June 5, 2022
GRADUATION ISSUE– CXLIV
GRADUATION ISSUE 2022
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Senior Reflections
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Senior Spotlights
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2021-2022 News Four Years in Review
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Sport Team Profiles Humor’s Best
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Graduation Crosswords
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GRADUATION ISSUE– CXLIV
June 5, 2022
Senior Reflections Boys’ Love By SHALOM HEADLY When I was in middle school, sometimes I’d wait til everyone else went to sleep, get on my knees, and pray. “God, please please please give me a boyfriend. He doesn’t have to be tall, and he doesn’t even have to be Black, but make him kind and brave like Percy Jackson, and make him like the same shows I like. Make him funny, but not too funny, because I don’t want him to laugh at me. But I want to always have fun, I never want to be away from him.” Coming to Exeter, I came with many hopes unique to Exeter, but also some universal hopes about the experiences that being in high school will offer. Love being the highest on that list. My parents actually met in their freshman year of high school. And, no, they weren’t married right out of high school. They met new people and drifted apart for a time, but in the end, they found each other again. Growing up in a house with high school sweethearts, I thought the same thing would happen to me. Love at first sight and a partner for life. If I’m honest, that’s what I was looking for more than anything else at Exeter. SPOILER ALERT! At least as of my writing this, love is not something that I’ve found in any way I would have expected. But in searching for that fantasy, I’ve made many, many mistakes, learned many things, and gained many fond memories. I’m not going to lie to you and say that I haven’t dated people: I have (unfortunately) dated people here. But if someone were to ask me to reflect on my high school experience, the best and neatest way for me to organize it would be by the crushes I’ve had and what I’ve learned from those different experiences. These experiences for me are the most memorable and the most reflective of what it’s like to be who I am at a place like Exeter.
I’m not going to sit here and tell you about every crush I’ve ever had. That would be painfully embarrassing and probably boring. but I do want to give you the highlights; Surfaces Wasabi: •
•
•
•
and
Shawn
In all honesty, the first boy I ever really liked. I often daydreamt about how we’d be as adults. It was always this lumberjack fantasy, where he would chop down trees and I would chisel the wood into bowls and chairs and stuff. We both had beards and lots of muscles and we raised wolves together While we both had love for each other, I had misunderstood the nature of that love, clouded by my yearning for a fantasy that I had wanted for so long. Now he’s one of my best friends, and while he wasn’t in my life as I initially wanted, I’m still really glad to have him by my side.
A Yellow Sweater: • •
•
I met him on the first day of lower year I would spend so much time recounting our interactions with my friends, carefully dissecting them to see if he could like me back. He smiled at me when he waved at me, what does that mean? He asked me to “hang out? :D” Does that mean what I think? After weeks of overanalyzing literally everything, I realized two things: a) I was putting too much energy into something that wasn’t bearing any fruit b) If by chance he did like me and he was questioning, would trying to peel back his shell and uncover
•
this personal truth be something he wanted? We still talk sometimes, and to be honest the way we’ve interacted hasn’t changed, but he doesn’t stay on my mind much anymore.
Shotgun and A Penny: •
•
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I started liking him by accident, but he was the first boy to listen to me intently, and he always seemed like he wanted to be around me. It made me feel seen in a way I wasn’t used to, and that made me feel special. After a while, even liking him became something that only fed me, and stopped being about trying to do things to make him happy too. We hung out not because I liked his presence, but because I needed someone else to tell me that I was likable in the first place. When we started drifting apart, I was honestly really freaked out. Like,
really really freaked out. But changes like that are only controllable if both people want to control them, and so I had to realize that it was time for me to let go. It was time for me to learn how to validate myself. Lab Coat and Basketball Shorts: • •
•
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By far the coolest boy I’ve liked. Not only did I have a crush on him, but it’s been confirmed that one of my coolest friends liked him too, so he’s like top tier cool. He was also my last real crush. I had liked him a couple of times in years prior, but I got really caught up in the fall. I’d never liked someone who was well-rounded. I usually only liked nerds who were a bit socially inept, so, at first, the fact that he was so different was really exciting. Maybe this would mean something could actually
•
happen. But I spent a lot of time trying to convince myself that I deserved to like him in the first place and I eventually gave up when I realized how taxing those thoughts are. I still think he’s really cool and I talk to my friends about that whenever I see him, but no longer do I feel like I need to prove myself to him, or to anyone else.
So what’s the takeaway? Why did I write all of this in the first place? It seems that the first thing that people say to me when I say that I have a crush is always, “You should ask them out! I can totally see it working.” No. It’s not really that easy. Obviously, I’m not straight, so maybe it’s not fair for me to make this comparison, but liking someone as a queer person of color isn’t as streamlined as liking someone when you’re straight. It’s not “I like them, time to see if they like me back.” In fact, that’s not even the tenth step in this process. More often than not, im-
Joy Chi/The Exonian
Courtesy of Shalom Headly mediately after you realize you like someone, you have to ask yourself a lot of questions. Are they even gay? If they are gay, would they date someone outside of their race? Would they date someone who isn’t white? Who isn’t light-skinned? Would they think I’m fat? Am I fat? Am I too dark? Am I too gay? Too often you don’t get farther than asking those questions. You ask yourself something too sensitive, too close to what you think is true, and you run away because the possibility of a broken heart is so much more likely than reciprocation. I haven’t dated many people here. I didn’t even really consider a large majority of these crushes possible. Despite all of this, I’ve really enjoyed this bittersweet part of my Exeter experience. I’ve learned a lot about myself, what it means to be queer in a space like Exeter, and what it means to be Black in a world like ours. It’s not easy, but now I can notice patterns and obstacles that I couldn’t before. I know what I’m worth and what I’m not; what flaws I come with and what changes I need to make for future bittersweets. The tough part is coming to terms with how bittersweet moments always accompany the process of learning. I’m speaking of much more than the four people I wrote about above. It sucks sometimes, but, again, now I know what to look for. I hope this was informative and honest and stuff. To the gay underclassmen reading this: I’m sorry, this probably wasn’t what you wanted to hear. Love doesn’t really come when you look for it, but by looking for it, you learn what it isn’t. I hope that makes sense. It took me a long time to understand that. Anyways, I’m releasing an EP soon! Maybe you’ll notice some parallels between this long reflection piece and some of my songs. Please listen to it. Thank you, love you, bye.
June 5, 2022
GRADUATION ISSUE– CXLIV
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Phillips Exeter: In Color
By COCO LIPE Every once in a while, I remember the existence of the nearby restaurant, Me & Ollies. Sometimes, it’s closed—everyone in small towns seems to be ready for bed at 8 pm— but when it’s open, I stare longingly at the glass pastry display case, at the true cure for any ailments I may face: lemon blueberry scones. The sweettangy yellow icing balances perfectly with the blueberry-studded pastry, the consistency a perfect balance between crunchy and doughy. Incredible. Lemon blueberry scones are an excellent example of things I choose to love about Exeter. It takes me a while to remember the high moments of my prep school experience—the fogginess of the past few yeats has settled in comfortably over my memories, obscuring details and color in its haze—but when I am intentional about the things I am grateful for, the little moments and exchanges that made me smile, I realize that there are more bright patches from Exeter than I thought. Like the experience of recalling Me & Ollies, color seems to appear from nowhere in these moments. I’ve had some of my best educational experiences at Exeter. In my senior fall, I decided to take EPS450: Earth and the Climate Crisis. Mr. Leger brought a chaotic fervor to each of our classes, enthusiastically quizzing us on rock formations, spheres of the planet, and the Gaia theory—a semi-philosophical approach to the climate crisis that supposes that the Earth acts as a sort of self-regulating system of negative feedback loops, and even humans’ accidental triggering of positive feedback cycles (for instance, the warming of the planet leading to the ice caps melting, lowering the planet’s albedo and warming the planet more) is an intentional ef-
fort made by the planet as an agent to save herself. Learning about the Gaia theory was one of many perspective-altering experiences I had in this class; I had many more on our weekly excursions to geological sites in the New England area. On these trips, everything was in color. On one such field trip, we visited a unique coastal location in Rye, New Hampshire: the sunken forest. The coast was littered with kelp and sea snails, and a salty aura lingered uncomfortably in the air. Everyone tried to watch their step, but occasionally a crunch alerted us to the end of the road for one of the sea snails. I knew that their shells would eventually be incorporated into a new geologic formation many millennia from now, allowing them to live on with the planet, but I couldn’t help but feel a twinge of pity for the brainless creatures. Their timescale may be shorter than that of the preserved stumps we have come to find today, but that doesn’t mean they are not just as much a part of the biosphere as preserved wood. The class gathered around a particularly well-preserved wooden stump, dozens of rings counting off its years alive in what was once a beautiful New Hampshire forest, while Mr. Leger had us describe the Earth’s sea-level shifts over the past 10,000 years. This time period is more time than I will ever have on this planet, yet compared to the geologic formations on Rye Beach, the sunken forest at Odiorne Point seems like a mere blip in the geologic history of New England. We would never know about this sea-level rise and fall without help from the forest, and without animal peers like sea snails, we could never begin to grasp the sheer vastness of this planet’s history, both what has occurred and what will occur long after we are
gone. This class truly shifted my perspective on the meaning of our lives (or lack thereof), as well as alerted me to the true urgency of the anthropogenic climate crisis. It is thanks to Mr. Leger that I will spend my college experience majoring in atmospheric science, studying ways that humans can reduce our impact on the Earth’s many delicate processes: after all, as the sea snails are insignificant to the sunken forest, humanity is insignificant to Gaia. Another area of my high school experience that I will miss dearly is my time with Exeter’s broadcasting station, WPEA 90.5 FM. I have been DJing shows since my prep year, but I have really found my niche in the show I’ve hosted all senior year: Seshat’s Shelf. Named after the Egyptian goddess of books and wisdom, I pick one book each week and try to convince my show’s listeners to read said book by playing music that goes along with its plot or setting. I typically spend twenty or so minutes talking about my favorite aspects of the book, with the rest of the show dedicated to the themed music. Doing this show has allowed me to combine two things I love—books and music—and be engaging on-air while sharing these combinations with my friends and other listeners (supposedly— personally, I doubt there are many people in the Seacoast area who regularly tune in to WPEA). The community of WPEA is incredible: the radio is an area of campus that seems to be untouched by the competitive nature of Exeter, and always seems to emit blues and greens, calming hues amid the chaos of the Exonian lifestyle. I will feel the absence of this community in college. But by far the brightest spot on campus, the one with the most colorful memories, is my dorm, Wheelwright Hall. I have lived in Wheel-
wright (called “wheel” by those of us who live here, the Wheelies) since my prep year when I arrived on campus closeted and scared to death of leaving my few friends back in Chicago. Wheel was an immediately welcoming space: even with the 90-degree weather on move-in day, I was greeted by cheery proctors who were ever so happy to lug suitcases up to my fourth-floor emergency double. Even a friendly lower, Anneliese Cowles, helped my new roommate, Kiesse Nanor, and me steal a box fan to beat the heat. During prep-proctor orientation, the string of meetings and tours at the start of the year designed to make preps feel more comfortable in their new home, just one piece of wisdom stuck with me. Senior Gabby Allen repeated this mantra several times: “Wheelies always wave to each other on the paths.” To this day, I have never intentionally not waved at a Wheelie when passing them in the dining hall, in the dorm, on the way to class, or even in town (even if I am not particularly fond of their personality). This simple gesture, a quick hello during a busy day, has built up a strong web of camaraderie and color between all the Wheelies. This on-the-go support system is an absence that I will feel profoundly when I graduate; hell, I already feel the absence when I return to Chicago for breaks. But more than simply a building that houses all the people I wave to, Wheelwright is truly my home. The people I live with, and the people I have lived with in years prior, have become my family in a stronger sense than I can describe. Kiesse, my prep and lower year roommate, now a Classics scholar on her way to following her passions in college. Shantelle, my first friend at Exeter, the kindest and most radiant soul I’ve had the honor to know. Theo, a Wheelie a year ahead
of me who introduced me to the campus radio station and co-hosted a show with me for two years (aptly called ghosts with glasses, hosted by two pale people with glasses). Avery, whom I cannot remember meeting for the first time—it feels like she has always been in my life, completely inseparable from my high school experience—has designed a tattoo of Icarus for me. Lucy and Sage, Wheelies a year below me whom I just might call my closest friends at Exeter, comrades in catastrophe. Audrey, whose meditation reading I will think about for many years. And of course, Cassie. Cassie was a year behind me in Wheelwright. They lived on the fourth floor with me (the most colorful floor: I lived here three of my four years in wheel, and the angled ceilings make the rooms so much cozier), and we became fast friends, confiding in each other about everything from childhood nightmares to horrifically awkward moments around the Harkness table. As the terms went on, we made the multiple-mile trek up Portsmouth Ave. across the highway to the Starbucks in Stratham in a foot of snow many times; we were desperate for caffeine and color, especially in the wintertime. Avoiding dead birds and rabbits under the underpass is second nature to me now. They introduced me to Phoebe Bridgers, The Backseat Lovers, and We Three; I showed them Crywank and convinced them that liking Taylor Swift wasn’t so bad after all. As we fought our way through the trials of the Academy, we grew to complement each other. My senior fall was eclipsed by shadows of many unforeseen catastrophes, but through this eclipse broke patches of light. Cassie and I, watching the sunrise over the Exeter river; listening to Red (Taylor’s Version)
Courtesy of Coco Lipe the night it came out and crying to All Too Well; walking to Trackside’s convenience store and buying dill pickle chips, eating the entire bag between the two of us while binging the new season of Big Mouth. Spending time with Cassie was a double rainbow, an explosion of color that stained my memories, a stunning visual cacophony. Cassie left Exeter at the end of my senior fall. Their mother withdrew them from the Academy a few months later. No one has had any communication with Cassie ever since. When I think about the things I will miss most from here, Cassie is the first. I will miss being in a place haunted by the ghosts of whom I have lost. I will miss the memories replaying, flashing in bursts, when I walk by our spots. I will miss the place where I met so many of my favorite people. Even in this loss, Wheelwright was there for me. My dormmates, my chosen family, managed to lift me from my haze. Every week, I write down the moments that made me smile and let a little bit of color peek through the fog. Without the Wheelies, I wouldn’t have become the person I am today. I owe a debt of gratitude to every Wheelie, past and future. Next year, I’ll be living across the country from Exeter in a triple at the University of Washington. My prospective roommates and I are still deciding on which building to live in next year. Selfishly, I am partial to Willow Hall; keeping the W dorm seems like a fitting way to make sure my Wheelwright love carries over to college, but I know that nothing will replace the bonds I have with the people here. I will miss Wheelwright more than anything.
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GRADUATION ISSUE– CXLIV
June 5, 2022
Something Left to Love By DANIEL ZHANG I spent the summer swimming to prepare for Exeter. I had never been an athletic kid, but I wanted to be, and I knew team sports were a good way to make friends. I remember peering through the list of fall sports on Exeter’s website and considering my different options: soccer and football seemed both too difficult and too competitive, and I’d never played either, and I just wasn’t a good runner, so cross country was out of the question. For some reason, because I had never heard of water polo before, I assumed not many other people would have either, and the team would just be full of curious first-time athletes (I apologize to the serious water polo athletes out there—I have immense respect for you). I signed up, and when I saw the summer workouts, I realized I was in way over my head. I was half as slow as the recommended 10x100 yard times. But for some reason, I really wanted to go to pre-season—the prospect of arriving earlier to campus was just too exciting to pass up. I was determined not to let my first entrance to Exeter be a failure, so I committed to swimming laps at my local YMCA every morning. It was a failure. Three practices into pre-season, I “injured” my IT band (which, in retrospect, was most likely perfectly normal muscle soreness), and then decided water polo wasn’t for me. When I asked the coach what I could do for the reason of pre-season, he just shrugged and told me to “hang around.” That’s exactly what I did—I just waited in my empty room in Wentworth for a few days, doing absolutely nothing. Here’s what I wrote in my journal that first night: “8/31/18 first day at exeter. you were so unprepared for water polo. you cried when calling mom dad and grandma because you missed home and it hurt a lot. went outside, got ice cream with the team, felt better.” As pathetic as the entry sounds (and as edgy as the all-lowercase is), I kind of feel for that kid. I was convinced Exeter was a mistake. I wasn’t any good at the first thing I’d tried to do even though I’d spent the whole summer trying to be. But bearing even more heavily on my mind was that I just didn’t fit in with the team. The other preps eagerly dived into casual conversation and banter—they knew what to say, what jokes to make, how to push and pull at the other guys. Some of them had siblings or friends on the team already, so they belonged. There was a casual bravado everyone carried; as a prep already not particularly confident in his own masculinity, I was way out of my depth. I quietly lagged behind the group. I remember one particularly cringe-worthy exchange where an upper asked me if I wanted to play football with them. “I don’t really know how to play,” I said. They looked at each other. “I
mean, neither do we,” he said, laughing. “It’s not that serious.” Another: the team mentioned they were going to d-hall, and I remember being so confused at how they could say that, because—which one? In retrospect, it was obviously Elm, considering we were all staying in Wentworth, and most of the team members were Southsiders, but mostly because WETH WAS NOT OPEN during pre-season. But I remember that my Experience Exeter guide said Weth was the better dining hall, so I assumed they were talking about Weth, and pried at the locked door for almost ten minutes before giving up on breakfast. It seemed to me I had entered unfamiliar territory where I was not only disoriented by the physical space— the paths seemed to lead somewhere different every time—I wasn’t quite sure how to be. The Ls did not stop there—prep fall was in many ways, a series of unfortunate events. I was undoubtedly the most annoying Harkness warrior (sorry about that, Moriarty C Format) in English; my confidence was severely hampered by endless B+’s on writing assignments when I had previously staked so much pride in my writing. I was too stubborn on not following show, don’t tell, convinced my abstract aesthetic sensibilities were superior (thank you to Mr. Moriarty for putting up with me endlessly). I remember crying to him one day after class, before Assembly, because I was sure I just did not understand the premise of Harkness. I got Bs on endless history papers because I did not understand the logical rigor an analytical paper required—I was just riffing. I auditioned for theater, but somehow didn’t comprehend that acting was more than saying lines with clear diction and good projection (I had never acted before or really watched theater), but was an actual art form that tried to communicate emotion. I know how incomprehensibly ridiculous that sounds. I remember reciting lines confidently for my adviser, Ms. Josef, an experienced theater practitioner, with absolutely no inflection whatsoever. When I walked into the Goel lobby to wait for my audition, I saw Nick Schwarz ’20 recite his lines for Midsummer’s Puck with gusto, humor, and sly mischievousness. I remember thinking. I am so stupid. What did I think this was? I did not get casted. I tested into Chinese 310 but had a small bout of panic when on the first day, I was asked to write a short letter introducing myself, and could not even manage that. The whole term I went to class in fear my incompetence would be exposed by the native speakers I was taking the class with. I think I wrote an entire essay with Google Translate once. One last L to cap off this quite unfortunate list: My 23X section with Ms. Geer underwent such extreme communal suffering (I’m talking test av-
erages consistently in the 60s) and I was the proud earnier of near-failing (if not failing) grades. But a strange community blossomed out of it. After a term’s worth of complaining about problems that didn’t make any sense in the library or Elm Tower rooms, we decided to host a tea party at the end of the term to celebrate the fruits of our labor. Ms. Geer happily invited us into the Dunbar library and we shared hot drinks while joking about the most ridiculous moments of the term. I looked outside the window. The first snow had just come earlier that week, right after two of our classmates had ceremoniously closed our first year off with a collective poem written by the prep class in Phillips Church. The frail branches drooped under the white blanket. The term had been one embarrassment after the other, but stopping to reflect on the whirlwind of momentum and giddy exhilaration that was prep fall, I realized there was nowhere else I’d rather be. Maybe, I remember thinking, just maybe, there’s something waiting for me here. * For some reason or the other, Exonians like to identify themselves and others by what they do. The dancer. The historian. The math prodigy. The lacrosse player. The poet. Doing so is obviously reductive, which is something we collectively recognize, but it’s strangely addictive to think of ourselves this way. It makes understanding why we are here and what we are doing so much easier. Many Exonians are guilty of formulating some kind of Notes app where they meticulously list their portfolio as a reflection of their ambitions—and I’ll take this course upper year, and become co-head of this club, and apply to this summer program, and that will communicate very clearly that my interest is.. The perception of what college admissions offices want is influential in this desire (for some reason, students are rather ridiculously convinced they need a “spike”—I promise you this is bull). But even with external pressure removed, many underclassmen (I apologize if the specification comes off as patronizing, but I do believe it is something you grow out of, and this reflection might seem like old news if you’re an upper or fellow senior) settle into the inclination to identify themselves by what they do. I believe this is because of the desire to feel non-disposable— important, even—to this community. That you are of consequence to what happens everyday on campus, that you can give something. In occupying a niche in the complex ecosystem of Exeter, you ensure yourself a position in your grade’s collective attention. You are the x of campus; therefore, this campus needs you. This extends to how we perceive others as well: experiences are surprisingly public at Exeter, voluntarily or involuntarily. The word
gossip feels diminutive, but there is just some general awareness of what our peers have been through and are going through—this break-up, these friends who said cruel things to each other, these two who just started talking, this embarrassing episode where someone said something stupid in class. This lends itself to a casual familiarity with each other’s identities: she’s a Music Building kid…he’s a soccer recruit… I need a thing, I hear so many underclassmen saying. My thing is biology, so I’m going to take fly genetics upper year with AP biology and organic chemistry, and join Science Olympiad, and email this professor this summer, etc… Having your interests reflected in your academic and extracurricular pursuits is certainly a perfectly respectable goal (there’s nothing wrong with being passionate about something!), but when people believe that this is the origin of identity, I have to say—really? That’s who you are? The x kid, and we know this because…of the courses you took and the clubs you do? Then, I have to say…you sound very, very boring to me. Okay, maybe a tad too harsh—you also sound exactly like who I was for a lot of my time here. The search for identity at this school is not easy. And you may ask: how else might we identify ourselves? There’s no one answer I can give you— there’s something to be found in how you give love to and receive love from others and yourself—but you’ll have to find the answer yourself. And I promise you that you will. Here’s what I will tell you, though: it’s not something you can write down, or something you realize one day. It’s something you keep looking for every day, something that changes with the people you love and the roads you take. I’m just here to tell you my story. I was convinced prep fall that I would be the speaking club kid—I did debate, Model UN, and Mock Trial, and not only were they prestigious clubs—I genuinely really enjoyed them. But one day, an upper I’d met through a theatersports activity dragged me to the Newsroom after dinner, where I was whirled into writing an article with her and another upper. And another day, I ran into Mr. Johnson by the Yellow Room while walking from a piano practice session, and he suddenly invited me to an Exeter Choral Union rehearsal that was starting in a few minutes. A friend casually invited me to an Astronomy Club meeting, and I tagged along because I thought learning how to point our constellations would be very impressive. I tried to justify my new detours. Well… newspaper is also a humanities activity…so that makes sense…I suppose it doesn’t hurt to also sing now and then…it’s fun and didn’t Whitman say “I contain multitudes”?... okay, maybe astronomy
makes zero sense, but… Let me be clear: the argument I am working towards is not— “Don’t only identify yourself by one thing, but identify yourself by multiple things!” That is not only exceedingly obvious but really not much better. Speaking club kid to speaking club kid and singer is just crowding yourself out with more attempted identities, but really does not resolve the heart of the issue. The argument is to say yes. There are so many rabbit holes I could not have followed: I could have told that upper, I’m sorry, I have to go to a debate meeting instead, but then I would have never served as Editor-in-Chief of this paper for two terms. I could have just stayed bewildered at Mr. Johnson’s very sudden invitation, and said, “uh… thank you, but I think I’m busy!”, but then I would not be drinking Coldbuster in D2 as I write this to soothe my voice for a concert in two hours after an a cappella concert two days before. I could have told my friend that I wasn’t willing to give up my Friday night to go to a random science club I had no interest in, but then I would not have seen seven of the Orionid meteors this fall as I proctored a moon drawing session. The second you choose to identify yourself in conventional, explicit terms, the second you close yourself off to the wealth of possibility this place has to offer. There are so many random projects, opportunities to go all-in on—if you crowd your schedule with carefully planned commitments in service of a singular identity, then you won’t have the time to follow these rabbit holes. As counterintuitive as it sounds, you need to actively create time to be free in order to truly explore. Here’s another example: I remember after the humiliation of prep fall Chinese, I convinced myself testing into Latin would be a better path (read: a senior told me a Classics diploma would be great for college). A senior I met from Asian Voices, Andrew Liquigan, patiently tutored me throughout the break, explaining declensions and conjugations generously. After submitting my placement test to Mr. Unger, I received the following email: “I graded your placement test, and you’re right on the cusp of accelerating. Normally, 75%, or B-, is the cutoff point, and you received a 74%, or a C+. Since you are so close, I will give you the choice of taking Latin 120…without additional effort on your part, however, this placement test predicts grades in the C range.” I wish I could tell you I carefully considered the potential consequences and benefits, and then judiciously decided to value an education in the Classics with commitment to disciplined additional studying over immaterial GPA, but the real answer is, I was just saying yes to everything at that point. I plowed ahead
recklessly and took Latin. This ended up being one of the best decisions I’ve made in my four years here. Classics has been not only an immeasurably important intellectual and personal hobby, but has led me to some of my most dear peer and faculty friendships. Perhaps prep Daniel had very questionable motivations, but he got to the right place that fall break: don’t be scared. Don’t shy away from courses that might be difficult because you fear a lower GPA (a problem which, again, really stems from associating your identity with your academic performance). And let me be completely truthful: following rabbit holes isn’t always easy. In my first time in The Exonian, I was regularly scolded by editors for careless mistakes and late submissions, and found myself wishing to return to debate, which I at least knew how to do. I literally could not sight read for my life my first term in choir and was off-key most of the time, drawing questionable looks from my upperclassmen section mates every rehearsal. I got a 60-something on my lower fall physics final, no lie—astronomy was not looking too hot. I impulsively decided to self-study a year’s worth of Greek the summer after my prep year, against the cautioning of my adviser that it would be a very academically risky (read: stupid) decision, and my lower year GPA dropped a full point. The moral of this story is also not “say yes and good things will come.” The moral is that good things will not come if you do not say yes. I can hardly imagine a life without Concert Choir, a cappella, and all the good friends they’ve introduced me to, or Exeter without the rigor and community of Classics. I have absolutely no regrets. And to be really candid? Despite the GPA drop, I don’t think I would’ve gotten into college without my leadership position in a cappella, the Classical Diploma, or my research experience in astronomy. But they took time, patience, and above all, tolerance of failure. Things come slowly here a lot of the time. But with faith and genuine dedication— doing something because you want to do it, not because you want to be the kind of person who does it—so many good things may come. The trouble with identifying ourselves by what we do is the failure to recognize that we are still being made, shaped by those around us every day. If we do not let this happen, we close ourselves off to what makes Exeter the place it is— the people around us, the chance encounters that send us down paths we may have never anticipated—but of course, it is their unpredictability that lends them their potency. And this constant unpredictability is not only academic or extracurricular—it also extends to our friendships. I had a classmate in English and CONT’D ON A5
GRADUATION ISSUE– CXLIV
June 5, 2022
A5
Something Left to Love, Cont’d
epistemology this fall I only vaguely knew as a lacrosse guy, but one day, I caught up with him after class and asked him if he wanted to get lunch. He ended up being a fun friend to climb roofs with and grab early breakfasts with, which I would have never expected. Sometimes, it’s just a leap of faith—to sit down in Weth with someone you only vaguely know, to say yes when a classmate randomly asks if you want to walk to Dunkin’ with them to get donuts for the whole class on the last day (true story), to wake up at 4 a.m. to take the train to see a friend over break in plans made only six hours before (another true story). Having a friend group or a solid base of people to return to is by no means a bad thing, but some of the most meaningful connections you have here will be serendipitous, with people you never would have expected connection with. If you are constantly going to the same places, sitting at the same table every day merely because of the comfort of staying with people you know, you might close yourself off to some very meaningful encounters. But this doesn’t involve just saying yes—it involves an active ethic of seeking change. Saying yes will evolve into a commitment to searching with enthusiasm and excitement for what the next encounter will be. After singing in choir for a term, when Mr. Johnson casually mentioned he was looking for volunteer songs to help out with the annual Candlelight Service, I signed up just because I was curious and wanted to sing more. There, I met two seniors in my section
who sang with the Exeteras, and they invited me to join their group. I had an Exonian meeting at the same time, but I remember thinking I couldn’t let something new pass by. I went to that first rehearsal and sang Boyz II Men with them, and Exeteras has been one of the most important homes for me on campus ever since. You can’t always wait for excitement to come to you; as Jack London once said, “you have to go after it with a club.” When you become an upperclassman, Exeter can slip into a routine. You know the people you want to be around, the things you want to do, roles in clubs and campus happenings become more solidified. Rather than the landscape of constant excitement that surrounds your wide-eyed underclassman years, the responsibility falls upon you to introduce unexpected experiences into your life which tug you out of your comfort zone. But I never understand uppers who say they’ve outgrown this place—there’s so much more to do! Sign-up for the Mock Trial in-house. Go to that Classics seminar even if you’ve never taken Classics before in your life. Ask that person you thought who killed it at the EAR concert last week for coffee. Who knows—you might have a new friend down the line. And part of this also involves a willingness to just let go. So what if you miss a few hours of sleep? If it means you got to stay up and have a good conversation with a dormmate, then that’s worth it. So what if you don’t finish the reading? If it means you got to walk with friends by the train tracks of Lincoln
Street and drink spring water for the first time, then it’s worth it. The summer before senior year, I was terrified to return to Exeter. This was the last thing I anticipated I would be feeling when I was an underclassman; then, I looked forward to finally being able to call Exeter a home, being the same seniors who moved so carefree through the late summer quad. But at the end of my upper year, I had been through a very public series of unfortunate events (haha), and I returned to campus unsure whether anything was waiting for me. I had staked so much of my identity in being Editor-in-Chief of the paper, and arrived on campus bereft of so many of my old friends and so much of my sense of community. There was the same pit in my stomach that first day of prep fall, when I was not sure if I could find a home here. And yes—the first few days were difficult. There were gazes averted and lonely nights. But there was more waiting here for me, as there always is. As the writer Gabriel Garcia Marquez wrote, “There is always something left to love.” I signed up for club running, and after the first day, we were told with a shrug that we could run if we wanted, but since it was just an introduction day, we could just go back to our dorms. An acquaintance I vaguely knew nudged me and asked if I wanted to go on a run anyway. I had never run before in my life and was frankly a little scared of running with an ex-cross country partner, but I said yes, and a third tagged along. The three of us, with
some new friends along the way as the weeks passed, ended up running together the whole term. Then, every day, I found a new community of people to eat dinner with in Elm—to spend hours distracted from homework to figure out Einstein’s theories of relativity, or to split moon cakes with during the Mid-Autumn Festival. I don’t think I really ever would have become friends with most of those guys—Clark, Emma, Alaysha, Ayaan, and Ugo—if I didn’t decide to skip an optional run that first day, if I didn’t decide to forget getting homework done by midnight and just talk physics with them in Elm one day at dinner (even though, again, science has never been my strong suit—see 60-something in lower fall physics final!). More and more kept springing up. I decided to begin taking a cappella more seriously and charted an ambitious plan for the Exeteras with fellow co-heads Clark and Russell. There was very well a world where we only did one or two songs like every other group. But we all collectively said yes to more—to taking this as far as we could. There, I found a hilarious community of guys who were not only so much fun to sing with every week, but were friends who were the first to celebrate me after my college acceptance, to laugh with as we rewrote lyrics to Beautiful Girls by Sean Kingston, to say goodbye with as we sang Rivers and Roads to the senior class. I also, on a whim, joined Puzzle Hunt, which I had participated in years before. I met so many new faces on campus and just had so much fun talking
with people across campus about how they were working on my puzzles on Instagram. I replied to an Outing Club email and ended up reconnecting with a faculty member friend from upper year, Mr. Chisholm, who was the source of my yearbook quote, as well as other friends I hadn’t talked to in a while. Eventually, I began to reach out to old friends, and was surprised to find so many roads opening again. This all came back to a question I asked myself that very first night of senior: who do I want to be here? I thought I had lost so much of my identity because I wasn’t doing the same things, wasn’t talking to the same people that had made upper year so meaningful. I very well was prepared to live an unexciting senior year, going through the motions and drifting by anonymously. But my answer to that question was: I wanted to be someone who finds something left to love, no matter how barren campus seemed. I could say that campus slowly began to regain the same vividness and detail it once had for me when I felt most at home, but the truth is, the color was always there. As corny as it sounds, I had just failed to see it. I’ve honestly never felt more at home at Exeter in senior year. If you told me that at the end of the first week of senior year, I would have never believed you. But I have friends who love me and whom I love and communities that are there for me and that I can be there for. Every now and then, I reflect on how so many of the detours I’ve taken have been so important to my path here. I didn’t
Courtesy of Daniel Zhang make theater prep fall, but I was asked if I wanted to do tech crew instead, and one day when I was rigging lights, I saw a prep biology classmate dance a solo that genuinely stunned me. I never knew dance could say so much. I walked up to her afterward to tell her how incredible she was. Now I’m going to prom with her in a few days. I guess I really am grateful I didn’t make Midsummer. Not everything wraps up in a neat, fairy tale bow. I can’t really say that my time on the water polo team has made any significant bearing on my time here other than being a funny story I tell sometime. But here’s what I’m trying to say: Exeter can be a lonely place. Everyone doubts themself. Everyone questions themselves: am I wanted here? Am I loved? Am I someone who matters to this community? Go after those questions with a club. You’ll be surprised by what you find: there is an abundance of love at Exeter—but it may not be where you expect it, and you have to go looking for it. Once you let yourself follow every rabbit hole that appears, there is so much to be found. It may be on a warm autumn day in the golden fields as you run toward the trailhead, it may be at a table in Fishbowl as you join a classmate for breakfast for the first time, it may be around a piano in Powell Hall as you tune a G major chord. But there is always something left to love, if only you have the hope to believe it can be found, and the courage to go after it with a club.
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GRADUATION ISSUE– CXLIV
No Bad People By HARRY GORMAN This February, I watched someone in the Shell on Lincoln Street use a fake ID to buy four tins of chewing tobacco, a pack of Twisted Tea, and three disposable vapes. It was close enough to check-in to make him nervous, so his hands vibrated profusely as he held the little card about an inch away from the cashier’s face. Halfway through his purchase a can of beer fell down in one of the fridges, and he jumped. What’s even funnier is this – he pulled out the ID from an Exeter phone wallet. I like to think that pity is the only reason he made it out with the drugs. He made so many mistakes (does anyone over 21 actually drink Twisted Tea?) and still made it out alive. No adult is bringing a backpack into a gas station and buying that for their other adult friends. The cashier had to know. No one is that stupid. I was standing behind the kid in my pajamas, trying not to laugh as the whole thing unfolded. When I walked home, I let myself chuckle into a blizzard as two cans of Monster rattled together in a paper bag. I find myself empathizing with the cashier. Imagine this: he called him out on how crude his adult-impersonation was, and the kid had to slowly put back all eight items to their respective shelves, and then sulk out of the gas station with nothing but shame and an empty backpack. It would’ve been very sad, albeit hilarious. What’s the harm, really? Some day in the near future, someone else would’ve marched into the Shell with a more convincing performance and fake, so why not just look the other way? * The constant gossip
superhighway in Exeter has always perplexed me. I don’t mean for this to come across as moral posturing, but I still have trouble unlearning the urge to hide people’s names in stories I tell: “Oh, I don’t want to be rude.” Maybe it’s a problem, but regardless it’s a fact of life. Say something offhanded to a friend applying to the same school as you, or be a bit of a weirdo or jackass in Math and your entire social circle knows about it by the end of the next format. I’ve only really tasted Exeter “beef” once, an incident in the fall that started through a series of progressively garbled word-of-mouth transmissions. It didn’t even involve me that seriously, but I remember feeling a complete lack of privacy in my interactions. Some people call it a deserved consequence of unkindness, but the idea that someone can be mad without looking at you is completely bizarre to me. I think everyone to some extent struggles with a discontinuity between how you’re seen and the way other people see you, but I don’t really know if it’s the right way to go about describing this dilemma. How do we gauge how other people perceive us? Isn’t that just a guess? I tend to mentally pronounce my own insecurities when I’m around other people – they can see my acne, they think my outfit is dumb, they think the way I speak is weird. I’m not self-assured that other people are confident in me, and I think the extent to which Exeter makes cruelty easy is part of the reason why. I’m guilty of it too. I’ve found myself this year saying things I wouldn’t dare to before coming to Exeter, talking openly with friends about annoying things my other
June 5, 2022
friends did, feeding into the rush of adding another piece of information to the endless stream of chatter. I don’t hate any of those people, in fact, I really love a lot of them, but I don’t think that’s obvious when everyone’s embarrassment is on full display to everyone else. On a walk back from the Shell, a friend tells me about something extremely nice their friends did. Experiences like that are rare at Exeter – not the kindness, but the story of it. * I used to really not care for this friend of a friend of mine. They sat with a few of my friends in Fishbowl and made jokes about liking feet and having sex with someone’s mom. They’d get a laugh about half the time, but for me it was just uncomfortable. I started retroactively painting everything they did as boorish and irritating, even though I really hadn’t spoken to them directly. The poet Kae Tempest has this really great piece called “I Trap You” in which they imagine that relationships ensnare us in others’ fantasies. “I trap you so much!” they say, and their supposed love seems a lot more fickle and thin than a romance implies. True love is only conceptual, the idea of me loves the idea of you. I think the same thing can go in the opposite direction. You form a loose opinion on someone, which causes you to sit somewhere else at dinner or not wave on the path, and your idea of this person only becomes more singular the less you speak to them. They’re trapped – and you are too. Hatred is a choice, a mental note made to remember how to treat someone. I asked friends of mine who didn’t know the kid what they thought
of him, searching for justification that the choice I made was right. There was a rope around my ankle, I know now. * My favorite poem is Naomi Shihab Nye’s “Valentine for Ernest Mann”. It’s not the deepest thing you’ll ever read, but it’s a heartfelt statement about finding meaning in ordinary, and even ugly things. She says to reinvent what life gives you into poetry, specifically mentioning “the person you almost like, but not quite” as an example. I struggle to understand this “almost-like” figure. How could you know someone well enough to find poetry in them, but still decide you don’t like them? Some friends and I were sitting outside EPAC
when this guy shows up. I tend not to listen too much when people I dislike are around, folding into myself or a game on my phone instead. A mosquito landed on my thigh, and I left my stupor for a moment to kill it – and this kid said something stupid funny. Like, laugh out loud hilarious. I felt like an idiot, sitting there in a rickety red lawn chair. For the remainder of the evening, I turned my phone off and listened. Dammit. I liked them – a lot. My modus operandi for meeting people at Exeter has been that I don’t need specific reasons if I don’t care for someone. Some people are just not compatible, and that doesn’t mean they’re a bad person – being annoying is not a crime.
On Keats
By ELEANOR BOLKER “Then, finally, I reach that which I seek, the mysterious creature I have been pursuing. The last piece fits perfectly into the puzzle, the final clue is revealed, the last phrase of a riddle elucidates the passage’s meaning: every discovery is a
revelation, a moment when we see the gears inside the clock ticking along perfectly in rhythm with one another. Knowing how it works doesn’t stop it being magic; quite to the contrary, the beauty of the world increases when one learns how to truly see it and understand it.”
This passage is drawn from one of the Exeter application essays I wrote in eighth grade. The essay prompt was to write about your interest or passion, so I wrote about the pursuit of knowledge and the excitement of how full the world is with things to learn. I have always loved
learning, and, perhaps unsurprisingly, I like to know things: the right line of poetry for the before-breakfast sunshine (“And I saw in the turning so clearly a child’s / Forgotten mornings when he walked with his mother / Through the parables / Of sun light”), what species of bird I am looking at (Great
Courtesy of Eleanor Bolker Blue Heron, Osprey, Song Sparrow), what is for dinner (Vegetable Tofu Chow Mein, alas), the etymology of nostalgia (nostos, returning home, + algia, pain), what the plan for tomorrow is (get up, get dressed, have breakfast . . .). I like to be
Courtesy of Harry Gorman Until recently, I hadn’t really thought about applying the same philosophy to enjoying people. Why not like someone? What’s the harm? We can choose how to interpret other people, and we can choose the kindest option. I’m not trying to say I’ve become an altruist now or that I love everyone I meet. That’s an unreasonable position for anyone to assume. What my friendships at Exeter have given me is faith. Faith that if I wait just a moment longer, I’ll forget what I told myself about someone else. * I look through my yearbook and try to feel angry. I can’t. Everyone’s smiling.
able to list, label, categorize, understand, interpret, synthesize. This instinct for fact, reason, and coherence served me excellently throughout my childhood, and in some ways it still does. My list-making skills (and subsequent discovery of spreadsheets), enjoyment of data collection, and voracious appetite for information earned me much pleasure, good grades, and a reputation as a nerd, which I wore proudly. These attributes continued to serve when I arrived at Exeter as a prep with a meticulously kept planner, color-coded study schedules, and a memory for trivia. There came a time, however, when the need for certainty and answers that accompanies a hunger for knowledge became a hindrance. Perhaps this started to happen some time before I noticed it, but if I were to name a date I would put forward March of 2020. The facts were not yet known, and, accordingly, no coherent synthesis or analysis of what was happening and what would happen next were available. I wrote, “There is of course no capital-R Reason to it, rather a CONT’D ON A7
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GRADUATION ISSUE– CXLIV
A7
On Keats, Cont’d deadly combination of biology, poor decisions made at critical times by incompetent and selfish individuals in power, and bad luck . . . It is strange to think that there was a time when we made plans for the future, when we felt that we knew enough about what the future held that we could imagine deciding in advance what to do with it. It is strange to think that once I could feel time slipping through my fingers, that once its passing was so quick as to take one’s breath away. Somehow, it is hard to remember that we are not living in an infinite Now.” And, of course, it was not only that spring, but that summer as well, and then the fall. Data, evidence, and analysis never seemed to quite keep up with the
pandemic, or with anything else, whether in the world at large or my own personal sphere. And so because I could not know anything beyond my moment, I became fixated on the idea of autumn, the season of contradictions, beauty and decline, everything passing one day at a time, at once part of the seasonal cycle and endlessly unpredictable, the expected and the unanticipatable colliding. I walked the campus trails often, tracking the leaves through yellow, orange, and brown, watching the reeds by the river die and bend, the ducks leave, the soft dawns out my window spread pink over the woods to the north of campus. I think it was autumn that brought me Keats. I had read his ode to it before my
upper fall, but in my new preoccupation with the season, I returned to it with a new zeal. Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness . . . “To Autumn” led to more Keats, including, eventually, his letters. After Lamont Poet John Murillo mentioned negative capability in his reading my upper winter, I tracked the term back to a letter from Keats to his brothers, from December of 1817: “Several things dovetailed in my mind, & at once it struck me, what quality went to form a Man of Achievement especially in Literature & which Shakespeare possessed so enormously—I mean Negative Capability, that is when man is capable of being in uncertainties, Mysteries, doubts, without any irritable reaching after
Something About Us
Courtesy of Shantelle Subkhanberdina
fact & reason—Coleridge, for instance, would let go by a fine isolated verisimilitude caught from the Penetralium of mystery, from being incapable of remaining content with half knowledge.” This passage has become a central feature of my last two years at Exeter, appearing as my senior quote, in my meditation, in other pieces that I’ve written, on a sticky note on my wall, and often in my thoughts. There may not be a single clear explanation as to why this is, but I would hypothesize that it has something to do with growing up. I have always loved facts and stories and certainty and meaning. My instinct is to answer questions, to complete. But there is also a time when full knowledge is impossible, when it comes at the cost of
what is most true or most interesting or most beautiful. If we reject the uncertainties, mysteries, and doubts, we lose sight of the greatest opportunities for exploration and discovery and revelation. The ability to live beyond one’s instincts is, I think, characteristic of growing up. To mature as both a person and an artist has required me to dwell in the untranslatable, the liminal, the inchoate. To accept the state of not knowing, not always being able to find or create the meaning or story of everything. To trust in its necessity in order, as James Joyce wrote, “to discover the mode of life or of art whereby your spirit could express itself in unfettered freedom.” I still believe that learn-
ing and understanding and seeing can allow us to access the beauty of the world, but I have learned to dissociate the matter of learning from the unflagging pursuit of certainty, whether in art or in life. As Keats wrote in a November 1817 letter to Benjamin Bailey, “I am certain of nothing but of the holiness of the Heart’s affections and the truth of Imagination—What the imagination seizes as Beauty must be truth—whether it existed before or not—for I have the same Idea of all our Passions as of Love they are all in their sublime, creative of essential Beauty.”
By SHANTELLE SUBKHANBERDINA
perception of Exeter unreliable at times. This year, a heavy dose of realism asked me to recalibrate and reconsider what my time here has meant. I remember this campus feeling vastly foreign and myself feeling somewhat invisible in this community. Today, it’s almost uncomfortably familiar. After spending enough time here, it’s hard to walk around campus without being reminded of all the ways you’ve outgrown it. My time has been marked both by moments I’d give anything to relive, and moments I would rather forget. Albeit cliché, I wouldn’t change a thing about it. If I’m being completely honest, I’m afraid if I let myself feel the complete profundity of this last week, it may be too devastating. We are, after all, losing something. But I sense that what we’ve gained is far more important. The people I’ve been fortunate enough to meet here, to love here, aren’t temporary. Not in the way that matters. Sure, it has been
in the context of Exeter that we could grow close – but it is through some great gift of the universe that we did. Nothing was stopping us from leading individual lives that came to a head on the day of graduation, a day in that world without any hesitations or teary goodbyes. I don’t think it’s just what happens when you live with each other for four years. I don’t think that it’s just the nature of things coming to an end and chapters closing that has us so emotional. I think there is beauty in acknowledging real connection. Something in me saw something in you and decided to stick around. Decided to be there, and to grow up with you. It’s the good kind of grief. The kind that comes with moving forward, knowing you have the power to choose what to leave behind and what to keep with you. I’m a little bit heartbroken, yes, but that’s okay. I’m lucky to have something to be a little bit heartbroken over.
successful, and never achieved such a sought after feature. Naturally (or very, very surprisingly), we found ourselves in a Card Fight. Flinging Aces across the table, climbing over railings and trash cans, we filled the halls with shouts of laughter and glee. The chaos continued for a while, leaving several of the cards with fewer corners than before–their edges chipped off from their sharp collisions. In jeans and a sweater, I was sweating, and happier than I’d been in a long time. Zoom classes had taken the life out of Exeter, and somehow (forgive my cliche) the ten of us had brought it back. We walked home that night smiling. That group of us hasn’t spent time together as a collective since that night, but I’m closer with each of them as a result. Still, I’m stuck with a question. Why, when given such an opportunity as a Senior Reflection, am I sitting here typing fervently about a Card Fight? Why does it feel so momentous? I could write about so much. Two
years of memories, and stories, and jokes, and mistakes, and lessons, and I choose a random hour of disarray? I think, for me, Exeter has always been about the people. Before I stepped foot on campus, I marveled at the community. How kind and genuine and caring and down-toearth everyone seemed. In the last two years, some of that rose-colored tint has faded, but much of it still holds true. One cannot reduce Exeter to a moment, but collections of moments like this are what have led me to consider it a home. I hope, as I move onwards and forwards, to hold onto these moments of unobstructed joy: Senior Sunrise, Spring Bash, Fall E/a Weekend. Moments like these, wrapped in spontaneity and playfulness, define what I’ve valued most of my time here. I was talking to a fellow senior, and they asked me if I could think of a “best day ever.” It’s a bit of a challenging question, I suppose. How lucky it is to know that Exeter has blessed me with many.
I’ve been anticipating this moment with great anxiety for some time now. I’ve always imagined myself being awfully sentimental in my last few weeks at Exeter, suffering a permanent case of lump-in-my-throat. Since my arrival, there have been so many moments that I’ve thought to myself; I don’t know how I’m ever going to let this go. Funny, now that I’m here, coming onto my last week at Exeter, I am very much at peace. It makes perfect sense to be letting go. I’m realising that much of what I thought I’d have a hard time saying goodbye to can exist beyond this campus, and though that isn’t at all promised, I’m someone who believes that what belongs in your life will come back to you. I am also someone with a habit of romanticising people and places beyond the reputation they perhaps deserve, which has rendered my
Best Days Ever By KIRA FERDYN
Courtesy of Kira Ferdyn
At one point this winter everything felt a little not quite normal. The stress from hell weeks was finally wearing off, and with the second, post-holiday part of Winter Term starting up, we were driven by the urge to create moments that may become strolls down the memory lane at reunions. But alas, amidst rising COVID cases on campus, social distancing protocols presented an obstacle. Nevertheless, we persisted, or maybe we didn’t. In any case the most haphazard group of people found ourselves on the Third Floor of EPAC, having been turned away from the bowl-painting event taking place in Grainger. So, there we were: Saturday night. January 22nd. Playing spoons with our LionCards. Six feet apart around a table, trying to stay quiet to avoid interrupting Film Club’s meeting in the Forum. Dean Weatherspoon paid us a brief visit, and upon his departure, we shared our wishes of being included in his next Covid test email. We were un-
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GRADUATION ISSUE– CXLIV
Promenade 2022
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GRADUATION ISSUE– CXLIV
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Promenade Photos: Ethan-Judd Barthelemy and Minseo Kim/The Exonian Front Cover: Courtesy of Hassane Fiteni ’21 Front and Back Cover Design: Joy Chi , Safira Schiowitz, and Clark Wu/The Exonian
Cum Laude Society Aslani-Far, Audrey* Barrah, Adaeze Bloom, Carson Bolker, Eleanor Buckham-White, KG* Buyu, Diego Casey, Ana Kristina Chen, Caitlyn Chen, Emma* Chowdhury, Neil Coelho, Pedro Cong, Kevin Coughlin, Charlie* David, Jacob Ecker, Alex Ehrman, Ben Emmick, Grace Finn, Emma* Flowers, Kaitlyn Galli, Zander Gorman, Harry* Grochalova, Dada
Gu, Celine Handte, Elizabeth Hastings, Avery Huang, Lina* Jain, Siona Kafati, Valentina* Kang, Sydney Kastl, Max Kim, Allison Lavine, Avery Liang, Alex Lorgan, Andreas Luo, Andrea Masoudi, Lekha Matheos, Niko Meaney, Anja Moore, Samantha Nanor, Kiesse Narapareddy, Vinusha Page, Oscair Park, Max Park, Michelle
Popik, Michael* Riordan, Oliver Saavedra Bagdonas, Maddie Schroeder, Caden* Seidel, Tommy* Silvestri, Aiden Singh, Alex Son, Brian* Su, Kendrah Sun, Harry Tam, Russell Tang, Anya Tsai, Anika Van De Water, Ethan Vankireddy, Teja Wang, David Xi, Jasmine Xiao, Lucy* Yang, Eric* Yoo, Bona* Zou, Felix* *denotes Early Cum Laude distinction
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GRADUATION ISSUE– CXLIV
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GRADUATION ISSUE– CXLIV
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On the Absence of a Classics Diploma
By ANNE CHEN When I was younger we rented a small house in Wisconsin. It had a tile foyer, which bled into a wooden living room, which bled into an inexplicably carpeted dining room, which is to say that this house had no doors or even door-sized frames to signify exit and entry, but instead just different types of flooring. This was the first house we’d lived in. What do you think? asked my mother the day we moved in. Anne, our very own home. I stood in that tile foyer and could see all five rooms of the house. Now we just need two floors, I replied. Back then, stairs seemed the height of luxury. I didn’t know any family that had a staircase except for this boy Owen who lived directly across the street. Owen was in the grade under mine. His father was a firefighter, his mother was a teacher, he was the middle of three children and had his own bedroom; I refused to enter their house for fear of dirtying, somehow, the floors. This house, with Owen and the odd floors, was the one at which we stayed the longest, from first to fifth grade. The geography of my family has always followed the employment. Before I graduated kindergarten, we’d moved thrice; by the time I came to Exeter, it had been twice more. I didn’t realize until, truly, senior year of high school, how uncommon my situation was. My best friend in Kansas City was a third-generation Kansan, but I saw her as the exception, not the rule. The natural state of America seemed like it ought to be flux. The house in Wisconsin is the only one which
has remained untouchable in my memory, unsullied by fights and finances and elementary school dramatics. It’s also the only house which I’ve ever missed. During that first year in Kansas, despite the new status of my bedroom, second-floor and unshared, I laid in my bed and thought about running my fingers over the soft crusted spackle of my old Wisconsin walls. Even now, I find myself hoping when I fly home to Chicago for break, that someday I might step off the plane and find my mother prepped for the long road trip back home. This is, of course, illogical. What I’m wanting is the three hours it took to reach our Wisconsin home; our house in Chicago takes twenty-five minutes. Recently in Italian class we watched the 1988 film Cinema Paradiso. The movie revolves around the friendship of Salvatore and Alfredo, who are perhaps seven and fifty years old, respectively, when they meet. At eighteen, Salvatore decides to leave for Rome, where he wants to make it big as a film director. Salvatore is boarding the train when Alfredo shakes his shoulders; their faces are very close. Don’t ever come back, he says. Your mother, your sister, and me? Forget us. Don’t ever look back at Giancaldo. Don’t look back. The closer I look, the more common this theme is: Cinema Paradiso, Eurydice and Orpheus, Lot and his wife, the Rolling Stones. Through the gross sentimentalism of my senior-spring lens, the idea is everywhere. The conversation I overhear in St. Anthony’s, the Mad Tea scene in Alice in Wonderland, Levin and Alexandrovich in Leo
Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina, Kanye West’s Good Life, Natasha Trethewey’s Elegy, the last twenty-five measures from Chopin’s Prelude No. 17. The list goes on. Don’t look back, don’t look back. The warning is perhaps manifested by my desperate desire to simultaneously hear and avoid it. What can I make of this insistence on moving forward? Time goes only one of two directions, especially at a school like Exeter. If you’re not looking back, then you’re looking ahead. In Kansas, I walked twenty minutes home every day from middle school. My school didn’t offer extracurriculars or team sports, but kids hung out for hours nearby. I don’t know if my middle school was particular in this, but that after-school time made up the majority of our social hierarchy’s organization; skater kids peeled off behind the school, short-skirt girls huddled by the doors, blonde boys played soccer in the grass outside the parking lot. For all of sixth grade, I was absent from this melee, choosing instead to rush home and FaceTime my Wisconsin friends as soon as the final bell rang. How’s this person? And this one? I knew more about the gossip three states away than I did my own schools’. I’ll acknowledge that it presents a sad scene: my empty lunch table, my hurried passing periods, my lone corner in the gym’s locker room. By now those days feel so distant as to be fantastical, as if that little girl was not myself, instead someone to whom I feel huge quantities of pity but not resonance. I’ve always been a romantic person, in the artistic sense of the word. I can’t help but feel huge
loyalties to the idea of friendship as a precious and separate entity from either of its two participants, an entity holding equal or even more value as the actual other person it concerns. This separate entity grows stronger and more desperate with time. In other words, I can’t help but hold on to the way that things were. The friendships, the surroundings. In Kansas, I arranged my room to look like a twin of the one in Wisconsin, subtracting my sister’s half. In Kansas, I said every day to Owen over FaceTime, I just wish I was there with you guys. Looking back constitutes the basis upon which the makeup of my life matters to me. Without looking back, I don’t know how to make my present worth living. I am describable as a person who cannot stop looking back. I am also describable as just unadaptable. In a different Cinema Paradiso scene, the old man Alfredo tells Salvatore a story. There’s a soldier and a princess; the former is in love with the latter, who does not reciprocate. The princess promises to marry him if he waits outside her window for one hundred days and one hundred nights. The soldier holds out for 99 days, braving rain, snow, and wind, but on the night before his triumph, he picks up his stuff and he leaves, senza principessa. Salvatore doesn’t understand it. Why would the soldier fall at the final hurdle? How important does the separate entity become after ninety-nine days of care? Why might he sacrifice it for nothing in exchange? I think I’ve known, in these final few weeks of high school, exactly what the soldier was thinking.
I’ve been imagining my own graduation for as long as I can remember. I’ve imagined it a thousand different ways: With honors, without. With leaf hat, without. With diploma, without. With long dress, with short; with parents, without; with a college deposit, without. On football field, on meadow. I’ve imagined my life afterwards just as much. With job, without. Et cetera. But what if I don’t want what I think I want? What if I want something new? What if I want something else? What if I graduate only to look back and realize that something about my four years here has been unforgivably wrong? At Exeter, I’ve noticed that people have a tendency to declare their future careers as early as lower year. Once I heard a prep explaining debt securities to a friend at seven in the morning. I’m going to be an investment banker, he said. The worst part is that he’s probably right. What is this environment which simultaneously opens itself to infinite academic curiosity and closes itself to self-interrogation? I’m not implicating the future banker here so much as myself. Do I want to be an investment banker? How do I know that I don’t? I’ll say it again: What if I don’t want what I want? What if all I’ve done is a silly teenager waste of time? I know logically that that’s a fine way to pass high school, but in the supercharged Exeter environment, I just can’t convince myself. How will I feel about the person I am right now when I look back in ten years? It’s so easy to remain in the monotonous Exeter misery. I don’t think I was ever actually miserable here, a statement
Courtesy of Anne Chen which I know I’m very lucky to make. But I convince myself that the waves of days and weeks at this school, crashing upon each other like cymbals, is something miserable, a means to an end. We think, Exeter is worth it, but only because of (my friends) (my classes) (this teacher) (being away from home). We think, After graduation, I will be so happy and successful. We shop early for prom dresses and agonize over senior quotes. We tell each other that Alums say most colleges are easier and At the end of my four years I will be so (smart) (accomplished) (empathetic) (mature) (social). Now I ask myself: What if I’m not? What if Exeter is not the means to the end but our Benadryl for the middle part? Maybe after the soldier leaves, he goes off on other self-imposed misery slogs to prove the same things anew. Some of us might continue on to college and do the same. When I really think about it, that’s not what I want. It’s certainly what comes easiest to me; I want to look back, I don’t want to move forward. But I tell myself there must be no coddling after graduation. That first year in Kansas, nobody knew that I was on FaceTime so often besides Owen on the other side. I couldn’t hold myself accountable then; now I have to. Now I’ve got no other choice. Soon we’ll all move from this open-floor plan into rooms of our own.
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Congratulations Dellara!smod
We love you and are so proud of you! Love, Mom, Dad, Ana, & Caspian
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Departing Faculty Members
Viviana Santos
“Caminante, son tus huellas el camino y nada más; caminante, no hay camino, se hace camino al andar. Al andar se hace camino y al volver la vista atrás se ve la senda que nunca se ha de volver a
pisar.” Antonio Machado I will never forget my first day welcoming new students at Exeter: September 11, 2001. Little did we know that morning that the world as we knew
it had come to an end. As parents were driving students to campus, and new students were meeting their roommates, our reality as a nation was changing. As I prepare to leave
what has been my home for the past 21 years, another world-changing series of events are unfolding. Never has education been more important, and as I reflect on the time I have spent here at Exeter, I hope to leave you with some lessons learned. Make every effort to find joy in your learning. You may never again have the privilege to devote yourselves exclusively to the quest for knowledge. Read everything, always. Be thoughtful when required but be silly too. Don’t take yourselves too seriously—life is brief, much too brief to spend it chasing someone else’s dreams. Be open to new ideas, find friends in the unlikeliest places, have an open heart. Compete only with yourselves— bring your best every day
and be proud of what you have accomplished. Take time to linger over conversations, watch films that make you question and help you grow. Read poetry and be mesmerized by a work of art. Think of others and how you can make their lives better. Lead with kindness, say please and thank you and I’m sorry. I always tell my advisees that if the most interesting thing about them is their GPA, they need to reexamine how they are choosing to experience life. Life is a series of choices. You may not always make the wisest ones, but do try to make authentic choices. Be true to your roots, celebrate your identity, fitting in is overrated. Recognize that being an Exonian is not a singular thing. Keep
Departing Faculty Members William Abisalih, Science Ricardo Diaz Ortiz, Mathematics* Alexandria Frank, Classical Languages Kimberly Foote, Bennett Fellow Shimaa Ghazal, Science Aviva Halani, Mathematics Sherard Harrington, English Jackie Langevin, Health and Human Development Amanda Mellor, Mathematics* Joseph Mellor, Mathematics* Jose Molina, Mathematics Alex Myers, English Katie Powers, Science Gayatri Ramesh, Assistant Dean of Faculty/Mathematics
Eve Southworth, History Laura Stordy, Mathematics* Anthony Zhang, Mathematics* Retirees, Highlighted in Pictures: Gordon Coole, Lamont Health and Wellness Center Kirsten Russell, History Viviana Santos, Modern Languages Ralph Sneeden, English Peter Vorkink, Religion *part-time faculty
Ralph Sneeden
Gordon Coole
Kirsten Russell
Peter Vorkink
those universal values— goodness and knowledge to the benefit of humankind. But be unapologetically yourselves. There is power in your identity, and it is your relationships what gives value to your life. Be a nurturer— plants, animals, people, ideas. Be part of the solution. As you navigate the years to come, remember that human connections are more important than titles, and true friends are to be treasured. Life is an adventure, live it fully, live it joyfully, live it thoughtfully. You only get this one shot—make sure you don’t miss it! Godspeed class of 2022, and Alex, Olivia and Sophia—I couldn’t be more proud!
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Prize List THE ART PRIZES The Francke Prize in Art, established in memory of Henry Gilbert Francke Jr. of the class of 1939, and awarded to Exeter students who, because of their imagination and skill, give promise of creating beauty in architecture: Kirstin Y. Fontenot Owen P. Loustau Anja N. Meaney The Paul P. Gelles Memorial Art Scholarship Prize for outstanding work in art: Moksha Akil Sophia Campbell Kathryn Dowling Summer Faliero Avery Lavine Hannah Love Junhyung Park William Park Teja Vankireddy Hansi Zhu The Lt. John A. Larkin Jr. Memorial Prize in art for outstanding work in drawing and ceramics: Harry Gorman Delaney Miller Finneas Tronnes Grace Valashinas The Ralph Bradley Prize for excellence in art: Danielle Sung THE LATIN PRIZES Prizes for excellence in Latin are maintained from funds given in 1925 by Samuel W. Bandler in honor of John C. Kirtland; in 1932 by William H. Rand, class of 1885, in honor of Robert F. Pennell; and in 1956 by Mrs. William J. Gabel in memory of her son, William H. Gabel of the class of 1940. A prize book accompanies each first prize. Latin 110-130 1st: Karsten Vun 2nd: Bryan Chen Latin 210-230 1st: Maeve Kennedy 2nd: Sophie Zhu Latin 210-401 1st: Rishi Gurudevan 2nd: Victor Matheos Latin 310-400 1st: Audrey Zhang 2nd: Thomas Roper Latin 510-530 1st: Dellara Sheibani 2nd: Rachel Love Latin 511-531 1st: Kaylee Chen 2nd: William Turner Latin 611-631 1st: Kiesse Nanor 2nd: Ryan Kim 700-Level Latin 1st: Cyrus Braden From the income of the George Herbert Pollock Memorial Fund, established in 1974 in memory of George Herbert Pollock of the class of 1953, for that student who has shown the greatest interest and improvement in Latin literature: Cyrus Braden Dellara Sheibani THE GREEK PRIZES Prizes in Greek are funded in part by the Prentiss Cummings Book Prize Fund, established in 1906 by Prentiss Cummings of the class of 1860. The Joline Prizes, established by O.D. Joline of the class of 1885, for excellence in first-year Greek, are awarded as follows: Greek 411-431 1st: Kevin Cong
2nd: Eric Yang Greek 511-531 1st: Emma Finn Greek 611-631 1st: Daniel Zhang 2nd: Jack Archer The Hatch/Phillips Award in Latin and Greek, established in 1980 by David Edgar Baver of the class of 1942, in honor of Norman L. Hatch, Morison Professor of Latin, and Henry Phillips, Cilley Professor of Greek, is awarded each year to that graduating senior enrolled in courses in both Latin and Greek during his or her senior year who, in the judgment of the Department of Classical Languages, has shown outstanding dedication to and significant improvement in these areas of study at the Academy. Toby Chan THE GAVIT PRIZES From the income of the Lucy Lamont Gavit and the Joseph Lamont Gavit Classical Fund, given by Mr. Thomas Lamont of the Class of 1888, for the benefit of those students who commend themselves to the Faculty and Trustees for performance and promise as students of scholarly attainment in the Classics, the following awards are made: Awards with Distinction: Ben Ehrman Ryan Kim Madeline Murray Christopher Rogers Awards with High Distinction: Jack Archer Kaylee Chen Daniel Zhang Jingchu Zhang THE HAIG RAMAGE PRIZES The Haig Ramage Classical Scholarship Fund was given by Mr. William Haig Ramage, of the Class of 1905, to support annual awards to students who are pursuing studies leading to the Classical Diploma and who excel in their studies. He gave as his reason the opinion that “any student becomes a better citizen if he has a broad liberal education before entering the university and specializing.” These awards are traditionally considered to be the highest recognition of attainment in the Classics at Exeter; they are as follows: Awards with High Distinction: Michael Bean Allison Kim Anika Tsai Jingchen Wang Awards with Highest Distinction: Kevin Cong Emma Finn Kiesse Nanor Felix Zou THE ENGLISH PRIZES The English Prizes consist of the prizes established in 1896 by Dr. Abner L. Merrill of the class of 1838 for excellence in English Composition; in 1925 by Samuel Cony Manley of the class of 1885; in 1949 by Mr. and Mrs. Thomas S. Lamont, together with friends, in memory of their son, Thomas W. Lamont II, class of 1942; and in 2007 by Jane and Basil K. Vasiliou of the class of 1967. Each year students choose to submit their work in competition for these awards.
First-Year English 1st: Elizabeth Christiansen 2nd: Roxane Park 3rd: Layla Whitaker The Vasiliou ’67 Writing Prize in Second Year English 1st: Carter Otis 2nd: Natalie Welling 3rd: Maeve Kennedy The Vasiliou ’67 Writing Prize in Third Year English 1st: Zoe Chang The Prize for Short Fiction in Third and FourthYear English 1st: Kendrah Su 2nd: Daniel Zhang 3rd: Otto Do Fourth-Year English 1st: Eleanor Andreassen 2nd: Emma Finn 3rd: Otto Do The Bensinger Shakespeare Prize for best essay on a Shakespearean topic: 1st: Anne Chen 2nd: Sheala Iacobucci The Thomas W. Lamont II Prize in English Composition for the best extemporaneous essay in senior English: 1st: Garrett Paik 2nd: Emma Finn, Anya Tang The Lewis Sibley Poetry Prize for the most promising collection of original poems: 1st: Ava Yu 2nd: Alysha Lai 3rd: Jennifer Finkelstein, Daniel Zhang The Dolores Kendrick Prize for the best essay on writers of color or issues of race in literature: 1st: Ramon Lopez THE HISTORY PRIZES The Prizes for the Study of History at the Introductory Level For academic achievement: Rishi Gurudevan Meishu Han Jeonyoung Heo Michael Lu Jannah Maguire Alexandra Meyer Parmis Mokhtari-Dizaji Laura Saldarriaga Anders Toresjo Jane Vernon For attitude and approach at the Harkness table: Alessandra Bell Zihan Liu Max Mantel Adora Perry Layla Whitaker Hillary Yoon Shiqiao Zhang The Prizes for the Study of History at the Intermediate Level For academic achievement: Beeke Fock Claire Han Daria Ivanova Selim Kim Emi Levine Qianyue Ma Cee McClave Jaansi Patel Sonia Soloviova Catherine Zehner Chengyue Zhang For attitude and approach at the Harkness table: Janelle Bobb Laurie Chung Quinn Coaxum Annika Finelli David Goodall Chaeyoung Kim Miles Oberting Indigo Ogiste William Simpson Advika Verma Lucy Will
The Prizes for the Study of Economics For academic achievement: Carson Bloom Xilin Gu Vinusha Narapareddy Oliver Riordan For attitude and approach at the Harkness table: Christopher Drapeau Avery Hastings Erik Nystedt Catherine Uwakwe Jasmine Xi For outstanding dedication and vital contributions to the study of Economics at Exeter: Dong Hyun Kim The Prizes for the Study of History at the Senior Level For academic achievement: Otto Do Alexander Galli Evan Gonzalez Lina Huang Sabrina Kearney Garrett Paik Daniel Zhang The Sherman Hoar Prizes for excellence in American history: The winners of this prize will be announced in September. The Blackmar Prize in American History, given in memory of General Wilmont W. Blackmar, class of 1864, is awarded for the year’s best work in American History: The winners of this prize will be announced in September. The Frederick Whitman Prize is given by The Phillips Foundation in honor of Frederick Whitman, a teacher at the Academy, to that individual studying American History who, through application, grades, and interest contributes the most enthusiasm for the subject among students at Exeter: Carson Bloom Eleanor Bolker Lekha Masoudi Thomas Seidel Shantelle Subkhanberdina Amelia Tardy The Negley Prizes in American History for the year’s best essays: The winners of this prize will be announced in September. THE MATHEMATICS PRIZES The Mathematics Department Prizes are sustained by the William Allen Francis Fund, the George A. Wentworth Fund, the Maurice R. Scharff Prize Fund and the Lindsay Crawford Prize Fund. The prizes are for outstanding contributions to the mathematics program, and the awards are made by vote of the mathematics faculty. The Maurice R. Scharff Prizes in Advanced Mathematics: Nafees Abdullah Solu Ajene Ayaan Akhtar Haley Alden Keanen Andrews Deborah Ang Audrey Aslani-Far Amy Benson Ophelia Bentley William Bernau Alan Bu Mackenzie Carty Bryan Chen Michael Chen Neil Chowdhury Elizabeth Christiansen Mason Cotter Jacob Creelan Joey Dong Eva English
Annika Finelli Emma Finn Henry Fipp Claire Fu Emily Grace Fuller Angelina Gong Clara Gulick Tallis Guthrie Eliana Hall Claire Han Aakash Haque Avery Hastings Hannah Henris Weiyi Huang Matthew Indelicarto Daria Ivanova Preeti Jain Junhyeok Jang Ethan Jha Nathan Khuu Ella Kim Ryan Kim Grace Letendre Finn Lorgen Michael Lu Lucy Lukens Alexander Luna Sanisha Mahendra-Rajah Colin Maloney Gabriel Marcoux Victor Matheos Eric Maurus Anja Meaney Cole Meyer Adrienne Milhauser Anish Mudide Mav Murray Dhruv Nagarajan Michael Nardone Daisy Newbury Jolie Ng Advay Nomula Amarachi Nwuneli Clara Peng Adora Perry Trevor Piltch Charles Potjer Zachary Quitkin Rajiv Raval Tucker Redinger Jamie Reidy Anna Rissi Atticus Ross Peter Roth Hannah Rubin Laura Saldarriaga Yasmin Salerno Mary-Candler Schantz Paul Schilcher Caden Schroeder Amelia Scott Jenna Silvestri Sonia Soloviova Cindy Su Minjae Suh Anya Tang Riya Tyagi Tanish Tyagi Pranavi Vedula Isabella Vesely Ishaan Vohra Karsten Vun Jenna Wang Zijing Wei Natalie Welling Layla Whitaker Kamara Williams Alexa Wingate Jaqueline Wood Catherin Yan Aubrey Zhang Shiqiao Zhang
Third-Fourth-Year Chinese Ethan-Judd Barthelemy YuanHao Huang Jonathan Jeun Nathan Khuu Evangelina Thornton Fifth-Year Chinese Montana Dickerson Eric Wu Fifth-Year Chinese Electives Dong Hyun Kim The French Prizes First-Year French Parmis Mokhtari-Dizaji Anders Toresjo French Transition-210 Jannah Maguire Peter Morand Beverly Oleka Adora Perry Second-Third-Year French Solu Ajene Hannah Dirsa Claire Han Chaeyoung Kim Lucy Lukens Alexandra Meyer Elaine Qiao Third-Fourth-Year French Alia Bonanno Aymeric Dauge-Roth Avery Hastings Nat Kpodonu William Lu Nana McBrown Alexa Murat Yasmin Salerno Fifth-Year Electives Kathryn Buckham-White Sofia Coelho Tristan Fedele Lekha Masoudi Marina Pedrosa Finneas Tronnes Jaden Yun Chloe Zhu The German Prizes First-Year German Cameron Khater Chloe Richards Second-Year German William Grewal Clara Peng Third-Fourth-Year German Oliver Brandes Joey Dong Charlotte Pulkkinen Zijing Wei Fifth-Year German Anne Chen Charles Potjer The Italian Prize
The Lindsay Crawford Memorial Prize to the senior with the most outstanding career in mathematics this year:
Anja Meaney Shantelle Subkhanberdina
Kevin Cong
First-Year Japanese Maemi Carrillo
THE MODERN LANGUAGES PRIZES The Modern Language Prizes are sustained by the Annie C. Benton Memorial Fund, the Alumni Modern Language Prize Fund, the Gomez Prize, the Hugh Corby Fox Prize, the Fish French Prize Fund, the Frates Prize Fund, Independence Foundation Romance Prize and a gift in honor of Percy C. Rogers. These prizes, consisting of books, are awarded as follows: The Arabic Prize Ting Huang Taraz Lincoln The Chinese Prizes First-Year Chinese Mason Cotter Rudd Day Chaney Hollis Silja Pope Second-Year Chinese Kenza Madhi Daniel Park Gunn Sukhum
The Japanese Prizes
Second-Year Japanese Rodrigo Spinola e Castro Third-Fourth-Year Japanese Grace Nivera Fifth-Year Japanese Shiqiao Zhang The Russian Prizes First-Year Russian Victoria Mabardy Second-Year Russian William Bernau Third-Fourth-Year sian Sav Bartkovich Jack O’Brien Griffin Tierney Fifth-Year Russian Nina Potter The Spanish Prizes First-Year Spanish Rima Alsheikh Joonyoung Heo
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June 5, 2022 Spanish Transition-220 Aveen Burney Dhruv Nagarajan Jaansi Patel Layla Whitaker Second-Year Spanish Ayaan Akhtar Corinne Blaise Ryan Breen Charles Dobbins Mackenzie Carty Reed Cash Elizabeth Catizone Zachary Khambatta Emi Levine Andreas Lorgen Alexander Luna Carter Otis Nora Sharma Ishaan Vohra Third-Fourth-Year Spanish Tony Cai Michael Chen Kira Ferdyn Leela Gandhi Charles Gao Meishu Han Reginald Harris Ella Kim Sylvia Langer Lydia Osei Zachary Quitkin Achyuta Rajaram Atticus Ross Hannah Rubin Riya Tyagi Fifth-Year Spanish Carson Bloom Liam Brown Matthew Dame Emilie Dubiel Hannah Henris Grace Puchalski Sanisha Mahendra-Rajah Martha Rauch Oliver Riordan Charles Thibault Clark Wu Special Prize for excellence in two or more foreign languages offered by the Modern Languages Department: Corinne Wingate THE MUSIC PRIZES The combined William G. Saltonstall, E.S. Wells Kerr Prize recognizes those seniors who have consistently contributed to the musical life of the Academy: Moksha Akil Jack Archer Neil Chowdhury Bailey Cooper Josephine Elting Xilin Gu William Guite Shalom Headly Lina Huang Allison Kim Edward Klatskin John Lee Emma Liu Andrea Luo Jacqueline Luque Aaron Mampilly Nicholas Matheos Michelle Park Aryana Ramos-Vazquez Alana Reale Mark Seba Nicholas Talleri Anthony Tam Anya Tang Narmana Vale Jasmine Xi Seojin Yoo Jazz Prize: Ayaan Akhtar A.A. Landers Prize recognizes those seniors who have made vital contributions to the large and small music groups on campus:
ly enhanced the life of the school:
biology, chemistry and physics:
Lily Buckner Olivia McCallum Kiesse Nanor Oscair Page Maxine Park Martha Rauch Alana Reale Thomas Seidel Brian Son Shantelle Subkhanberdina Sava Thurber
Eleanor Bolker Xilin Gu Jocelyn Sides Anthony Tam Jingchen Wang Eric Yang
THE RELIGION PRIZES The Religion Department annually awards prizes for student achievement from three separate funds: the first at the level of preps and lowers; and the second and third at the level of uppers and seniors. The Arthur L. Merrick Memorial Fund Prize is awarded to the prep or lower having demonstrated excellence in the study of religion. Mackenzie Carty Annika Finelli Nathan Frankel Jannah Maguire Vir Shrestha The Abbie Manton Polleys Memorial Fund Prize is awarded to those students who have shown significant achievement in the curricular offerings of the Religion Department. Diego Buyu Yeonjae Eom Augusta Manchester Adrian Sun Angela Zhang The Nathaniel Gordon Bible Fund Prize is awarded to students who have demonstrated excellence in the study of religion. 1st: Audrey Aslani-Far, Eleanor Bolker 2nd: Anne Chen, Kira Ferdyn, Teja Vankireddy THE SCIENCE PRIZES The following prizes are funded by the Fisher Fund, the E.P. Holder Fund, the D.J. Killian Fund and the Wentworth Fund. The John and Irene MacKenty Astronomy Prize, awarded to graduating seniors who have made an outstanding contribution to the advancement of astronomy at Exeter: Dellara Sheibani The Fiske Memorial Prize, given in memory of Wintrop E. Fiske, an instructor in physics at the Academy from 1899 to 1938, is awarded for excellence in physical sciences: Kevin Cong Charles Coughlin Emma Finn Devansh Khadka Jasper Knabe Yi Liang Emma Lyle Anja Meaney Alex Morand Thomas Seidel Sava Thurber Olivia Williamson
Ethan Chang Trevor Chun Otto Do Alex Ecker Sabrina Kearney Alexander Luque Augusta Manchester Amanda Medina Liam Oliva Kosisochuku Onwuamaegbu Garrett Paik Isaac Saunders Catherine Uwakwe Aaron Venzon Nina Webber William Whitney Daniel Zhang
The David M. Bitman Prize, given in memory of David M. Bitman ’78, is awarded to students who show excellence in a wide range of science subjects:
The Eli J. Loranger III Prize recognizes those seniors whose musical excellence and generosity of spirit have significant-
The Fisher Prize, established by the Fisher Foundation, is awarded to recognize excellence in advanced courses in
Michael Bean Caitlyn Chen Emma Chen Coco Lipe Lekha Masoudi Garrett Paik Madeline Saavedra-Bagdonas Aiden Silvestri Harry Sun Anika Tsai
The Corning Benton and Dr. Corning Benton Jr. Science Department Prize, awarded to a student of two or more years in the Academy who, in the opinion of the Science Department faculty, shows outstanding promise as a future scientist: Neil Chowdhury Jacob David Alexander Galli Lina Huang Matthew Indelicarto Amanda Medina Oscair Page Michael Popik Lucy Xiao Seojin Yoo THE COMPUTER SCIENCE PRIZES Computer Science prizes are funded by an anonymous gift from a member of the class of 1975. Computer Science Lower Classmen Awards are given to students at the junior and/or lower level who have demonstrated a propensity for and superior understanding of the computer science field: Rudd Day Hannah Dirsa Marcus Lorgen Raghav Sharma Kendra Wang Computer Science Upper Classmen Awards are given to students at the upper and/or senior level who have demonstrated a propensity for and a superior understanding of the computer science field: Zander Chearavanont Aidan Hanson Caden Schroeder Cindy Su Eric Yang The Special Award in Computer Science is given to students who not only have demonstrated expertise in the field of computer science but also have given of themselves freely to further the goals of the Computer Science Department. Narmana Vale THE THEATER AND DANCE PRIZES The J. Carmen ’92 and Natalie S. ’95 Stewart Prize in dance recognizes students who exemplify the passionate spirit that Carmen and Natalie held for dance as a means of self-expression, a form of physical fitness, membership in a group in which all members are considered equal, and a vehicle for cultural awareness. The award this year is given to: Awards with High Distinction: Adediwura Adesanya Gretl Baghdadi Eleanor Bolker Caitlyn Chen Chaz Cordle Jacqueline Luque Lekha Masoudi Amanda Medina Kendrah Su Amelia Tardy Akili Tulloch Catherine Uwakwe Awards with Highest Distinction: Moksha Akil Anne Chen Grace Ding Kira Ferdyn Siona Jain Jocelyn Sides Nina Webber Marina Williams The Meir Z. Ribalow ’66 Theatre Prize is given in recognition of outstanding contributions to theater. The following priz-
es, consisting of books and the recipients’ name engraved on wall of Fisher Theater, are awarded to: Audrie Gonzales Daniela Grochalova Jasper Knabe Grace Letendre Kiesse Nanor Juliette Ortiz Caden Schroeder Amelia Scott Shantelle Subkhanberdina Amelia Tardy Grace Valashinas Riley Valashinas Marina Williams Daniel Zhang OTHER PRIZES (ANNOUNCED DURING PRIZE ASSEMBLY) The Turner Exonian Prize, given by Mr. and Mrs. Ralph Turner, parents and friends, is given annually to students who do the best writing and/ or reporting for The Exonian during the school year. Moksha Akil Lina Huang Anya Tang Daniel Zhang The Gordon Editorial Award, given by Dr. and Mrs. Gene Gordon, is awarded annually to an Exeter student who displays, through editorial journalism in publication emanating from the Academy, a passionate dedication to personal freedom, particularly freedom of conscience and its expression. With High Distinction: Otto Do With Distinction: Indrani Basu Alia Bonanno Evan Gonzalez Jessica Huang Tina Huang Minseo Kim Taraz Lincoln Amy Lum Andrea Luo Manan Mendiratta Maxine Park Safira Schiowitz Clark Wu Hansi Zhu
Sachin Shetty The John O. Heald Debating Prize Aaron Joy Anya Tang The Gifford Pinchot Prize, given by Gifford Pinchot, class of 1884, is given annually to a student who, like Gifford Pinchot, demonstrates dedication to the conservation of the nation’s natural resources: Alexander Galli Lindsay Machado The Hunter V. Farnham Prize, established by the Farnham Family to honor Mr. Farnham’s love of Africa, developed in his many trips for the Agency for International Development, for students who intend to continue the study of Africa. Kiesse K. Nanor The Scharff Prize is awarded to sons and daughters of alumni who also won prizes while they were at the Academy in the same or closely related disciplines. Emma Finn/Arti Finn, English. Cameron Khater/Russell Khater, History. Jasper Knabe/Frederick Knabe, Science. Emi Levine/Edward Levine, Spanish. Rachel Love/Peter Love, Latin. Roxane Park/Andrew Park, English. SPECIAL PRIZES The Philip Curtis Goodwin ’25 Athletic Award Presented annually to the four-year male and female who best embody the qualities of sportsmanship and participation. Molly Longfield Jacob Shapiro
The Debating Prizes
The Frank A. Weil ’48 Prize for Exemplary Growth and Promise Given by Mr. Frank A. Weil ’48, this prize recognizes students who have shown through their efforts and improvement a drive and capacity for lifelong growth. This prize seeks to emphasize that the value of an Exeter education is measured not only by a record of specific achievements but by the growth and character that is developed through “the journey taken.”
The Charles Theodore Russell Bates Debating Prize
Lydia Osei Grace Emmick Elijah Porras
William Bernau Anvi Bhate Lauren Kim Alexander Rosen Sarah Sargent Wonseok Soh
The Harvard Book Prize Given by the Harvard Club of Boston in memory of Lt. Colonel Joseph Ganahl ’22, to an outstanding upper middler.
The Academy Debating Fund Prize
Clark Shen Wu
The Exonian Staff Award, given by the faculty advisers and student editors of The Exonian for the year’s most innovative and unique newspaper feature over the past year. Alia Bonanno Tony Cai Claire Fu Jessica Huang Minseo Kim Safira Schiowitz Valerie Whitten Clark Wu
Colin Jung Tina Li Lydia Osei Yasmin Salerno Class of 1882 Debating Prizes Ophelia Bentley Cyrus Braden Kaylee Chen Matthew Dame Montana Dickerson Alexander Galli Evan Gonzalez Holden Quaresma Oluwagbemiga Salu Shrayes Upadhyayula Grace Valashinas Alexandria Westray The Glazier Prize Jaansi Patel
Speaking
The Smith Book Award Given by Smith College to an upper “in recognition of outstanding academic achievement and leadership.” Alexa Murat The Wyzanski Prize Given in honor of Judge Charles Wyzanski “to a student whose ethical beliefs and practices have contributed significantly to the welfare of the Academy or community.” Kiesse Nanor Aryana Ramos-Vazquez The Warren Burke Shepard ’84 Award In the spring of 1980, a boy named Warren Shepard was admitted to Ex-
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eter’s prep class for the following fall — the class of 1984. At the time, Warren was a student at the American Community School in Halandri, Greece, where his father was stationed in the United States foreign service. Warren never realized his dream of attending Exeter; in June 1980, he died of fulminant hepatitis. Knowing how much Warren had looked forward to being a student at the Academy, his family and friends established at Exeter a prize to be given annually, in his name, to a student at Phillips Exeter Academy who tries the hardest to realize the Exeter opportunity, as the award’s namesake would have. In addition to the award presented today, a plaque that signifies the award and its recipients hangs in the Office of the Dean of Students. Jaqueline Luque Seojin Yoo The James A. Snead ’71 Memorial Prize This prize honors a distinguished alumnus, as it annually recognizes some of the qualities and areas of interest that were essential to him. It is given to students who have written effectively on multicultural themes, who have contributed to the evolution of a nonracist culture in the community, or who have exemplified a passion for the humanities that promises to be lifelong. Otto Do Kendra Su Anya Tang The Powell Prize Given by Frank T. Buchner ’30, in memory of his grandfather, Omar Powell, “for recognition of a student or group of students who has conceived and carried out some creative idea which has resulted in a new and useful addition or benefit to the Academy community through his or her entrepreneurship, persuasiveness, innovation or leadership.” Ifeoma Ajufo Mohamed Kane Manan Mendiratta for their work in Atheletes for Racial Justice, an affinity space for athletes of color at the Academy. The Gavit Cup The Gavit Cup is presented annually at Prize Day to a member of the upper-middle class selected by members of the class and the principal in recognition of outstanding character as displayed in all phases of school life. Each year the recipient of The Gavit Cup for the previous year assists in presenting the cup. Krish Patel David T. Swift Award Established to honor David T. Swift, the award reads, “In recognition of significant contributions as dormitory proctor, in helping to create a positive residential experience at Exeter.” Ethan Aguilar (Abbot) Jack Ambrogi (Peabody) Dorothy Baker (Langdell) Indrani Basu (Moulton) Adam Belew (Front Street) Kathryn Buckham-White (Lamont) Anne Chen (Williams) Otto Do (Peabody) Emma Finn (Lamont) Alexander Galli (Main Street) Coco Lipe (Wheelwright) Mark Seba (Wentworth) Stella Shattuck (Dunbar) Kathryn Welch (Dunbar)
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Senior Spotlights
Senior of the Year: Ifeoma Ajufo
By JETT GOETZ Eager high-school runners from a scattering of prep schools pack the red Exeter track, scorching hot on the bright mid spring afternoon. Senior Ifeoma Ajufo stretches in the pack, preparing for her 100 meter race next. A sprinter and the girls track team co-captain, she plays an important role on the Exeter track and field team, and has from the very beginning when she started running for Exeter prep year. Ajufo, a three year senior, is a part of many communities on campus. From Exeter Student Service Organization (ESSO) to varsity girls’ soccer and track to starting a new club this year— Athletes for Racial Justice— she is well-known around campus and has made quite the impact on the Exeter community. Speaking about Athletes for Racial Justice, Ajufo said, “I think it was one of my favorite things that I’ve done on
campus just because I came from a high school where it was more or less diverse than Exeter, but it was more white and black. I was in the IB program. I was in more of the white side and cross country team and I was one of the only black athletes. I felt that no matter how good I got, I would never get the respect I deserve as a black athlete.” Not only a leader in sports, Ajufo has also been a leader among the Black community at the Academy. “I would say one thing that I’ve noticed this past year is bringing at least like the black students together,” Ajufo said. “I was able to help organize the black student gala. And honestly, for me, that was just an idea that I had because I was inspired by my sister, who planned a similar thing in Houston. That’s something I just want to do, cuz sometimes it can be pretty isolating sometimes if you’re the only black student in the class or you don’t have black student friends.”
Dean Hernandez, Ajufo’s current advisor, agrees and explains how Ajufo is a leader in all she does. “Ifeoma is a natural leader. Fellow students look up to her because she is steadfast in her values and cares deeply about her community whether in her athletic teams, clubs and dorm,” Hernandez said. “Ifeoma has a big heart coupled with her ability to lead is a perfect combination that embodies non sibi.” “I feel like I’m a big creator on campus. I’m organizing things and trying to make things happen, through ESSO and then through ARJ. I’m always trying to bring people together and just create more events,” Ajufo said. Throughout her time at Exeter, Ajufo has consistently demonstrated her commitment to service.“Since I was a new lower, I was really involved in ESSO. When I first got here, I joined ESSO baking, Little Sib and ESSO Dog Walking and then through my time, I was able to become a co-head my
Joy Chi/The Exonian senior year. And I also really just liked the mission of the service component of ESSO,” Ajufo said. When asked about why she applied to Exeter, Ajufo said, “Exeter seemed like that reach school that I did not expect to get into. I really liked the opportunity to have a better educational environment, because where I came from, people didn’t really take academics seriously. I felt like at Exeter, everyone kind of takes their academics seriously while they also were able to have a good time and form strong connections. So when I found out I got into Exeter, I knew for sure I was going, despite all my other acceptances.” Ajufo’s family has been very important to her and a big motivating factor as to why she came to Exeter. “I’m the last born of five and I was the first to come to Exeter. So I kind of took this opportunity as a fresh start because at my old high
school, everyone either knew me as Dr. Ajufo’s daughter or Ekene or Emeca’s sister. At Exeter I was finally able to be myself without anyone really knowing honestly on campus” Ifeoma said. “It’s not that I’m ashamed of my siblings, but I don’t really talk about my siblings because here I’m my own person, but it’s just a good feeling because no matter what they’ll be proud of me. The fact that I’m here is like a big step for my entire family and the future of my family who may come here,” Ajufo said. Throughout her time at the Academy, Ajufo has learned many lessons that she hopes to take with her after Exeter. From “ask questions and reach out to people,” to not being afraid to “create lifelong friendships,” to not doubting herself, she has excelled in all areas of Exeter life and made an impression on many people around her. Senior Chandler Pigge is one of the people Ajufo has made an impression on: “Ifeoma is truly a lively, energetic, yet caring person. She loves to be around people and has an amazing smile and laugh that brings joy to a room,” Pigge said. Senior Adam Hinton shared the growth he saw in Ajufo this year: “I feel like this year alone, Ifeoma has grown more in the aspect of self-care. She has always wanted to ‘keep it real’ and I believe that I am seeing it more and more this year. Although she is still always thoughtful and looking to put others first, I believe she now would not do so to her own detriment. I am so happy to see her grow in this way. She seems happier and I am glad to see that she doesn’t feel bad at all about finally putting herself first and simply enjoying life.” “She is like a little sister to me,” Hinton continued. “Ifeoma is very unselfish. She constantly puts others ahead of herself to ensure everyone enjoys themselves. Besides that, she is thoughtful, responsible, smart, funny, light-hearted, caring, athletic, aware, considerate, and so much more.” Ajufo plans to study public health at Cornell and po-
tentially walk onto the track team. “I really love science. This year, I was able to take human nutrition and physiology and I’m really grateful that I took those classes because I think for the longest time I was like, oh, science wasn’t always my best grade,” Ajufo said. “I actually made sure my entire senior schedule, when I got the chance, was filled with science classes. I just loved the STEM department at Exeter. Like it just makes me enjoy learning it, even though it made me like my most challenging class, I still really enjoy learning about science,” Ajufo said. Ajufo attributes some of her academic success due to the skills she’s acquired in track and soccer. “Track is a very mental sport. And so the strength that I use in track, I apply that to my everyday life. Like I have to understand nothing lasts forever. I may be doing this really hard workout or this really hard test, but it’s gonna be over eventually, “Ajufo said. “Same with if I’m going through a tough time, it’s not gonna last forever. And so I think with track and soccer, it really just tested my mental capacity outside of academics, which is really interesting. And I just used those like mentalities and applied it to my classroom instead of separating my academics and athletics.” As Ajufo graduates, Dean Hernandez looks forward to all that she will achieve in the future.“I want Ifeoma to know that she has a bright future ahead. I also trust that as she continues to let her mind and heart guide her, she will reach all the success that she deserves,” Dean Hernandez said. Pigge also shared a few words he wanted to pass onto Ajufo.“Ifeoma, I would like to say thank you for all the great memories thus far. I am glad I could come this year and be with you and the rest of our friends. Wherever you decide to go to college, I know you will excel in the college atmosphere and beyond. Thank you for being a major part of my time here. I love you FeFe and there’ s nothing you can do about it,” Pigge said.
Senior of the Year: Dorothy Baker By ANVI BHATE, KENDRA WANG Everyone on campus, whether a prep or PG, has probably watched an episode of senior Dorothy Baker’s beloved “On the Path” Instagram video series. From asking teachers and students what they would do if “the purge was real” to what the reason for their last dickey was, Baker is known all around campus for this iconic series, as well as the funny and engaging energy she brings to all she does. Over her time at Exeter, Baker has truly grown into this comedic idol and celebrated videographer, but she started off her time at the Academy as a shy middle schooler. Describing why she first chose to come to the Academy, Baker said, “My brother came as a prep and he was Class of ’18. I came up a lot to go visit him and go to soccer games, and then went to Exeter Summer School.” “I got a sense of what campus was like and what the people were like, and I loved the faculty,” BakCONT’D ON A19
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Senior of the Year: Dorothy Baker Cont’d er elaborated. “I thought the opportunity to meet people from all over the world was really exciting, so I chose to leave Baltimore and come here prep year.” From the very beginning, Exeter lived up to her expectations, especially the people and dorm community in her beloved “home,” Langdell Hall. “I always loved my dorm. The first thing I noticed was how open the upperclassmen were, and how willing they were to be friends with me,” Baker recounted her first impressions of the Academy. “I was surprised by how nice everyone was. I struggled a lot with homework and management, though. But I just liked living in a dorm.” Towards the end of middle school, Baker’s interests were worlds away from where they are now. With her old school offering only the diversity club and the leadership club, she didn’t have many opportunities to participate in extracurriculars other than sports. “I played soccer and was really into lacrosse. I was really passionate about them. I also liked making videos, but I wasn’t too good at it,” Baker said. “I was very middle-school oriented, very cringy, big-friend-group type of thing.” Through her years as an underclassman at the Academy, Baker started to develop a real talent for taking photos and making videos. “I got into photography because I took a photography class, my lower fall. I broke my elbow so I wasn’t able to play soccer, and I think the absence of sports gave room for a new part to grow,” Baker explained how these interests were first ignited. “Photography became a huge thing. I was taking pictures everywhere, of all my friends, of all my teachers, my classes, the dogs, the trees, just everything. I found something that I really loved.” Baker continued dis-
cussing how her love for photography that term led her to try and make her first video, one of her friends staring at some walls while she changed the LEDs. “I was just filming her at these walls, and then I edited it to a slowed-down ASAP Rocky song. It was really cool and very hypnotic,” she mentioned. “I posted it to my Instagram and over 50 people reposted it, all these upperclassmen were reposting it. The video got around 3000 views or something unheard of, and the support I got on it was just so insane. That was pretty much the start of my video journey at Exeter.” Baker went on to outline the rest of her journey to reaching her now-mastery, beginning with the On the Path video series she started her upper spring with Alum JaQ Lai, ’20. “In the springtime, my friend JaQ and I made this ‘On the Path’ video, where we ran around campus, asking people ‘If they had to get a tattoo on their nose, what would it be?’ It was so fun to interview people and so cool to see who I knew on campus,” Baker said. “The dynamic of interviewing people was cool. I brought that back in Senior fall to my friends, Ben and Alex, and then we started this whole series called On the Path afterwards.” “I think it’s really nice to unite the Exeter community a little bit through these interview questions. I like seeing people from different grade levels in the same compilation video,” Baker added. Following the immense success of the series, Baker discovered a newfound love for sports videography. Beginning when she managed girls’ soccer, she put in extensive time and effort into making videos for sports teams, eventually using them as hype videos to recruit a crowd for upcoming sports games. “Josh Morrisette, who was running the Big Red
Zone at the time, asked me to make a hype video for the Girls Soccer Friday night lights,” she explained how her passion for sports videos flourished. “It took me several hours to make, but it was so cool and worthwhile. When it got posted, the turnout for the game was insane, and to think I had
some part in that was just so exciting.” After the positive reactions to her first video, Baker started making more videos for many volleyball, soccer and basketball games to come. “People would point to the camera and say, ‘Dorothy’s here, Dorothy’s filming.’ No one else on campus is
really into that, so it felt really cool to have this niche interest and be able to be the person who was making sports videos and giving representation to teams.” “I also have a love for EDM music that’s not a very common interest on campus, so I like how I’m able to choose my music and do what I want with
Joy Chi/The Exonian the video,” Baker continued. “I have creative liberty with that. So that’s how I got into sports videography, and I love it. I’m really grateful that I have a small community at Exeter that supports it.”
Courtesy of Dorothy Baker
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News
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CAPS FORUM Read about the forum Mental Health Committee and Active Minds hosted featuring CAPS, B4.
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TOWN RELATIONS Read about the Academy’s interactions with the town community and student initiatives aimed to increase security, B7.
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SEXUAL CITIZENS Read about Columbia University professor Jennifer Hirsch and Princeton University professor Shamus Khan’s assembly on their study Sexual Citizens, B10.
Community Responds to Alumna’s Vanity Fair Article
At the Assembly strike, students protested against the Academy’s sexual misconduct reporting procedures. 09.13.21 By SELIM KIM, SAFRIA SCHIOWITZ, CLARK WU and ANDREW YUAN On Monday, September 13, Vanity Fair released an article, “Mr. Weber’s Confession,” by Nancy Jo Sales ’82 which detailed her experiences with the Academy’s sexual assault reporting process. Sales’ article details how Director of Student Well-Being, Dr. Christina Palmer, contacted Sales on September 10, 2020 by phone and questioned her about the allegation that now-retired English teacher David Weber had sexually assaulted her. Sales denied the allegations Palmer shared with her. However, Sales wrote that the Academy continued its investigation into her involvement with Weber, even after her denial. The investigation eventually led to Weber’s confession of “hugging and kissing a student...in the 1980s,” according to Principal William Rawson’s subsequent all-school email. Rawson addressed the impacts of the Vanity Fair article in an all-school speech on Tuesday, September 21. He promised to reexamine how the Academy will support students, student leaders and the entire school community when traumatic events occur, and to “put structures and plans in place so that we can provide students the support they need.” Additionally, Rawson promised to consider structural changes to processes concerning cases of sexual misconduct, “as we did two years ago, to better position the school, to provide support that students need when reporting an assault,” he said. “When participating in an investigation, we will ensure that we have the resources. We will ensure that we have the resources and expertise, including expert consultants where appropriate, necessary to fulfill the commitments that we make today.” On the same day, Rawson communicated with The Exonian to address questions from the Vanity Fair article. Both in this communication and his letter to the community, Rawson stated that “the article addresses
numerous complex and highly-sensitive matters, from a narrow perspective and based on incomplete or sometimes wrong information.” According to Sales’ article, Rawson’s statements during the 2019 sit-in included statements such as, “You’re saying that it’s [misconduct] happening all the time. You say whatever we’re doing, it’s not enough, so let’s figure out what more we should do, and we’ll do it,” and “I’m probably more equipped to handle these things because I have a lot of legal training...and I’m used to seeing two sides to a story.’” In an interview with The Exonian, Rawson clarified that he intended to understand how the rate at which students reported sexual assault “might relate to concerns about the reporting process and the support victims will receive, and how it relates to other factors that need to be addressed on our campus.” “There is no perfect process for reporting something so painful and personal as sexual assault, but we want a process that victims of sexual assault will use, and we want victims to feel supported throughout,” Rawson said. “The Academy views cases of sexual assault first and foremost as deeply painful, sensitive matters, but they do have a legal component as we are required to report all allegations of sexual assault to the Exeter Police Department,” Rawson added. “Our goal always is to conduct an investigation, and make any subsequent public disclosure, in a way that minimizes harm to survivors and anyone else who might be impacted by the investigation.” “I do not investigate allegations of student sexual misconduct, and do not decide if an assault has occurred. We have a diverse team of experienced professionals on campus who handle cases and work with independent outside investigators who examine the facts,” Rawson said. “I do believe my past training is helpful and important to my understanding of these issues and my oversight role, and I continue to undertake training on these very important subjects. I
also spend time advancing our preventative measures, and supporting colleagues who focus on that important work,” Rawson continued. Director of Student WellBeing Christina Palmer expressed that the Vanity Fair article does not accurately portray the nature of her work and the relationships she has formed in her four years at the Academy. In the Vanity Fair article, Sales wrote of her conversation with Palmer: “So that’s why I was stunned when, on September 10, 2020, I got a call from Palmer, asking me brusquely, after a few pleasantries: ‘When you were a student at Exeter, did you have a sexual relationship with Mr. Weber?’ She advised me it would be best if I could be brief, as she only had a few minutes for this conversation.” When asked if this was an accurate characterization of the interaction, Palmer wrote, “When allegations about reportable incidents are made, my role is to inform, not interview or investigate an alleged victim/survivor, so they are not blindsided by a possible call from the police. I also offer support and resources. Sometimes the alleged victim/survivor shares information with me, but I don’t seek out that information by asking questions. More often than not, the alleged victim/ survivor will have many questions which I cannot answer (because I don’t know the answers/details).” “It is important to note, when historical allegations are made that are reportable, even if a victim/survivor denies the allegations, we are legally required to report them to the Exeter Police Department according to the Memorandum of Understanding with them. Cases are handled by a group of people who support students or alums as they understand the details of what happened. No one person does this work alone.” Palmer continued. Palmer provided an overview of the reporting process for sexual assault cases on campus. She noted that few reports of sexual assault are made directly to her, “as students will often go to teachers, advisers, or other adults they know.” “Once someone has made me aware of a possible report, I reach out to the
student and their adviser to set up a meeting. I always meet with students who may have been harmed with another adult present. This practice is to ensure the student has someone that they are comfortable with,” Palmer said. “I have never been in a position that I had so many ongoing cases that I could not manage or give my focused attention and support to a student. I do not investigate allegations of student sexual misconduct, do not decide if an assault has occurred and have no influence over the investigation or discipline outcomes of cases,” Palmer said. Palmer emphasized that “all my decisions, communications and organization in regards to reporting happen in consultation with others; I am in constant communication with the assistant principal, general counsel, dean of students and Exeter Police.” Palmer also discussed her implementations, including an Affirmative Consent Policy as well as several allcampus curricula embedded in Health and Human Development classes. “I will always seek to partner with students about support and justice for those harmed by sexual violence,” Palmer said. “I also recognize for some students that you may have lost trust in me, my role, and the school reporting process, and therefore, I believe it is important to speak as much as I can with students without breaching confidentiality. My door is open to any and all students who want to speak with me,” Palmer continued. Among other programs and training for handling of sexual assault cases, Palmer is a member of the Rockingham County Sexual Assault Response Team (SART), and attends its monthly meetings. “I am the only educator who regularly attends along with law enforcement, county DA’s office, child advocates, HAVEN and other professionals in this field,” she said. SART meetings focus on informing attendees about laws regarding sexual assault and best practices for handling cases of sexual assault, as well as case studies. Palmer emphasized
Courtesy of William Park that her role in reports of misconduct is not to be an interviewer or investigator. Rather, “I am determining if an incident is reportable or not,” she stated. “My focus is safety, support and care for the student, informing them that I believe them,” Palmer continued. She also directs students to support systems such as counselors both within and outside of school and HAVEN. Palmer said that she then explains the reporting process to the student, “the possibility of a school investigation and their right to decide if they want to participate in it or not, and the process of informing parents.” “It’s important to note,” Palmer continued, “if a student wants to meet with someone else besides me initially or at some other time in the process, they can ask their adviser or another trusted adult.” Student Leaders React to Rawson’s Initial Email The Academy’s initial response to Sales’ article was unsatisfactory to many students. Senior and Transitions co-head Adaeze Barrah felt “disgusted.” “Reading Rawson’s email was in and of itself disappointing (we’re dealing with this again?), but after reading the article in conjunction with the school’s response, I felt an element of disrespect,” Barrah said. “Sales denounces Palmer and Rawson as a result of their poor response to a prospective sexual assault, and here Rawson is recommending Palmer as an outlet in his email.” “The only thing I’m able to say is that we’re dealing with the same problems,” Barrah said. “I would like to see the Academy invest in multiple counselors that are more diverse and more trauma informed. I would like to see the Academy shift the burden of caring for survivors from literal children to the people whom they pay to take care of said survivors...I remain cynical, but who am I to say that the Academy isn’t working to that end?” “I feel as though the Academy employs a policy against sexual assault on the grounds that it is considered ethically wrong, but not necessarily on the grounds that it is personally
damaging to be a survivor,” Barrah added. “The culture of continuously supporting survivors does not seem to be there because the general consensus isn’t that people support survivors; it’s just that sexual assault is wrong. This culture perpetuates the idea that a stance against sexual assault comes from an appeal to reputation rather than an appeal to the legitimate emotions of human beings.” Senior and Exonians Against Sexual Assault (EASA) co-head Lyric Zimmerman shared similar thoughts. “I felt nausea and anger. A lot of anger. It’s one thing to normalize assault on campus. It’s another thing to normalize complete disregard for the words coming out of a victim’s mouth. It’s something you can barely comprehend as a human being,” Zimmerman said. “The things Sales touched on in her article makes you feel ashamed to be a part of this school, to use this school’s name to get into college. Makes me ashamed for doing any of that.” “We just want news, information, communication, not just complete disregard for our humanity. I would’ve liked to see some proper accountability and an apology. I would like a f[******] apology. That would be beautiful to hear,” Zimmerman added. “That they understand what they did, how much they hurt. You hear the word harm, but you never hear ‘I am so sorry for the pain that I inflicted, how my ignorance and my stupidity and my inability to empathize and to think harmed you.’” “Until we can say that every student is being supported and loved, until we can say that the kids who are using their power to inflict pain have stopped, the culture of sexual assault is not abolished in any form. Posters don’t change that. Maybe taking away school dances and public forms of interaction in times of COVID gave people the perception that it changed, but it didn’t,” Zimmerman said. “This was evident when kids started laughing over a letter to the community sent during one of our school blocks. I don’t believe there’s been any change because we weren’t yelling CONT’D ON B2
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Community Responds to Article, Cont’d loud enough. The school’s not losing money. They’re not losing social status or appeal. They’re not losing the alumni’s support,” Zimmerman reflected. “If the endowment isn’t being affected, from an administrative standpoint, why would they change the system?” Members of the Student Council (StuCo) have considered their role in recent events and discussions. Senior and Student Council Vice President George Venci said upon reading the Vanity Fair article, his “first instinct was to help and provide support to all students and ensure a sense of community for all students.” He sent an email encouraging dormitory and residential representatives to extend support to students. “An alternative purpose [for the email] was to support those dormitory and residential representatives and reiterate that the Executive Board has their back. Student leaders need to make themselves available and accessible to the students in their dorm. I hope that StuCo can always encourage that for our members,” Venci said. Venci said that the Student Council can “stay active in the discussions with the administration” in the future, bringing up the student body’s concerns about sexual assault reporting policies during one of their regular meetings with Rawson, as well as stay updated on the investigation protocols. Gender Sexuality Alliance (GSA) co-heads senior Jaden Sides and lower Rowan Flanagan had different reactions to the Academy’s response. Flanagan felt “shock” and believed that both the article and Rawson’s email were revealing of “the true colors of the campus and the Administration.” Sides agreed and noted the “powerless” and “desensitized” feeling that came along with hearing about the article. “I felt so numb to it...I wasn’t particularly surprised...I was here for this sit-in my prep year. I was here when all this stuff was released about Kaminski and when this stuff was originally released about Weber,” Sides said. “When first hearing about it, it felt like this awful sense of ‘this has happened before.’ I felt kind of just a sense of acknowledgement and then a bit horrified with myself that this is what I consider normal.” Many students have recognized that the Academy’s policies disproportionately harm BIPOC students and queer students. “Queer students are very ignored, in the concept of reporting. A lot of these policies are horribly exclusionary to students,” Sides said. “They...can’t
report without having their relationship outed and being forced to move dorms, having their parents notified and being outed to the community...the pressure is especially there for LGBTQ+ students on this campus and the disparities in reporting...I imagine that reporting would be even less common among LGBTQ+ students.” Flanagan pointed out the increased risk marginalized populations are at for assault. “GSA, Black people, Black women, people of color … in general, are statistically more likely to be victims of sexual assault, but also statistically less likely to be listened to, or to be given proper justice for what has been done to them…,” Flanagan said. Barrah shared similar thoughts. “I am a Black girl. I am statistically more likely to be sexually assaulted. I think this amplifies my feelings on the issue because I have more of a personal stake in what my communities think about sexual assault,” Barrah said. “I hate having to say this, because it’s almost as though I am predicting that it will happen to me (God forbid!) but I have to be frank. I really don’t feel very safe anymore.” Since the Academy’s response, many student leaders have felt the burden to support the entirety of the student body’s distress. “I felt like I had to be a monolith. I felt like I had to represent all of my identities and be the person that a lot of people could come to and talk to,” Flanagan said. “I felt that...I needed to be involved with everything possible because I didn’t want someone to look around and not see themselves represented... even if that requires stretching myself thin. I felt I had to sacrifice some of myself, in order to help others.” On Thursday, September 16, three days after the release of the Vanity Fair article, student leaders from EASA, GSA, Fem Club and Transitions held a community space for “grief, healing, support for queer and BIPOC students, tangible action, and questions,” according to their email. “As coheads of the Feminist Union, Exonians Against Sexual Assault, Transitions, and Gender & Sexuality Alliance, we’ve noticed a repeated pattern of behavior, routine letters from the Principal, and a complete lack of change,” the email stated. “We want to acknowledge and give autonomy to the complex nature of Ms. Sales’ story, but importantly, we want to note that her article has sparked conversations about sexual assault reporting on our campus and has shed light on how the reporting process fails to be traumainformed.” “We understand that for the older students at Exeter,
this article may bring to mind the tiring cycle of demanding transparency about the reporting process and sexual assault on our campus and in turn, failing to see substantive change from the administration. For new students at Exeter, we understand that this article is jarring—our campus is a place where you should feel safe, and we are deeply disappointed that this will have sparked your first conversations on campus about sexual assault, consent, and healthy relationships,” the email continued. Upper and Transitions co-head Priya Nwakanma described the planning process behind the Community Healing Session. EASA, Feminist Club, GSA and Transitions co-heads met on Tuesday, September 14 and spent the following two days organizing the event. Nwakanma said that the Community Healing Session, “in contrast to the protest, was a collaboration between the students and the administration.” “We met with some [of the] deans and we got their suggestions, we got their concerns and we did our best to address those concerns,” Nwakanma said. “A lot that went into it, a lot of people who had to sign off on it, and [it was] a lot of work for everyone involved.” Additionally, Nwakanma commented on the improved inclusivity of the conversations about sexual assault among student leaders. “I really respect and admire Fem Club leaders for making the decision to loop Transitions into this, because I know originally it was just Fem Club and EASA, and they felt like they needed a voice specifically for women of color. And obviously they looped GSA into it as well. I think that was a good decision,” she said. Sides shared their reflections on attending the community space. “Since we had affinity spaces, I feel like a lot of people left with a stronger feeling of community and a stronger feeling that they are not alone here and that there are people that they can go to. Exeter, despite its flaws, is not just this miserable place of just you go there and you’re bound to just be just sad,” Sides said. Zimmerman said, “I hope people who attended the community circle left feeling heard at the end of the day. I wanted them to walk out of the Thompson Gym feeling as though their anger, their sadness and their confusion, in some way, shape or form, was a little lifted from their shoulders from just listening to others. In listening to the voices and the ideas and the pain of others and in keeping the pride and the passion of others with them. That is how you build community.” Some students believe
that much of the solution to the Academy’s problems lie in institutional changes that encourage a shift in perspective to the way sexual assault cases are handled. Sides said, “There has to be a system in place where the people that are receiving these reports are able to be trusted and possibly are more relatable to the student body so that there are people of color students can report to—people that they feel understand their experience in that these reports are actually acknowledged and are looked at not through a legal lens, but through a lens of ‘this student is hurt. What, what does the student need?’” “I know people of color, queer people, and people of other disproportionately affected minorities that have reported sexual assaults and been ignored by Palmer, by CAPS, by admin, by everybody. I know people have reported at different times and gotten ignored regardless of whether it was four years ago or one year ago,” Sides added. Flanagan expressed similar thoughts and added how trained professionals were needed within the reporting and handling process. “We are teenagers and you need years and years of training to know how to make things traumacentered. And Palmer is not trained in that. We are not trained in that. You need professionals that are trained in how to deal with trauma, “ Flanagan said. “So expecting Palmer and students, and any people that do not have that training, is unreasonable and will further traumatize people.” When interviewed by The Exonian, Palmer provided a statement regarding her work experience and reaction to the Vanity Fair article. Her statement can be found in the top right corner of this page. Senior Harry Gorman said, “You know, sexual assault is happening on this campus. We know it exists, and we know that the processes in place are ill-considered. But it’s all hanging in the air. Reading the history of sexual assault in the article and thinking about just the utter lack of respect the survivors faced was a horrifying experience. We need victims to be able to find some peace afterwards, or at the very least be able to go on the path to find peace while on this campus.” “It is our collective grief and anger and sadness and the collective sense of totally being fed up with all this that drove this change. We truly owe our thanks to the student leaders who stood up during Community Healing and during the protest on Friday,” Gorman added. Entering the Academy as a new upper last year, Gorman noted that as a newer member of the Exeter
community he felt less entitled to have a voice during this time of change. “Having family who came here before myself, I knew a little about what was going on. It’s not uncomfortable for me to join in these conversations, and I wouldn’t say I’m excluded from these conversations, but I’m always cautious to not step over others who have more experience being at the Academy than myself.” Sides agreed. “There are things that happen that are just really like a slap in the face and where you realize ‘oh, so this is what’s happening,” Sides said. “It’s not just the Administration that doesn’t care. It’s not just certain students that don’t care. It’s not just specific teachers. It’s really ingrained in the culture of the academy.” Flanagan said, “I think for me, which is incredibly just sad...is having a conversation with preps about how to dress when they have certain classes and certain teachers, and having to warn them about the fact that they’re not safe in their own school environment and that not every adult that they are told to trust can be trusted.“ “There is kind of little that you can do about that…‘disheartening’ is the lightest word I can use in this circumstance,” Flanagan continued. Senior Lindsay Machado noted how, although there seems to be some form of change, most efforts are still student-led. “All [the Academy] is really doing is renaming these policies to something that’s more palatable to students...I don’t think we’re really accomplishing anything at all. There have been changes in the past few years that I have appreciated: more consent workshops, more education and awareness for students...And I really think that credit goes to EASA,” Machado said. “I think the administration is listening and I think they see us and I think they hear us, but ultimately this school is a business with a legal reputation. And I think that any leader or trustee board of said school is going to prioritize that first.” Machado added, “It hit me the other day when I was walking to class and I saw my good friend, Ana Casey, who is a co-head of EASA and had been doing so much in the last week...I saw her walking to class and she had, you know, the backpack and it kind of hit me that Ana is just a high school student and she is...still legally a child.” Like many students who attended the Academy in 2019, senior Teja Vankireddy expressed that the wave of change initiated by the sitin at that time seemed to subside after a few weeks. V a n k i r e d d y acknowledged that there were some changes
implemented after the sit-in, such the discontinuation of Principal’s Discretion and the creation of the Sexual Misconduct Committee. However, in Vankireddy’s view, the sentiments surrounding sexual assault on campus did not change. Vankireddy hopes that the demands outlined in the petition written by student leaders will catalyze improvements to the Academy’s response to sexual assault cases. “I think they did a really good job of picking out tangible actions the school could take. Because a lot of what the school does is very performative, in that it’s just spewing different [words] like ‘we will do better.’” Vankireddy recalled finding out about the Vanity Fair article before its publication. “There was a faculty email that was sent out the day before [the article publication]. I was in the common room and then an anonymous faculty member said something about the article,” Vankireddy said. “And then I went online. I looked at it, looked it up and it was releasing the next day.” Upper Ina Mason commented on how Academy culture surrounding sexual assault has remained unchanged. “I think that the culture of this school is one that we have not talked about for a long time, because in personal experience and just hearing from other people, people are getting hurt on this campus,” Mason said. Additionally, Mason expressed that “the nature of [how] people talk about women is not healthy. It’s not good. It’s not right. Because a lot of people say that certain things are over-exaggerated when things are reported, that they’re ‘small’ things and that whoever was the victim was over-exaggerating or over-emotional.” Mason hopes that misconceptions about sexual assault and sexual assault victims can be dismantled and that conversations surrounding them can be expanded to consistently include voices from people of all identities. The wide range of student reactions to the Vanity Fair article seem to share a desire for progress, which students reported not experiencing despite Rawson’s promises during and in the aftermath of the 2019 sit-in. The lack of trust between the Academy and the student body prompted student leaders to demand changes to the Academy’s handling of sexual assault on campus in a protest that started on September 17. The community awaits as the Academy reevaluates its processes, policies and culture.
Excerpted Statement from Dr. Palmer I feel disheartened. Disheartened that my work in support of victims/survivors on this campus is being over shadowed by this article that does not describe my work and the relationships I have on this campus. This work is my passion and career, and I am proud of what has been accomplished. I have felt honored to be
one of the voices at the table for victims/ survivors and anyone else impacted by sexual violence to ensure that this work remains a priority and does not get lost at the school. I understand for many victims/survivors, it might feel that no one cares or gets it…which is untrue. In my 4 years here we have estab-
lished an Affirmative Consent Policy, an all-campus curriculum embedded in HHD classes on Consent, Healthy Relationships, Bystander training, dating violence, resources and now boundaries (which will be new this year). Being able to bring required programming such as HAVEN’s Consent workshop, Bound-
ary, and Bystander workshops, Now that We’re Men (the play), introducing last year our first Take Back the Night (to give victims/ survivors a space to speak), celebrating Denim Day, restorative justice circle practice that helped influence community conduct, being a part of the development and establishing a protocolprac-
tice for reporting as well as inviting student clubs such as EASA and Fem club to partner in some of these programs, including presenting to student leaders about the reporting process this year. I will always seek to partner with students about support/ justice for those harmed by sexual violence.
I also recognize for some students that you may have lost trust in me, my role, and the school reporting process and therefore I believe it is important to speak or as much as I can with students without breaching confidentiality. My door is open to any and all students who want to speak with me.
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Student Leaders Protest Academy’s Sexual Misconduct Reporting Policy 09.13.21 By ANVI BHATE, LAUREN KIM, MINSEO KIM. ELLIE ANA SPERANTSAS, KENDRA WANG and ANDREW YUAN “Take back our childhood.” “Hold the Academy accountable.” “BELIEVE + PRIORITIZE SURVIVORS.” Boldly lettered on cardstock, these words embodied the stances of students on strike from classes last Friday as they demanded a response from the Academy addressing its history of sexual misconduct. Following the publication of Nancy Jo Sales’ ’82 Vanity Fair article entailing the Academy’s sexual assault cases, student leaders of the Gender Sexuality Alliance (GSA), Exonians Against Sexual Assault (EASA), Feminist Union and Transitions collaborated to organize an Assembly protest September 17 on the Academy Lawn, where the leaders shared personal anecdotes and encouraged fellow Exonians to sign a petition asking to “hold the Academy accountable for supporting its Student Leaders” in regard to sexual assault cases. This petition voiced the “unfair burden that the Academy places on student leaders due to their negligence in communications surrounding sexual misconduct” and outlines specific demands and calls for accountability; it is published in full on page 8 in this issue of The Exonian. Later, students began a class strike, congregating on the steps of the Lamont Art Gallery for the remainder of the school day, demanding that the Academy recognize the levels of student distress and emotional wellbeing. Led by members of the Feminist Union, EASA, GSA and Transitions, the Assembly protest lasted for 30 minutes, with students, faculty, staff members and deans present. Student leaders delivered speeches demanding changes and expressing disappointments in the Academy’s sexual assault reporting policies. As senior Michelle Park read to the hundreds of students and faculty gathered on the Academy lawn: “To the preps and lowers: welcome to campus. I bet that this is not how you expected your first week of school to go, but this is Exeter for you.” Assembly Protest Student Leader Speeches Senior and Feminist Union co-head Siona Jain described sexism at the Academy. “When you are a woman at Exeter, you will be told your voice doesn’t matter even when the matter concerns you. When you’re a woman at Exeter, you will be judged, not based on what you bring to the table, but based on your stomach, shoulders, and chest. You may not be considered a scholar or leader when you’re a woman,”
Jain said in her speech at the protest. Upper and EASA cohead Riley Jones added to the discussion of the culture of sexual assault at Exeter. “Like many of you, I was given ‘the talk’ by my parents the night before I moved into Exeter. My mom sat me down and we made a plan. Always stand by the door. Never go into a faculty member’s home alone. Always tell someone where you are. Don’t walk by yourself at night. I assured her that I would be fine, that we would probably never see more allegations in the news, and that Exeter is a place where I will, above all, I will be safe,” Jones said. “But after every ‘Letter To Our Community’ that pops up out of nowhere in my inbox, I realize how wrong I was. Three years later I can tell you with certainty that I do not feel safe. I am scared.” “At just 16 I have also been forced to pick up slack from the administration. To help new students process their own fear, sadness, and uncertainty,” Jones continued. “And so I do. I talk with them at night, in the common room, the hallway, and the bathroom. I listen to them while they cry. I listen while they question their decision to come here. I listen while they question their safety. I listen when they ask, ‘What if it happens to me?’” “I am up here not because I want to be, but because this needs to end here. Because children should not have to pick up the burden left to us by the administration. And because we should not live in a community where we are scared,” Jones concluded. Upper and Transitions co-head Priya Nwakanma echoed Jones’ sentiment in her speech, stating that students alone should not have to carry the burden of recent events. “Nothing about this week has been easy. There is a wave of quiet anger and a boiling sadness, and for some people, it’s their very first week here. They expected to spend this week walking carefully through Exeter’s historical hallways, upholding the reputation that the administration tries so hard to protect. Instead, they have been witness to the incredible grief of a community trying to reckon with itself.” Nwakanma questioned, “How many people on this campus are called into Dr. Palmer’s office and treated not like victims, but like legal matters? How many people need to rehash each detail of their sexual assault until they’re once again intimately aware of every curve of the memory? How many people, in an attempt to reclaim their agency, have it taken from them all over again? The answer is already too many.” Senior and EASA co-head Ana Casey assuaged other students. “You do not deserve to go through what we have been through and what this school has put us through,” Casey said. “You do not deserve to
Students gather on the Lamont Gallery steps for a class strike.
shoulder the responsibility that the administration refuses to acknowledge is actually theirs.” “However old you are, you are too young to be doing the administration’s job for them. You deserve to feel like a kid. You deserve to enjoy school and learning and friends without this burden,” Casey continued. “And so all of us are standing up here on the steps today to tell you that that burden that was passed down to us, will not be passed to anyone ever again. It ends with us.” Upper and Transitions cohead Ki Odums demanded change to the school’s environment and the emotional burden students shoulder in supporting their peers in unsafe environments. “This is an outcry of change; change that is long overdue, change that allows children to be children and not feel the burden of responsibility to take on the role of an adult for their peers, and change that is necessary to create an environment where sexual assault is not a primary concern for students during their second week of high school. This has not been the first time where conversations about sexual assault have arose on campus: this is a continuation. We as students have had enough. We want this year to be the final year where students who are here to learn feel obligated to assume the position of primary counselors,” Odums said. Upper and Transitions cohead Lydia Osei criticized the administration’s actions: “All of us gathering here together shows that we aren’t and haven’t been taken seriously. It shows that students aren’t the focus and we’re not willing to wait any longer for the administration to care about the wellbeing of the students. It shows that we want change.” Senior and EASA co-head Lyric Zimmerman called for an end to complacency. “No longer will I accept the expectation for greatness while it’s paired with no respect. I reject the undue burden thrust upon me to teach children wrong from right. I refuse to normalize that which hurts others for the sake of an elitist ignorance. I say this to ensure that no one after us goes through what those before us survived. I am done with my fear of this institution in which I am expected to change. Here’s to the end of complacency,” Zimmerman said. Upper and Feminist Union co-head Jennifer Finklestein recited an alumni’s call to action, which was directed to the Academy and its next steps. “I am grateful for the faculty and students who make Exeter the amazing place it is. I’m ready for Exeter to embrace this challenge for real, with honesty, transparency and dedication to getting it right. I hope Exeter can see this moment as the challenge that it is, and rise up to meet it.” Jain concluded her speech by addressing the
Joy Chi/The Exonian
Senior and Feminist Union co-head Michelle Park speaks at the Assembly strike. administration. “To the admin, do better or pay me. I, along with all of the amazing activists on campus, deserve to be a kid. Hire a consultant, an advocator with sexual assault experience. Make the survivor feel comforted, cared for, and listened to. We come first.” Assembly Protest Organizer Reflections A list of demands drafted by student leaders was signed at the protest and online, calling for changes in the Academy’s commitment to creating a safe environment for students. Jain explained the motivation behind the assembly strike. “Our main goal was to protest the undue burden on student leaders, the lack of trauma informed care, and survivor-centered conversations,” Jain said. Senior Janessa Vargas described the burden students face when coping with sexual assault trauma on their own. “We have no experience working in advocacy. We have not been professionally trained to deal with survivors of sexual assault in their trauma and how to do that in the best way. We’re advocating the best we can, but in no way the best possible way we could.” Osei agreed, citing the need for support on campus. “A lot of students felt left in the dark and we felt a lot of pressure to be there and support students. The sexual assault policies weren’t being discussed too often by adults on campus and none of my teachers brought it up until the protest,” Osei said. “We are tired of the level of pressure on us, especially this early. It’s also important to recognize that this is not normal. We deserve to be heard, to be listened to and to be taken seriously.” Zimmerman felt “incredible immense pride” when she stood up “I felt pride in that moment when I stood up there, speaking to everyone. Incredible immense pride. The support I felt in that moment, when the school watched me speak, listened to me, and how I articulated how badly this school did me wrong, did us wrong. That was a moment
of euphoria. That I could physically see a difference being made, even if it was for 45 minutes.” Jones added, “the article was a tough read and I was super shaken up, and I expected there to be more to the letter to our community email that we received, where they used all of this passive language of like ‘We’re so sorry for the hurt that you feel that we have caused you,’ and it was really troubling that they referenced Dr. Palmer as someone to go see, even when the article was about her.” “And so I expected that maybe we would talk about it more. And I went to a Student Listener that night, and I figured that we would have a conversation about it there, but we didn’t,” Jones continued. “And so I think at the core, I was seen throughout the week by so many different students who had stories to share and concerns, and were scared that they weren’t safe here. And the school did nothing to help prepare us or support us while we were giving those conversations,” Jones said. Senior and EASA co-head Lila Busser spoke about how teachers expect student leaders to act like adults. “The school doesn’t tell us what’s going on. They don’t tell us when they’re making changes, or what the rules are, or why we can’t know things, or what the legality is behind all of this, so they treat us like children in that respect,” she said. “But they treat us like adults in that they expect us to be able to uphold and support the community while also trying to support ourselves, take care of our academics, sports, extracurriculars, clubs that we co-head, being student listeners and proctors.” “And then also our social lives, being friends with people, loving high school. Like experiencing the things that we’re supposed to experience when we’re kids, which is what we are,” they continued. Class Protest Soon after the assembly protest, some students gathered on the stairs in front
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Courtesy of William Park of the Lamont Art Gallery, calling for a class strike. Senior Ela Andreassen, one of the class strike organizers, stated that the strike was “to support the people who are feeling like they were emotionally unstable to go to class and they weren’t feeling completely right. And it’s okay. Because some of the other people here are also supporting you and we’re also getting the same punishment.” Feminist Union and EASA club members were informed of, but asked not to be affiliated with, the class strike. “We already planned to meet with the administration and we worked hard to be so careful about the planning so it could lead to productive conversation. There were parts of the class strike that we didn’t think would lend themselves towards that productivity,” Casey said. “I think the ‘Dick me’ signs were really inflammatory and to people who are not affiliated with the school, it sounds weird.” “We were intentional on centering women, victims and BIPOC students in our assembly strike, which I think a majority of our group identifies as,” Casey continued. “It didn’t feel like the class strike had that same aspect in mind, at least not as prominently as we did. In the end, we were too exhausted to change any of the plans we had, and it was easier to stick with what we had planned and make it clear to everyone else.” Busser built on that idea. “Especially since Transitions is run primarily by women of color and people of color, it’s very easy for something like that to take away from the assembly strike,” they commented. “At the same time, I respect everyone and their actions.” “Another thing is a lot of the faculty were really supportive of what we were doing and we were not striking against the faculty, we were striking against the way that the admin has taken care of the situation and all the situations before it,” she continued. “I think when you strike against CONT’D ON B4
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Student Leaders Protest, Cont’d faculty who are mostly on our side, it starts to erode some of that trust there and the support that they can make.” Rawson Responds Student leaders met with Principal William Rawson Monday to discuss possible policy changes and scheduled further meetings with other relevant faculty. “Currently our plans depend on how the administration follows through. I had a meeting with them Monday night along with several other co-heads,” Jain said. “They were very receptive, and I’m cautiously optimistic.” “We have work to do,” Rawson said in a speech to the Academy during the Core Values Project timeslot on September 21. “I hope the collaboration with students that followed the 2019 sitin will provide a model for collaborative work with students now.” In an interview with The Exonian, Rawson expressed his opinions on the efficacy of the strikes. “Students must judge this for themselves. My door is always open to hear concerns of students, and I always favor working together toward common goals. There
will be times when we disagree on some issues, or times when competing considerations preclude some actions that the students would like the school to take, but I believe talking through the issues is the best way to achieve some common understanding under such circumstances.”
Community Reflections and Reactions EASA advisor Barbara Desmond shared reactions of students shaken by the events. “I am hearing students express frustration that the school is not paying enough attention to the emotional impact of reports of sexual misconduct, from the past and recent past, on our current students,” Desmond said. “The students in my classes were sobered by the protest. They appreciated the chance to talk about it a bit, while also acknowledging and respecting that not everyone may want to talk about it in class.” In response to the protest, English Instructor Patricia Burke decided to make space during Harkness discussions for her students on Friday. “My students had some inclass brainstorming for their next essay, and I added an open
topic in case they needed to write about their experience at the protest or about the article,” Burke said. “This gave them a private space to process, reflect, or think about something else. I did not collect these.” English Instructor Mercy Carbonell supported students’ demands for changes and hoped for further changes in reporting policies. “I stand in solidarity with the organizers of the Community Healing on Thursday and the protest on Friday,” Carbonell said. “While I believe in student activism and have witnessed the ways in which youthbased activism can make radical, essential change, I do not believe the labor should fall on students. As adults, we all must be trained in sexual assault prevention and must all practice trauma-informed care.” “[Student leaders] should not have to be responsible for demanding change and raising awareness that will allow students to feel safe/ respected. And yet what they created, designed & offered are acts of stunning courage, vulnerability, vision, purpose, and justice,” Carbonell said. Senior and former Student Council co-president Charlotte
Lisa ’21 agreed that the students did some admirable and impactful work. “All the best change that I’ve seen at Exeter is because of student protests,” Lisa said. “I couldn’t be prouder of students protesting and putting in that emotional work and emotional labor to do that.” In response to Sales’ letter, Lisa expressed her opinions about the Academy not holding themselves accountable even after the article was published. “What the student leaders are asking for at this point feels a little bit like the bare minimum,” she said. “Like I think the academy needs to acknowledge the harm its failure to handle the cases has caused. They need to hold themselves accountable. They need to support the student leaders.” The student leaders also received incredible support from the alumni community, who were equally angry with the way the school was handling these cases. “I think alumni I’ve spoken with are quite mad at the administration. If we were there, we’d be in the front lines of the protest, striking assembly,” Lisa commented. “We’re really worried about our good friends
that are still there and having to deal with this, because it’s so emotionally taxing. I think we’ve been sending out a lot of texts to our good friends. Like, ‘Hey, please reach out if you need anything.’” Those involved in conversations surrounding the Academy’s handling of sexual misconduct did not just include returning students, faculty and alumni. New students offered their support as well. Prep Aiden Vieara-McCarthy said, “There have been events in the past few days at PEA [Phillips Exeter Academy] where kids have protested and have not gone to class because they’re wanting to protest an issue that the administration has been dealing with. And I think that the school has a long history of sexual assault that hasn’t gotten better over time. I think that what the students did was good. I think that they saw that they had an issue, they exercised their right to protest, and it was effective.” Prep Sophia Jia said, “Throughout the admissions process, I’ve done a lot of research into the schools I applied to. And this is not only Exeter. I’ve seen a lot of stuff like this that has happened and that was one of my more major
concerns when I was applying to boarding school. But I never thought that it was right in front of me, not until now.” In an email sent to The Exonian, Sales expressed her gratitude and respect for the assembly and class strike: “To the students of Exeter: I’ve been a journalist for almost thirty years, but I’ve never been more moved by the readers of any story I’ve done than I am by you. To see you rise up and take over this narrative and transform it in a positive way has been a wonderful thing to behold. Your support of each other, your commitment to change, and the clarity and grace with which you are doing all this is both stunning and humbling. I especially want to say thank you to EASA and the Feminist Union for helping lead the way. I also want to thank those of you who have reached out and expressed support for me personally. I know some of you are also survivors, and to you I send back my support and love. Thank you for giving us all hope for the future. What you are doing is beautiful and important. Please don’t ever let anyone tell you otherwise.”
CAPS Counselors Speak at Forum Following Student Discontent 10.14.21 By ALIA BONNANO, EMI LEVINE, SOPHIE MA, and CHENGYUE ZHANG The Student Council Mental Health Committee and Active Minds of Exeter Student Service Organization (ESSO) held an open forum with Counseling and Psychological Services (CAPS) on October 6. Though the event was intended to help aid existing tension between CAPS and student body communication, many students who attended the forum felt that the meeting further exacerbated these tensions. Due to recent controversies surrounding CAPS and student body relations, “the CAPS faculty hopes that our candid answers to students’ questions [at the forum] will clarify our supportive role,” CAPS counselor Dr. Chris Thurber said. The forum lasted over an hour and was formatted in a question and answer style. Students sent in anonymous questions online to be asked to the panel of the five CAPS counselors. Leading up the forum Thurber added, “The CAPS faculty hopes to learn, from students’ questions, about further enhancing our good communication with the general student body.” “First and foremost, we are committed to bringing students transparency about mental health support on campus. As I think back on my experience coming to Exeter as a prep, I realize this conversation was honestly overdue,” Senior and co-head of the Mental Health Committee Maxine Park said. The forum began with a focus on medical leave, with many students having questions regarding the process and intentions of removing a student from campus. CAPS reassured attendees that medical leave is an option available with the student’s best interests in mind, emphasizing that it is not meant to be an isolating act. Dr. Szu-Hui Lee, Director of CAPs stated, “Medical leave was placed to support students. It’s okay to press pause on academics if that means you get to prioritize your health.” Counselor Marco Thompson continued, saying, “Medical leave is an asset that is afforded to all students…it’s
a tool…if we didn’t have the medical leave option, I suspect we would simply be asking students not to be students anymore. The connotation is that it’s a punishment, but it’s really an asset to students. I’d really like to change the language behind medical leave.” Thurber also talked about the individuality of each medical leave case: “Not every medical leave case can follow a specific flow chart… CAPS might not be involved in the process at all.” Many students had questions about the process for placing a student on medical leave in the case of domestic violence. The counselors explained that they are required to report to the Child Protective Services for investigations, who have the ultimate say in the matter. “It’s not our job to determine if there’s abuse at home, but it is our job to report anything we know that concerns safety so students aren’t sent home to that,” Lee said. Thurber continued, “We wouldn’t send a student home unless an investigation had been finished and we know they are safe… if CPS has determined that the situation is not legally defined as abuse we don’t have a choice. However, we know what happens legally, let’s do this humanely. We always talk to caregivers and try to figure out another option. Grandparents…. we’re always trying to make sure that where students go is safe.” Shortly after this, a student posed a question about whether medical leave is mandatory, Thurber responded with a graphic description of a past student’s self harm, without any trigger warning. This comment led to many students exiting the forum briefly and delayed the proceeding of the forum for roughly 15 minutes. After multiple students had stepped out, a student asked, “Dr. Thurber, can we please get a trigger warning for those sorts of descriptions?” Thurber then responded by saying, “You are here to talk about some very serious things and get some transparent answers. My apologies if this is upsetting…” The leaders from the Mental Health Committee then informed Thurber that they ask everybody to refrain from using vivid and physical descriptions of anything.
The event was briefly paused, during which Lee and the student leaders stepped out to check on the others. Once the forum resumed, Lee informed the audience that they had debated stopping the forum right there, with a fear that students would not feel comfortable returning. Lee said, “If we had just called the event it would have been unfair.” The remaining part of the forum was dedicated to addressing Thurber’s comment. “Maybe the language we used was unnecessary, direct, and raw. Sometimes this is the work we do and this is the world we’re in. For me sometimes, I forget that this is not what people talk about all the time. Let’s process this.” Lee added, before opening the topic up for discussion. Thurber acknowledged that his answer was not properly thought-out, “Speaking for myself, I sometimes lose sight of what would make another person uncomfortable. I apologize for my sloppy choice of wording and not keeping in sharp focus the transparency without being graphic…” he said, “I think the request to be transparent is an important request, and I thought it was relevant to the question that the student themselves didn’t want to go on medical leave, but others wanted them to. I didn’t have to be graphic, I could have explained concerns in a dormitory without using such explicit language.” Senior and Mental Health Committee co-chair Ben Ehrman explained the issues within the forum. “The first thing that went wrong is that Dr. Thurber went way over the line with his comments in an unnecessary manner. What was worse is that there were four other licensed therapists on the stage with him. None of them interjected and said, ‘Hey, that’s over the line.’ Again, we saw that the burden was placed on the students to intervene in that moment.” Thurber has since released a formal apology to the student leaders. In his email, he said, “I want to apologize again for the discomfort that I caused this afternoon… I made several mistakes…and I did not realize that my language was causing distress until a student spoke up. In my effort to be transparent, I was insensitively
detailed. I deeply regret that my striving for clarity—which all students deserve—clouded my self-expression. In retrospect, I could have provided an equally transparent answer to the student’s question without any upsetting descriptions. Again, I apologize for my insensitivity.” He continued, “I also apologize that my actions interrupted the event. Students worked hard to organize this forum, assemble excellent questions, and moderate it professionally…. And as we said at the start, we all felt grateful for the opportunity to enhance communication between students and CAPS. My insensitive language took attention away from the substance of our excellent conversation, for which I am sorry… I am grateful that students returned after the pause, both to process what we were feeling and to offer direct feedback to me…. I will continue to reflect on the candid feedback from students and from my colleagues, and I will strive to do better in the future.” The forum’s conclusion left students and counselors alike feeling as though the purpose was not satisfied. Ehrman said, “I think from what we saw, it can be very important and valuable to just have students asking counselors about their policies and how things work. But what needs to happen in order for it to actually be a valuable resource to have counselors, is for them to realize that trauma can still be very sensitive for people.” “I don’t really know how to explain this because I’m not a trained professional, but something like that shouldn’t have happened. There wasn’t really an understanding from the beginning of the event, which we didn’t even know had to be an understanding, of what content would be inappropriate for students and what wouldn’t,” Park said. “I think that fits into a larger theme of this disconnect between what students need, adults’ perception of what students need, and how they can meet these needs.” “They’re trained to do these things, but at a point when each one is having a thousand appointments a year, they’re going to be pretty stretched out. It seems like the most important thing is trying
to regain trust between the student body and CAPS, which was the goal of [the forum], but it wasn’t particularly successful…” St. Laurent added, “I know for a fact that MHC and Active Minds are taking that very seriously. It’s basically the number one goal at this moment is to make sure that students feel comfortable going to [CAPS] and feel as though they can be vulnerable and truly talk about how they’re feeling without the worry of things going awry or something bad happening.” “What I don’t want is for students not to seek help because of the failures of our team. We are one resource, absolutely, but there are other resources as well,” Lee said. Counselor Kathy Simon agreed during the forum, saying, “Even if you’re not getting the support from me, you should be getting that support. I would hate that you wouldn’t have a way to do that.” Park added that CAPS should consider the burden placed on student leaders to handle things meant for trained professionals, “The fact that students were the first ones who had to speak up is part of the problem. I understand that there’s ambiguity as to where the student leadership realm ends and where actual professional care begins. Students are more comfortable speaking to students, but at the same time, the level of training that students have, and the age that we [students] are, do not equip us to deal with really serious situations or emotions that are supposed to be dealt with by trained adults,” Park said. “It has become clear that what we meant when we said that students need transparency was not understood. There was a gross misconception that because we, as students, were there to take part in dialogue, we were willing to take on this burden of hearing things that we really shouldn’t be hearing. Transparency is not amplifying the student burden by detailing harm unnecessarily. Transparency is about getting students clear, appropriate information about the support and care they deserve.” “It’s just hard when mistakes [like these] are just so present, especially in such a back to back manner with everything else that’s going on and then this… But at the
same time, I think one thing that people have said is also that there are a lot of successes that people have with CAPS. People don’t tend to talk about the successes as much as they might the failures or the setbacks. I think that is another thing that should be kept in mind, but the frequency of these failures is just alarming,” St. Laurent said. “I think as much as student trust might have been further diminished by Thurber’s words, there was an effort at the end of the forum by CAPS to discuss with the student body, candidly, what actually went wrong. And I think people respect that. I think it is important to recognize that there is an ongoing effort on CAPS’ part for improvement and reconciliation. Obviously, this doesn’t change that the mistake and ensuing response shouldn’t have happened in the first place.” Park said. “[The Mental Health Committee and Active Minds] want to emphasize that we’re not recommending anyone necessarily go to CAPS or not go to CAPS, but we’re are highlighting the fact that there’s a lot of distrust in the community right now and that we can fully say that CAPS is not a good place for everybody. But again, some people do have good experiences, but that’s not [the focus] right now,” senior and cohead of Active Minds Otto Do said. “The goal of the forum was to try to build a bridge that’s been broken between CAPS and the student body and all that had seemed to happen per those who attended the events, and from what they have disseminated to everyone else on campus, is that the bond has been even further destroyed. I don’t know where to go from here, honestly, like in terms of building [the bond back] with CAPS. I think this event only exacerbated [the issue],” Ehrman said. Park continued by sharing what hopes CAPS took away from the forum, “ I think [this forum] should first show them that change is possible. But second, I hope it pushes them towards a proactive mindset—a proactive striving for transparency. Adults can no longer just wait and expect students to initiate this kind of change.”
June 5, 2022
GRADUATION ISSUE– CXLIV
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Academy Commits to Need-Blind Admissions Policy 11.04.21
By 143rd EXECUTIVE BOARD The Academy’s admissions process will be “need-blind” starting from the 20212022 admissions season. Formerly need-aware, the Academy shifted to need-blind after the community committed over $90 million in new endowment for financial aid over the last two years, according to an all-school email from Principal William Rawson sent on November 3. “Need-blind” refers to a school’s admissions process where financial aid is not factored into admissions. This differs from need-aware, where aid needed is factored into admissions. Exeter’s need-aware policy has traditionally met “the full
demonstrated financial need for any admitted students,” Rawson wrote in an email to The Exonian. With need-blind, “all admissions decisions at Exeter will be made without regard for any family’s ability to pay tuition or other associated costs,” Rawson wrote. Currently, nearly half of the student population receives financial aid. The average annual grant for boarding students is $50,562, while day students receive an average of $37,684 in aid. Dean of Enrollment William Leahy noted trends in financial aid at Exeter. “Thanks to a robust financial aid program, the number of financial aid students has increased significantly over the past 15-20 years and we have remained a leader in independent
schools as it relates to attracting, admitting and enrolling students from all socio-economic backgrounds,” Leahy said. Last January, the trustees approved financial aid as the top fundraising priority. “The response from alumni, parents and friends has been tremendous,” Rawson wrote to The Exonian. “Many of our lead donors are former financial aid students themselves.” Leahy explained the process. “Need-blind admission resonates deeply with our students, alumni and parents who saw this as a wonderful opportunity to take our financial aid program to the next level of supporting youth from every quarter. Once we identified this as a goal, the momentum of support
was most humbling,” Leahy said. Fundraising for the $90 million was conducted by Institutional Advancement and Rawson. Rawson referred to John and Elizabeth Phillips’ values expressed in founding Exeter in his email as representative of the goal of the need-blind admissions: “‘And it [the Academy] shall ever be equally open to youth of requisite qualifications from every quarter.’” “Financial aid makes it possible for students from “every quarter” to join the Academy community and learn, lead and thrive here,” Rawson wrote in his email. “As a former financial aid student myself, it is deeply gratifying to be part of an effort to make an Exeter education more affordable and more accessible to youth from every quarter,” Rawson
wrote to The Exonian. Going forward, Rawson urged awareness of the importance of continuing to fund financial aid efforts and expanding admissions outreach to more students. “This also presents an opportunity for the admissions team to think about ways to expand our outreach to prospective families, near and far, and make this opportunity known to more students who are ready to thrive here but might not be aware of the opportunity,” Rawson wrote. Leahy echoed this goal. “We look forward to sharing this exciting news with prospective families and educational partners. We will be spending the next few months reflecting on how best to enhance our outreach and engagement with all potential applicants.”
For students currently attending Exeter, Leahy explained that financial support systems will continue. “...we will continue to provide non-tuition related support for a range of activities and program needs for financial aid students including those from lower income backgrounds while also partnering with colleagues across campus to ensure we are identifying any areas of support that are needing attention.” Rawson concluded his email with thanks to the Exeter community. “We are deeply grateful for the many ways alumni, parents and friends support our school. Whether it is through your philanthropy, your volunteer service, or both, we thank you for your generosity, and for your goodness.”
Class of 1945 Library Celebrates 50th Anniversary
Senior Zara Ahmed and Upper Cindy Su read poetry on display for the 50th Anniversary Celebration. 11.11.21 By JACOB FERNANDEZ, MINSEO KIM, SELIM KIM, EMI LEVINE, and HARRY MCGOVERN SYN (Greek: συν)— ”Along or together… Emphasizes gathering and connecting as its primary focus—and how the threads of our intersectionality bring us closer.” The soft sound of organs from the fourth floor, live pianoplaying and visitors’ conversations and footsteps float up and breathe life into the library. Crowds of students, faculty and other visitors alike gather in groups on the first floor, listening to a series of speeches from the organizers who explain the deep history of the red-brick library. Afterwards, student and faculty visitors explored the library floors: paintings on the wall and sculptures; prose and poetry are lined next to bookshelves; students gather to listen to spoken word while others watch live caricatures. Some walked down into the library archives to admire wooden models of the library. Further inside is a room of veils, light, and sound, and people applauded at the end of the dance performance. On Friday, November 5, Architecture Club and the Democracy of Sound Exeter (DOSe) commemorated the 50th Anniversary of the Class of 1945 Library, in the library. The event featured student produced art, films, and dance,
all centered around the theme of SYN. As stated on the pamphlet handed out during the event, “In line with this theme, we have organized our curated pieces with the seven standard elements of art—line, shape, texture, form, space, color, and value—in order to call attention to how an element stands alone and how it socializes. Additionally, inspired by Kahn’s work, we will be adding an eighth element: scale.” Senior and co-head of Architecture Club and DOS(e) Otto Do explained the planning process for the event. “My piano teacher, Dr. Sakata, planned the 40th anniversary and he brought the 50th anniversary to my attention and said, ‘Oh, did you know that next year’s the 50th?’ He’s also the advisor for DOS(e), which I am co-head of, and I thought, ‘We don’t know what we’re gonna do next year in our club, so since it’s the 50th anniversary anyway, that should be our focus.’ We collaborated between the clubs to plan it out,” he said. “The preparation took a long, long time; it began in the spring of last year. That’s when the idea started and a lot of our submission collection happened over the summer… We tried to do as much work as early as possible because a lot of these installations took a long time, not only to set up, but to think about and come up with,” Do continued. “We hoped to front load a lot of things, but as with most things, it’s always more
work than you expect. As much as we tried to front load things, we ended up having to do a lot of things last minute, but everything turned out good in the end.” Upper and co-head of DOS(e) Hannah Rubin also shared her reflections on the preparations process. Rubin said, “There were many facets to planning! In DOS(e), we focused mainly on the creative aspect, however there were also many logistics to coordinate, emails to send, invitations, printing-out work, etc. I am so grateful for the people at the library who worked hard to help make this possible, as well as all others involved in the planning process.” Do also explained how the theme for the event was chosen. “I took Greek last year, and I really admired the Greek language and I especially liked how in Greek, a lot of prepositions become the prefixes in the English language and in Greek συν became syn, which is the prefix for synthesis, synaps, among other words,” he said. “I liked the idea that the word encapsulated so much, because it serves as a prefix for English words, while also standing alone most of the time in Greek. I was really drawn to that interchangeable dialogue.” Do went on to note the special significance of the theme. “Our theme was about connection and how different components of our identities sum up to create ourselves and how that intersectionality makes us stronger,” he said.
Courtesy of William Park “I think a lot of times when we’re talking about the library and Louis Kahn, we’re trying to reach his perspective, but often in that process, we neglect our own perspective. I think that by centering student work and setting the library up like a student museum, we bring ourselves into the library, and I think that was our main goal: activating the library and then activating ourselves as well,” Do added. Senior and cohead of Architecture Club Jasmine Xi hoped that attendees of the event took away a newfound perspective of the library.“I hope people gained appreciation for the library and now see it as more than just a place for studying and a place for storing books. I hope they can appreciate the architecture and everything that went into it, while also just taking a step back and appreciating the building for its beauty, because it is truly a very beautiful building.” “I think the artwork and performances really accentuate that and all the spaces of the library, while also showcasing individually and connecting all the elements of art together as one.” Rubin echoed similar sentiments. “The library is something most Exonians see every day, but when we see something every day, sometimes we take it for granted. I hope that this celebration teaches us not to take the beautiful things around us for granted, to take time to notice the little details that provoke thought and
inspiration,” she said. Adviser of DOS(e) Jon Sakata was another core organizer for the anniversary. He shared his thoughts on visitors’ takeaways from the event. “We often, wonderfully so, turn to creatives, artists, architects, writers, musicians for inspiration,” Sakata said. “I want to center that through daily acts of support and care, the library staff are a model of inspiration to me: do we ‘notice’ their seemingly small acts of scaffold and aid as such? I hope the attendees take away that art and inspiration can come in such ‘noticing’ and attentiveness to the small, the incidental, the ephemerally passing.” Sakata also described a piece titled “decolonize” that he created for the event with Instructor of Music Jung Mi Lee. “‘decolonize’—a floating sculpture made of black mesh and dove grey tulle—pays homage to Frantz Fanon, whose seminal book ‘Wretched of the Earth’ critically interrogates not only the horrendous catastrophe of colonialism,” Sakata said. “decolonize” is a physical representation of the effects of colonialism. “But even more incisively and urgently, the pitfalls and snares that the (formerly) colonized must contend with, the enmeshment of the colonizers’ mind and malicious pathology infecting and afflicting generations of the ‘liberated,’” Sakata continued. “The sculpture evokes the dynamic condition of this entanglement, folds within folds within folds, extrication wrestling with ensnarement. This said, what from one perspective can be seen as an interminable plight, from another, the sculpture floats in midair like puffs of smoke, immaterial yet deeply pressurized all the same.” Student presenters submitted a variety of pieces, ranging from live artwork to dance performances. Lower Chris Serrao constructed a sculpture for the 50th Anniversary. Consisting of a collection of geometric shapes within a larger glass cube, Serrao aimed to showcase the physical structures of the library. “[My piece] basically
just tried to demonstrate different shapes that you can find in the library, as well as different themes and like different colors in opacity to overall explore how diverse the library is. And, I think it’s a pretty interesting piece to just look at.” “I think I kind of approached it with the mindset of just trying to incorporate the history and the memories of the architecture, because there is art beyond the architecture and there are a lot of memories here formed in this place,” Serrao continued. ”I also approached it from a historical aspect and just tried to have a fun, enjoyable piece. I also had little people inside of my piece which obviously reflects the people studying at the library. And I think it’s just more reflected on people making memories of the library.“ English Instructor Erica Lazure recounted how she was able to contribute her own work to the anniversary and what significance the library has had during her time on campus. “My first experience with the library was as the Bennett Fellow, the writer in residence, and I literally spent an entire year on the fourth floor writing a short story collection.” “For me I feel like the library has been having to reinvent itself perpetually over the last few years,” Lazure said, “And I think that’s very exciting.” Many students agreed that the 50th Anniversary celebration marked an important milestone for the library, and was truly an event to remember. “I really enjoyed working on [the event] as a whole because I think the library is just an important part of the Exeter campus and being able to celebrate it for its 50th anniversary is definitely a once in a lifetime event, ‘’ Serrao said. “ I think it was just a great experience, being able to help out by creating sculptures for the event. And there were a lot of artistic pieces there that were just beautiful to view and to interpret, and there’s just so much to appreciate about the library. And I think our exhibit helped more people to enjoy the library.”
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GRADUATION ISSUE– CXLIV
June 5, 2022
Academy Welcomes Booster Clinic and Institutes New COVID Protocols 01.13.22 By BEEKE FOCK, JETT GOETZ, LAUREN KIM, ELLIE ANA SPERANTSAS, and CATHERINE WU To protect the community as students returned to campus amidst a significant rise in Omicron variant cases, the Academy instated a booster vaccine clinic. The clinic opened on the afternoon of Wednesday, Jan. 5, where students aged 16 and older received their booster shot. The Academy plans to provide booster vaccines for students below the age of 16 as soon as possible. In a follow-up email to the Jan. 7 assembly, Principal William Rawson announced that the booster would be required for all students not already approved with a vaccine exemption. The Academy originally planned to have a oneweek quarantine period upon students’ arrival to campus, but it was extended due to “an unexpectedly long delay in the processing of pooled saliva tests by the lab,” according to a Jan. 10 email from Rawon. Rawson also announced that extracurricular activities would return to meeting in person on Tuesday, Jan. 11, and students would be able to
attend in-person classes beginning Thursday, Jan. 13. Interscholastic athletic competitions will begin on Saturday, Jan. 15. Masks will continue to be required both indoors and outdoors at all times, except when in dorm rooms alone or with a roommate. Dean of Students Russell Weatherspoon reiterated the importance of following these guidelines in an email on Jan. 8, stating serious violations could be punished by a Community Conduct Committee (CCC) case. Rawson provided updates on the procedures for students who contract COVID-19 in the Jan. 10 email. Families must identify a “COVID Pickup Designee” who could be contacted immediately if a student tests positive. The designee would be required to arrive on campus to collect the student within 24 hours of notification. The infected student would then return home to quarantine or isolate at another off-campus location. As of Jan. 9, over 50 students on campus tested positive, and 80 close contacts are in quarantine. During the return to Zoom classes, some faculty expressed their concerns. “Online learning is not ideal, but I think it is
the best possible option right now given the transmissibility of COVID,” Math Instructor Brandon Hew said. Teachers adjusted the course curriculum for students during the extended quarantine period. “I planned my classes with no labs for the first two weeks in January and I selected a topic which I thought would be manageable for students online. I was nervous before the first Zoom class, but have found students to be wonderful. I feel like my students are fully invested and doing their best to make these classes productive, engaging, and supportive,” Biology Instructor Anne Rankin said. Faculty discussed their thoughts regarding the Academy’s COVID protocols. “I think the Academy is placing a lot of responsibility on students. The school can put in whatever guidelines or protocols they want, but at the end of the day, it is up to the students to follow them. In the current context, I think it is even more imperative that students understand the need to follow them because, aside from the fact that it can jeopardize the health of community members, students will have to go home if case numbers get
too high,” Hew said. “I wondered a bit about having students remain at home for a week or so and do asynchronous classes to acknowledge the time zone issues, but in the end I trust the people making these decisions. I think they are balancing a huge range of variables, seeking input where appropriate, and making the most informed decisions possible. I appreciate their work a great deal,” Rankin said. “I think that they’re doing what they can with the information that they have available. I think that having worked for a public health agency before, you just kind of have to learn how to roll with the changes that the variants present themselves with. And so I think that the academy is doing all that they can with the knowledge that they have available,” Health Instructor Courtney Shaw said. Faculty members also expressed concerns about dining options. “The dining hall experience is definitely a little bit different, especially not being able to serve your own portion sizes, but again, having to make those adjustments, I think it’s still doable,” Shaw continued. Students shared their thoughts regarding classes starting in person this
Thursday. “I have mixed feelings because I’m excited to be physically in the classroom, be able to pay more attention, and get out of my room, but I’ll have to be more considerate of my time management,” upper Abegail Byun said. Students also noted the changes from the fall term and are still adapting to the new COVID protocols. “It felt different than the first term. Especially with more COVID restrictions and being online, I feel like I haven’t been socializing as much,” lower Akubah Ndubah said. Other students compared last year’s COVID protocols with this year’s. “I feel like one difference is that teachers and most of the students are already accustomed to it, so it hasn’t been a hard transition because we’ve already experienced this. I think everyone is more comfortable and knows what they’re doing,” Byun said. Before receiving Rawson’s most recent updates, some students expected the quarantine period to last longer than two weeks. “I expect this to last longer than two weeks, just because there are so many people who haven’t even come to campus yet,” lower Asena Gursel said. “So many people I know
have COVID or are close contacts, it’s just honestly spreading like wildfire. I just don’t see how we could go back in person without everyone getting COVID.” Ndubah had a similar outlook, stating, “I feel like it’s definitely possible that it would be extended.” Ndubah also shared concern about the current protocols’ impact on mental and physical health, saying, “I definitely get way more tired, mentally and physically, during Zoom classes. My attention span is definitely not as good. Being in your room all the time can get really frustrating.” “My mental health has been okay during these two weeks. I dislike Zoom classes and still prefer in-person classes,” lower Jonny Chen said. The community recognized the Academy’s efforts to prevent the spread of COVID. When asked about whether the Academy was doing enough in regards to the recent spike in Omicron cases, Gursel said, “I feel like the academy is doing a good job. Obviously, there’s no one hundred percent effective way. They’re doing a lot of testing, they had the booster ready for the first week. So I think they’re doing a decent job.”
Anna Gifty Opoku-Agyeman Speaks at MLK Day
MLK Day Keynote Speaker Anna Gifty Opoku-Agyeman. 01.27.22 By BEEKE FOCK, ELLIE ANA SPERANTSAS, HEMANI STELLARD, and MINJAE SUH On Jan. 17, the Exeter community gathered to commemorate Martin Luther King Jr.’s life and achievements. Ghanaian American researcher, entrepreneur, writer and activist Anna Gifty OpokuAgyeman opened the day with her keynote speech. Uppers Lydia Osei and Yasmin Salerno moderated the webinar and the question and answer session that immediately followed. This MLK Day celebration resembled that of 2021, both using webinar formats in consideration of COVID restrictions. In her keynote speech, Opoku-Agyeman reflected on the progress towards
equality and the meaning of equality, sparking many topics of discussion around campus. Opoku-Agyeman is currently pursuing a doctoral degree in public policy at the Harvard Kennedy School as a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellow and a Ford Foundation Graduate Fellow. She also founded the Sadie Collective, a nonprofit organization addressing the under representation of Black women in economics, finance and policy. Opoku-Agyeman elaborated on the importance of leading with equity in mind while fostering a relaxed atmosphere. “Equity is about understanding how our different life experiences are impacted by who we choose to be and what communities we are a part of,” she said, “It was Dr. King who said it best that injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. And to
Courtesy of Anna Gifty be quite frank with you, we are living through that sentiment right now.” Additionally, OpokuAgyeman explained how she planned to get the message across to high school students: “A lot of times when folks come in and speak to young folks, they speak above them. And I did not wanna do that,” she continued, “I think the biggest thing is that I don’t believe in talking at folks who are younger than me. I believe in talking with y’all so this would really be a conversation.” Opoku-Agyeman wanted her speech to leave a lasting effect on the students and faculty who listened in. “I wanted to make sure that I leave you with practical, next steps to actually build equity in your everyday life, advice I would’ve always wanted to receive when I myself was a high schooler. From what I was
seeing, I think y’all got it, which was incredibly encouraging and exciting to me,” Opoku-Agyeman said. Students noted that Opoku-Agyeman brought in her audiences often by referencing pop culture. “I think Marvel references are just key to who I am. One of the biggest things that I always encourage people to do is just be authentic in the spaces that they’re entering. For me, being authentic is inserting Marvel references, even when I’m talking about racial equity and some other heavy topics, because I think that at the end of the day, you have to recognize that there are real, human individuals behind these movements and behind these leadership positions,” Opoku-Agyeman said. “We need to humanize these leaders, and I wanted for students to see me as an individual who you can relate to.” Opoku-Agyeman wanted to especially credit Osei and Salerno for their contributions to the webinar. “They did such an amazing job at just setting the tone, but also bringing energy to the day. I think that that was really important, so shout out to them,” OpokuAgyeman added. “I thought the way they organized the question and answer session was brilliant. I had a couple of my close friends and also my parents tune in. They told me like, ‘yo, Anna, they are asking the heck outta these questions.’ And I was like, ‘listen, they came with the fire,’” Opoku-Agyeman said. “I think that that’s the level of rigor and the level of intentionality that I want y’all to sort of interrogate any speaker that comes into your space, especially if they claim to be talking about racial equity or any sort of diversity equity and inclusion topic.” Following the morning keynote, students attended
a workshop of their choice in the afternoon. This year selections ranged from designing bookmarks with Ghanian Adinkra symbols to rethinking how meditation applies to anti-racism. Despite the use of online platforms, workshop hosts reflected that student participation remained avid. One of the 2021-22 Dissertation Fellows and leader of the Chemistry for Social Change workshop Nyesa Enakaya found the experience to be “beyond expectations.” “I liked that the students not only had interesting questions about the science behind what I was doing but also the broader applications as well,” Enakaya said. Although students at Exeter were disappointed to learn that MLK Day would be online this year once again, upper Aaron Joy expressed his satisfaction with how the day had turned out. “I think the MLK Day program had such electrifying speeches and an amazing keynote speaker who gave a super engaging and really inspiring speech. Even though it was through a screen, I think the students really enjoyed it.” Joy elaborated on how the objective of these activities, “for this to be a conversation that lasts longer than just a day,” had been satisfied. Many workshops attempted to provide a deeper understanding of OpokuAgyeman’s point of “living together as brothers.” In the workshop “Cross the Line,” prep and MLK Committee member Beverly Oleka described how they had students “explore parts of their identity, how others perceive them and their multicultural backgrounds,” through the simple act of turning their Zoom camera on. “People would turn on their camera if they identi-
fied with the statement that they got to see who else in their group identified with it as well.” Oleka saw it as a “cool way to be vulnerable as a community.” According to senior and co-facilitator of “Cross the Line” William Park, being online means that “there’s a certain level of disengagement that is inevitable because we’re not all together.” However, Park continues to convey how he still “really thinks that we made the most of it within our own workshops.” The student-organized UnSilenced performance on Saturday, Jan. 15, was also an important part of MLK Day weekend at the Academy. “I think UnSilenced was really cool as we got to see how students brought together this display of creativity and brought together a message for the community,” prep Samaria Benochi said. This production opened students’ eyes to many social issues as they were guided into MLK Day. “You know, y’all are not too young to make a change. Just take it from me,” said Opoku-Agyeman. The recognition of what MLK fought and stood for rang clear in all the workshops and activities. Stephanie Bramlett, Director of Equity and Inclusion and a co-chair of the MLK Day committee, spoke on the importance of the day’s celebration, stating, “I’m really proud of the way Exeter celebrates MLK Day as a day of reflection, learning, and dialogue. I think this is particularly important considering the way King’s message has been co-opted by people committed to misunderstanding and misinterpreting his call for justice,” Bramlett said. “It is shameful to hide our history. I’m proud to be in a community willing to lean in, listen, and learn.”
GRADUATION ISSUE– CXLIV
June 5, 2022
B7
Exonians Share Street Harassment Experiences; Town Relations Examined
Joy Chi/ The Exonian
An Exonian visits the Water Street Bookstore.
02.10.22 By ANVI BHATE, RISHI GURUDEVAN, SELIM KIM, and ANDREW YUAN Content Warning: mentions of harassment of students of color. To many Exonians, downtown Exeter is a staple location to spend time with friends in its various shops and restaurants. To others, however, downtown is a dangerous place, where the simple fact of identity can provoke an attack on one’s personhood. This is the case for many Black, Indigenous, and People of Color, including both faculty and students. Office of Multicultural Affairs (OMA) Proctor and upper Lydia Osei explained why she never goes into town alone: “I would like to preface all my comments by saying that I have never— and I mean never— gone into town alone. I have always gone with a friend for the sake of my own safety, and the farthest off campus I have walked by myself was a two minute walk to The Green Bean where I was meeting with others,” Osei said. “My experience crossing the streets is always nerve-wracking, considering I have almost been run over a few times, but I always make sure to wait until cars stop for me.” Osei continued, “Although usually the townspeople have been pretty nice to me, there have been a few instances that have made going into town uncomfortable,” she said. “While I, as far as I am concerned, have never been called any slurs on the path or been catcalled, several white, feminine presenting townspeople have made comments directed at my ‘unique’ hair— both derogatory and kind— and one white woman even went as far as to compare my box braids to a horse tail when in a ponytail.” “A woman once yelled at my friends and I and called us rude for walking off of the sidewalk to make space for her and her baby at Swasey— all of my friends were people of color as well,” Osei added. “One person yelled at me and another Black friend of mine to ‘go home’ when we were walking near Sea Dog [Restaurant]. I have [also] been followed inside of a church by a white woman while trying to attend a service.” While the school has attempted to address these incidents of verbal harassment, upper and OMA Proctor Val Whitten provided the most recent proposal with her OMA project. Whitten proposes to install cameras on Court and
Front Street to identify the townspeople responsible for these incidents. “The original idea came to me in the spring of 2021 when we had an increased number of incidents of harassment, both sexual and racial,” Whitten said. “These incidents came from [encounters with] town members as the Academy allowed students to walk past the streets and go into town.” Whitten elaborated on how the lack of possible concrete responses to such cases without evidence often puts pressure on victims. “[OMA] recommends trying to take a picture of the license plate or seeing if you can see the person,” Whitten said. “But right now the only option when this happens is to console the victim, unless the student is able to capture some sort of evidence in such a quick time.” Dean of Multicultural Affairs Sherry Hernandez spoke to ways in which OMA tries to help the victim. “OMA offers individualized meetings with students who have received attacks on personhood, giving them agency about next steps to feel empowered,” Hernandez said. “These include reporting incidents on their behalf to avoid re-traumatization to necessary parties, check-ins that are at the frequency that feels appropriate, planning with [the] dorm team— including proctors and student listeners about possible dorm conversation— and having supporting advisers or faculty,” Hernandez continued. While Whitten agreed that the support OMA provides is very helpful, she noted other things that need to be addressed as well, including a lack of accountability for perpetrators.“In the back of [the victim’s] heads, they’re just upset and putting the burden on themselves that they should have captured [evidence of the harassment],” she added. “The only real way change has ever happened with any sort of issue like this is for there to be tangible action,” Whitten said. “If someone is willing to [harass students] and has probably done it multiple times, then they’re gonna do it again, no matter what you say.” Whitten’s feelings on the subject also stem from her own personal experiences as a person of color in downtown Exeter. “[One time] I was walking in town late, coming back from Lexie’s, and this group of boys in a car were driving… I hear them slow down and start to talk amongst themselves because their windows open,” Whitten said, “It was so weird. They were just making random noises. They were screaming, trying to get my attention and to scare me. They honked the horn and it was just startling. I did fear
that, depending on what I did, they might get out of the car. Would they continue to harass me?” Whitten emphasized that harassment sometimes extends to on-campus settings. “Even if a student is trying to get from the North to the South side of campus, they can experience harassment. The fact that it could happen to them for walking on their own campus and nothing can be tangibly done about it is terrible,” Whitten said. “The best solution that I came up with was to put cameras up,” Whitten continued. “I talked to Dean Camilus, and he was surprised by my idea because somehow throughout all the conversations they have had about harassment on campus, putting up cameras never came up in a discussion.” Whitten then communicated with Head of Campus Safety Paul Gravel, who told Whitten putting up cameras was within possibility. However, Gravel noted the many difficulties with installing cameras and the viability of cameras in the first place. “To prosecute anyone under ‘reckless conduct’ or ‘disorderly conduct,’ the police must be able to identify the person shouting the insults. Getting a license plate number is just the first step,” Gravel said. “Identifying who shouted out is difficult unless the witness made note of all the information: description and sex of the person, clothing, vehicle make and color, driver or passenger, any identifying characteristics,” Gravel said. “Cameras are only as good as the lighting and location around them. It is very difficult to capture the occupants of a vehicle unless the camera is directly above the vehicle in perfect lighting.” Gravel then directed the project to Exeter’s Town Manager Russell Dean, who responded that installing the cameras was not something the Police Department or Town Hall would be willing to do. When asked to elaborate on his brief response, Dean explained that the Police Department will not “advocate for any police-monitored surveillance cameras in Exeter.” Meanwhile, Associate Dean of Multicultural Affairs Hadley Camilus expressed his support for Whitten’s project, elaborating on potential next steps: “I’ve been strategizing with Val about how to proceed given the current barriers. I talked to Val about raising awareness regarding this issue within this community, and the town of Exeter,” Camilus said. “I’ve also asked her to consider meeting with deans to brainstorm additional opportunities to educate students about how to support each other in town.” Addressing his response to incidents like this as a part
of the OMA team, Camilus explained that one of the most important things was to listen to the victims. “It sounds insignificant, but it’s not. I’m mindful of not asking students, for instance, if they did something to initiate the exchange,” Camilus said. “I take careful notes so that the student doesn’t have to rehash the incident again with another member of the administrative team. I also check back in with the students regularly to see how they’re doing in the aftermath, and to determine if additional support is needed.” Camilus spoke about how his concern also increased due to incidents he has faced as a person of color in town. “In my first year here, while crossing Water Street, I had a couple of teens shout an expletive at me,” Camilus said. “I saw the car coming from up the hill and immediately had a feeling that something was about to go awry.” “As the car zipped by behind me, I heard a disembodied voice shout something at me from the car. I didn’t hear what was said, exactly. An instructor who was in the vicinity heard what was shouted and told me when I asked. They shouted, ‘F*** you.’” The process for street harassment reporting is the same for both faculty and students. “Incidents of street harassment are brought to my attention occasionally, depending on the nature of the incident, but most are handled by Campus Safety directly with the Exeter Police Department and by other administrators to support students or employees who are involved,” Principal William Rawson said. Dean of Students Russell Weatherspoon detailed the procedural response for when reports first come to the Dean of Students Office: “We first want Campus Safety to be aware. We want to know whether or not there’s sufficient information to be acted on. For instance, it is very helpful, if people are able to copy down a license plate number, or at least to get a good description. [Without] those two things, it’s hard to follow up, but we typically do pass reports along to the Exeter Police who are interested in then following up [with] the reporter,” Weatherspoon said. “My understanding is that there were approximately six reported student incidents last year, and two earlier this school year, but reported incidents may not tell the whole story,” Rawson acknowledged. “The training provided to student leaders in December organized by Dean [Christina] Breen was an important way to build awareness of the issue and help students deal with any incidents that occur. I think the increased campus safety presence at crosswalks also has been an important step and hopefully serves as a deterrent.”
Rawson supported Whitten’s proposal, citing further communication with the town government and police. “I expressed support for the proposal when it was brought to my attention. I am aware that Front and Court Streets are public roads, and we do not have authority to install security cameras. To my knowledge, the Town of Exeter has not used security cameras on other public roads. The issue is complex, and my understanding is that the Exeter Police have said they are not in favor of taking the proposed action.” Rawson also characterized his relationship with the townspeople and the town government as a very positive one. “I personally have not had any negative experiences, and have met with the Chief of Police and Town Manager and have appeared before the Town Select Board on several occasions. The current Chief of Police published a very strong [opinion piece] on this subject [in the local paper] following a racial incident in the summer of 2018, and I wrote a letter to thank him.” “We take any incident of street harassment seriously, especially identity-based incidents that threaten the sense of belonging and feeling of safety that all students and faculty should have. I support all efforts to prevent or respond to any such incidents,” Rawson said. “I also would like to see us continue to expand positive connections and build stronger relationships with the local community, as that also might make negative experiences less likely, and might act as a counterweight when negative experiences occur.” Like Rawson, Weatherspoon has shared positive experiences with the Town Manager’s Office, and reflected on a specific incident in the 1990s. “There was a period of time when there actually were people in the area who were trying to recruit for the Ku Klux Klan. They went to the Exeter town office, asking if they could hold a meeting in the Town Hall. The Town Manager turned them down and the Chamber of Commerce in the town also had universal rejection of their attempt to recruit in the town. So, that would be one example of a time when the town recognized, not so much simply the needs of the Academy per se, but the need to make a clear stand against racist and separatist thought,” Weatherspoon said. Despite this, Weatherspoon has experienced negative incidents as a Black man in town. “My wife and I had children who attended the Exeter schools. Every once in a while another kid made a racist remark,” Weatherspoon recalled. “Once in each of [my] first two years in Exeter a racial slur was yelled at me from a passing car.” “Back at that time, frankly, there weren’t as many Black people in the town as there are now. A few people acted as if having Black people among them was a new experience. They weren’t insulting, just curious. Once you go from being a stranger to people, and they get used to your presence and realize that you are in the town and involved in the life of the town… then, in our experience, they treat you differently, because they know you,” Weatherspoon said. “The vast majority of people who we came in contact with, even in our opening year here, behaved exactly as you would expect people to behave: kindly, warmly, openly,” Weatherspoon continued. “The Academy draws students here from all over the country and around the world. They add a lot of diversity to
the town’s daily life. Superficially, some may seem easy to spot because they’re BIPOC teenagers or they’re not familiar early in the year. Even so, if you’re a shopkeeper it must cheer your heart to see an Exeter student walk into your store and benefit your business. Like the police and the town officials, shopkeepers have time and again stepped up to offer Exonians help when they needed it or when asked.” Senior Executive Assistant to the Exeter Town Manager Pam McElroy noted that the Town Manager’s office is always open to accepting proposals. “We are happy to receive correspondence from Phillips Exeter Academy students. Recently I received a couple of emails requesting information about certain town committees for class projects,” McElroy said. McElroy also shared the specific details that proposals such as Whitten’s goes through when received at the Town Manager’s office. “When a suggestion is received, the Town Manager requests further information from the Town Department and/or other Town associates that would best represent the suggestion. Once he receives the information, he corresponds back to the person who contacted him.” “Ms. Whitten did send a suggestion to the Town Manager in Oct. 2021 with regard to cameras at the PEA crosswalks on Front and Court Streets. Town Manager Dean corresponded with the Exeter Police Department, received their response and replied to Ms. Whitten,” McElroy reported. “If there are further issues of PEA students being harassed, they should be guided to report incidents to the PEA Campus Safety Office and/or the Principal’s Office. The PEA Campus Safety Office and the Exeter Police Department work well together for the safety of the community. Exeter strives to be a safe, welcoming community of acceptance, kindness, and diversity.” Though Exonians have encountered incidents of verbal harassment from passersby in-town, many townspeople, on the contrary, report that their experiences with Academy students have been generally positive. “[The students] have been great. You see them at Me and Ollie’s hanging out at a table or at Lexie’s getting burgers. They’re just like regular high school-aged kids doing the right thing: waiting in line for their turn, and throwing their trash away,” townsperson Rachael Gloss said. Townsperson Kelly Patrick shared similar sentiments. “I go to D2 Java, and sometimes I’ll see students there. I enjoy walking through campus on my way anywhere downtown and seeing the students walking, sitting, talking. So, that’s how I see and interact with students, and I have to say, everybody’s always very friendly. Because of where I live, I have to drive through campus and almost invariably when I stop, the person waves and because of the students, now when I’m walking, I wave to the cars that stop for me,” Patrick said. Like Gloss and Patrick, townsperson David Kovar’s interactions with Academy students has been positive, and he notes that the rare negative interactions are often “mild and normal.” Kovar said, “The most common [interaction] was when I was in D^2 a lot. You would find the Academy students sitting here for five hours, and so if I was coming in here just for a half CONT’D ON B8
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GRADUATION ISSUE– CXLIV
June 5, 2022
Town Relations Cont’d hour to get something to eat and work, there would be no place to sit. But that problem exists elsewhere too…So it’s not necessarily the age group or the people.” Indeed, most of the minor, negative interactions the townspeople note do not go beyond complaints about the crosswalks connecting the North side with South. “Getting through Front Street or Court Street, depending on the time of day when everyone’s going to class, can be really hard. The only time I hear residents complain about the Academy kids is when there’s never a pause. They don’t let any cars go through during lunch and it just builds up. So when people are late as adults, and they’re like, ‘Oh my god, the Academy kids weren’t letting anyone cross today.’ That’s the only negative thing I hear which is just mostly said in a funny tone of voice,” Gloss said. As such, Gloss believes that the Town of Exeter is “a very safe town… I let my own 13-year-old wander around. I wouldn’t think that a high school aged kid couldn’t wander around Exeter safely. Pretty much all hours of the day or
evening, it’s not a dangerous place at all. Maybe you need to watch out for crossing the street. Cars sometimes don’t stop at crosswalks. But besides that, everyone should be just fine. Especially as the Academy kids conduct themselves so well, I think it’s a safe place for everyone,” Gloss said. Kovar has also never explicitly witnessed severe, negative interactions between students and townspeople in-person. However, based on online interactions, he can see that certain “students could be at risk” in town. “I would like to believe that that town is safe. But, there have been incidents that I’ve seen on Facebook, that at least suggest that there are elements in the community that are discriminatory or acting poorly. The community doesn’t usually see any reporting about any sort of harassment of PEA students, but Stillwells Ice Cream was harassed a couple months ago in ways that were really awful. If it’s happening to that sort of establishment, I can see it happening to people of different ethnic communities and/or political affiliations,“ Kovar explained.
Patrick shared similar thoughts. “I would hope that Exeter is a safe town…I moved here from Indiana two years ago, and had never even heard of PEA…but it makes living here so much nicer because I really, really, really enjoy seeing all the different people. The diversity of the student population is what makes living here better for me. So I’m hoping that other people— ‘townies’—feel that way, too,” Patrick said. “I haven’t seen negative interactions with students and people in businesses, but, you know, I don’t often see many students in the businesses where I go. My hope is that there aren’t negative people, but unfortunately, there are negative people everywhere. I also hope that the students of color are not experiencing negative interactions, and that they’re as welcome as every student would be,” Patrick added. In light of the pandemic, interactions with Academy students have been greatly limited. Many townspeople believe that this isolation perpetuates the preconceived notions of the Academy, and increases the likelihood of
possible hostile interactions. “Prior to moving to New Hampshire, I really hadn’t been to New England at all. I assumed [Exeter] was going to only have very elitist white kids, so I have to say that I’m very happy that that’s not what I’m experiencing,” Patrick shared. “But, I’m sure that, especially these days with the political situation, negative interactions and feelings could be a little bit heightened with such preconceived notions, which really makes me sad…” Kovar agreed. “To some extent, I mean, I have my own preconceived notions,” he said. “[Phillips Exeter] is a very high-end prep school with very few day students. [There is a] significant international predominantly wealthy population, in a fairly closed, competitive environment, because you’re all trying to get into a good [college]. All of those are essentially facts, though I’m probably off on some of them, and all of those shape a preconceived notion.” Kovar continued, “Without the opportunity to interact with [Academy students], I have to consciously work to
try to open my perspective up and say, ‘Okay, these are individuals and they come from a wide range of backgrounds,’ but that’s a sort of challenge. For me, PEA is this community within another community, and most of what we see is the buildings and people traveling between them....There are barriers to overcoming those preconceived notions that are due to the nature of the way the school is structured. I think if there are more opportunities for the Exeter public to interact with the students, that would be helpful.” Gloss, on the other hand, has interacted with Academy students before through the Exeter Social Service Organization (ESSO), and believes the pre-existing biases of Academy students to be quite positive. “I guess the only preconceived notions are that [the Academy kids] are really the best kids around…I’ve never seen anybody not behave themselves. They’re really role models, and they do a great job,” Gloss said. “I really think that ESSO is a great place for students to be ambassadors to the community. Almost all the families I know have participated
in ESSO at some point or another. I think [it’s] a great bridge to the community for the Academy. I think that’s a good way for the Academy kids to meet the local kids and for the local families to meet the Academy kids, because many locals don’t go to the Academy often,” Gloss added. Going forward, Whitten and OMA hope to see a change in the way students are treated by fellow townspeople— as well as an increase in holding offenders accountable during incidents of verbal or emotional harassment. Whether these issues are a result of townspeoples’ preconceived notions and their lack of interactions with the students, or simply immature kids’ lack of exposure to BIPOC individuals, they believe that installing cameras on Court Street and Front Street will help prevent these crimes and ensure the burden does not fall on the victims. As additional solutions are brought to the table and evaluated, these incidents of harassment against BIPOC students and faculty continue to occur on a daily basis.
Ale Murat Elected As StuCo President StuCo Voted Twice Against Co-Presidency 02.24.22 By the 144th EXECUTIVE BOARD and NEWS EDITORS A Note from The Exonian’s 144th Executive Board: On election day, upper and runoff candidate Aaron Joy alerted Elections Committee coheads to an instance of negative campaigning on an Academy student’s Instagram story, characterizing it as an attack on personhood. The 2021-22 StuCo Executive Board (Exec) has never shared the textual component of the Instagram story in full. At the Wednesday emergency meeting, StuCo Exec chose to refer to the Instagram story as “a social media post that invoked a racist attack on a candidate’s character.” We believe that publishing the Instagram story verbatim is necessary to fulfill The Exonian’s mission to report with accuracy and to drive positive change. On the afternoon of Wednesday, Feb. 23, however, we heard from the Deans’ Office, StuCo advisors, and 202122 StuCo Exec, who all cautioned The Exonian against publishing the Instagram story out of concern for the potential impact on the student who posted the story as well as the runoff candidates involved. The Exonian has always prioritized the unbiased presentation of facts. In the context of this article, we continue to believe that publishing the complete Instagram story would fulfill this commitment. That being said, out of consideration for fellow members of the Academy, we have chosen not to publish the Instagram story. Nevertheless, we hope that this article encourages more informed and respectful public discourse surrounding the election, the runoff candidates, and the student body’s decision to elect upper Ale Murat as the new StuCo president. On Friday, Feb. 18, Student Council (StuCo) announced upper Ale Murat as the newly elected StuCo president per the student body’s votes totalled on election day Tuesday, Feb. 15. Murat won a majority vote over runoff candidate, upper Aaron Joy. In all, 68 percent of Academy students turned out
to vote. Murat joins uppers vice president Grace Puchalski and co-secretary Nate Puchalski, as well as lower co-secretary Kevin Treehan to serve on the 2022-23 StuCo Executive Board (Exec). Class representative elections, normally held at least three weeks after StuCo Exec elections, will be postponed to March 29 after spring break. The delay in announcing election results was a consequence of extensive discussions addressing the effects of negative campaigning. On election day, Joy alerted Elections Committee coheads and uppers Tucker Gibbs and Will Durawa to an instance of negative campaigning on an Academy student’s Instagram story, characterizing it as an attack on personhood. Considering the potential impact on voting behavior, the current StuCo Exec Board and Elections Committee decided to leave the Tuesday election ballots uncounted while considering alternatives to determining the new StuCo president. On Wednesday, Feb. 16, StuCo faculty advisors as well as Director of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Stephanie Bramlett and Dean of Multicultural Affairs Sherry Hernandez engaged in a series of discussions with students that gave rise to the possibility of a co-presidency. StuCo Exec’s and the Elections Committee coheads’ individual conversations with Joy and Murat then confirmed that both candidates were open to co-presidency. According to Gibbs, the discussions “suggested to us [Elections Committee] that co-presidency was the best solution that balanced the satisfaction of all parties involved and the vote of the student body, given that holding a new election was out of the question.” Durawa and Gibbs pointed to the StuCo presidential election of 2017 as a precedent of “opting for co-presidency when there were questions about election fairness due to extenuating circumstances.” In the spring of 2017, election fraud was discovered to have taken place. As a result, then-StuCo faculty advisors Carol Cahalane and Laura Marshall expanded 2017-18 StuCo Exec to accommodate all candidates who ran as the
class of 2017 had already graduated. This included the 2017-18 presidential runoff candidates Menat Bahnasy and Jackson Parell as co-presidents. The Elections Committee coheads then outlined the two possible paths to declaring co-presidency: “One way is to go through StuCo and declare a state of emergency, which would allow for specific otherwise-unconstitutional actions to take place, since co-presidents are not found in the letter of the StuCo Constitution. Or we could present the case to Principal Rawson, who theoretically has the implied constitutional authority to overrule the constitution and declare that co-presidency is permissible under the circumstances. However, we did not want to go down the second route because that would go against the wishes of StuCo and by extension the student body, who voted twice against co-presidency.” Gibbs said. “It should be noted that this is the first time we’re using the state of emergency clause, written last year by [alum] Phil Horrigan, to declare co-presidents when the [2020-21 presidential] election resulted in an exact tie, a constitutional gray area because there is nothing written in the Constitution about exact ties.” At the StuCo emergency meeting on Wednesday evening, senior and current StuCo co-secretary Kiesse Nanor presented the motion to declare a state of emergency to announce co-presidency. The motion, which required a twothirds majority to pass, fell to a majority abstention vote. “I think it’s understandable that [the motion fell through],” Durawa said. “We weren’t able to provide a lot of information, and I don’t think the student body felt that they could make an informed decision.” “We thought people didn’t fully understand what we were trying to do and that’s why so many people abstained. But it was encouraging, because that meant there were people who could still be swayed to what we thought was the best way forward,” Gibbs added. “But as we saw on Thursday, that wasn’t the case. Most of the votes broke against the state of emergency motion.” Indeed, when StuCo hosted a second emergency meeting on Thursday evening, the
Future StuCo president Ale Murat smiles in the sunshine. same motion failed, as not enough students were in favor to reach the two-thirds threshold. The meeting was longer than the first and many more non-voting members of the school community were present. “I think we came at it knowing what we wanted the outcome to be, and that we needed to convince people of that. The meeting got fairly hostile very quickly, both for Exec and [the Elections Committee]. We were disappointed with both the outcome and the conduct of all the students involved. I think it could have been done a bit better,” Gibbs said. Current StuCo President senior Siona Jain shared similar thoughts. “Even though it’s not going to change the election culture, I think co-presidency was ultimately the best option for a fair election,” she said. “ I think Exeter should permanently move to co-presidency. I feel like ultimately you get more things done with co-leadership and you have more perspectives brought to important conversations.” Joy said he was a bit surprised by the student Council’s vote, given the earlier support for co-presidents by the Exec Board, Elections Committee, and both candidates. “The consensus was that Tuesday’s election results would not be accurate and would not be a fair representation,” Joy said. “It’s also important to recognize that both council meetings saw this election as deeply problematic. It came down to what the best solution would be to
address the unfair election, be it co-presidents, no presidents, that Principal Rawson intervenes, etcetera. For instance, to my knowledge, some students abstained or voted against co-presidents because they thought that Principal Rawson would be the best decision maker. A no vote for co-presidents was not equivalent to condoning the use of Tuesday’s results.” Durawa talked about his thoughts regarding the meeting. “It’s nice to know that people feel so passionately about StuCo that they’re willing to come on a Thursday evening and share their opinions. I think we were confident that the option of co-presidents was the best way forward. But ultimately we’re accountable to the student representatives. And if students do not want us to go forward with something, it’s our job to listen to that,” Durawa said. “Usually, election disputes are resolved between StuCo Exec and Elections Committee coheads exclusively. In this case, the council was granted the power to recommend electoral matters as this instance of co-presidency involved declaring a state of emergency. It’s not really our place to completely go against what the student body is saying. We do value their opinions and we work towards a balance between respecting our high school democracy and our Academy values,” Gibbs said. The current StuCo Exec and Elections Committee coheads did not involve Principal William Rawson while making the final decision for elec-
Courtesy of William Park tions. According to an email on Feb. 18 sent on behalf of the Elections Committee, “in the absence of authority to take other action, the Elections Committee [coheads] learned the results from the advisers of Tuesday’s election to name the next Student Council president.” Rawson expressed his thoughts on this year’s election in an interview with The Exonian: “It is distressing that an election process that should bring students together as a community seemingly had the opposite effect, took several days to resolve, and left some feeling hurt and bruised.” Rawson charged the 2022-23 StuCo with “examining the culture of the election process and reforming it to align more closely with school values and more effectively ensure fairness of results.” “I would like to see an election process that is characterized by positive rather than negative campaigning, much like the way in which this year’s two candidates spoke at the debate, and where all concerned parties have confidence that the election process was conducted fairly. Reforms should be aimed at ensuring the fairness of the election process as well as avoiding negative behavior,” Rawson added. Dean of Students Russell Weatherspoon agreed. “What I assume that StuCo will soon try to do is to lay out and investigate the kinds of things that people who participate in the election process do that are problematic or unfair,” WeathCONT’D ON B9
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StuCo Presidential Runoffs Cont. erspoon said. “The email that StuCo Elections sent, for instance, as I understand it, says that a candidate is responsible for everything that a supporter says. This was included presumably in response to issues StuCo has witnessed in past years. It would be interesting to see how StuCo addresses this.” Weatherspoon added that informed and respectful conversations among the general student body will be crucial in the process of identifying the issues in election culture. “Some students of color, for instance, have commented that there is an expectation that when they run for a role like this, they can pretty much expect that certain remarks will be made, that it’s just part of the terrain. If that’s true, that’s something we want to change,” Weatherspoon added. Jain, who also experienced negativity during her election campaign, agreed that the elections process is in need of reform and was happy the candidate came forward, which started conversations with advisors and in council for a solution. The situation was brought to Bramlett and Hernandez as well. Murat detailed the action that has been taken by Exec so far: “What the current executive board is doing [is that] they met with Dr. Bramlett and Dean Hernandez on how we can sort of start going about this conversation,” she said. “Personally I would like to hear lots of different opinions, not only from me, but from council in general to kind of go forth with what policies we want to put in place. I think that starting off, we need to be more clear on what campaigning rules are and like what is allowed and not allowed because so a lot of the things are vague.” “I think that people need to understand, and obviously as soon as I go in and there’s a change of board, we’re gon-
na set the tone that racism on campus is not gonna be tolerated by no standard whatsoever. And that should have already been how Exeter should function. But sadly that’s not the case. When you go into elections, you kind of go in thinking that you’re gonna hear a lot of bad things said about you and all that, and I think that we need to change that rhetoric,” Murat continued. “Hopefully this won’t happen in the future, but let’s say next election, there was another racially charged post against a candidate, that post [should] be reported immediately to student council and elections committee. And, obviously we’re going to start working on policies to put in place on how we respond to these concerns that arise and how we respond to these posts, so that way candidates don’t have to feel like they’re going into this and they’re going to have their identity attacked.” At the moment, Murat doesn’t have a specific policy in mind. “I think this will have to be a team effort, and we are going to have to have a lot of people come in from outside to help us figure this out,” she added. Durawa and Gibbs believe that their continued work in constitutional reform will support Rawson’s vision. Among the many structural changes the revised StuCo Constitution would enact, the constitutional focus group led by Durawa and Gibbs considered “eliminating the presidential runoff election to eliminate the one-on-one tension and negative campaign that comes from support of one candidate over another,” Gibbs said. “I think by now everyone recognizes there are serious problems with how we structure elections and how election decisions are reached. With that in the public eye, StuCo will definitely invest more time and attention to constitutional reform,” Gibbs said.
Gibbs also highlighted the importance of faculty advisors in this work: “Advisors carry with them institutional memory and an adult perspective, which are crucial to having these conversations about election processes,” he said. Students who attended the emergency meetings shared differing views on the co-presidency solution and the ultimate choice of adopting the Tuesday runoff vote. Senior class president Bona Yoo, a StuCo presidential runoff candidate last year, expressed that she was unsettled by some of the sentiments voiced in the two StuCo emergency meetings. Speaking about the second of the two meetings, Yoo said, “It got ugly. Fast. And I think people’s emotions were high. I think people were very scared of something like the last election happening again, where the toxicity became very overwhelming.” Jain also commented on what was said at the meeting: “I’m honestly quite a bit disappointed in the remarks made at council, those being that this is not going to do anything to fix racism and therefore we shouldn’t take this step,” she continued. “I disagree with that because I think that in general, if you were gonna make a candidate feel more included and feel as though they have a fair election experience, that effort is something that we should take, even if it won’t ultimately fix the election culture. I know that during my election, my opponent and I proposed co-presidency because of how toxic the election experience was for the both of us. It was shot down for constitutional reasons last year, but this year we had a ‘State of Emergency’ amendment that could make co-presidency possible. I’m disappointed that Council didn’t vote in favor of co-presidency.” The Instagram story, char-
acterized as an attack on personhood by Joy, was not endorsed or made on behalf of either runoff candidate. Senior Daniel Zhang felt that the conversation at the Thursday emergency meeting failed to consider the nuances of how an attack on personhood affects different students of color at the Academy. “The main reason why I went to StuCo was in order to make points about the attack on personhood and how we as a community should respond to attacks on personhood. The only thing that I wanted to advance was that this attack on personhood on the candidate was not exceptional. It happens all the time—in casual dining hall conversations, dorm talks, in our subconscious—that the candidate in question was somehow less authentically committed. And therefore treating what happened with the Instagram story as an exceptional event is disingenuous,” Zhang said, noting his satisfaction with the final election decision. “I was of the impression that many students believed the decision to move forward with co-presidents was a moral decision that demonstrated empathy to the candidates. While I wholeheartedly agree that our first priority in deciding this matter should be respect for what the candidates are experiencing and grave attention to the attack on personhood, I feel that, as an Asian identifying student, the question of positionality was ignored by various StuCo members,” Zhang said. “Every student of color has a different and deeply personal relationship with attacks on personhood. This is a natural consequence of belonging to a diverse community. I was upset by the categorical language used to describe some Asian students in that room, who not only deeply empathize with what the candidates
were going through, but have experienced the exact same thing the candidate was going through,” Zhang added. “To hear that people describe Asian students [who care about and understand what the candidate is going through but are not in favor of co-presidency as the immediate solution] as ignoring the attack on personhood seems to trivialize or ignore their personal experiences and seems to refuse to accept that a student can very fully recognize the impact of the attack in question and still advocate for a solution other than co-presidency.” Yoo shared her thoughts on this year’s election process overall. “There’s still a trend that we’re seeing that people don’t really hesitate to make evaluative comments on candidates or their character on social media. And that gets demoralizing for both candidates,” she said. Yoo believes that people should carefully consider their words before criticizing candidates, as sometimes, she said, “we forget that, at the end of the day, we’re high schoolers.” “Last year we had an ugly election, and Student Council and the Executive Board made a promise to sit down and have a conversation to see what constructive changes could be made to the election process itself. But I don’t think we’ve done that yet,” Yoo said. “For next year we really need to sit down and come up with actual rules or courses of action that can be applicable to situations like these, in hopes of avoiding them.” On Monday, Feb. 21, an anonymous “Concerned Student” started a petition named “DEI Action at Exeter” on Change.org. The petition calls for a correction of the election outcomes, an appointment of co-presidents by Principal Rawson, and more “attention to injustice across campus.” As of Feb. 23, the petition has
accrued 76 anonymous student signatures. Joy shared that he did not start the petition, but knows the student who did. “It was another student who was just really concerned about the proceedings, who recognized that [Laura] Marshall’s email on behalf of the Elections Committee made clear that results were unfair, that this election shed light on an issue bigger than the elections itself,” Joy said. “Something deeply problematic was said. The petition demonstrates the need for broader conversation, and there’s student support in that regard.” “I think to determine whether something is fair or not, the context must be examined,” Joy spoke on the proposition for co-presidency. “A deeply problematic social media post that accessed hundreds of students was made, and it fed into an unfortunately widely held anti-Asian stereotype. It’s not the type of rhetoric that’s taught to be rejected. It’s the type that’s very easily internalized and could have influenced votes,” Joy said. When asked how he would approach resolving the longterm issue of election culture, Joy mentioned the need for action, saying, “It starts with having serious campus wide conversations surrounding Anti-Asian stereotyping, and stereotyping against any group for that matter, and we must go from there.” “Since that Instagram story has moved through the community, I’ve witnessed the tangible and intangible ways in which it’s damaged me when I see how others take the story and talk about it. At a school which deeply values equity and inclusion, we have the tools to rectify the situation — at least partially. And it’s important that we do so,” Joy said.
NEWS-IN-BRIEF
Kaminski Abandons Plea Deal; Trial Scheduled for October 02.24.22 By ANVI BHATE, BEEKE FOCK, SYLVIA LANGER, EMI LEVINE, and ELLIE ANA SPERANTSAS On Friday, Feb. 11, former Math Instructor Szczesny “Jerzy” Kaminski was scheduled to plead guilty to three counts of aggravated felonious assault and one misdemeanor count of sexual assault as a part of a negotiated plea deal with prosecutors to resolve the case. The morning of the trial, his attorney Amy Spencer appeared before the Rockingham Superior Court to inform the court of Kaminski’s plea deal withdrawal. Kaminski went against Spencer’s advice and opted for a trial. The trial is scheduled during the week of Oct. 31 to Nov. 7. Spencer is no longer representing Kaminski in court. Attorney Christina Dunn, who represents the victim of the alleged crimes, told Seacoast Online News, “As far as the survivor and her family are concerned, they thought this was a
done deal and they were finally going to get their justice.” “It feels to them like another betrayal,” Dunn continued. “She was betrayed for years when he sexually abused her when he was her teacher at Phillips Exeter and this feels like another betrayal because he was supposed to plead guilty and now, he’s not going to.” Dean of Students Russell Weatherspoon notified the school about this update in an all-school email sent on Feb. 11. “This unexpected turn of events creates fresh, heavy burdens on the survivor, her family and others,” Weatherspoon wrote. He also informed students that the pre-planned events offered to students would still stand in place. The events included open spaces to talk in Phillips Church, opportunities to talk with CAPS counselors, Principal Rawson drop-in “office hours,” OMA drop-in hours, a discussion and healing circle in Thompson Gym, and a solidarity walk. Some students felt distressed in lieu of this
recent news. Upper and co-head of Fem Club Jennifer Finklestein expressed her thoughts on Kaminski’s withdrawal of the plea. “I think it really speaks to the terrible person Kaminski was that he wasn’t willing to grant closure and drag on the process, especially against legal advice, selfishly,” Finklestein said. “It’s upsetting to me. I also wanted closure. I am kind of nervous for the beginning of next year. There’s going to be perhaps the [rising] lowers that will be reminded of this within the first month of school. It’s just a deja vu of what happened this year.” The Academy has had a long history of sexual assualt cases involing teachers and their students. The publication of the Vanity Fair exposé in Sept. 2021 titled “Mr. Weber’s Confession” detailed the significant flaws in the Academy’s sexual assualt policies and how they are handled. This sparked major backlash from current and former students, with a student-led protest occurring shortly after the publication of the article outside the
Academy Building. Students skipped assembly and instead heard about the unfair pressures and burdens placed on student leaders during that time. It was evident that the administration was not doing its role in helping students process their thoughts and emotions regarding the information in the article. In response to this protest, Principal Rawson made a statement saying he and various student leaders were collaborating together to improve the Academy’s sexual assualt policies. On Feb. 8, days before the Kaminski trial, Rawson sent out a similar email. The email provided an update on the Academy’s ongoing work to revise its protocols for responding to reports of student sexual misconduct or assault. In the email, Rawson said that, currently, “a student who wants to report sexual misconduct or assault will be able to report to any trusted adult. The student then will be given a ‘support coordinator’— a new position that we are creating—to provide support throughout the
investigation. The support coordinator could be a professionally trained faculty member or could be our experienced Director of Student Well-Being.” “Resources available to the reporting student during the investigation will include, in addition to the support coordinator: their adviser, the trusted adult, counselor(s), deans, a HAVEN advocate, and the Director of Student Well-Being,” Rawson continued. “The trusted adult, adviser and support coordinator also will have multiple resources available, as needed, throughout the investigation.” He assured the student body that the Academy is “consulting with external experts on our proposed changes, including experienced case investigators and experts from HAVEN and RAINN (Rape, Abuse, Incest National Network), and have consulted with adults on campus who have been involved in past cases in different capacities.” The administration has also sought feedback in meetings with student
leaders of EASA, Fem Club and Transitions, and “has looked at similar processes at peer schools.” “We will present the changes to Student Council for feedback, as we did when we revised the process in 2019; of course, we will also present them to the faculty, who approve changes to the E-Book,” Rawson wrote. He closed off the email by writing, “This is important work and we will continue to pursue it with urgency.” The email mentions multiple times the Director of Student Well-Being, Christina Palmer, who came under scrutiny by students shortly following the Vanity Fair article. In the article, Nancy Sales talked about Palmer’s role in Weber’s case, as well as with another case involving two students that occurred during Sales’ time at Exeter. Sales claimed Palmer failed to handle either situation appropriately, and current students were concerned about the reporting and handling process of sexual assault cases.
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June 5, 2022
Langdell, Merrill Moving to Front Street Commons
Front Street Commons continues construction. 04.07.22 By ANNA KIM, LAUREN KIM, SELIM KIM, CALISTA LEE, and HANNAH PARK Beginning in the summer of 2021, a looming framework of wood and concrete developed on Front Street. As each glass pane and flooring panel was assembled, the Academy’s latest dormitory, Front Street Commons, slowly came to life. Front Street Commons’ construction is set to finish in the fall of 2022. Situated next to Front Street House and the music building, the Academy aims for the new dormitory to improve student life and environmental sustainability on campus. The Front Street Commons will contain 60 residential rooms, while also serving as a base for health classes. It will first house students and dorm faculty from Merrill Hall and Langdell Hall, who will move into the new building at the start of the 2022-2023 school year. In the same year, Merrill Hall, Langdell Hall, and Wetherell Dining Hall will be renovated. Students in Langdell and Merrill reflected on this relocation. With Langdell and Merrill being next to Wetherell Dining Hall and near the academic buildings, many students mentioned the less convenient lo-
cation of the new dorm. Upper and Langdell resident Veruka Salomone spoke on getting breakfast. “It’ll definitely feel a lot more difficult to get up and walk all the way over to Elm. If it’s in the winter, I don’t want to walk all the way over there in the snow before class,” she said. “It’ll definitely feel a lot more difficult to get up. I’ll really just have to get that motivation and find friends to go with each morning.” “I could just go downstairs and grab a snack and a meal. Next year with Weth being renovated, I’ll have to walk to Elm for meals. It’ll be less convenient, but I think I’ll adjust,” prep and Langdell resident Paloma Sze added. As Langdell and Merrill are both long-established dorms with separate traditions, many students spoke about how they expect a separated community at first in the new dorm. Salomone is ready to “take on” responsibility with other upperclassmen on “combining Merrill and Langdell traditions.” Salomone expressed her hopes that the new dorm community will bond over time. “As more prep classes start living there, it’s definitely going to feel like more of a community,” she said. “They’re going to see themselves as one and not as Langdell and Merrill. I have friends in Merrill and people from Merrill have
Joy Chi /The Exonian friends in Langdell so eventually after a little bit of time, we’ll merge.” Lower and Merrill resident Mav Murray agreed. “I think that there are a bunch of really cool people in Langdell. I really like a lot of the uppers, so I think it would be nice to get to know them better,” Murray said. “I also think that if there were any two dorms to be combined and to do it harmoniously, it would probably be Langdell and Merrill. That being said, I think that there might be a danger of things getting cliquey, at least in the beginning, but I don’t see that being a long term issue.” Like Salomone and Murray, Merrill dorm head and history instructor Troy Samuels is hopeful that both communities will merge, but also hopes that the dorms will still maintain some aspects of their individuality. “I think it’s important not to lose the fact that there is going to be around two, three years of being in the communities and forming them [before leaving]. The proper term for this is a confederated approach. You are one entity, but there are certain individual things, and we need to find out the right way to do that where it doesn’t create division,” Samuels noted. Though upper and Merrill resident Grace Puchalski doesn’t believe that the “dorm culture will change much,” she
noted that a part of the change depends on “the faculty changing the way things are run.” Noting the differences in dorms with proctor selections, lights-out policies, among other aspects of dorm life, Samuels believes that collaboration will play a key part in maintaining a successful transition. “Merrill and Langdell are not the same, so we need to figure out who our adult team is gonna be, what our culture is, and have a really open process. I think working with student leaders, working with dorm faculty, working with the students office, working around the [Dean of Students] Residential Life’s office to figure out what this new thing will look like is important,” Samuels explained. There are some mixed emotions among students regarding the upcoming transition. As lower Safa Alwakya explained, “There is a lot to love about the Langdell building, [and] after a while it starts to feel like home. But, moving to the new dorm is undoubtedly something to look forward to, especially the new facilities.” When asked about her feelings on the move, Salomone spoke about her love for the “griminess” of Langdell. “I’ve just settled into Langdell, and there’s history here. It isn’t totally clean, stuff is breaking, but that’s the fun part of it. I don’t really want to be in a really sterile, modern dorm. Here, so many people have lived in my room and the rug’s tearing up, but there’s just so much more fun being in a classic red brick building versus a new dorm,” she said. Samuels added, “There’s something about living in Merrill. The walls are falling down and we had a hole in our wall for most of winter term, but it’s our space.” Merrill has a very closeknit community, and some students are worried that may not be the case after the move. “I think Merrill’s a really close dorm. People are always hanging out in the common room, and that’s just not going to be
there if we merge with another dorm. That whole dynamic changes,” prep Advika Verma said. For Murray, much of their reservations about the new dorm is the size of its total residents. “It probably took me like two or three weeks to get to know all the people in Merrill, but the idea of doing that in front of another 30 people is a little bit strange,” they said. “I think that there’s no danger to the dorm culture. I do think that having a culture around 30 or 40 people is better than having a culture around 60 to 80 people, because it means that you’re going to be far more cohesive amongst a smaller group.” Some of the preps expressed feelings of displacement due to the upcoming move. Prep Sophie Turner said, “It’s kind of weird to kind of lose a year in what I’ve enjoyed and what I’ve now become accustomed to.” On the other hand, Verma communicated her confusion as to why the current Merrill and Langdell preps will come back to their old dorms in their senior year. She adds, “I’m happy we get to move back to Merrill, but I just don’t see the point of it. I’m going to be a senior, so I don’t see the point of moving back for only one year.” Between both Merrill and Langdell, there are some little things that the students and faculty will miss. Samuels said, “Looking at the beam in the common room with all the [past students’] names in it, you feel that there’s kind of a history there which makes the place really interesting. It has this deep past that’s going to fade.” On the other hand, many students felt positively about the move and expressed their excitement for new facilities. “I am most excited to move into the new dorm for the facilities because Langdell and Merrill currently have so many leaks and electrical issues. I especially can’t wait for the AC in the summers,” lower Eden Fisher said.
Adding on, Sze expressed her excitement, mentioning the “old and rundown” facilities in her dorm. “[Langdell] had a lot of maintenance problems recently,” she said. “I look forward to having a dorm with hopefully a fully functioning kitchen too.” Samuels believes that the new facilities of the dorm will also aid in the transition and community-building process. “The space itself is really open and welcoming. There are two common rooms: a common room and a game room in the basement, so lots of spaces for students to congregate. There’s also going to be a really wonderful quad created by Front Street House and the Commons together. That’s going to be a really wonderful space when it’s nice out to play spikeball or just sit and enjoy the sun…It’s really designed to let everyone live comfortably, and to let the faculty do our jobs as best as possible, which is really exciting,” Samuels said. Puchalski agrees with this sentiment. “I’m excited to move to the new dorm because it’s an exciting new space with the same people from Merrill,” she said. Although they may be in a different dorm, students look forward to creating new traditions with each other while preserving their original dorm culture. “I think that Langdell and Merrill will retain most of their dorm culture and pride, although I think we will also develop and share new traditions together that might even carry over into when we move back into our old buildings,” Fisher said. “Merrill and Langdell have always, jokingly, seen each other as rivals. I’m curious as to how that tradition will play out with the two dorms now being considered as one. Same with the dorm screams. The names Langdell and Merrill are going to be retired, but I guess that means an even louder scream for the new dorm!” Alwakya concluded.
Academy Discusses Sexual Citizenship at Assembly 04.21.22 BY SOPHIE MA, KENDRA WANG, and ALAYSHA ZHANG On Monday, April 4, students gathered in the Assembly Hall for a conversation between student panelists and authors Jennifer Hirsch and Shamus Khan, who published their recent study of campus-wide sexual assault in their newest book Sexual Citizens. The assembly required attendance from upperclassmen, who were provided with copies of the book before spring break, focusing primarily on questions surrounding the book submitted by students and organized by the panelists. According to Assistant Principal Karen Lassey, planning for the event began in early December. “Members of the administrative team, Dr. Palmer, deans, Counseling and Psychological Services (CAPS), the Health Human Development Department, and some other faculty met with Dr. Hirsch and Dr. Khan to hear more about their work and discuss the implications for secondary schools,” Lassey said. Principal William Rawson explained that this conversation would be one of the Academy’s many steps in “improving programming to support safe learning environ-
ments and healthy sexual relationships.” “This is just one way we look to external resources to help inform our thinking and our work,” Rawson said. “I thought the discussion we had about topics in their book was quite helpful to probe further some of their thinking and to talk through some of the misunderstandings about sexual assault that persist in our own community.” “After [the speakers] met with the seniors and uppers, they met with Principal Rawson, Dr. Palmer, Dean of Faculty Ellen Wolff, and myself to continue that conversation,” Lassey added. “Later in the morning, other faculty joined. We covered a range of topics, from Exeter policies to some of the specific stories that reflect the general conclusions in their book.” During the assembly, Hirsch and Khan discussed power dynamics, placing emphasis on the fact that one cannot make headway on sexual assault prevention by simply telling people to act better. “You need to address the underlying question of power on campus and in the world,” Hirsch explained. “I hope that people will use the concept of sexual geographies to think about how building communities of equity is
[a form of] sexual assault prevention,” Khan added. “So that means thinking about gender, of course, but also all kinds of other intersecting forms of power: race, class, ability, sexuality, etcetera.” Hirsch continued to discuss the importance of taking a public health approach against sexual assault, which means thinking about prevention. “We talked [in the assembly] about broadening out who is considered responsible for sexual assault prevention so that it’s not just schools. It’s everyone, including families and all the institutions that shape young people’s lives.” Some students acknowledged that they felt initially hesitant about the assembly. “I feel like a lot of the time the school can give us books and topics to cover [on sexual assault], but I feel like we don’t go much in-depth and it doesn’t turn into a long-lasting conversation among the students,” senior Tina Huang said. “But I think the event itself with the speakers was very informative,” Huang added. “I don’t think they could have went over all of the details because of the time constraints, but I think they covered a lot of important topics.” Senior and student panelist Janessa Vargas expressed appreciation for the authors’ fresh perspec-
tive. “We really valued [the authors’] emphasis on treating sexual assault as a public health issue. It’s really taking a different approach to sexual-assault prevention rather than simply focusing on punishment, which I think is what we focus on here,” Vargas said. Upper Izzie Riccardi agreed, noting especially the authors’ authentic and honest responses. “I feel like the many [sexual assault assemblies] in the past have focused on ‘how we can avoid this’ and ‘how we can avoid having sex in general.’ But they know that college students and even students on campus are going to be having sex,” Riccardi said. “Sometimes people are like, ‘Oh, we’re afraid to have these conversations [about sex] with students at a young age,’ say, ninth grade,” Hirsch shared in an interview with The Exonian. “Our answer is, ‘Well, you teach people to drive before they start driving.’ Similarly, you need to have these conversations with young people. We wouldn’t say that they have to start with sexual assault, but they have to start by talking about sex.” “Additionally, I think that the educational aspect of the sexual assault awareness month programming is really important,” student panelist and upper Jennifer Finkelstein added. “I
think sometimes you lose sight of your very limited knowledge. It was really important to participate in learning on top of other events like Take Back the Night.” “I honestly think it was a really wonderful intro to the month of April,” student panelist and senior Lyric Zimmerman said. Some students shared recommendations for future events. “One thing that did frustrate me about the nature of the assembly is that only uppers and seniors were required to attend [and received the email],” upper Gracie Keyt said. “I think that’s ridiculous because sexual assault and issues of sexual misconduct affect students regardless of what age you are or if you’re going into college. This is happening on our campus as well. It’s important that it’s opened up to the entire school.” “I do think that this assembly was a step in the right direction,” Keyt continued. “But I also think that we still lack tangible mechanisms in place to make students feel protected and safe on campus, as well as effective ways of dealing with sexual assault when it does happen. Because it’s not an ‘if’ question, it’s a ‘when’ question.” Upper Liam Brown called attention to how this specific assembly approached sexual as-
sault differently. “I think the approach they took was very direct. Seeing authors treating sexual assault as a public health issue as opposed to an individual moral issue was very interesting. But I also want to hear Principal Rawson or some of the deans get up on stage and say, ‘Hey, we have a problem, and this is what that problem is’ in plain terms. I haven’t heard any of them say frankly and directly what the issue is and I very much wish they would,” Brown said. Upper Cindy Su commented on the need to increase awareness leading up to the event as well. “I think that they should’ve prepared the campus for a better discussion. I didn’t know that we were supposed to read the book over break, so I wish there was a little bit more instruction on that.” “I also wish that there was more time spent with [the authors],” Su added. “I wanted to have a lunch Q&A session with them.” Khan hoped that students will remain optimistic when tackling serious issues such as sexual assault. “We hope that students will not approach the problem from a perspective of hopelessness and fear, but instead to be filled with a sense of empathy and hope for concrete things that they can advocate for within their communities,” Khan said.
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June 5, 2022
Academy Responds to Buffalo Shooting 05.19.22 By ANVI BHATE, JOY CHI, and SOPHIE MA On Saturday, May 14, at a Tops Supermarket in Buffalo, New York, 13 people fell victim to a mass shooting. Ten people were killed, the other three injured, and 11 of the total victims were Black. Among them was a security guard who tried to stop the assailant, a taxi driver, a grandmother of six, two school teachers, and civilians shopping for groceries or picking up cakes for their kids’ birthdays. The U.S. Department of Justice and F.B.I. are investigating the shooting as a federal hate crime. The shooter, Payton Gendron, originally from Conklin, NY, had stood outside that same supermarket multiple times before in the months prior to the shooting. Law enforcement officials later reported of the eighteen-year-old shooter’s online statements and his clear fascist, anti-Black, anti-semite, and white supremacist leaning. Gendron faced charges of first-degree murder, to which he pleaded not guilty. More charges against him are expected to follow. In a school-wide email sent on Sunday, May 15, Dean of Students Russell Weatherspoon addressed the event. “[Our] community members hail from many places, and our connections beyond Exeter link us to many other people. You or someone with whom you make regular contact may have a tie to those attacked in Buffalo, San Antonio, or other locales. If you need support, please reach out to good friends, personal or club advisers, other trusted adults, CAPS and other supports. And, of course, be attentive to anyone needing your listening ear because of the fear and vulnerability these terrorist attacks inspire,” Weatherspoon wrote. “It was so shocking,” senior and cohead of Black Students of Excellence (BSE) Justin Burks said. “You live at Exeter and it’s such a hyper liberal environment that you don’t really think things like that can even happen anymore. We’re taught that stuff like that is left in the past. And so when I [learned] of how egregiously violent the shooter’s actions were, it was a surprise.” “I was talking with my friends about it, and they were sharing a lot of the feelings that I’m experiencing right now,” Burks continued. “How is it even possible that someone could have that much hate and that much anger at another human for being having a different skin color?” Just days prior to the shoot-
ing in Buffalo, three women of Korean descent were shot at a hair salon in Dallas, Texas, for which the F.B.I. and Justice Department also initiated a federal hate crime investigation. The suspect in the Dallas crime, Jeremy Smith, has since been admitted to several mental health facilities. The Office of Multicultural Affairs (OMA) has initiated close conversation since Saturday to discuss appropriate campus response to these tragedies. “We have a group that’s called the Campus Climate Response Team (CCRT),” Dean of Multicultural Affairs Sherry Hernández said. “That was activated on Monday. Conversations were underway with Dr. Bramlett and Dean Weatherspoon about how to respond.” “We [also reached] out to OMA club advisors. I wanted them to know that I appreciate them,” Hernández continued. “They are often the first to respond to our students as it relates to identity-related harm and their wellbeing was my priority.” Weatherspoon and the administration shared similar thoughts, emphasizing the importance of community and supporting one another. “As a community here, we need to be thinking all the time about how we are treating one another from the most common aspects of life,” Weatherspoon explained. “In dorm life, on the team, in any kind of group of people or a musical group.” In March of 2021, an anti-Asian shooting took place in Atlanta, Georgia. Student organizers responded by hosting a Candlelight Vigil in honor of the victims. Currently, it is unclear if there will be a school-wide event in response to recent events, whether student-led or initiated by the Academy. Hernández shared that following conversations on campus, OMA noticed a general sense of fatigue in the student body. “The priority we had was to keep our ears close to the ground and really pay attention to what our students are expressing to us and what they were feeling,” Hernández explained. “Students were not expressing to us any desire to do anything apart from finishing out the year, many expressing that they were feeling emotionally tired.” “We wanted to respond in a way that was in support of what students were expressing to us, as opposed to forcing upon anything that would make them feel even more exhausted,” Hernández added. “This time of year, our aim and our goal is for students to finish happy, healthy, and whole in however way we can.”
Weatherspoon agreed. “I think what we do is we try to use the support systems that we have, beginning with the relationships that people feel most close to and the clubs that they may attend. Especially when we’re thinking about students who may find themselves in the target group,” he said in an interview with The Exonian. Weatherspoon continued talking about how certain marginalized identities can often become targets, and therefore require a lot of external support. “It’s pretty obvious, in some situations, if you’re Jewish, you’re the target. Or if you’re Black, or you’re Asian, or if you’re Latinx, or you’re LGBTQ+, you find that you are part of the group. We want to use the clubs, affinity groups and other gatherings that we already have to support students,” Weatherspoon said. Weatherspoon stressed the importance of creating a community on campus and stepping up to responsibility on a daily basis. “In its most extreme forms, we have to try to do what we as individuals or we as a school can do to fight back against these ideas and attitudes. For instance, if students are sitting with students and they’re hearing people right near them, trafficking in some kind of dangerous rhetoric, that’s not a time to turn away. That’s a time to turn to the person next to you and go ‘what are you talking about?’ Otherwise, as I said, we will spend all of our days expecting the worst and perhaps living that way.” “This is a moment we have got to join forces,” Weatherspoon concluded. “It is hope in the best things that enables us to not only get up in the morning, but to realize that there’s a lot of worthwhile stuff to do.” Senior and African Students Association cohead Catherine Uwakwe felt that the campus headspace does not currently give room for introspection or action. “I honestly feel like most of this campus is still in their Exeter bubble, hyper focused on major assignments that have been piling on as we enter the end of the school year. I’m not sure we really have a lot of space and time to really sit down and reflect on what’s happening off campus.” Affinity spaces such as BSE have also planned to acknowledge the shootings in their own way. “I was hoping to hold a moment of silence at our next BSE meeting in respect to the people who lost their lives,” Burks shared. “Though not at this exact moment, we definitely will engage in a discussion about [the event]. We tend to avoid talking about these things because they’re depressing to speak about for Black
students on campus.” “Even though we do want to make our members aware that stuff like this is happening, we don’t want to bring down the mood,” Burks continued. “We want BSE to be a space where we can uplift all of our members and allow our members to enjoy themselves while on campus.” Simultaneously, Burks expressed interest in a schoolwide event to memorialize the victims and acknowledge the shooting. “I think a school wide event would be good. I think that the school sometimes isn’t as aware of Black students’ problems and struggles,” Burks said. “It would be very considerate of the school to host a school-wide event, pay some respect to the people who lost their lives, and just spread awareness that this type of thing is happening. Even though an email was sent, I think that a moment of silence or just some school wide event would better resonate with the student body.” Following Weatherspoon’s initial email, Director of Campus Safety Paul Gravel also sent out a school-wide email. In his email, Gravel encouraged students to be vigilant and to report any suspicious behavior to Campus Safety or the Exeter Police Department. “Our initial response is to try to obtain as much information from various open sources as possible,” Gravel shared with The Exonian. “We tried to determine if the shooter acted alone or as part of a group that may or may not have ties to New Hampshire.” “As I stated in my campus-wide email, we have reached out to local law enforcement to determine if there was any intelligence on the shooter or other information on the shooting they could share with us,” Gravel continued. “Chief Poulin of the Exeter Police shared that there was no information that the shooter had ties to our area.” “We are very fortunate in that Campus Safety has a great relationship with local law enforcement and contacts at the Department of Homeland Security Fusion Center,” Gravel added. “If there were to be pertinent information, we would be provided that. And because our community is so diverse, [we] have spoken with Exeter Police about increasing the frequency of their patrols around campus.” Senior and co-head of Asian Voices, William Park, noted that these emails were much appreciated. “For those that want to talk about it because they have been personally affected, the emails serve as recognition throughout the
community that this did happen,” Park said. “It gives an explanation for a student to tell their teacher or an athlete to their coach why they might be out of it. It can make students think about checking up on their friends that they care about.” “Most importantly, it recognizes that our bubble at Exeter isn’t the entire world and that these terrible tragedies have happened,” Park continued. “It’s a small act of respect for the victims that they deserve.” Burks and Uwakwe also suggested the Academy send out emails reminding students of CAPS and OMA resources. “I think that the CAPS department does a great job of providing our students with really good mental health support,” Burks said. “I think that it would be great if they could send out an email separate from the administration. CAPS could definitely help a lot of students who are struggling right now [with the mental toll of the events].” Uwakwe echoed Burks’ statement. “I feel like students would appreciate recognition of the issue and I think it would be useful to send out reminders that spaces like OMA exist for everyone and support can also be found there.” Hernández emphasized that OMA is a space students can turn to. “The OMA office is open every day, Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. [Students] can always find someone that they can speak to, whether it’s current events or what’s going on with them academically or socially,” Hernández said. “The best way to demonstrate our support for students is again, continuing to be open, continuing to be available, checking in with our advisees, [checking in] with all of the students in ways that are not intrusive, in ways that are really sensitive, and picking up on cues on whether or not they’re interested in discussing perhaps something more than just surface.” “We try to build trust throughout the year so that students can come to us in moments of great grief,” Hernández continued, “So we’re not beginning a relationship in a time that’s really difficult. But we may encounter new relationships during a time when it’s difficult and we’re ready to respond to that as well.” “I want our students to know that we are here,” Hernández concluded. “We want you to rely on us and come see us. We care about you and we know that you’re carrying many, many things. And we don’t want you to worry alone.”
Excerpted Conversation with Dean Weatherspoon Weatherspoon emphasized the importance of checking up on people, both students and faculty. “We don’t feel immediately under threat right here right now, but we’re checking in with particular student leaders, asking ‘what are you hearing?’ ‘What are you hearing from the group?’ ‘Are there any particular individuals that you’re concerned about?’ We also try to do that on the adult level. The adults are people too, and they also can be experiencing fear, trauma, and rage like
anybody else,” he said. “In the history of this country, people of color have been a very frequent, and sometimes nearly constant, target,” Weatherspoon continued. “And yet they’re not the only targets. We want to be supporting everybody on campus. For instance, one of the things that we did after we learned this was, we immediately asked ourselves ‘who’s from Buffalo?’ Let’s quickly look and see how many people we have in Buffalo.” Weatherspoon further
explained how although this incident targeted a specific group, anyone could be affected by the news. “I had someone come and say to me, ‘my heart just absolutely goes out to you as a Black person. You know, not only for this, for this event, but for the long history of events such as these, which obviously you’re conscious of every day you live.’” he explained. “This person was white. Two of the people who were killed were white. And then there are people who live in Buf-
falo. And then there are people who have relatives who live in Buffalo. And then there are other people who are just not in either of those camps, but they’re just demoralized to think that this is an ongoing thing in American life.” “If you have any sense that you’ve got anyone in your group who may be affected by this, please stop in on them. If they, or you need additional help, please, pick up the phone. There’s a whole bunch of resources— including CAPS— that you can take
advantage of,” Weatherspoon said. Weatherspoon also stressed the importance of viewing the Buffalo attack as a learning and community building experience. He discussed how teenagers should take this opportunity to come together and rise up in the name of justice. “We get civility, we get humanity. We get a truly diverse nation coming together as one… it is important in different ways to condemn this stuff,” he said.
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Senior of the Year: KG Buckham-White
By SYLVIA LANGER Strong, purposeful, charismatic, amazing, and fierce are just some of the words that Exonians use when asked to describe four-year senior Kathryn Gabriella “KG” Buckham-White. Throughout her time at Exeter, Buckham-White has impacted both the lives of current and future Exonians with her consistently positive outlook, uplifting personality, and unwavering determination to succeed and help others along the way. Having previously attended a private Catholic girls’ school in Atlanta, Georgia, Buckham-White felt a culture shock within her few months at Exeter, adjusting to such a diverse and competitive, yet enriching atmosphere. “I think that everybody says the school’s hard here, but I don’t think I really knew. I don’t think you can really know until you experience it… I would be in class, for at least a good two months of my prep fall, not understanding almost a third of the words that the other kids were saying,” Buckham-White said. “The most surprising part is the workload and how intelligent everybody is. But those are also the best parts too. [Being] surrounded by really intelligent, driven people is empowering…It was just like a learning curve. But academically, it was really hard for me to balance everything: my social life, athletics, extracurriculars, academics, home-
work, and happiness. Getting through has helped me develop really great skills in terms of work, finding a way to have a good social life while still doing well academically, doing things I love to do, and taking care of myself,” she continued. At Exeter, Buckham-White was able to further cultivate her talents while also exploring new fields and developing new interests. As a Girls’ Varsity Volleyball athlete for four years and current co-captain of the team, she quickly learned to balance sports, a social life, and schoolwork, appreciating the individual moments and aspects of each that brought her joy. In her lower year, the volleyball team maintained an undefeated season, and the fall Exeter/Andover game was one of her most memorable experiences at Exeter: “it was just really cool because the energy was great and we had a good team dynamic,” she explained. Four-year senior Juliette Ortiz, who met Buckham-White as a prep in Lamont Hall, reflected on some of her favorite moments they shared together. “We took yoga class together lower winter. Every day we would go to yoga, then we would stop at Elm and have tea time. We would make tea and have crackers with peanut butter and just talk. It was always very peaceful [and] one of the highlights of my day.” The relationships that Buckham-White has made on campus have enhanced her Exeter experience, “One
weekend lower year, me and my friends went to a Roddy Rich concert. None of us were particularly Roddy Rich fans, but it was so much fun to get away from campus and be with people I loved, especially right before COVID.” The delicate balance between education and relaxation is one that Buckham-White has nearly mastered. She shared, “Now that I’ve gone all the way through Exeter, my biggest piece of advice is not to let school get in the way of your education. This means, don’t let your work prevent you from having meaningful conversations with other people who are here or learning about them. I think a large part of the educational experience here is about getting to know other people who are different from you and learning about their experiences and having deep conversations about the meaning of life. It’s not simply reading the book and doing the math problem, you know? Make time to build connections with people and learn about your relationship with others. Do school work, but find a good balance so that you can have both.” In both her upper and senior years, Buckham-White assumed the role of proctor in Lamont Hall and became a welcoming and uplifting role model for underclassmen, helping them acclimate and adjust to their new home. Lower Esme Eberstadt, a student-athlete who lives on the
Joy Chi/The Exonian same floor as Buckham-White, felt immediately welcomed and included, even before the start of classes, “Right off the bat during preseason, KG knocked on my door and said, ‘you can come to my room and talk whenever.’ She was a friendly face in Lamont. I got to know her a little bit more and noticed that she’s funny, very kind, very inviting, a great athlete, and a role model,” Eberstadt stated. “I’ve been in awe of how well she handles issues in the dorm, whether they’re other people’s issues or her own challenges. I think she has a lot of leadership potential and I really think she might be President of the United States one day,” Chemistry Instructor and Lamont dorm head Jeanette Lovett said. Lamont Hall, composed of thirty-two boarding and eight day students, is one of the smaller dorms on campus, allowing for a unique tight-knit community to form. “I feel like everybody in Lamont has sort of become my siblings. I really like Lamont specifically because it’s so small and I feel like that makes it more familial,” she continued, “Your time throughout Exeter will be so transformative. Going through that transformative process with someone creates a connection that you can’t really replicate otherwise. I love the family vibes we have in Lamont and that is something I’m
grateful for. I’m really glad I wasn’t in a bigger dorm.” As both a proctor and a friend, Buckham-White has helped new students navigate the stressful environment that Exeter can be. “On the first day that I came [to Exeter], Campus Safety lost my stuff and that was really stressful for me. KG calmed me and my family down and she talked to my mom. She spent a lot of time trying to help me get my stuff back,” said Lamont prep Kairene Ramirez. “She’s always had her door open and offered to talk to me. Even when I was a bit shy to talk to her, she would invite me to her room to watch shows or talk.” Lovett continued, saying, “she is very welcoming to all students, and also a phenomenal role model because, almost better than any student I know, she balances academics, athletics, social life, and healthy sleep. It’s mind blowing how well she does that.” Aside from her academic excellence and leadership prowess, Buckham-White has become an idol around campus due to the kindness and generosity that she exudes. “No matter where she is, she shows kindness and respect to everybody and treats everybody the same. She’s the best leader in that she doesn’t judge people based on their background, experience, or skill sets. She decides to choose kindness for everybody,” Ortiz said. Senior and longtime friend Summer Faliero echoed this sentiment: “My favorite thing about KG is her genuine ability to make other people happy and the fact that she can get along with and relate to anybody. Everywhere you go with KG, you will notice random people on the path say hi to her with a smile and PEA staff spark up conversation with her. Even all of the dhall staff seem to know her and I have witnessed so many wholesome interactions… I think she embodies the idea of non sibi.” Upper Sofia Morais, a volleyball teammate in Lamont Hall, said, reflecting on the day she met Buckham-White, “I feel like everyone respects her… I remember KG being super cheerful and welcoming…she seemed like a very big presence on the team even though she was only a lower… She was also my angel in the dorm and she wrote me super
Senior of the Year: Anne Chen By CHELSEA ZHAO
“No eye was on the sparrow. No one was watching me.” — Year of Magical Thinking, Joan Didion 7 a.m. Williams House. Senior Anne Chen rises to the sunlight, spilling in through the window and onto the unwrapped packages of Babybel cheese. Chen’s maximalist decor leaves just a fraction of the wall space visible: the rest are receipts from restaurants, index cards from classmates, poems, and quotes from a wide gamut of books. Plaza by Giorgio de Chirico stands out among the paintings, the gripping colors complementing all that it surrounds. One with sufficient background in forensics science and criminal profiling could probably piece Chen’s life at Exeter together with solely the exhibit on the wall. Of course, Chen has already left her room to the Wetherall dining hall. “I get so upset if I’m late to Weth in the morning. It started because I couldn’t get homework done in my room. And so I just started going as soon as it was open,” she explained. Chen started to notice that other students share this habit with her. “Most of us share the space and bathe in
silence, but it means a lot to have these other people that I can rely on to be there every morning at 7 a.m.” Fellow senior and Chen’s close friend Kira Ferdyn, too, savors this tradition. “It’s really special to be able to connect with someone so regularly. Coming to Weth is always a bright and happy start to my day,” Ferdyn said. Chen shared that her flexibility and taste for stability may stem from her childhood. Her family moved around frequently, so when they finally settled in Kansas, she was happy to make new friends. At the time, she was not aware that she would be moving halfway across the country to attend boarding school. In eighth grade, Chen was motivated to apply to the Academy to leave her school in Kansas City. On a visit to campus, she stood outside St. Anthony’s Bakery with her mom. The two were anxious about the chances Chen would actually get in Exeter. Transitioning from her former conservatory— a fast-paced, competitive, and sometimes toxic environment— to the Exeter dance program was a big change for Chen. Before arriving at the Academy, Chen spent 12 hours every single Saturday
in the dance studio. “I was really, really into the idea of being a dancer. That’s actually a reason why I didn’t want to come to Exeter. Dance here is really different. It’s certainly not ballet centered,” Chen recalled. She struggled with integrating into the more relaxed and accepting dance community here. “At my old dance studio, you were supposed to be really hard working, the teacher’s favorite, the best in class, but still really humble. It was like you didn’t really have a personality.” There was a mold that Chen felt like she had to fit: perfect, silent, serious, and untouchable. Dance teacher Amberlee Darling noted the impact of Chen’s dance background. “She came in as a ballet conservatory-trained kid and was sort of quiet and not sure how she fit in. She wasn’t even sure if she wanted to fit in.” Chen was determined to not forfeit her technique so soon. She would get up early on Saturdays and go to the Goel Center for Theater and Dance to practice. “I used to do every single center en pointe. I was the only one en pointe, and I was so obnoxious. But I needed to show everybody that I can do this and I needed to show myself as well,” Chen said.
However, as time went on, it became apparent to Chen that it was impossible to retain her old conservatory self. She started to question herself and the dancers around her. It seemed that she could find less joy in dance, so Chen went on to try new sports like crew and lacrosse. At one point during her break from dance, Darling invited her to the Giordano dance intensive in Boston. After spending a weekend together with the team, Darling realized that Chen’s passion for dance never went away. “She just needed a moment. We had a blast over the weekend. She was so fun to be with and obviously a gorgeous dancer. It was good just to be immersed in dance fun,” Darling said. Now in her senior year, Chen is a driving force in the dance program due to her leadership and dedication. Her commitment and enthusiasm were apparent and contagious to everyone around her. Senior Lindsay Machado said, “I’m highly confident that Anne has spent the most hours in Goel out of any person to walk this campus, and quite a few dance clubs would not be running without her. Just the other day, she texted me that she had spent
eighteen hours in Goel in one weekend.” Senior Hayley Ren agreed, saying “She left me speechless but not at all surprised when she got the role of Alice in her senior spring Alice in Wonderland Dance show. I cannot wait to see her flourish on the Exeter stage for the last time.” “Anne Chen is a true visionary. I don’t use that word lightly. The first time I really saw her was when I was working tech crew for A Midsummer Night’s Dream our prep fall. She had a solo and I remember seeing her from high up in the audience one day in rehearsal. I remember being stunned and thinking, wow, this girl is a real artist,” senior Daniel Zhang said. Not only is Chen a hard-working and dedicated dancer, but she is also an incredibly active community member and supporter of her peers. Senior Kira Ferdyn said, “When I got here as a new upper, I was intimidated, and she helped me feel at home here by always reaching out.” “Anne needed to find her joy in dance again. Once she was able to do that, she was able to then spread that in other ways too. It was so beautiful to witness.” Darling shared. Darling praised Chen
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sweet handmade notes that I still have. One of them is on my wall!” “At Exeter I understood what true friendship was,” Buckham-White shared, “I feel like I have developed gratitude for the people in my life and gratitude for relationships… even though I think [Exeter] can be competitive sometimes, ultimately the friendships that you build here are ones that you’ll maintain for a lifetime.” When asked to describe her experience at Exeter the past four years in three words, Buckham-White said, “transformative, challenging, and amazing.” “I definitely think I have changed a lot, intellectually and personal-maturity wise. I think this place forces you to grow up in ways that you don’t really expect. Of course you have to learn how to do your own laundry and basic stuff like that while living independently, but I also think I’ve learned a lot in terms of building relationships, who I am, why I act the way I act, and do the things I do. I have done a lot of self reflection on these things and I think Exeter has created that opportunity for me,” Buckham-White said. While she cherishes the memories she has made at Exeter and the community that she has helped build, Buckham-White is excited for the new opportunities ahead that she has worked so diligently to achieve. “I definitely am going to miss everybody when I leave…but I don’t know if I could do it another year. Four years is the perfect amount of time. I’m excited for college and I’m looking forward to the future… I am appreciative of the time I had,” she stated. Buckham-White plans to major in political science and economics at Harvard College and intends to continue to study French in hopes of studying abroad. Buckham-White shared, “I think my goals coming into [Exeter] were primarily ‘do your work’ and ‘do well in school,’ and I feel like I’ve been able to meet them. But I also think my biggest goal now, and this might just be because I’m in the second half of my senior year, is to enjoy the time I have with the people who are here and maximize every opportunity.”
for her growth since her introduction to the dance program as a prep, “I see her show up for her friends. I see her show up for her company. I see her show up for her experiences, whatever they are. And she shows up for the hard thing; the good things.” Dance soon became Chen’s outlet for creativity and emotion. She and senior Siona Jain put together a senior project together focusing on this. They choreographed one hour of dance centered around Western imperialism in China and India. Chen and Jain spent 20 weeks researching the fetishization of Asian women and the exploitation of Chinese laborers in America, Cuba, China, and India. This was a special time for her, “I tell people that I wasn’t like a real person until my upper summer because of the senior project. I really did not know what it meant to consciously analyze myself, and I think doing all this reading about Asian Americans and Asians made me a lot more self-aware,” Chen said. Not only does Chen create her own art, but she also makes the art of others a significant part of her life. Chen found that the Parisian ballet CONT’D ON B16
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Giselle, for example, reflects pieces of her life. This story about love and betrayal, death and vengeance, innocence and forgiveness… soon grew to be her ‘comfort ballet.’ “I started watching it every single week, it became a serious problem,” Chen said. Apart from dance, Chen is an avid enjoyer of literature. Chen discovered her love of reading during lower summer: “I know this may sound cheesy, but I feel as if every single book I read ends up changing my life.” A fan of writer Joan Didion, Slouching Towards Bethlehem is one of her favorite books, “I still read it before I start any English or History assignment. It just gives me a good refresher and a good grounding of what I want my writing to sort of approach.” Chen has developed as a writer using this novel. “Anne is highly devoted to her work as a writer and poet, again probably holding a record for most books read (not for class) during four years here. Her work ethic is unrivaled, and it’s one of the things I admire most about
her,” Machado said. Chen also developed her poetry skills through WORD!, a spoken poetry club on campus, “It was another really big fear of mine. Saying my poems out loud is so vulnerable and really scary.” Words carry a great deal of sentiment and meaning to Chen. Her wall is covered in her favorite quotes from books and poems. One, in particular, is “I guess I love this place,” from Appointment in Samarra by John O’Hara. Chen described, “I have it up on my wall, right above my bed. It’s a really good reminder for me to not take Exeter for granted.” On the wall are also receipts from meals that Chen shared with her friends. Heartwarmingly, Chen has maintained her friend group for four years. When her friends were asked about Chen, each of them described her as fiercely loyal and genuine. “There are no adjectives that amount to Anne Chen, but if I had to choose one, it would be caring. Anne is a
very, very caring person. She is the best listener I have ever met, a product of both her deep empathy and her intellectual acuity, and talking to her feels like you see yourself with a newfound clarity,” Zhang added. “Her respect for the power of gesture, intention, and action is something I’ve always looked up to. The thing about Anne is that she doesn’t just care for others—she cares for others how they want to be cared for. Anne is always attentive to how others understand and conceive of love—her ability to immediately identify this in myself and other people awes me to no end.” Zhang recalled quite fondly one of Chen’s best pranks through the years. “Anne can get anything done when she sets her mind to something. It’s honestly quite scary,” Zhang said. “Her sense of authority, competence, and responsibility make me sure she’ll always be in a place she wants to be. Here’s a less serious example: one time, she ordered an entire bucket of sardines to someone’s P.O. as a prank. I mean, who else
has the genius of pranking and the determination to execute something like that other than Anne Chen?” Machado explained, “Aside from being loyal in her friendships, Anne is loyal to her values, to the point where I can usually predict with accuracy how she’d react or respond in a particular situation.” Senior Ana Casey recounted, “She made me a really cute poster for E/a that said, ‘I’m in love with #15 (Ana… Casey).’ She was so loud at the game and it was so nice to hear and see her supporting me.” Overall, Chen is someone who is always down for a conversation about anything. While on a road trip through Kansas with Machado, they found themselves in existential conversations. Machado recalled, “Anne and I spent the better part of an hour and about three miles trying to calculate the entire weight of a) all the cows on Earth, and b) all the people on Earth.” Upper Dan Han said, “Speaking with her is so calming, comforting, and re-
freshing.” History Instructor and Williams House faculty, Alexa Caldwell said, “[Anne] is great for a laugh! She loves adventures and small details and is a great storyteller.” Senior William Park appreciates Chen for her authenticity.”What I’m most proud of her for is seeing how comfortably “Anne” she is. We’ve talked a lot about who we are as people and feeling insecure about stuff and I’m so proud to see her rock being herself and doing the things she loves,” Park continued, “In dance, she’s absolutely incredible. And so is she in WORD!, and in her writing, or when she shares her struggles with identity in our Asian American History and Literature class, or when she makes the funniest jokes that no one will laugh at except for me,” Park continued, “Anne is the type of person who loves to have inside jokes with you. That being said, her decadence is unmatched. Her slovenliness is unparalleled. And her manipulation… off the charts,” Park also expressed.
Senior of the Year: Emma Chen By CATHERINE WU If you are ever in need of a thoughtful, insightful, and inspirational Exonian around campus, then senior Emma Chen is your girl. Through fellow senior and close friend Lina Huang’s words, “Emma is a person who brings so much to Exeter and also to her friends’ lives. It’s really hard to summarize it all into a few words.” Chen is the epitome of STEM at Phillips Exeter Academy, while also active in various on-campus extracurriculars such as ESSO and MATTER Magazine. Chen, originally hailing from Shanghai, China, now resides in Langdell Hall, and is a senior member of the Big Red cross country and track and field teams. Surprisingly, there isn’t a single field in STEM that Chen can narrow her interests down to, but one of her favorite classes was her Modern Physics course during her senior fall. The concepts taught in PHY400 “were the same concepts that I thought were impossible to understand as a middle schooler,” Chen said. “Mr. Dicarlo taught the topics in a very understand-
able way, where students understood the big picture and weren’t tied up in the math.” Biology Instructor Katherine Hernandez commented on her experience with Chen in her Advanced Biology class: “Whether Emma was sharing her mastery of the material with her peers, asking a question about the reading, or listening with care to what one of her peers was offering, Emma was unfailingly engaged in the collaborative learning journey of Harkness,” Hernandez said. Chen also took the genetics sequence, taught by Biology Intstructor Anne Rankin. “The quality of her comments in class stand out in my mind,” Rankin shared. “Her thoughts are well organized, articulated clearly and delivered in a tone which stimulates deeper conversation.” “She manages to offer new ideas to the conversation or correct misconceptions without dominating or intimidating others. The consistent quality of her work at the table and her written work demonstrated her strong work ethic and attention to detail,” Rankin continued. Chen discussed why she initially applied for the spring term BIO670 course. “I real-
ly liked my genetics class last term, BIO586, because a lot of it was about different genes and proteins at work. It’s more similar to physics in a way– less memorization, more the core components, logic, and applying those things. But even before I took BIO586, Ellie Griffin [a previous Langdell proctor] recommended BIO670 to me. She said it was one of the most life changing courses that she took here,” Chen said. Huang, who has taken three biology electives with Chen, reflected on her common interest in biology with Chen. “Whenever I talk to her about biology, that always becomes a highlight of my day. She takes so much joy in the discovery process, and because she’s so attuned to questions in biology and processes in research, she’s able to notice even the tiny details. I can definitely envision her tackling the most pressing issues in biology.” Senior Max Park, a classmate and close friend of Chen’s, offered her thoughts on Chen as a math student as well. In her mind, Chen is a student on top of her work with a genuine love for learning. “I think lots of times at Exeter people lose that enthu-
siasm for learning, but she still has it.” Indeed, Math Instructor Diana Davis has enjoyed discussions with Chen in her classroom. “Emma is an excellent mathematician! She is doing great work in real analysis this term. She made a really interesting conjecture last week (every point in an open set has a well-defined distance to the boundary), which led to a great discussion and even a proof.” Chen also has demonstrated a strong mastery of computer science, yet another subject in STEM that sparked her interest. “Emma and I were partners for our computer science final project last term,” senior Mana vale recalled. “We met up and worked in the library for hours each week, reading tutorials and articles, and constantly learning and discussing our findings. The experience was really gratifying. We ended up building a decently functional recommendation engine despite the learning barriers we faced, and we gained so much in the process. I’m so thankful to have had Emma as a partner!” Even in classes outside STEM, teachers like History Instructor Leah Merrill offered high remarks for Chen’s
work. “I had the pleasure of working with Emma over two terms in history class. Lucky me!” Merril said. “Emma brought a much appreciated level of maturity and intellectual sophistication to each discussion. She is a patient listener and skillful contributor – someone who says a great deal clearly and concisely… transforming the direction and depth of discussion with her comments.” Outside of Exeter, Chen is passionate in the field of CRISPR and science research, exploring neuroscience most amongst other biology fields.“When I go back to Shanghai, I work in a lab that develops tools for gene editing, specifically novel Cas proteins that can be used in CRISPR,” Chen said. “We basically search these huge metagenome databases,” Chen continued, “for genetic sequences that could encode for yet unfound Cas proteins. We then test out the promising ones and do rounds of modifications on functional Cas proteins to increase their efficiency. The reason why we always want to excavate new Cas proteins is that size matters when you’re delivering gene therapy, so it’s useful to find proteins that are smaller
Joy Chi/The Exonian Ren thanked Chen: “Anne taught me the meaning of integrity, honesty, apologies, and strength to admit my wrongs. I would even give her credit for teaching me that I am okay just as I am and that I do not have to pretend to be someone I’m not to receive the love I deserve. For that, I am eternally grateful.” “She really does have something to say and she knows exactly how she wants to say it. It was then I knew that I really wanted to be friends with her. This was the kind of person I’d come to Exeter to meet. Anne has a true artist’s intuition, which is exceptionally rare. It isn’t something you’re conscious of or you project, but if you’ve ever seen her dance or read her writing, you know what I’m talking about. She knows how sentences should fall in writing, she knows how her body should move in dance. Her sense of control is terrifying, in the best way possible,” Zhang said.
than the ones you’ve had before.” In terms of athletics, Chen was a big runner during her middle school years. “In Shanghai, I was considered really fast because very few people ran,” Chen explained. “But it was actually kind of funny because when I came here, I tried out for cross country my prep year, and I got cut from the team because I couldn’t keep up. And they only cut people if it’s a safety issue. I was that slow during tryouts. That was prep fall, and the beginning of my running at Exeter.” During her prep winter, Chen initially swam for the girls junior varsity swim team. Together, she and senior Amy Lum grew close while representing the Academy. “What sets her apart is actually how empathetic she is. I feel like here, a lot of people can get lost in their own lives and their own self. And for her to be so caring of other people, even while being in this stressful environment, takes a lot of extra skill. I feel like most people have so much on their own load and own plate. They don’t have time, and CONT’D ON B17
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Senior of the Year: Emma Chen Cont’d they can be like, ‘Oh, how are you? But they won’t actually truly care. But for Emma, she cares for people on a different level.” As Lum mentioned, Chen also grew close with senior Keona Edwards while on the JV team. “Our first meeting was memorable for me since it was one of my first connections made at Exeter,” Edwards reflected. “While we don’t have any extracurriculars in common right now, we still visit each other’s rooms daily and she is definitely the person I would go to if I needed to talk anything through. Sometimes we spend hours talking about random topics that pop up.” Then, in her lower year, Chen’s love for running still persisted. She tried out for the Academy’s cross country team another time during the fall, then continued on with the distance group in winter and spring Track and Field teams. Senior Anika Tsai shared her experiences with Chen on the cross country and track teams. “She’s always looking out for the people around her,” Tsai said. “If you’re having a bad day, she’s one of the first people to notice this and she always asks if you’re having a bad day. If someone else is having a good day, you’re not necessarily gonna be able to run together, but she always sort of hangs back a little to make sure that everything’s okay… When you’re doing your workout, it can be kind of stressful. But in situations like that, she always puts other people above herself.” Fellow teammate and senior Audrey Aslani-Far commented on her past years running with Emma as well. “Emma is one of the best runners I know. She knows when to push herself, when to take a break, and how to keep the sport both competitive and fun,” Aslani-Far said. “She sets an incredible example for younger runners about the importance of not only working hard, but also of taking care of yourself.” Davis recounted a story from the girl’s cross country head coach, Gwynneth Coogan, about one of Chen’s many spectacular races. “Fall 2019, girls’ JV cross country, Exeter/Andover race,” Davis said. “Halfway through the race, it’s close, but Exeter is losing by a few points. As the runners pass her, Ms. Coogan shouts: ‘Someone needs to make a move!’” “The runners disappear into the woods, and Ms. Coogan wonders if anyone will lead a charge. Minutes later, who emerges first? EMMA CHEN! Emma had put in a burst of speed, leading her teammates past a couple of Andover runners, just enough to bring Exeter back into contention… Exeter won the race. All thanks to Emma Chen’s courage and strength there in the middle, when no one was watching,” Dr. Davis said. With a strong background in biology and firsthand experience in running, Chen presented a TED talk her upper year about the human body’s innate prioritization. At the end of her lower year, coupled with stress from the start of the pandemic and some family situations led to a surge in Chen’s running mileage. “I channeled my anxious energy into pushing myself, in this case physically, because I was running a lot,” Chen said. “My body was like, ‘What are you doing? You’re running miles every day. You’re obviously stressed. Are you okay? Can you survive?’” Chen continued. “In retrospect, I obviously should have just given myself rest instead, but in a way my choice (to push myself) was inevitable, because it was what I was taught to do and what I’ve always done and been rewarded for. It was a lesson I had to learn the hard
way.” When Chen stopped getting her period, she recognized the sign of the danger her body was in. Her presentation then included the process of trying to renormalize her period cycle, getting more nutrients, sleeping longer hours, and reprioritizing her life to convince her body of safety. Tsai, an audience member for Chen’s presentation, shared her takeaways and reflections. “The subject for TED talk is something that, in my experience, is a pretty common struggle,” Tsai said. “It’s not something that we usually talk about before then, but I think it really did open up a conversation and also another avenue of trusting. I guess it’s just something that you don’t have to be afraid to hide from other people.” Regarding extracurriculars on campus, Chen is well known for her devoted involvement with the Academy’s MATTER Magazine. Being unaware of the organization during her prep year, “The first time I saw it was in Langdell– there was just a copy of the magazine,” Chen said. “The layout editor before me, JaQ Lai, did a beautiful job, so professionally done. The magazine talked about all these research advances in such an accessible way. I remember thinking ‘This is so cool.’” After Lai left, Chen joined MATTER as a layout editor. “It was weird, too,” Chen continued, “because we did it through the pandemic and online– just coordinating and not having the physical printing… But, we got here, ultimately,” in reference to post-pandemic conditions for the club. Davis, also the current faculty advisor for MATTER, shared her story with Chen through the club. “Emma reached out to me… to ask if I would be the faculty advisor to Matter Magazine. I agreed! At that time, Emma was living in China, so it was nice to have the additional connection through the magazine.” “We’ve both been in MATTER for around four years, but we’ve been working most closely for the last two years,” Huang, fellow Editor-In-Chief, noted. “She was layout director last year, and she really helped Leila and I make such a gorgeous magazine. We received so much praise about how all the articles were put together, where the visuals made the articles a lot more vibrant and engaging.” The two co-Editors-InChief once worked together to host an Assembly featuring Devi Lockwood. “One time, Emma and I were trying to plan an interview with science journalist Devi Lockwood,” Huang continued. “I remember we sat down at The Green Bean for several hours, where she gave such insightful thoughts on not only Lockwood’s work, but how storytelling could be an antidote to inaction. That was one of my favorite interviews.” Overall, through her collaboration with Chen, “I can’t say enough good things about working with her,” Huang said. “I know whenever anything comes up, I can always, always rely on her to be someone who’s thinking about the issues a lot, very ‘solutions-minded,’ too, and always there for the club.” In addition to MATTER, Chen was involved in ESSO and the cohead for Paper Airplanes. “We partner with the international organization, Paper Airplanes, that matches refugees all over the Middle East with English language tutors,” Chen said. In Paper Airplanes, Chen and senior Lekha Masoudi matched foreign students to Exeter tutors, oversaw the process of tutor-trading, and
provided various resources and help to the organization members as well. “It’s so great getting to work together with her during ESSO,” Masoudi said. “I feel like we’ve definitely gotten to see more of each other, understanding more about passions and interests in service work.” “Then I also worked on the [ESSO] board this past year as one of the Communications Directors, together with Ifeoma,” Chen continued. Together, they ran the ESSO organization’s Instagram page, coordinated with each ESSO club, and highlighted updates in seasonal newsletters to highlight updates. “[Working as a Communications Director] was really cool because when I was working on Paper Airplanes, I just managed my club and knew what was happening there, but then on the [ESSO] board, I got to see what everyone else was doing,” Chen explained. ESSO organizations at the Academy hold a special place in Chen’s heart in comparison to traditional faculty-led clubs. “I feel like there are clubs that are high commitment clubs,” Chen said, “but in general I feel like ESSO clubs are just more casual and community oriented. It’s less stressful and it’s more for people to help out in whichever way they can, and it’s just very ‘human-centered.’” Elizabeth Reyes, Day Student Coordinator and Director of Service Learning, shared her experience working with Chen through ESSO. “She is a quiet leader who goes above and beyond to help others but doesn’t look for recognition. She wants everyone to succeed and helps set others up for success. I grew to rely on Emma to get the job done without being asked. Emma introduced it [ESSO] to many people who will now carry-on her work once she leaves the
Academy,” Reyes said. During the past four years at the Academy, Emma has lived in Langdell, where she is currently a proctor on the second floor. “I think we have a really nice community in Langdell, and that’s really lucky,” Chen said. As a proctor, Chen works with the dorm faculty to check students in at night and organize various dorm events. For example, the Langdell proctors organized “tea” last spring, a dorm event in which Langdellians had a semi-formal get together, enjoying drinks and food items with their respective dates. This year, Chen and her fellow proctors organized a dodgeball game, Mario Kart, and an NFL plus Valentine’s day watch party. Dorothy Baker, a four year senior in Langdell, met Chen on the first day of school during their prep year through the dorm and have been acquainted since. As seniors, they serve as second floor proctors together. “She is super prompt when she’s on duty. She greets everyone by name, gives them a friendly smile, asks them how their day is going, helps organize floor parties, and gives really great insight into fac-pro [meetings] whenever we have fac proc,” Baker continued. Regarding the proctor to student connections in Langdell, senior Zara Ahmed discussed Chen’s particular influence on fellow Langdellians. “I think a lot of underclassmen who are Asian actually feel a lot more comfortable around her, especially because they are international students who are Chinese speaking. So I think she [Emma] has been actually a really big unifying factor for them all.” Prep Isabella Jin, an international student, reflected on Chen’s guidance into the dorm community. “Emma is the academic goddess in
Langdell,” Jin said. “She is very caring and sweet to everyone and is someone people in the dorm would seek if needing academic help or is just having a bad day.” Jin shared some of her memorable moments with Chen. “My first term here, I was struggling with Latin. She was checking us in on that day, and patiently helped me through the homework… One day after midterms came out, I was sad about my grades, and went across Emma in the hallways. We had a very nice discussion about adapting to Exeter’s Harkness method and she gave me a lot of useful advice,” Jin said. “Whenever I was facing problems and questioning myself, she would always be there to talk through it with me.” Chen took some time to reflect on her past 12 terms at the Academy as well, noting her life here, her memories, and her growth. “I think I became more confident in general,” Chen said. “For example, prep fall, I remember my first history class– I didn’t say anything for classes on end… It’s not because I didn’t have things that I wanted to say. I just didn’t dare in a way. I was too scared.” Studying at Exeter as an introvert is common for many Exonians, yet overcoming that gap of courage and gaining confidence was something Chen accomplished. “Overall, now I’m just more comfortable presenting myself and my ideas to other people. I think a large part of it was thanks to the amazing people I talked to.” Her prep year advisor, Toyin Augustus, was one of those people. Toyin had talked about how extroversion was a skill that Chen had the opportunity to practice at the Academy, although there was nothing being a quiet observer. “I feel like that just made me see it in a way that made
Courtesy of Emma Chen sense to me. Before I always thought either I was forcing myself, or worse, pretending to be super extroverted and it was really draining, or I didn’t say anything. So finding that balance– finding a way to interact meaningfully with the world and still be who you are – was very satisfying. Overtime, as I became better at this skill, I also enjoy it more because I can engage with people in deeper ways – ‘go beyond small talk,’ so to speak,” Chen said. Finally, Chen shared what Exeter has taught her, as well as the legacy she hopes to leave behind. “Exeter showed me all the possibilities of what people can accomplish. People are so passionate and proactive here that if they want to do something, they’ll be able to get it done. I think this cando spirit is really inspiring,” she said. “I hope part of my legacy is showing people that you control your own rhythm and you can slow down, just because I think Exeter needs that counterbalance. You can be cut from the cross country team and try again next year. You can leave all but a few clubs you really care about to give yourself necessary rest. Being passionate and determined is great, but for that to be sustainable, we need to take care of ourselves.” Looking back on her four years at Exeter– hailing from Shanghai, her days pursuing STEM courses, her nights living in Langdell, all the while participating in extracurriculars, Chen ended with a retrospective thought. “Overall, I think I would leave a legacy more on the one-to-one level,” Chen said. “Hopefully people around me enjoyed some of our conversations and time together, because I know I will definitely remember everyone I met and all of the connections I formed here at Exeter.”
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Senior of the Year: Neil Chowdhury By ANDREW YUAN In design lab, Harkness discussions and casual dinner conversations with his friends, senior Neil Chowdhury steers his journey at Exeter with confidence and enthusiasm in science. Recently placed fifth place in Regeneron Science Talent Search, Chowdhury can be easily recognized for his talent in sciences as a Massachusetts Institute of Technology PRIMES program researcher, USA Physics Olympiad Honorable Mention recipient and student at U.S. National Chemistry Olympiad Study Camp. Hailing from Bellevue, Washington, Chowdhury grew interested in STEM [science, technology, engineering, and math]-related fields at a young age, citing influence from his community and classmates. “The people I interacted with from middle school often were kids whose parents were working at Microsoft, Amazon, et cetera. They were people who were very strong in math and science. I think people always get shaped by their environment, which definitely happened to me at Exeter,” Chowdhury said. “But even growing up in elementary and middle school, I was pushed to pursue STEM just because of what my classmates were doing.” “I grew up doing a lot of local math competitions and science research just for fun. I’d hang out with my classmates and our parents would unlock the doors in the Microsoft building. We would just sit in a conference room and do problems,” Chowdhury continued. Chowdhury began his quest at the Academy with a personal recommendation from a friend about the Caroline D. Bradley Scholarship, “a full fouryear, merit-based high school scholarship… that can be used nationally toward any high school or approved alternative educational program.” “Growing up, I didn’t know what Exeter was. One of my friends in a public middle school who went to Andover told me about the Caroline D. Bradley Scholarship program that she received and encouraged me to apply. After receiving the scholarship, I asked myself, ‘what do you do with this?’ I got into three private schools, Exeter, Andover and Choate, with the scholarship,” Chowdhury recalled. “I just liked Exeter because it had Mr. Feng and a very strong math team that attracted me.” Senior Jacob David recalled his first encounter with Chowdhury through the Bradley Scholarship and their friendship that extended prior to prep year at the Academy. “I actually first met Neil before I came to Exeter. We’re both part of the same scholarship program, so we were connected and met each other back in eighth grade during revisit day. But throughout our time at Exeter, we’ve developed our friendship by hanging out, going to clubs, and exploring common interests,” David said. Senior Maxine Park, also a Bradley Scholarship recipient, described her first early friendship with Chowdhury at the Academy. “I remem-
ber my first impression of him being this nerdy, man-of-few-words kind of science guy,” Park said. “Once we got to Exeter, I got to know him better since we had math class together for the entire year. I will always be thankful for his 3 a.m. math help sessions that guided me through the 31X mathematics sequence prep year.” A co-head of Math Club, Physics Club, Chemistry Club, Peer Tutoring, Science Bowl, and a longtime participant at Robotics Club, Chowdhury’s STEM pursuits at Exeter progressed with the aid of the Academy’s Science Department and the many Academy resources. Chowdhury noted the impressive scope of the Academy’s curriculum and its various clubs. “How many high schools have a class on Fourier series, linear algebra or statistical thermodynamics? Even clubs broadened my experience: In Peer Tutoring, I’ve learned how to help people understand a concept better,” Chowdhury said. “In Robotics, I didn’t just learn how to code Java, but also how to organize a project and get teammates to finish it on time.” Science Instructor and Physics Club Adviser Scott Saltman commented on Chowdhury’s constant participation at the Physics Club. “Neil has been part of the physics club since prep year. That year, he traveled with our U.S. Youth Physics Tournament team to Rye, NY. The next year, he got more involved in the club and the team. In his upper year, he ran one of the project/research groups, as he did this year,” Saltman said. Though Saltman has not taught Chowdhury at the Academy, he praised Chowdhury for his leadership in the club and scientific thinking by diving into physics problems and developing a thorough understanding of them. “Through a combination of his enthusiasm and his soft-spoken nature, he pulls other students into the projects and forms a team that works well together,” Saltman continued. Upper, Physics and Robotics Club member Isabella Vesely, who first knew Chowdhury through the First Tech Challenge robotics team where he was the lead programmer, appreciates Chowdhury’s omnipresent support for his clubs. “From my experience, any time working with Neil in the robotics and physics clubs will be a good time. Most of the direct experiences we’ve worked together are in physics club, where he was the leader of our USIYPT competition problem,” she said. “He always provided constructive feedback on other members’ ideas and work that shaped our final presentation,” Vesely continued. “Additionally, I appreciated the fact that Neil would always leave space for new members to work and grow their interest and knowledge in physics.” Senior and Chemistry Club co-head Oscair Page shared his experiences working with Chowdhury on several club projects. “Earlier this year the communications team asked us to be in a promotional video that they were filming. Neil and I did some chemis-
try demonstrations, and it was a really cool experience,” he said. “He leads in a really inviting way and is always conscious of the differences in experience that people enter with.” David agreed, citing Chowdhury’s critical leadership in the Physics club. “I’ve led Physics Club with Neil since the start of upper year and he’s been a backbone of running the club, from setting up our Discord server, to being an executive producer for our promotional rap video. He’s always a responsible person that will take action when others are unable to,” he said. Senior and fellow Math Club co-head Eric Yang commented on the roles Chowdhury played in the club. “Neil is very dedicated, he did a lot of the web development for Math Club…he’s more of a lead by example kind of person than a figurehead or politician sort of figure,” Yang said. Beyond club leadership, Chowdhury plays a crucial role around the Harkness table as a frequent contributor and brings new innovative solutions to difficult problems. Math Instructor Diana Davis, who taught Chowdhury for all three terms of his upper year, described Chowdhury as a great student: “I wrote the problems for the billiards course, and once I included a problem whose results I knew we needed, but I wasn’t sure how to prove it (to show that any polygon can be
triangulated),” Davis shared her fondest memory of Chowdhury. “There was no doubt in my mind that Neil would solve it: and indeed he did, a nice solution about sweeping out regions of a polygon with a line segment.” Outside of Chowdhury’s devotion to science, Chowdhury is also an avid cellist and a member of the Chamber Instrumental Group since his upper fall. Page elaborated on Chowdhury’s and his shared interest in cello. “Before the pandemic Neil and I decided to play the Barriere cello duet. We haven’t yet had the opportunity to perform it, but I had a lot of fun preparing the piece,” he said. “If you’ve seen him performing in a soloist showcase or with a chamber group it’s clear that he’s passionate about the instrument.” Chowdhury can also be found enthusiastically playing video game Call of Duty, a routine hobby he picked up after joining the Exeter community, and casually sharing quips in daily conversations. “He wrote about playing COD Mobile for a college essay asking what he did purely for fun. I don’t think it gets better than that. He’s also looking to grow [his] upper body,” senior and Head Tutor Michael Popik said. “Neil’s strongest passions are all in STEM. In areas like math, physics, chemistry, computer science, and biology, he’s studied intensively, conducted research and com-
peted at a national level. But outside of STEM, he’s picked up hobbies like creating pickup lines and playing COD Mobile,” David added, commenting on Chowdhury’s interests outside of science. “In Prep year, he was always very fond of picking casual but entertaining political brawls,” Park recalled her friendship with Chowdhury then as lowerclassmen. “While I think he has since learned to tame his hunger for these kinds of conversations, the sharp sarcasm and opinionated wit remains. Quite entertaining, really.” Park applauded Chowdhury’s merit and achievements in science, as well as his contribution to the Exeter community. “Neil has accomplished more in his field than most college students in the country. He is one of those people whose work is too brainy for most people to understand but so badass they can’t help but admire. And even then, he’s incredibly down to earth,” she said. Popik described Chowdhury’s presence in the community as, “A living legend well known for being one of the smartest kids at Exeter but also one of the kindest and humblest. I think Neil is omnipresent around campus: working upper body in the gym, eating dinner in Elm, tutoring in the Elting Room, saying SG (So Good) with Kevin, and so much more.” As one of the most accomplished high school scientists in the nation,
Courtesy of Neil Chowdhury Chowdhury shared his hopes for the future of the scientific community and his thoughts on the societal and political perceptions of science. “It’s a big problem now that we have people who don’t listen to science, people who kind of don’t use evidence or data. I’m talking about politicians. I feel like if the Senate was like a hundred scientists rather than a hundred politicians, we’d be in a much better place right now,” he said. “There are ideologies who try to corrupt science in the media,” Chowdhury continued. “It’s hard to make or force people to appreciate science, but if you have good scientific communicators to bridge the general public and scientific researchers who write obscure papers that no one can understand, I think the public will listen to scientists more.” “I know so many lower and upperclassmen alike who look up to Neil, not just for his accomplishments as an extremely talented scientist, but also his caring personality and genuine love for uplifting our community. People as talented, humble, and caring as Neil are very hard to come by — Exeter is really lucky to have him,” Park concluded.
June 5, 2022
GRADUATION ISSUE– CXLIV
Senior of the Year: Kevin Cong
By SOPHIE MA Every Sunday morning at 9:30 a.m. sharp, senior Kevin Cong steps softly into Room 025 of the Academy Building, laptop open and in hand. For the next three hours, Cong leads a group of zealous young mathematicians through their problem set, patiently untangling the most difficult concepts and finding joy in the other students’ fervent discussions. By the time everyone has gone, Cong’s hands are dusted with chalk. “Sometimes you think math is an individual thing where a lot of the time you’re just sitting there and doing problems,” Cong said. “But it’s more than that.” Reflecting on how he became interested in mathematics, Cong called attention to the spirit of discovery. “As a kid, there are a lot of things that you don’t know, but you can think about numbers. For example, if you multiply numbers to themselves and just look at what happens, you’ll find a lot of nice patterns,” Cong said. Cong first decided to come to Exeter out of admiration for the Harkness method. “I think [Harkness] really teaches you how to both listen and respond. Lecture style classes are great, but you don’t really get the opportunity to learn about the students and connect with the topic on a deeper level. Here, I’ve learned a lot about how to form ideas and communicate them,” Cong said. To this day, mathematics remains one of the most integral parts of Cong’s life. “I think the first time we went to a competition together, it was in Boston before the pandemic, probably held at MIT or Harvard,” Idea Math senior instructor Ivan Borsenco recalled. “I remember that even when something didn’t go as well as he planned, Kevin kept fighting for the point to get a good result. He wasn’t upset about a negative result and he continued to fight for the win.” Ultimately, that perseverance rewarded Cong with a USA Mathematical Olympiad win. To Cong, however, math contests have more meaning than a simple medal or trophy. “Two of my most cherished memories are running the Exeter Math Club Competition (EMCC) this year, and attending all the competitions with Math
Club before COVID came about,” Cong said. “We’ve been off campus for two years already. To be able to come back and run EMCC was such a nice way for our club to bond. When we’re competing together, the road trips are really fun. We’ll have like a bunch of songs playing in the background and we’re all able to work together on problems,” Cong said. Cong also spoke highly of Zuming Feng, former Stephen G. Kurtz Teaching Chair and Mathematics Instructor at the Academy. “Dr. Feng was my math teacher for all of prep year, but also our Math Club advisor. He’s been an important mentor for me over the past few years,” Cong said. “He really taught me how to be active on the Harkness table,” Cong added. “Maybe you can learn all the material without engaging as much, but he taught me that it’s always important to be part of the conversation: not only to learn the material for yourself, but also to help the rest of the class, during which you’ll gain new insights. He’s always been there when I needed help, whether academically or not.” Feng praised Cong as a “very kind” and “humble” student with “powerful skills… He is extremely able and he works hard,” Feng said, “It’s a rare combination; he is leading by his own actions.” Though Feng has since left the Academy, Cong continues to work as a teaching assistant at Feng’s Idea Math, an integrative mathematics program. “One of my goals is helping and inspiring others to really love math like I do,” Cong said. “A lot of the times when you’re on your journey to becoming a mathematician, it can be hard to know what the next step is. As someone who’s older, I can sometimes give them a little more guidance and I’ve found it really nice and rewarding to be a mentor for them. To this end, I’ve volunteered as a tutor, worked as a teaching assistant at Idea Math, and ran outreach events about math!” In his own studies, Cong has relished in the variety of mathematics courses the Academy offers. “I took a Fourier series class earlier this year: the idea of using sine functions that ultimately end up approximating any random function,” Cong
said. “You could approximate some weird curves that don’t look anything like a periodic function, which is really cool because it’s not something you would expect.” Cong found enjoyment in the class because of its applicability. “A lot of times, when you think of pure mathematics, [you think] it’s not something that really has any applications. But with Fourier you have applications in not only physics but in much of the technology we use daily.” Cong expressed interest in continuing his mathematics career in college. “I would be interested in exploring some other areas of research,” Cong said. “In some sense, contest math is high level high school mathematics. But in college math, you learn a lot of new subjects that you might have never heard about. I would be interested in seeing if there’s anything that piques my interest.” Beyond his accomplishments, math has also served as a bridge between Cong and the people around him. “When I was in middle school, I went to school in New Jersey, where Kevin also went to school,” alumna Yunseo Choi ’21 said. “I had never met him, but I’d always hear about this really smart kid who was winning everything. We finally met in Math Club after he came to Exeter.” “I really respect a lot of the decisions he makes, even though he’s younger than me,” Choi added. “I feel like a lot of people try to overinflate what they’re capable of or try to take credit from other people. With Kevin, I never see that.” Choi reflected on an incident in which Cong thoroughly embodied the spirit of non sibi. “A couple of students from Exeter and I were working on a math research project together. We were stuck, so we talked to Kevin and one of the insights that he provided ended up being a key part of one of the results that we proved. I told Kevin that I would be so happy to include him as a co-author for his contribution to the project. I asked multiple times but he always declined. I love how he’s so honest and humble and just overall a very happy person,” Choi said. In addition to his impressive mathematical abilities, Cong also excels in the
Classical Languages department. Friends describe him as “dedicated” and “intelligent” in the pursuit of his classical studies. “Before almost every test, oftentimes the night before, Kevin would always help me with any questions I have in Greek,” upper Holden Quaresma said. “He has such a profound understanding of the languages themselves, he approaches it from an angle unlike anyone I’ve ever met.Kevin sees patterns that sometimes a lot of people don’t get on the first tr. He just has such a passion for consistently working at these languages and it really shows.” Senior Pedro Coelho agreed. “The way that he’s able to explain things is something that I think adds a lot of value to our conversations. When you have someone who excels as much as he does in basically every area, he’s really someone that you can look up to and admire. In that way, Kevin raises the level of everyone around him because you’re inspired to reach for his excellence and work ethic.” Cong shared that he had come to really love classics during his time at Exeter. “I came in not knowing much about the subject, but soon fell in love with the beauty of the literature, both prose and poetry, that is present in the treasure troves of the ancient authors. The classics department is an incredibly warm and welcoming place — even if I had not imagined it prior, many of my favorite courses and memories here have been in the second-floor hallway of the Academy Building, listening, analyzing, and appreciating Latin poetry or Greek history.” “What I love most about the subject is its breadth of expression of humanity and human emotions to an amazing depth that easily applies to our lives today,” Cong shared. “My experiences with the classics have led me to develop a new passion for the area.” On top of his success at the Academy, Cong has proven his impressive research skills in the 2022 Regeneron Science Talent Search, where he was chosen as one of 300 scholars from a 1805 applicant pool. His project, titled “On the Sizes of Furstenberg Sets in Finite Fields,” explored how small Furstenberg sets—a set of points which contain
a large number of points on a line in each direction— could be. “I conducted the research under the Research Science Institute (RSI) program, where I had a mentor to guide my work,” Cong shared. “Mine was very motivating and really encouraging throughout the process.” Coincidentally, Choi was also present at the Research Science Institute when Cong was working on his project. “When he was at RSI, I was a teaching assistant,” Choi said. “Even though he wasn’t my student, he had to present all of his research to a bigger audience. I remember that, compared to when I first met him, Kevin has become a much more collected and confident speaker.” Cong’s humility during his presentation stayed with Choi to this day. “I think a lot of students tried to make their presentations sound fancy and put in a bunch of jargon that people didn’t understand. But I remember Kevin making a very friendly presentation that I find to be a reflection of his personality— friendly and welcoming,” Choi said. Friends cited Kevin’s growth during his time at the Academy. “Kevin has become a lot more introspective and thoughtful through the years,” senior Jacob David said. “But he still remains an easygoing person who doesn’t take himself too seriously. He brings lots of humor and positive energy to campus and is someone that people can look up to.” “He has become a lot more mature,” senior Neil Chowdhury said. “Over the course of his time at Exeter, he got into Latin and the Jazz Band and other things that helped him become a more diversified talent. He has always been one of the strongest math students in the U.S., and he’s definitely gotten a lot more sophisticated.” Cong also enjoys playing various sports for fun. “I’ve always enjoyed playing soccer,” Cong said. “I participated in club soccer last term, which was pretty fun.” Borsenco attested to Cong’s soccer skills. “I remember that Kevin played different sports in summer camps with us. He’s a cool soccer player; he was quite good at it.” “I’m also a squash fan. I went to club squash a few times. Actually, I’ve never played squash before Exeter.
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Courtesy of Kevin Cong I only knew how to hit the ball, but I think I gradually learned how to play. It’s really fun, and it requires a combination of being flexible and being able to think in the moment like, ‘where do I want to go?,’” Cong said. Discovering so many diverse interests at the Academy has allowed Cong to mature in resounding ways. Some things, however, never change. “Kevin’s genuinely one of the nicest people on campus,” Chowdhury said. “People are always competitive [at Exeter] or have their own takes on things but Kevin is genuinely nice to everyone and tries to help everyone. He just has a positive personality that I don’t really see a lot.” Senior Eric Yang echoed Chowdhury’s statement. “Kevin sort of embodies the core values of this school. He embodies the idea of academic excellence, and he’s very understanding towards other people as well.” As Cong prepares to graduate, he leaves in his stead words of advice for the Academy’s underclassmen and young mathematicians. “In math, if you have the right mindset of asking yourself, ‘What if I put this in another setting?’ you can find wonders. Even if it doesn’t help you solve the original problem, it can give you something totally new.” “And although this is sort of cliche, really pursue your passions,” Cong continued. “As an Exonian, there’s a lot of work and it can easily be overwhelming. I think if you try not to lose sight of your goal, you can find the determination to help you push through. Imagine where you’d like to be in five years. Think, ‘how can I achieve that?’ It will really help you.” Reflecting on his years here, Cong hopes he’ll leave some legacy at the Academy, regardless how big or small. “I hope that my enthusiasm for math gets passed on to the lowerclassmen, and similarly in classics as well,” Cong said. “Through the various discussions we’ve had, I’ve learned a lot from my peers and hope that I have had a positive contribution to the community and those around me.” Cong has certainly achieved as much.
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GRADUATION ISSUE– CXLIV
June 5, 2022
Emma
June 5, 2022
Four Years in Review Cont.
By ANVI BHATE, LAUREN KIM, SELIM KIM, and ANDREW YUAN
2018-2019 Rawson Renames Academy Center The beginning of the 2018-19 school year kicked off with the annual Opening Assembly, where Rawson announced that the Phelps Academy Center had been renamed to the Elizabeth Phillips Academy Center (EPAC). Prior to this renaming, no other major building on campus had been named after a woman. The renaming aimed to honor the Academy’s underrecognized co-founder, Elizabeth Phillips, and was originally proposed by lead donors of the Academy Center. A committee was then created by Dean of Faculty Ellen Wolff to consider the name change and included members from different departments: Biology Instructor Richard Aaronian, Mathematics Instructor Stephanie Girard, History Instructor emeritus Jack Herney, Assistant Principal Karen Lassey and then Head of Archives and Special Collections Peter Nelson. Many students and faculty members alike expressed that they favored the renaming. Faculty Votes to Delay Dorm-Leave Time by an Hour In October, faculty voted in favor of the deans’ proposal to change the earliest time students were allowed to leave the dorm from 5 a.m. to 6 a.m. Many dorm heads and deans stated that the change came as a way to enforce a better sense of student safety and as a way to prevent illegal visitations at 5 a.m. It was also stated that with the implemented change, leaving the dorms before 6 a.m. could result in disciplinary action. The proposed time change was met with a mix of reactions. Some stated support because they believed the move would prevent illegal visitations, while others voiced concerns with how the change would affect sport teams with early practices and general student freedom. Academy Institutes Biweekly Community Time Meetings As a new initiative of the 2018-19 school year, the Academy piloted a program named Community Time. A biweekly initiative, Community Time aimed to gather the community to discuss issues in small groups during a
designated 50-minute block. It was stated that the goal of Community Time was to prompt students to think about how they could improve life at the Academy. These events ranged from skits featuring faculty members demonstrating standards of community etiquette to discussions of the school’s consent policy Some students saw Community Time as a positive step towards facilitating community-wide discussion, while others felt that the well-intentioned discussions were not effective. Phillips Exeter Alumni for Truth and Healing (PATH) Publishes Petition for Increased Accountability On September 20, the Phillips Exeter Alumni for Truth and Healing (PATH) published a petition calling for the Academy to reconduct its investigations on sexual assault. This petition came in response to documents released to the Exeter community on August 24 from Rawson via email. The petition, which collected 294 signatures, claimed that the Academy’s most recent investigations were not truly independent because cases were reported to the law firm Holland & Knight after they had been reviewed by the Academy and the Academy’s legal counsel (Nixon Peabody). Rawson responded to the petition and expressed hesitation to repeat the investigations. He later sent an email to faculty, and said that the letter from PATH reflected a fundamental lack of trust in the Academy. Rawson also stated that some of the blame was on the Academy for having lost the trust of PATH, continuing on to mention how PATH’s petition reflected misgivings about the recent investigations and the administration’s response to the results. The petition requested that all relevant allegations and evidence concerning abuse perpetrated by PEA adults against students and peer-to-peer abuse allegations be turned over to an investigator both PATH and Exeter agreed on as a way to encourage full transparency and accountability. PATH hoped to continue collaborating with the Academy’s administration and the trustees to thoroughly investigate and confront the Academy’s history of sexual conduct. Former Admissions Officer Hal Lynch III Sues Exeter for Alleged Wrongful Termination Hal Lynch III, a former employee of Phillips Exeter Academy, sued the school on
counts of sexual orientation discrimination, retaliation and wrongful termination in September of 2018. The lawsuit was filed against the Academy in Rockingham County Superior Court, one month after the Academy released summaries of investigations into instances of sexual misconduct. Lynch, a former associate director of Admissions, Director of Fisher Theater and openly gay member of the administrative faculty, was put on paid administrative leave in November 2016. In March of 2017, his employment was terminated. Lynch’s complaint in the case stated that his termination was a result of investigations by the Academy into a 2016 report made to PEA by a student, which claimed that Lane Bateman, former Drama Director and former romantic partner of Lynch, had a sexual relationship with the student. The student alleged in the New Hampshire State Police Continuation of Investigation Report, that Lynch knew of the student and Bateman’s relationship, but failed to act. Lynch claimed in his suit that he had no knowledge of Bateman’s criminal activities, including involvement with the student, prior to Bateman’s arrest in 1992. This claim was maintained until Bateman’s criminal prosecution, when the student provided information on their relationship. Exeter’s General Counsel Holly Barcoft said that Lynch’s lawsuit was without merit, and that the basis for termination was Lynch’s failure to report information about Bateman’s relationship with the student to the police or the Division of Children, Youth and Families (DCYF). Additional claims also resurfaced in the wake of Exeter’s 2016 investigation into faculty-on-student misconduct, which confirmed that Bateman had sexual interactions with a former student at the school. The victim allegedly had a sexual relationship with Bateman that Lynch and a retired dean knew of. Lynch’s lawyer claimed in Lynch’s suit that the retired dean and another faculty member who knew of the relationship were neither investigated nor disciplined by PEA. These string of investigations by the Academy also ended up revealing claims of then-Reverend Robert Thompson’s alleged inaction in response to sexual misconduct. Escaped Inmate Arrested on the South Side Quad On October 9, 2018 at exactly 2:01 p.m, Exeter Police caught escaped inmate 34-year-old Julio Nieves on the South Side Quad in front
of Cilley Hall. The arrested inmate was originally jailed in September 2016 on a judge’s order for burglary, criminal mischief and theft. Nieves ran from the Rockingham County House of Corrections to the Academy, where he was then caught. Nieves was later transported back to the facility after his arrest. This event raised concerns about Exeter’s security. Although campus was on lockdown throughout the chase, Campus Safety did not send out a message until after the lockdown was over, prompting many to think that the lockdown was due to a faulty alert system. Director of Campus Safety Services and Risk Management Paul Gravel later claimed that the alert system did work correctly, but that it was only necessary to lock down the school for the three minutes that the chase occurred. Campus Safety promised to improve communications with EPD in case similar incidents occur in the future. Phishing Emails Attack Exeter Community During the early weeks of the school year, the Exeter community fell victim to many phishing scams, a scam that tricks recipients into clicking on a seemingly trustworthy link and entering their username and password in order for hackers to steal their credentials and obtain access to their account. Clicking a link from a phishing email installed malware that looked for security weaknesses in hopes of gathering sensitive information. From then on, hackers possessed the ability to exploit the compromised email addresses to send additional phishing emails, increasing the number of hacked accounts. Many students and faculty were sent phishing emails and experienced difficulties in accessing important websites and resources. As a response to the mass phishing problem on campus, Cybersecurity Club and IT mentioned plans to fend off the attacks by training the community. The IT Department especially initiated many programs with its cybersecurity partner KnowBe4. They included mandatory training to the faculty to increase awareness of such occurrences and a collaboration with then Dean of Students Melissa Mischke to develop a program for students to protect themselves from phishing attacks. Mass Vigil Held for the Shooting at the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh On October 27, 2018, the
GRADUATION ISSUE– CXLIV
Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania was attacked by a neo-Nazi in an anti-Semitic act of terrorism; 11 people lost their lives. To honor those 11 individuals, Reverend Heidi Carrington Heath and Rabbi Jennifer Marx-Asch held a vigil with both the Academy and the Exeter community. Before the vigil was held, members of the Academy and the greater Exeter community gathered in front of Town Hall on October 27 for minutes of reflection and prayer. At the vigil, then-Exeter Select Council member Molly Cowan spoke to the trauma of the shooting and encouraged mourners to vote for candidates that have pledged to advocate for stricter gun laws. Some residents present at the vigil claimed that Cowan’s comments on gun control and voting seemed to prompt an unnecessary discussion of politics. Others were grateful of Cowan’s comments, stating that they raised awareness where needed. Grand Opening of the Goel Center With construction beginning the previous year, the David E. and Stacey L. Goel Center for Theater and Dance officially announced its grand opening with a Dedication Ceremony on October 27, 2018. The event commemorated the replacement of the Fisher Theater and Davis Dance Studio. The new building carried a 63,130 square-foot facility accommodated with a proscenium mainstage with 350 seats, a thrust stage theater with 149 seats, two dance venues, a rehearsal and meeting space, technical studios, a costume shop, classrooms and lounge areas. The ceremony took place behind the Center where many donors, trustees, parents and other members of the Exeter community were present. The ceremony also included performances from many artistic groups both on and off campus: Kwabs Dance Company, Oukast, Imani and the Concert Choir. The evening later ended with a ribbon-cutting ceremony from the building’s primary donors David E. Goel and Stacey L. Goel, whom the Center is also named after. The opening of such a building signaled an exciting new start for the theatre and dance programs of Exeter. Reverend Thompson Retires After Paid Leave On October 29, then-Interim Principal William Rawson shared a statement via email
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Courtesy of JaQ Lai with Exeter alumni, faculty and staff. There, it was announced that Reverend Robert Thompson would officially retire. This announcement came to be the first official update on Thompson after he was placed on administrative leave in the summer of 2016. In his email, Rawson acknowledged the sensitivity of circumstances of all involved and wrote that he met with Thompson in July. It further went on to state that the Academy and Thompson mutually decided to part ways and that Rawson recognized the Academy’s difficulties in fairly negotiating with Thompson. Thompson and his wife, Nadine Thompson, shared their accounts and opinions of what had happened with The Exonian in later months. Thompson shared his disappointment with the Academy’s actions in ostracizing him from his community. Health Center Enforces New Fatigue Policy On November 5, 2018, Medical Director Katherine Lilly issued a newly-written Fatigue Policy which restricted student fatigues to one format at a time, and encouraged nurses to flag students after their third fatigue per term. If students were flagged, they were required to fill out an intake form before resting to develop a plan with the nurses to prevent future fatigues. This new fatigue policy marked the first official recording of a written fatigue policy in the student E-Book and Health Center documents. The new policy also aimed to offer methods, such as educational handouts, for Exonians on how to handle stress. Exeter Pilots New Delinking Policy Delinking, a process in which students request to not take a course with a teacher for another term, experienced a new policy change in the fall term of the 2018-19 school year. In an email sent to the entire student body, then-Dean of Academic Affairs Brooks Moriarty stated that the intent of the new protocol was not to allow students to choose teachers. It was also said that requests to not be scheduled into a specific teacher’s class again would be considered on a case-by-case basis. The new policy set a strict timeline protocol for de-linking requests. The policy encouraged that delinking requests must be made during the term in which students are CONT’D ON C2
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June 5, 2022
Four Years in Review Cont.
enrolled in the teacher’s class and no later than the first day of the “end of term” week. Students were then expected to make a written request and have a follow-up conversation with the department chair or the Dean of Academic Affairs before the end of the term. The new delinking policy was met with positive reactions from both faculty and students, and is still in place today. Administration Drafts New Bathroom Policy Aimed to Promote Gender Inclusion On December 18, faculty members presented a new draft of a policy that would aim to make all spaces more accessible to all individuals. The policy essentially granted all individuals, regardless of gender, the right to use the bathrooms and locker rooms that they felt most comfortable in. The draft also outlined a revised signage that was to be posted on bathrooms and locker rooms indicating that it was a gender-inclusive space. The Board of Trustees of the Academy hoped that the new bathroom policy would foster diversity and cultivate an environment of inclusion. This project was originally drafted by the Gender Inclusion Steering Committee and worked together with a Project Team. The drafted policy was then reviewed by many student leaders on campus, and brought to the Student Council as a whole in their December 18 meeting. The Academy did not have any policies addressing inclusivity in locker rooms and bathroom spaces prior to the implementation. The revised signs of the bathroom and locker policy still hang outside many of the bathroom facilities in the Academy. Grill Closed Due to Rise in Thefts On December 17, Grill was closed indefinitely due to a continued increase in theft. The decision to close the store was made by the administration, and not the Grill staff. Grill stayed closed until the week of January 14, 2019. During that time many of the Grill workers were moved to Elm Dining Hall, affecting worker pay. Pass/Fail passed as a permanent policy The week before winter break of the 2018-19 school year, the prep pass/fail policy was approved as a permanent addition to Exeter’s curriculum. The prep pass/fail was previously only considered a
pilot program, with the first three-year trial in February 2013 and the second one in December 2015. This policy was originally proposed by the Curriculum Committee and aimed to help preps adjust to Exeter’s rigorous academics and give them leeway to make important social connections. Many were in support of the permanent implementation. Evening Prayer (EP) Time Changed Evening Prayer (EP) which had been known for its Tuesday nights of music and relaxation was changed to Sunday evenings under then-Interim Principal Rawson. In response to this time change, students organized an alternative event, Evening Performance, on the last Tuesday night before the time change. Rawson shared that the reason for the original time change was to allow students to attend EP at a time where their study hours may not be affected. However, many students said that having EP on Tuesday nights was necessary for a much-needed break throughout the week; in addition, students said that it was not reasonable to attempt to schedule standardized times when students studied considering the variance in student study patterns. The Student Council proposed alternative days from Tuesday and Sunday EPs and considered moving EP to Friday. EP was ultimately moved to Friday at 9:30 p.m. Rawson Elected to Permanent Post as Principal At an Assembly address on Friday, January 25 2019, President of the Trustees, John “Tony” Downer announced that the Board of Trustees had appointed Rawson as the 16th Academy Principal. The Trustees had originally launched a nationwide search for a principal before deciding on appointing Rawson. During the process, the Trustees consulted with department heads, staff members and dorm heads, along with the Deans’ Council and contacted alumni through the General Alumni Association (GAA). Students Host Exeter’s First STEM Day Exeter’s inaugural Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) Day was held in the Agora on January 26 2019. Student organizers filled the day with presentations from university professors, student presenta-
tions and fun challenges created by Exeter’s STEM clubs. The organizers of the event shared that their main goal to organize STEM Day was to create an opportunity for students to appreciate and learn more about the STEM field. Many students appreciated the hosting of such an event but mentioned improvements to consider for next year. Norovirus Spreads Around Campus Norovirus, a highly contagious gastrointestinal disease, was responsible for sending more than four dozen Exonians to the Lamont Health and Wellness Center during the month of February 2019. The sudden outbreak resulted in the school temporarily disabling fatigues and the canceling of Evening Prayer on February 8. The Health Center collaborated with Facilities Management and Dining Services to improve sanitation and minimize the number of cases contracted. Some students and faculty members even initiated their own measures to prevent the virus from spreading. This included compartmentalizing dorm bathrooms, encouraging hygiene practices such as opening doors with elbows or forearms and bleaching all infected areas. The Academy Enacts New Gender Dorm Policy Officially enacted in the 2019-20 school year, an email sent out by Dean of Residential Life Carol Cahalane on April 23, 2019 announced that all students would be able to reside in a dorm that corresponded to their gender identity. The new policy was met with open arms by community members and many believed it to be the beginning of a multitude of changes to making campus, especially residential accommodations, a more inclusive space. Students Protest Academy’s Mishandling of Sexual Assault in front of Jeremiah Smith Hall On May 9, 2019, a crowd of more than 200 students gathered around Principal Rawson to voice concerns, share personal experiences and pose questions in an effort to confront Exeter’s history of mishandling sexual assault. The sit-in was originally planned to take place in the Principal’s Office before the number of students in attendance quickly exceeded the available space. They then relocated to the Jeremiah Smith Hall quad, where they com-
menced a Q&A with Rawson for almost three hours. The gathering of students was aimed at the Academy’s handling of sexual assault in both the past and the present. In the days following the event, the Academy announced that they hoped to produce an official document describing the Academy’s process of responding to accusations of on-campus sexual by the end of the 2018-19 school year.
2019-2020 Writing Center Closed Due to staffing difficulties, the Writing Center pilot program announced its closure in the 2019-20 school year. Beginning in 2016, the Writing Center had provided students access to writing support through scheduled workshop sessions and individual student-teacher conferences. Though it had a demonstrated value as a student resource in large demand, the staffing shortage mandated its closure. Visitations Policy Inaugurated and Intra-Dorm Relationship Ban Instituted After a term-long pilot in Wheelwright and Merrill Halls, the Academy launched a new Visitations policy, designed for gender-neutral visitations and intended to be more inclusive to all members of the Exeter community. This policy required all non-affiliated students, regardless of gender, to obtain permission from faculty in order to enter a dorm room. The Academy also instituted a ban on all in- tra-dorm relationships. An anonymous letter published in The Exonian condemned the decision, describing its harmful and restrictive effects on LGBTQ+ students. Students Protest Marginalization of Latinx Students The day after a Halloween costume contest where three Grill workers dressed up as the “wall” former President Donald Trump sought to build at the U.S.-Mexican border, the words “MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN” written across the costume, the La Alianza Latina (LAL) protested the marginalization of Latinx students on campus. LAL argued that Exeter had yet to fulfill its goal of becoming an equitable environment. Student protesters linking arms in front of Grill after Assembly on Friday, November 1, calling attention to “the lack of concern for the Latinx
community on the Academy’s campus,” according to a distributed statement. Passersby decided whether to leave the vicinity, engage with protesters, watch from afar, enter Grill through the back entrance or, in some cases, break through the line of protest. The protest was organized in the aftermath of the annual Halloween costume contest in Grainger Auditorium, hosted by the Student Council (StuCo) Recreation (Rec) Committee during Department Meeting on the previous day. Several students in the hall shared pictures or videos of the wall costume on social media accounts. Later on Thursday, a cardboard poster was posted outside Grill with an apology acknowledging hurt caused by the costume. In a joint statement to The Exonian, La Alianza Latina (LAL)—Exeter’s Latinx affinity group— and the Afro-Latinx Exonian Society (ALES) explained the impact of the costume on their community. “On Thursday, an anti-immigrant, anti-Mexican, and anti-Latinx symbol was placed on a public platform. The clear oversight on the day of the costume contest hurt many students and reinforced the alienation Latinx and other students of color feel on campus.” Student Council Election Ends in Tie With 360 votes cast for each candidate, Student Council’s presidential election resulted in an even split. Responding to this situation, the 2019-20 Executive Board and Election Committee Chairs, in consultation with the Student Council advisers, offered candidates Charlotte Lisa ’21 and Senai Robinson ’21 a co-presidency. Both accepted, forming a 2019-20 Executive Board of Co-Presidents Lisa and Robinson, Vice President Seth Amofa ’21 and Co-Secretaries Phillip Horrigan ’21 and Siona Jain ’22. 2019-20 Pandemic Keeps Exonians at Home, Remote Learning Launched After an initial delay to the spring term due to heightened concerns about the spread of COVID-19, Principal Rawson announced in a YouTube video that spring term would occur through remote learning, with a new schedule and a pass/fail grading system. Rawson’s decision came in response to the risks posed by the coronavirus pandemic to both faculty and students if the school reopened in-person. The Academy changed policies with the goal
Courtesy of Teja Vankireddy of decreasing both student and parental stress. All classes offered asynchronous options to boost equity and inclusion. In addition, the Academy halted distinctions between excused and unexcused absences, and clubs except The Exonian were halted for a two-week period. Prior to the cancellation of an on-campus spring term, the Academy cancelled its annual Revisit Day and pulled students from travel programs in China and Italy, which were early hotspots of the pandemic. Independent Exeter Student Relief Fund (IESRF) Opens, Community Responds to Economic Fallout In response to financial strains caused by the coronavirus pandemic, the Academy announced a pay freeze for all faculty and staff. The decision was made to prevent any layoffs; administration additionally assured all staff that pay would continue for all regularly-worked hours through May 30. In addition, Ben Cai ’20 and Gannon McCorkle ’20 created a community fund for Exonians, which was called the Independent Exeter Student Relief Fund, with a fundraising goal of $10,000. Cai, McCorkle, and a committee of anonymous students advocated for and helped fundraise this fund. Students submitted survey requests and completed a short interview with the committee to access money from the fund. Common issues included a lack of proper housing and food, a need to work during school hours and financial insecurity. By May 27, the fund raised over $8,000. Former Mathematics Instructor Szczesny Kaminski Charged with Sexual Assault (Content warning: sexual assault, grooming) Former Mathematics Instructor Szczesny Kaminski was arrested August 24 and charged with three charges of Class A felonous pattern aggravated sexual assault and three counts of Class A misdemeanor sexual assault against a former Academy student. Kaminski, who was first accused of misconduct by community members in October 2015 and dismissed by the Academy in January 2020, was convicted in August 2020.
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June 5, 2022
Four Years in Review Cont.
In-Person Fall Plans Announced After newly-admitted Exonians were welcomed to the community on March 10, plans were released in early June informing students of a possible in-person fall term, that combined a hybrid of online and in-person learning.
2020-2021 Anti-Racist Policies Implemented In Response to Black@Exeter Posts Over the summer, reports of racist incidents that occurred on campus were anonymously shared by PEA students on the Instagram account @BlackatExeter. In response to such posts, administrators and individual academic departments worked during the summer to implement anti-racist policies and practicies. The new policies implemented extended across multiple departments. Director of Equity and Inclusion (DEI) Dr. Stephanie Bramlett, Dean of Faculty Ellen Wolff, and other administrators, staff, and faculty, spearheaded the respective changes in their departmental policies. The Classics Department modified the cultural portrayals of the language to include the diverse societies of Ancient Greece and Rome. The department’s introductory Latin textbook, Ludus, was also reworked to include narratives outside of those from male characters. Meanwhile, the History Department saw many of its instructors reworking their syllabi to decenter whiteness. The Mathematics Department worked on paring down materials to create space for different voices. Additionally, the Modern Language Department selected new readings that departed from a traditional, centralized focus on France and Spain. On the other hand, instructors in the Science Department were encouraged to devote a substantial portion of their professional development to Diversity, Equity and Inclusion-related work. In response to many of the Black@Exeter posts that detailed specific instances occurring in English classrooms, the English department released a statement that outlined steps taken in the summer and policies that would be put in place as a commitment to anti-racism. Such actions included: readings and discussions of Black@, Queer@, and Asian@Exeter posts by all department members, participation in summer anti-racist education and professional de-
velopement, and an adoption of an official departmental policy eliminating the n-word from class dicussion. Additionally, the English department noted efforts to implement an open forum series for student input, ongoing faculty training, and an examination of hiring and retention practices to increase BIPOC faculty. Efforts to implement anti-racist policies were also seen in non-academic departments. The Health and Human Development Department committed to dedicating one of their three units for new students to anti-racism, cultural competency, and identity. The Athletics Department affirmed their commitment to anti-racism and planned for department-wide discussions in the fall, while the Art Department developed a new anti-racist curriculum and an exhibition that focused on identity. Like the English Department, the Art Department made an addition to their departmental student policy prohibiting racist ideaology in artwork. The Music Department created ten commitments to anti-racism which included engaging guest Black and Brown artists, programming greater diversity of repertoire, and supporting the creation of affinity groups for student musicians of color. Finally, Counseling and Psychological Services (CAPS) participated in professional development training around issues of equity and inclusion. Acknowledging the many posts that detailed encounters with CAPS, the department additionally implemented a feedback form on Exeter Connect where students can anonymously submit feedback about their experience. Anti-Racist Blocks Established and Piloted After coordination between the Office of Multicultural Affairs (OMA), Director of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Stephanie Bramlett, and Dean of Students Brooks Moriarty, Exeter’s schedule saw the addition of a weekly anti-racist block, replacing one of two weekly Assemblies. The first anti-racist block was piloted on the second Thursday of the school year, September 17, 2021. Details of Kaminski Case Revealed in Affidavit On August 24 of 2020, the Exeter community received information on the charges arraigned to former Mathematics Instructor Szczesny Kaminsky. Kaminsky was arraigned on three charges of Class A felonious pattern aggravated sexual assault
and three charges of Class A misdemeanor sexual assault against an anonymous Academy student, who was enrolled in the fall of 2013. Upon request, the Brentwood Circuit Court gave The Exonian access to the arraignment and to an affidavit by the Exeter Police Department Deputy Chief Michael P. Munck. The affidavit revealed extensive information about the case. Such information included: the start of Kaminski and the student’s interactions, the circumstances concerning the abuse, Academy action to concerns regarding Kaminski, and details around Kaminksi’s arrest and eventual set bail. Additionally, the affidavit included excerpts from past text exchanges between Kaminski and the anonymous student, as well as Kaminski and the student’s family. Exeter Inn Acquired as a Temporary Dormitory Due to COVID protocols restricting the amount of suitable spaces available for residential life, the Academy rented out the Exeter Inn as a temporary boys’ dormitory. Those eligible to stay at the Inn included former Front Street Residents, male-identifying postgraduates, and other interested male-identifying students. The empty Front Street dormitory was soon converted into a temporary girls’ dormitory. Fall Hybrid Learning Piloted, 8 P.M. Classes Established After a fully remote spring term in the past school year, the Academy designed a hybrid learning system intended to accommodate students situated across global time zones. Schedules were designed with ample asynchronous blocks, with specific asynchronous formats being assigned according to one’s time zone. The new schedule also introduced 8 P.M. classes. Additionally, classes were conducted entirely over Zoom for the majority of the term. In-person classes with distancing and masking in effect did not become an option for faculty until the end of the term. COVID Protocols Changes Daily Life for Exonians The start of the 2020-2021 school year saw a completely different Exeter. Instead of the usual arrival of all classes in the first week of school, arrival to campus was instead scattered: Students Leaders came first on September 7, followed by uppers, seniors and postgraduates on September 9, and
finally preps and lowers on October 7. Once on campus, Exonians faced adjustment to a myriad of COVID policies. The Student Guidebook, which had recently been updated, stated that adults and students must remain six feet apart, whenever possible, with masks required at all times. In addition, almost all campus activities shifted to a virtual setting. This included the usual in-person orientation events and the casual opportunities for engagement to be replaced by more formalized online events. Both Exonians and faculty, though appreciative of the new protocols’ goal for safety, struggled to adjust to the new day-to-day patterns. Visitations and Out of Towns Canceled Due to the strict protocols in place limiting any interaction not within six feet, the Academy canceled visitations for the term. Boarding students were not allowed to enter any dorm other than the one they resided in, while day students were not allowed to enter any dorms, regardless of affiliation. The policy pertaining to day students did not change until March 2, where the updated ground rules allowed them to visit the common rooms of their affiliate dorms only on Friday and Saturday nights. Visitations were brought back for Uppers and Seniors only at designated times and with COVID safety protocols in place, beginning May 23. Sports Undergoes Changes to Accomodate Distancing, Interscholastic Competitions Paused Prior to the arrival of Preps and Lowers on campus, the Athletics Department piloted a hybrid fall term. This change applied to physical education, club sports, in-season sports, and training for off-season sports. For Uppers and Seniors who were on campus, in-person training began with social distancing and masking protocols in effect. Preps, lowers, and other remote students participated in a combination of online workouts and Zoom meetings. Those remote students were also registered for the newly-created Fitness and Wellness course. Similarly, remote students registered in a physical education course were connected to an instructor from the Athletics Department through Canvas. Some Athletics classes, however, used STRAVA, an app that tracked exercises while also incorporating social network
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features. Additionally, limits on travel and interaction with non-Academy individuals, brought the cancellation of interscholastic sports or the fall and the remote winter terms. This stayed in place until the spring, where only schools with approved COVID restrictions and guidelines were allowed in games with Academy students. These changes were met with mixed reactions, with some appreciating the flexibility that remote Athletics provided, and others speaking to the difficulties of online sports. Contact Tracing App Enforced for All Students Mandated by the Student Guidebook, the Academy required all students to download a contact tracing application known as SaferME. SaferME was used to identify close contacts of students who tested positive for COVID-19 through its use manual and bluetooth contact logging systems. Though the Information Technology Department and the Dean of Students office chose SaferME due to its privacy features (those which included not storing any medical information and avoidance of time or location data of users), many students still expressed reluctance to use the app. Others, however, noted the app’s possible preventative measures. Exonians Respond to the 2020 Election The race for the 46th presidential election foresaw former candidates Joe Biden and Donald Trump face off for four days, one of the longest recorded times, as voting ballots were counted. Students eligible to vote on November 3rd, 2020 were given the opportunity to travel to in-person voting booths. Meanwhile, in an effort to provide students ample time to process the emotions that may arise from such a contested election, the Academy canceled school the night of the election and morning classes the day after. Additionally, Phillips Church and the Office of Multicultural Affairs (OMA) were opened as safe spaces for students to share their thoughts and perspectives. Drop in Zooms were offered for all remote students. Winter Term Set To Be Majorly Remote Contrary to the usual start of winter term on-campus, the Academy announced that winter term would be held re-
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Joy Chi/The Exonian motely in December and January for all students. A mid term break would then be held from February 1st to 10th. During this midterm break, end-ofterm comments were changed to be given as midterm comments. After the mid-term break, students were given the option to return to campus from February 11th to 13th, or to stay remote. Like the fall term schedule, asynchronous blocks were a key part of the schedule with classes meeting 2-3 times a week, including 8 p.m. classes. An additional asynchronous deadline was also implemented. At the end of term, a four-day weekend replaced the traditional two-week long spring break. A Candlelight Vigil Held In-Response to Anti-Asian Atlanta Shootings On March 16th, eight people, six of whom were of Asian descent and seven of whom were women, were killed by a white gunman in Atlanta. In response to the anti-Asian shootings, student organizers in collaboration with the Office of Multicultural Affairs (OMA), hosted a candlelight vigil on March 22 in front of the Academy building. To recognize and honor the victims, the vigil consisted of multiple student reflections and works. Sarah Huang ‘20 began the event with a reflection and was accompanied by a poem read by Lucy Cai ‘20. Then upper Lina Huang followed the readings with a guzheng performance. The event then concluded with eight minutes of silence to honor each of the eight victims of the shooting. Spring Term Schedule Undergoes a Drastic Change A drastic departure from the past remote fall and winter terms, the spring term saw the arrival of a more pre-COVID like schedule. Unless there were faculty conflicts present, all classes were to be fully-in person with masking policies in place. Remote students would be connected to Zoom and participate in class as normal. The initial proposed schedule included every other Wednesday off and was condensed in an effort to accommodate the days off. This thus included a shorter, staggered lunch period, three consecutive classes with no scheduled break, and an absent long reserve format. CONT’D ON C4
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Four Years in Review Cont.
However, this schedule was heavily criticized by both students and faculty alike. The shortened lunch periods were cause for long lunch lines that made it difficult to eat within the designated period. Further, the immense decrease in free time from previous schedules heighted student stress levels. After consistent complaints about the condensed schedule, a new schedule was proposed with shorter classes of 45 minutes, as opposed to 50, a longer lunch break, and fewer back-to-back classes. This schedule proved to be the fourth and final schedule of the 2020-21 academic year. Pfizer Vaccines Approved to be Provided to all Eligible Students, Faculty, and Staff In an email sent to the student body on April 14, 2021, Assistant Principal Karen Lassey announced that the Pfizer vaccine would be provided to all students aged 16 and older. On April 28, through sign-ups, the eligible students were able to receive the first dose. The second dose was also provided on-campus. Vaccines for students aged 12-16 were not approved until May 13, after its FDA and CDC approval. Students who experienced side effects for the vaccine were exempt from school if they were in contact with the Dean of Students and their advisor. However, students who experienced side effects were not allowed to stay at the Lamont Health and Wellness Center due to spaces being reserved for those who tested positive to COVID. The vaccine was available to PEA faculty and staff prior to the start of the spring term.
2021-2022 Academy Addresses Vanity Fair’s Article on Sexual Assault at Exeter On September 13, 2021, an article titled “Mr. Weber’s Confession” by Nancy Jo Sales ’82 was published in Vanity Fair. The article detailed Sales’ experience regarding the Academy’s process for sexual assault reporting, and allegations accusing former English Instructor David Weber of sexually assaulting her. In the article, Sales describes the Academy’s continued investigation into the matter against her will, after she denied all the allegations Director of Student Health and Wellbeing Dr. Christina Palmer had shared with her over the phone a few months prior. Eventually, the investigation led to Weber’s
confession to “hugging and kissing” Sales in the 1980s. Following a protest held by student leaders, on September 21, 2021, Principal William Rawson addressed the article and its effects on the student body in an all-school speech, promising to make structural changes to the Academy’s process for reporting in cases of sexual misconduct, as well as plans to put systems in place to support the students during the aftermaths “traumatic events”, to ensure the burden does not fall on student leaders. Exonians Against Sexual Assault (EASA), Feminist Club, and Transitions Protest Against Sexual Assault Reporting Policy A response to Sales’ Vanity Fair article, on September 17, student leaders of Exonians Against Sexual Assault (EASA), Feminist Union, Transitions, and Gender and Sexuality Alliance (GSA) came together to hold a school-wide protest on the Academy lawn. With faculty, students, and members of the administration present, the protest included multiple student leaders’ speeches expressing disappointment in the Academy and its sexual miscondut policies, and demanding concrete change. This sentiment was further expressed in a petition, “hold the Academy accountable for supporting its Student Leaders,” which aimed to change the “unfair burden” that the Academy placed on student leaders due to their “negligence in communications surrounding sexual misconduct.” The petition consisted of four concrete demands from the administration: hiring an expert consultant with a background of sexual assault prevention; better supporting student leaders who are expected to provide assistance after the release of sensitive information; reevaluating the position of Director of Student Health and Wellbeing; and taking responisbility for all the harm the Academy’s failure to handle cases effectively causes students. A few days later, in an email sent to The Exonian, Sales expressed her gratitude and admiration for the students’ activism for sexual assault victims and change in the Academy’s reporting policies, calling their work “stunning and humbling.” “Thank you for giving us all hope for the future,” Sales went on. “What you are doing is beautiful and important.” Academy Celebrates 50th Anniversary of The Class of 1945 Library
SYN (Greek: συν)— “Along or together… Emphasizes gathering and connecting as its primary focus—and how the threads of our intersectionality bring us closer.” Nov. 5, 2021, marked the 50th anniversary of the creation of the beloved Class of 1945 Library, its celebration organized by the Architecture Club and the Democracy of Sound Exeter (DOSe.) The event consisted of entirely student-produced works: art, films, and dances centering around a theme of SYN, through which they organized their art with seven standard elements — namely line, shape, texture, space, form, color and value. Focusing on speeches by event organizers regarding the deep and extensive history of the library, accompanied by organs and live piano-playing, the event also boasted a dazzling dance performance, spoken word, and live caricatures. Many people even created complex sculptures with deeper meanings etched within them. Having begun the spring of the previous year, the preparation for the event was vast, and beautifully expressed themes such as “decolonization” or gratitude towards the library staff. Exeter Announces NeedBlind Admissions Beginning during the 2021-2022 admissions season, Exeter committed to a needblind admissions policy, as outlined by Principal Rawson in his school-wide email on November 3, 2021. In his own words, “Cost will no longer be a barrier to any qualified students who dream of attending Phillips Exeter Academy.” A shift from their formerly “need-aware” status, this meant that financial aid would not be factored into admissions decisions whatsoever going forward, and all decisions would be made regardless of a family’s ability to pay tuition or other associated costs. As of November, nearly half of the school’s student body received financial aid, with average grants being $50,562 for boarders, and $37,684 in aid for day students. The reason for this decision centered around amplifying one of the Academy’s core values, youth from every quarter, claiming that, now, the Academy “shall ever be equally open to youth of requisite qualifications from every quarter.” According to Rawson, much of what made this shift possible included the $90 million in endowment the Academy received for financial aid over only the last two
years, with fundraising being organized by Institutional Advancement Rawson himself. He went on to express his gratitude for the alumni, parents and friends for their support, whether through philanthropy or volunteer service, and thanked them for their “generosity and goodness.” Students Host Open Forum with Counseling and Psychological Services (CAPS) Following ongoing tensions between the student body and CAPS, ESSO Active Minds and the Student Council Mental Health Committee held an open forum with students and CAPS faculty on October 6, 2021, to address these issues. Lasting about an hour, the forum was arranged in a question-answer style, with students anonymously sending in questions online to be presented to a group of five CAPS counselors. It began with a focus on medical leave, with students asking for transparency on the process and intentions for requiring a student to leave campus. Counselors responded that medical leave was established in an attempt to better student’s mental and physical wellbeing, not to be an isolating act. Students went on to ask about forcing a student to return home in cases of domestic violence, and in response, CAPS emphasized that they were required to report anything they heard, and that the ultimate decision was in the hands of Child Protective Services. Continuing the same topic, when students brought up whether medical leave was mandatory, Counselor Chris Thurber responded with a graphic description of self-harm without a trigger warning, causing students to exit the room and delaying proceedings by a few minutes. The rest of the forum addressed Thurber’s comment, and the harmful effects some of his statements might have had on students. Thurber proceeded to apologize for his actions and “sloppy choice of wording.” Academy Institutes Core Values Project in place of Anti-Racist Workshops On October 19, 2021, students and faculty at the Academy experienced their first Core Values Project block— a block once a week which was established as a continuation the anti-racist workshops from the previous academic year. Occurring every Tuesday, the CVP block offers multiple workshops that hone in on different sectors of core values and social justice, from
mental health and self-care to addressing discrimination within athletics or the arts. At the beginning of each term, students and faculty leaders, or CVP “facilitators”, presented their projects in front of the student body, following which students and faculty alike were able to sign up for CVPs of their choice. The idea for these projects originated earlier that year, and on August 10, Director of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Justice Stephanie Bramlett reached out to former anti-racist workshop facilitators regarding the Academy’s continuation into a second year of anti-oppression work. The blocks were designed to continue to explore the Academy’s commitment to anti-oppression, and how that was represented within the Academy’s mission and core values statements. Front Street Commons Continues Construction Beginning the summer of 2021, the ongoing construction of a new dorm, “Front Street Commons” was said to be finished and polished by the fall of 2022. A new home to current residents of Merrill Hall and Langdell Hall, the dorm was created as temporary housing for students and faculty while Merrill, Langdell, and Wetherell Dining Hall are torn down and renovated. The floor plan reveals that the Commons will contain 60 beds, 5 faculty apartments, and a 2500 sq. ft common area, which includes a game room and recreational spaces for day students. Unlike any other dorms at the Academy, the Commons will also contain four Harkness classrooms on its ground floor — set to be the area for the Health Education Department. According to Director of Facilities Management Mark Leighton, the health department’s need for a fourth classroom and their own academic space was also one of the driving forces to the creation of this dorm. Students Petition Against Academy’s COVID-19 Protocol On January 10, 2022, a few days after the beginning of winter term, Principal Rawson sent out a school-wide email regarding updates to the COVID protocol, including a new system where all families were required to identify a “Covid Pickup Designee” who would contacted immediately and pick up their student within 24 hours if tested positive. Along with this, the Academy loosened COVID
Courtesy of William Park restrictions and returned to in-person instruction. In response, seniors Lekha Masoudi, Alana Reale, and Emily Wang drafted a petition surrounding their concerns with the impracticality and harmful effects of these updated protocols on low-income and international students. The petition received an overall total of over 80 signatures. In the days that followed, Dean of Students Russell Weatherspoon followed up with student concerns at the week’s Student Council meeting, and then again in his email to the community on January 15, where he stressed the trend of decreasing COVID cases that backed up the decision to return to in-person activities. In Rawson’s response to the petition, he emphasized that the Academy had made this decision “carefully and deliberately,” but many students remained disappointed that no physical action was taken to address their fears. Former Instructor Szczesny Kaminski Retracts Guilty Plea, Trial Scheduled for November, 2022 February 12, 2022, marked the day that Former Math instructor Szczesny “Jerzy” Kaminski was scheduled to plead guilty, in court, to three counts of aggravated felonious assault and one misdemeanor count of sexual assault. This was part of a negotiated plea deal with prosecutors to resolve the case, after Kaminski plead guilty a few months prior, in November 2021. A teacher at the Academy for nearly three decades until April 2020, the deal he had made with prosecutors included the prosecutors dropping three additional charges against him if he agreed to plead guilty and spend at least 12 years in jail. As Dean Russell Weatherspoon acknowledged in his school-wide email the afternoon of February 12, Kaminski’s attorney Amy Spencer appeared before the Rockingham County Superior Court earlier that morning informing the court of his plea deal withdrawal. Having gone against Spencer’s advice, Kaminski is now scheduled for a trial to occur during the week of October 31 to November 7, 2022, although Spencer will no longer be representing him.
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The Exonian congratulates all members of the 143rd editorial board, business board, and web board on graduating today. Thank you for your collective commitment to journalism, and best of luck wherever you land!
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Senior of the Year: Tanya Das
ByARIANA THORNTON Tanya Das, a four-year senior hailing from New Jersey, is an environmental powerhouse to be reckoned with: co-head of Environmental Action Committee, Exeter Climate Lobby, and Ocean Awareness and Action Club; active participant in outside climate organizations; and CEO and founder of her 501(c) (3) non-profit Motion for the Ocean. As a prep, Das learned to scuba dive in Pennsylvania after having snorkeled in many parts of the world. She earned her Gold Award, the highest achievement in Girl Scouts, for her scientific research and innovation. In fall term, Das was featured on ABC News Good Morning America as a “Young Climate Hero.” Das also has infinite love for her cat, Zephyr, is an avocado toast enthusiast who has sent recipes to her college admissions officer, and according to her friends, is aspiring to learn to cook. Throughout her time at Exeter, Das has vastly explored her passions for public policy, underwater robotics, and ocean issues, which she gained from a young age. “I really enjoy all the environmental clubs because that’s where I feel the biggest sense of community,” Das said. Deeply drawn to community service, Das also has experience with several ESSO clubs, including as a co-head of ESSO Amnesty and a member of ESSO Tutoring. “One girl I tutored in reading was seven years old and could not tell similar-looking letters apart,” Das said. “I worked with her at a really foundational level to teach her how to read, and we’d go over different letters every session. Then with the pan-
demic, we couldn’t meet anymore, and as a parting gift, I bought her a set of books to help slower readers.” Das formed an emotional connection with her mentoree through the childhood experiences they shared. “I was also really behind when I was her age. I used to live in Camden, New Jersey, after my family first immigrated from India. Camden was an under-resourced, predominantly minority, and poverty-stricken community where I did not thrive. I didn’t know how to read until first grade, and I couldn’t do math until then, either. I was very behind academically and socially. So I really related to the little girl I was teaching.” “My family moved out of Camden in order for me to get the social and academic support that I really needed,” Das continued. “Once we moved, I was so surprised to be put into a gifted program— I could not add numbers or even read the simplest of books. It was life-changing to be put in the program because I began advocating for myself. My gifted teacher was a huge influence on me.” In middle school, Das’s gifted teacher invited her to visit Washington, DC, with a few other teachers as part of the National Association of Gifted Children. “I spoke with congressmen and senators, which was really cool because it was my first experience on the Hill meeting policymakers in person.” From speaking to congressmen about the educational issues she experienced, Das gained her interest in policy and lobbying. “Even when I was in Camden, I always looked up to policymakers. I was like, ‘This place kind of sucks, and policy will change it,’ but pol-
icymakers don’t know how much help we need or even what type of help we need,” Das said. “You can’t really help something that’s beyond your worldview. That’s why I wanted to take things into my own hands.” One of the significant causes for Das’s interest in environmental advocacy is her passion for underwater robotics: the science of remotely operated vehicles that are used for ocean exploration and measurements. Das was first familiarized with underwater robotics by attending her older sister’s middle school events. “When I saw the school’s underwater robotics teams, I was like, ‘I want to be a part of that,’” Das said, smiling. Once having gained leadership of her middle school’s underwater robotics team, Das came to a stunning realization of the human impacts on Earth’s oceans. “Even though New Jersey has 130 miles of coastline and I’m always at the beach, I had never really reflected on our human impact on the ocean,” Das said. “Once I did underwater robotics, I started researching more about these impacts, and was shocked at the extent of it.” She launched into research, education, and advocacy. Das published a children’s picture book on plastic pollution and spoke about it at several schools. “The book is about a mermaid doll left on a beach that turns into a real mermaid in the ocean,” Das said. “She encounters all of the plastic pollution and debris that I’d been reading about: Microplastics being mistaken as krill and plastic bags as jellyfish. She makes a bunch of friends in the ocean and promises that when she returns to land, she would make a difference.
Courtesy of Tanya Das She then tells her owner, a little girl, and her brother, and they start a movement.” Das aimed to emphasize that young people can make a difference, no matter their age. “You don’t just have to wait for policy change to happen,” she said. At various elementary school assemblies, Tanya held readings of her picture book and led activities designed to raise awareness of the ocean and the harms of single-use plastics. “I’d have the book reading, and then to make it more interactive, I put a lot of effort into making posters with statistics, like how long it takes a plastic bottle to decompose. I asked students and had them hold up the signs,” Das said. “I remember that at the end of my first assembly, I was handing out stress balls as prizes, and one kid came to the front and said, ‘You tell us not to use plastic, but did you notice what these stress balls are packaged in?’ Plastic. It was all plastic. This just shows how deeply ingrained plastic is, and how habitual it is.” “I was really proud of the kid and I started being more conscientious of my own habits after that,” Das continued. “But a teacher at the end of that assembly apologized to me for how ‘disruptive’ the kid was. She was like, ‘That’s the ADHD kid. That’s the problem kid. I’m so sorry.’ I told her that’s how all kids should be, and that she shouldn’t reprimand him. He was doing such a good job. Everyone should step up and say something when they see something like that.” “I ended up being impactful because I stayed
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in touch with the teachers after the assembly and apparently a lot of kids did make that difference, like that one kid who came up to the front. A lot of them started calling out plastic pollution when they saw it in their daily habits. The parents were also telling the teachers that the kids came home and were like, ‘You have to get rid of all the plastic, you have to use reusable bags.’” Plastic pollution ended up becoming the core focus of Das’s nonprofit Motion for the Ocean which she began developing at this time, working to connect students in lobbying actions. “I chose plastic pollution as the original focus of my nonprofit because that’s one thing that seemed really preventable to me,” Das said. “Plastic was literally not a thing until World War II. They’re super recent, and now they’re just everywhere.” Besides lobbying and holding assemblies, Das found a deep sense of community in her underwater robotics team, which was a very high commitment throughout middle school. “We often ate dinner together in the Design Lab, and it was always pizza,” Das said. “We used to stay so late that the janitor, who’s supposed to lock up the school, gave us the keys. We’d all leave at like 11 p.m.— we practically lived there.” When the SeaPerch Underwater Robotics Competition neared, the time commitment would soar. “I remember one time we were there until 4 a.m. because we had to have shrouds around our thrusters, to prevent the propellers from getting caught or cutting other people,” Das said. “When we 3D printed them, the shrouds were completely obstructing the flow of water. We spent hours just printing different shrouds. Then our parents came to pick us up and we weren’t ready yet, so all our parents were there too, trying to figure it out. It was a vibe.” At the beginning of the competition season, when Das’s team had been debating on whether to experiment with new technology or most likely win with the technology they already knew, Das told her team, “We can choose to win or we can choose to learn.” “I set that ultimatum at the beginning, and as a team we chose that we wanted the learning experience,” Das said. Das’s middle school team ended up losing by just a few points in the advanced division, receiving second place to Villanova University— a college team. “If we had done slightly better in one task, we would have beat out,” Das said. “Everyone was really sad and crying, and as the leader, I had to be positive and still encourage people.” Das’s extraordinary determination, organization, and leadership skills— as well as her kind and giving personality— have been revealed throughout her four years at Exeter, particularly in her dorm, Bancroft Hall. “In Bancroft, we have all the preps living in one hallway, The Annex. So that’s how I formed my first friends,” Das said. “Tanya is definitely a positive presence in the dorm,” Das’s former room-
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mate Catherine Uwakwe said. “She’s always more than happy to help with homework, even on top of her own homework. For people’s birthdays, she goes all out: Shopping for things in the person’s favorite color, baking them a cake. She can’t cook, but she really tries,” Uwakwe added, laughing. One of Uwakwe’s earliest experiences with Das has influenced her academic organization throughout her time at Exeter. “During prep year, when we knew each other but weren’t close yet, I was having a breakdown,” Uwakwe said. “I think I had a bunch of homework and I was so overwhelmed. I was like, ‘Okay, I’m not going to get dinner. I need to do this.’ Tanya was in the room and she was like, ‘No, no, no. First things first: Let’s get dinner.’ So we had dinner, we came back, and Tanya took down this big whiteboard from her wall. She divided it in half, one side for my work and one side for hers. She made a timetable for both of us with scheduled breaks in between. We did it, and I was done with my homework by 12:30 a.m., which was a lot earlier than I thought it would be.” “To this day, I use that great system. So Tanya definitely set me up for success quite literally–not only in my academic organization but also in my life organization.” “I admire her selflessness, honesty, and resilience,” Uwakwe continued. “I feel like Exeter is hard for everybody, but Tanya puts a lot on her plate. Despite all that, she’s still that great friend to me and people I know as well, still having that energy to help others. We’ve gone through a lot; I’ve seen Tanya struggle and just get back up again.” This character quality of Das’s was displayed quite literally during one longboard incident. “Two years ago, Tanya got a longboard, but she didn’t know how to ride it,” Uwakwe said. “After we figured out how to turn and get on and off, we were like, ‘We’re ready for the hill,’ the hill from Soule Hall to EPAC. One time, Tanya was going down and the bottom was rocky, and she jumped off the longboard and slipped. It was wild; I’d never seen it before. But Tanya just jumped up, dusted her pants off, and was like, “You know what? Maybe next time.’ Then, next time, she had a strategy to roll down more smoothly.” “Tanya is very giving,” Das’s doormmate Tina Huang added. “A lot of times when somebody needs anything, Tanya is always willing to help them out, without being prompted.” “Sometimes the seniors in the dorm have ramen nights, and usually everyone tries to contribute. Tanya always goes ham,” Uwakwe said. “She’ll bring her biryani, her palm juice, her different smoothies, and be so kind and generous with everything. She brings a lot with her presence, and is very involved in dorm culture.” Huang said, “Sometimes I would sit in her room, or she would sit in my room, and we would talk to each other about what was going on in our lives, and any academic stresses that we had. It was very comfortable to just have each other there.” CONT’D ON C8
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Senior of the Year: Tanya Das Cont’d Like Uwakwe, one of Huang’s prep year experiences with Tanya shaped the start of her time at Exeter. “In prep year, I was talking to Tanya about my piano lessons at Exeter and how it was my first time doing piano, and she just said out of the blue, ‘Do you want me to teach you some tricks on the piano?’” Huang said. “So we spent the next two hours in Bancroft’s basement playing on the old piano. It was really nice to figure out sight reading with Tanya. I feel like very few people would do what Tanya did— dropping everything and helping me learn piano for two hours. She’s always been very available for everyone in the dorm, striking up conversations or lending a helping hand, whether that’s providing ramen, providing extra help with homework, or being a person that you can talk to. She has been a really integral part of Bancroft for the last four years.” “I love Tanya’s energy and her little quirks,” Uwakwe said. “She really likes blue, but a specific type of blue, like a
mermaid-reflective blue. If you go into her room, you’ll see it all over her walls. She really likes sparkles, too. It’s very clear when she’s happy, and it’s very nice to see.” “Every time I walk with Tanya and she sees a cat or a dog, she’s always like, ‘Oh my god, kitty!’ or ‘Puppy!’ and runs up to it immediately and starts petting it,” Huang said. “I find that really sweet, because she really does find a lot of joy in the small things.” Das’s peers have been both impressed and inspired by her academic and extracurricular accomplishments at Exeter. “She’s very passionate about what she does— you can see it,” Uwakwe said. “Especially at Exeter, with everything going on, seeing someone so invested and passionate about these things is very refreshing.” The intersection of science, climate, and policy is where Das becomes the most passionate. “When I was part of the FTC Robotics team, we worked in person up in the science lounge,” Das said. “That’s probably one of my favor-
ite places on campus because you have such a nice view of Northside and all the science books are surrounding you. It feels like you’re being hugged by knowledge.” “I think that above all her accomplishments and academic and extracurricular interests, Tanya is one of the kindest and most genuine people I know,” Huang said. “Wherever she goes or whatever she does, she will make a really big impact.” “Tanya has a very candid way of speaking,” Uwakwe said. “I feel that you definitely need those kinds of friends, who just say it as it is. I have no doubt in my mind that Tanya’s going to do amazing things past Exeter because she’s already doing amazing things.” Whether in or outside of class at Exeter, Das makes meaningful contributions. “Sometimes people talk just to talk in Harkness, but Tanya definitely sits and listens,” Uwakwe said. “And when she talks, it’s a ‘Hold on,’ monumental kind of revelation.” This quality also ap-
pears through Tanya’s club leadership. “Tanya is a really strong leader without being overly loud about it, and quietly continues to make great work that’s more effective than somebody who’s trying to make it about themselves,” Environmental Action Committee co-head Ophelia Bentley said. “She is really creative and good at brainstorming, and a kind person that makes a really welcoming club environment. She is a perfect example of knowing exactly when to step in, but also knowing when to step back and let other kids in the club lead.” “We had a meeting with all the different environmental action club leaders, and Tanya made an entire nice evening of it,” Bentley continued. “She invited us to Bancroft and we had pad thai. I really appreciate the kind of care she takes, and how she makes small things really enjoyable and welcoming.” Experimenting with cooking has been one of Tanya’s hobbies since prep year. “I really enjoy going out to town sometimes
with my friends and finding groceries and trying to cook,” Das said. “I don’t really cook that much because I never buy the correct ingredients. I remember I bought ingredients for crepes, and I forgot butter, which is the most important ingredient. Then at d-hall, they had butter, which I just stuffed into my pocket like a butter addict. People were staring at me, but they couldn’t stop me,” Das said, laughing. Huang continued the story. “Last term, Tanya asked me to make crepes with her, since she wanted to learn to cook more,” Huang said. “For three hours, we were down in the kitchen, and the entire time, neither of us really knew how to make the crepes. We were just looking back and forth at the instructions and trying to eyeball everything. A few times, we almost burnt the crepes, but it was really fun. Tanya got a really old jar of marmalade, and we spread that all over the crepes, and they were still okay.” “Tanya has a lot of love and a lot of genuineness for what she does,” Huang
emphasized. While contemplating her long-term future, Das said, “I want to go into law, because I’m really passionate about environmental policy and I want to branch out. I’d probably end up settling down with my sister in California or in DC because I just love being in that hub of policy and making change myself.” “I can definitely see her as a future marine biologist,” Instructor in Science Elizabeth Stevens said. “Tanya is wonderfully enthusiastic about marine biology and also had a great background. She was always eager to get her hands dirty in the field, capturing organisms and handling them in the lab.” Instructor in Science Tatiana Waterman added, “Tanya is a conscientious, focused, bright, and hardworking student. From a few conversations I have had with her, I know she is ambitious for the betterment of social conditions and the environment. I expect that Tanya will become a ‘mover and shaker’ for the good of humanity.”
Senior of the Year: Jacob David
By CHENGYUE ZHANG “I was kind of describing [Jacob] as an angel,” senior Fawaz Omidiya offered. “An angel, not in the sense of he can’t do anything wrong, but like he’s sort of like God’s little assistant. He does like all these cool little things… The more we hung out the more we grew on each other and became great friends.” Senior Jacob David applied to Exeter when he was awarded the Caroline D. Bradley Scholarship, which offers a four-year scholarship to any high school in America. “The decision to come here was pretty difficult, especially since I didn’t want to leave all my friends back home behind. It was just a big transition. I guess I decided to come here because I knew that it was worth it. There’s a lot of opportunities here,” David recalled. Arriving at Exeter as a prep, David enrolled in the 31X mathematics track with Dr. Zuming Feng. Though it is considered
one of the hardest Math courses at Exeter, he absolutely enjoyed that class. “It was just a whole experience… I don’t think I have had another class like that [at Exeter,]” David said, “I’m sad that Dr. Feng is gone now. I really learned a lot in that class. It was very intense, but it brought our class together, especially since I was with the same people for all three terms.” At Exeter, David is the head of Math and Physics Club, and he dedicates a lot of his time to Math and Physics competitions. David’s competitive Math journey started in middle school. “[Competitive math] was something that I devoted a lot of time to,” David said, “It was one of my first experiences involved with setting a very high goal for me to achieve and then working very intensely to achieve that… It was personally very fulfilling.” “[Another part of contest Math] that appealed to me was problem-solving. For problems in school,
it’s like, oh we give you a formula. Just use it. For contest Math, you don’t need that much knowledge to solve [the problem]. [Instead, you need to find] the application of those formulas in creative ways. It’s like solving a puzzle. Everyone knows what the final piece is and has an idea of how the pieces usually fit together, but it’s actually trying to go through the process of figuring things out,” David continued. Additionally, David is passionate about Math academia research for the same reasons. “It is like the extreme of problem solving. You have one problem that you have time to think about in your free time for a long time,” David explained. For David, math is not only an individual pursuit. He worked as a math teacher over the summer and helped people with math throughout the school years whether it’s in class, a club, or the dorm. “I enjoy teaching because teaching itself is a
form of problem solving. I have this information, but the task is not to know the information but to communicate it to someone else depending on what their strengths and weaknesses are, what they’re able to understand, and what their existing knowledge is,” David said. “Knowing how to solve a problem and being able to communicate that to others is completely different. It’s only half the battle.” Through his experience in math and physics, David also grew as a leader. “In middle school, we struggled with issues like working as a team. Being exposed to that in middle school, I found that I’ve been able to overcome that arrogance or ego. I found that I’ve been truly able to appreciate the value of humility and modesty in a leadership role,” David reflected. “In the contest math community, there’s a lot of pressure to succeed, and that pressure often creates an unhealthy environment where people don’t
feel comfortable asking a question. I’ve always been proud of myself [for being able to] push through that and ask questions in Math class when I’m not sure what’s going on,” David said. ‘Because at the end of the day, what I care about most is being able to have that problem solving experience.” Although Exeter’ Math program was one of the reasons David was interested in coming to Exeter, over the course of the years, he gained interests in other aspects. “I’ve been able to broaden my interest to other STEM and non-STEM areas. I’ve also been able to enjoy engaging in thoughtful discussions more regardless of the topic. Exeter has opened me up to the idea of discourse. I really like how it changed me,” David reflected. Whether it is in discussion in advisory groups or random philosophical discussion with friends on the school bus to E/A day, David is always kind and understanding. “Jacob has
Joy Chi/The Exonian the capacity to understand almost any point of view. He’s calm in a way that isn’t aloof. He’s calm in a way where he’s listening to what everyone is saying. He’s very socially aware,” David’s friend senior Zander Chearavanont said. “In discussions in our advising group when younger students are feeling a bit reserved, he jumps in and creates safe conversation spaces with humor and kindness and thus makes our discussions open to everyone,” David’s advisor and Biology instructor Townley Chisholm added. Senior Neil Chowdhury who works with David extensively in planning of Math Club and Physics Club agreed as well. “[Jacob]’s very chill. He’s not aggressive and very respectful of people and inclusive, which makes him a great person to work with,” ChowdCONT’D ON C9
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Senior of the Year: Jacob David Cont’d hury reflected. “I always love talking about math or physics with him, as he always has fascinating insight, and is one of the few people always willing to talk about math or physics with me,” senior Alexander Masoudi said. Not only is David a kind presence, he is also very methodical and selfaware in the way he carries himself. “He is always thoughtful in conversation,” senior Kevin Cong said. “He’s able to embrace silence, which is really hard to do sometimes. When we’re discussing important issues or even just Math problems, Jacob takes the time to think his ideas through. He always presents points that are really easy to follow and very thought out.” On the other side, David has also learned to be more confrontational and stand up for what is right. “One thing that people talk or joke about a lot on campus, whether rightly or wrongly, is that ‘oh, Jacob gets no sleep.’ At first he wasn’t very bothered by that, but since then he sort of learned to sort of learn to stand up for himself more. I’ve talked to him about it, and he was like ‘bro, that’s kind of annoying how people talk about me like that.’” David’s friend Thomas Yun recalled. “[When Jacob sees] things go wrong, in the past, I would imagine him just trying to take a step back, but now I could see him as someone who would take a very active role in trying to prevent wherever he sees wrong,
insert himself, and try to make it right,” Yun continued. “I don’t know a lot of people who are as smart and gifted as him so aware about their actions and their position. He’s always trying to help people,” Omidiya agreed. When asked about what is the one thing he would like to change about Exeter, David responded, “The thing about Exeter that I really admire is not necessarily the prestige of the school but more so how much the students care about the school. There have been a lot of things that have happened in terms of administrative decisions or various events that people have been upset with, but I think the important thing that I would definitely not change is the drive of the student body and the desire to change for the better. If there’s one thing that I could change, it would be to give power to those voices.” In his free time, David enjoys simply hanging out with his friend around town. The antique store Finders Keepers on Portsmouth avenue, which he nicknamed the “quirky store,” is one of his favorite spots in town. “There’s always something new every time you go there. There’s interesting stuff as well as just random objects,” David said. “The prices there were really good too. Once, I got a set of five paintings of antique cars for five dollars.” As Yun described, David has learnt to embrace the fun that comes with not making plans. “One
thing that’s good about not making necessarily concrete plans to hang out with someone and spend time with someone is that you get some really genuine, organic things that are not forced in any way. It’s just like just suddenly on a Saturday night we’re hanging out in my room playing Five Nights at Freddy’s and getting really scared or watching a movie in my room or something like that,” Yun explained. “Something that most people don’t know about Jacob is that he has a pair of red among us slides in his room. He bought them because they were on sale,” senior Pedro Coelho commented. In his senior year, David has also started going to the gym with his friends. “Even if we are doing our own workouts, just the knowledge that there is someone here if I need to ask him something [is very nice,]” Yun said. “We had to realize that this is something that we wanted to get into a habit of doing. So it was like, well let’s do it! Let’s just try it together and see what happens!” There’s a lot to Jacob that people don’t really see on the surface. As one gets to know him better, one starts to pick up his sense of humor. “[Jacob’s humor] is a kind of sense of humor that it takes a while to understand, but once you do, he’s pretty funny,” Coelho observed. “Jacob brings an appreciation for whimsy and the absurd,” Chisholm added. “As he made clear in his meditation, he doesn’t hit
you over the head with what he has to say but floats ideas past you and says to you, ‘What do you think?’” In fact, David was one of the founders of Instagram account flexeter. “We saw how there was a meme page on Facebook, but none of us really used Facebook actively… We were in that grade where people transitioned from using Facebook to Instagram. That’s how we got the idea,” Chearavanont recalled. “From then on, we’ve been expanding. We have a small group of people who manage flexeter now.” Chearavanont also brought up another funny story about David. “Jacob was a very avid opponent of [the missing door handle] at Grill. He really, really hated it… One time we spent three hours talking about it and even went outside to see how long it is to walk to the side entrances. Then Jacob calculated how much time everyone wastes doing that in a month to prove how Exeter is actually taking away from our lives. [Besides] we are put in the cold, so there’s that added level of being frozen and actively hurting the students in weakening their immune systems,” Chearavanont said. Another of David’s less -known talents is his perfect pitch and piano skill. David started playing the piano as a kid and slowly grew to enjoy the process. “I like the fact that when you listen to music, it can manipulate your emotions and the way you feel. You’re not evaluating
something that was created to be evaluated. You’re not grading a test or rating something. You’re just seeing how you respond to it and the ability to be the one that Creates those responses in someone’s ear,” David reflected. “It feels like you have a lot of control… It felt like another degree of freedom to be able to express myself in that way.” As David’s piano instructor Jon Sakata neatly summarized, he possesses an amazing ability to engage and balance the various parts of himself. “Jacob has a quiet maturity. He doesn’t sell nor market it. It’s self-effacing and humble. I think that reflects how he’s become very settled with all the different aspects of himself. It’s very dynamic and yet very poised. Jacob possesses that special quality to balance and potentialize all,” Sakata said. David himself has a similar reflection as well. “On the surface, math seems very technical and precise, leaving no room to express yourself, but I find the act of problem solving like a subtle expression of creativity… There isn’t really a distinction between something like playing the piano or trying to solve a math problem. Both are outlets of creative expression, [and both] require some level of technical competence,” David said. Looking into the future, David would like to go into something STEM or problem solving related. “There’s a saying that people who are into math contests in high school, either they sell out and
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go into finance, or they go into academia and research. Personally, I feel like I would really enjoy academia, but I’ve also acknowledged that like, those aren’t the only two options. I have a lot of paths that I can take in my future…” David said. “It’s [the question of] how much are you willing to sacrifice potential personal enjoyment, for example, being able to provide for your future self, and how much do you really need.” “Jacob is going to be a lot more charismatic and funny than almost anyone in his field. And I think it’s wonderful that he’s bringing like all of his unique traits into a field that can be so mundane,” Chearavanont added. During his time at Exeter, David helped a lot of people. “It was never his goal to become student council president or change the whole system or anything. [But he is always committed] to do the best he could in the ways he could,” Yun commented. “The people who he has interacted with will obviously come away thinking really good things about him and realizing that he’s really someone to look up to.” Chowdhury expressed similar ideas. “[Jacob] has come into touch with a lot of students at Exeter through running Math Club and Physics Club. He was one of the organizers for the Exeter Math Club Competition, so he has definitely reached a lot of middle school students,” Chowdhury said. “He has a very wide influence, and people will remember it.”
Senior of the Year: Otto Do By NHAN PHAN “One of the first Assemblies I saw was a music performance assembly where the music faculty performed for the students. I saw my piano teacher Dr. Sakata and his wife Ms. Lee play a fourhand piece together. I was completely in wonder when I watched them. I said to myself, ‘Wow, that is what it’s like to really play the piano,’” senior Otto Do recalled. After that assembly, Do was paired by chance with Music Instructor Jon Sakata, who would become his closest mentor at Exeter. “I was having the time of my life practicing because Dr. Sakata showed me how to really enjoy music. It wasn’t about becoming so mechanical or machine-like, but such a human experience. The teachings that he has shared with me in and out of music have really pollinated into the rest of my life and I’m really grateful for that.” Do’s parents, Jessie and Chris Do, attribute his love for the piano to Sakata’s influence. They said, “his love towards piano playing and creative writing is somewhat of a surprise to us since they were not things he had shown interest in before Exeter, especially piano. He didn’t enjoy practicing and quit for two years during middle school. We think meeting the right instructor really makes a big difference, someone who inspires instead of teaches.” Sakata said, “I think Otto, himself, would probably say he came as sort of an intermediate
level student.” However, Sakata saw something in Do: a gift of talent and grit, “One of the aspects of talent that I think is either underplayed is how much an individual has a desire to grow. What I saw right away is that Otto had this special talent.” This talent manifested itself in different ways throughout Do’s journey at Exeter and nowhere did it shine brighter than in his lower year English class. “I didn’t really fall in love with English until I had Mr. Sneeden for English. One of the books we read was Patrick Modiano’s Suspended Sentences, and that book was really revelational to me because it had minimal plot. I had never seen a book like that, so it made me really ask myself, ‘what is a novel without any plot?’ And those kinds of questions made me think about literature so differently,” Do recalled. “I’m sure he’ll be the first to admit that he’s come a long way,” English Instructor Ralph Sneeden remarked. “He was always really promising and had a really rich, enthusiastic command and appreciation of language. I was encouraging him prep year, but I was pretty straight with him about writing narratives because he was a risk-taker, and I love that.” English Instructor Christine Knapp recalled Do in her lower English classes, where he developed this love for language and writing, “I remember one paper in particular where he was writing about being in a store with his mother. I
remember we had a conversation about the way the reader would perceive the narrator and the tone that he wanted to strike. He was an exacting critic of his own writing and he never minded even a question or comment about something that was very small. He was very willing to listen to and accept feedback or constructive criticism from an instructor or questions, but also very willing to hold his own and to push back. I would say that when I think back over my years of teaching at Exeter, Otto was the most committed to active revision.” ** Senior Anya Tang came to Exeter as a new lower; they have gotten to know Do both at and outside Exeter. They said, “I’ve never seen someone so deeply engrossed in learning like Otto. It brings him genuine joy and pleasure to learn both about the world around him and himself. Exeter has been that perfect place for him to be able to work with teachers and his own time on questions or passion projects that just naturally come into his brain.” Sakata added, “He really cares about details and how special those details are. That reveals how much he loves learning and growing.” And sure enough, those passion projects kept coming. Do reflects, “My whole life I’ve been really interested in a lot of things. I always have a hard time cutting things down, cutting what I’m doing down because I just want to do everything, and all the time; I never
want to stop doing things. So what I tell myself, at least when I was younger, is that if you really like something, just do it and go full out and never do anything halfway.” ** In March 2020, the world halted to a screeching stop as COVID-19 came to be. Senior Celine Gu recalled her favorite moment with Do during the pandemic, “I think most memorable is probably our full year of quarantine. So there’s [lower] spring and then summer, and then we were both remote fall term… He has influenced me a lot as a student and as a person. Obviously, he’s an amazing writer. Getting to see his writing process up close has really impacted how I approach my writing process. I feel like, through all those FaceTimes that we spent just doing homework together, he has passed on his work ethic and really got me on track to being a more focused student throughout the pandemic.” During his lower summer into upper fall, Do began his Senior Project: a series of stories derived from his family’s history and journey away from Vietnam that reflects Do’s Vietnamese identity. He recalled, “I honestly started writing my Senior Project because my dad had always told me he wanted to record our grandparents’ story coming from Vietnam during the war. So I thought, ‘I like writing now, so why don’t I do this? Because I don’t know if my dad ever will and I don’t know how long my parents are gonna be here.’” During this
summer, Do interviewed his parents and grandparents, all the while slowly chipping away at writing their stories. ** Senior Will Park discussed Do’s approach to Exeter, “Otto approaches Exeter in a way where he’s trying to find the beauty in everything. Every time Otto would read something, he’d be like, “oh, that’s such a beautiful way of thinking about something.” The thing about Otto is that you can tell that he means it when he says that he finds something beautiful because he’s somebody that finds beauty in a lot of things and is able to see the beauty that other people aren’t able to.” Do said, “Somebody once told me here that nobody who creates art at Exeter can do so consistently. And to me, that might have been a reality, but I don’t think that is necessarily true for everybody. Right? I think that is a very limiting belief that nobody at Exeter creates art consistently. It’s really up to you what you want to do.” Sakata commented, “There’s something about art where energies compound other energies in ways that are just so unexpected and so beautiful. These things in large amplify each other in ways that are hard to explain. When you integrate things into art, it becomes too intellectualized. It becomes too partied and even segregated. Everything fits and yet nothing’s working. I think Otto has been a really shining example of that kind of non-integration of a multiplicity.
It may be actually what differentiates him in some ways, multiplicity from diversity. I think multiplicities are that kind of a condition that things don’t get completely planned and organized and categorized so cleanly.” During lower Summer, and extending into his upper and senior years, Do contributed to the Since 1878, an effort pioneered by alumni Anne Brandes ’21 and Felix Yeung ’21 and advised by English Instructor Erica Lazure. According to Lazure, the project “tracks how we [The Exonian] have covered or failed to cover issues of race, gender, and class mostly with a focus towards race.” “Otto was the vision and the eye for the design aspects of the project. And I believe he’d done some, some of the research as well but certainly, he was the mastermind behind what the web version should look like and how that’s been translated into the print version of the project,” Lazure said. Lazure also advised The Exonian when Do served as the Director of Design for the newspaper. Anne Brandes, the Editor-in-Chief of the 142nd Executive Board, recruited Do to redesign the formatting, layout, and composition of the newspaper. He took that mission to heart. “Otto really had a vision for The Exonian, in that he felt that the mission of layout was different from, but connected to, the vision of the editorial content and he really helped to professionalize the layout CONT’D ON C10
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approach. We continue to have staff who are dedicated to just doing layout, which is something that I had wanted to do for years, but no one had really brought it to be,” Lazure said. ** Upper Claire Fu first met Do in Architecture Club. “I met him through there and then progressively got closer to him throughout the process. Then I ended up becoming co-head with him and Jasmine [Xi] as well,” Fu said, “He was just very welcoming and easy to talk to, especially because there were only like three people who attended at the time. So, it was a very small group, but everyone got close pretty fast.” Architecture Club and Democracy of Sound, both clubs for which Do serves as a co-head, organized the Class of 1945 Library’s 50th Anniversary. Sakata, the adviser for Democracy of Sound, recalled a moment of Do’s intuition and creativity, “There was a debate within the Architecture Club about their installation. So they were gonna have those models, architecture models that students from the club had made over the course of the term for the exhibition, placed inside to encourage the audience to look through the cracks and all that kind of stuff. If this doesn’t have a cover and people just go up there, they’ll just look at the models from above and see these foam blocks lying around.” He continuecd, “And then, it was near the time of closing of the Library during one of the evenings that we were working in there, and Otto suddenly got this inspiration. It’s like, “I can paint a cover on some clear material, like an acrylic sheet.” And he got out his paint, and just started going at it on the floor of the main hall. It was almost a childlike playfulness, but it arose, in a sense, out of a problem. For me, it’s that tandem that I find really beautiful.” ** Throughout Do’s upper year, he has been meticulously working on his Senior Project. Sneeden recalled the process: “We got really editorial. Sometimes we got right down into his prose. We did not just talk about how the whole thing was hanging together as a collage,
but also down at syntax, grammar, punctuation, which was really fun. I don’t think I’ve ever gotten why I found it fun.” Upper Jesalina Phan also shared her thoughts on Do’s process, “He talked to me a lot about his project and how while he was in the process of putting everything together and writing everything, he put so much time into that. I have no clue how he had time to do that while he was juggling all the other things that he does. He told me about how one of his grandparents passed away and how it sparked a moment in him where he is like, ‘I need to learn our stories before time runs out.’” Tang added, “Otto’s process to me was very artistic. It was combining these visual terms, such as negative space, to describe gaps in memory that were raw by generational trauma, war, and immigration. And, it was turning them into something beautiful, such as works of fiction, to testify to his generational memory. Getting to see him do that was amazing.” Gu also shared how watching Do’s process for his Senior Project changed how she viewed writing, “I remember him talking about [his project] in the very early stages. He would collect these small stories that he would read or things from films and different works. It’s just wonderful to see him put all of that together and then add so much of himself and his own art into it. He changed my mindset about my own writing as well because his writing is not just meaningful, but also beautiful.” Do’s parents sythnthesized his extraordinary talent, saying, “I think, through the process, he learned to appreciate that outside of DNA, we did not pass down identity but encouraged him to find his own. It was a great way for Otto to connect with his roots, and understand the trials and tribulations of what his grandparents had to go through to escape communism.” ** During winter break, Tang stayed in California at Do’s home. Together, they hiked the Temescal Canyon Trails. Tang described the experience of getting to know him outside Exeter. “That was my
first time in LA. I had no idea that there were even hiking trails, so nearby and Otto had taken that into consideration, which I really appreciate. And we drove out to the nearest trail,” they said. “Otto is a reasonable hiker. With Otto, it was so intuitive sometimes. We would just stop and kind of fold over. Sometimes he needed a water break. Sometimes Otto would be faster. Sometimes I would be in the lead… I owe it to Otto for not breaking my leg and dying on the trail.” For his senior spring, Do also has some plans to row on the river with his friends. Fu explained, “We’re planning to paddleboard and kayak on the river. When it gets warmer, we’re gonna have a relaxing time, not get stressed out about school, and enjoy the time that we have together because Otto’s going to graduate this year.” ** In the middle of his senior winter, Do was chosen to present his Meditation in Phillips Church. Senior Kiesse Nanor talked about working with him on his piece, “He was sort of showing me different pieces that he was thinking about weaving together, and I was able to give him some advice. I think he did a brilliant job with his Med. I also thought that in the presentation of his med, it was really cool how he played his own composition. I felt like that added a really personal touch. I wonder, sometimes, especially in the music choices, how you can keep those parts of the Med personal; he did just that. Otto is really creative as he is with everything he does.” McConnell also attended the Meditation. He reflected on what resonated with him, “It was, for me, a remarkable reflection upon one’s status in family and where they are in terms of the arc of their entire life. It was this really intimate story about his family and a family reunion. It had this wonderful sensitivity to it where you clearly saw his care for his family, but also this ability, which I think is quite profound to us as humans, to be able to step back from those who we care for deeply and ask questions about what they do and why they do it that way.”
Do’s Meditation was a part of the bigger narrative. After a culmination of two years worth of writing, Do presented his Senior Project during his senior winter. The presentation detailed his family’s identities through a series of stories, as well as how he rediscovered himself throughout the process. Sneeden reflected on the process, seeing Do present his work, “I think he was really ambitious going into it but really realistic when it came down to it. It was liberating for him to realize that he didn’t have to have this polished, complete, fully blown thing by the end of the term. I like it when it’s organic. If you have a blueprint and a strict outline for what you’re gonna accomplish for the term, you just have to be ready to go off that. But you’ll have to take a detour because you might be writing and you discover, ‘oh my gosh, I’m going in this direction instead.’ And, that’s what he did.” “He’s developed so much from his prep year to now. I think he sees writing as a way to share a part of himself and has dedicated a lot of time to it since prep year. Technically he has grown so much and his meditation and senior projects are merely reflections of how beautifully he writes now. And, he’s definitely developed his own style in terms of the actual content and what he wrote about,” senior Chieko Imamaura added. ** Reflecting back on his personal growth over his four years here at Exeter, Do said, “In order to do things you’re passionate about, you have to make time for them. For me, it was never about not hanging out with my friends as much, but if I really wanted to do something, I had to have time to do it. There are some people who can do a lot and have a lot of friends, but they don’t sleep as much and I can’t do that. I want to be really honest in saying, for me, I can only do so much because I honestly do not hang out with people that often. I don’t want it to seem like I have some sort of magical formula where I can do everything because I don’t and can’t.” His motivation is the characteristic his parents
are proudest of, “Otto is a very self-motivated person. As parents, we never have to worry about his school work. He enjoys learning, not so much for the grades but for himself. I don’t think he sees challenges as struggles, but more as questions, and his journey is to find the answer that is right for him. He has a clear vision of who he wants to be and will not easily bend to peer pressure. This is a double-edged blade because it also means he struggles with doing “mindless” things which are sometimes required to connect with others on a social level… As parents, we sometimes worry that he is missing out on some of his childhood—being okay with doing frivolous things.” Tang added, “Otto and I have grown a lot together, even if that is never something that directly comes up in conversation. He and I have many conversations about growing old or coming of age and what that type of young experience is at Exeter. One of the most difficult things that we both have had to grapple with, but especially for him, is this idea that people grow and change and leave your life and that you as a person can grow and change in terms of your identity and how you see yourself. So, without divulging too much about these conversations, talking with Otto and having these moments of personal growth is like watching somebody put together a puzzle, but there’s no wrong way to put together the puzzle.” Gu described how Do will be remembered by the Exeter community, “People will remember him as someone who’s incredibly involved on campus, but is at the same time incredibly kind to people. I feel like there’s a culture, especially in such a competitive space as Exeter, where it’s rare to see someone who’s so willing to help others. He would sacrifice his time to help me edit my papers when I knew he had so much on his plate. Exeter can be competitive and toxic a lot of the time, and he is just the opposite of that.” As a student, Do has grown throughout his four years at Exeter. Classics Instructor Paul Langford provided some insight into Do’s growth as a
Joy Chi/The Exonian Classics student: “Otto approaches work with care, both in the sense of diligence and in the sense of love for the process of learning a language and studying in detail literature in that language. Otto has always had a strong current of confidence, but over four years, he seems still more focused and more impervious to distractions and unbothered by minor missteps. As a student, he has become more flexible and open to advice in the way he approaches an academic or intellectual task.” McConnell continued, “In one way there’s constancy and the consistency here is that he’s respected by students at the table. Students tend to lean on him to help their ideas and understand the text better. So, the change is tremendous. It’s the change you see, or you hope to see, among all your students, in Otto’s case.” Knapp talked about Do’s growth as a writer, “The depth of his narrative voice became so much more sophisticated. He was a keen observer with an eye for relevant and essential detail, even as a [lower]. But then watching how he used all those skills that he had practiced to create something longer with quite a comp structure, I think as an instructor, you just feel happy to be there and share in a student’s success.” As a person, Do found his calling here at Exeter. Sakata reflected on a lesson he once taught Do, “I once said to him, personally, my only notion of identity is mutation, how you alter yourself. As an artist and as a person, that is like the core: you don’t wanna get to a point where you’re yourself and you identify and define yourself as X, whatever X is, and however wonderful X is, or whatever you’ve accomplished because you won’t continue to grow and challenge yourself and take risks because you become a monument to yourself. What I feel Otto has realized because of his care and meticulousness is that it’s thrilling to mutate. That’s how I’d say Otto has grown: he mutated.”
June 5, 2022
GRADUATION ISSUE– CXLIV
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GRADUATION ISSUE– CXLIV
June 5, 2022
Senior of the Year: Kira Ferdyn
By STELLA SONG At 7:30 a.m., braving the gusty winds, senior Kira Ferdyn marches into Wetherall Dining Hall. Her face lights up when senior Anne Chen, one of her closest friends, waves to her excitedly. As other early risers stream into Weth, the troupe of friends together find peace and quietude in their breakfast conversations before the hectic of the day sets in. K. Ferdyn smiles to herself. This is all part of their morning ritual— having breakfast at Wetherall even on days when she would have a triple sleepin. K. Ferdyn sees breakfast as a defining part of her Exeter experience. “Just watching
the way people sort of trickle in and out makes me so grateful. It is profound to be part of a community where so many people are willing to put down what they are doing just to ask how your day was. I think that is something that I will miss next year– that level of openness in this community,” she said. Growing up in Exeter, K. Ferdyn always knew of the Academy. She learned about Harkness at a young age from a friend’s mother who works here. She decided to toss in an application at the start of her sophomore year. “I was mostly drawn to the community, the class style, and the ways that I can engage with people here that I wouldn’t have been able to at my old school. If I
Courtesy of Kira Ferdyn stayed where I was, I could picture exactly who would be walking across the stage in graduation in two years. But coming here, I felt that I could really open myself to change and change my perspective. That was really exciting,” K. Ferdyn said. Transitioning to Exeter at the height of the pandemic posed many challenges. “It was definitely a big adjustment and this felt totally different from where I’ve been before. It was about pushing myself and reminding myself that I came here for the community,” K. Ferdyn said. When she finally was able to come to campus, however,
K. Ferdyn never doubted that she belonged. “I would come onto campus on Friday and Saturday nights, grab dinner and introduce myself to new people. At first, it was really scary, but eventually the paths started to become more familiar and I could name people when I saw them, and I felt so much more well-connected,” she said. K. Ferdyn’s courage and openness became an integral part of her growth. “A beautiful thing about Exeter is that you can find something in common with almost everyone. I have been really pleasantly surprised by how many meaningful relationships I have been able to create, even with people that I did not get to know until a couple of months ago. It is a really powerful thing and I am very grateful to be able to connect with that many people…I have gotten more comfortable expressing myself, more able to try new things, and definitely more comfortable asking for help. Being able to see that growth is a really empowering thing,” she said. K. Ferdyn’s friends, family, and teachers witnessed how she has grown to be more comfortable not only with the Exeter community but also herself. “As she slowly found her place at this school, she also grew into herself. That is why she is not afraid to push the boundaries of her place and figure out where she belongs. In all the communities that she is in now, she holds such an important place within,” Chen said. Senior Kiesse Nanor agreed. “I have seen Kira grow into a person who wants to be more than just someone’s superficial friends. She really values true connections. She seizes opportunities and welcomes the relationships that she comes across, then really holds onto them. That is one of the biggest things I admire about her,” Nanor said. “It is really cool to see how much work Kira has done in such a short amount of time. It is rare to see that happen, and she deserves every bit of recognition. I think it is because
Kira puts herself out there so much,” senior Siona Jain said. Ferdyn’s twin Trey, who does not attend the Academy, saw K. Ferdyn’s growth as well, though he does not interact with her in an academic setting. “Kira gained a lot of confidence in herself and her work. Her agility when discussing complicated subjects has greatly improved, and I feel that she is becoming a much more thoughtful and articulative person. While I knew that Exeter would be greatly beneficial, I often find myself surprised by just how much she has grown,” he said. K. Ferdyn’s personal growth extends to her experiences in dance. Before coming to Exeter, she danced at companies in Portsmouth. “Having been exposed to a very competitive dance setting. I was a little apprehensive coming to Exeter. I felt that there won’t be the same rigor and maybe not the same challenge. But I have found the Exeter dance community to be a really really freeing space.” The Exeter Dance Company transformed K. Ferdyn’s perception of dance as an art form. “The biggest way I have grown as a dancer is learning how to dance like me and not in the ways my teachers expect. I think of dance as something that has become a creative outlet, a form of expression, and a form of stress relief for me, rather than something that is another perfectionistic ideal,” she said. “[Kira] would often express that she never felt like she could truly let go in her dance, under the disciplined ballet technique. At Exeter, Kira picked up new qualities in her dancing, and she has become a completely different dancer. I love watching her perform, especially now, much freer and more confident in herself,” T. Ferdyn said. K. Ferdyn also discovered her identity as a choreographer and a leader at Exeter. “[Kira] choreographed her first term here during total lockdown when we could not get within eight feet of each other,” Dance Instructor Amberlee Darling agreed. “She did it all
with a smile and she did it all with the ‘we can do it’ attitude and it just really helped us get through last year. I have only seen amazing growth from her first piece of choreography to now. She loves a challenge. She steps up to the plate every time and I am always pleasantly surprised.” Dance Instructor Samm Wesler echoed similar sentiments, admiring K. Ferdyn’s passionate spirit: “Seeing her fall back in love with dance has been rewarding and fun. Watching her find that joy in dance has been beautiful as a teacher.” K. Ferdyn reflected on her many connections with fellow dancers at Exeter. “I often think about the seniors from last year, how they have helped raise me up in the dance company here. This is a community that I feel really passionately about, and I feel loved and supported within it. I love to help people dance and bring new people in and be able to play out my creative visions on stage,” K. Ferdyn said. “Kira has grown immensely in choreographic skills. She is known for these amazingly large pieces of 15 to 20 dancers and they end up being beautiful all the time. It was really nice to see her take on that leadership role and take on that creative role in dance company,” Jain added. “The pieces that I have choreographed are something that I take a lot of pride in and something I have worked really hard at. I think my growth as a dancer has been a real demonstration of how I am growing as a student and as a person here. It has been so exciting to use dance in so many ways, many more than I would have expected,” K. Ferdyn said. More than anything, K. Ferdyn has brought joy, passion, and leadership to Exeter. All her friends and teachers agree that it would be hard to imagine the community without her. “As a dancer, I would say Kira is joyous. Absolutely joyous,” Wesler concluded.
Senior of the Year: Siona Jain By SELIM KIM If there is one object that senior Siona Jain cannot live without, it’s the plethora of Sephora solid-colored eyeliners. On some days, S. Jain prefers to paint on white, on others, blue or maybe even something bolder, like gold. But, no matter the color, one thing remains consistent: S. Jain knows how to put on an impressive winged liner. “Almost every day I will wear colorful or bold eyeliner…I do it for myself mainly because putting on eyeliner is a form of therapy for me: I just like to put on some music and just try to perfect it in the mornings, “ S. Jain said, explaining her affinity for eye makeup. “I really love that aspect of myself and it adds to my personal style. You’ll never find me on any day without something kind of fun and funky about my eye makeup.” This creativity is not exclusive to her eyeliner artistry. Throughout S. Jain’s time at Exeter, she has channeled her bold expressiveness in multiple facets of the Exeter community, whether that be in dance company, clubs, or the classroom. S. Jain first came to Exeter from Chicago-suburb Plainfield, Illinois in the fall of 2017 as a prep. S. Jain was originally drawn to Exeter’s signature Harkness approach to teaching. However, Harkness was not a foreign concept to S. Jain. She explained, “My middle school did some Harkness in our English, social studies, and
history classes..We actually did this little map thing where we would map how people talked at the table… I would always like to see how the conversation flowed. It was so unique…So, being able to experience that for a whole four years in high-school definitely drew me to Exeter.” S. Jain’s experience with Harkness soon met her expectations, and even went beyond, opening doors to several unexpected interests. “I came into Exeter really wanting to be a biology and genetics kid,” S. Jain recalled. “That’s what I really wanted to go into— I actually thought I was gonna go into cancer research. I came in thinking I was gonna go crazy and take that genetic sequence. I had a whole plan ready from the spring before my prep year…that went in the trash bin literally three months later.” Instead Exeter sparked her passion for history. “I very quickly found out that I loved history courses here, particularly the discussion part of it. The papers still stress me out so much, but the discussion aspect of it is so amazing. To hear all the different perspectives and learn about what it was like for different marginalized groups during a time period is so much more interesting than just learning about dates and times and battles. I just don’t care about any of that stuff,” S. Jain said. While Exeter academics have truly left a mark on S. Jain, the impact of her Academy experience also extends
beyond academic interests in the classroom. In fact, S. Jain’s four-year span at Exeter has helped her discover a new meaning to her own race and identity. “I never had affinity spaces at my old middle school. I never even knew that was a thing. I went to a predominantly white middle school, and I live in a predominantly white area. I literally live among cornfields— it’s an extremely sheltered area for the most part,” S. Jain said. “When I came here, I didn’t even consider myself Asian. I thought that being Indian was separate from Asian, so I came here with a whole different idea of race and identity. Then, all of a sudden, there’s this place called [the Office of Multicultural Affairs], and there are so many clubs that you can join.” This newfound discovery soon launched S. Jain’s initiative to become an active part of Exeter’s affinity spaces. There, S. Jain soon discovered her passion towards social justice. “I definitely came into Exeter with zero idea that I was gonna go into all of this, but it was ultimately me joining Asian Voices and Feminist Union and a bunch of different clubs in the Office of Multicultural Affairs that really led me to see all the similar trends and experiences of students of color and particularly women of color across campus. I also noticed the ways in which a lot of that was caused by different systems of oppression,” S. Jain reflected. “I think that really pushed me into social justice, basically just seeing how sim-
ilar my story was to others and also the differences in our stories and what those were caused by.” S. Jain’s passion for service informed her work as the 2021-2022 Student Council President. “I started [doing] Student Council as a dorm rep in my lower year, and I was really excited by the way that this seemed to be one of the very few clubs that the administration actually paid significant attention to. This seemed to be one of the very few clubs where students had a chance to voice their concerns, their questions, and their hopes in front of the administration in a way that I don’t feel other clubs have a chance to, which is something I’m still trying to change,” S. Jain said. To many of those closest to S. Jain, such determination is one of her most admirable aspects. Sarah Kang ‘21, who met S. Jain as a new lower, noted, “She just gives so much of herself to other people… She has this really incredible amount of drive and ambition in all the things that she pursues. I admire seeing the type of woman that she’s grown up into. Seeing her from like her prep year, all the way to her senior year, you can tell how much effort and how much time and how much dedication she puts into all of these different activities. I just get amazed time and time again.“ This determination is present within the classroom as well. S. Jain’s advisor and English Instructor Mercy Carbonell noted, “With her empa-
thetic sensibility, her emotional intelligence, her intuition and her facilitating grace, Siona is a serious gift to have in a class, in a coalition space, in a community…She offers her genuine appreciation for her peers’ voices and minds. She listens deeply, asks questions that encourage collaboration, knows how to name seemingly contrasting perspectives to allow multiple truths to exist at once. Siona brings to her academic, artistic and community work a willingness to enter into and to evolve within a group dynamic, to challenge the assumptions she knows we all have, to name and to claim her values, to listen deeply to the values others’ carry, to use her voice as a way to lift and empower the voices of those who are often silenced and to give inspiration to those who have been waiting to offer their own beliefs.” Mathematics Instructor Panama Geer, who taught S. Jain her prep year, agreed. “It’s been impressive watching the growth that she’s been through. I’ve seen her as sort of a nervous prep coming in and trying to find her footing and then see her find her footing…She’s involved in so many different things, but she doesn’t let things slide either… she knows how to take on what she’s capable of excelling at. And I think that watching that growth is what I’ve really admired and just being able to see her blossom while she’s been here,” Geer said. Senior Anne Chen, who worked on a senior project
with S. Jain, recalled the traits that best exemplify S. Jain’s determination. “She’s really good at tying up loose ends when you forget about them. Throughout the project, she was really forgiving towards me when I couldn’t finish a reading or couldn’t make a meeting, or whatnot, but she’s always very harsh with herself. If she missed a meeting she would go in later that night to make it up. And I think that set a really good example for me on what it looks like to have conflicts, but not lose your responsibility,” Chen said. Senior Bradley St. Laurent, who’s known S. Jain since prep year, agreed, saying, “She’s always worked really insanely hard. She’s had so much pressure from so many sides and yet she’s managed all of it. I don’t think many people would be able to handle that type of stress in such a way, and still just be able to be their normal selves and be so kind hearted to everyone.” Fellow Feminist Union co-head and senior Ana Casey echoed similar sentiments. “I don’t know if this is necessarily favorite because there’s a lot of different emotions there, but I think the day of the strike is probably just one of the biggest moments in our relationship. Senior sunrise was that morning, and so all the seniors were out on the field and we as seniors and as people organizing [the strike] knew what was happening, but it wasn’t public information yet.” Casey said, CONT’D ON D3
June 5, 2022
GRADUATION ISSUE– CXLIV
Senior of the Year: Siona Jain Cont’d “So it was just like a lot of anticipation, but there was also just a lot of support from her… Then we had a class together right before the strike, and we just kind of halfway through class, got up and walked out…I thought that was kind of a nice little moment of togetherness.” Dance Instructor Amberlee Darling agreed. “I’m pretty sure Siona operates 28 hours a day. I don’t think I would have ever been able to accomplish what that woman can accomplish in such a short amount of time…She is brilliant, beautiful and talented, but she does that with grace,” Darling said. “I think we’ve all met, and have experienced the kind of sad and dirty side of excellence on this campus and elsewhere, and all of us are human and are allowed to have our moments, but I feel like in my experience with Siona, she’s able to do it with grace, and even a little bit of humility.” Though S. Jain carries quite a packed schedule during the week, many share their appreciation for S. Jain’s display of continuous altruism towards her friends. To Chen, it’s the fact that being around S. Jain feels like “she’s not the center of her own universe.” Chen explained, “She tries really hard to decenter herself. Sometimes I’ll be ranting to her and we’ll be like 30 minutes into a conversation, which has only been about me, and it’ll come to a period of silence and she’ll say, ‘oh, hey, by the way, this thing happened,’ which is way worse than anything of mine. So, I think she’s really selfless…She’s just always been there for me in moments when I didn’t even know I wanted people there for me.” Casey continued this thought by mentioning “the amount of pride Siona takes in her friends and their accomplishments.” Casey shared, “The college process is obviously very stressful, but there’s been several times when I got in and when some of my other friends and our other friends got in where she was just like, ‘we’re going out to dinner.’ There was never any acknowledgement of the bad parts about it, just the idea that ‘we are gonna take this time to celebrate you’...it makes you feel really appreciated and valued.” Though such key relationships have formulated a significant part of S. Jain’s journey at Exeter, this wasn’t always the case for prep-year S. Jain. “I started out prep year having a really superficial idea of friendship. I really wanted to be part of the popular crowd and I used to actually think that prep posse was something you wanted to be in,” she said. “ I don’t think I really paid attention to having close friends who I really liked so much as just having friends that I thought were popular or part of like the social stratosphere that you wanted to climb to. Over my four years, I’ve definitely grown a lot from that. Now I have a close group of friends that I love and I hold dearly…” S. Jain accredits much of this close-knit community around her to her dorm, Amen Hall, stating that without the red-bricked dorm she “would not be who [she] is today.” “Amen has the best community on earth. It is just so sweet and so loving…I don’t think I’ve ever had a dull moment in Amen…I get to meet so many new people and also have so much fun. Most of my Friday nights, we’re often rolling around…other nights I would be talking with [my neighbors]. Sometimes I would have a shower party where we all blast music in the bathroom together and it ends up just being random people whoever’s in the bathroom at the same time. There’s just so many moments…and that’s a dorm I’m gonna cherish forever..” S. Jain’s twin sister, Prisha Jain, came to Exeter as a new
lower, one year after her sister. S. Jain recalled, “I was here for a full year and it was definitely difficult when Prisha came in, because I think I had already somewhat established myself, so a lot of people called her like ‘Siona’s twin.’ I think that made her want to distance herself from me in a way, so we actually drifted apart a lot lower year…she wouldn’t really associate with me.…Now, on campus, I have days when I am pulling all-nighters and [we FaceTime] each other at 4 a.m. to keep each other up and just like talking and laughing while we’re writing our history papers together.” S. Jain continued, “She and I are just super close. Even if some days we don’t see each other, we always try to be there for each other’s big events and big accomplishments. She was there when I was opening up my letter from college and I was there for hers.” Though S. Jain can account for her and P. Jain’s undeniable closeness, she recalls instances where their relationship was tested at Exeter. S. Jain said, “A lot of people tend to see my sister as the fun twin and myself as the academic twin. I feel like that in itself creates comparison, which is harmful to both of us. Prisha and I have been grappling with that a lot and it affects our own relationship with each other… We’re very different people… labels like ‘the fun twin’ or ‘the academic twin’ are harmful to us both, and we both disagree with them a lot.” Despite this, the Jain twins prevailed from such defying labels. P. Jain shared what she admires most about their relationships, saying, “I most admire her love and support. Even though she always has so much to do with Student Council, clubs, and dance, she always makes time to hangout. She is my biggest inspiration because I just don’t understand how she can do everything.” P. Jain continued, humorously noting an aspect of their relationship that truly does not fit into labels. “I wish they knew that behind her sweet, sympathetic face and driven energy she can be very lazy. She loves to make me do her chores and run her errands,” P. Jain said. When S. Jain is not spending time with her friends or family, she’s in the dance studio. S. Jain began dancing from the age of three. Over the course of her career, dance has not only become another home, but also an outlet.“Dance saved me from the constant thinking about what assignment comes next, what club I have to go to, and the amount of work I have to do. When you’re in a studio, it’s just you, the [dance floor], and music…it’s a really nice calming feeling. I just feel like I forget about anything else. And then I leave the studio and it all comes back. But for those few hours I have my own little refuge that takes place,” S. Jain reflected. Instructor in Dance Samm Wesler met S. Jain in her lower year, and shared her delight of watching S. Jain dance. “I have such a lovely memory of her. We were doing a combination last spring, and I was redoing a combination from my graduate solo and it was super personal to me. We had the whole class in the studio and the lights were off and it was just like twinkle lights around the floor. I just remember seeing the pure joy on her face. It was one of the first times that I saw such release and joy after this horrendous pandemic year and being like, ‘oh, that is someone who loves dancing.’ It was such a joyous memory for me to see her then connect to something that would be so personal to me was a really nice experience,” Wesler said. Darling echoed such sentiments. “One of the things that I’ve loved watching Siona grow in is in dance. She came in as a beautiful technician, a
beautiful performer. Though her technique has improven, her performance quality has changed and improved on its own,” Darling said. Chen, who has also been involved with a dance company since her prep year, agreed, sharing her enjoyment performing with S. Jain. “We both use dance in similar ways just to get things out. We also both really like to be watched in the same kind of way when we’re dancing. We are both big on performing essentially, so I really appreciate performing with her. It feels like we’re working towards a really similar goal. I can always count on her to pull through in the high-intensity moments,” Chen said. S. Jain’s radiating presence on the stage is also heavily admired by those not involved in dance themselves. One of Geer’s favorite moments of Jain is seeing her perform in the dance company’s annual concerts. “It was about two years ago, and I had my daughter with me. I shared with my daughter that this was a student who I had in class. I am sure she had challenges along the way, but when she was on the stage she was just shining… in that moment she was a role model for my daughter. To my daughter she was a beautiful, successful [non-white] girl who loves to dance. For my daughter who also has dark skin and loves to dance, it was just a really powerful moment,” Geer noted. P. Jain agreed, saying, “Besides being an amazing leader, her dancing is something that will leave a huge impact. She is the definition of beauty and brains. The crowd always goes wild for her at pep rallies and shows when she is out there performing.” S. Jain’s involvement in the dance program has formulated a pivotal part of her journey. Throughout the four years in the dance company, she has served as a dance captain and choreographer. But, this active involvement was not always the case. “My dance experience throughout Exeter has actually been really interesting. It’s been kind of similar to most other dancers in that the first term you kind of miss the rigor of your old dance studio…like, you’re not used to the idea of sitting out when you’re feeling sick…So when I entered the dance company at Exeter, I felt like I was not being pushed as hard. I felt like I was just there, and that was really difficult for me to grapple with,” S. Jain said. In fact, Darling, who has taught S. Jain since her prep year, recalled that their first encounter was through S. Jain sending an email seeking further involvement in the company. “I first met Siona actually through email. I was on maternity leave the fall that she arrived, so I didn’t get to actually dance with her for a few terms. Through email, she was like, ‘how can we dance more?’ And from that moment on, I knew that she was going to in her own way be involved at the highest level as much as she could,” Darling said. Despite this, S. Jain ended up taking a break from dance company, though she was still a part of dance clubs. Then, in her lower year, she rejoined. “I realized how much of your dance experience here is built on you, really pushing yourself and involving yourself in the company. If you’re just there and kind of attend, that’s not enough because the teachers here won’t push you to be involved. You have to do that yourself. You have to have the passion to want to be in more dance pieces, to wanna get involved with choreography, to wanna get involved with clubs, the outside performance opportunities to try for captainship,” S. Jain said. “Once I started realizing that and doing that, I saw myself grow and progress and actually really become
better stylistically. I found my style, and I also learned more ways in which to intersect my passions…I totally like how amazing the dance program is in that all the students have autonomy and we have such an chance to really build what we want for ourselves and build the dance path that we want for ourselves in whatever style we want. And that’s so unusual for any company…I’m going to miss that going forward.” S. Jain’s pure, unbridled determination that has been poured into countless passions, communities, and relationships is impressive. Yet, many of S. Jain’s closest friends hope for Exonians to remember her by her qualities outside of her acquired leadership titles. To St. Laurent, that is S. Jain’s often unknown spontaneity. “I think people might be intimidated by the fact that she’s in so many leadership positions— [Student Council], OMA, clubs, etc—and such, but even with all these commitments she has always been someone who is open to meet new people and have fun. I think people should definitely take the time to sit down at D-Hall with her or in Grill or anything like that, because she’s great…It would be worth your while to have a conversation with her or get closer with her before she leaves Exeter, as she is such a genuine, kindhearted person” Chen echoed this thought. “She’s [like] a really fun mom. I mean, I think that I am of the personal opinion that moms should not be best friends, and that they should be mothers. But if I had a mom best friend, I would want Siona. She’s really, really good at having fun. She’s really good at spontaneous ideas and she’s also really good at being serious and bringing the tone down and making you cold compresses and hot soup when you need it,” Chen said. As S. Jain’s four years at Exeter came to a close, she reflected on her legacy. “I haven’t actually thought about this idea of a legacy mainly because four years will come and go so quickly and then you’ll realize people just start talking to you about legacy and you’re like, ‘what legacy am I supposed to be leaving behind?’” S. Jain said. “ I guess the legacy I see myself leaving behind is to lead with empathy, that’s something I really hold myself to, in everything that I do…” She continued, “I also feel like the dance program is a major legacy that myself and many other seniors are leav-
ing behind. I feel like when I came here in prep year, people weren’t really respected as dancers…there weren’t as many performance opportunities, and people didn’t immediately look to dance to be an integral part of art shows. A lot of seniors and myself have been working really hard to make sure that dancers are respected on this campus and this community…I think that the dance program itself, seeing where it is now versus where it was in my prep fall, is so incredibly different and people are so much more passionate about it and so much more involved. “ S. Jain believes that it’s important to go through Exeter by allowing one’s passions to guide them. She advised,“If you’re like me, you were caught up with what you were doing prep year and trying to find clubs that you felt fit with what you wanted to do in the future or clubs that would look good on a resume…I tell you to throw all those ideas out. You can get into college with any clubs, any sports, anything on this campus really. Instead, just do you. Do what you’re passionate about, meet as many people as you can because four years go by really quick. I still regret the fact that there’s some people on this campus in my grade that I haven’t had a good conversation with.” Indeed, S. Jain believes that a core quality of Exeter is the relationships one builds, especially those with faculty. “The faculty here care about you so deeply…They’ll make time for you at 10 p.m., they want to grab lunch with you, they want to grab coffee with you, and they want to hear about your day…teachers are so underrated sometimes… Try to find a teacher on campus you really, really like, and you would really want to spend some time with because teachers are your number one support,” S. Jain said. To S. Jain, these close relationships developed are also what S. Jain will miss the most. “I’m sure I’m going to find amazing communities at college, but I think that there’s something so formative about growing up together from ages 14 to 18 on a boarding school campus. You share similar experiences and worldviews with the people around you that I don’t think I might find anywhere else…We all went through really similar hardships at the same time, especially with COVID and especially with a lot of things that happened on campus for all of us at the same exact time.
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I think there’s something so beautiful about experiencing that altogether in a boarding school living together,” she reflected. S. Jain’s four years at Exeter have certainly not always been smooth-sailing. “I would say it was a roller coaster,” S. Jain said. “I think that’s honestly the only way I could ever describe it. I’m the type of person where I have really, really low lows and really amazing highs. I rarely get anything in between…For example, things with the administration or just things like the Student Council election were really difficult time periods, but I also have amazing moments like the dance showcase that I’ll remember for the rest of my life.” These “highs and lows” have also been what shaped much of S. Jain’s parting perspectives of Exeter. “I could honestly say that it was the best, most engaging, exciting experience of my life and I’m so eternally grateful to have Exeter. As many as there were lows and times that I was really like, ‘wow, I don’t know if I could make it through this’, there were so many highs that made everything just so much more meaningful and made me realize how much I really valued my place here,” S. Jain said. As S. Jain prepares for graduation, many of her closest friends and teachers look forward to all S. Jain will do for the world. Carbonell shared, “I have no doubt that she will bring all of her gifts, skills, her hope for humanity, her willingness to work/name hard truths and her collaborative spirit into her future years. She wants to listen to others, to take in the stories of humanity around her, and then to act.” Kang concluded, “That girl can do anything… But, I think I can see her achieving happiness. With Siona’s personality, drive, and passion, no matter what direction she goes in, she’ll always have a very supportive and caring and loving group of friends. She’ll always have her family and the people around her that support her and love her…and I know that wherever she goes, she’ll be able to achieve a community that really cares about her anywhere.”
Courtesy of Siona Jain
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GRADUATION ISSUE– CXLIV
June 5, 2022
Senior of the Year: Sabrina Kearney
By LAUREN KIM A year ago. A bright spring Saturday. Senior Sabrina Kearney emerges from McConnell Hall, hauling about an easel and wielding a rickety wooden stool. Her ensemble soon becomes complete with multi-color palettes, dripping paint brushes, and a half-painted canvas. She plops herself down on the sunny patio, and begins to find the appropriate hues for a self-portrait “I’m just going to be working on this,” she told now-senior William Park, who looked in awe. “I was thinking how crazy it is that she’s just out here making art on a sunny Saturday; that’s what she does with her time. It was really amazing to see it right in front of my eyes,” Park said. That self-portrait would later become one of Kearney’s highlight pieces in her Lamont Gallery art exhibit this fall, “Homecoming.” Consisting of eight meticulously crafted artworks that speak directly to Kearney’s personal life and experiences, “Homecoming” was not only a culmination of Kearney’s high school art experience, but also her emotional growth as an artist. “I had this idea: what if in my senior year, I just exhibited everything I ever created? I just gave it a shot because that’s my personality, and I’m a big fan of trying new things,” Kearney said. “I picked a lot of the pieces that are associated with my own personal journey, and I decided to name it ‘Homecoming’ because I feel as if I’m finally returning to a basic blueprint of the person that I’ll be for the rest of my life,” Kearney added. “When I first came to Exeter, I had no idea who I was like, or what I was interested in. But Exeter really pushed me to grow and helped me realize
myself. My goal for this exhibition was to also inspire other people to try new things and not to be afraid to find the person that they actually are.” Indeed, her exhibit deeply affected many of her friends and teachers. “Her artistic talent is unmatched,” said upper Cindy Su. “You can tell that she was just born to be an artist.” Park described his reaction when he first saw the exhibit. “This is art made by a friend of mine who I’m really close with, who has literally created this with her own hands. Seeing all of that up in Lamont, while understanding how much work she put into it, infused entirely new meaning into it,” he said. “This was very personal work, and it was so brave to choose to present it all in high school. Her artistic impact on me as a friend cannot be overstated.” History instructor and the Washington DC Intern Program Coordinator Bill Jordan, too, praised Kearney’s artistic capabilities. “I’m always admiring people who are able to pursue art while they’re a student, given all the busyness. Sabrina, as the previous head art editor for The Exonian, is pretty impressive,” Jordan said. Even far down south in Washington, D.C, while serving her position as an intern in the New Hampshire senator’s office, Kearney brings a positive and helpful attitude to every intern and senator she encounters. Jordan expressed gratitude for the helpful role she has on the trip, recounting a time one of her classmates was sick.“She came down, told me about it, and suggested what I could do to help this. She’s such a caretaker and she’s very aware of what’s going on. She’s conscious of other people, she’s likely to advocate for them.” Kearney has become a true role model in the
community, taking advantage of and discovering joy in the many opportunities the Academy has to offer. Model United Nations (MUN) stands out as one of many groups of campus she owes growth to. “I came to Exeter as a pretty shy person. I’m definitely an introvert. But MUN broke me out of my shell and taught me how to really express myself, and helped me find a family of people that I really love,” Kearney said. Over her time at the Academy, Kearney has also found herself involved as the head of design in WeVision, a publication dedicated to empowering women in the workforce. Su described her experience working with Kearney. “Over the years that me and Sabrina have worked together for WeVision, we’ve hosted a variety of events. We’ve done panels with different women, and we hosted a female activism panel together this past year,” she said. “Sabrina brought that creative vision that we needed. She’s also very kind, so it was a great influence in the club.” Kearney reflected on the ways in which WeVision prepared her for the workplace and the outside world. “I think it was really empowering to always have a community of women that I could look to for advice and support. I would also say that WeVision almost operates like a workplace given the amount of material we produce.” Kearney has also left an incredible legacy in her dorm, McConnell Hall. “I grew up as an only child and I’ve always wanted to have siblings. So, boarding was kind of an experience where I just got a new family and I was able to become part of one with 35 sisters in McConnell.” “Living in McConnell has always been a great experience,” Kearney continued. “Whenever I was under pressure,
there were always people around that I could ask for advice and for help on things. Last year, I had a really close group of senior friends. They were just incredible role models for me, and were just great people.” Former dormmate Bea Burack ’21 reminisced about her time with Kearney in the dorm. “I saw her on numerous occasions in the common room in McConnell, just sitting down and chatting with the preps. She would drop whatever it was that she had going on, whatever things were on her mind or stressing her out, and would just start asking them about their day. When they had problems, she was 100% on their side and trying to find the best way to help them. That’s very representative of who she is. She’s just very good at caring for the people around her.” Kearney found herself at a loss when some of her closest friends graduated last year. “I considered these people family, and I thought they were so amazing. Watching them reach that final achievement of graduating Exeter was super sad for me because it hit me that they’re not going to be back next year. But I was also so proud of them. I know that they are going to achieve amazing things in the future.” History Instructor Troy Samuels expressed his deep appreciation for Kearney’s kindness. “She’s just genuinely really kind and is just somebody who is very pleasant to be around,” he said. “Whenever I see her in D-Squared, and she comes over to chat, I just know that it’s gonna make my day better, which I always appreciate.” Samuels recounted one of their daily conversations about Kearney decorating his classroom. “She is an artist in all the best senses of the word and brings this mindset to the Harkness table.
She brings a very Sabrina way of thinking about the things she approaches,” he said. “We had very ambitious plans for her to paint all over this arch in my classroom that sadly did not come to fruition, but the light chatting about what form that project could take was really fun.” “She brings a kindness that isn’t seen all too often at Exeter.” Alicia Coble ’21 said. “Sometimes Exeter can be very cutthroat but Sabrina tends to pause, get to know people, and see things from their point of view. I think that’s what makes her such a great leader as well.” Alicia Gopal ’21 agreed. “One of the things she brings is an antidote to the competitiveness that Exeter fosters, in that she is a very hard worker herself, but she doesn’t give the energy of competition. She definitely brings a very calming and relaxing presence to campus. For all of our friends, she’s definitely been a force for reflection and being able to take yourself out of all the hard things you’re doing; to recognize your work and happiness,” Gopal said. “She brings so many different things to Exeter. Apart from just being a super talented person, she’s a good friend. She’s really a part of the community. It was, I think, such a loss to have her go to DC where she’s at right now for the internship program. Even though I know she’s doing great things while representing the Exeter community. She’s just done so much for the school,” Noah Lee ’21 added. Burack recalled an encounter with Kearney in Boston in the past year. “Last time I saw her, she was leaving Exeter after fall term and her backpack was just filled with every single possible thing she could shove into it. The backpack unsurprisingly broke because
Courtesy of Sabrina Kearney there was so much stuffed in it,” Burack said. “We were walking about Boston, carrying all of her stuff in boxes and bags. It was raining and things were falling everywhere. She, of course, took all of this well. She was just there to see her friends and have fun.” Leaving one piece of advice for her fellow Exonians, Kearney encourages her peers to put themselves out there, and expose themselves to as many different experiences as possible. “Don’t be afraid of change. Instead, run towards it as fast as you can. Exeter is a time to make mistakes; you’re in high school, you’re a teenager. I think everybody comes into Exeter thinking of themselves in a certain, singular way, in terms of extracurriculars or academic subjects, but everyone should know that they are so much more complex than that. This is the time to experiment and try.” “Not only in classes or clubs, but also in the people that you talk to,” she added. “There are so many cool people on campus; and many more than you might even realize. Just try to push yourself to be as outgoing as you can and meet as many people as you can before you graduate. Not only are these going to be some of the people that you talk to the rest of your life, but also there are so many amazing lessons to be learned from people here. Push yourself out of your comfort zone. And, even if it doesn’t work out, what’s the worst thing that can happen? I would say to try and grow as much as you can, because your future self will thank you for it.”
June 5, 2022
GRADUATION ISSUE– CXLIV
Celebration in Words Each year, The Exonian invites families to offer shoutouts for the graduating class.
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GRADUATION ISSUE– CXLIV
June 5, 2022
Senior of the Year: Maxine Park By ASHLEY JIANG
Leaning into the piano, senior Maxine Park takes a short breath, and her fingers begin to dance on the keys. Peals of sound converge into flourished warblings, which billow through the Forrestal-Bowld Music Center. The audience basks in the culmination of her 10 years of passion, practice, and persistence. Park began her exploration of the classical piano when she was six years old, following in the footsteps of her parents. “My parents met because of the piano. They’re not professional musicians, but it’s kind of just something our family does,” Park explained. “Music is something that really brings our family together too—it’s kind of like our sport, so it was very intense.” Growing up in a small town, Park did not expect to find herself at the Academy. “I grew up in Hanover, New Hampshire, which is a pretty tight community, and most of my friends planned on going to our local high school. In seventh grade, one of my close friends who went to Andover recommended that I apply for the Caroline D. Bradley scholarship, which fully pays the tuition of any boarding school,” Park said. Once she was named a recipient of the scholarship, Park began to explore boarding schools in earnest. “On prospective student day, I sat in on Mr. [Zuming] Feng’s 31X class, which I remember thinking was just so cool. My dad actually went to Exeter before, but he really didn’t want me to go away from home, so I ended up having to convince him and my mom that this is where I wanted to be,” Park shared. As Park fell into the rhythm of life at Exeter, piano continued to be one of her cherished forms of expression, a way to connect with her family at home. “Music has been part of the way that we showed our love for each other in some ways. Since everyone in the family has all remained so involved in music, home hasn’t felt super far physically or emotionally,” Park said. To those around her, who are involved in music, Park has become a source of inspiration. “She has a true passion for music and I was, and remain, completely in awe of her ability and passion. In my prep year, when I saw her playing for the first time, I was overwhelmed by the command she possessed over her instrument, and I was, quite honestly, inspired to practice more,” senior Otto Do shared. “I think piano is often viewed as a solitary activity, but music performance, especially when it’s as convincing as Max’s, is definitely a gift to the community.” However, Park’s journey into the field of music came with its ups and downs. “I would describe my relationship with piano as sort of a love-hate relationship–definitely more love than hate, but there are tough times, especially when you question the payoff of all the time that you’ve devoted to this. You start thinking: how else could I have been using my time since prep year? Where would I be now, had I used all those hours differently,” Park reflected. One of Park’s more difficult moments at Exeter was her decision in prep year to continue her
rigorous pursuit of music. “I traveled off campus for lessons, and it was really hard not being around or present for the first two weeks of Exeter. This made it really hard to build deep relationships with those around me,” Park recalled. “I had times when I said to myself, ‘I really don’t want to do this anymore.’ Or perhaps after a competition I would think, ‘That’s the end— I’m going to focus on Exeter and my commitments on campus from now on.’” “When I think back on prep year, I don’t really regret pursuing piano. I think I’ve grown much more mature in this process. Music, to me, is now about focusing on what I want to do. I think less about what the kids that I grew up with in the competition world are doing, because it can feel a bit like a rat race sometimes,” Park said. At the Academy, Park redefined her love for music. “I found pieces which I really wanted to play, which weren’t ones that I could play in competitions— ones that were 40 minutes to an hour long. Coming up with programs that tied a few pieces together really excited me about the piano when I was growing, but I think it grew on me more so when I came to Exeter, because I could focus more on the history of the piece, the composer, and really connecting with that composer and their music.” “Taking that time to step back and really analyze also improved the way that I approach music as a musician. I learned to focus less on chasing perfection and what other people think of you, which is a big part of what the competition world is. Focusing on what I want to play and experience— That’s something that I’ve realized is something that’s really important to me.” This valuable lesson lent itself well to Park’s pursuits beyond piano, pushing Park to follow her many other interests. “In my prep year, I wanted to do things that I was familiar with. Before Exeter, I’d been studying Latin for a little while, so I was planning to get the Classical Diploma. I actually switched out of it this year. I’m studying Arabic now. That’s one of the things
that really displays the difference between my current self and my prep self,” Park said. Senior Neil Chowdhury recognized Park’s growth. “A lot of Max’s fundamental characteristics, including her sociability and passion, have remained consistent over the past four years. She has grown to become a true leader in her clubs and a role model for younger students,” Chowdhury said. Indeed, Park also found community from her experiences as a TEDx speaker. “In my lower year I did a talk on psychology polarization, and that was really eye-opening for me in the sense that I realized public speaking is something that literally anybody can do, even someone who is really introverted like myself,” Park said. This inspired Park to lead the planning and directing of the whole process. “Through TEDx, public speaking became something I felt confident in, and that then became one of my goals–making students feel more confident both in the content of their stories and communicating their stories.” “I noticed that in TEDx in the previous years, stories tended to be more focused towards research. I think part of that was also just a product of what people needed in different years, so another goal I had was to create a little bit more diversity in the types of stories that were being shared,” Park shared. “In order to move closer to achieving these goals, I was really interested in the organizational aspect of TEDx, but becoming the Executive Director was actually in part by chance,” Park added. “The old director happened to graduate my lower year, so I decided to send an email to Mrs. McGahie, and we applied for a license through TED.” Park maintained her dedication to bringing in new voices as a former Opinions-Editorials (Op-Ed) Editor for The Exonian. “Max is super passionate and extremely dedicated in all that she does. I remember she was talking about some Op-Ed projects at the beginning of our tenure, and later developed those budding insights into the column ‘Dear Exeter,’” senior and
former Managing Editor Lina Huang shared. “Max always kept the club’s best interest at heart,” Huang added. “Throughout her work as an editor, she’s been so good at bringing in ideas and helping mentor writers. I think her work in The Exonian really demonstrated her dedication to art. Everyone is willing to entrust her and she’s always a source of new ideas and creative thinking.” Senior Amy Lum agreed. “Max is extremely driven. She knows exactly what she wants and I feel like she knows the steps for how to get it. One thing that she’s definitely taught me is that if you want to do something–no matter how large or hard it is–then you can just do it,” Lum said. “I admire Max’s tenacity and her ability to work and solve issues to help her fellow Exonians,” senior Dellara Sheibani emphasized. The origins of Park’s passion for mental health and psychology could actually be traced to her adapting to Exeter. “Being around so many people and different personalities helps you figure out who you are, and it also opens you up to lots of new perspectives. For me, it made me more interested in connecting different people,” Park said. “I was really interested in why some conversations were working, especially conversations that involved the entire community, and why some were not working so well.” “The places where I saw this really being relevant in the past few years were discussions surrounding anti-racism. We set a lot of goals, but how do we make those actionable and act on them in a way that’s helpful and not performative,” Park continued. “I know that it’s definitely an experimental process for everything, but I think under all of that, it really comes down to understanding how people think, how people see each other and most importantly, what kinds of voices or what perspectives people don’t see, but need to, because they are really helpful and will change our community.” This goal fueled Park’s work as a cohead of the Mental Health Committee. “In my prep year there were discussions around
mental health and how people were doing. People were feeling the same things, but not talking about them. Or they did talk about them, but no one was really trying to find solutions,” Park recalled. “In the Mental Health Committee, we really try to open up conversation between students and CAPS counselors or open the conversation between students with each other in the dorms, so that we all have a space to talk about what we’re feeling.” For her friends, Park is an ever-reliable comfort, equally ready to crack jokes of caffeinated humor and give considerate advice. “Max has been such a driving force in my Exeter experience. I came in really uncertain about what the school was going to be like, and Max was the first person I met at Experience Exeter, so it was really special being able to come into school knowing her,” Huang reminisced. “I don’t think I would think of Exeter as fondly if Max hadn’t been there because she’s always been a steadying pillar of joy— both at the beginning, where she was kind of guiding me through the school starting from our prep fall history class, and now, when she’s someone I can really lean on and always love talking to.” “Max is probably the only person who can make me laugh until I’m crying and about to drop onto the floor over a conversation that started about breakfast,” Huang added. “Being friends with Max is one of the reasons, I think, why my Exeter experience isn’t as affected by the work, weather, and the other sometimes-negative things that we encounter,” senior Anika Tsai said. “Life seems so much more manageable, and enjoyable, if not hopeful too, because of the people around me, like Max.” Park’s commitment to opening up conversations extends far beyond the Exeter community. “I recently started my YouTube channel, To The Max Channel. On the channel, I have the same goals of encouraging discussion and fostering understanding of how our minds work. I think conversing is just a really important skill for young people to have. Conversations are so im-
portant for all the issues that we need to take on today, be it mental health or equality or climate change,” Park said. Park shared her mission and creative process. “In order to have those conversations, we really need to understand the way that our own minds work our biases and also how we view other people. Choosing which professors to contact is extremely important to me— they mostly do research in DEIJ, and especially how our psychology really affects equality in the workplace and in the world,” Park said. “Especially at Exeter, which has a huge reputation in overloading students with work, these topics are so important for us to understand if we really want to be the leaders of the future and initiate due change.” “Max is the Hyper-Exonian. That is her brand. That is her mark. I also believe her work in the mental health scheme is also brilliant,” senior Adaeze Barrah commended. “To exhibit excellence by doing it all but also exhibit mindfulness by advocating mental health in tandem with said excellence is awesome, and it is something that I think Max does quite well.” Park has a few universally applicable words of wisdom, realized from her own four years at Exeter. “Sometimes your interests change and you shouldn’t feel like you have to hold on to some part of yourself because you think that’s the only thing you have. I think you’ll always have regrets about things that you do, but realizing what good has come out of it and moving forward is also really important,” Park said. “You might have ideas that you’re only marginally interested in now, but after really digging into them, you could find something a lot more interesting, and there are a ton of different things that you might just discover on the way accidentally.” “There will always be something that you’ll be passionate about, and I don’t think you should feel like it always has to be the same thing. Learn to be open to those kinds of changes,” Park emphasized.
Courtesy of Maxine Park
June 5, 2022
Senior of the Year: William Park
By ANNA KIM and SOPHIE MA A vivid mahogany beam splits the old couple in two. On the left sits a man in a dark baseball cap; he gazes downwards, thin wire glasses framing his mottled face. On the right, a woman in a vibrant purple cardigan stares intently into the camera, her right eye shut in a makeshift wink. If you look carefully into the reflective glass, you’ll find the shape of senior William Park in a green baseball cap, camera clutched securely in hand. “This is my favorite street photo that I’ve ever taken,” Park said. “It’s in Japantown in San Francisco. I was just out there trying to take photos. I saw them and I didn’t even think it was going to come out this good.” For Park, spontaneous moments—such as the one that led him to take “Wink!”—have brought him far in photography. “I picked up a camera for the first time in September of 2020,” Park recalled. “My upper fall, I got one from
the Phillips Exeter Academy Notebook (PEAN). Before that, I had never touched one. The only experience I had with photography was taking photos for my sister’s Instagram.” Park explained why he decided to join PEAN in the first place. “I wanted a camera; in PEAN if you sign up to be a photographer you can get one. I was the first person there so I could get whatever I wanted. I didn’t know which cameras were better than the others, but I just Googled on my phone which was the most expensive.” “His name was Cameron,” Park reminisced. “Cameron is probably distributed amongst one of the PEAN photographers now, but he was the first camera I ever had,” Park said. “Now, because I’m the Director of Photography for PEAN, I get to choose whatever camera I want. So I chose the best one left with the best lens and her name is Antoinette. Muahahahaha.” For Park, photography quickly became a core part
of his identity at the Academy. “As somebody who came in as a new upper, photography was a representation of the opportunities Exeter had that I didn’t have before. I wanted to do it before—now I can. It was an opportunity to go to places and meet new people.” “It also gave me a descriptor,” Park added. “The guy who carries a camera around—that’s me. It gave me some sort of role in reality that could root me within the mess and jumble of all the people at Exeter. I’m glad that I did it. I love it so much.” Another space where Park found his identity was in Mock Trial, where he served as one of five co-heads for the 20212022 school year. For Park, Mock was where he formed some of his most prominent memories at the Academy. “I led the B team this year: Maxwell Li, David Chen, Tucker Gibbs, Priya Nwakanma, Maame Dufie Awuah, Valentina Zhang, Jenna Wang, and Ina Mason,” Park said.
“We worked really hard. I thought I was almost dying during winter term because of it.” “I really love those kids,” Park continued. “We were in states and were competing in the semifinals. We were going against the A team and we crushed the trial. I was convinced we won, but then we lost. We got third place overall, and that really hurt a lot. After that, we had team dinner.” “I was just defeated,” Park added. “I was really sad. I was like, ‘I’m sorry, I couldn’t do this for you guys.’ Because I really wanted to win for them. Then Ina was like, ‘Will, I got this. I’ll do this speech.’ She talked about a lot of stuff and how much Mock means to her, and then I started crying and other people started crying. That’s the moment you realize that this is the last time all of the team is gonna be together. We lost, but it also meant so much to us. And I know that moment is going to stick with me.” “B team’s pretty
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difficult because [it’s overlooked],” upper Tucker Gibbs shared. “But what’s really great about Will is that he didn’t wanna be on the A team. He told us this on our first B team meeting: ‘I want to lead the B team because we’re forgotten. We’re overlooked and that’s not gonna happen again.’” “Everyone was pretty down in the dumps,” Gibbs continued. “But Will’s five-minute speech at that first meeting rallied everyone. We were like, all right, let’s do it, let’s do it. He led a great team. Everyone got to know each other better. That’s a testament to how good a leader he is.” The connections between Park and his Mock Trial friends extend beyond the club. “I went to Los Olas with him,” Gibbs recalled, laughing. “He may or may not have ditched his girlfriend to hang out with me and other people from Mock Trial.” Senior Teja Vankireddy echoed Gibbs’s sentiment. “[From the first day I met him], he was a very affec-
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Courtesy of William Park tionate person—someone who wanted to get to know people better. He was genuinely curious about my life and I think that that led to great conversations with him.” “He’s someone who very much tries to be empathetic,” upper Arhon Strauss agreed. “Will is already naturally a very empathetic person, but because he makes that extra effort to be a kind person, it goes much further. Seeing and talking to him about his mindset has definitely helped me develop my own empathy.” Vankireddy also found friendship with Park through photography. “He definitely helped me refine my love for photography and inspired a lot of what I do now. He’s always looking at different photographers and always sending me different things like, ‘Oh, we should try this.’ I really appreciate his curiosity,” Vankireddy said. CONT’D ON D8
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Senior of the Year: William Park Cont’d
“He’s amazing,” Art Instructor Cheryl St. Onge said. “He’s fabulous and very organized. Will is a really good photographer— that’s easy— [but he’s also] the ultimate collaborator. He’s great at including students. He’ll jump up and say, ‘I have this idea, what do you think?’” “I love and admire Will because he has so much life force. He has not only a great capacity for learning but feels a great urgency in helping others. He is so ready to support others, so ready to share ideas, and so ready to put in the work that is necessary in bringing about a better community,” senior Otto Do said. “I just hung out with him today, and we talked about art, philosophy, and the meaning of life. A very quintessential senior spring moment. We talked about what defines good art, what kind of art is striking, and how we see ourselves as artists. In our conversation, he said, ‘I like to think about art in terms of dimensions, rather than in terms of depth.’ A golden line. It’s lines like these that are a testament to the care and time he has dedicated to thinking, and it’s lines like these that stick in my head and transform how I look at
the world,” Do added. Park cited the people around him as big influences on his photography. “I didn’t really start thinking about photography as an art form until over the summer [of upper year],” Park said. “I brought my camera home and took photos over the summer. I would talk to Hansi Zhu—who is an incredible artist in her own right—and [hear] the way she thinks about her art and how she sees it. I would talk to Ms. St. Onge, other photographers, see JaQ Lai’s pictures—and I’m like, ‘Oh my God, these are really cool.’ All of that [made me into] the photographer that I am now.” When asked where he gets his inspiration for photography, Park replied with one word: everywhere. “It boils down to ‘I’m feeling something right now.’ You have to be honest with yourself. I’m feeling excited or I’m feeling sad or I’m feeling love. For me, it’s always [taking] the feeling and then translating that into a photo. What does that look like visually?” “I want to be honest in that way,” Park added. “I’m don’t want to force artistic ideas into the end product. You start from the idea and [arrive] whatever the photo
becomes.” “It’s really wonderful when someone is able to pause and look around and see the potential for art,” English teacher and The Exonian advisor Erica Lazure said. “Will has an ability to see the potential for beauty or the potential for something interesting or unusual. As someone who knows him a little bit and has seen the different ways that his creativity shines through, that [ability] feels very innate in my view.” “I feel like Will has turned me into a better photographer,” senior Moksha Akil said. “He’s taught me a lot. He’s given me ideas; he’s shown me different artistic points of view.” St. Onge added, “I miss his energy already—very much so. He walks in the room and you know that he’s very spontaneous and enthusiastic. I thought he was just a super well adjusted human being, like when he was having a bad day or things weren’t going so well. He was very good about just saying, ‘look, you know, not so much today and here’s what I’m doing,’ not sharing really what was bothering him, but just kind of saying [he was] going through some-
thing. I respected that because sometimes we’re having a hard time, it’s hard to keep that inside, and it’s hard to convey to everybody around you that you’re not necessarily upset with the situation that’s going on so much as it is just something that you are struggling with [outside of the meeting].” Upper Angela Zhang said, “I think he’s just always willing to share his wisdom and life philosophy and the way he approaches relationships at Exeter is definitely something that everyone can learn from. I think some words to describe him are true visionary and an inborn leader. This is someone who was destined to change people’s lives, but in the most genuine way possible.” She continued, “Will is important to me because not only is he someone who I look up to, but I think he’s really good at lateral leadership, leading people who are also of his own age. Not only is he someone who inspires me, but he’s someone who’s an actual friend and I feel like I can go to him and talk to him about anything. He would be more than willing to help me out with any aspect of life. The way he approach-
es life reminds me of why I’m here and why us Exonians do the things we do.” Lazure shared, “Certainly, I know The Exonian definitely benefited from his care, not just in the layout of pages, but in the care and the future of the paper and the students who are currently running the paper and the younger students who are writing for the paper. He’s really taken on a strong mentorship role. Will has established himself and his abilities as a photographer, someone with a real vision. He is someone who cares a lot about his community and making it better wherever he goes.” Upper Joy Chi said, “He knows so many people across campus, which is not necessarily surprising once you get to know him, but it’s so impressive. He also does this strange thing where he figures out random facts [about people]. One day he walked up to me and a friend was and was like, ‘so I heard you like this boy in prep year.’ And I was like, where, where did we hear that from? He was right. [But] he puts in an effort to know everyone.” She continued, “He puts
Courtesy of William Park his all into everything. He does [photography] for PEAN and Exonian. But for E/a he made it a point to go out and shoot us at all our games and make a video out of it that everyone could look at. For senior sunrise he took photos and he put it on his Instagram and let people have access to them.” she said. “As an artist, it is so impressive. He wrote a lot about this in his med, but once you put your art out there, you lose control over it and ownership over it. It’s no longer yours. And sometimes when you’re not an artist, you don’t realize how much strength it takes to willingly put your art out there. He gives that to the community.” Chi said, “At one point in my lower winter, I was calling him every night. I always talked to him about life. He is an older brother to me.” “The world is a cool place,” Park finished. “It does its own stuff. But if you take a photo at the exact moment, the decisive moment, then you can capture it and see something really cool.”
Senior of the Year: Bradley St. Laurent By EMI LEVINE If you were to ask any person on Exeter’s campus if they knew the name Bradley St. Laurent, almost all of them would say yes. They would describe him as a runner, proctor, captain, classmate, but most importantly, a friend. Around campus, he can be seen most frequently running on the trails in the woods, playing C-Ball outside Cilley Hall, or in Elm chatting with the cross-country team. “If I could describe Bradley in one word it would be convivial, which means friendly or enjoyable and just happy to be around,” senior Sava Thurber said. Bradley hails from Auburn, New Hampshire, just 30 minutes west of Exeter by car. St. Laurent noted that because of the close proximity of his home, “everyone calls me a fake day stud because I live closer than some actual day studs.” St. Laurent attended a public middle school before coming to Exeter. “Growing up in New Hampshire, I’d always known about Exeter and thought of it as this semi-mythical place where wicked smart rich people go to become pres-
ident… For the longest time, I didn’t even think of applying and thought I was going to go to my local high school and play soccer.” St. Laurent felt initially hesitant and worried when he arrived. “I felt the imposter syndrome that everyone gets and felt that I didn’t belong here. These are brilliant people from all over the world, that all have something about them and I felt like I didn’t. It took some time for me to realize that these were normal people. They’re really, really smart, but they also had flaws and worries, like everyone else. That kind of reassured me,” he said. St. Laurent soon found his footing in exactly the right place: the cross-country team. “The cross country team was the first group I ever met. When I went to Experience Exeter day, I was toured by who would become the captain. He introduced me to the team at an indoor track practice. They were all so nice. Over the summer, I met Coach Brandon Newbould and I really got to know him then. He’s been one of the most influential people in my life. He’s just so wise and just such a brilliant person. Most cross-country guys joke around and say that we’d follow him into battle
or something because he’s such an amazing person,” he said. “Before I even got to Exeter, I went to preseason at a captain’s house in Maine. It was 15 guys that were all best friends with each other, and then me, the only new person whatsoever and the only freshman. I was so scared, but in under a week I became friends with all of them, and it was great,” he added. “They were there for me and they gave me all this advice. This immediately brushed away so many of the worries I was holding onto about Exeter. Suddenly I had this whole group of people that wanted to see me thrive, and that enjoyed my company and valued me.” Ever since then, St. Laurent has tried to do for others what those upperclassmen did for him. “I’ve always tried to be that person, and pass that experience on and I really hope I’ve done a good job,” St. Laurent said. “Looking back on my four years here, I think I’ve done an okay job. It’s definitely not an understatement to say that I’ve met my closest friends on this team. Just today, about twenty of us got lost in the woods for like an hour and a half. It’s memories like these that make the team so amazing,” he said.
Coach Brandon Newbould described Bradley as someone who “shows unusual care for others in his approach to the sport”: “This stands out to me for its virtue and rarity; the nature of athletics and particularly track and field leads to an inward focus on self-improvement. It’s unusual for someone so successful in the sport to be so active in looking after the needs of others,” he said. St. Laurent also talks about the “bond” that comes with being a part of the cross-country team: “There’s something about running and suffering through a really hard workout with someone and then at the end just being there and present with them,” he said. “It’s a really powerful bonding experience.” The energy and friendliness Bradley brings with him to every encounter proves why simply being with him can become a favorite memory in itself. “On runs and at meals, Bradley fosters an atmosphere on the table that is really warm. I know that when I go to the dining hall, I always have somewhere to sit because the rest of the team is already there,” lower Michael Zhu said. Lower Malcolm Courchesne agreed. “As a
captain, he does not hold himself above the rest of us, and I appreciate his willingness to help others at all times. I go to Brad for advice about anything, not just running, and he is always there to help anyone on our team,” he said. “I have many good memories of Bradley, ever since the first time I met him in person at a road race in Merrimack. Among them are the many times I’ve caught him taking a moment with his teammates to pause and really enjoy the whole cross country experience,” Newbould added. “Oftentimes that’s an emotional moment, and I think that shows something of Bradley’s character. He truly cares about others, and he’s good at showing them that without being performative about it.” Even those not on the team witness St. Laurent’s dedication and care for his fellow teammates. “I remember him as a prep, just kind of running along with the team. He always looked up to Varun ’21 and Gavin ’21 and Connor ’21, but now, he’s that person the younger boys look up to. He loves that team so much, and he’s taken on a huge leadership role. I think that’s definitely something I’ve seen him grow into
and it’s been really fun to watch,” senior Siona Jain said. “My time at Exeter has definitely been a journey. I was an idiot when I was a prep. I was immature and super energetic. When I got here, I hadn’t really experienced anything. Growing up in New Hampshire, my school was 90 percent white. Here, students come from all over the world and have had way different experiences from me. Experiencing that level of diversity for the first time was a really amazing experience,” St. Laurent reflected. A time of drastic change for St. Laurent was during the start COVID-19 and quarantine. He opened up about the struggles he went through during this time and how he has overcome them. “When COVID hit, it really changed everything about me, like completely. I am an extreme extrovert, so being stuck at home and not being able to see my friends was pretty tough. And then, I had one really rough week where a close family member passed away and another one had a pretty traumatic accident in the span of like three days. So I was trying to digest it while also trying to watch over CONT’D ON D9
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Senior of the Year: Bradley St. Laurent Cont’d my brother and manage my schoolwork and it was just a lot to take,” he said. St. Laurent also struggled a lot with his mental health during his upper year, saying it was “really rough overall.” “I had good times, but there was just so much stress with school, and me trying to improve my grades because all of a sudden college had become a real thing and not something in my near-distant future. I was trying to get recruited, but I didn’t have any opportunities because of COVID and my training wasn’t going well because of my anxiety. So I had all these things like piling up,” St. Laurent added. “My brain couldn’t rationalize stuff anymore. It was like, ‘Oh, what if this happens? And what if this happens and that leads to this?’ It became this web of thoughts where you can’t rationalize things and it’s really hard… Talking to people about it was really hard and I didn’t talk to people about it for a long time,’” he added. St. Laurent’s relationship with running, the one constant during his time at Exeter, also changed drastically during COVID-19. “During COVID my training was constantly interrupted, and after upper spring I knew I needed a break. It was supposed to be two weeks, but it turned into a month,” he said. During this time, St. Laurent struggled with anxiety. “I kept on thinking, ‘What if I go back and I hate it? Or what if I go back and the intrusive thoughts or anxiety follows me and I’m just trapped with it alone when I’m running?’ I was terrified of that happening because I didn’t want to lose running or have it be this burden in my life so I avoided thinking about it at all.” But there is always a light at the end of a tunnel, and for St. Laurent, that light was the people closest to him. “I kept on telling myself, ‘Oh no, I’m fine, nothing’s wrong,’ and then
one day, I was like, ‘Wow, something’s wrong.’ And as soon as I started talking to people, I realized that it didn’t have to be that hard,” he said. “I also realized that, yes, everyone has their own issues, but so many people are going through similar things. And if you just talk to someone and say, ‘Hey, I’m feeling like this,’ there’s bound to be someone else who says, ‘Hey, I feel like that too.’ I eventually opened up to my parents, and I got put on medication and I started seeing a therapist and now it’s much more manageable.” As a result, his relationship with running completely improved, and became even stronger than before. “Around July, I finally got out and the feeling was indescribable. The impact it had on me was insane. Suddenly, whatever I was worried about, it was just gone. And then, not only did I like running, I felt like I needed to run. Suddenly, it was also a way for me to deal with my anxiety and if I woke up feeling drab or gray, I could go on a run and that feeling would be washed away and I’d be able to have a normal day.” St. Laurent’s one piece of advice for people going through the same thing is, “reach out to the people you love, especially when you feel really alone.” “On the darkest day of my life, I was at work and I was having a breakdown and it was really bad. I called one of my best friends, Garrett, and I just spilled everything to him and just having him there made me feel like I could get through it,” he continued. This sense of care and thoughtfulness for others’ wellbeing is what makes St. Laurent, St. Laurent. Many of his close friends note how much he genuinely cares for others and how much of himself he gives to other people. “He does a really good job of making everyone feel comfortable around him. Some people use the analogy of
a golden retriever and how they’re just happy to see everyone and I think in some sense he’s sort of like that,” Thurber said. Instructor in History Nolan Lincoln said he appreciated “Bradley’s ability to connect with lots of different people in the dorm, from a new prep to the dorm faculty.” Lincoln continued, “He’s able to communicate well and clearly with everybody and he loves the dorm and he’s very invested in it… He’s the type of person that is always willing to help out people. He wants everybody to be succeeding, thriving, and feeling good.” “Coming back from that in senior year, it was a total mindset change. I realized that there are all these people that I really love and that I spend so much time with and I really wanted to make the most of it. It’s still been a lot of work, but I’ve just been trying to live in the moment and not worry about the future as much. I’ve changed a lot and looking back now it’s like, ‘Oh man, why’d I do that?’ I wasted so much time doing this or worrying about that when I could have been doing these things that now make me happy and talking to these people that I love,” he said. When asked to describe St. Laurent, Jain said he is “super selfless.” “He really wants to go out of his way to make sure other people feel happy and feel fulfilled. And I think that he really tries to empathize with so many people and he gives so much of his own emotional self to a lot of people. When his friends are going through a tough time, he will be sharing that tough time as well. He does as well as any of his friends are doing, so if his friends are not doing great, that’s how he is. And I really admire that because I think he’s just such a sensitive and empathetic person with the people around him,” she added. Dillon Mims ‘21 felt very similarly: “I think
what I really have grown to admire about Bradley is how much he cares for others. I think that service is something that is really central to Bradley’s life, and it has been even before Exeter. It’s something that’s always been incredibly important to him and it’s also a very genuine desire that he has. You know, it’s not masked, it’s not for the resume, it’s not for the ego or anything like that. He is someone who really feels his best when he’s able to help others,” Mims said. St. Laurent’s deep ability to care for others translates into every aspect of his life, like his role in Exeter’s Student Service Organization (ESSO). “I’d always been involved in community service in one way or another,” St. Laurent said. “Both my parents are teachers and they’ve always kind of instilled the idea of service and giving back, so that was always a
thing that I was aware of.” “When I got here, Grace Gray ’19 and other cross country seniors really pulled me towards Reading Buddies, which was my first ESSO club. We walked over to the Lincoln Street School and we just read with these third graders. I think part of the reason I liked it so much was because I kind of saw myself in the kids because I was semi-local and I remember having a reading buddy or a pen pal or whatever from the local middle schools and high schools. I remember looking up to them and the influence that they can have, and so that was a really great experience. I went back like every week,” he said. “I’m really grateful for what Exeter has given me, like the school and the town and so I’ve always felt indebted in a way. So I have really put an effort to try and give back and make
Joy Chi/The Exonian other people’s days or improve things in any way I can. I just love being able to do that,” he added. St. Laurent is many things. He is a dedicated athlete, a strong thinker, a responsible proctor, but above all, he is a deeply caring person. His love for running, for academics, for community service, pales in comparison to his love for others. St. Laurent closed off with some guiding advice for underclassmen, saying, “Looking back, I can’t believe I didn’t spend more time getting to know people. You’re literally at a place where thousands of brilliant minds from all over the world come together and it’s just insane. It’s an opportunity that not a lot of people really get and it’s something that everyone should take advantage of.”
Senior of the Year: Kendrah Su By ANNA KIM Every Sunday morning, senior Kendrah Su can be found in the Elm mezzanine, leading Pendulum, Exeter’s creative writing magazine. As the morning sun streaks in through the skylight windows, she speaks passionately to the group, eliciting insightful discussions about literature, or just about how tiring their weeks were. And as the sun moves overhead, so does Su, moving from Pendulum to her other clubs on campus, forging her “homes” and creating communities. It wasn’t always this way. “Before I came to Exeter, It was hard to find a direction of what I really wanted to do… for pleasure, for fun; something that wasn’t just an extracurricular that all my other friends were doing.” Su said. Su was born and raised in Houston, Texas. “It was so different because it was primarily Black and Asian students, which is really different from a predominantly white school [like Exeter].” “And obviously I had my own interests, but I think Exeter really let me grow into a person of my own to pursue what I wanted, especially with the opportunities,” Sue continued, “I think clubs are especially helpful here because there’s just so much you can do. Exeter changed a lot of how I act in what I do.” The pandemic, which hit her lower year, altered Su’s Ex-
eter years significantly, making socializing and connecting with people difficult. “I think my perception of Exeter really shifted with COVID. Before COVID I had a lot of friends that were mostly upperclassmen and then during COVID I stuck to my own friend group. I was in such a tight bubble of my friends and dorm. With COVID, Exeter didn’t feel like the home it used to be for me.” Yet, Su continued to make an impact and forge new friendships. “I remember upon our first meeting that Kendrah was very warm, almost familial. She’s always really open with herself. I admire so much. The only thing I had known about her before that was her dancing.” Chen added, “As a whole, she just makes the campus a real, walls down space,” Chen added, “I think she makes many of the spaces that she’s in less formal, so that they’re not as uptight or stuffy. She makes the spaces feel very comfortable and familiar, even if you’ve never been there before.” Su’s dorm, Amen, was a second home from the start. Someone she met there was senior Michelle Park, and the two have remained close friends throughout their four years. Park shared her first impressions, “I remember she was wearing these wired glasses and had her hair like half up, half down. I just thought she was very studious,” she con-
tinued, “She’s funny. She’s intelligent. She’s sarcastic. She’s witty. She’s compassionate and sweet. Lately, she’s definetely been more extroverted and energetic as well. But at the core, I think she’s still the prep year Kendrah that I knew and I don’t think she’s changed at all, in the best way ever.” “She’s been a rock in my life, someone that I can always turn to and lean on,” Park added. Celine Gu, another senior in Amen shared a similar sentiment, “She is always someone I could talk to whenever I was stressed. She had her door open during duties and it was always a fun place. She’s a stable presence in Amen as well,” she said. “This term, in Washington, Amen just doesn’t feel as fun or as interesting.” Su’s prep year room brought overflowing laughter and good memories. Senior Siona Jain said, “We would just be on the floor of her room constantly. The small emergency double was tiny, literally three feet across in between the beds. We would be ordering dominoes on weekend nights and making the entire room smell like garlic. Those are some of my favorite memories from prep year,” Senior Siona Jain said. “Kendrah is one of my best friends. She’s been one of my go-to people throughout my time at Exeter and I don’t think I could have survived it without her,” Jain also shared. Jain continued, stating,
“She’s one of those people that you can always count on as being there. Even if you knock on her room at 11:00 p.m. or 1:00 a.m. at night, she’s most likely gonna be up. And even if she’s not up, she’ll wake up to just hang out with you and make sure that you’re doing okay. She’s one of those people that I can always rely on. I can’t wait to continue our friendship past Exeter,” she added, “So you’ll find us mainly on the floor of a room at 2:00 a.m., realizing that we have two other essays to do, but at the same time, we’d rather just be talking to each other. That’s such a beautiful thing about Exeter that allows you to have these connections in relationships with these people.” From prep fall to senior spring, Amen’s 3rd floor common room has been a place of bonding and movie marathons. “We pushed the couches together after senior winter E/a and made a little cozy nest to watch everything on Disney plus. I have so many memories in the dorm, but for me it’s the most in the third floor common room because I moved there during prep year and I’m cycling back to it.” Su shared. Jain also felt inclined to point out Su’s many allergies, “She’s also really weak, like evolution has failed her. She’s allergic to garlic. Do you know how many people are allergic to garlic? Like zero, none. I have a full list of it in my phone because she broke her foot upper year. While she was scoot-
ing around in her little scooter, we had to bring her food every single day,” Jain added. “We have a list of her allergies on my phone. We were always honing her list of allergies until we finally found out she was allergic to garlic. But one time she lied to us and she had an allergic reaction.” On the flip side, Senior Dorothy Baker spoke about Su’s humor, “She’s very observant. Kendrah is very good at noticing details in things, and then she’s good at bringing those details up again in humorous jokes. She’s one of the people I’m happiest I met at Exeter and signifies everything that the Exeter experience should be.” Outside of the dorm, Su has created another home within the dance community. “I really love the dance community here. I will admit I’m not a very technically serious dancer. I don’t do dance classes and I’m not really in dance company, but it’s just such a welcoming community.” she said. Jain agreed, “I would definitely say her two biggest passions are writing and dance, she’s amazing in BOA (Beat of Asia) and any hip hop, sassy style. I believe she is selftaught, which is what makes it so incredible. I think everyone I’ve always talked to, who’s seen Kendrah dance, has always known about her performance. It’s absolutely amazing. It really makes her stand out in front of the entire club.
She has a way of just drawing your eye to her.” Senior Anya Tang shared how they were inspired by Su’s writing. “Kendrah writes and expresses a lot of her Asian identity through creative writing as her medium. And I am always in awe of the mastery she has over her craft. I think she has this unique voice where she’s able to combine a self-awareness of her technique along with the power and nuance of her lived experiences.” Senior Otto Do agreed. “It’s rare to find someone like Kendrah who cares about learning and the work that they create but also knows how to not get bogged down by taking things too seriously,” Do said. Do, Tang, and Su together worked as co-editors-inchief of The Asian magazine on campus. “Kendrah brings most importantly, just exuberance. You can have one to two conversations with her and she will still treat you like an old friend. She has the ability to make anybody on this campus feel like one of her closest friends within seconds of getting to talk to her. She brings that kind of bond to Exeter. And that’s really valuable for holding together our community and encouraging it to grow,” Tang said. More specifically, Tang explained the importance of POC writing and the heavy burden that can come with the CONT’D ON D10
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responsibility of leading this magazine. “In our work with The Asian, one of the most significant roles that Kendrah has is being able to support younger Asian students. It can be really scary and difficult at a predominantly white institution to write about your racial or cultural identity. She always has the ability to create a space for people to feel encouraged
to be their best self. And that is something that is incredibly important for Asian American students here.” Su sees her work in a similar light, “I think there’s so much to be said about appreciating one another’s work in a space of our own or creating together. Creating in the vicinity of others, even though we may not be working on the
Courtesy of Kendrah Su same project together, can be like a community without collaboration and that’s not a bad thing. I think it’s really good that we learn to work in each other’s spaces. And, we have critique through problems, suggestions, and even publications to finally appreciate and honor the work that we do.”
English instructor Ralph Sneeden was also able to see Su’s growth as a writer. “She was a bar-raiser then [prep spring], for sure, but during the spring of 2021 she was on fire. Being someone who writes about history, memory, and the strata of trauma in war-ravaged landscapes, I was drawn to and inspired by the piece Kendrah wrote about Cambodia that term. It was so lyrical, visceral, persuasive, and downright haunting. I still remember it,” he said. “Self-possessed, personable, fiercely intelligent, literary and personably comfortable with banter and wit, her presence made a difference in that particular session of uppers, as the pandemic seemed to be tailing off, then maybe ratcheting up again.” Sneeden added, “I wanted to scream to her peers, “SEE! You can be profoundly insightful, ambitiously literary, impeccably (unquestionably) prepared for discussion, AND funny... not pained, angsty, beaten down!” Laughing, Jain said, “She is a God at writing, there’s no other way to describe it. She has won 50 million national Scholastic gold medals and consistently edits my papers. I actually sometimes don’t send my papers because I’m intimidated by her writing skills. It makes me feel like I would look like literal trash in front of her. I think she would be like, ‘What the hell is this?’ even though she would never actually say that because she’s the kindest person ever.” Jain continued, “She’s able to lighten up any space that she
enters just because she’s able to balance humor while being empathetic and nuanced and serious about any discussion that needs to be serious. She’s able to make it a little bit lighter. She finds ways to interject humor at the perfect, most appropriate places to make sure that everyone’s feeling more comfortable in the space.” Su is spending her last term of senior year in The Washington D.C. Intern Program.“[Exeter is] such an amazing community and we find that these brief moments in time and space will never quite be the same. Though, that’s not a bad thing in any way. It’s constantly shifting at such a small space; a blessing and a curse.” “I think part of that [idea] is why I decided to come to DC. It’s because of that thing that is always said at the Harkness table; ‘lean into discomfort.’ That also applies to after you’re getting ready to leave. You’ve become so comfortable after four years here and it’s a relative small space with only a few socialization spaces,” Su explained. “I’m really loving DC so far. Even though I’m away from campus, I feel like I’m definitely going to miss it as time goes on. I’m getting that fear of missing out when everyone posts about tea on their Instagram stories. I’m just dreading that.” she said. Su went on to share a few words of advice for her younger self, “I think just holding yourself back and not giving yourself that moment to try can bar you from so many opportunities, because you think
trying and failing is gonna be humiliating. It’s definitely taken my whole Exeter career to learn that.” Su shared that it’s important not to be afraid of failing as an Exonian: “It’s so hard to overcome what’s been ingrained in us. You already had to be the best to come here, so you’re obviously of a high caliber. We hold ourselves to really high standards and I’ve been guilty of that too, stopping myself from doing something because I don’t think I’m gonna be good at it, even though it’s something I’ll enjoy,” she explained. “Everything should be done for yourself and not for your image or for other people or what they think of you. It’s definitely held me back from a lot of opportunities.” “Don’t be afraid to go for it as a prep. I remember in most of prep fall, one of my greatest fears was walking into the dining hall and getting a plate and filling it up. I would have a lot of food and then I wouldn’t know where to sit because I didn’t really know anyone among the tables full of people. It took me a while to overcome that anxiety as a prep. Boiled down, I think being an Exonian is about learning to be brave and choosing to go for it.” “Lean into discomfort, don’t be afraid to take that leap. But also remember yourself. It’s really easy to lose yourself sometimes when you’re going for the next goal or the next step or accomplishment. Everything you do is for you.” she shared
Senior of the Year: Shantelle Subkhanberdina By ELLIE ANA SPERANTSAS
Tuesday evenings at 9:00 p.m., most Exonians are at their desks stressing about papers or projects. But for Shantelle Subkhanberdina, her desk is a music studio. She sings her own rendition of the musical Waitress, her voice echoing down the halls of Wheelwright, notes and pitches permeating the quiet evening. S. Subkhanberdina sits in front of her microphone, entranced in a world of her own design, each note a small part of the larger story she builds. Passer-bys pause for just a moment before carrying on, unable to walk away quite yet from her voice. As she replays the recording, mixing the track to make it her own, S. Subkhanberdina hums her favorite line: “Tell them all my secrets and disguise them so they dance on the tongue of the very people that they’re secrets from.” S. Subkhanberdina discovered her love of music early. Her first music lessons began when she was seven, prompted by her family noticing her love of singing. “The first song I sang was ‘Someone Like You’ by Adele, because I learned that song on the piano,” she said. “My family hated me because I was always playing it and I wasn’t very good.” Even so, S. Subkhanberdina’s family and siblings supported her. Born in New York, she spent her early years in Kazakhstan, where she learned Russian as her first language. From there, she spent her formative years in France while her other older sisters attended boarding school. S. Subkhanberdina is the fourth of nine children in her family. “My identity as an older sibling has really formed me. It’s a part of my identity that I prioritize. That was only strengthened when my younger sister Jacqueline got here at Exeter because I felt responsible for her,” S. Subkhanberdina said. S. Subkhanberdina’s sisters opened her eyes to the
idea of boarding school. “My family has always functioned with the goal of higher education in mind, so it felt inevitable for me. I knew I did not want to go to the same school my older sisters did, because growing up as a younger sibling, I didn’t want to be recognized by teachers and have that reputation. So when I got into Exeter, it was an opportunity I couldn’t pass up,” she said. Despite the distance, S. Subkhanberdina and her sisters stayed close. “I depend on Shantelle so much for emotional grounding support, which is not the first thing you expect to say about your little sister. But it’s at the forefront of our relationship. And I think for us it’s very easy to feel close. We have a strong natural compatibility that makes things very easy between us. She is so wise and mature and timeless for her own age that it’s sometimes hard to see her as much younger,” older sister Dariya Subkhanberdina shared. As the first in her family to attend Exeter, S. Subkhanberdina experienced a bit of a culture shock in the new environment she found herself in: “The first year, I was completely unattached. My younger sister wasn’t here yet, my older sisters were somewhere else and my family was back at home. So, it was my thing prep year that I was having an identity crisis. Someone would ask me where I was from and I’d have to say ‘I don’t know!’ I was super lost for a long time,” she said. “There are definitely things about the international student experience that I can relate to: things like being in America and walking into a store and having that vibe be different than it would be in France. The first time I went to Walmart, my life changed. I was like, ‘Where was this in my life? Everything is here,’” S. Subkhanberdina continued. Even with the changes, S. Subkhanberdina overcame and quickly attracted people with her positive energy. “Everybody who has ever
known her immediately sees her as a consistently kind and giving presence. Whenever people walk past her I always see them light up. It’s like when she walks past, flowers bloom,” senior and Wheelwright proctor Avery Lavine said. “For Avery’s birthday prep year, there was a cake. I can’t remember where it came from. But it was such a good memory; the first time I thought, ‘Wow, these are my friends.’ Later that year for my birthday, it was the first time that I had cake because I used to be allergic to dairy and eggs. My friends decorated my door and it was a very obvious moment of thinking that all these people care,” S. Subkhanberdina said. “She just has this infectious energy that is so amazing. She’s always so interested in whoever she’s talking to, which feels really amazing for anyone who talks to her,” senior Chieko Imamura said. “Some people are gifted with a constant positive radiation of good vibes. It infiltrates everything they do, whether they’re working on physics, or if they’re making a record or if they’re doing something athletic. They start always emanating positive vibes, even if they’re not feel-
ing that way on the inside,” mentor and Instructor in Music Eric Schultz said. S. Subkhanberdina’s friends experience this energy in their everyday interactions with her.“It’s the little moments with Shantelle, like when she spontaneously texts and asks to go to dinner, or how one Saturday night, she asked me to play cards in Grill and we ended up sitting there all night,” Lavine said. “She has this amazing ability to be really present in the lives of people she cares about and within a community. I think she feels a certain pressure to hold everything together for a lot of people and I think she really does that and so a lot of people depend on her. I really admire her for rising up to the occasion and being so strong, and yet so gentle,” D. Subkhanberdina said. When she came to Exeter, S. Subkhanberdina had to learn to balance her kindness to other people with learning to take care of herself. “A lot of my story at Exeter has been not giving too much of myself away to people, but still being the person I want to be for people. [I want] to be there for them and hold myself accountable for parts of my identity that should stay there and parts that I
Courtesy of Shantelle Subkhaberdina don’t want to stay there.” “I think there are parts of my identity that involve making myself available to a lot of people and giving a lot, and there’s something to say about asking for something in return and standing up for myself when expectations aren’t met. That’s tied up into a piece of confidence that I’m trying to carry across to my music, but it’s hard when you think that’s your identity. It’s always been something I prioritize, so when I start thinking that maybe I shouldn’t, it’s like, well then who am I?” S. Subkhanberdina said. For S. Subkhanberdina, coming to terms with her identity in this way and learning how to be confident was impacted by her place as a woman in the largely male dominated field— music production and audio engineering. “I think it’s like a terrible rite of passage that many women go through in male dominated environments, where they have to come out of something with a lot less of themselves, either feeling used or taken advantage of. That’s always at the back of my mind: what it means for me to occupy a space as a woman in music.”
Through her journey with a developing identity, S. Subkhanberdina has found new ways to express her emotions through music. Confidence has led to more performances of her sought after work. Many members of the Exeter community look forward to hearing her voice at EAR concerts, Unsilenced, and other events. “Any artist who’s really doing work that’s meaningful to them has vulnerability, because when you put out the work, any assessment of the work becomes an assessment of you as a person. And that’s hard. Some people hide around that. They create work that doesn’t really show themselves with the audience or the experiencer, but Shantelle doesn’t do that. Even when she’s singing other people’s songs or other people’s stories, she brings a piece of herself to it in a very open and vulnerable way, which is what the audience yearns for,” Schultz said. “I’ve always said that music is my most authentic form of expression. I feel really grateful to have that connection to something because I CONT’D ON D11
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Senior of the Year: Shantelle Subkhanberdina Cont’d know not everyone finds that as easily. But it really drives my work and my writing. I read this quote once— ‘good music either makes you remember everything or forget everything.’ That’s something I really try and go towards in my own music, because although my feelings are personal to myself, there are certain universal themes and feelings that make music a powerful thing,” S. Subkhanberdina said. Many of S. Subkhanberdina’s teachers and men-
tors have seen Shantelle’s progression towards music production over her time at Exeter. “Watching Shantelle develop into not only a performer, but to take on musical production, is another art form that will empower her talents,” music instructor Jean Strazdes commented. “Shantelle doesn’t lack confidence, but that’s not to say she’s arrogant. She is becoming more comfortable with herself as an artist of her own right, as opposed to performing other people’s pieces
in ways that other people tell her how to perform. She’s becoming more settled on what she wants to hear, and the way she wants her music to sound. And she’s becoming more close to the idea of making a part of her future, which is really beautiful,” Schultz said. “What I’ve come to understand working with Shantelle over the last year and a half is that she’s also an incredible producer of her own music, and that she is very rigorous with her standard of producing her own music.”
Through her love for music production, S. Subkhanberdina has discovered what a passion for singing and music truly means to her. “Dr. Schultz corrected me once in a conversation. He said, ‘Shantelle, you just said that you’re not as much of a musician as these classical performers.’ I said ‘yes,’ and he said ‘well, you are.’” In reflection on her time at Exeter, S. Subkhanberdina said she now understands how people leave. “I’ve always wondered, how do peo-
ple leave this place without falling apart? Is that even possible? You get so attached to a place. But recently, I’ve come to a feeling like I’m outgrowing this environment and this is how people leave. I don’t know what my next step is and that’s why I feel like this is a genuine feeling. Because whatever’s next will be the right thing as well. It feels natural to leave.” “Shantelle has been growing into this incredible young lady at Exeter who is developing her talent in the most
exciting way and blossoming into a very extraordinary and kind and thoughtful person who’s so self aware and self reflective, and I know she will do amazing things after Exeter,” Shantelle’s older sister D. Subkhanberdina concluded.
Senior of the Year: Danielle Sung By EMI LEVINE On a typical morning, senior Danielle Sung can be seen sitting in Wetherell eating a chocolate chip bagel, hunched over her notebook. Maybe she’s journaling about the recent James Baldwin podcast she listened to, or coming up with possible ideas for future art pieces. As the sunlight streams in from the windows of the Fishbowl, she puts in her earbuds and blasts Vampire Weekend before getting up to toast a second bagel. “It’s so quiet in the morning. It’s a time for me that I spend by myself,” D. Sung said. “After classes I start such a busy routine, but in the morning, it’s just the perfect sunlight and the perfect food with the perfect music and the perfect sketchbook. It’s a great experience.” D. Sung, a four-year senior, came to Phillips Exeter Academy from South Korea after attending the same school since preschool. D. Sung said that part of what motivated her to apply to Exeter was the change that it would bring, but that is also what made it difficult. “I was with the same 80 people for 10 years and coming here, it was huge. Having 300 people in the same grade and seeing all these new kids was hard.” D. Sung admitted that Exeter’s large student body made her hesitant about coming here: “I felt really comfortable with the spot I was in because I was friends with everyone in my grade and everybody just knew me.” In the end, it was D. Sung’s sister Jiwon Sung who convinced her to apply. “She would always share such great stories about the English class she was in or those about the friends she made,” D. Sung said. Sung described her older sister, Jiwon, as her mentor. “We’re both very academic, but she and I are such different people. She always gave me advice and was my support system throughout my entire four years. I can call her any time and she will answer and always know what to say to make me feel better,” D. Sung said. J. Sung also talked about their differences, as that is what makes their relationship so special. “I didn’t even have to take an art class at Exeter. I think we complement each other in a really good way. She’ll give advice that’s different from how I think about things,” J. Sung said. Although J. Sung is the older of the two, it is clear that Danielle is just as mature and supportive. “I rely on her too,” J. Sung said. “It’s definitely a two-way street. And I think it’s really nice having someone that’s always going to be there for me.” D. Sung shared her emotional journey coming to Exeter: “In retrospect, I think I felt really trapped [at my old school] because me and my family knew that there were so many opportunities out there for me. I was really good at studying, but that was basically it,” she said.
“Coming here, I really hoped to find something that I would want to continue with for the rest of my life. And I think I did that. Now, whenever someone asks me what I want to do, I can confidently say art,” D. Sung added. D. Sung’s art journey began when she was five years old. After playing the cello for eight years, she put it down and picked up a paintbrush in its place. “I started going to this art center near my house. It was pretty much just for fun, and I would make stuff and doodle around. I submitted an art portfolio when I applied here, but at that point, that was just a hobby to me; it wasn’t anything serious,” D. Sung said. Although D. Sung practiced art before Exeter, her education at the Academy helped her realize her full potential. “In prep year, I really focused on one medium, which was oil on canvas. That was all I did. I would always paint self-portraits,” she said. “When I started here, everything was about myself, especially in English. When you first come here, you write a lot of personal narratives. I think that was reflected a lot in the art I was creating.” At the end of her prep year, D. Sung’s art career reached a turning point as one of her pieces was displayed at the U.S Capitol. “It was pretty early and I wasn’t really expecting anything, but I feel like that was a starting point for me,” she said. “But, more importantly, the event showed me that I could use my art to influence other people and that I could share my art with others.” Another significant moment in her art career at the Academy was a lower winter art class about portraiture. “It was eye opening to me because Ms. Lewis made us try different mediums. In that class, I explored my cultural identity and used Korean fabric in the background to create this self portrait that I never thought I would be able to create.” Now, D. Sung’s main focus is communications, and she has broadened her horizon. “I don’t really do self-portraits anymore. I also don’t solely do oil on canvas. I really like installations, which can range from two feet to 10 feet, and I use a lot of different mediums that I’ve never expected to use.” English Instructor and squash coach Mercy Carbonell spoke to D. Sung’s gift of versatility. “Much of her art is strong testament to her willingness to experiment, to try on new forms and styles, to reveal shifts in consciousness or memory within her,” she said. To D. Sung, art is everything that is left unsaid. “Art is a way for me to express myself in a way I can’t really imagine explaining. I don’t really like talking about myself to others, unless I feel super comfortable with them, and I feel that with art, you don’t have to explain or put into words everything you do.”
“The strokes you paint and the colors you use and the mediums you choose, they are all intentional. I feel like each of these choices creates the story that you want to tell. I also really like how, whenever I finish a piece, I don’t have to say anything to other people. They can interpret the piece for themselves and be like, ‘Oh yeah, I like this one, and I like this detail’,” D. Sung continued. “I’m telling a story without feeling judged in some way, or without feeling like I have to explain every single thing.” People close to D. Sung can sense this connection she has with her art. J.Sung talked about how art is one way D. Sung deals with her emotions. “Art is a good way for her to express her feelings if she’s struggling with something. I know that in senior fall, which is always really hard, she took ART999, which I think was really good for her, especially as she navigated the college application process.” While Sung is a visual artist, she is also an enthusiastic intellectual, with a strong passion for writing and literature. Two of her favorite authors, James Baldwin and F. Scott Fitzgerald, have significantly inspired her literary and artistic work. “James Baldwin really motivated me to change my perspective in art in a lot of ways. I remember he talked about how an artist should illuminate darkness in the world and that, to me, means to show different perspectives that people have,” D. Sung said. “I remember that Ms. Carbonell made us listen to a 50-minute podcast once, and that could be a bore for some people, but after I was done listening to it, I wrote three pages of reflection and listened to all of his other podcasts,” D. Sung said. “Most of them talked about an artist’s role in society, and I think that is something I needed at that time.” D. Sung first read F. Scott Fitzgerald in her upper fall English class, and was immediately drawn to his style of writing. “I found his writing to be so beautiful. I just learned a lot from his writing and his descriptions. Whenever I reread The Great Gatsby, which is one of my
favorite books, I write down phrases in my journal to possibly use or emulate in my own writing,” D. Sung explained. Carbonell taught D. Sung that fall, and spoke to her growth as a writer, an artist, and a person. “Danielle is a quiet fire. She brings her inquisitive spirit, her contemplative nature, her aesthetic eye, her gentle willingness to offer her vulnerability and reflective depth, her lyricism in writing, and her caring respect for her peers to her work in English,” she said. “She reveals her curiosity as a reader who wants to understand the human condition, for she is so deeply drawn in by the questions of our lives. She has the desire to unravel hidden subtextual truths or the echoed imagery,” Carbonell added. “To read this way, as a visual artist, is a gift.” D. Sung evolved into a truly mature writer in her time here, realizing the beauty in simplicity. “When I was a prep, I wasn’t able to find the special things in my reality. I started making up events and details in my writing to make it extravagant. But, at a certain point, I realized that you don’t need all these grand details to make the piece interesting or fun or beautiful,” D. Sung explained. “Just like how in art, the shades you use or the strokes you paint all contribute to the painting, the word choices or the phrases you use are what really defines a writing piece.” Advisor and English Instructor Genny Moriarty talked about how in tune D. Sung is with the outside world. “Behind that soft spoken personality is somebody who is keenly engaged in the world and in the community. She thinks deeply about important issues and she’s one of those insatiable learners who’s really genuinely interested in the world of ideas,” she said. “I think one of the things about Exeter that I love is the idea of non sibi, not for oneself, but for others, and I think Danielle really exemplifies that,” Moriarty continued. “I’ve seen her exhibits and I think she does care deeply about helping to build an inclusive and invit-
ing community in all areas of her life... She just has a really wonderful vision for the world and what the world can look like.” Senior Carolyn Fortin also noted D. Sung’s perceptiveness. “She’s very considerate of the people around her. I know I can go to her to talk about anything, good or bad, and she will be there to listen and give great advice,” she said. Moriarty explained how rewarding seeing Danielle grow into herself has been. “I think she’s become more confident, and although she’s one of those people that’s very comfortable in her own skin and in who she is, I think that’s just developed further. It’s been lovely to see her challenge herself in different ways, and to take advantage of opportunities that come her way,” she added. D. Sung herself also realized her growing confidence. “Some people have said to me over the years that I’m kind of hard to approach,” D. Sung said. “It’s okay to not want to know every single person, but I have definitely become much more extroverted than I was years ago.” Many of D. Sung’s friends made similar observations. Senior Sydney Kang said, “I wish people would know that she is actually not very hard to talk to. She can come off that way and we’ve talked about it before, but she’s actually a very sweet person. She has this warmth, and even if she doesn’t talk about it a lot, she has a way of showing her love and kindness.” “I think a lot of times people might mistake her being quiet for a lack of interest or something, but it’s not. She just thinks a lot, and there’s always a lot going on in her head,” J. Sung said. One medium D. Sung is able to channel all of her thoughts into is journaling, which has become part of her daily routine. “Journaling really helps me figure out what I want at that moment. At Exeter, it’s sometimes hard to find yourself, because you’re so overwhelmed with everything, so I set time for journaling and even if it’s only for 10 minutes, I will write down the things I’m thankful for, or just my thoughts, and it really
Joy Chi/The Exonian helps me,” she said. To her friends, D. Sung is a safety net, a steady and comfortable presence that they can always fall back on for support. “The way she takes life is very consistent. She’s very consistent with her beliefs and I admire that about her,” Kang said. Her older sister also noted this sense of order and stability. “There’s really nothing that she does unintentionally. I think that she puts a lot of intention and effort into everything she does and she does things with a purpose. I think a lot of people can underestimate her because she’s kind of quiet, but I think inside she knows what she’s doing and she has a sense of purpose,” she said. “I try to be organized and have plans, but things don’t always go according to my plans,” D. Sung said. “Exeter taught me to be adaptable and to reach out. I was that prep who was too scared to reach out to the upperclassmen and even my peers. I think closing myself off would be a waste of opportunity here at Exeter. On this campus, there are people who are so amazing in all aspects of life. Even if you’re not completely compatible with each other in every way, you can still find really interesting ways to connect with each other and make lifelong connections,” she said. “Some of my friends and I have nothing in common. We don’t do the same sports, we don’t share the same hobbies, but the fact that we’re all together in a room during the weekend just makes my life so great and it makes me so happy,” D. Sung continued. “I kind of wish I knew to reach out to them earlier because I got close with them towards the start of upper year, which was pretty late for my part. I wish I had that kind of experience from my prep year.” It is clear that D. Sung has matured into an extraordinary intellectual, artist, and person. “In the future, Danielle’s imagination will transform us,” Carbonell concluded.
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June 5, 2022
GRADUATION ISSUE– CXLIV
June 5, 2022
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Senior of the Year: Sava Thurber
By PHIN GIBBS As most of the Exeter community is sound asleep, the sound of the violin echoes cascades in senior Sava Thurber’s room. Thurber, a day student living right down the street from campus in Swasey, has become the face of many communities at Exeter. Since his childhood, Thurber’s father and Associate Director of Counseling and Psychological Services Chris Thurber was amazed by his ability to make life fun. He recalls time after time when Sava would be able to identify a funny angle to a story, repeating it to the other family members before they finally saw it how he did. “He’s always been intelligent. He’s always been curious. He’s always been exuberant and someone with a great sense of humor. Outgoing. Thoughtful. Unselfish,” C. Thurber said. He enjoyed his middle school experience overall, but never felt properly challenged, “I’ll be honest, it wasn’t engaging. I think in middle school, it wasn’t very fun. I wasn’t really being challenged a whole lot in the classes,” S. Thurber said. “I was excited because I knew how incredible Exeter was. I would hear stories about the community and the musical performances,” S. Thurber said. S. Thurber was extremely involved in violin since the age of three.
“One of my mom’s best friends is a violin professor at the University of Novi Side in Serbia. He was invited by the Academy’s music department to play a concert in Phillips Church. We helped sponsor his trip along with his pianist accompanist. For a week leading up to the concert Nicola [the violinist] and his accompanist filled our house with the most beautiful music. It really inspired me to play the violin,” S. Thurber said. S. Thurber’s first violin was certainly not made by a luthier. “I cut the violin shape from a piece of cardboard and gave him a chopstick as the bow, and he would pretend to play it first. It didn’t make a sound,” C. Thurber said. Soon after, S. Thurber’s parents gave in and invested in a tiny violin and violin lessons. S. Thurber was off and running with the instrument. He and his brother began learning violin at the same time and have played together ever since. Their first duet was a rendition of the Star Wars theme song for a recital. Since then, they shared a myriad of performances: from playing on the street to help raise money for charity to performing for the Boston Youth Symphony. “I think that the brothers bonded from understanding the work that it takes to get better at the violin, but also from a shared sense of humor and the way that they would
goof around. They’re able to read one another’s minds when they play the violin,” C. Thurber said. Violin has been a formative part of S. Thurber’s life: “I’ve been able to teach myself how to focus, practice, and communicate effectively,” he said. Playing a concert involves anticipating the expressions of the lead violin and pursuing unity in the rhythm of 15 other violins. “I’ve been that person in the front now a couple of times. It tests how well you are at conveying what you’re doing to everyone sitting behind you. This way we can all work together as a section,” S. Thurber said. The violin has also become a form of a stress release for S. Thurber. “I like to practice late at night. I usually start around midnight and practice into the early hours of the morning. For me, it feels good to unwind and be able to vent without talking. In those hours, I can best channel emotions into my music,” he said. Another facet of Sava’s life which functions as an outlet is his involvement in track and field. He started running and throwing events in sixth grade. When he came to Exeter, he began throwing the javelin which has become one of his best events. This year, he attended the nationals competition in New York with nine other Exonians. Track presents an in-
teresting contrast to the violin. “Track is a much more physical exertion of energy. I’d say it’s less creative and it’s ranked in a way that music isn’t because music is very subjective,” S. Thurber said. “I have this expression: ‘release my demons.’ Whenever I have pent up anger or stress, it’s nice to be able to just throw the javelin and be able to unwind a little bit.” “There’s actually a lot more team involvement in track than what many might think. A perfect example of that are the relay events.” S. Thurber continued, “I’m not a captain, but being a senior on the team, I’m present and a leader and I look forward to every meeting where I’m able to effectively bring everyone together, lead cheers, and foster a good environment. One of the things that I like to do is memorize everyone’s personal records, so that at the end of a meet, if someone beat their personal best, I’m able to celebrate with them.” Serious, disciplined activities are not all that S. Thurber likes to engage with. In fact, one of Thurber’s most well known roles on campus is his cohead position in Exeter Stand-Up. He is known for his incredible stage presence and ability to make the entire audience belly laugh. In his senior fall show, S. Thurber served as the emcee, where he walked up to the stage donning
colorful shorts, a beach shirt, and a floral bucket hat. Although he makes it look effortless, he spends a lot of time on his material. “I write my routines four or five weeks ahead of time and then I spend four or five weeks memorizing them, which is one of the most important things you can do. That way, when you’re on stage you’re not stuck reading a script and you can look around and react. You practice comedy, you practice timing, you practice delivery, you practice speaking clearly. Confidence is extremely important,” he said. According to S. Thurber, over 90 percent of his material is derived from conversations at Wetherall over lunch. He records jokes and his own trains of thoughts on his phone to use for inspiration later. “Whenever I’m mad about something, I set up my phone and a voice recording, and I just rant for 10 minutes. A couple of days later, I listen back to it. I realize how this thing might be funny, how that thing might be cool. A lot of my shows are just rants about things, and in the right context, they can be very funny,” he said. S. Thurber reflected on his growth at Exeter in the social sphere. “As a prep, I was nervous to branch out and find my own group of friends. For the first two years, I was very close with my brother and his friends,” he said. “When COVID hit and my brother had graduated, social
Joy Chi/The Exonian things became really awkward and weird because I didn’t have someone to fall back on.” In a way, S. Thurber credited the pandemic for giving himself a chance to restart socially, a time when he was one of the only people on campus. He branched out and found his place among more friends. When the masks were off for the first time, S. Thurber felt as though he belonged in new and amazing communities. The future for S. Thurber is bright, but even he does not know what it entails. He is sure that he plans to take a gap year before enrolling in college but has yet to decide what that will consist of. “I think his future’s wide open and I’m looking forward to his exploring of academic and artistic areas that he has yet to see,” C. Thurber said. When asked about his favorite quote, Sava referred to the cinematic masterpiece Kungfu Panda. Quoting Master Oogway, “One meets his destiny on the road he takes to avoid it.” Although Sava is unsure what his destiny holds, it cannot be overstated that he will thrive.
Seniors of the Year: Grace and Riley Valashinas By BEVERLY OLEKA Senior twins Riley and Grace Valashinas always considered Exeter to be, as their parents used to say, “right in their backyard.” The Valashinas twins knew they wanted to attend a school where they could excel academically while also feeling like they belonged. As they’ve navigated their way through Exeter, they discovered much more at Exeter: their passions, talents, and communities. One thing that has remained constant are the friends the Valashinas sisters had made during
prep year. “I’d want to say that we met at the pre-orientation program for admitted students, and I knew right away that we’d be friends because they seemed like the friendliest people in the room, and I was like, yeah, these are people I can probably talk to. And we’ve been best friends ever since then,” senior Emma Finn, a friend since prep year, explained. Senior and close friend Lekha Masoudi, she knew she would be friends with the Valashinas sisters through an amusing yet terrifying experience. “I think we met on the first day of
class. I believe it was through someone I had met before in classes who introduced me to them, but the really interesting thing is that we all went out to lunch together and were chased by this man wearing a blue shirt, and we were all terrified! I thought we were going to die! But it was such a connecting experience for us and I knew they were going to be my very, very best friends. Not only in Exeter, but my entire life. I felt quite honored that we got to meet on that day.” Some of their closest friends and faculty members were fortunate
to meet the girls through their shared hobbies and club interests. Upper Tucker Gibbs described how he first met the sisters. “I know Riley and Grace from theater. I’ve worked with Riley on a couple of different shows. I worked with her on last winter’s musical, which was called “What Comes Next.” It was directed by Mr. Walker and she was stage managing with Sarah Nicholls, a student from the class of 2021,” Gibbs said. Gibbs was not the only one who met the siblings through theater: Theater and Dance Instructor Laura Josef did as well. “Both Grace and
Riley were on the tech crew and were regulars in all aspects of theater.” Public Services Assistant Jackie Weatherspoon met the sisters through another club, which they are heavily involved in at Exeter. “I first met Grace. She was a member of the Democratic Club, and Grace took Riley with her the next year, so I met her as well. Really lovely girls!” Senior Eleanor Bolker couldn’t pinpoint where she met the sisters, but she was delighted that she did. “We may have met at Experience Exeter. We remember being in the same conversation
but we don’t actually remember each other from that same conversation. I think we just kinda generally got to know each other from, not so much shared activities, but because I was also a day student at the time. But maybe also from the student orientation program— I’m not too sure. We definitely had some people who were mutual friends before we were friends with each other. But, I don’t remember specifically but I know I’m super thankful to have them.” Her achievements are a result of her hard work CONT’D ON D14
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GRADUATION ISSUE– CXLIV
June 5, 2022
Seniors of the Year: Grace and Riley Valashinas Cont’d
and dedication combined with her passion. When her friends were asked what they liked best about her, several of them said: “One of the things that I like most about Grace is she is so passionate about what she loves. If she likes a book or like a song or whatever it may be, she is so enthusiastic about it. Even if you are not a fan, seeing it through her eyes makes you love it and appreciate it in a new way,” Finn explained. Finn continued, “She’s also never afraid to speak her mind. She just says what she believes and she’s really committed to and passionate about it. And all of her opinions are always well researched and developed.” “With Grace, what I love about her is her sense of humor. She always makes me laugh. I feel like Grace has really helped me, with approaching situations from a really humorous angle and not taking myself too seriously,” Masoudi said. Upper Ophelia Bentley, a long-time friend of the sisters, shared her appreciation for G. Valashinas and the characteristic she admired the most about her. “I would say that Grace embodies the friendliness component very, very, very thoroughly. Just being incredibly nice to everyone, in a way that I think is talked about a lot but isn’t put into practice by as many people.” During her time at Exeter, G. Valashinas developed a strong interest in the arts. “I like Grace’s artistic and creative abilities. In her spare time, she enjoys knitting and making colorful earrings,” Emmick stated. Not only that, but G. Valashinas is always looking for new ways to help and share her talents with others. “One of my favorite memories
of her is when it was my birthday and she made me these really adorable earrings with my name on them. The earring was a safety pin with beads on them. She also made me a tiny crochet piece. Grace is extremely talented,” Masoudi said. “It’s really cool to have a friend like that.” Masoudi also revealed G. Valashinas’s musical talents. “Grace is involved with Exeter Association of Rock. She’s a super great musician. She sings and plays the guitar. I’ve heard her perform on a few occasions and she’s so so so good. Oh my gosh! I love when she performs. It makes me emotional.” G. Valashinas’s artistic talent radiates through everything she does. “She has very good taste in both clothes and music, and I really love that,” Bentley agreed. G. Valashinas is also a member of the Debate Club, where she served on the board during her upper year. “I spent like four or five hours a week on it [Debate Club] for the last couple of years, for the tournaments, pods, curriculum, everything like that, and then started running curriculum in the fall, it was a lot but I really loved it” she said. G. Valashinas is also heavily involved with Dramat, Exeter’s theater club, where she served on the board and became co-head in the fall. She directed many shows, including “Legacy,” which her friends loved. G. Valashinas intends to make her senior project ceramics-related, but the reason for doing so has an even greater significance. “I was doing advanced service during the winter and I really loved it. So I decided to do something I had thought about, which was making mugs for my friends and writing letters to them. And I thought that’d be pretty
wonderful. But then I realized, I think I want to do something with a little greater impact. I just Googled ‘ceramics nonprofit pottery’ and I discovered this ceramics non-profit called ‘Empty Bowls.’ Many people part of ‘Empty Bowls’ are making bowls and selling them at a local event in their town. A bunch of people brought soup, and all the money went to a food bank. I’m doing a somewhat modified version of it in which I’m making the majority of the bowls and will have a handful of folks assist me with some of them. And then there will be an on-campus event with a sit-down meal for which people can purchase tickets. And half of the proceeds from that ticket will go to a food bank by my house, and the other half to a food pantry and Exeter.” “When I think of Riley, the first thing I think about is her passion for everything she does. It’s just sort of unmatched, like I’ve never seen her not excited to be at the theater, Dem Club, Softball Team, etc. She just loves everything she does and treats everyone with respect and is a great leader,” Gibbs said. Senior friend Masoudi attested to this. “My favorite thing about Riley is probably her dedication. She’s just such a determined person, so persistent, so hardworking, which I really admire, and even if there is a setback and she falls down, she gets right back up. She really doesn’t let anything bother her or stop her from what she wants to do.” For others, their favorite thing about R. Valashinas is her humor. “I would say my favorite thing about Riley is probably her crazy sense of humor. She’s really committed to a joke, even if it’s the silliest,
most ridiculous dad joke in the world, she’s so committed. She will tell me a dad joke and even if it’s so groan-worthy, it’s hilarious because it’s her saying it and she’s just so committed to the delivery, and I love that,” Finn explained. Bentley agreed. “I would say her sense of humor [as well]. I think she can be sarcastic and it’s really funny sometimes. Like this past week she’s been ruthlessly teasing me about the fact I lost my phone and it’s just been a really great way to just take a kind of a break and step outside of the day, and be able to laugh with her.” R. Valashinas is also an amazing conversationalist; she has a way of making others feel at ease and relaxed when speaking with her, even if she is unaware of it. “I love having discussions with Riley on any variety of topics ranging from current events to baseball, and even to the best way to eat an orange,” upper Alysha Lai said. Finn also loves R. Valashinas for her forthright kindness. “I think one of the things that I love most about Riley is that she brings this absolute enthusiasm, kindness, and passion to everything that she does. Like she’s never done anything halfway in her entire life. She’s so committed to everything. And it’s so admirable of her and it’s sort of the thing that I respect most.” “I think Riley has this really great sense of graphically stuck sense of humor. A very sort of funny jokey sense of humor. She’s a very caring person, and there’s a lot of people here that’s caring, but there’s a particular way that she thinks about people, like, she can just text you to ask how you’re doing or she’s just sort of in tune with other people and is
really deeply empathetic and honest, and I think that’s really important and valuable, in a place where it’s so hectic and so crazy, to know that there’s somebody out there, who’s just thinking of people,” Bolker commented. At school, R. Valashinas is involved in lots of clubs and activities; she is the Democratic Club co-head, she used to be a part of Debate, she is the Dramat co-head, she has been a Varsity Softball player since prep year, she is a proctor in Lamont as well as a day student proctor, and she is the head tour for Admissions. What can’t she do? In her time at Exeter, R. Valashinas has stage managed a couple of shows including key shows for the dance shows, which she thoroughly enjoyed. On the subject of shows, she has also stage managed them with her close friend Gibbs who worked in tech crew. “I think Riley’s way of doing things in stage management and her ability of asking questions and getting help will be something that I will keep thinking about as I do more stage management this year and next year,” Gibbs said. It is no doubt that these sisters have left their special marks at Exeter as well as friends and faculty. But their success and development here at Exeter did not come easy. To get to where they are today, each of them had to overcome internal and external challenges. But that’s the best part of having a twin, having someone to share the burden with. “It’s true. Riley has always been the person I’ve felt the most connected to, both in proximity as well as emotionally, throughout the last few years. So I think being best friends with Riley is such a defining relationship in
Joy Chi/The Exonian my life that there’s no way it wouldn’t shape me. “You know what I mean?” G. Valashinas explained R. Valashinas added, “I was thinking about Avery’s meditation today, and it reminded me how much I appreciate having someone who can just say, ‘Oh, do you remember this?’ because we always have that silent but mutual understanding in our conversations. I also think it’s been really amazing to be able to experience Exeter not as I, but as us, since it’s our story, and I think that’s been pretty cool. It’s one of my favorite aspects of being here at Exeter.” R. Valashinas also gave some advice on how to get around Exeter. “However, even if it seems cliché, I would just advise putting one foot in front of the other. I know I have a tendency to become overwhelmed by my homework....so simply putting one foot in front of the other can help to alleviate stress.” And, as Grace pointed out, even the most intimidated and well-put-together people are just ‘walking around.’ G. Valashinas concluded with a statement about what she wants people to remember. “I truly hope that I, [we] have created an environment where people can look at club spaces and go, oh yeah, that’s something I can do, you know? I want to make certain that we are providing a welcoming environment. Because it’s critical to me that people aren’t afraid to join or take leadership positions in a club because they believe it’s based on this person’s knowledge, capability, skills, talents, etc. I really hope we were able to make some places here on campus a little more welcoming.”
June 5, 2022
GRADUATION ISSUE– CXLIV
D15
Senior of the Year: Mana Vale By HANNAH PARK
Senior Mana Vale’s regular school day begins at 6:00 a.m. After a morning shower, fueling breakfast, and quick study session, she speedwalks to her Sci-Fi and Fantasy class. In the afternoon, she walks over to Goel for her senior project: Bharatanatyam, a form of Indian classical dance. She winds down her sore muscles with some Vinyasa Yoga after she has spent an hour in the dance studio. The Exeter Computing Club (ECC) co-head, ESSO Girls Who Code founder, Puzzle Hunt writer, student listener, and avid singer approaches all her activities with integrity, and a genuine care for those around her. Vale’s decision to apply to the Academy stemmed from her older brother’s acceptance. “The moment my brother got his acceptance letter opened the entire possibility of me going to Exeter. I doubt I ever would have attended Exeter otherwise. “I never envisioned going to Exeter, but I am so glad I did. It really changed me.” She recalled that after her own acceptance and arrival at Exeter, she was so grateful and happy that she was that “one dorky prep who would just stop by the buildings and take a thousand photos of it and then move on to the next one.” “[Since coming here,] I’ve definitely grown academically as a critical thinker, and the classes I’ve taken and people I’ve met have really shaped the way I see the world. Pursuing opportunities out of school and taking self-paced classes as well have really helped me feel confident about myself,” Vale said. By the end of her first term at Exeter, Vale had already created strong bonds with her teachers through visits during office hours, conversation, and constant communication. “I had Ms. Geer my prep fall and I still talk to her now. In the past four years, I frequently bump into her on the paths and we catch-up really quickly,” Vale said. “I love the teachers here, and I’ve had a lot of really good teachers, like Mr. Kilinc. I had him for U.S. History once, and our small class was very tight-knit. I still keep in touch with him and I get tea with him once a term to catch up.” “I once heard a teacher say that he most appreciated the ‘afterlife’ of a class, the moment when a student lingered after a discussion to ask another question or to continue the conversation,” English Instructor Tyler Caldwell said. “My time with Mana was filled with many of those ‘afterlife’ moments; she is a learner and a thinker.” He continued, describing Mana’s rare sophistication when he taught her as a prep: “She already had the maturity and poise and control of a senior. She was so deliberate and precise. As a senior, her creativity blossomed,” he said. “Her genuine curiosity is a gift.” Now a senior, she has proved to be a compassionate friend and mentor, especially to the underclassmen. This has been the case for prep Pranavi Vedula, who was also once a student of Vale through her club, ESSO Girls Who Code. “I had never enjoyed coding before. Mana was the best teacher I ever had— and one session of the club turned into two, and before I knew it, I had signed up for another session,” Vedula said. “She is my friend, teacher, and mentor. Whether it’s leading our club, Girls Who Code, or helping me out with a concept I find confusing, or simply listening to my little prep-struggles, she is always there for me.” Her work around technology and minorities in STEM have inspired many, including
prep Jaansi Patel, who was driven by the Mana’s leadership in running AIxTeens, an annual computer science and AI summit where teenagers are invited to listen to various accomplished speakers in the field. “Mana has really motivated me to continue my passion of making technology, especially artificial intelligence, more accessible to marginalized communities,” Patel said. “She’s a very supportive and encouraging person, and I know that I would be much more nervous and confused coming into Exeter if it weren’t for her!” Computer Science Instructor Sean Campbell emphasized Vale’s prowess in the computing world. “[Vale] has a lot of great ideas that have become part of our general operating procedure for ECC. She has planned a lot for a related CVP this fall and winter and worked with some others to develop and AI conference for teens taht she has coordinated for several years now,” he said. Campbell continued, describing her hard work especially in organizing the annual HackExeter event with the rest of ECC, the only computing club at the Academy. “She really digs into [the HackExeter work] and has been involved in planning every year,” he said. “We are going to miss all the time and energy that she brings to [ECC].” During her lower spring term, the then ECC co-heads recommended Vale to apply for a co-head position. To her surprise, she earned the position that year, making her a co-head of the prominent club as an upper. She is still a cohead and is now in her second year of leading the club. That same term, Vale was also deep in her year-long preparation of creating an ESSO club called Girls Who Code, which came into fruition during the pandemic, remotely, at first. “The club taught middle school girls from not just this area, but all over. Many were living in Boston, and one girl was even from Oregon,” she said. As the club began in the spring, Vale planned an eight-week summer bootcamp so that the club could continue its work. “We encouraged five of our girls to apply to an app competition, so we taught them basic app development and they self-taught themselves a lot too. They were able to enter and create a fully functioning app.” She spoke fondly of Vedula, a past ESSO Girls Who Code student and now an Academy student. “Vedula’s now a part of ESSO Girls Who Code and it’s really cool to think that she’s paying it forward. I’m so glad that the club’s had that kind of impact on at least one person,” Vale
said. Her warm words were greatly reciprocated by Vedula. “Mana is the reason I applied to Exeter in the first place. Despite having lived in Exeter my whole life, I never dreamed of applying to Phillips Exeter until I met Mana in Girls Who Code. The patient, thoughtful, and knowledgeable way she spoke to me became the image of an Exonian for me. I was so impressed with that image and it was because I met her that I became determined to get into Exeter; because I wanted to be an Exonian, just like her,” Vedula said. “I am so grateful to be able to know her.” Vale’s work in computer science goes far beyond the Academy’s walls, however. She is greatly passionate about AI ethics, and mentioned that she is working for a non-profit called Fair Bytes, which aims to educate students about the subject through articles, education, and workshops. “I’ve always really been concerned about AI ethics after seeing documentaries about the lack of AI regulation and how technology’s really changing our culture,” she said. “I had the opportunity to start an interview series with Fair Bytes. I interview experts in AI ethics every few months and edit and publish the interviews. In January, I got to interview the head of AI for Social Good at Intel. It was incredible.” She plans to continue these passions in college, hoping to formally study AI Ethics alongside CS. This past summer, in the midst of healing from a severe wrist injury that required her to get surgery, Vale pursued a research opportunity. “This professor who I met through AIxTeens connected me with all these really cool people. One of them was a post-doc student who welcomed me to work at their lab,” she said. At their lab, she researched parental behavior in mice, specifically analyzing video data and generating graphs using her computer science expertise. When she’s not organizing events, leading her clubs, or working for Fair Bytes, Vale often self studies computer science and is currently broadening her knowledge in AI. In a recent CS590 course on Deep Learning and Neural Nets, she and senior Emma Chen worked on a project where they wrote an AI system that recommended Exeter courses to students based on how they rated other courses. “Because there was no data for us to use, we had to generate our own synthetic data that was realistic. It was a whole experience in itself,” Vale laughed. Vale has not only greatly impacted the STEM community, but leaves a mark every-
where she goes, whether it be in advisory, class, or her dorm, Gould House, as a student listener. “Students frequently cite how supportive she is around the dorm,” dorm head Diana Davis said. “When Mana comes to check in, she always stops to chat about her day, or what is going on in the larger Exeter community. She is a student listener, whose door is always open (literally or figuratively) for Goulies to come by and chat.” “In the winter, we had history and biology together and in both classes, she always made me feel validated and heard,” senior Tasmiah Akter added. “Mana brings a special kind of genuineness and kindness to Exeter. Every conversation I’ve had with Mana has been affirming and uplifting. “Mana is gentle and kind with our advisee group. She offers her thoughts and insights honestly to younger students,” Vale’s advisor Anne Rankin said. “I loved hearing about her experience with her own name and her identity and her family’s story.” In the performing artist community, Vale is a “quiet reminder to always go for what you want to do and what makes you happy,” Dance Instructor Amberlee Darling continued, reflecting on the pandemic year working with Vale over zoom. “She went on to make her own way with dance, as her true dance passion has always been Bharatanatyam. She has always been sure of herself as a person and as a dancer and goes for what makes her happy during the art she loves.” Dance has been a part of Vale’s life for ten years now. When she was eight, she began Bharatanatyam after her aunt, an Indian Classical Dance teacher, and her mom, who also used to dance, encouraged her. Vale recalled a favorite memory of hers. “I still remember my very first performance! I couldn’t tell you how excited I was. [Indian Classical Dance costumes] are so pretty. They come in different colors and part of the costume is a skirt that’s like a fan. So whenever you do certain motions, it fans out and it looks absolutely gorgeous,” Vale said. “Wearing your costume for the first time is like a rite of passage. I was recently looking at the photos of that first performance and I look so happy. I did an hour-long solo performance before I came to Exeter. It was really intense. Most Indian classical dancers of this genre have a two hour solo performance that showcases what they’ve learned up to that point. I sort of did a miniature version of that; I got a venue, I performed, invited a bunch of people and it was amazing. And I had to train for a whole summer before that to get the stamina for the
performance.” After Vale moved to New Hampshire, a contrast from her hometown in multicultural Dallas, TX, she faced difficulty finding a teacher in New Hampshire. Her mom was able to find Aishwarya Balasubramanian in Nashua, around two hours roundtrip from their home near the Academy. Vale expressed her gratitude for her mom, who she says is “the reason why [she is] still dancing.” “There were no teachers around [Exeter]. I was so desperate and my mom was really the hero. I’m really thankful to her. I would spend an hour in class, so that would be three hours for her. And whenever I had performances coming up, I would always go twice a week instead of once. And so that was a big time commitment for her,” Vale said. The long drive proved to be worth the commitment as the patient teacher, also an accomplished and skilled performer, made sure Vale was learning Bharatanatyam as precisely as possible. “When I came to her for the first time, I’d already danced for three or four years and she saw me and she was like, good, but you need to relearn everything. I’m gonna teach it to you the right way, so she taught me again from the basics,” Vale said. “She would really take the time to correct me and explain the significance behind what I was doing. It was truly a culturally enriching experience as well.” As time went on, Vale not only became a regular student of Balasubramanian, but also became integrated into her life, and vice versa. “She had two very cute young kids who I would play with all the time. I was really an integral part of their lives as well, because I was often in their house, dancing around them while they were growing up,” Vale said. “I was one of her earliest students as well. So we have a really strong bond, and we’re zooming every week. And actually the other day, her husband saw me for the first time in a while. And he was like, oh my God, I haven’t seen you in forever!” Near the end of her upper year, Vale suffered a wrist injury that also caused problems in her back, halting her dancing for a year. However, she has not let her healing stop her and is now packing a lot of practicing into her day to strengthen her “degenerated muscles.” “I’ve been pushing myself really hard to get back to where I used to be before. It’s tough, but it’s also a good feeling,” Vale said. “I’m struggling, but I’m looking in the mirror and I’m smiling while every muscle is burning. It’s such a unique feeling. I can’t really put it into words–just seeing myself smiling while
Joy Chi/The Exonian all this is going on in my body made me really happy,” she smiled. Throughout these obstacles, whether it be in her classes or in the studio, Vale’s family has stuck by her the whole time. “I’m really thankful to my parents and my brother because they were always telling me not to lose sight of who I was no matter the obstacle I faced. They always praised me on how hard I was trying and taught me that my worth shouldn’t be defined by how fast I can learn something,” she said, reflecting on a time when she was struggling with the speed at which she was grasping subjects. “That’s the sort of environment we’re in, right? The fastest learners are usually the ones who are rewarded the most because they get things quickly. So as someone who needs time to really learn and absorb knowledge, I’ve always feared going into a fast-paced job or into life. How am I going to function alongside people who are much faster than me? But if there’s one thing I’ve been taught at Exeter, it’s that there’s always a path. ” Vale continued, speaking of her older brother who also went to Exeter and graduated as valedictorian. “My first year I felt like there was this invisible pressure to live up to certain expectations, but I learned to overcome that, and my brother was a big part of the reason. He kept telling me not to let that get into my head and that it didn’t matter what other people say. Honestly, he’s one of my biggest supports,” she said. Not only has Vale risen above these obstacles, she has now gone above and beyond. Though it is certain Vale’s quiet leadership, integrity, and warmth will be missed as she moves on from Exeter, she has left an imprint on the community that is sure to stay for a while. Ultimately, Vale would like to remind the girls/women currently in the STEM world to “keep going.” “If you look at the retention rates of female students in CS, the numbers are shockingly low. A lot of women drop out after the first year in college, because it’s too hard or because their male classmates are already far ahead of them. Don’t ever let your environment or your educational obstacles stop you because you’re learning at your own pace and it’ll pay off later,” Vale said. “Trust the process, because you’re setting yourself up for success.”
D16
GRADUATION ISSUE– CXLIV
June 5, 2022
Senior of the Year: Janessa Vargas By EMILIA KNIESTEDT
“There are other stories to be told.” These are words that current senior Janessa Vargas still remembers since alumna Grace Caroll ’19 said them to her when she was a prep. Vargas has lived up to them in her four years at the Academy, where she has uplifted not only her friends, but also the voices of the Exeter community. Vargas, a four-year senior, came to Phillips Exeter Academy from Palisades Park, New Jersey, where she had been living almost her entire life. The opportunity to explore a world beyond her hometown was one of the reasons that motivated her to apply to Exeter. “I just wanted to be somewhere that would push me. I was getting really bored at my public school and felt like there weren’t that many clubs because it wasn’t well-funded. The only thing I had there was Model UN.” However, Vargas admitted that the transition was not as easy as expected. “I was not outgoing as a prep at all, but I really loved MUN, so that was the first club I ever joined here. I was really struggling to find community and trying to find my place within Exeter.” In the end, MUN continues to be a source of confidence and pride for this debate-star, as well as a place in which she has met some of her best friends. Vargas led the 2021-2022 board in transforming the culture of the club. “It makes me so proud that equity and inclusion in a truly de-colonial perspective have become important in such a big club, which so many people care about. It is becoming a core value within that club, within everyone who I see leading it in the future.” Anybody who has experienced the gift of working with Vargas can attest to her ability in uplifting and bettering the people and spaces around her. Alumna Anne Brandes expressed how impressive her work ethic is. “From the very beginning, Janessa was someone to watch. She was always really on top of her views and connections, but she also has a great sense of fun. She’s effortlessly both competitive and silly at the same time, but really values her own work and efforts.” Her ability to pass on those values and cause change in the lives of others is to be celebrated. “She is a great team player and really helped me figure out exactly what one was. She really holds her own against people who are progressing their Exeter experience,” Brandes continued. The tradition of creating close ties between upperclassmen and underclassmen can be accredited to Vargas’ love for those around her. “It actually took me a really long time to adjust to the academics here, finding out what I was good at, and believing in myself to thrive academically. I needed support from a lot of different people in order to get to the places I was going into lower and upper year. It’s something that I used to be really ashamed of, but now I am extremely proud of.” Brandes shared that Vargas’ reflective nature helps her in creating such personal friendships: “She has a level of introspection where she is able to understand so much of her own character and the character of those around her, and to make spaces where people feel not just welcomed, but where they have the capacity to be a version of themselves that they enjoy.” Growing up in Dvnbar Hall with Vargas as a role model was an extremely memorable part of upper Jennifer Finkelstein’s experience
at Exeter. “She’s an incredible listener. She has been my older sister at school, always there to give good advice or listen or cheer me up when I’m feeling upset. She has taught me not to take myself too seriously, but we can still work together in the clubs we lead. There’s very few people that I feel like you can have a work-life balance with, but there is nothing that feels weird about it. I get to see someone who inspires me in all sectors of my life.” Upper and Dunbar resident Riley Jones agreed. “I have always looked up to her, kind of like a big sister, and she has always been an inspiration for me since my lower year. I don’t know if she realizes how much she inspires people just by being herself; I really am so much of a better person because I know Janessa. Her personality, her kindness, and her friendship have left their mark on so many underclassmen.” Alumna Nahla Owens ’21, who experienced Vargas’ affection from a different perspective, echoed similar feelings. “Not only with Janessa is there a willingness to make Exeter better for people in the classes below her, but to genuinely make strong connections with them. Even if she had a crazy assignment due the next day, she would sit in her room for hours and talk with underclassmen, offer them snacks, and really listen to them because she too, at one point was there.” Growing up with Vargas, alumnus Dillon Mims ’21, one of Vargas’ closest friends, has watched Vargas grow throughout her years at the Academy. “I’ve seen a Janessa who has become incredibly introspective, someone who is very diligent in analyzing her own character, and as someone who is very in-tune with human emotions in other people and herself. I’ve also seen an incredible amount of resilience develop since I first met her as a prep. That was a really incredible thing to see, especially because we were so close. I got to see her learn how to do it all– to take losses on the chin, to learn how to get back up and keep going. To watch that in someone as incredible as Janessa is such an invaluable thing.” Since her first days here, Vargas knew she wanted to aid in the Academy’s journey towards justice and accountability. Heavily involved in groups such as Democratic Club, Gender-Sexuality Alliance, Afro-Latinx Exonian Society, La Alianza Latina, Feminist Union, and the Office of Multicultural Affairs, she constantly seeks opportunities to leave places better than she found them. Reflecting on the end of her prep year, one of the people whose influence has stuck with her through the years is Grace Carroll, a previous EASA cohead and leader of the 2019 campus protest. “I remember very vividly the last thing she told me was to ‘keep this school in check’. But when I was a prep, I didn’t expect to be in the same position as her four years later,” Vargas recalled. As one of the organizers of this year’s protest against the Academy’s mishandling of sexual assault cases, Vargas shared how the entire process carried a mix of emotions, from exhaustion to coming “full circle” in a bittersweet way: “It feels like you’ve had mentors and people to look up to, and in some odd way you almost know what to do. But it is also really frustrating to be seventeen and to be dealing with that type of stuff. It’s things you see seniors do when you’re a prep and you never think it was going to be you that’s doing that next.” While dealing with some of the most difficult conver-
sations on campus, Vargas’ optimistic and caring attitude only proves to be resilient. Senior Anya Tang revered her mental strength and warmth. “Janessa’s capacity to remain so soft and so human after everything this life puts her through is so unique. She has an incredible drive and capacity to continue producing goodness and kindness in this world, both with herself and each other, even after the attritional labor of the nature of her work.” Tang continued, “I’m thinking of this James Baldwin paraphrase that really reminds me of her. It’s this rhetorical question, ‘how can you be a poet if you don’t believe in love?’ I think what really captures Janessa is that after so much work, so much exhaustion, and so much violence at such a young age, she can still continue to believe in love.” Many of Vargas’ friends explained how their favorite memories and her small, thoughtful gestures only prove how dedicated she is to her relationships. To senior Ana Casey, Vargas has been somebody to turn to for comfort and support, especially after the taxing work they have done together to make living on this campus a more equitable experience for all students. “After the Assembly strike and all our work from this fall, she has been a really easy, safe, dependable person to go to. She’s really good at taking people’s minds off of whatever they’re dealing with at that point and just distracting them from it,” Casey said. “If one of us is having a bad day, we’ll just make matcha in the Amen common room or she’ll bring me matcha before classes; it is our little tradition. I made her matcha for the senior sunrise, right before the strike, which was a very unifying memory.” Tang agreed: “The night we received college decisions, she came to visit me, although it was very late and she had to check-in. There was not much that we could have said or done, but she came to Will House, and we just gave each other a hug. It is those little moments with Janessa that I think are able to contain multitudes of the sort of person she is.” With the aid of Vargas’ pure empathy and ability to be a compassionate listener, Owens organized Unsilenced during her time at Exeter. “I remember her as being someone who was very understanding of the kind of stress that you were going through because she would be in those organizations, seeing it happening with us.
She was definitely someone who was super supportive and an incredible hype woman, while at the same time always pushing us all to grow and learn and be better.” Senior Anne Chen recalled instances in which Vargas’ genuine attentiveness for those around her truly shined: “I don’t know how she has the energy to care about everything, but she does. You can tell she thinks about you, even when you’re not there. Janessa is really good at being unconditional with the ways she cares about her friends. You could have not seen her in months and she’ll approach you assuming that you’re on the same level of closeness that you were when you left. She is the type of person you truly want to be that close to.” Vargas’ determination stood out to Brandes as well. “She really does push herself to the point of exhaustion, for no other reason other than she genuinely cares. At the end of the day, she’s motivated by a real conviction that the world should be more equitable, not by a material goal.” Owens also admired Vargas’ relentless passion, especially living under such a high-stress environment. “As an Exeter student, it is really easy to fall into different categories of extracurriculars or academics just because you’re good at them and not necessarily because you love what you’re doing. But I genuinely believe that she’s someone who has forced her heart and soul into everything that she does and is really passionate about making positive changes in people’s lives and for her own community. Just hearing her talk about the things that she is working on or the projects that she’s doing, you can see the passion emanating from her as she is speaking about those things.” The Academy’s “overachieving culture” has made Vargas feel unwelcome at times, especially as a student who did not come from a place of privilege. In those moments, she reminds herself of a quote by James Baldwin: “Not everything that is faced, can be changed, but nothing can be changed until it is faced.” “Obviously you can’t change everything, but I don’t think there’s any point in not trying,” Vargas said. “Sometimes I feel as though I’m so tired of trying, but I feel like it’s such a huge part of who I have become here. I feel like my goal here is always to make it a little bit of a better place than it was when I first came here.” This diligence towards
transformation expands beyond just the Exeter community. Vargas is highly praised for her work with the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network, the Make the Road organization, and her research on immigration policy, which she presented with the American Civil Liberties Union: “There is a really famous James Baldwin quote, ‘I love America more than any other country in the world. And exactly, for this reason, I insist on the right to criticize her perpetually’, which is pretty much my approach to everything in my life. Whether it’s Model UN or anti-racism or sexual assault awareness, I think on a very deep level, I really do love this place and I love the people here. Therefore I think it would be a crime to pretend like everything is perfect and we don’t need to make anything better. Everything to me is a work in progress.” Vargas also spoke of the importance of breaking outside of the Exeter bubble. “Nahla played a huge part in encouraging me to pursue advocacy work outside of Exeter and find something that I’m really passionate about that relates to my background. Especially these past two years, I’ve become really proud of encouraging Exeter students to do the same. Of course this school is a huge presence in my life, but it’s not the only thing in my life. Now I’m working with immigration organizations back home. If that means flying to DC so I can advocate, like I did in September, I’ll do it, because this school is not going to define me as a whole.” Never one to fall short of her goals or act in accordance to what she feels is wrong, when asked what has defined her Exeter experience, Vargas responded, “Protest, in a lot of different ways. Whether those are my little personal protests, or the ones that I’ve helped lead. A lack of complacency has defined a lot of my Exeter career. It’s something I hope to keep as a strong virtue throughout my life. Never being satisfied with how things are has been a defining thing of my time here, but also being really grateful for everything I have.” Despite the amount of unbridled energy Vargas has dedicated to her countless passions and relationships, many of her closest friends hope for Exonians to remember her by her selfless qualities outside of her social advocacy work. Explaining her “work-life balance” with Vargas, Finkelstein emphasized, “Janessa has taught me how to be a
Courtesy of Janessa Vargas more empathetic person. She opened my eyes to so many things in all areas of life that I didn’t know before meeting her. Especially in the way that she wants to do good in the world; it makes me want to do good in the world too.” Not only do her words and presence impact people, but according to Tang, her humor does as well. “I think many people know this subconsciously, but I don’t think enough people bring it to the surface, but she has a very lovely laugh. That is something I always like to remind myself of often. Whenever she laughs, you can tell when it’s genuine. Being able to understand what brings her joy is one of the happiest parts of my time here at Exeter. Getting to hear her laugh in some capacity or smile in some capacity brings an immeasurable amount of joy to my week.” Mims shared some of his core memories with Vargas as well as well, “Just thinking about the fact that she’s going to be in New York next year, the few times she has visited me have also been some of my fondest memories. I am particularly fond of our visits to the Whitney Museum,” he said. “I’m very blessed to know a more private and more close version of Janessa. A Janessa who thinks it’s acceptable to eat cereal with apple juice, who loves Lorde and Mitski, who will always support you when you’re down, who will always read over your essay, who nerds out over books about post-colonialism and migration studies. A Janessa who is so driven to be not only a better person for herself, but also just a better person for the world.” To everybody who knows her, Vargas is a loving presence with an ability to be vulnerable and gentle for her peers and her work. Mims concluded, “I think that Janessa graduates with a legacy. As someone who was so committed to change, to activism, and to diligent work in our community. In those spaces, Janessa leaves an even stronger legacy as such a kind face and such a caring soul, someone who in every possible way wanted to make an Exonian’s four years better, the same way she wanted to make your day better. That’s the kind of person she was. She was enriched in the community in a way that was so unique and so incredibly impactful. I don’t believe I’m being hyperbolic when I say the Academy will never be the same.”
June 5, 2022
GRADUATION ISSUE– CXLIV
Senior of the Year: Georgie Venci By CJ SMITH “I wouldn’t be surprised if the sun was replaced and Georgie was put in the sun’s place. He’s just such a wonderful person,” Emma Reach ’21 said, recalling senior Georgie Venci fondly. Once a shy prep, G. Venci is now known across campus for his kindness, warm attitude, and his smile. G. Venci arrived at Exeter for its plethora of opportunities. “I’d never thought I’d be writing in a newspaper or deciding a budget, and I don’t think I would’ve been able to have those experiences anywhere else,” G. Venci said. Throughout his time at the Academy, G. Venci has never hesitated to dive into something new. Reflecting on his journey on joining Student Council as a day student representative, G. Venci noted, “I was kind of like, how much can Student Council really do? And then flash forward four years later and I’m sending emails every night for Student Council.” Reach remembers, “He had always been really passionate about student government. I have such vivid memories of him, speaking up in front of everyone and asking questions.” Even though G. Venci made an enormous impact on Student Council during his time as day student representative and on the elections committee, he still wanted more. “I think I ran for vice president because I wanted to be doing more of the work not that someone had to do, but the work that was more impactful, like directly impacting students,” G. Venci acknowledged. Brother Charlie Venci ’20 further added, “Georgie has this incredible ability to combine his passion with what he’s working on. He finds a project and he finds something that’s meaningful to him and he just puts everything into it.” Throughout his time in StuCo, G. Venci fought for visitation reforms, more recreational events, and overall to increase the quality of life for students on campus. Yet, G. Venci not only makes an impact on students through policy; he also dedicates his time to helping improve student well-being and mental health through Health’s Angels. Health’s Angels meets to discuss peer health-related issues, including suicide prevention, domestic abuse, and teen mental health. Health’s Angels, or H4, as many like to call it, has participated in and organized many of the mental health events on campus this year, including the Positive Psychology Fair, which focused on mental health, in the fall and the recent “Take Back the Night” event, which sought to bring awareness to domestic abuse, toxic relationships, and sexual assault. Health Instructor and Health’s Angels advisor Courtney Shaw stated, “Georgie’s basically like our unofficial president. He does everything and we are super thankful to have him. He actually came up with the logo for H4 Health Angels. He designed our shirts, he’s in charge of our social media presence.” G. Venci has proved instrumental in behind-the-scenes work for H4 and has made a large impact on the community through his dedication to the club. Through his designing of flyers and his running of social media, the club has gained traction on campus and has a peer education certificate. He noted, “I think that H4 makes a good impact on people. I think by just putting stuff on Instagram, putting stuff everywhere, I’m able to help with that. That’s really my job.” Shaw further added, “He’s just always extremely reliable, but also dependable. And, he takes a lot of heart when it
comes to designing H4 as a whole. He’s also consistent, like showing up to meetings, taking initiative, talking about the different logos that he did. I mean, we only had to say, Hey, we need this done. He would be like, we’ll do it or I’ll do it.” Friend and senior Max Triff commented, “He is very driven and passionate about everything he does and he’s an amazing friend who is always there when you need someone.” Both of those qualities have made G. Venci one of the most central leaders and organizers for H4. “I always think of being a captain, and teammate in general, as supporting everyone whenever possible,” G. Venci said. As one of the captains for the boys’ Varsity swim team in the 2021-2022 season, G. Venci’s journey throughout swimming at Exeter started back when he was a prep. Looking back on his time swimming for Exeter, G. Venci emphasized, “I felt like I wasn’t pressured. I didn’t have an insane amount of pressure of doing this or being the captain, being this, I just kind of existed and was able to do what I loved.” Adding onto his experience in Exeter swimming, G. Venci acknowledged the discipline he has learned from the sport. “Everyone learns discipline from sports, but for some reason I feel like I have this different type of common sense, almost like it’s instilled in me — wake up early and practice and get done with that.” One of his main roles as a captain was serving as a communicator between the team and the coaches. He acknowledges, “I remember a lot of times I advocated to the coaches when everyone was really tired or visibly tired.” G. Venci went above and beyond, greatly outdoing his own expectations of how a captain should act. His humbleness matched with his upbeat and positive attitude has created a lasting impact on the team. Lower Charlie Gao explained, “Every time before
the meet, our captains hype us and support us. They’re all very good leaders.” Prep Henry Fipp stated, “Georgie’s been really motivated and has helped keep the team together, getting us to go on events, and sort of really been working on team bonding as well.” Even outside of swimming in Exeter, G. Venci doesn’t stop supporting his friends and family. “He will text me almost as soon as I get out of the pool and you know, or he’ll be looking at what time my next race is. He’s very supportive.” C. Venci said. Reflecting on his time as captain for the season, G. Venci acknowledged, “I still have that position where I can be the captain without being the fastest. I can still be in the leadership world, even if I’m not the most effective or the fastest, I can still be a help. As long as I’m there and like doing my job, I’m doing what I’m meant to be doing. And, I feel like that has just kind of changed me a little bit. Work gave me a new outlook on leadership and like what I really need to be doing.” Asked about what he took away from his Exeter education, G. Venci responded, “I think definitely keeping everything in perspective is gonna be one of them. I think it’s really easy, especially being a day student, but it’s really easy to get caught up in the Exonian mindset of blowing things way out of proportion.” Alumna and good friend Sadie DiCarlo ‘21 stated, “I’ve always admired how committed and tirelessly Georgie works towards his goals.” Friend and senior Gretl Baghdadi added, “And even as he like so many commitments and so many like roles on campus, he’s still always constantly like a positive force and like a force to be reckoned with basically like you always, every time I’ve seen him last, last year, he’s always like come up to hug me, been excited to see me and always like, he makes you feel good when you see him.”
As evident by his level of dedication to his clubs, G. Venci has struggled with sometimes making time for himself and for free time. He admits, “The Exonian mindset… it’s great for a math test or something. It isn’t the best way to approach life.” That realization has allowed him to budget his time to include time for himself. Shaw remembers a time this past winter when G. Venci decided to not attend a meeting of H4. “A lot was going on with senior apps and things of that nature. And he said, ‘I feel like if I show up this Friday, my presence would be a disservice to the rest of the members. So I’m gonna take a mental health day for myself.’ And I think that’s huge as someone that’s a health educator, because not only can you spot the ways in which you can contribute, but you can also spot the ways in which your presence as a whole can detract from the goal.” While G. Venci has learned to put his classes in perspective and not fall into the trap of the Exonian mindset, Exeter has also changed his outlook on more important issues. “It’s definitely made me a lot more wary of like, I think I it’s, it’s hard to kind of connect this, but in terms of like identity and like a concept I’ve never been aware of coming to Exeter. And I think that’s given me sort of a sensitivity to identities. It taught me sensitivity towards identities and like really acceptance whether it’s with myself or with friends around me and recognizing everyone has different hardships that come from different experiences,” G. Venci stated. That realization has allowed G. Venci to gain a more diverse and experienced worldview, which has helped shape him into a more mature and caring person. Thinking about how G. Venci had grown throughout his time at Exeter, Baghdadi remarked, “I think he has become more comfortable in himself, and I think just confi-
dence in his identity and sharing intimate and close parts of himself with his close friends and being able to strengthen each of those relationships.” Reach agreed, “I think his lower year he became a little bit more serious, but he was still really growing into his identity. And then his upper year and my senior year, he really staked his territory. Like people knew and we knew what Georgie was about and Georgie knew what he was about. And that was just so amazing to watch.” Even though G. Venci has grown and changed a tremendous amount during his time at Exeter, one thing has remained constant: his impact on those around him. Asked how he’d think his friends would describe him, G. Venci responded, “I think they’d start with energy, because I’m always the one that has hours of homework. We’re gonna be up all night and I’m like, let’s go to the beach. Like we can do this, come on, someone called an Uber We’ll make it.” Reach remembered, “We used to drive in the car together and we would put down the windows and we would blast music really loudly and just drive around campus. Like there was no point to it. It was the most aimless thing that we could have done, but it was so fun.” Recounting his favorite things to do with G. Venci, Triff declared, “Impulsive runs to Target with no intended purchases that result with us leaving hours later, broke.” G. Venci’s fun-loving attitude may seem like it has a surface-level impact on his friends at first, but he has served as a trusting adviser, giving them help whenever they need it. Reach stated, “My favorite thing to do with Georgie is to probably just talk. I think he’s such a good conversationalist.” Because of his outgoing but also caring personality, his humbleness and willingness to support others around him, and most of all, his bright smile, G. Venci is one of the kindest and
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most helpful people on campus. Shaw said it best: “Your life will definitely be changed by the energy that he possesses, because he’s literally a bright star out here.” Along with him finding time for himself and maturing, G. Venci has also discovered some of his true passions. C. Venci stated, “In middle school he was a very, very smart kid. He sang, he played the clarinet, he was a swimmer. But it just didn’t seem like he quite had his purpose. And I think now he’s totally found it.” Shaw agreed. “I think Exeter is one of those places in which he’s really found himself to be able to soar and figure out who exactly he wants to be and just living and walking in that purpose and being excited about life. I mean, in the last couple of years, I think one of the things that the pandemic really pushed us to do is to figure out the meaning of why we’re here. And I really think that Georgie has a huge grasp on that.” For his passions, G. Venci explained, “I want to work in Washington doing something I really like, like studying international politics and foreign policy.” Wherever G. Venci may end up in life, he is bound to carry on his same traits that make him one of the most loved people on campus. His inescapable energy and positivity will continue to have a monumental impact on those very lucky people who get to meet and spend time with him. C. Venci concluded. “He’s set himself up to be a very successful person in the future and I’m extremely excited to see what he makes of the great foundation in life that he’s built for himself.” Whether in Washington or somewhere entirely different, one thing’s for sure. Exeter has been extremely fortunate to have Georgie as one of its students, and his impact on the community has proven to be transformational.
Joy Chi/The Exonian
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GRADUATION ISSUE– CXLIV
June 5, 2022
Senior of the Year: Daniel Zhang
By LAUREN KIM “I urge my editor, confidant, and (heaven help him) close friend, Daniel Zhang, genius domus of Pendulum, lover of the long shot, protector of the unprolific, defender of the hopelessly flamboyant, most unreasonably modest of born great artist-editors, to accept this pretty skimpy looking quote,” senior Anne Chen wrote in a copy of J.D Salinger’s Franny and Zooey. With the dog-eared novel in hand, Chen, then a lower, jokingly pledged that her custom dedication would foreshadow Zhang’s success in the literary world. Two years later, as Zhang serves as an Editor-in-Chief of Pendulum and represents New Hampshire as its poet laureate, it appears the “skimpy looking quote” from their underclassmen days has proven its veracity. Every Sunday morning at 10 a.m., as hazy sunlight filters through Elm Street Dining Hall’s roofs, members of Pendulum seek advice on meticulously crafted pieces while devouring breakfast omelets and chatting with fellow literary connoisseurs. Amongst artists and writers alike, Zhang exudes an inspiring presence, willing to offer critical advice to any writer in need. “What I really loved about Pendulum was that there were so many people who were willing to humiliate themselves in front of others,” Zhang said. “Those who were willing to write poems or prose that are very honest and illuminated parts of themselves that were really ugly. It’s good that we’re humiliating ourselves in front of each other. Because after you do that, people no longer become stalks. People no longer become ideas. People become people. I’ve always appreciated Pendulum because it’s a space to be brave.” In Zhang’s eyes, writing is a place to express oneself honestly, with no stereotypes or facades attached. “He finds a lot of fulfillment in Pendulum, and he gets a lot of joy
from teaching the next generation of writers at Exeter. To him, writing is a discipline that you need to treat as a discipline, not just as a hobby. Where you need to stick true to yourself, and not be embarrassed about anything. And also, writing about things that are conventionally unimportant is just as vital; to quote and describe any pathetic little thing,” fellow senior Garrett Paik said. Many Pendulum writers attested to Zhang’s enlightening leadership. “I love listening to him talk. He speaks with so much wisdom, and he’s someone I know I can trust with anything,” lower Ayaan Akhtar said. “As an underclassman, he has given me so much advice that left a really strong impact on me and changed my outlook on the Exeter experience as a whole. As a club head of Pendulum, he has helped me grow a ton as a writer.” “He’ll leave behind a legacy of just being really passionate about the things that you do. He also builds an environment that encourages reaching out to other people,” senior Anika Tsai said. Alumna Anne Brandes ’21 agreed. “Daniel pushes the envelope in everything he does. I have worked with him in a lot of academic capacities—The Exonian, especially, and Pendulum. He always has a ‘vision’ to make the organization better. This tendency, to think deeply about an organization, is really admirable. He always has a finger on the pulse.” Besides Pendulum, over his four years at the Academy, Zhang has certainly taken advantage of the myriad of opportunities the Academy has to offer. Between investigating the Eubootes star at the observatory with Director of Grainger Observatory John Blackwell, spontaneously taking up Greek his lower year, and helping compile Since 1878, a 200,000-word book documenting the history of racism at the Academy using The Exonian’s archives, Zhang has the adamant belief
that every Exonian should explore all the resources available to them. “Taking advantage of the abundance of resources here to the greatest extent possible is a way of expressing gratitude for my place here. For example, I love Greek, and Exeter’s Classics Department is one of the top departments in the world. So why would I not stay behind after class to talk to the teachers? Do some extra reading or writing to have more academic interactions with them? Try for the most rigorous experience available here?” Zhang said. “In the same respect, we have an incredibly expensive professional telescope just out there for student research use. If you want to actually use a telescope for independent study, you can; that resource is available to you— when I heard that an option for my astronomy class’s final project was to use the telescope for original research if we were willing to commit a few extra hours, the decision was a no-brainer— of course I’d love to use the telescope… if the decisive factor between taking two classes is that one is easier, then you’re probably not considering the classes for the right reason.” Zhang most appreciates his experiences in writing, particularly in The Exonian and through his poetry. Zhang’s former advisor Lauren Josef described how Daniel decided his interests at Exeter early on. “When he first came here, he had already decided on all the classes he wanted to take because he’s so studious. He loves to learn. He loves to absorb information. I would say that’s one of his greatest passions,” she said. “After a term or two, he was like: I love the humanities, and I love humanities classes here. He loves to write and had a lot of success in that in his career.” “Daniel brings his brilliance and talent to quite literally everything he does,” upper Angela Zhang said. “His writing is beautiful and so incredibly creative, and his stories are a gift to the com-
munities he’s part of.” Senior Tommy Seidel recounted an impactful article from Zhang: an introspective opinion piece on the “Varsity Blues” scandal in 2019. “He wrote about how those people that pay a ton of money just to get their kids into private school are necessary, so that people like us can go here on financial aid. That piece really showed me how unique, yet chill Daniel’s writing can be.” Zhang recalled the story most important to him: the Kaminski case report. “For the first time in my journalism career, there seemed to be a sense of urgency. I remember calling the New Hampshire Superior Court press secretary over and over again, begging for a press pass, refusing to take no for an answer, then waking up at 6:00 a.n. the next morning to call into the trial. That was the first time I realized I needed a professional degree of insistence. If we didn’t write that story, many Exeter-specific details … wouldn’t be available to the Exeter community, because the affidavit was only available to people with a press pass.” “That moment compelled me to reach a new standard for myself, and what I could give to Exeter,” Zhang continued. “In that sense, I think that we’re at our best when we’re giving to others. And, that’s why journalism is a particularly valuable form of writing because it’s always in service. There’s no such thing as self-indulgent journalism; otherwise it wouldn’t be journalism. Writing that article was just the highest level of student journalism or student competence I’ve ever seen from a group of people. That’s what’s really meaningful to me: very intense high stakes in urgent situations which bring out the best in people.” Zhang’s eloquence in the literary arts is far from being limited to clubs and publications, as his appreciation for the humanities translates into a significant presence at the Harkness table. English Instructor Patricia Burke-Hick-
Courtesy of Daniel Zhang ey said, “he displays genuine listening and the ability to notice patterns and put them together to help draw conclusions. He can see the detail in particular, such as the importance of a particular word, but also notice how that word can reverberate through a poem or through a novel.” History Instructor Leah Merrill agreed. “Daniel is philosophical. He knows the value of a piece with familiarity, and I always appreciate his positive approach and emphasis on gratitude,” she said. English Instructor Todd Hearon also lauded Zhang’s disposition at the table, noting “his insatiable curiosity matched with his seemingly limitless talent.” Hearon also noticed how Zhang’s attitude translated outside of the classroom. “He’s a very kind and considerate person. Humble. He doesn’t lord his achievements over others and he’s a loyal and compassionate friend.” Zhang’s legacy will be more than a generation of impressive writers, as it is also the positive impact he has left on those around him. “Daniel is the most prime example of what hard-working is,” alumnus Orion Bloomfield ‘20 said. “He works hard for people and that’s usually how he shows his care and love. His love language is definitely committing to acts of service to others.” Senior Chieko Imamura said “Daniel is one of the most self-aware people I know. He has a very strong sense of who he is, and he knows what he wants to do with his passions and in what ways. I really respect that, and I think it’s really impressive to develop such a strong sense of self at Exeter.” Lower Valentina Zhang described an instance where Zhang was compassionate and supportive of her. “Although I’m just a lower and he’s a very accomplished senior, I feel as though he never looks down upon me, and
instead is willing to offer his experience to help underclassmen. Once, at night outside Weth, when I was having a crisis about what I wanted to do with my life, he sat down with me over dinner and took the time to understand me and what made me happy. He truly has a lot of wisdom to share.” Alumnus JaQ Lai ’21 also noted Zhang’s solicitude. “When you’re having a conversation with Daniel, you feel like he’s really listening and he is really thinking about what you’re saying. It makes him a really engaging friend when he puts that effort in. Regardless of whether or not I agree with him all the time, the one thing I can always count on is that, when I’m talking with him, I have his full attention and I think that’s something truly special to find in someone.” “He’s so unbelievably present all the time. No matter who he’s talking to—he talks to people like, if he could pick one place in the world to be, he’d be having that conversation,” Chen said. Zhang describes his experience at the Academy with one word: gratitude. “The most important part of Exeter is realizing how much we have to be grateful for: that we’re living in the same neighborhood as our best friends, that we’re learning with invested, intelligent, and cool people, and that we have access to incredible adults who care so much about us. It’s just all so much fun.” Zhang accredits his peers for the support through arduous nights of composing history papers and taxing last-minute math review sessions. “My news editor a few years ago described Exeter as communal suffering. That’s the core of what Exeter is,” Zhang said. “Something that brings Exonians together is that you can always see someone and understand that that person knows what it’s like to stay up until 2AM grinding on that history paper. That person knows what it’s like to be so stressed and not know how they’re gonna get through the next day or whether they’re gonna sleep through their 8:00 AM class. That person knows what it feels like to suffer in the same way that I do. And because of that, I have a bond with them, even if I’ve never talked to them before; even if I’m just casually sitting down with them in Grill or at D-Hall because all the tables are full. We have some kind of connection, because we’ve been through the same thing and that’s what this community is to me. We’re all going through this really difficult, and sometimes awful, time called Exeter and because of that, we know a little bit more about each other.” Zhang encourages fellow Exonians to step out of their comfort zones. “Don’t shrink away from failure and don’t shrink away from humiliating things. Don’t shrink away from asking questions in assembly just because you think people might think it’s dumb, and don’t shrink away from making points in class, just because you think they might be too far of a reach. Don’t shrink away from asking a cohead of a club to get breakfast sometime with you. Trust me, the assembly speaker wants to hear your question. The teacher wants to hear your point and that co-head wants to get breakfast with you. You have to be open to what life gives you. I promise you it will be so much more interesting and fulfilling if you just take that opportunity.” Zhang is headed for Yale University in the fall, and, whatever path he chooses to take, it’s clear that his time at the Academy has truly transformed him into the “lover of the long shot.”
E1
Sports
GRADUATION ISSUE– CXLIV
June5, 5,2022 2022 JUNE
GRADUATION– CXLIV
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CROSS COUNTRY
SWIMMING AND DIVING
GOLF
Read about the many personal records the runners set this year at invitationals and E/a, E1
Read about the leadership that seniors exhibit in and out of the pool, E6.
Read about the golf team’s exciting preseason trip to Florida, E8.
Boys’ and Girls’ Cross Country By MICHAEL YANG A mile-long straight path along with a muddy farm and an unsuspecting turn before the finish, Deerfield’s cross-country course was the perfect setting for the boys’ and girls’ cross-country teams to impress. On that windy Saturday, the cross-country teams fought hard and packs of red-clad runners sprinted past the finish line together. One of the main highlights of the 2021 fall season, the Oct. 23 Deerfield meet saw almost all the runners achieve new personal records (PRs). Both teams managed to run down Deerfield’s cross-country team on their own parents weekend. Runners reflected on their performance with pride. “I PRed by 25 seconds, which is a lot for me,” lower Byron Grevious said. Upper Montana Dickerson shared her own PR. “I had an excellent time, PRed by over a minute. It was really fun watching everyone hit new personal records,” Dickerson said. Lower Advay Nomula added, “I PRed this meet by 1:38. Almost everyone PRed at this meet, the preps had some pretty good times, and we had a prep go under 18 minutes.” The Deerfield meet certainly was not the first, nor the last meet the cross-country teams had impressive victories at. Taking the title of New England Interschols cross-country champions for both boys and girls later on in the season, the cross-country teams have certainly run their hardest in their first cross-country season since 2019. Another meet highlight would be the victory the teams had over Choate Rosemary Hall back in September, which was also their season opener. There, the
cross country teams competed against seven other schools: Choate, Loomis, Avon, Westminster, Kingswood Oxford, and Trinity-Pawling. This was the first time since 2019 that the cross country teams competed. The boys’ head coach Brandon Newbould talked about the team mindset going into the meet. “The Choate Invitational was a strong and successful opener for us, and a celebratory return to racing. I told the boys in both races not to worry about re-asserting their dominance or making some kind of grand statement, and simply to practice and enjoy competing again,” Newbould said. “They did that, forging to the front of the veterans’ race and establishing tight packs, but along the way dominated the field.” Although the opening meet was a highlight for many, Choate’s notoriously steep hill proved a challenge for the runners. According to many of the runners, the Choate course is notorious for being one of the hardest high school courses, and apparently, it lived up to its name. “It was a really difficult course overall, so just completing the race was a highlight,” lower runner Caroline Ciaschini said. “It was also great to be able to cheer everybody on like normal and support each other.” Lower and fellow runner Tenley Nelson mentioned that the hill was one of the hardest parts of the course. “One of the highlights of the meet could be the humongous hill at the end of mile number two, which was probably the biggest hill I’ve raced on,” Nelson said. Lower runner David Goodall described the races and course. “There were three races, the boys’ veteran race, girls’ veteran, and combined boys’ and girls’ novice race. The Exeter
boys’ team had fourteen people in the veteran race and the rest of the team was novice,” Goodall said. “Choate has a very beautiful but hilly and physically demanding course.” However, the meet set a positive tone for the season to come, as post-graduate runner Kamran Murray reflected on his feelings and experience running for Big Red. “For me, as someone coming into Exeter as a PG [post-graduate], I have lots of experience racing XC all over the country but to put on the Exeter singlet and run with a team instead of a lot of solo races that were all too common during COVID was something I treasured and look forward to doing more of this season,” Murray said. The cross-country teams have multiple preps and lowers, which meant this was the first cross-country season for many of the Exeter runners. For example, the Choate meet was a season-opener for many, but was also the first 5K many of the runners had ever raced.
“This was my first cross country meet ever, and I would say it lived up to my expectations!” Nelson said. “All the different teams camped out near the start/ finish, with lots of spectators walking around. The overall atmosphere was very fun, and I had a great time!” Lower runner Annika Finelli added, “I loved it. This was my first ever high school meet, because we were unable to travel due to COVID last year, and I loved the amount of energy coming from the team.” The success of the cross-country teams are largely owed to their supportive and leading captains. Seniors Bradley St. Laurent and Alex Kermath served as the boys’ captains, while seniors Lindsay Machado and Kaitlyn Flowers were the girls’ captains. Flowers’ passion for cross country can be seen in her dedication towards the sport and her team. Fellow senior Anika Tsai said about Flowers, “One of my favorite things about Kaitlyn is her take-care-of-business attitude in the most posi-
tive way, which not only includes getting workouts done, but also means she always shows up when you need her, from cheering on teammates to making sure that you take care of yourself when you’re not having a good day at practice.” Upper Tristen Crotty added, “Kaitlyn is super organized and helps get everyone together at the beginning of practices. A lot of people admire her drive and dedication to cross country.” Like Flowers, Machado also came to Cross Country via another sport. “I started running cross country in seventh grade, mostly as a form of cross training for the swim season, but quickly grew to love the sport. Running on a team was a new experience, and the reason why I stuck with it,” Machado said. Machado is noted for her contagiously positive attitude and easygoing nature on the team. Tsai said, “As captain, Lindsay fosters a sense of team community by bringing cross-country traditions like dress-up Fridays and informal team din-
Joy Chi/The Exonian ners after practice. She has an aura of knowing what to do that I think can set people at ease.” The combination of Machado and Flowers’ leadership is noted by the team. Tsai said of the dynamic between the two captains, “I think that Lindsay and Kaitlyn complement each other well. Like any two people, they have their own styles and routines, so they are able to combine their talents to support a whole team.” Upper Sophia Green said, “Lindsay and Kaitlyn are truly the backbone of our team and will be missed next year!” Whether it be the amazing community cross-country brings to Exeter’s runners, or the success ran on countless courses across New England, it is clear that the boys’ and girls’ cross-country teams will bring home personal records and victorious races for years to come.
Girls’ Field Hockey
By KATE ROSE The girls’ varsity field hockey team, led by senior captains Victoria Quinn, Molly Longfield, and Carolyn Fortin, achieved a record of 4 wins and 10 losses. Girls’ field hockey players arrived one week prior to the start of school for their preseason training. With a new head coach, Sam Fahey, and the addition of not having a season for nearly
two years, the girls team had sort of a slow start. Preseason training consisted of double practices, one at 7:45 a.m. and the other at 3:30 p.m., as well as scrimmages and walkthroughs. The new Head Coach talked about returning to Big Red after coaching in the Ivy League. “For me, this has been something I have wanted to do for a long time; come back to PE, establish a program and install a culture of competitiveness, hard work and
fun.” She continued, “the team has really welcomed me with open arms and they have already made great strides in the first few weeks,” Fahey said. Upper player Anjali Frary said, “the transition to the new coach developed a quick hard-working environment and culture for the team. Coach Sam does a good job implementing her vision for different positions for each player.” The team has built up a super tight-knit bond during
preseason, with each player having everyone else’s backs. Lower player Emilia Kniestedt said, “the team went to all meals together and there were a lot of naps in between sessions to ensure a powerful and successful afternoon practice.” The team achieved their first win of the season against Brewster Academy. Exeter led the game with a two to nothing after the first half, and kept it all the way until the last minute of the fourth.
Joy Chi/The Exonian Frary talked about the captains. “The captains really got us going from the very first whistle. They lead by example through cheers and making sure everyone put in 100% effort until the play ended.” As for Coach Fahey’s impact, lower player Adora Perry said, “Coach Sam has given us a lot of helpful critique in practice that has definitely helped us figure out what things we
are doing well as well as areas of improvement.” Kniestedt added to Perry’s words, “the team has definitely improved in our areas like accurate passing, ball awareness, and communication between players and coaches since the first day of preseason.” Coach Fahey talked about some of the highlights and standouts of the season so far. “Upper Grace Puchalski and prep Allie Bell, who are new to the game of field hockey just this year, keep continuing to amaze and impress me! They have both grown so much since September and they have been a solid force in our backfield.” She continued on, “Upper Eden Welch, lower Adora Perry and senior Taylor Nelson continue to be the driving force in our attack. It’s fun to watch them connect on the field.” Rose added, “My favorite part of the season this year was our first home game win. We had the crowd cheering us on and we really felt like a team, all supporting each other and having fun. I just remember the feeling at the end of the game, feeling exhausted but also insanely happy.” The team eventually ended their season with a 3-7 defeat against Andover. The team has high hopes in store for the upcoming 2022 fall season.
E2 D20
GRADUATION ISSUE– CXLIV
Fall
June 5, 5, 2022 2022 June
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SOCCER Read about the girls’ soccer team’s energy and team spirit, E2.
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VOLLEYBALL
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Read about the captains’ growing athleticism and initiative on the teams, E3.
WATER POLO Read about the boys’ water polo teams’ breathtaking performance after two extra time periods, E3.
Boys’ Football
By JONATHAN JEUN and MICHAEL YANG With a sharp whistle, the referees marked the end of the 2021 Exeter vs. Andover football game. A blur of red stormed the field as hundreds of Exeter spectators shouted in joy. For the first time in decades, Exeter destroyed Andover with a score of 37-6. Led by senior captains Ethan Aguilar, Cam Anderson, and Trevor Chun, Big Red Football ended their season with a stunning victory. For many players, the game against Andover was the highlight of the season.“The atmosphere was something I have never experienced in my life,” upper Joseph Doherty stated. “The football team hadn’t been winning a lot, so when we beat Andover, a school we
hadn’t beat in years, it was crazy. I am so glad I was a part of it.” Upper Chris Macarthur agreed. “It was raining, but no one cared. Exeter watched from the stands and you could hear the whole school race down the stadium cheering,” Macarthur said. “Even though we lost a lot of the games this year, that one moment was all that mattered.” Although Big Red lost some games, the players played their best and made some impressive plays. “Caleb Phillips had this insanely long run play that got a touchdown. He was definitely one of our most standout players,” Doherty expressed. “He could do a lot — running back, quarter-back, and defense.” Macarthur praised captain Ethan Aguilar for his
supportive and competitive attitude throughout the season. “He had such a strong work ethic, always coming to practice early, grinding, setting an example for us to look up to,” he said. “Even though our team was pretty young, mostly juniors and lowers, he was authoritative and encouraged us to do our best.” The Exeter Athletics Department hired Panos Voulgaris as the new head football coach for the fall of 2021. Coming from the Noble & Greenough School, Voulgaris arrived at the Academy this fall with his wife, a career teacher and coach, and his three children. Football team members and the Athletics Department alike shared excitement about Voulgaris’ arrival and the future of the football team.
Courtesy of Exeter Athletics
Voulgaris spent the last three years working as a History Instructor, Assistant Director of Admissions and Head Football Coach at the Noble & Greenough School. Voulgaris also served as a History Instructor and Head Football Coach at The Taft School from 2007 to 2012 and Episcopal High School from 2012 to 2018, and Assistant Football Coach at Blair Academy from 2005 to 2007. Prior to the start of his career, Voulgaris received a Bachelor’s Degree for History and Political Science from Merrimack College and a Master’s Degree in History from Harvard University. During his career as a head football coach, Voulgaris has led multiple football teams to championships in New England. Voulgaris’ work in Di-
versity, Equity and Inclusion was also a notable factor that distinguished him in the hiring process. “[Voulgaris] has been focused on DEI work for decades,” Athletics Director Jason Baseden said. “He received his Master’s in Liberal Arts from Harvard with a concentration in History. The emphasis of his program was on African American studies.” Former team Head Coach William Glennon looks forward to seeing the team’s growth under Voulgaris’ lead despite the impacts that COVID-19 had on last season. “This past COVID Season was a challenge without outside competition but again the student/athletes came every day with a great attitude
different formations or different styles of play or put different players in different positions. We also did a lot of technical work to keep us ready for the actual season. It was a lot of preparation work, and necessary work at that.” Ross agreed. “I think there’s great chemistry between everyone all over the field. I think over preseason we built a desire to lift up our teammates, and so we feel so much more like a community now. We’re a unit, and we’re here to win. And I think we demonstrate that grit through communication and everyone wanting each other to play well,” Ross said.
Older players on the team also assumed positions of leadership on and off the field. “In this league, you know, everyone’s big and rough and scrappy. When I came here my prep year it was really tough to stay on my feet and not put my head down, especially when I was getting overpowered,” Ross said. “So now I’m glad I could be the one who’s more comfortable being vocal, who can rally the team and offer younger players ways to improve or help them navigate some of the difficulties.” “Our team this year is, at least in my four years at Exeter, one of the best we’ve had. Everyone’s
and we improved as players, coaches and as a team,” Glennon said. “We were very talented this season with several of the athletes going on to play college football or other sports… the base is there and we have had three years of recruiting talent as well as a base from the 9th and 10th grade athletes and now is the time for Coach Voulgaris to step in and take the team to the next level. He is an exceptional coach, man, father, husband, educator and mentor of young adults! We have found the right person!” Voulgaris expressed excitement to work with the football team at the Academy. “I know that Exeter attracts wonderful students and athletes, and I am really excited about taking on the challenge of leading the football program at the Academy,” Voulgaris said. “I hope that the football team is one that takes a lot of pride in its work ethic, has a great attitude, plays well together, stresses the value of family, and has a lot of resilience. More than anything, I hope the football team works together to accomplish the team’s goals.” “It’s important to me to get to know the kids, and know their stories. Everytime I coach a team, I love getting to know the kids, their backgrounds, where they come from, what means a lot to them, and what they hope to get out of football,” Voulgaris added. “That’s what makes football teams special—the bonds and the relationships that come with being a part of a football team.”
Boys’ and Girls’ Soccer By CHELSEA ZHAO The girls’ soccer season kicked off with brilliant shows of skill and comraderie. Led by senior captains Kate Mautz, Alex Singh, and upper captain Kaylee Bennett, the team finished the season achieving a record of five wins, nine losses, and four tied games. On Sep. 29, the girls played Holderness and secured their first win of the season, with a 3-0 shutout. With their newfound chemistry, the girl’s midfield and offense were able to improve their teamwork, leading them to a successful home win. “The team’s aggression and heart was there since day one. Eventually we improved our organization on defense and in the midfield,” coach Alexa Caldwell said, crediting the midfield for staying consistently organized through the entire game. Senior Nicole Craighead agreed. “Defender Jenna Silvestri hit really great long balls, helping the transition from defense to attack,” Craighead said. The team’s sturdy defense was able to maintain a clean sheet. Lower Kahliya Clayton commented on the support her teammates provided before stressful games. The team commences each home game with a pregame ritual. “We get hyped pregame in the locker room by blasting music,” Clayton
shared. Craighead loves the energy in the stadium, stating, “We love all the support we get, it really does motivate us to play harder.” At home games especially, not only was the energy up, “it is relaxing because the field is familiar,” Clayton added. “Not having to travel gives me time to prepare and stretch out for the game better.” At the girls’ E/a match, they lost 1-2. Coach Caldwell emphasized the importance of the team’s persistent passion and intensity. “Above all, we strive to put in 110 percent effort,” Caldwell said. Girls varsity soccer is proud of the hard fought season. They intend to carry their continual passion and effort into future games. The boys’ team, led by senior captains Aiden Silvestri and Jon Jean Baptiste, achieved a record of eight wins, four losses, and four tied games this year. Senior Xavier Ross, who had attended soccer preseason the first time his prep year, found a familiar home on the field once again before his final year at the Academy. “Great companionship, great teammates, and just great soccer being played. The friendly atmosphere you feel with every single teammate,” Ross said. “That’s soccer here at the Academy.” The varsity soccer
team’s preseason consisted of training sessions and two scrimmages for the boys. “Frankly, just being able to play without masks on and see everyone in the team again that way felt pretty special,” boys’ varsity soccer coach A. J. Cosgrove said. “This year our kids are getting a chance to actually enjoy a season.” The team enjoyed their practices. “It was nice being on campus before everyone else, to be able to take advantage of the space and the free time to bond as a team,” upper Nick Rose said. “We trained with a new awareness for our teammates. It also gave time for the coaches to try out
Joy Chi/The Exonian really dedicated to the sport and that has a huge impact on what our team is capable of. That’s really promising and exciting for me and our entire team,” Silvestri said. “We’re going to be very competitive this season and our hope is that we can go on to the playoffs and win all the games in the league.” For the boys’ team, they won 3-1 at E/A, ending their season on a good note. Silvestri wanted to commend the team’s phenomenal work. “Keep bringing the spirit and energy to training and games. If we dream big, I think we can accomplish it.”
June June 5, 5, 2022 2022
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Boys’ and Girls’ Volleyball
By ARHON STRAUSS The whistle blows. The Varsity Boys’ and Girls’ Volleyball team receive, spike and dig the volleyball, connecting a string of plays before winning the point and the set. The girls’ team had a 13-3 season in the fall, but still played with the boys this spring as managers. Cross team play is a long held tradition in Exeter volleyball. The girls’ team was led by senior captains Kelsey Austin, KG Buckham-White and Elizabeth Handte as well as coaches Suzan Rowe and Bruce Shang. The boys’ team was led by senior captains Charlie Thibault and Chris Antosiewicz as well
as coaches Suzan Rowe and Bruce Shang. Both teams expressed that the captains set a great example. Senior player Kitty Coats said, “Kelsey is ‘the silent savage’ type, not super showy but turns into an absolute beast on the court.” Handte follows a similar thread to Austin. Upper Sofia Morais said, “Liz [Handte] always brings a positive attitude to practice, and she’s one of the hardest working on the team. Her energy is contagious, and she is very dedicated to making everyone on the team better.” Upper Hannah Rubin added to Morais’ words, “KG is an outsider and I
admire her consistency and all around volleyball IQ. In addition to being an amazing hitter, her jump serve gets us aces and her passing is always on point,” Rubin said. “I never see her slacking off during drills or lifting; she’s always trying her best!” Shang added that all three captains are, “wonderful and dependable people.” Team members attested to the boys’ captains’ warm personalities. “I really got to know them more this year,” upper Rupert Ramsay said. “I found out that they’re both very kind, supportive people. Even when you’re struggling, they’re always there to pick you up. Whenever I serve out or into the net, they’re always there to
give me a high five. And that’s always something that I appreciated,” Ramsay said. Lower Jacob Fernandez echoed Ramsay’s sentiment. “They maintain a consistent positive mindset throughout their matches. If they ever criticize a player, it’s only in a constructive fashion.” The coaches commented on the captains growth. “They’ve changed since they first started,” Shang continued. “Now they have to lead and they have to learn new positions on the team. Chris was a middle and Charlie started as a libero, now Chris plays outside hitter—our best weapon— and Charlie plays setter, acting as our offensive coordinator.”
The captains reflected the team’s support, “I think the team naturally is very close with each other,” Thibault said. “I don’t know why. Maybe it’s because the majority of the team walks to D-hall after practice together and gets dinner together. I think we just naturally foster a very inviting team culture and a big part of that is that we’re just having fun.” Coach Rowe also attested to the captains’ skills. “Charlie’s athleticism is what makes him so successful. He’s able to get to balls very quickly. And I think Chris has just taken a real likeness to the game and it’s able to make him a huge contributor.” “I mean, obviously you
Joy Chi/The Exonian want stuff to be positive. You don’t really want there to be any negative energy. So during practice I really want to try and make sure there’s energy and we’re happy and we’re getting into it, but I’m definitely a very competitive person,” Antosiewicz added. “So I’m always trying to win. I do like to have a little fun and try to get people to laugh a little bit. There’s definitely times where I’m trying to get people to lock in and take things seriously. And so I think we have a good mix of that.” Both teams enjoyed great seasons. The girls, after a grueling match, took a 3-1 win over Andover at E/A.
Boys’ and Girls’ Water Polo
By MICHAEL YANG The game was deadlocked; the two teams were tied after two extra time periods. Upper captain Patrick McCann marked an opposing team player on their attacking side of the pool. Senior captain Hayden Giles wrestled in front of the cage for control of the ball. Giles threw the ball to McCann. It floated gently on the water surface as players from the opposing team frantically swam towards it, attempting to defend their goal. For a moment, apart from the mass of supporters from both teams shouting, ‘Shoot, shoot, shoot,’ the pool atmosphere was deafeningly silent. McCann was in his zone; he elegantly grabbed the ball and swam closer to the goal. Rising like a phoenix, he reached above the water towards the sky and ushered the ball, pow-
erfully yet intentionally, to the backboard. Bang. The crowd stood up and applauded in amazement as the team celebrated Giles’s steal and McCann’s goal that won them the game. Giles shared his experience of beginning water polo in his prep year. “My brother, who also played water polo, graduated right before I came here. I knew the seniors and uppers already. They mentored me and paved the way for me to now become a senior leader on the water polo and swim team,” Giles said. “I got my boys from California, like Patrick and Dax. I got my boys from Exeter too. We have our preps from Cilley, Mason and Winston. Overall, we just have a very inclusive culture.” He continued, commenting on his team’s recent progress. “It wasn’t really a season last year where we were fostering
this new wave of younger kids to come in and take the torch. When games actually started up again, we all got vaccinated. I think we see that happening,” Giles said. “The starting lineup for our team is one senior, basically all uppers and a couple of lowers. Due to a lot of new emerging talents from preps, we created an honor JV team. I think we’ve been facilitating that focus for a while, especially during the last season when the seniors were leaving.” McCann’s journey in water polo began similarly to Giles’. “[At home] I live like five minutes from Hayden, so it’s no surprise that I tried water polo. My school before Exeter fostered water polo really well. At one point or another, everyone tried the sport for at least a few weeks. After that, I just stuck with it,” he said. Under the captains’ leadership, team members have had
a fun and victory-filled experience this season. “It’s been great having these two captains on the team. They’re really bringing their experience from California over to us and we’re really learning from the best. They lead by example and it’s been really inspiring seeing them in the pool, putting out their best, and taking this team to the next level,” senior Russell Tam said. During Family Weekend, the boys’ team defeated St. John’s Prep and Williston in two emphatic back-to-back wins, with finals scores of 18-0 against St. John’s Prep, and 13-12 against Williston. The match against Williston was especially deadlocked; Big Red led Williston by one point during the first two quarters, but were tied by the end of the last two quarters. The match entered two three-minute extra overtime periods where Exeter
Joy Chi/The Exonian and Williston both remained tied. McCann scored the goal one minutes and seventeen seconds into the golden shot period and won it for Exeter. Don Mills, Head Coach for “Bear Polo,” shared his thoughts on the Family Weekend wins. “It was great that we were able to play two games because our team members got great playing time. And then to have a very competitive game on that Saturday that went into overtime was thrilling. So it made it worthwhile to have the back-to-back and come away with two wins.” Upper Matthew Dame talked about the factors that led to the team’s success. “Thanks to a lot of conditioning from Coach Mills last week, and just really getting in the team mindset, we set out what we needed to do. We want to show up
and give our all, especially on Family Weekend,” Dame said. Upper Dax Knoll added, “We’ve been working more on hard press defense and not letting up as many goals on things such as breakaways as well as taking smarter shots and increasing the amount of passes that we have for possession.” “The first game was a statement. The second game was an example,” Knoll concluded. The regular season ended with a record of 8 wins and 1 loss, not to mention the team’s excitement after smacking Andover early on in the season and then again in early November. But things got interesting at interschols, the tournament hosted by Exeter on E/a weekend. Exeter came into interschols with great confidence but fell short to Hopkins in the first round by one goal. But Big Red came right back when playing the 4th seed against Williston, and won 10-8, one of the goals being our own goalie Jack Hudson sending the ball flying across the entire pool and landing top right into the goal in the final seconds of the first half. This left Williston in dire need of some oxygen tanks in order to last through the second half. The girls’ water polo recently started up in its spring season. COVID-19 restrictions since spring of 2020 has unfortunately deprived the girls’ team of full two seasons of water polo experience, hurting the team’s level of familiarity with the sport. The team thus far has fallen short to a record of 0-3 but have plans to continue putting in the work each and everyday at practice to improve as the season progresses. The water polo teams are full of young talent, all hoping to dominate the field in the coming years.
D22
GRADUATION ISSUE– CXLIV
June 5, 2022
June 5, 2022
GRADUATION ISSUE– CXLIV
E1
E3
E2
E2 E4
GRADUATION ISSUE– CXLIV CXLIV GRADUATION ISSUE–
Winter
E4
June 5, 5, 2022 2022 June
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BASKETBALL
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Read about the basketball teams’ improvements in defense and midfielding, E4.
SQUASH
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Read about how the five captains of this year’s squash teams came to love the sport, E5.
WRESTLING Read about the wrestlers’ transition back from COVID-19 restrictions, E6.
Boys’ and Girls’ Basketball By MICHAEL YANG Splash! Exeter basketball drains yet another three-pointer from deep. The fans packed in the stands erupt. The boys’ basketball team led by senior captain Josh Morisette achieved a record of 11 wins and three losses. The team braved through a long season to make it to the playoffs, where eventually they were defeated by Milton in a close game 52-56. On the girls’ side, their season led by senior captains Ana Casey and Cecilia Treadwell, had a record of four wins and 16 losses. Compared by his teammates and coaches to the likes of basketball legends Larry Bird, Demar Derozen, and Jayson Tatum, Morrisette is a driven force of nature on the court. Indeed, since arriving at the Academy as a new lower, Morrisette has been a star on the basketball team, an enthusiastic Red Bandit, and a caring presence in the community. As a captain, Morrisette, committed to Wolford, emphasized the importance of staying true to their goal of winning the New England Championship, “hanging a banner,” and taking it day by day. “We really have to connect with each other on the court like we do off the court,” Morrisette said. “We have a team that could be really good, but if we don’t get better, we won’t be better.” Standing at six feet and nine inches tall, senior Dominick Campbell, now committed to Notre Dame, is another impressive player on the court. Known amongst his teammates for his in-game versatility, Campbell also possesses an
admirable work ethic. Pushing towards excellence on and off the court each practice, Campbell is an inspiration to his teammates and coaches. Campbell takes full advantage of his height when playing basketball. “Dom is a nightmare to so many people. He’s got the size where he can go post someone up and score down low, but he has got this skill where he can take someone off the dribble or knock down a shot. He is someone you want on your team and not to play against because he can do it all,” Morissette said. Boys’ varsity basketball coach Jay Tilton witnessed Campbell’s growth over the last two years. “Dom’s commitment to his physical development and ownership of his progress has been remarkable. He has played with a higher level of intensity on the defensive end and committed to working on the things that will make him a good college player,” Tilton said. On January 15, the team traveled down to Connecticut for a highly-anticipated game against Choate. After reuniting with many players who were in quarantine, the team won the game with a 61-48 score. As one of the first games of the season, players and coaches alike congratulated themselves on a positive team dynamic and a drive to win. In response to the increased number of quarantined players, the team stepped up and pushed themselves harder in preparation for the game. Post-graduate Chandler Pigge reflected on his teammates’ hard work in their preparations for the game ahead. “We had multiple guys out with COVID and close contacts including myself, so the other half of the
team that was there pushed themselves to the utmost. All credit to those guys for holding the fort down,” Pigge said. “Then, when we all did get back, we created our energy again to find us again and be ready to go for Choate because despite our challenges here, the game was still happening and we had to be ready.” Senior and teammate Andreas Lorgen described the team’s consistent energy at practices despite the COVID setbacks. “The highlight of the Choate game was really just being able to go down there and execute on what we had practiced before it. Our practices are always high energy and these were no different, we knew we wouldn’t have our own fans down at Choate so we had to create our own energy once we got there,” he said.
Senior Fawaz Omidiya called the atmosphere “electric.” “We were all really hyped up and they had a huge crowd. They probably had 50 to 70 kids in the crowd and they were all yelling,” Omidiya said. “We were all throwing down really cool dunks before the game. It was very, very energetic. And it just felt electric because it was nice to be on the road and also because it was a very personal game.” “Coach Tilton and assistant coach Phil Rowe build an atmosphere of growth and development that supports the pursuit of excellence… We produced well from both sides of the ball. Big win, big step forward,” Assistant Coach Rick Breault of the boys’ team concluded. On the girls’ team, captain Casey talked about one of their in-season games against Cho-
ate. “We were communicating more on the court though there is still room for improvement... Our press break was really good. We’ve gotten flustered in other games…[but] in this game, we were able to break it pretty consistently and quickly, and we got a couple fast breaks off of it too, so overall our defense was really good,” Casey said. “Throughout the game, I felt as though we started with good, strong energy which began with our win at the tipoff,” upper Bridgette Martin added. Prep Anna Holtz agreed. “I was really excited and proud of my friends on the court for trying really hard and playing their best. I think I got more excited throughout the game because of the energy that other people on the bench were bringing,” Holtz said.
Courtesy of Brian Muldoon “By the end of the game, people were getting super excited, and even though we were losing, it was still really fun to watch,” Holtz added. During the season, the girls’ team grew stronger by the day, the team becoming more and more eager to pull off wins. As Head Coach Katie Brule said to the players, “Go into each game believing we can win, I’m so proud of this team.” Near the end of the season, both basketball teams went head-to-head with our rival, Andover, and Big Red did not disappoint. The girls crushed Andover 56-49, and the boys came back with a win of 6560.
Boys’ and Girls’ Hockey
By MICHAEL YANG The puck flies past the goalie and clutters against the bar to win the game. The Boys’ and Girls’ Hockey teams lit up the ice this past season, the boys headed by senior captains Manan Mendiratta and Kurt Gurkan and the girls under senior captains Grace Emmick, Kathryn Welch, Victoria Quinn, and upper captain Shauna Vadeboncoeur. The boys achieved a record of an outstanding 17 wins, seven losses and three ties. The girls have records of eight wins and 11 losses. On the girls’ team, head coach Sally Komarek spoke about the
role the captains play on the team. “The captains are my go-to group to get a sense of how the team is doing collectively, and if there are any individuals who need more support, care, or anything else. They let me know if someone is having a tough day or has exciting news to share, and they help me read the energy of the team,” Komarek said. “The captains do an excellent job of setting the tone for our team, and they’re active in contribution to our team norms and expectations.” Indeed, the team captains help make the team a welcoming environment for everyone. “I love all of the captains on the [Girls’ Varsity Ice Hockey] team. Honestly,
I didn’t even know some of them until the hockey season started, but they have been so welcoming and uplifting especially as a new student,” lower Jessica Chen said. “We’re all very close to one another! The captains do an amazing job with leading the team. We’re definitely friends as much as we are teammates.” Being captain is more than a title for Welch. “Leadership on our team is definitely more than just captains. Everyone still has a role and yes, the captains have a little bit more responsibility, but everyone has that same power to make the change that they wanna see,” she said. “So, I was definitely really excited to be named captain, and
Courtesy of Brian Muldoon I was just looking forward to being a leader on the team.” Lower Jocelyn Orr elaborated on the importance of captains and the energy that they bring. “The captains definitely boost our confidence and help us when we need it. They also bring amazing energy to our games and practices which hypes us up as well. They definitely do bring out the best in us,” she said. Komarek is proud of the captains for all of their passion for the team and sport. “I think that this leadership group has worked hard and is continuing to work hard to show that being captain
is not to be above or removed from the rest of the team, but as the teammates most responsible for caring for others. That isn’t something I’ve always seen at Exeter, and I applaud this group of captains for their work so far, but I also challenge them to continue to commit to this throughout the season,” Komarek said. On the boys’ team, they prevailed over New Hampton School in a decisive comeback win with a score of 4-2 on Dec. 15. Assistant Coach Brandon Hew described the players’ resilience in the third period, putting extra emphasis on the team’s stellar defensive effort. “Once we took the lead in the third period, I thought it was a very good team effort to close out the game and get the win,” Hew said. “Killing off their 5-on-3 powerplay in the third was especially huge for us.” Many players took note of the audience’s energy feeding into their playing. “The crowd was a great bonus. I’m enjoying the lively atmosphere through high competition and teammates,” Mendiratta said. Mendiratta additionally shared that the team is keeping up the training regimen during the pandemic. “We are hosting daily zoom sessions to watch films. We’re more intentional before games on what we watch and the things we focus on. In game, the team is always ready to adapt though,” Mendiratta said. At the conclusion of
winter term, the boys’ hockey team had not yet concluded their season. Big Red defeated Andover for the third straight time this season and proceeded on to the second round of the Martin/Earl Large School Tournament. An exciting first period saw Kurt Gurkan open the scoring just three minutes into the game to give Big Red an early 1-0 lead. Andover would tie the score midway through the first before Michael Dinges added a short handed goal to give Exeter a 2-1 edge heading into the first intermission. The game would stay 2-1 until Big Red added an empty net goal with ten seconds remaining. The team would eventually be defeated in a 3-7 loss against Kent in the second round of the playoffs. Through it all, Head Coach Tim Mitropoulos was proud of the team’s consistent effort. “The team focused on getting better every day and competing hard from the defensive zone outward,” he said. “Every chance we get to play, we will not take it for granted.” “I am excited to spend time with this group and compete as a team. There is nothing more exhilarating and rewarding than working with a group of dedicated student-athletes and seeing them overcome challenges, push each other to improve, and find joy in being around one another,” Komarek concluded.
June 5,5, 2022 2022 June
Boys’ and Girls’ Squash
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E3 E5
By MICHAEL YANG The girls’ Varsity Squash Team has enjoyed numerous victories this past season, and many players attribute the team’s success to their captains’ leadership. This year, the three captains for the Girls’ Squash team are seniors Dorothy Baker, Kate Manderlink, and Lucy Weil. Along with the excellent guidance from the captains, the team takes pride in their positive team dynamic and significant effort from every player. The captains led the team to a record of 6 wins and 5 losses. Many players said that they would describe their captains as “leaders by example.” Lower Pippa Pflaum said, “The captains get to practice really early and get right onto the court to warm up. I get thinking I am early and Dorothy is already on court warming up and Kate is stretching. Their commitment to the team and sport motivate me to show up early and work hard.” Aside from captains, the team as a whole strives to win matches, make fun memories, and maintain a cheerful environment. Baker recalled their team cheers: “Something that we do as a team when we play games, is after we do the initial introductions we get in a huddle and we wait for the other team to cheer. Then, after they cheer, we cheer louder and I think that’s always a nice tradition.” Lavin describes a highlight of the squash coaches dressing up, “One of my favorite moments was when Coach Lovey dressed as the Grinch the day before winter break and played in her costume.”
“As captains, we try and stay really positive and energetic and I think that reflects in the team too! When some people are happy, it’s like it translates,” Manderlink said. Whether it be team lifts or playing challenge matches, regular team practices bring the team together. Baker described the team meetings they have at the beginning of every practice. “We have a little team meeting where we just chat, and people are usually happy to be there. It is generally a positive environment. Even when we do challenge matches or anything that’s otherwise kind of stressful, people still work really hard and they put a lot of effort in,” Baker said. “It’s nice to
see people get better and grow as a team.” In spite of COVID-19 restrictions and the dreary New England winter weather, Baker admires her teammates for always bringing a positive attitude, both on and off the court. Baker says, “I respect how happy people can be in the winter. It’s crazy how people come to the court when it’s often really snowy and gray outside, but everyone is still smiling. They’re still running their hardest. They’re still laughing when they’re messing up and it’s just cool seeing people bring joy to an otherwise very dreary environment.” The weekend before finals week during the winter term, both the boys and girls teams headed down to
the high school squash Nationals, where both teams played outstandingly and bonded over the course of the trip. Overall, the team had an amazing time at the national/interschols matches. “We have an amazing team this year and I feel lucky that I get to coach them and see them continue to excel as squash players, teammates, friends and leaders,” Coach Lovey Oliff concluded. On the boys’ side, senior captain Ben Ehrman and upper captain Eric Zhang led the team to a record of 6 wins and 5 losses. The boys’ squash team played against Andover on Feb. 2 for an interscholastic match held at home. Though Exeter suffered a
zero to seven loss against Andover, they showcased their fighting spirit and look forward to a strong end to their regular season. “Although the Andover match was tough, we maintained a lot of team camaraderie and spirit. The matches were close ones and everyone gave it their best shot. It was a challenging day but we kept our spirits up and played hard to the end. We are all looking forward to a rematch,” lower Ryan Breen added. Ehrman commented on the audience turnout as well. “The Fisher squash center was the most packed I’ve seen since the start of the pandemic. It was great to see we had that much support from the Exeter community.”
Big Red faced off against Andover twice over the course of the season. In their individual dual meet, Exeter dominated with a 43-31 win. Later in the season, the team faced off against Andover at Class A’s, with Andover taking third place and Exeter taking second. For some teammates, the matches against Andover would be some of the most memorable duals of the season. Rosen talked about some of the challenges he faced. “On the day of the match, I was actually bumped up to another weight class so I ended up going against someone who was about 30 pounds heavier than
me. It was definitely a bit intimidating but when I finally got in the adrenaline just took over. I had a great match but got tired and lost on points,” Rosen said. Dey was proud of his teammate upper Jonathan Jeun’s performance. “Jeun is an integral part of our team so we all get really hyped up when it’s his turn on the mat,” Dey said, “In Jeun’s match against Andover, he hit a textbook high crotch into a double leg and the match was basically over from there. Love them or hate them, Andover’s teams are always fun to go up against.” As Exeter’s wrestlers await their next season,
Courtesy of Alex Masoudi Many players commented on facing defeat against Andover at the match. “I can’t speak for the team, but I believe in our squash team,” prep Byran Huang said. “As our coach says, it’s not losing if you learned something from that experience. I think our team received motivation and lessons in each loss we encountered, and we will use them for our future matches.” Both teams concluded their seasons with high hopes for the future season. Ehrman said, “we have a lot of young talent and players on our teams and I cannot wait to see them dominate in the coming years!”
Boys’ and Girls’ Wrestling By JONATHAN JEUN As the referees announce a takedown, Exeter’s Wrestling team cheers from the stands. Led by senior captains Mattthew Indelicarto and Zander Galli, Big Red Wrestling finished their season this past winter with a record of ten wins and three losses. In early February, Exeter hosted the Class A’s tournament. The team spent seven long hours on the mats, facing schools like Andover, Choate, and Hotchkiss. Throughout the tournament, Big Red dominated the mats. Six Exeter wrestlers finished in the top three of their weight divisions, propelling Big Red to the second place spot in the tournament. Boys’ Varsity Wrestling team head coach David Hudson commented on the team’s hard work and ability to learn quickly. “We are a fairly young team and the competitive experience is critical for us to develop as a team. Our wrestlers are working hard, and both the coaches and athletes feel good about where we are heading into the new year.” This season, the wrestling team welcomed many new wrestlers onto the mat. For some, the introduction to the sport was an experience unlike any other. “I will admit I was a bit intimidated at first, but that feeling dissipated the second I got on the mat,” lower Alex Rosen said. “Watching everyone wrestle was amazing. There’s a sort of camara-
derie in cheering-on your teammates that you rarely get anywhere else. It was an incredible experience. The anticipation, excitement, and adrenaline all built up.” For some returning teammates, the season’s matches were competitive and supportive. “It was great watching the team come together,” senior manager Jack Hudson said. “Teammates were crowded around the mat for each match, cheering and shouting, especially for the wrestlers stepping up to fill in for players that were out. Overall, the atmosphere was full of excitement and triumph for Big Red.” Upper Nate Puchalski agreed. “The matches were both fun and competitive. All the guys had each other’s backs, hyping each other up before individual matches and motivating them during. It was great to see the new guys wrestle their first matches. Their performance showed that they’ve been working hard in the wrestling room.” Because the team lost the last competitive season due to the pandemic, this season was full of learning and improvement. “We learned about the things we need to work on. We have worked hard focusing on fundamentals,” Coach Hudson said. “It felt good to just be wrestling again. With COVID taking away a year of wrestling and our first match of the new year being canceled due to the return protocols, it was nice to just get matches,”
senior Antar Dey added. “The team struggled with injuries and COVID but put an experienced line-up out there,” Hudson said. “We had some wrestlers without a lot of experience come through for us. Overall, a very solid performance.” This winter season, returning wrestlers refound their spot on the mat and wrestled at a highly competitive level. Rosen applauded his teammate, Puchalski, stating, “There were a lot of really exciting matches this season. I personally really liked Nate Puchalski’s matches. He’s one of the best wrestlers on the team but had some really tough matches,” he said.
Coach Hudson reflected on the team’s capacity for improvement. “We learned about the things we need to work on. We have worked hard focusing on fundamentals.” Hudson said. “I’m looking forward to getting back in the wrestling room and working hard to get better and build on the momentum we had going into the break,” Hudson added. With a strong finished season under their belt, the team is ready to achieve more of their goals. “We’re taking things one day and one week at a time. Lots of big meets ahead of us. Trying to get healthy and training hard,” Dey said.
Courtesy of Hillary Yoon
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Boys’ and Girls’ Swimming and Diving
By MICHAEL YANG Beep! The boys and girls’ varsity swim teams blast off the blocks and pierce through the water. Both teams this past season have raced to records of five wins and one loss. The weekend prior to winter term finals week, both teams spent eight hours on a bus ride down to Pennsylvania to compete at Easterns swimming championships. Personal records were being broken left and right, the team exploding from the energy saved up during the taper before the meet. After a weekend of gruesome trials and finals sessions, Exeter took home fifth overall under head coaches Don Mills and Nicole Benson. At the end of the winter term, after everyone was thoroughly drained through by the gruesome New England winter season, both swim teams had to stay an extra weekend on campus to compete at the New England Interscholastic Division I Swimming Championships, where both teams ended up placing third overall. This meet shattered many school records as well as pool records by both Exeter
teams and other competitors at the meet. The boys’ team was headed by senior captains Georgie Venci, Hayden Giles, and Ethan Van De Water, while the girls’ team were led by senior captains Sydney Kang, Lindsay Machado, and Ginny Vasquez-Azpiri. The captains have learned to model their leadership after past swim team captains. “I was a member of my swim team at my old high school, before coming to Exeter,” E. Van de Water said. “I basically strive to be just like them. They were people who I could always ask a question to and I was never uncomfortable talking to them. So that’s the role I’m trying to fill on our swim team as well.” Giles reflected on how his role as a captain has affected his life outside of the pool. “I think it’s made me be a little bit more aware of what’s around me and of reaching out to kids that I wouldn’t necessarily be inclined to reach out to otherwise … And I think that discipline comes along with being a captain, like showing up every single day with a smile on your face and
just giving it your all leading through example like that I think has just added some discipline in my life,” Giles said. Venci concluded with a hopeful outlook on the rest of the season. “I hope to continue the positive attitude the team has right now facing homework, training, uncertainty and make the best of the rest of the season. Of course, being a team means staying connected beyond our designated term, so maintaining that sense of sportsmanship and support as we go into Spring Term and eventually the summer,” Venci said. For seniors like Kang, the NEPSAC championship meet signified the end of her swimming years at the Academy. “I had a lot of wonderful memories with the team and with my fellow captains this past season. I loved our bus rides to Easterns championships in Lancaster, PA, our after-practice team dinners at Elm, and our senior gifts at the end of the season (posters with poems and animal towels). My favorite meet would have to be the away NMH dual meet due to the beautiful campus and fun playlists they had. Shoutout
to the underclassmen for bringing so much energy as well as our injured teammates who were so tenacious throughout the season,” Kang said The team credited the captains for fostering an environment that encourages hard work, perseverance, and a willingness to swim as a team. “Our dual meet against St. John’s Prep really showed how everyone is willing to put it on the line for the team. The captains lead the charge,” Mills said. Especially for younger swimmers, captains played a crucial role in terms of fostering team collaboration and spirit. “I will miss our AMAZING captains (Lindsay, Ginny, Sydney)!” Lower Ellie Wang said. Coach Meg Blitzshaw applauded the support from seniors. “We have splendid leadership from our senior tri-captains and I am excited to see what lies ahead for this team that is bursting with potential.” Captain Vazquez-Azpiri echoed the team’s support. “As a captain, it’s always pretty fun seeing one of the preps win their race because then you get to yell the: ‘She’s a freshman’ from the oth-
er side of the pool… It really sends a message: We’re strong this year, but we’re only going to get stronger from here,” Vazquez-Azpiri said. Both teams had their season openers against Loomis on Dec. 11, and came out with two crushing wins. The swim teams found general success in all events, and performed especially excellently in the relays. “We went into the last three events of the meet nearly tied, but we had an awesome 1-2-3 sweep in the 100 breaststroke to pull us ahead,” senior and girls’ varsity swim captain Lindsay Machado said. To prep Lang Guo, the relays made the entire competition. “I could not have asked for a better season opener,” Guo said. “I am insanely proud of the performance of all our swimmers. We cheered a lot for each other and set a strong precedent for the rest of the year,” senior and boys’ varsity swim captain George Venci concluded about the Loomis wins. The boys and girls’ varsity swim teams came head to head with Andover on Feb.19, the end
ver twice, each meet intense, with everyone running at their best. The boys won, but unfortunately the girls didn’t. Overcoming obstacles with focus and determination, 11 qualifying athletes from the track team competed at the New Balance Nationals Indoor track meet. Among the many team members, prep Jaylen Bennett and lower Byron Grevious especially earned accolades for setting national records. Track captains Silvestri, Cordle, and Thurber earned 4th place overall in the Rising Stars Division. “The event that truly showcased our track program’s abilities as a team was the 4x400,” senior and track athlete Ethan Aguilar said. “The adaptability and determination that Aidan, Sava, Chaz, Jaylen, and Owen showed made everyone watching at
home very proud. Not only did they run extremely well with very short notice of team changes, but they also managed to get a medal for their performance as well.” Athletes showed exceptional resilience and versatility in the 4x400m race when one of the runners set to run in the race suffered an unexpected hip flexor injury. Fortunately, upper and long-distance runner Owen Dudley was in the area and was able to sub in their place. Despite the unforeseen event, Dudley ran as well as the rest of the 4x400m team. The 4x400m medal was one highlight out of many. Some other celebrations included one for lower Tenley Nelson’s 13th place victory in the Rising Stars division after running the 800m, Bennett’s 4th place 400m finish in the freshman division, and Grevious’ qualification for the
Courtesy of Sydney Kang of their regular season. After a hard fought meet, the Boy’s team lost 11571 and the girls team lost 100-86. Despite COVID, both teams swam, trained, and performed amazingly well this past season. “I think everyone was so excited that we were able to have a ‘normal’ season again. I was so impressed by the improvement that all our swimmers made. Coach Benson and coach Mills worked so tirelessly to make this season so great for their swimmers. I am so hopeful for the future of both the boys and girls teams. The majority of our teams this year were preps, lowers and uppers, and although we are graduating some outstanding swimmers, we have a depth of talent that is going to keep the momentum we had this year going forward,” D’Ambrosio said. “The 2021- 2022 Phillips Exeter varsity swimming season is one for the record books. This team masterfully carried the traditions of excellence and healthy competition,” Benson concluded.
Boys’ and Girls’ Track By MICHAEL YANG The crowd cheers loudly as the shot gun goes off. Eight sprinters dash towards the finish line, a tight race with each athlete vying to claim first place. Led by senior captains Aiden Silvestri, Chaz Cordle, and Sava Thurber on the boys team, and Catherine Uwakwe, Ifeoma Ajufo, and Kaitlyn Flowers on the girls team, Exeter had a very strong season with many fantastic throws, jumps and runs. In mid-December, the track team held their first meet (NHIAA) at Exeter’s very own Thompson Field House. With schools from all over New Hampshire attending, Exeter had some strong competition going into the meet. As the meet progressed, it was clear that
Exeter was dominating the track with many first place finishes from both the boys and girls teams. Lower Tanner Boulden spoke of the December meet saying “This was my first real winter term meet ever, so the pressure and excitement for my shotput was at an all time high.” It appears that this excitement was universal, as Post-grad Kamran Murray commented on it as well. “It gave a lot of people a glimpse of what this sport is like and how electric an atmosphere these track meets can have. Everyone was supporting each other and I hope the younger athletes felt this and are hungry for more,” he said. As one the school’s largest sports teams, the track team maintained a large number of athletes, both returning and new. In antic-
ipation of each track meet, the runners trained hard in practices for weeks. “We had a hard interval workout the Saturday before which helped us prepare for the racing at the meet,” lower Advay Nomula shared. The team was flexible throughout the season, and were consistently there for each other. The Athletes especially showed exceptional resilience and versatility in one of the 4x400m races when an unexpected hip flexor injury emerged in one of the runners set to run in the race. Fortunately, upper and long-distance runner Owen Dudley was in the area and was able to sub in their place. Despite the unforeseen event, Dudley ran as well as the rest of the 4x400m team. As the middle of the season hit, Exeter faced Ando-
competitive championship division. “[Bennett’s] season’s best time of 50.31 (an Exeter prep record) remained the fastest indoor time in the nation run by a freshman this year,” said head track coach Hillary Hall. She continued, explaining that Grevious ran a school record two-mile time of 9:04.27, beating the record set “in 1972 by G. Andrew Walker.” With his two-mile time and 3000m time of 8:28.67, Grevious has run the fastest sophomore times in the nation this year. The atmosphere at nationals was “wild,” packed with the nation’s “cream of the crop” athletes, according to Thurber. “Everywhere I looked, there were people competing, people warming up, or people cheering on their teammates,” Thurber said. CONT’D ON E7
GRADUATION ISSUE– CXLIV GRADUATION ISSUE– CXLIV
June 5, 2022 June 5, 2022
Spring
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CREW
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Read the crew team reflect on their grand success at Head of the Charles regattta, E7.
BASEBALL & SOFTBALL Read about the teams’ brilliant performance against Governor’s Academy and Worcester, E8.
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TENNIS Read about the tennis team captains’ strategies to up their mental game, E9.
Boys’ and Girls’ Track Cont’d “Everyone there was obviously very skilled, so I was in awe watching the other events as I waited for my own.” “On the track competing against some of the nation’s best runners, there was a lot of expectation coming from the crowds. Many of the athletes were running [NCAA Division 1] level times,” Bennett said. Athletes mentioned excitement and nervousness before the race. This was the case for Cordle, who spoke about his reactions after arrival. “At first it was really nervewracking,” Cordle said, “[but] having multiple schools around me with deeply experienced sprinters left me very hopeful for what was to come in the rest of my track career at Exeter and onwards in college.” For Grevious, despite his nerves, a team dinner the night before helped calm him down and now he considers the meet as “one of [his] favorite running experiences.” “I completely blacked out during the race,” Thurber continued, commenting on the race’s excitement and
the anticipation leading up to it. “Lining up to run was nerve-wracking because everyone had one goal in mind: to run the fastest. When I was running, I don’t remember anything besides the back of the person in first place and thinking, I had to get closer to him.” Thurber’s first 100m split in the 4x400m ended up becoming his personal record. With this season as Cordle’s first competitive running one, New York’s Armory Track was a “crazy, foreign experience” for him. “Seeing other high schoolers at the track that first day helped me get comfortable with the building, but it was really a new experience to be competing with and in the same meet as runners who’ve been in the sport since early elementary school,” Cordle said. Despite the novelty of the meet, it “gave a thrill and boosted the energies” of the athletes, and he ran his best time in his 4x200m split. Preparations for the meet were rigorous, including daily practices, frequent lifts, and specialized exercises. Athletes
pushed for efficiency, using everything they could to be as best prepared for the races. “Not including our training during the regular season, we spent the last two weeks of the winter term and the first week of break training on our own and as a team,” Silvestri said. “We practiced our handoffs every day and kept our fitness up.” Right before the meet, Thurber recalled warming-up with his teammates by running up and down the narrow hotel hallway before arriving at the meet five hours before it began. “Just like the days before, the atmosphere was packed, hot, and hyper,” he said, explaining that athletes had to get their shoes checked by officials and receive their numbers before waiting to run in the “bullpen” with around fifteen “other 4x400 teams.” Still, the meet’s atmosphere provided the adrenaline that helped Thurber “run a great race.” Hall praised the athletes’ hardworking and collaborative work ethic. “With a schedule that spanned four days, the
athletes did an amazing job of staying focused, supporting each other and arriving to the track ready to lay the best they had on the line. Every event offered an opportunity to celebrate, to learn, or both,” she said. Bennett expressed his gratitude for the coaches. “The coaches did a great job of transporting us there and from
the track safely. They made sure we warmed up at the right times and did what we were supposed to do,” he said. “I was so happy just to be at the event,” Thurber said, recalling almost having missed out on the 4x400m race. “All I could think about then was how much I just wanted to be in the stadium to witness the greatest high school athletes
loved school,” Galli said. Coxswains reflected on the team bonding of grueling practices leading up to the competition. “You don’t spend every day for months working that hard with your best friends without a bond forming. What I will remember most about the experience is not the actual day but the days leading up to it. The training was hard, but really fun. I think the fact that every person put their all in every day really determined how much the team wanted to be on the water and loved crew, because it’s really not an easy sport,” coxswain Gracie Keyt said. “We have a motto: One Big Boat. It means no matter where you are on the lineups, you’re there cheering on your team because we are one big team. We are a team made up of so many talented rowers, so many impressive coxswains, and incredible coaches. Head of the Charles was the One Big Boat all the way through,” Keyt added. Coxing the Charles River, which includes steering the river’s many twists, turns and bridges, is considered one of the
hardest tasks of any fall regatta. “It was a little intimidating before the start, but once we crossed that starting line all the nerves disappeared,” Kim said. “All the coxswains studied hard for the Charles, visualizing the turns and planning a few calls in advance, so we were all able to trust in that training and execute on race day.” Lower Juno Cowans also enjoyed the opportunity to coxswain. “Coxing the race was a thrill and being my first time at a race this size I had to prepare in the weeks preceding that Sunday,” Cowans said. The chaos and packed river of competing boats generated nervous energy. Huang said, “Our coxswain, Ryan Kim, steered the boat really well and took the racing line that we had wanted to take. We had anticipated a lot of possible things that could’ve gone wrong (i.e. running into another boat, getting chased down, etc.) but none of that happened.” The team worked to fight against both a strong wind and sources of pressure. “Initially, I was worried that the hefty breeze and added pressure from
Courtesy of Aiden Silvestri duke it out even if I could not be among them.” These celebrations do not mean the end for these athletes. They are continuing their hard work during practice, and with the resounding success in the New Balance Nationals Indoors, the team has a promising spring season ahead.
Boys’ and Girls’ Crew
By ARHON STRAUSS The rhythmic beating of their oars push the varsity boys and girls’ crew teams to victory. Both teams competed at The Head of Charles regatta (HOCR) in the fall. Right after midterms, both teams sent four-person boats plus a coxwain. The girls’ team consisted of seniors Charlotte Pulkkinen and Jaqueline Luque (Cox) as well as upper Matilda Damon, and lowers Edie Fisher and Jamie Reidy. The boys’ team consisted of senior Alexander Galli, and uppers Ryan Kim (cox), Weiyi Huang, Haakon Kohler, and Justin Rigg. Coaches Sally Morris and Albert Leger led them to place 2nd (Girls) and 17th (Boys) overall out of 83 and 84 teams for their respective divisions. Reidy attributed the team’s success to their passion and drive for the sport. “Our success was due to our hard work, dedication, and love of the sport,” Reidy said. This year, the girl’s 4+ was one of the youngest boats ever from Exeter to go to HOCR, with half the boat being underclassmen. “Given our
boat was so young this year, I’m so excited for the future of Exeter Girls Crew,” Pulkkinen said. Damon voiced excitement. “I can’t wait to take down every race there is,” Damon said. “We are hungry for the win.” Upper and coxswain Ryan Kim talked about the atmosphere of the regatta. “It was super exciting. The weather was great, the bridges were packed, and the atmosphere was electric. All along the course there were people cheering boats on,” Kim said. The support from Exonians, both remotely and in-person, was invigorating. “So many Exonians were cheering us on in person and via the livestream. Knowing that so many eyes were watching us was very motivating. The amount of support and congratulations our boat received was equally awesome,” Reidy said. The regatta marks the first opportunity post-pandemic for some students to compete in a regatta. “Due to the pandemic, we had not had the opportunity to have any regattas so it was really fun getting to jump right back into a huge event. The energy of HOCR was
infectious so, although I did have nerves at the start, they really went away because of the excitement of everything,” upper and coxswain Veruka Salomone said. Huang explained the significance of the regatta. “The team gets really excited for it, to not only represent Exeter in front of thousands of people, but also to feel the energy in the air and be a part of something greater,” Huang continued. The moments after the race were memorable for rowers. “When we crossed the finish line, we knew we did well, and prayed for top ten. Second place was a complete shock, and I’m still processing it. It was the perfect end to an amazing season with my teammates. I feel so lucky to have been able to share that with four incredible people,” Reidy said. Galli commented on the fans. “We felt nervous after cheering on the girls’ amazing [second place] performance. The pressure was on from supporters in attendance. All the technique training and hard practices were about to pay off. We had to show our merit and skill representing our be-
Courtesy of Exeter Crew the crowd would slow us down. However, the team gelled up and started working together, finishing strong,” Galli said. The team worked tirelessly in the practices leading up to the regatta. Huang remarked, “As we get closer to the competition, we’ve been going harder and longer every day at practice, and through all of that work, a lot of the guys and girls have gotten a lot faster, breaking times and pushing boundaries. It’s really exciting to see the team get faster in general as well.” Athletes learned plenty from the regatta. “The entire race was a huge learning experience, and I feel like it was such an amazing opportunity to compete at a world stage, not just inside our boarding school competition bubble that we’re usually in for our spring season,” upper and 8+ rower Cindy Su said. Others voiced their excitement for the spring season. “We’re looking forward to a strong spring season, and coming back next year to try and medal at the Charles,” Kim said.
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June 5, 5, 2022 2022 June
Boys’ Baseball and Girls’ Softball
By MICHAEL YANG The bat collided perfectly with the ball, sending it flying past the spectators, securing Big Red yet another home run. The boys baseball team, under Head Coach Tim Mitropoulos and Senior captains Jake Shapiro and JR Bozek, have achieved a record of six wins, three losses, and a tie so far this season. On the other end, the girls softball team, with Head Coach Hurley and led by Senior captains Taylor Nelson, Alex Singh, and Izzy Reyes, have achieved a perfect record of five
wins and zero losses so far this season. The team opened their season with a 5-1 win on the road over St. Paul’s. Upper Andrew Houghton, Lower Beau Elson, and Senior Josh Morissette led the way with strong pitching on the mound. Then, in their game against Governor’s Academy, upper James Clavel was brilliant and tossed five innings of shutout baseball before giving way to Morissette, who added two scoreless innings as Big Red earned a 5-0 win. Senior Dean Hall provided the bulk of the offense with
a bases loaded triple in the second inning. The demolishing win, 29-1, over New Hampton consisted of Upper Gabriel Marcoux, Morissette, and captain Bozek combining for seven hits and 12 RBI as Big Red ran away from New Hampton to improve to a record of 3-2 on the season. The very next weekend, Big Red split a doubleheader on the road at Worcester. Elson threw five innings and limited Worcester to just one run on four hits while striking out seven in game two. Morissette and Senior Kodi Dotterer each
finished with three hits. The team’s next two wins came from Dexter School and Cushing Academy where Senior Nate Garrett and Senior Michael Dinges each had clutch RBI hits in the top of the seventh inning at Dexter and Houghton being terrific through five innings at Cushing. Boys’ baseball looks forward to ten more games left in their season as well as the highly anticipated CNEPSBL tournament where the team gets to face off against various teams in New England. The softball team
opened up their season with a tight win over Tilton, 5-4. Yet, two days later, Big Red’s offense got right to work and put up ten runs in the first two innings while Lower Haley Alden kept the Pingree lineup off balance, giving up just two runs while striking out four. The team continued to dominate, sweeping New Hampton 15-4 and again one week later against Milton Academy, ending the game at 20-11. With the team’s game against Northfield Mount Hermon School, captain Taylor Nelson had a big day in
Courtesy of James Clavel the circle and at the plate to help Big Red improve to a perfect 5-0 on the season. Nelson hit a home run and struck out seven in her day of work while Alden and Senior Alana Reale each knocked a pair of doubles for Exeter. The girls look forward to another nine games as well as the Big East tournament in their season. Both baseball and softball are fired up to verse our rival, Andover at the conclusion of both of their seasons, before heading off for the summer.
Boys’ and Girls’ Golf By NAT KPODONU The sound of the nine iron hitting the golf ball reverberates throughout the course and everyone holds their breath in anticipation of where the ball is fated to land. Led by senior captains Jeannie Eom and Brian Adams, Exeter has had a good start to the season with 2 wins and 3 losses. For the varsity golf team’s first rendezvous of the year, team members traveled down to Orlando, Florida. Four days of hitting 18-hole courses, eating Chick-fil-A, and exploring theme parks strengthened the team’s bond and invigorated them for the coming term. Looking to the season ahead, head coach Bob Bailey noted a challenge for the team. “We have a strong schedule this year, [so] we’ll need to be on our game. We have a young team … [with] some very good young players, and they are going to have to step up,” Bailey said. “We will be counting on our eight seniors for leadership.” Senior and captain Jeannie Eom explained the goal of the preseason trip. “[This pre-season trip] was all about
getting to know one another better and fine-tuning our skills. We were able to get a sense of where the team was in terms of ability and where we could improve,” Eom said. “Because we did a 36hole to kick off our pre-season then 18-holes throughout the trip, we got a lot of golf practice in and got ourselves ready for our season.” “Golf is a very mental game,” lower Sophia Lala added. “It really helps to know your teammates well.” Team members played games of varying intensities and formats. “[After we] warmed up in the morning, we played our [later] rounds in a more competitive manner…My teammate, Grady Larson, and I collaborated and challenged each other. We worked together to decipher the tricky greens, developed a clear strategy for each hole, and confirmed club selections with each other,” prep Paco Sze said. “That experience was completely new to me, considering that I had competed on an exclusively individual level before coming to Exeter,” Sze added. “I used this CONT’D ON E9
Courtesy of Hillary Yoon
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Boys’ and Girls’ Golf Cont’d supportive mindset throughout the trip, and am working to upholding it during the season,” Sze said. “We focused a lot on consistency because that’s where the big skill gap is in golfers,” explained Adams. “The top of the top are the most consistent. So I’m trying to get everyone into their own rhythm, find that something to do before every shot to get them in the right mindset.” Eom stressed the importance of trust and support between team members. “Golf is an individual sport and a team sport. Each golfer
strives to succeed as an individual, but at the end of the day, we come together and how we perform as a team matters just as much,” Eom said. “This season, I want to capitalize on that—we will all work hard to better ourselves, but we will also learn to have each other’s backs.” An unexpected highlight of the trip came when the team’s shuttle bus broke down on the road. “We were headed to an 18-hole at Mission Inn Resort & Club, when we ended up being stranded three miles out. The bus was becoming
a sauna in the Florida heat, and some of us were joking about hitchhiking the rest of the way—it was hilarious,” Eom recalled. “We ended up waiting for another bus to take us back to Cabana Bay Resort, and we all departed to Universal to have a fun day at the theme parks.” Lower Hillary Yoon also shared many enjoyable memories from the trip. “We were allowed to go to Universal Orlando, Harry Potter World, all the different restaurants, and on the universal city walk, all in addition to playing golf. We went
to three or four different golf courses and that was amazing. There was also a Khalid concert—it was free. If you just sit in line for two hours, you get in, and that’s what we did.” “I feel super excited [for this season],” Yoon continued. “Last year because of COVID protocol and because we didn’t have preseason at all, it was hard to know the team. Even though I had fun last year, it wasn’t as warm. This year I’m really excited that I know all the seniors really well and all of our new players too.
We have a lot of great players this year, so that’s really fun.” Adams agreed. “I think we have a really great team this season. There’s a lot of young blood, so I think we’ll be great for the next two or three years after I’m gone. I’m really excited to see what these guys are capable of.” “I think my goal—or team’s goal—is to just play well, maybe undefeated,” Adams added. “Last time we had a real season, we only had one loss, so I think that would be awesome.”
Eom also shared her vision for this season and beyond. “I really want us to feel like a family. We are a group of really passionate golfers who are from different grades and backgrounds,” Eom said. “I’m excited and hopeful [about the season.] As a graduating senior now, I’m happy to see that the team is strong and that we have players who can lead varsity golf to be really successful into the future.” While the team has yet to play Andover, they are optimistic that they will play well.
shots— and it worked,” S. Chen said. However, not all was smooth sailing. Lower Rajiv Raval talked about their match against Groton, “Groton was a tough opponent. I think they were undefeated last year. We were all trying our best, but they were better than us. I think we all are really excited for the season and we’re definitely all just gonna work our hardest as we move forward for the season.” Vigneri added, “We have some tough matches coming up. I know we’re gonna be playing Andover twice in the future. We haven’t played them yet. I know we’re all definitely looking forward to it. They are going to be the big matches of the season.” Triff is particularly looking forward to this season, “Don’t want to jinx anything but I think we’ll perform pretty well! It’s my last season at Exeter so I’ll give everything I can to make it the best it can be.” On the girls’ team, lower Anna Kim talked about the excellence that Coach Ramesh brings to the team, “She holds all of us together and pushes us to always show up as the best athlete and teammate we can be. I’ll definitely miss her so much!” Lower Jenna Wang talked about the team spirit. “I think the team is full of very strong players and we all support each other well! I remember during a recent game, we were cheering each other on and it felt really
great.” “The team’s biggest strength is we’re all really good about encouraging and cheering for each other during practice and matches,” lower Lucy Will said. Even though the majority of the time the team feels supportive and diligent, “I think we have a very hard working group of girls. They really put a lot of effort into their practice times and the work out gym time.” said senior Bailey Cooper. “I think mentally, sometimes we’re not always present. It’s not to say they don’t work hard. We should aim to practice more purposefully.” Coach Michele Chapman praised the girls for a good start to the season. “The girls are happy to work hard and are enjoying getting out on the courts as much as possible. Unfortunately, injuries and illness have had an impact on our team lately.” Players still remain optimistic for the rest of the season. “I think the team is going to have a great season! We’ve been doing well so far and we’re only getting better each day!” Wang said. Wang’s teammates reciprocated her enthusiasm. “Tennis practice is always one of my favorite times of the day because it is so much fun to get together with my friends and teammates to play a sport that we all love,” Will said. As a returning player, Cooper broke down a few notable, previous match-
Athena Wang/The Exonian
Boys’ and Girls’ Tennis
By NHAN PHAN and ALAYSHA ZHANG As the first few weeks of the boys’ and girls’ varsity tennis season unfold with their first matches against Groton, St. Paul’s and Middlesex, Northfield Mount Hermon, respectively, the players reflect on their dynamic as a team. At the end of the season, the current tennis coaches William Abisalih and Gayatri Ramesh will be departing their coach posts. The teams reflect on their hopes for the upcoming season as it is their last with their current coaches. Lower Rex Bedwick talked about what he feels like is the team’s strength, “I think we have a lot of good players. For a sport that’s so individual, we have a lot of team spirit. I feel like we work well together. Everyone’s nice to each other and everyone is supportive of each other.” Senior Max Triff, too, noted the “strong team dynamic and close connections to one another. Everyone feels like they belong, making the practices productive but also fun.” Senior Ben Vigneri talked about an exemplary and treasured moment by the team: “I played with Rajiv Raval, a lower new to the team this year. I was playing with him in a doubles match against two others in practice and we were losing pretty badly at 2-4. I’m a very high energy, high intensity player, so I use that to my advantage in order to
pump up my team. Rajiv and I ended up coming back and winning 6-5. That was a pretty memorable moment for the two of us because I feel like he really stepped up to the challenge when I pushed him, when I motivated him, when we motivated each other.” Senior Erik Nystedt shouted out his teammate, “I’ll shout out one of the other kids on the team I’ll shout out: Leo Zhang. He’s put a lot of effort into the sport. He’s also improved a lot throughout the season. I really enjoyed seeing him grow!” Senior Nick Chen also added some shout-outs. “Our first and second singles Kiran Raval and Clark Pearson are incredibly talented players,” N. Chen said. The team also recognized a few things they need to work on. “I’d say the biggest weakness is probably our mental game collectively. It’s tough for a lot of people if they get down on a match. If they’re not playing well, it’s tough for them to recover and tell themselves that, “it’s fine, I can get back into it.” Sometimes a lot of kids start being tough on themselves, which makes them play worse on the court and it’s a vicious cycle,” prep Steven Chen said Vigneri agreed. “I believe we should put our players in situations that are high pressure, high intensity, where they will have to perform at their best. A lot of our players need to be able perform
well when they need to. A lot of them hold back and they end up, you know, playing tentatively, not having confidence in their game. But I think if we are putting players in these high pressure situations, we can work on our mental strength.” S. Chen talked about ladder matches and how it has been helping the team to gain experience playing high-pressure matches. “We have challenge matches every Monday, where you either play the person right above you or below you on the ladder for the team. It’s an actual match, and it counts for when you move up or down the ladder. I think that helps get people accustomed to pressure. When you play schools, you’re gonna play in high intensity environments so it’s a good simulation,” S. Chen said. Nystedt talked about a particular ladder match he found memorable, “One time, I was part of the game that ran so long everyone else had already finished. When I looked over to my left, I saw that the entire team was there. They were all watching. They were all showing that support for the both of us still playing. It felt really nice to see the entire team there offering support,” Nystedt said. The team got off to a strong start for the season. “We played a strong game against St. Paul’s. As a team, we won 6-1. They were a solid team, but we stuck to Coach Abisilih’s game plan— going for high percentage
es and talked about her hopes for the upcoming season, “I’m looking forward to matches against the schools we’ve historically struggled against. I think those will be very good for us to practice our strategy and to practice our stroke consistency, which will be key to [winnig]. We wanna beat [Andover], and I think we absolutely can beat Andover. We did beat them last year. I am confident we can beat them both times.” “I feel like we’ve had a very strong start and I know I can speak for everyone when I say we’re all looking forward to E/a. In the team, I’m hoping to get to know everyone better and make more good memories, especially with both head coaches leaving this year,” Kim said. Playing a team sport, however, is often not just about winning the matches. “I think so far we’re doing really good. Honestly, I think if we lost every single match going forward, but we were close together as a team. I’d consider that a win,” prep Samantha Halbower said. “I think that the team will perform great going forward! We have a really strong team this year in terms of our singles matches and all of our doubles teams are working great together,” Will said.
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Humor
The 7 Stages of Saturday Classes By JACK ARCHER 1. Shock. It all begins on a perfect Friday night. The cool fall air practically begs you to stay out until 10 p.m. The line at the pizza shack is short. Seniors are really starting to stress about college apps so they’re staying out of your way. But just when it seems like nothing can go wrong, you check OLS on a whim and realize that your life is a lie. Check in isn’t ten. You have class tomorrow.
2. Denial. Back in your dorm, you head to the common room, refusing to acknowledge the alarm you set for tomorrow. Study hours? No way, not on a Friday. You seek out the kid with the party room and find them in their room alone, LED lights off, couch empty, beanbags unoccupied, other various RGB apparatus switched to normal light, doing homework. They can’t be doing work on a Friday, can they? Can they? It just can’t be. There can’t be class-
es on a saturday 3. Anger. Back in your own room, you do your homework for tomorrow with the temperament of an uncaffeinated senior. You never realized you held a grudge against derivatives until now. Maybe you spend an hour complaining with your roommate about how little sleep you’re about to get, and then complain for another hour so your complaints are valid. 4. Bargaining. Come to think of it,
you haven’t gotten any Dickies yet… maybe just one or two or three Dickies wouldn’t hurt. It’s Saturday, after all. And stricts aren’t even that bad when you really think about it. Or maybe you’ll be sick tomorrow. Yeah, really sick. Super sick. You’ll tell everyone how sick you are and… oh wait. That’s probably not such a good idea this year. 5. Grief. Deep into the a.m. hours, you lay in bed, dreading the relentless ring of your alarm that will
invade your dreams far too soon, pulling your mind into consciousness like shoes from wet cement. Eventually your exhaustion gets the better of you, and you sink into happy dreams of short D-hall lines and EP on tuesdays. 6. Testing. By a stroke of luck, your alarm goes off during light sleep, although it takes 10 minutes for you to remember who you are and what your name is and why your in a dorm room that looks like every dorm room every ex-
cept the posters are a little different, you manage to stumble to class on time. Your teacher, ever the wise one, gives you 10 minutes to complain about Saturday classes in what is the most earnest and insightful harkness discussion you will ever have. You feel a lot better afterwards. 7. Acceptance. You realize it’s basically just Wednesday but like a little worse. I guess that’s not too bad.
anything near what it did at the beginning of the term. 9. You walk from sports to dinner in total darkness. 10. The second you enter a building, your body temperature doubles and you have to rip off your hoodie so you don’t spontaneously combust 11. You alternate
between classrooms that feel like Antarctica and ones that feel like the inside of your oven 12. Leaves cascading down from trees make everything look aesthetic 13. You know the names of half of the people in half of your classes.
13 Signs that Winter is Coming By JACK ARCHER 1. You put moisturizer on your face and it stings like hell. 2. You decide to sleep with your fan off for the first time. Coincidentally, the night you do so happens to be when the temperature spikes to 80 degrees so you wake up drenched. In sweat.
Like a human-sized french fry in a deep fryer. 3. The new kid from Texas busts out their heavy winter coat. 4. You start keeping your socks on at home instead of peeling them off of your sweaty feet the instant you close the door. 5. Your room is littered with chap-
Fall Term Bingo
stick, yet your lips still somehow look like the wrappings of a 3000-year-old mummy. 6. History class keeps getting interrupted by the radiators rumbling curses in radiator language, yearning for sweet release from another year of heating the academy building 7. The radiator in
your dorm room also begins to snap, crackle, and pop, but only at 6am when you have a sleep in and never when you bring a friend in to show them your misery. 8. The illegal underground water boiler black market is running at full swing. Inflation runs rampant—two cups of ramen doesn’t get you
By CHIEKO IMAMURA Depressed because I wasn’t a box for Halloween
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Common App Word Spill One By DOROTHY BAKER Preface: This is an actual excerpt from my very first common app draft written at 2:00 a.m. Let it be known all of this was scrapped and instead repurposed for the humor page for our final issue with the current 143rd senior board. It has been a pleasure editing for you all. -Dorothy Baker I have this large, blue shirt with a cartoon chicken’s face splattered across the front. It was part of Royal Farm’s Chicken Palooza: a Baltimore gas
station chain’s promotional effort to increase sales of fried chicken. It’s a staple of mine and every other Baltimorian’s wardrobe. I brought this shirt with me when I first entered high school. I was in rural New Hampshire studying amongst the keenest minds of the twenty-first century. I played soccer for my life in Baltimore and brought the same middle school skill set to Phillip Exeter’s JV soccer program. I was admittedly the worst on the team, but my lack of ball control was only revealed during games when the team was already winning by a margin of
five or more. One day, for a reason I’ll never understand, the varsity coach invited me to come practice with her team. I was wearing my Royal Farm’s attire and shaking, feeling much like the chicken who was about to be slain and memorialized for a cartoon “paloozical” gain. After letting shot after shot in, the coach called a team plus Dorothy meeting. I knew they were about to interrogate my athletic background. “Is that a chicken on your shirt?” “Oh, see, I’ve actually been playing my whole
life, I’ve just never played goalie—wait, what?” It was that day I realized I stuck out in many more ways than just another uncoordinated soccer goalie. It was also the day I decided my mission at this new school would be to culture everyone on Chicken Palooza and my interconnection with Baltimore’s niches. I bounced around from sport to sport for the next two years. As a 6’2’’ girl, I received many introductions from the basketball and crew coaches, both of whom were muddled when I decided that my real calling
Andy Horrigan’s StuCo Campaign
By NHAN PHAN ’24 Nhan: The StuCo presidential elections have elapsed and Exonians want to know more about a breakout candidate who appealed to many: Andrew Horrigan himself. There has been a wave of outpouring support for your campaign among lowers and upperclassmen combined. In particular, they support the prep-less dining halls. So, let’s start off with that. How do you plan to implement this? Andy: I think a really big part of this is that more often than not teachers do not use the long block, which obviously is the block right before lunch. So obviously they’re the first ones to go to dining hall and they take all the tables, they take the booths; that really gets my gears going. So the legislation I would be proposing would get them to eat outside, as they deserve, I don’t care how they get their food. They’re not going in D-hall. They can just stand, I guess. I think we still have the tables up, so hopefully they can make use of those. Nhan: Interesting. But what do you think about when it rains? Do you think they still deserve to stand outside when it’s raining? Andy: That’s a good question. That’s why I think campus is so great because it does offer external spaces. Like we have the Library cloister that ‘s pretty cool. And, you know, if it gets too bad, we always have
Grainger auditorium, which has previously been used as a dining hall. Nhan: Now I want to talk about your next policy, which is making masks mandatory while sleeping and showering too. Now, do you think this policy will be beneficial in curbing COVID-19 on campus, noting that the CDC does recommend masking as a good protection tool against transmission? Andy: Yeah, obviously. We, as Exonians, live in these massive complexes; we live in dormitories and those share a lot of air particles. And what does COVID love? COVID loves air. So, we can’t make exceptions for when we are in our own rooms or showering, because what are you doing when you’re in your own rooms or showering? You’re still breathing that air, and unless there’s a way to create a biosphere within dorms, I do not think it’s feasible for us to be able to take our mask off during those times. Nhan: As we know, COVID also likes to stay on surfaces; tables, door handles, toilets. The toilets are especially the main hotspots of the virus. And especially if people are coming into these rooms and touching tables, touching bedside frames, touching all of this, how do you propose we combat against COVID 19 particles on surfaces? Andy: Yeah. And what’s so great about StuCo is that we have just this enormous budget and
I think we don’t spend enough of it. What I would propose would be the purchase of hazmat suits for every Exonian so that we wouldn’t have to touch any surfaces. We could just be in these yellow plastic suits. Nhan: The new fashion standard: hazmat suits. We’d love to see it. So how did the idea of Sunday classes come about? Andy: Yeah. That’s a really good question. And I have had a bunch of conversations with the student body about this very hot topic issue. Alot of people complain that Sundays are, you know, a workday and that their only day off is Saturday, but really, you know: you don’t get worn out if you don’t get rest. So, I think if we change Saturdays to the day of work, you know, that will really help eliminate that stress on Sunday. And so it would just, you know, help the week move about. Nhan: For sure. Currently we have six Saturday classes a year. Do you propose we extend them, keep them, or get rid of them? Andy: What do students do when they have free time? They get up to no good, that’s a proven fact. If they’re just working more and having less free time, what does that do: that creates less of a chance for students to do potentially damaging things. So, yeah, I think we should also go for more Saturday classes. Nhan: Thank you for the
insightful response. Now, in general, how do you plan to restructure StuCo? Andy: That’s a good question. I think what’s great about StuCo is that many voices can be heard, and I want to completely get rid of that. I think that we should have a dart board of things that we should do and have one of our advisors just randomly chuck darts, and whatever it lands on we do, we accomplish, we propose to the administration. Nhan: So, just to clarify, you’re in support of fully eliminating communication between the student body, faculty, and the administration? Andy: Yeah. I don’t want anyone to know what StuCo is doing. I want silence one day and then the next day, you know, boom, legislation saying that people have to have their doors open 270 degrees while getting visitations. Nhan: Are you going to be needing anyone else on the Executive Board to do that job with you? Andy: I obviously congratulate Kevin, Grace, and Nate for getting all the votes that they did. And I think they ran very legitimate campaigns. However, with the dart board style of policy, I really don’t think that we have the need for any other Executive members except maybe a Vice President in the case of my passing, or for even that matter: subcommittees or, you know, dorm reps, grade reps, etc. Nhan: And how do you propose, let’s say if your tenure ends, should it end, what is the process for electing a new president? Andy: Yeah, so obviously Grace would step in as an interim president. But you know, I really think the next president should be chosen by the shortest freshman and they would take over as president for the rest of their time at Exeter, of course. Nhan: The last question that I have is why should everyone support you? Andy: I think I’m the only candidate who’s really listening to everybody. I sat in Grill one day and I was like, “you know what, I’m going to run for president.” So, I had a bunch of people coming to me as I was designing my poster. I was like, what do you want? And you know what I heard? I heard more Sunday classes. I heard faculty chaperoned visitations. I heard prepless dining halls. I heard Sibi and that’s what the people want. They want Sibi.
was squash. I wasn’t very good at that either, but as a sophomore, I wanted to form an identity that was more than the chicken shirt. The squash team was full of calculated, chiseled players that came to practice an hour early only to stay an hour late. For people so driven in their craft, it confused me that they warmed up in silence. Despite the technical work I put in, it was unlikely that I would be able to reach the same skillset as the rest of the team. I wanted to contribute more than my unfruitful volleys, so I took it upon myself
to assume the role of the pumper-upper. I knew I could get the team hyped if I sprinkled in a little of my EDM with the more, but in my opinion worse, popular rap and a dash of contemporary blues for our cool down. With that, “Squash Mosh: The Playlist ‘’ was born. I inserted Squash Mosh to our warmup run everyday for weeks. At first the seniors questioned who I thought I was blasting my tunes as a sophomore, but after listening for less than a minute, they realized I had promise and dubbed me: DJ Dorothy.
Latin Mottos for The Exonian By BLAKE SIMPSON
Did you guys know I take Latin? The Exonian is the finely aged cheese of the preparatory school newspaper world, but it lacks one thing that many musty, old prestigious institutions have: a Latin motto. I have taken the liberty of writing a few suggestions for the consideration of the Executive Board. Verba pro populis Words for the people
Antiquior Deo Older than God Legete nostra verba an morimini atrociter Read our words or die horribly Fertur a facetiis Carried by humor Numquam salvus es You are never safe Este fideles nobis an dormite aperientes unum oculum Be faithful to us or sleep with one eye open
143 Humor’s Last Words By 143rd HUMOR EDITORS Dear humor consumers, Thank you for joining us on our trek to tears (the funny kind). In our tenure as editors, we have established: a new vein of school-publication crossword in the country, lengthened our listicles, a new climax of Exonian parent concern, and (along with the Anya Tang, the honorary humor editor of the Exec board) the shortening of Assembly Hall to the [REDACTED]. We mourn our blown opportunity to create the “most likely to be a sigma male” superlative. To compensate, we will be awarding this title in our final write. Congratulations, Chieko. We also use this space to air out our grievances; specifically when for the first time in seven years, April Fools’ Day fell on a Thursday and Exec pulled out of Humor’s front page proposal. Also, Humor has far too few pages. If the Humor page to irrelevant page ratio of any given week’s Exonian issue is below 9.5:1, that’s not an A, and kind of unacceptable. Thank you to my grandma who texts me after every article gets published. You rock. (back to third person writing): None of us made Early Cum, but that’s fine cause we’d rather be Late Cum. It’s been an honor. Farewell. arles “the lower” Simpson and the humor seniors (Jack, Dorothy, and Chieko)
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Survival Guide to the Super Bowl (when you don’t watch Football) By ANDREW YUAN ’24 ∞. Watch the Winter Olympics. Honestly, if you’ve fallen that low, you might just watch the SuperBowl then. 7. Memorize the roster for both teams so you get to talk to that one jock friend who chases after you on a
snowing Sunday morning without social anxiety. 6. Just nod vigorously. 5. Don’t fall asleep when the game ends…the roar will meet you in your nightmares. 4. Show up for the commercials and halftime show so you don’t miss the pop culture moments. 3. Tiptoe to your
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TFW Someone Asks If You Have Plans This Weekend
common room to get soda and pizza, then sneak back to your room. 2. Mute all the messages from your friends from L.A. or Ohio. 1. Don’t show up to your common room for the actual show, remember your two major assignments due on Monday? (just sayin’)
I Do Not like Green Eggs and ’Gram
Chapter Two: Never Overestimate Your Own Cybersecurity. Never overestimate your own cybersecurity.
texts like a good son, doing my 300 push-ups that I do every morning and night and in-between for health benefits. And then I tap open Instagram. It doesn’t work; for some reason I’m logged out. No worries, I’ll just log myself back in. It doesn’t work. Knots begin to form in my stomach. I try “Forgot my password.” It doesn’t work. The email associated with the account is no longer mine. The knots turn to stone as I recall the DM from that mysterious acquaintance and phone number and the link. I login to my email. There are two messages in my inbox from Instagram. The first: “We noticed a new login from a device you don’t usually use.” It’s a Samsung phone from Dallas, Texas. I use an iPhone. I tried clicking into the “this isn’t my account” option but the link to report is dead. The second and more recent email then read: “Two Factor Authentication has been turned on.” It sinks in: I cannot get back into my account. I’ve lost it. The stone coagulated to steel. I login to my finsta @ willeeyumyum. I DM my account. “Please give me my account back.” Horror creeps in my twitching spine as I watch the three dots pulsating, undulating, and gyrating on the other side of the screen, under my own profile photo, mocking me. “How much are you willing to pay?” The steel has now turned to some rare metal found on the planet of Uranus. I get off my bed. There is a stain of blood, sweat, and tears. A line has been drawn and the Rubicon has been crossed. This is war.
Chapter Three: I Overestimated My Own Cybersecurity I awake the next day, innocent as a three-yearold butterfly. I turn over to check my phone. I go through my motions: opening my Clash Royale chests, lovingly responding to my mother’s
Chapter Four: A Hostage Situation I crack my neck and stretch my fingers. The rescue mission has commenced. I scour the internet for the solutions I know must exist. I just have to find them. It’s me versus this fake Will, I tell myself. A test of
By WILL PARK ’22 ATTENTION: This is not an Exonian Humor article. This is a public service announcement. This is an act of revolution against the tyranny of those who prey on the trusting. This is a deeply personal story for which I am using The Exonian as the platform for which to tell my truth for which you should NOT laugh at but for which you should revel in my eventual triumph. Prologue: Introduction Over the course of one’s life, there are several moments that will stick to your consciousness for the rest of your life. A moment that shakes the fabric of your existence to its very core. A moment that strikes a blow that brings you to your knees. This is a recounting of one of those moments. Chapter One: A Betrayal in November I’ve just gotten back home from fall term at Exeter. I’ve spent a few days enjoying the delights of San Francisco. A notification lights up my phone: an Instagram DM from my friend. “What’s your phone number again Will?” It’s been a few years since I’ve talked to her so I send her my number. “Do you mind sending me the link I just sent you?” I don’t mind, no. I hope that I was of some assistance to her. I think nothing further.
willpower. I go through countless Youtube videos explaining what to do. I follow their instructions. I use my Facebook Business Account to run an ad for $1.99 which gives me access to the Facebook Advertising Support which is run by real humans rather than bots. I talk to the agent. I fill out the forms he asks me to submit and he gives me back an official case number. He assures me he will do whatever he can to get it back for me. “The official Facebook internal team is working on it.” I feel the glimmer of hope. Chapter Five: No Miracles. No Mercy. Have you ever been spit on, abandoned by your friends, run over by a bus and bitten by a werewolf dentist all at the same time? Me neither. Anyways, none of my attempts to get my account back worked. For four months, I contacted countless Facebook agents, sent three different emails to security@mail.instagram. com, took photos of my ID (with personal info blocked out, see chapter 2) to send for verification, all the while enduring this society’s insults and disgraces. “Try not responding to any Nigerian princes, Will.” “You are so dumb for that, Will. How do you even get hacked, Will?” “People who get hacked don’t deserve rights, Will.” “You do know you’re hacked right, Will?” “Dude, I’m having the funniest time talking to your hacker, Will.” Joke after joke. Roast after roast. I implore you to have some empathy. Not just for myself, but for all those who have in the past and present gotten their accounts hacked via my old account, at the hands of the same nefarious criminal organization. My reputation was being dragged through the mud with every DM my hacker sent to my mutuals asking for their Ca$happ. My authority in my own Mock Trial group chat
was ripped from my grasp. I felt the humiliation each time the fake Will posted another story: “Get cryptocurrency with my company” or “Guess the number in the picture to win $100.” But as Kelly Clarkson sang, what doesn’t break you makes you stronger. Ugh, so true, queen. With every drop of comedy milked out of my misery, my resolve, much like something that gets hard, hardened. Chapter Six: My Resolve Breaks. So, huh, last week, my hacker must have gotten really tired of all the DMs being sent his way because they just gave up and completely changed the account to @daniella_ vicent__. All my old posts were gone and replaced with videos saying their “crypto” business was awesome. A couple things here. 1) You’re so stupid that you misspelled vincent. 2) Your posts/dms are so obviously fake. I can’t believe I fell for it. 3) What was your plan? How are you going to make money by hacking some high schooler’s Instagram? Anyways, I finally decided to make a new account. The username was what I was ultimately attached to anyways (@wlmprk is my brand ok? I love my parents, but William Park is not a unique name). But Instagram lets you reserve a username for 14 days after you change it. So my new account is [editorredacted, see chapter 2]. Chapter Seven: A Senior Reflection (the thing a elderly mirror and someone who gets their Instagram hacked in this modern era of social media and globalization and digital livelihood have in common) I have several. First, people are creative. Yes, in coming up with ways to hack people. But also to make fun of a member of your community. Yeah, I’m talking about YOU. I know you might not read
this entire paper back to back every issue but I know people are going to show you this article. And I bet you didn’t expect a personal call out, huh? But guess what? You’re getting one. You know who you are. I bet you’re feeling attacked, huh? Exactly, that’s how it feels. Everybody else is going to be wondering who this is about, but you knew this was about you the moment I singled you out. That’s the shame that lives deep within you. What are you gonna do about it, huh? Are you gonna come clean to your friends and admit that you preyed on my moment of weakness? Or will you live in denial, an un-unravelable lie, and silent, huh? Like a really loud drum that is silent, huh? You are like Batman if Batman was you. Second, shoutout to the people who defended me. Specifically [editorredacted, see chapter 2]. Third, chapter two. This one is for real. I really never thought that I would get hacked. I thought I was too smart and that it would never happen to me. But that’s how they get ya. Make sure to use two-factor authentication on stuff. Don’t click or share weird links (I swear if anybody makes another joke about what would’ve happened if I was here for all the phishing emails…). If you feel like someone isn’t being themselves online or is acting weird online, it might just be the case that they’ve been hacked, so don’t interact with them. Also, come on you all. You KNOW I would never become a crypto bro. Or at least I would never advertise myself like that. Cybersecurity is crucial and that’s why I’m teamed up with NordVPN for today’s article. NordVPN is... Fourth, Instagram is such a weird cultural phenomenon. Before I got hacked I used it every free second of every day. That’s where I’d catch up with friends, find inspiration
for my photography, enjoy memes, everything. I was so panicked when I first lost my account. I was afraid of losing all the history in my past posts, my tagged stuff, my likes, my followers, the carefully crafted image I had made for myself online so people would think I was the right combination of creative, quirky, mysterious, and funny. But after months of going hermit, it felt natural to be without it. It was like a fan I constantly had on before was now turned off. I felt at peace without having Instagram. Fifth, FOLLOW MY NEW INSTAGRAM [editor-redacted, see chapter 2]. If you’re reading this article a while later, it (hopefully) is [editor-redacted, see chapter 2]. Yes, not having Instagram is ok. But I also love being able to connect with people, I otherwise would have no way to. I’ve missed out for months on seeing the people I care about because I didn’t want to accept defeat. But I’m here now and I can’t wait to see all the crazy drama you’ve posted about in your finstas that I’ll be able to catch up on. I can’t wait to be able to see where people are going to college and follow new people and not be blocked from seeing someone’s account because literally everyone is in private mode. I can’t wait to say hi again to my old friends and rebuild my online reputation in the process. But most of all, after all I’ve learned about myself and our relationship with our online personas, what I really can’t wait to do… is have the most epic Kanye-My-BeautifulDark-Twisted-Fantasyesque return to Instagram. I’m a menace. Beware. P.S. I am open to suggestions as it pertains to the nature of my return. Please let me know if you have any ideas. Must be dope.
GRADUATION ISSUE– CXLIV GRADUATION ISSUE– CXLIV
June 5, 2022 June 5, 2022
E11 E13
The Graduation Crosswords Puzzle by Gbemiga Salu and Clark Wu DOWN
both “energy” and “to drain energy”
1 Dangerous, like what’s in a clam
21 What comes after River
2 Indian yogurt dip 3 To be, you, temporarily (español) 4 Non-Will member of Will and The Peelers 5 Mr. Myers is an advisor for this club 6 How urban youth refer to resolution or resurrection 7 Bundren in As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner. 8 What a wimpy kid might have 11 Shrek 12 What is resistance? 14 Material used to burn a corpse at a funeral
ACROSS
10 The older and wiser surgeries and also a game of tag 13 Opposite of
23 The Princess and the ___.
1 How it started
“wrong blockage”
5 How it’s going
15 Birthplace of Machiavelli
30 Agitate
9 ___ the Roads by Tanner Porter, performed at PEA
16 Makes a mistake 17 Used in some
19 A selfless monster in the ice-capped mountains 20 Everyone ___ The Exonian!
26 A day at the spa 32 Italian word for how a GRAD might be feeling
22 By the rebound of yours, a grief that ___/ My very heart at root 23 Anticipated senior week event 24 A weird ship name for eight and nine 25 An Exonian might not be awake, but they are always ___ 27 The Viper in Game of Thrones, Pascal 28 “Include” without the N or “sale of goods” without the R 29 Rolls - ___ 31 The club that runs other clubs 34 The climate Alex the Geologist isn’t used to
18 This word means
35 Thor lost one
33 Fitting Mariah Carey and Boyz II Men song for today
given name
36 River running through Liverpool and Manchester 37 George Orwell’s
38 Arguably the most anticipated Exonian merch, coming soon 39 Part of a shoe, rhymes with a dorm
The Winter Thaw Puzzle by Gbemiga Salu and Stella Song DOWN
ACROSS
18 Literature focusing on a young 1 Hulk’s radiation, protagonist’s growth G____ 21 Anger 5 Basic mode of 22 Silento’s Indian classical “Whip and ___ music (x2)” 9 “CSI” network 23 Sandy sea 12 Leading the 26 Media-monipack toring org. 13 Apple desktop 14 Colloquial term 27 Former San Francisco Bay for a reversal on prison the road 29 Recognitions 15 Super Bowl of achievement LVI Halftime per33 Ignore, _____ former Blige blind eye 16 Pub projectile 34 Donkey, in 17 Make an offer
German 35 Hymn accompaniment 37 Wild hog 38 Directing duo Joe and Anthony 40 Fenders, bumpers, etc. 42 Impressive supplies 44 Proctor in college, somewhat 45 Use as a rendezvous point 46 You can bank on it 47 Flash-drive port 50 The 332, for
example 54 “Lost” actor Daniel ___ Kim 55 “Amo, amas, ____” 56 Research bacteria 57 Sept. follower 58 Violinist/Comedian Thurber 59 “Judy” actress Zellweger 60 BTC competitor 61 New Haven collegians 62 Mine finds
1 Win by ___ (prevail, barely) 2 Country singer Haggard 3 Emergency call, ____ay 4 Offshoot 5 Mountain crest 6 “Amo, ___, amat” 7 Teri of “Tootsie” 8 Path of some electrical conversions, for short 9 Havana’s brass instruments 10 Exist in a state of wrongness 11 Lead singer of The Internet 12 Prefix meaning “both” 19 Composer ___ Herb Brown 20 The most exclusive club on campus 24 Chased 25 Romanov rulers 26 Washington grill? 27 “Euphoria” actor Cloud
28 Future attorney’s exam 29 Author of “Gods, Graves & Scholars” 30 “___ hope so!” 31 Casing for the Space Stone 32 Spoken 36 Best coffee shop in Exeter, 7... 39 “And later ___ the crowd thinned out...” (Bob Dylan lyric) 41 Cold wind from the Andes 43 Military order to relax 46 Play the role of 47 Winning by a point 48 Palindromic French Open champ 49 Captain Marvel Larson 51 Human right’s lawyer Clooney 52 Mrs. Kipling’s bestie from “Jessie” 53 Taiwanese PC maker 54 A deer, a female deer
E14 E12
GRADUATION ISSUE– CXLIV
June 5, 2022
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Chaz Cordle | Dilan Cordoba
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