. The kindergartners in her classroom were all stupregnancy and drug abuse are declining. dents of color and all on the free lunch program.

Nonetheless, Finn is quick to point out, achieve“My students arrived for kindergarten unable ment and graduation rates are still lower than they to count. Already they were so far behind,” Leahy should be, with the United States remaining flat in those areas while other countries improve: “We have recalls. “ But I knew they could do it. By the end of thrown lots of money and effort at education reform. the year, they were able to do addition and subtraction, and to write a paragraph. This was a very powSome of this has paid off, but not enough for enough erful lesson for me. I saw that teaching these skills people.” in kindergarten meant that students had a chance to Finn applauds charter school systems like KIPP get caught up and not get left behind.” and sees some significant gains in educational In January 2014, Leahy and a fellow Teach for opportunities for underserved populations. The America alumnus received a $690,000 grant from students from low-income neighborhoods who do the Department of Education to open a charter best, he notes, have motivated parents and access school in a low-performing, high-poverty area after to high-performing charter schools that can offer visiting 60 schools across the country and writ24/7 contact with teachers, long school days and ing a 400-page proposal. They received an addiextended school years. “The aspirations of kids in tional $250,000 in funding from the Walton Family schools like KIPP are being shaped, their culture is

“THIS IS NOT ROCKET SCIENCE. YOU HAVE TO BELIEVE THAT YOUR STUDENTS CAN DO IT AND HAVE HIGH EXPECTATIONS.”

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he had spent time in Harlem, where his grandmother Foundation to establish CASA Academy, a primary lived. Now he was living in a luxury apartment buildschool serving children in kindergarten through secing downtown. “After two years of working on Wall ond grade in Phoenix. CASA opened in August 2014 Street,” he recalls, “I realized that I had not been with 136 students.

Leahy, who serves as the school’s director of students and operations (her co-founder directs academics), says they chose to establish a primary school because they wanted to address the performance gap early, when it can make the greatest difference. “By age 3, students like those we enroll have vocabularies half that of their higher-income peers. I want to prepare students so they are at grade level in the first years.”

Like many charter schools in low-income neighborhoods, CASA has an extended school day, two hours longer than any other school in the area, and an extended school year, with students attending for an extra four weeks annually. Teachers put in long hours and make contact with each student’s parents at least once a week. With a staff of only seven this first year, Leahy admits that everyone is “wearing a lot of hats.” There is a shared understanding that this is what it will take to give children with so few advantages a chance.

“This is not rocket science,” Leahy says. “You have to believe that your students can do it and have high expectations.” Those expectations are conveyed to CASA’s students through college pennants on the walls of class“WHEN YOU PUT rooms and hallways, and weekly pep TEACHERS IN THE rallies at which students chant the names of major colleges and universiDRIVER’S SEAT, IT ties across the country.

MAKES A DIFFERENCE. Leahy and her co-founder plan to I THINK [THEY] WILL BE expand CASA by adding third grade OUR WAY OUT OF THE and expect to enroll a total of 400 stunorth of 79th Street. There dents once the school is fully estabCHALLENGES WE FACE.” was the city of this privilished. Fundraising will continue to leged life I was leading, and ­— NATE BROWN ’95 be a major part of Leahy’s job, as the the city of the projects I visstate provides only $6,000 per stuited as a kid. The difference dent annually and does not fund full-day kindergarin whether you lived in one city or the other was eduten, which she sees as essential for CASA students. cation. I felt a need to give back.”

Leahy describes CASA as not just a school, but Brown planned to work in education for a year part of a movement “to raise the bar for education in or two and then return to the private sector. But, as Arizona. The status quo is not acceptable. There are he says with a laugh, “That one year of giving back thousands of other kids who need a school like this.” has turned into 13, and I have no plans to go back to banking, ever.”

For the past seven years, Brown has worked for NATE BROWN ’95 the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, where he BILL AND MELINDA GATES is a senior program officer with the Empowering FOUNDATION Nate Brown ’95 went to work as an investment banker Effective Teachers program. Prior to that he worked in New York after graduating from college. As a child —continued on page 102

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THE PROCTOR-PREP CONNECTION H OW R O L E M O D E L S I M PAC T T H E E X E T E R EXPERIENCE FOR NEW STUDENTS

By Daneet Steffens ’82

W

hen Jordan “Joey” Bolden ’15

arrived at Exeter as a prep, she hadn’t been away from her family or home for longer than a weekend. Coming to stay for several months at a time in a place where she knew nobody, she recalls, “was really strange.” But then something wonderful occurred.

“The first thing that happened when I came in to Dunbar,” she says, “was that the proctors came and took my bags up the stairs and they introduced themselves to me. They were just so nice; that’s what I needed. It wasn’t even overwhelming — it was just a rush of welcoming in a warm environment, and I was so happy that I thought, ‘I want to do this when I’m older. I want to make kids feel like they are welcome, like they want to be here. The dorm is going to become their home and it’s good to make it their home the second they step in the door.’

That’s why I wanted to be a proctor.”

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Then-senior Lisa Scott ’12 quickly became one of Joey’s favorite proctors. “She always had her door open to help me with homework whenever I needed it, or just to talk,” Joey explains. “She really became my older sister, and I never had one before. Being able to talk to somebody, especially somebody who had already been here for several years, who had been through the same things I was going through, whether it was problems with friends or with schoolwork or with all the clubs I was trying to balance which I’d decided to sign up for…” she laughs, remembering her overly full plate of activities: “Way too early and way too many!” Lisa helped Joey balance her busy new school life, and proved to be a strong and resilient role model.

“She definitely had that divide of ‘I have to tell other proctors or the teachers something that you have told me because it’s not safe and might affect other people,’” says Joey,

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Margaret Kraus ’18, proctor Jordan “Joey” Bolden ’15 and Jolina Dimen ’16 in Dunbar Hall.

whose still-full plate includes singing in gospel choir, participating in the all-female step group Precision and indulging her longtime passion for studying Mandarin. “So if I told her about, say, an incidence of cyber-bullying, whether it was affecting me directly or not, she’d say, ‘OK, I have to share this with the other proctors.

Thank you for telling me.’ And then as a friend she would say, ‘Are you OK? Are your friends OK? How can I help?’ Her being able to be so

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I THOUGHT, ‘I WANT TO DO THIS WHEN I’M OLDER. I WANT TO MAKE KIDS FEEL LIKE THEY ARE WELCOME, LIKE THEY WANT TO BE HERE.’ T H E

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Will Soltas ‘18 and proctor Morgan Burrell ‘15 at their dorm, Cilley Hall.

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moving away from home, entering into a totally new environment. New Hampshire is probably a state you never even heard of, and you’re going to this school that’s going to be academically rigorous — the world is suddenly very tumultuous. As a proctor, it’s your job to be the consistent presence, the one thing that’s going to be reliable. You’re there for the times of comfort, and for the times of celebration, too.”

In taking on that responsibility, Lisa, now a junior at Yale, gained valuable clarity on her own direction: Previously premed, she is now majoring in the history of science and medicine

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clear about those two elements of her role, that was really important.”

That ability to take on the mantle of being a big sister and a mentor, of appreciating the vagaries of brand-new boarding school experiences as well as being in a school-sanctioned leadership role, enhances the dorm experience not just for the newbie but for the seniors as well. “The reason I loved going to Exeter,” Lisa says, “was for the people and the friendships that you make, and I think the proctor-prep relationship is really special. Coming in as a prep, a lot of things are changing: you’re

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and hopes to be a science teacher. Her experience as a proctor, together with a recent teaching internship, fueled her new career choice.

“Over the summer,” she says, “I was working with middle schoolers, mentoring and being a leader and a role model — all those things definitely carried over from being a proctor.” Even when planning to be a doctor, one of her primary goals was to be in a position to mentor and teach others. “The more I found out about the medical profession, I figured that being a teacher would allow me more space to actually be a mentor, be a leader and invest in younger kids’ lives.”

It’s that mix of commitment, practicality and empathy that underlies Exeter’s proctor-prep relationships. “You have to be a very grounded person,” Lisa agrees. She noticed right away that Joey, even as a prep, was bubbly, energetic and personable, but was also someone who could get things done. “You have to be someone who can deal with stress and think on their feet really well, who doesn’t get freaked out very easily, someone who is level-headed.

When a crisis happens you have to be able to say, ‘Let’s think systematically about what needs to be done in order to solve this problem.’

“You also have to be friendly,” Lisa continues. “On moving day you have to make sure parents feel comfortable, not just the kids.

And you need to be able to communicate well.

You’re the conduit between the faculty and the students. Sometimes students may feel that they were wronged by a faculty member, but actually the teacher was right. So you have to be able to put the situation into perspective and explain why the student’s actions may not have been the best decision. That requires a certain amount of gentleness and tact.”

Finding that balance was key for another former proctor, Jonathon Cai ’12. Interacting with younger kids, he says, was definitely a new challenge: “Everything you do is scrutinized by them on a daily basis. It makes you more self-reflective about things that you say and things that you do.”

Luckily, he had had robust role models of his own; indeed, dorm living turned out to be one of the most salient aspects of his Exeter experience. “Dorm life was a really surprising aspect of Exeter that I totally didn’t expect,” he says. “I came into Exeter thinking I was going to be super-academic and that was it. I heard of Exeter through the math program — that’s

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what piqued my interest in the school — and I envisioned myself slaving away every single day, just working on math problems. That there would be aspects of social support and development, of being part of a community... that wasn’t on my mind when I arrived.”

Cilley life, so communal and supportive, turned out to be a very pleasant surprise. “I really appreciated my proctors throughout the years,” Jonathon says. “They were really influential on me. One of them, in particular, Stephen Cobbe, who was a 2011 grad and goes to Stanford now, had a tremendous effect on my life. I didn’t have a dad around when I was growing up, so to be in Cilley and in the presence of all these cool guys was a critical part of my development. There’s a huge age disparity

“THAT THERE WOULD BE ASPECTS OF SOCIAL SUPPORT AND DEVELOPMENT, OF BEING PART OF A COMMUNITY… THAT WASN’T ON MY MIND WHEN I ARRIVED.” between the seniors and the preps; it’s really quite visible and apparent. And, given that, it’s really a unique kind of space that’s constructed in dorms. In college, it’s not the same — the age difference doesn’t feel so extensive between freshmen and seniors. But between 14- and 17-year-olds, that difference is really evident, and it feeds into the development of yourself as a person. And I think it’s really a positive kind of development.”

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Like Lisa, Jonathon, also a junior at Yale and majoring in computer science and math, is eyeing a career in education. “My time with proctors, and then being a proctor myself, was extremely formative,” he says. “Aside from personal aspects of my own development, it taught me the ability to take on leadership roles and the ability to be comfortable talking with anyone. It made me the person I am today.”

One of Jonathon’s charges as a proctor was Morgan Burrell ’15, now a proctor in Cilley himself. “As a prep this place was scary,” Morgan says. “It was intimidating. It was the kind of

“MY TIME WITH PROCTORS, AND THEN BEING A PROCTOR MYSELF, WAS EXTREMELY FORMATIVE. ...IT TAUGHT ME THE ABILITY TO TAKE ON LEADERSHIP ROLES. ...IT MADE ME THE PERSON I AM TODAY.” environment where it was tough to understand where you fit in other than just as preps. The proctors in my dorm were absolutely the biggest part of my coming into my own here at Exeter. [Jonathon], in particular, lived in the room across from mine and I’d be in his room every weekend, whether it was just talking to him about my day, asking about his college application process or even discussing broader subjects as the year went on. He took a class in existentialism and we would discuss the topics he was thinking about — they were pretty philosophical, deep concepts that he was wrestling

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with — and I was just in awe, talking and trying to keep up with him and listen to him take on these big ideas. That was huge.”

One of the things Morgan most appreciated was that Jonathon wasn’t at all condescending or judgmental. The discrepancy in their ages was in no way a barrier to either their proctor-prep relationship or to their burgeoning friendship.

“It was such a peer relationship in many ways,” Morgan explains. “He was an incredibly understanding guy and his relationship with me was one of discussion. He was absolutely someone who would listen to me and would even take my opinion over his own.” Yet there was also the unconditional supportive element, as well as a sense of inclusivity: “He was like a big brother but never to the point of being a power figure or of abusing his authority.”

It was watching his proctors in action and a desire to take on the mantle of mentorship himself that spurred Morgan to embrace the same role three years later. “From the first day I met them, I thought, ‘I want to be like these guys.’ I just liked who they were in character and how they handled themselves as proctors.

What was really amazing was that even when I’d be upset about something that to them must have seemed trivial — I mean, they were seniors applying to college! They didn’t need to worry about how I was doing in a freshman writing seminar! But they would never belittle my struggles and they would say, ‘I remember what that was like, that was tough. Here’s some advice. Here’s how you get through it.’”

The other element that influenced Morgan’s desire to be a proctor derives from his vision of a dynamic community. “I really believe that it’s essential if you value your community to take part in the development of its members. I have kids in my dorm whom I know have the potential to be extraordinary kids, and I can use my experiences and things I’ve learned over the years to help them, guide them and to make their process easier and their final outcome better.”

Morgan already had some of those leadership qualities as a prep, Jonathon recalls, describing how Morgan would take the initiative and go out of his way to form friendships with other preps who were a little quieter, a little more reserved. “He was always good at drawing people out of their shell,” Jonathon says. “It was something that I tried to do as a proctor, but it was always great to watch the

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younger students help each other out, too.”

Morgan, who likes Spanish, mathematics and economics; plays varsity water polo and varsity lacrosse; and taught himself to play guitar, is an Exeter head tour guide who also sits on the Discipline Committee. In his mind, though, those latter two parts of his campus life are distinct from his proctor role: “As a proctor, I really don’t like to just be that guy who’s constantly laying down the law. I want to be what my proctors were to me: big brothers, helpers, peers, people you could go to whenever you needed something that you couldn’t figure out yourself.”

Morgan’s experience with his proctors is now setting the scene for Will Soltas, a Cilley prep and a recently anointed member of the varsity swim team. “My brothers came here so I knew this school a little already, but it was definitely a transition,” Will says. “Morgan helps me with that, providing brotherly security and support. I know I’ve got a place to go if I want to share my concerns — if I’m upset about a math test, I’ll go to him — but he’s also a friend.

I spend time chilling in his room, doing homework or just talking.”

So does appreciating Morgan in his proctor role make Will want to do the same? It’s too far off to know, he says, but “Morgan’s job — creating a kind of buffer system — seems really cool, like he gets to be an older brother to preps and instills traditions in them.” Cilley, Will says, is like a giant family, with gatherings for dorm grills and Halo nights and games of C-Ball, also known as Cilley Ball — “It’s like tennis” he says, “but with a dodge ball” — and, for him, that familial feeling extends beyond the formal structure of prep and proctor. “It’s not just Morgan,” Will says. “I have one upper on my hall, three lowers and three PGs, and they all offer that buffer system, too, because they all take care of the preps. It’s definitely a comforting environment.”

“It’s really important as you go through Exeter to have people close to you who see you every day, like people do living in a dorm together,” Joey agrees. “Having an array of ages, someone who’s sharing your new experience with you as well as someone who’s been through it that you can talk to … that’s important. Then there’s also some people that you might not even know who are there to support you because word travels fast through Exeter. If someone’s having a bad day, sooner or later others will figure it out and ask, ‘Are you OK?’ They’ll stop by, maybe

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“IT’S HARD BEING HERE BY YOURSELF, BUT IN A DORM, IT’S GOOD TO KNOW THAT YOU NEVER HAVE TO BE ALONE.” bring you some candy. … It’s hard being here by yourself but in a dorm, it’s good to know that you never have to be alone.”

This shared vision of students being taken under the collective wing of their peers remains intensely familiar, even 30 years down the road. While the more formal structure of the proctor-prep relationship might be at the core of many Exonians’ experiences, it’s part of a larger, wonderfully organic support system that forms the heart and soul of Exeter, a place where so many people, so far from their original homes and families, turn to one another to generate new ones. That sensation, characterized by a generosity toward others that’s forged in kindness, ultimately not only creates long-lasting friendships, but contributes to an understanding of what it means to be part of a larger, thriving community. “You can always be a better mentor,” Lisa says. “You can always be a better leader. But you have to start somewhere and Exeter gave me the foundations to shape the sort of leader and community member that I know I’d like to be. Exeter allows you to see what you can aspire to.” E Daneet Steffens ’82 is a writer, journalist and editor whose work has appeared in Time, The Boston Globe, Entertainment Weekly, the Chicago Tribune, Time Out and the U.K.’s Independent on Sunday. Her favorite piece of writing about Exeter is “The Spirit of Exeter” by Sarah Lyall ’81, which Daneet first read as an upper when the essay appeared in the 1981 PEAN.

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THE

RIPPLE EFFECT

ONE SELFISH ACT TRIGGERS A GROUNDSWELL OF GOODNESS

By Debbie Kane

I

DAMIAN STROHMEYER

t’s been said — and proven — time and again that adversity is a great teacher. Exeter students learned this firsthand last April when most of the money raised during the school’s annual Relay for Life fundraiser was stolen during the event. It’s a story that ultimately inspired the school community to come together for a common goal and created an opportunity for two students to do even greater good in communities beyond PEA. Exeter is one of many schools around the United States that hosts Relay for Life, an event combining remembrances of friends and family who’ve been affected by cancer with games and activities to raise money for the American Cancer Society. Exeter’s 2014 Relay for Life was co-chaired

by Drew Goydan ’15 and Cornelia Smith ’15, who became involved as lowers in Langdell Hall, organizing their dorm’s Relay for Life team. Smith, a cancer survivor, was particularly motivated.

“I was diagnosed with ovarian cancer during the summer of 2013,” she says. “I gained a whole new perspective on what it means to fight cancer and how important it is to support Relay for Life.”

The event, held in Love Gym, brought together 250 students, including 36 student teams representing different dorms, clubs and sports. For the price of a raffle ticket (or two or three), attendees stopped at various carnival-style booths, exper“WE STOOD imenting with stick-on henna tatIN AGORA toos, decorating cookies, hearing THAT FRIDAY impromptu poetry, even trying to TO COLLECT knock a cyclist off his stationary bike DONATIONS AND with a ball. The event raised $1,400 that night.

PEOPLE JUST KEPT Later that evening, Liz Reyes, comCOMING UP TO munity service coordinator for the US WITH CASH Exeter Social Service Organization OR THEIR LION (ESSO), received a text asking if she CARDS. ... THE had the money that had been colGENEROSITY WAS lected. She didn’t. “The money was gone,” she says. “Drew and Cornelia AMAZING.” had done an amazing job organizing the event and it was tough for them. It —DREW GOYDAN ‘15 was a learning experience for us all.”

The real learning, however, came after the theft.

Goydan and Smith emailed students to explain what had happened. During the next assembly, Principal Hassan discussed the theft as well, and Goydan and Smith appealed to students to donate again, this time with overwhelming results. “We stood in Agora that Friday to collect donations and people just kept coming up to us with cash or their Lion Cards,” Goydan says. “We re-raised the money in about 20

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minutes. The generosity was amazing.”

MISCONCEPTIONS Additional donations poured in as word AND RELATIVE spread beyond the Exeter campus. A local DISREGARD FOR couple with no affiliation to Exeter other than CONCUSSIONS hearing about the theft during their church service gave Reyes a check for $100. Parents AS POTENTIALLY and grandparents of students sent contribuSERIOUS tions. Ultimately, $4,000 was donated to the INJURIES.” American Cancer Society.

Then Dan Lukas ’89, who had been on cam—BENNETT LEVY ‘17, pus for his reunion when the theft occurred, sent ON THE MOTIVATION Principal Hassan a check for $1,300. Because BEHIND HIS EDUCATION the Relay for Life donation had been made up by that time, Hassan tasked Reyes to come up with CAMPAIGN, FUNDED BY a different use for the funds. Her idea: use the NON SIBI GRANT MONEY gift to fund two student grants, $700 each, to support personal non sibi efforts. “I put together a request for proposal to get students to think about how they could use the money for nonprofits they’re involved with,” Reyes says, “and asked them to explain how they would use the funds.”

The two students selected, Bennett Levy ’17 and Alexandria Shook ’15, submitted proposals that “meet two different needs and can be started with the money,” Reyes says. “Their efforts won’t stop once the money is used.”

Levy is spearheading a public education campaign to help inform high school students, parents and coaches about concussion, a brain injury with potentially devastating side effects. As a hockey player and son of a neurosurgeon, Levy says, “There are misconceptions and relative disregard for concussions as potentially serious injuries.”

Levy works with the Program for Understanding Childhood Concussion and Stroke (PUCCS), a nonprofit started by his father, Elad, that’s based in Buffalo, New York, Levy’s hometown. The non sibi grant money will be used to develop a public education campaign to educate at-risk high school athletes, coaches and parents about concussion signs and symptoms, recovery times and return-to-play protocols. The campaign includes presentations for student-athletes and coaches at public high schools in the Exeter area, informational videos, and two-sided player cards detailing the signs and symptoms of concussion and steps players and coaches should take before returning to play.

Shook is leading an effort to create a peer support system for children with autism. Her younger brother, William, was diagnosed with Asperger Syndrome and suffered years of ostracism and bullying before their family found Sport-Social Las Vegas, an organization that helps children with autism and other special needs build social skills through arts, sports, music and classes.

“There’s a terrible pain in watching your only sibling struggling with something that people take for granted,” Shook says, “something so important to a child: making friends.”

Working with Sport-Social Las Vegas to create an online matching system, Shook says, “The program we are aiming to make is one that connects children ages 8 to 17 with autism and enables them to meet face-to-face. It is designed to try to foster friendships between children who are so often denied them.” The non sibi grant will go toward funding staff, who will provide trained supervision for child-to-child interactions. Shook says, “It is a program to create real friendships, plain and simple.” Something she wishes her brother had been able to access earlier.

Levy’s and Shook’s projects, scheduled to be implemented this spring, not only benefit the audiences they’re serving, but Exeter as well. “It’s an amazing opportunity for the students to act upon something they’re passionate about,” Reyes says. “Both Bennett and Alex are using what they’re doing to educate other students.” For the entire Exeter community, it’s been a larger lesson in paying it forward. “The theft was kind of the tragedy that kept on giving,” Goydan says. “Like Winston Churchill said, ‘Never let a good crisis go to waste.’” E

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Equal Access —continued from page 29

as director of operations for the Department of Education in New York City and for EdisonLearning, a network of city schools operated by a for-profit.

Brown’s current project partners school districts in nine states and a charter school organization with the Gates Foundation to work on ways to improve teacher effectiveness.

“Research shows that the most important piece of impacting outcomes for kids is the interaction between teachers and students,” Brown says. “The data shows dramatic differences in classrooms. One teacher gets the best out of kids while another does not. We know this, but school systems have traditionally treated teachers as if they are all the same.”

Instead of approaching the question of teacher performance punitively, as some efforts have given the impression of doing, Brown’s project starts with the empowering piece. He is quick to note that the system has failed teachers just as much as it has failed students. The partner schools Brown works with are testing new ways of evaluating teachers, including a more research-based approach.

This approach broadens the measures of teacher performance, including student growth over time; offers more extensive feedback; and provides analysis that controls for the academic preparedness of individual students.

“These tools allow us to differentiate teachers based on their performance and provide targeted tools to help them improve,” Brown explains. “Most of the debate focuses on the bottom of the bell curve but the majority 1 0 2 • T H E

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of teachers fall in the middle. Our goal is to get more teachers from the middle to the top.”

Most teachers attend conferences, in what Brown refers to as the “sitting and getting” style of professional development. However, research shows that peer-to-peer and job-embedded professional development are most effective. The Gates Foundation has turned the old model on its head by identifying leadership teachers and asking them to work with teachers in their own schools and offer workshops for other teachers.

Brown says, “Letting teachers drive these workshops is changing how people at the district level see teachers.

Administrators are asking for teacher input on professional development, for instance.

When you put teachers in the driver’s seat, it makes a difference. I think teachers will be our way out of the challenges we face.”

When you look at the education reform debate, Brown points out, rarely do people talk about kids. This is not his experience when he meets with teachers across the country. Teachers know who they are working for — the kids. In the end, this is what education reform is all about, making a difference in the lives of children and their futures.

“Going to Exeter afforded me amazing opportunities and opened so many professional doors for me,” Brown concludes. “‘From those to whom much is given, much is expected.’ Bill Gates is known for quoting this. It’s essentially non sibi—different words but the same concept.” E Katherine Towler, a former Bennett Fellow and frequent contributor to The Bulletin, is an author of three novels and is most recently the co-editor of A God in the House: Poets Talk About Faith.

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Finis

And how the scorching blaze and thick smoke sting your eyes?

. . . and Wade shouting “shenanigans” when you and your roomie took the elevator.

You remember when 50 degrees was cold and eating Stillwell’s even when the temperature dropped to 32.

—continued from page 104

Once there was sleeping on a friend’s couch because you were too tired to walk back upstairs.

Once there was not sleeping at your Browning sleepover.

And then there was the bell’s vibrations shaking the room awake during Assembly.

And then the sick taste of fear as Mr. Feng stared you down after you did a math problem wrong.

And the nervousness before opening PO to get a test back.

You remember thinking you got an A on that test, when you actually got a B-.

And then you are eating soup at d-hall and thinking, “Is this chicken or tofu?”

And you are horrified at the thought of mashed potato bacon pizza.

And then you go back for two more slices.

And then you hear the hum of the microwave as the smell of ramen drifts your way.

And, later that night, you are thinking that the persistent clanking in your heater is a squirrel or a kidnapper in your bedroom walls.

10-32-10: your locker bursts open.

A smell of dirty socks, sweaty football pads, and cleats.

Remember when the ball thuds into your stick, jarring your hands with the first catch of the day?

Remember how a blast of New England wind nips at your skin on the way to Spazz?

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And teeth chattering in the icy night air; sitting outside the dorm; waiting for someone, anyone, with a Lion Card.

So you pound an overfull E&R bag because you forgot to do it the week before.

And you lie on the blue carpet in your room surrounded by new friends, thinking “home.”

And you admire the way she reads the book, not like she’s forced to but like it’s for pleasure because she takes a breath, steps back, and gets to be amazed by its beauty, like it’s supposed to be appreciated.

And other voices echo through the dorm’s thick walls as the marching footsteps grow louder, and suddenly, the door opens, filling your room with laughing lowers.

And you remember the pink October sky above the Academy Building after Bio. And still wearing a tie at 9:00 p.m.

And then, as the term draws to a close, how she put her arm around you, looked you straight in the eye and said, “You are now going to be my little sister and I will be your life coach, OK?” And, finally, how you run through the forest, footsteps beating a steady rhythm against the soil, wind whistling past your ears, not feeling the frosty air. E

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F I N I S

O R I G I N E

P E N D E T

2018 Time Capsule Snapshots What follows is a collection of verbal snapshots written by members of the class of 2018 in English 110. The assignment: recreate a short scene from your first term at Exeter using vivid details, concrete nouns and strong verbs. Clearly these young writers have taken to the English Department’s ninth-grade writing program, which emphasizes writing from personal experience. —Ellen Wolff, director of English 110

In the beginning,

you held onto your prep planner for dear life.

In the beginning, you complained to your adviser that you had too much free time.

In the beginning you couldn’t tie a tie, so your father did it for you.

And then: bright room, 8:30 a.m., first dickey.

You remember the velvet steps leading to the balcony, the temperature rising as you ascended, thinking to yourself: “I did it.”

You remember the white waves of fans flipping to ward off the heat, and how the speeches moved even slower than the air.

Perhaps you remember that uneasy feeling when you have your food at d-hall but are looking around for a place to sit.

Or you remember your heels clicking against the marble steps of the Academy Building as you made your way to room 206, and turning into the room, and realizing that seated around the table was a crowd of babbling seniors, and that, wait, this isn’t Phillips Hall…

Or you remember getting poison ivy and walking into Lamont Hall

instead of Lamont Health Center and seeing Mr. Ibbotson on the couch in his pajamas and saying, “This isn’t the health center, is it?”

And you remember your first English class, when you made your first friends.

Perhaps you’re not the only one who felt the stickiness of raspberry jam on your binder after a peer-editing session in Wetherell.

Perhaps you ran your fingers over the aging wood of the Harkness table in the Bancroft Common Room, feeling the marks of the multitude of Croftettes over the years.

Or you ran barefoot in the cold, dewy grass with the soccer team or waded into the icy water of the Exeter River on a crisp fall day with your cross-country team.

And then . . . . . . the incessant beeping of your neighbor’s alarm clock, bleeding through the thin walls and waking you up before your own alarm. . . . and boots thudding against the worn stairs of Phillips Hall . . . and dimly lit candles illuminating Phillips Church and music echoing in the warm air and Rev’s voice reverberating, his throaty vibrato washing over you.

—continued on page 103

1 04 • T H E

E X E T E R

B U L L E T I N

W I N T E R

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TARA MISENHEIMER

WEEKS TO REMEMBER FOREVER KATIE MCCARTHY

July 5–August 8, 2015 PHILLIPS EXETER ACADEMY SUMMER SCHOOL is designed for students currently in grades 7-12 who are intellectually curious, creative and eager to embrace new challenges.

It is an experience like no other—one that provides an excellent foundation for learning and life.

603-777-3488

WWW.EXETER.EDU/SUMMER

This program has not only changed the way I think, but the way I interact with people.

—Tiffany Brooklyn, NY

SUMMER@EXETER.EDU

Exeter simply was the best summer of my life and I will NEVER forget it.

—Christina Reading, MA

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

THE ANJA S. GREER CONFERENCE ON MATHEMATICS, SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY THE BIOLOGY INSTITUTE AT EXETER THE EXETER HUMANITIES INSTITUTE THE WRITERS’ WORKSHOP THE REX A. MCGUINN CONFERENCE ON SHAKESPEARE THE EXETER DIVERSITY INSTITUTE THE EXETER ASTRONOMY CONFERENCE

WHERE GREAT TEACHERS GO TO SCHOOL Each summer, secondary school educators from around the globe attend Exeter’s intensive weeklong professional development conferences.

June 21-26, 2015

ALL CONFERENCES ARE OPEN TO NOVICE AND VETERAN EDUCATORS FROM PUBLIC, PRIVATE AND PAROCHIAL SCHOOLS. FOR MORE INFORMATION AND REGISTRATION FORMS, VISIT WWW.EXETER.EDU AND CLICK ON SUMMER PROGRAMS, OR CALL 603-777-4471.