The Deerfield Scroll

VOL. LXXXIV, N O .4

D EERFIELD A CADEMY , D EERFIELD , MA 01342

September 30, 2009

DEBATERS ARRIVE TOMORROW

Koch Center Lawsuit Settled

By GRACE MURPHY Editorial Associate

By LUCY COBBS and CAMILLE COPPOLA Editor-in-Chief and Front Page Editor

While a Friday free of classes may be the first thing that comes to mind when a Deerfield student thinks of the upcoming competition on campus, the International Independent School Public Speaking Competition will bring about 170 students and over 50 coaches from eight countries to campus. Starting October 1, this fourJenn Coulombe day public speaking contest will be the 28th annual competition and only the Shumway girls dance to Miley Cyrus’ “Party in the USA” on their way to Dorm Olympics September 13, 2009. second time it has been hosted in the Well over a hundred Deerfield stu- that “We’re planning on bringing our be new to public speaking, but they United States.

It is one of the largest independ- dents and numerous alumni will be A-game, so other schools beware!” are “confident in ourselves and hope Deerfield is bringing its A-game as that we get to represent our school the ent-school public-speaking competi- involved in the competition. Many of tions in the country, with “people the alumni will judge, and the students well, represented by Katie Walker ’10, best way we can,” said El Fayez. coming from as far away as Jordan to will help run and organize events, time Charles Giannini ’11, and Grace “More than anything, I’m looking forparticipate and as far away as San the presentations, and serve as specta- Mermel ’12. Mermel, like the rest, is ward to picking up experience and used to public speaking as she was on making new friends rather than winFrancisco to help judge,” said Coach tors in each room. of the Debate Team and Head of Lydia Hemphill and Suzanne her middle-school debate team. In ning,” said Mehra.

Steering Committee Michael Manory have put great effort into the fact, she has been practicing her Deerfield is trying especially hard O’Donnell. recruiting of judges and the housing “After-Dinner” speech throughout the to accommodate and entertain interInterest in attending has been so process. International students will be summer and has her excerpt from The national students since many of them high that Deerfield has had to turn housed by faculty, day students, and Glass Castle “pretty much memorized,” have never been to The United States. away at least ten schools from the other families in the area, competitors she said. competition. Many of the 46 partici- from the ten U.S. schools will stay at Deerfield’s friends at King’s There will be a cook-out, contra dancpating schools are Canadian, and nearby hotels. Academy have been preparing equally ing, and a band. There will also be a many are new to the event this year.

Safety is Deerfield’s highest prior- hard. Their debate team was founded lock-in-type event including dancing, As always, the community will put ity, especially because of the H1N1 just last year when they joined the swimming, and hanging out at Greer its best foot forward in accommodat- threat. competition and heard they would be for both Deerfield and non-Deerfield ing guests, “in the same way that All events will be conducted in competing against Deerfield. Said Mr. students.

All rounds of the competition are Deerfield shines on second-visit English and will test students’ abilities Zych, “We’ve had our eyes on the days,” said Mr. O’Donnell. He has to deliver speeches, act, debate, or prize the whole time.” Since news of open to the community, and students been impressed by the “number of “shoot from the hip and give an the competition, many of King’s are encouraged to come to the finals people from our community who have impromptu address,” said Joe Zych Academy’s students have been excited on Sunday the 4. Mermel admitted to being nervous, but said, “It is kind of stepped up above and beyond in order ’08, founder of Jordan’s King’s about getting involved. to ensure that this event will be a suc- Academy team and coach along with Fakher El Fayez ’12 and Divij comforting to know all my peers and cess.”

Charlie Hopkins ’05. Mr. Zych warns Mehra ’12 from King’s Academy may speakers.”

2009 Heritage Award: Ralph Earle ’49

By ELLIE PARKER Staff Writer The 2009 Heritage Award will go to Ralph Earle II ’49, the chief U.S. negotiator for SALT II between 1978 and 1980; the director of the U.S. Arms Control and Disarmament Agency (ACDA); and governor of Pennsylvania.

Students familiar with international history and politics will recognize “SALT” as the acronym for the strategic arms limitation talks, a series of negotiations between the U.S. and the Soviet Union designed to reduce their nuclear arsenals in the late 1970s.

Ambassador Earle’s life has certainly tracked a course of public service. Following Deerfield, Mr. Earle served in the Army Corps of Engineers and Counter Intelligence Corps from 1950-1952, later attending Harvard College and Harvard Law School. Prior to his involvement in SALT I and II, Ambassador Earle occupied the role of ACDA representative and numerous defense-related positions besides. He has practiced law in Philadelphia and Washington, D.C. Two current Deerfield students can already claim a close knowledge of Ambassador Earle’s contributions, however: his grandchildren, Liz Earle ’10 and Thomas Earle ’12. How did they react to the news of their grandfather’s recognition?

“I thought it was really cool,” said Liz, “I think he totally deserves it, and he loves Deerfield, he loves the fact that [both his sons] went to Deerfield and that Thomas and I are here now, and he really takes every opportunity

to come out and see us and hear about what’s going on, because it had a huge impact on him.”

“He inspired my dad to come here,” said Thomas of Ambassador Earle, “and my dad inspired me.”

Both Liz and Thomas noted how fully their grandfather has supported them throughout their Deerfield careers.

The young Earles will introduce their grandfather when he addresses the community at the October 6 school meeting. Asked what we can expect from Ambassador Earle’s speech, Liz replied, “He does have a lot to say,” though Thomas added, “he plans on keeping it rather short and sweet.”

Laura “Mimi” Morsman, director of alumni relations, suggested that the

ambassador will discuss “differences in the world he entered after school versus the world [our seniors, Class of ‘10] are entering” and also the greatest risks facing the U.S. today.

Both Earle siblings seem to have given the notion of heritage some thought as well, Liz in particular noting, “Actually, going forward into this whole college process, I’m really looking into political science and government as a career path that I kind of want to go down…public service and politics are definitely in the family.”

The Heritage Award annually recognizes one DA alumnus for the notable work he or she has pursued over a post-graduation career.

Frequently, those contributions involve some form of public serv-

ice—always unique to the recipient’s passions, and always meaningful to the entire Deerfield community. Past winners familiar to current students include Father Thomas Keating ’40 (recipient ’06); Muppet co-designer Michael K. Frith ’59 (recipient ’07), and environmental conservationist and educator Brian A. Rosborough ’58 (recipient ’08).

The Heritage Award derives its name, of course, from our school motto, “Be Worthy of Your Heritage.”

DA itself has become a major element of the Earles’ family heritage.

Sources: https://www.alumniconnections.com /olc/pub/DRF/alumni/heritage.html http://dosfan.lib.uic.edu/acda/about acd/earle.htm

THIS YEAR’S CH-CH-CH-CHANGES

Computer Options: Second Waiting:

Dress Code:

- New students have the option of either an IBM or a

- “Hats, tank tops or athletic practice clothes during walkthrough meals are prohibit-

Mac computer.

Advisor System: -Advisees meet with their advisors two times every three Thursdays during sit-down lunch.

Prep school stigma Page 3

- Second waiters cannot stack or scrape off food, must serve the dessert only after the table has been cleared, and deliver a fruit basket with the dessert.

- The salad bar during walkthrough lunches is now located in the lobby outside the Parker Room.

Daisy Dolan ’11-seventeen in Seventeen Page 4

ed.” (“Student Handbook”).

- “Skirts should be no higher above the knee than the width of the wearer’s hand, held flat as in a salute.” (“Student Handbook”)

The Academy ended a four yearlong lawsuit in a favorable settlement this past August. Skidmore, Owens and Merrill (SOM), the architects of the Koch Center, have paid a significant sum of money that was divided between Deerfield Academy and the Gilbane Company, the construction manager of the Koch Center project.

The exact sum is not available because of legal issue.

Deerfield sued the architecture company because of several designoriented issues with the building, according to Chief Financial Officer Joseph Manory.

In August 2008, the Academy also favorably settled a related dispute with the Gilbane Company.

Deerfield has already improved elements of the building since its opening in spring 2007. Most notably, water seeped through the brick caps atop the site and parapet walls, causing efflorescent stains on walls. In 2008, with the building surrounded by scaffolding, granite caps were added to prevent further water penetration into the walls and future staining. The then existing efflorescent stains were also cleaned.

Mr. Manory, along with Head of School Margarita Curtis, President of the Board of Trustees Phil Greer, Chair of the Buildings and Grounds Committee and Board Member Sam Bronfman, and Board Member Luke Terry oversaw the out-of-court settlement of the dispute.

The proceeds from the settlement will fund the improvements, which also include strengthening the “crash bars” on the front doors. These changes will be implemented in 2010, and the Academy has retained Architectural Resources Cambridge to assist with the planning.

The Koch Center project was not the first time Deerfield employed Skidmore, Owens, and Merrill. The internationally-renowned architecture firm was involved with the design of the natatorium, and the Louis Marx and John Louis dormitories.

“It’s important not to lose sight of what has been gained…we have a state-of- the- art building for future generations; it is a signature building for Deerfield, and it has fostered a collaborative approach to teaching and programmatic innovations,” said Dr. Curtis.

These include an inquiry-based 9th grade physics course; a new Game Theory seminar for approximately twenty members of the faculty, including the whole math department, and the integration of science, math and technology within its walls.

Other exciting new programs and research projects will now become possible because of the Koch Center.

In fact, the Eight School Association chose to host its science department symposium at Deerfield because of the unique setting the Koch Center provides. The conference will be held on November 2nd. As Dr. Curtis explained, “This is where the other schools wanted to be.”

Mr. Manory said, “Unfortunately I had to get lawyers involved to get it all done and taken care of. But at the end of the day we’re still left with a great building.”

New varsity girls’ volleyball coach sets up team for success Page 6

OPINION / EDITORIAL

2 The Deerfield Scroll

VOL. LXXXIV, NO. 4

September 30 , 2009

Editor-in-Chief

LUCY COBBS Layout Editor ELLEN SHIN Assistant Layout Editor SARAH KIM Photo Editor STEPHANIE OLIVAS

Front Page CAMILLE COPPOLA Opinion/Editorial JOHANNA FLATO Arts & Entertainment TAO TAO HOLMES

Photo Associate ELEANOR PARKER Business Manager WILL SCOTT

Features AMANDA MINOFF

Editorial Associates

Sports CYRUS WITTIG

September 30, 2009

K O M O RO DB F N At all times and in conforming with other DA poliS N hA cies (i.e. Parietals; curfew; quiet hours; etc.) while O TI NT excepting roommates, students may be in other students’ C E DE rooms of the same gender only with the door open (lock not L SE STU engaged).

E Dresses, skirts, and shorts must be of an appropriate length. h T (Guideline: Skirts should be no higher above the knee than the width of the wearer’s hand, held flat as in a salute.)

Class dress is required at all breakfast meals on school days.

Hats, tank tops, or athletic practice clothes during walk-through meals are prohibited.

EMMETT KNOWLTON YU-JIN NAM GRACE MURPHY ELISABETH STRAYER

Online Editor CAMILLE VILLA Advisors

SUZANNE HANNAY & JOHN PALMER STAFF REPORTERS: Nastassia Adkins, Mary Banalagay, Audrey Cho, Jacqueline Colt, Daryl Cooley, Kayla Corcoran, Danielle Dalton, Ashik Desai, Malou Flato, Albert Ford, Anna Gonzales, Miles Griffis, Sonja Holmberg, Shaye Horn, Ritchey Howe, Jade Kasoff, Charles Kim, Francis Lauw, Eunice Lee, Theo Lipsky, Daniel Litke, Matt McKelvey, Hadley Newton, Sarah Oh, Eliot Taft, Julia Trehu, Libby Whitton, Christopher Wong, Michael Yang STAFF PHOTOGRAPHERS: Arleen Chien, Jennifer Coulombe, Susanna Kvam The Deerfield Scroll, established in 1925, is the official student newspaper of Deerfield Academy. The Scroll encourages informed discussion of pertinent issues that concern the Academy and the world. Signed letters to the editor that express legitimate opinions are welcomed. We hold the right to edit for brevity. The Scroll, published nine times yearly, is entered as third class bulk rate at the U.S. Post Office at Deerfield, Mass. 01342. Advertising rates provided upon request.

Opinion articles with contributors’ names attached solely represent the views of the respective writers.

Opinion articles without names represent consensus views of the editorial staff unless otherwise specified.

Mourning the “Bookstore” The Bookstore has served as a landmark on campus—a symbol of the school’s academic atmosphere, enthusiasm for literature, and everything else that the notion of “book” represents.

The building’s name has changed from simply “The Bookstore” to “Hitchcock House,” and now, this center of our campus has replaced the book with the Vineyard Vines bag.

The books that once occupied a pleasant, spacious room in the house have been replaced with items from what was formerly the Alumni Store in the Arms building. The sparse selection of books can be found stuffed on a single bookshelf and in among school supplies.

We do not need an entire room of fancy Deerfield paraphernalia available year-round when we were fine with them available in their old location on Parents’ Weekend and at the start of school. We would much rather have a variety of books accessible to us in an inviting house whenever the need for a fresh read comes along.

Students have always regarded the bookstore as a place that embodies the spirit of Deerfield. This change compromises the meaning behind this comforting icon.

We urge the administration to reestablish the values that the building, in the heart of campus, represents and put books back in a prominent position in the bookstore.

Missing the Key to the Green Key Last spring, members of the student body completed a lengthier and more detailed version of the “Green Key” application than in previous years. Dean of Students Amie Creagh requested, through email, that the applicants read through the application thoroughly as it contained information about a more rigorous and selective Green Key program.

The application mentioned frequent personal meetings with new students and the promotion of “Green Key” to a more esteemed position on campus. Each Green Key, the application suggested, would have several new students to monitor.

However, after the selection of Green Keys, postcard writing continued as it had in previous year, and since then, minimal changes have been made. Green Key Heads, who

organized a gathering and scavenger hunt for new students, are an addition, but the new program and its alleged “changes” have not been made. No weekly or biweekly meetings have been scheduled, and many Green Keys are responsible for just one new student.

Any strengths of the program are due to the commitment of returning Green Keys and not the heads or deans. The Green Key system could become increasingly inconsistent this year as those in charge have not made the expectations clear.

Other than the few traditional email reminders over the summer to contact new students, the Green Keys were not, and are not, aware of any changes in the system. If the program is to improve, so must the communication.

“Stay In School, Kids”—Controversy?

“Disruptive, infuriating, uninvited.” Based on these responses to President Obama’s back-to-school speech, which broadcast in public schools across the country on September 8, you would think that he had spat out a string of inappropriate swear words.

However, in his address, which contained no profanities, he innocuously urged students to “set your own goals for your education—and to do everything you can to meet them.”

Yet many parents complained that their children were being subjected to partisan propaganda.

Mr. Obama is not the first U.S. President to nationally address school children. Both President George H.W. Bush and President Ronald Reagan have also made similar speeches to students—but without the explosion

of anger from parents claiming subversive political meaning.

Adults should not be so eager to politicize and create controversy over a speech that makes no mention of political parties or suggests any liberal agenda. President Obama’s message—which essentially urged students to work hard to reach their full potential—is neither Democratic nor Republican. These words should apply universally to all American students, regardless of their or their family’s political affiliation.

Sources: http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/09/04/obama.schools/index.h tml http://www.huffingtonpost.com /2009/09/07/obama-speech-toschoolchi_n_278763.html

The Student Handbook (formerly DA -Z) is online now. Check it out and let us know what you think at scroll@deerfield.edu.

“Fail Spectacularly”

An Excerpt From Student Body President Paul Pascuicco’s Convocation Adress I know failure is a difficult topic to discuss with all of you as you got into the most selective school in the country and therefore probably have rarely encountered failure, but this year, I challenge you to be fearless and fail spectacularly. Whether in your academics, athletic, or carnal pursuits, I challenge you to be rejected.

This rejection would simply put you in the same position this very school found itself a century ago.

Many of you may not know this, but Deerfield’s history while impressive and intriguing, is also full of boom

and bust times. Our darkest hour was just before our greatest headmaster Frank Boyden was hired after leaving Amherst. With only 14 students, the school was near closure. However, within twenty years, Mr. Boyden and his wife had reestablished Deerfield as an academic institution in the standing it exists today.

While he was a master educator, Mr. Boyden failed miserably on one ground: managing the school finances.

After the Great Depression hit, it looked like Mr. Boyden’s vision was doomed, as the schools debt and

falling donations seemed like a fatal blow. However, long before TARP and Fed Rescues, Deerfield was rescued as the headmasters of Taft, Andover, and Exeter traveled with Mr. Boyden to their alumni around the country to bailout Deerfield in a move that, to this day, has no precedent or decedent.

So, fail spectacularly. The consequences are not nearly as dire as one might imagine, and I will personally assure you that you will be better off for it.

Congratulations!

Anne Lozier and Mark Donovan On the birth of Maeve June 19, 2009

Kerrie and Jansen McNay On the birth of Enso Ea July 2, 2009

Julie and Michael Schloat On the birth of Carter James September 3, 2009

the evening, when my host-mother and I eat dinner. However, I generally walk home much earlier to do homework and help cook.

Being vegetarian in Spain is possible thanks to my host mother, who is always open to trying new recipes for me. We’ve tried an asparagus and leek soufflé, various quiches, mushrooms with garlic, and the classic Spanish tortilla. I cooked rice with spicy peanut sauce once, utilizing the peanut butter I brought from home since one cannot find it here.

After dinner, students are expected to spend some time with our hosts before burying ourselves in homework. My host-mother and I head to the living room for the news at nine— a chance for me to practice my Spanish and hear about the state of things in the United States.

Keeping up with Deerfield news isn’t too difficult, as I check DAnet and my email daily…as opposed to hourly, which was my general habit in the U.S. Here, my house doesn’t have

Internet access, so I have to walk to the library or the Plaza del Pilar for free wifi. Walking to the Pilar from my home is about the same distance as from John Louis to the Koch Center.

But rather than colonial architecture and the Memorial lobby, my walk today consists of a dance troupe twirling to music blasted from the back of a truck draped with the Spanish flag, an informational fair sponsored by a heart health organization, multiple women in wedding dresses at a photo shoot, a basilica, and a giant puppet accompanied by a few women dressed in traditional Aragón garb.

And luckily for me, the giant caricature scared all the pigeons away. The Plaza is covered with birds and little children feeding them (more like wildly and randomly throwing rice to them). Deerfield’s squirrels are beautiful in comparison. And The Plaza would be so much more beautiful if that tree outside the Memorial Building was here.

Gastronomy Plus in Spain Notes From SYA

By AMANDA BENNETT Contributing Writer During our morning break between Spanish classes, we go to a bar. We have infinite choices: Bar San Remo, El Albohada, el Laurel, or any other of the countless bars in the center of downtown Zaragoza.

Here in the capital of Aragón, most bars open at eight o’clock and offer coffee, pastries, and tapas. Next door are bakeries and bookstores. We can walk to the city library, numerous fountains, and the cafeteria of a local high school, where we go for lunch every day. While the offerings are limited in comparison to Deerfield’s dining hall, our options for free period snacking surpass the Greer.

Classes here in Spain begin at nine, but the school opens at 8:30. We press a button and wait at the green door (which never fails to remind me of Deerfield!) to rise three flights to our tiny colegio. After two classes, we buy coffee or a pastry at the aforementioned bar-cafés or simply wander around the city and take in fresh air.

After three more periods we leave for lunch. The school is shut down and locked for siesta until three, until the next class begins at 3:30. After two more periods, we are let out at 5:15.

Since co-curriculars have yet to begin (most start after the Pilar festival, a week-long celebration particular to Zaragoza, which, according to my host-mother, includes eating chocolate churros for breakfast), I don’t have any commitments until 8:30 in

OPINION / EDITORIAL

The Deerfield Scroll

September 30, 2009

3

Three Students vs. the Prep School Stereotype Our Reputation, and Responsibility

By RAVONNE NEVELS Contributing Writer “I’m going to Hotchkiss,” “I’ve been accepted at Andover,” or “I can’t wait to leave in September for Kent”—are all snatches of conversation I have heard over summers while working at KIPP Reach, my former middle school, whenever recent, successful graduates come by to see their favorite teachers. If they say “Hi” and ask me about Massachusetts, Deerfield, or my college plans, I smile.

I recognize in them the pride and achievement (and fear) that was once, and probably still is, in me.

But for every kid who goes from KIPP Reach’s eighth grade class to the freshman class of Exeter, there are at least twenty classmates who will never get the opportunity. With speculation, I would say that also goes for most students in the greater Oklahoma City area, the state of Oklahoma, the southwest region, and the United States. I wonder if the kids headed to prep schools realize what that means.

I am not talking solely about the problem of boarding high schools being seen as elite or reformative in public thought, but a closely-tied predicament. Boarding-school students often have such overflowing pride for their institutions and personal achievements (or prefer to speak only with students in similar situations) that it, by accident, borders on snobbery and insensitivity towards others of different circles (read: lessprivileged high schools).

These issues stem from conversations and actions. As prep-school students, we need to be sensitive to how we portray and talk to others about Deerfield, this way of life, and our thoughts on different paths. How we live our lives may be the only hint that outsiders ever get as to what institutions like Deerfield are truly like.

If the kids leaving KIPP and Oklahoma ever want advice from me, I would tell them that the real beginning of their high school career is when they learn to be respectful of those they are soon to encounter at school, as well as to those whom they are leaving at home.

I Wasn’t Sent Here!

By JULIA TREHU Staff Writer When my mom first mentioned to her Southern colleagues that I was at “boarding school,” they gave her looks of pity and probably wondered behind her back what I had done to deserve such a punishment. She had to explain to them that no, I was not a bad kid, and in fact I had chosen to attend a rigorous academic institution.

The term “boarding school” conjures up different images, but there is sometimes a shocking disparity between these preconceived notions.

People imagine boarding-school students as either troubled teens with serious disciplinary issues, or in a Gossip Girl style setting, full of glamour and snobbery.

As actual members of this mythical group, we know this is not the case.

Deerfield is not a disciplinary institu-

tion, and while many students do come from wealthy, privileged backgrounds and zip codes, we do not attend extravagant galas every weekend with champagne and cutting-edge couture.

But how can we prove this, when there are so many misconceptions?

The 2005 novel Prep, written by a Groton graduate, casts boarding schools in a distasteful light: the main character spends her four years feeling lonely and alienated in an elitist culture dominated by money, appearance, and social status. The author clearly has a lot of pent-up resentment about her own boarding school days, but many of her insights come off sounding whiney and merely enforce stereotypes.

Television shows like Gossip Girl or NYC Prep have also not helped change boarding school’s image.

While they both are set at private day schools, the world they represent,

Rumors Will Still Persist “Is that what it is really like?” It’s a question that knows no bounds— friends, parents, cousins; it makes no difference. It’s also a question I’ve been asked more times since I arrived at Deerfield than ever before. For those who want the simple answer, “Boarding School life is and isn’t like what you think.”

The easiest way to address the question in a more in-depth way is to make it more familiar. Another place often ridiculed, questioned, and parodied unfairly, especially at Deerfield: The Buckley School in New York City.

Unlike the norm at Deerfield, when you say you go to Buckley in New York, no one snickers or makes a joke about waiters or ties or whatever the particular snipe of the day may be.

It’s roughly the equivalent of meeting someone who says they go to Hotchkiss. For those who think otherwise, Buckley is very much like Deerfield. It’s competitive, the kids are driven, the athletic teams are successful, it is traditional in all respects—the list can go on and on. Yet myths persist about the school even at Deerfield. It seems the question of “what it’s really like” will never fully be put to rest.

I know that Deerfield students who come here from places where people infrequently go to boarding schools are faced with similar myths and questions surrounding Deerfield.

“Do you really have to wear a jacket and tie?” “Do you really have curfews

on weekends, even as seniors?” “Is it only rich white kids?” It doesn’t matter what you say. The rumors and incredulousness still persists.

The criticism isn’t limited to small circles. The media have increasingly taken interest in continuing these stereotypes to satisfy what seems to be an unending hunger for “elitism” on display.

This came to my attention this summer with the airing of the show NYC Prep. Given that I grew up in New York and went to school there through 9th grade, I feel that I have a somewhat unique perspective especially given that I am now an outsider looking in. NYC Prep is a show that purportedly follows a year in the life of five kids who go to “elite private schools” in New York. Yet the show is complete fabrication.

Of the five, only two knew one another before the start of the show.

They all go to schools that rarely overlap: Dwight, Nightingale, Birch Wathen Lenox, and the Ross School (which, by the way, is not in New York City). And none of people on the show—not Sebastian, not P.C, not Kelli, not Jessie, and especially not Taylor—are the type of people the show is trying to target. This makes sense since anyone who should actually be on the show has no interest in being portrayed as an insensitive jerk—the show’s objective.

Sure, there were bits and pieces of the show that were accurate just as there are parts of any reality show that are true, but, ultimately, the overall message was more or less flat out wrong. Just because it’s New York doesn’t mean that all of a sudden the

kids there are not fairly standard teenagers. There are, after all, more new students from New York than other state this year.

By being at the top is to accept that those very people who are captivated by, and have an insatiable thirst for things such as “Housewives,” “Sweet 16’s,” and the Donald Trumps of the world—essentially all the fake elitism they can get their hands on— are the first to say how fake the people are without any real interaction with the people. Just because you’ve seen Harry Potter doesn’t make you intimate with wizards. Just because you’ve seen NYC Prep doesn’t make you intimate with New York. But in the end, as great a video and as intimate as 10 Things I Love about Deerfield may make you with the school, it wouldn’t make for a good TV show.

Essentially, what it means to go to an “elite” school in New York is what it means to go to Deerfield—is what it means to be at the top of anything. It means being criticized, stigmatized, and ridiculed unfairly, as it’s easy to point fingers at entities that pride themselves on their competence or their being the “best.” That paradigm extends to individuals, to sports teams, to companies, to dance troupes, to anything that can in some way be ranked.

In the end I pose this question: recognizing that there are some aspects to stereotypes that make them true, but putting them aside because it makes dismissal too easy, what is it about so many Americans that causes them to fall in love with what is ostensibly portrayed as “elitism,” but couldn’t be farther from it?

while entertaining, is not real. Once again, only stereotypes are reinforced and no real insights are revealed.

When I leave Deerfield and go to college, are people going to immediately judge me once they find out I went to boarding school? Probably.

And it is true, there are experiences related to leaving home at age fourteen that some of my college peers will not understand. But when I try to explain my “days of glory” to them, what I will impart is not the stereotypical view of boarding school, but the unique traditions and connections that

make up what may not be as successful a TV show, but are the truth.

I hope I will find that the boarding-school experience is not unique and that people can relate to what we foster here. School spirit was not invented by Deerfield Academy.

Neither was the importance of community, or the value of honor and integrity, or the ethic of hard work and intellectual stimulation. Loyalty and love for your close friends are not just a boarding school phenomenon.

These are not harmful stereotypes— they are widely held, relatable ideals,

and not just for a boarding-school community.

Boarding school will probably always have a stigma attached to it.

People will always question the ethics of sending kids away from home at a young age, or spending the cost of a college education on high school. But it would be worthwhile for people to let go of their outdated, disproportionate stereotypes and try to understand the diversity of mind, energy, ideals, and background that truly characterizes a boarding school experience.

By CHASE WEIDNER Contributing Writer

“Obamacare”—Socialism or Salvation?

By RYAN ERF Contributing Writer With President Obama’s latest speech to Congress, he pushes harder still to pass the latest concoction of healthcare reform. Despite his powerful rhetoric, there are still many details to his plan that have both conservatives and fiscally conservative Democrats worried about the bill.

From the cost of the bill, to where the money will come from, and finally to how that money will be spent the argument is far from over.

But the real question is, how bad is America’s health care? Is it to the point where we need to take such a drastic measure as to wipe out the private system and build from the ground up with the public option?

The answer is quite simply, no.

Health care in America is not that bad; in fact, one might argue, looking at statistics, it’s far better than that of many countries with a socialized system. For example, take the abundance

of resources. MRIs and CTs, two scanning devices used more and more commonly in standard medical treatment are far more common in America than in countries with socialized systems. In fact, America has 27 MRI machines per million persons, while Canada and Britain, two countries with socialized health care, have only six MRI’s per million. A similar situation exists with CT machines, with 34 per million in America and only 12 per million in Canada and 8 per million in Britain. Clearly, on a purely resource level, we have the ability to treat a greater number of illnesses.

The other question is, what do the American people want? A June 2008 poll done by the Kaiser Family Foundation found that 89 percent of Americans are happy with our healthcare system.

Public Opinion Strategies, a polling organization, asked Americans if they “favor or oppose President Obama’s health care plan.” The numbers from this poll paint a clear picture: 25 percent favor and 37 percent oppose the

IN MEMORIAM

G. RICHARD McKELVEY “THE REV” Deerfield Faculty 1970-2002 Husband

Father

Teacher

1935 - 2009

Coach

Friend

plan, with 37 percent undecided and 1 percent who did not respond.

Essentially, the majority would rather stick with the current health care situation.

Finally, let’s look at the price tag (which Obama claims will be 900 billion dollars), or more importantly, how that tag will be fulfilled. Obama plans to use major spending cuts from the current government health care system, Medicare and Medicaid, to help cover the cost of the public option.

The irony here is: if the two government options already in place are having such issues with budgets and are places of waste, then how on earth is a much larger-scale, government-run health-care program going to stay on top? The private sector has the incentive to do well—to provide the best product for the best price to make a profit. That’s how capitalism works.

The government doesn’t have that incentive and is simply willing to burn through taxpayers’ dollars. So, does the benefit of covering a small portion of people (as is the case now if and illegal immigrant goes to an ER) outweigh the cost? I don’t think so.

Does this all mean that our healthcare is perfect? By all means no—there is plenty of room for reform and design changes to the way it’s run. However, it is clear that, in Americans’ minds, privately-run health care is the way to go. sources: http://weeklystandard.com/Con tent/Public/Articles/000/000/016/9 43pfdxe.asp http://pos.org/inthenews/heathcare_interviewschedule.pdf http://www.economist.com/worl d/unitedstates/displaystory.cfm?story

Beyond “Identity”

By NICK WHITTREDGE Contributing Writer This community prides itself on being comprised of individuals who are different from each other by race, nationality, socio-economic standing, religious beliefs, shape, size, personality, abilities, interests, sexuality and more. The hope that accompanies such diversity is that students will learn how to better understand different types of people so that, when faced elsewhere with the unimaginable variety of people in the world, students will be better equipped to interact, learn and work with them. This is a gift.

Student clubs like the Black Student Coalition, the Jewish Student Coalition, the Gay-Straight Alliance, and others offer students of a particular group an opportunity to identify with and support one another, and invite the community to join the discussion. The Deerfield Identity Project is, for the second year, giving students the chance to identify themselves in a personal way before the community to see in locations around campus while our motto urges students to be worthy of those things that come to us through birth, like our ancestry or family values.

And yet the majority of us still don’t know each other. While student clubs, school initiatives and the identity project provide a safe and open environment for our diverse community, they cannot make individuals take a risk and get to know someone whom they don’t quite understand. Instead,

they (either clubs with a collective identity or individuals participating in the identity project) provide the community with labels—“Black,” “Gamer,” “Bisexual,” “Jock,” “Nerd,” or “Artsy.” By giving these labels to one another we are inviting each other to end the conversation and retreat to our respective corners, almost absolving others from caring about who we are.

Don’t get me wrong—students feel safer, and our school is better off, because of these initiatives. But tolerance isn’t all we aim to achieve. In an intelligent community in a nation known most for its freedom and its diversity, respectful tolerance is expected. Quietly accepting people for the labels they place on themselves is not propelling us foreword to our common humanity.

The heart of what I am getting at is that people are lazy. I know I am. If you present, or misrepresent, yourself in an easy to understand package then no one will care to ask any more.

Similarly, try to go beyond the simple, safe definitions your peers often give themselves.

The next step we must all take individually and collectively is to appreciate each other for more than what is easy to understand. The Deerfield community is a wide and deep resource for the socially curious.

What make this interesting are the parts of it that we haven’t yet encountered or can’t quite conceptualize.

Keeping this in mind, write something on your identity paper that will make someone else ask you a question. They could be your next best friend, and if not, at least they aren’t just a label.

4

FEATURES

The Deerfield Scroll

September 30, 2009

Beyond the Nametag: Getting to Know New Faculty

By HADLEY NEWTON Staff Writer

Jennifer Coulombe Deerfield welcomes eight new faculty year including: (Back row, left to right) Kate Bergeron, Kristen Veiga, Rebecca Melvoin, Amy Shimbo; (Font row) Sarah Latham, Peter Nilsson, Sam Savage. Not pictured: Jaed Coffin.

617 Was Company, 653 is a Crowd: Dorm Changes After Over-Enrollment

BY LIBBY WHITTON Staff Writer There is good news and bad news regarding the unexpectedly high acceptance rate of freshmen last spring. The good news is that Deerfield welcomed an exceptional group of new students. The bad news? There were not enough dorm rooms to accommodate them.

Over the summer, many dorms were reconfigured. Some singles became doubles, a few faculty apartments were made smaller, and many common rooms were converted into bedrooms. These abrupt changes were necessary due to the short amount of time before the new students arrived; they have resulted in a range of reactions among students and faculty.

No one believes that the removal of the common rooms is an ideal situation. Richard Dorhmann, who lives with his family in Pocumtuck, noted, “It has been difficult not having a common room. In the past, it was where we could all gather and be together. The basement can serve as a

space for this, but it is a little less convenient.”

Nevertheless, one of the proctors in Pocumtuck, Madeline Keeshan ’10, believes that “Although the basement is not as easy to get to, it is a bigger, more comfortable space where our whole dorm can congregate.”

Most common common spaces are now doubles, and in some cases triples. This is an especially controversial circumstance, as the school has been known for providing singles for almost all incoming students. A new sophomore, Elizabeth Yancey ’12, who lives in a triple, recalled, “I was shocked when I found out, a week before school started, that I would be living in a triple. I am happy now, as both of my roommates and my whole dorm have been very welcoming and supportive of me in what could have been a difficult situation.”

This attitude is shared by most students who are in a similar situation, evidence that our community can adjust to changes when they are necessary.

Another modification to the traditional dorm organization is the

choice to have seniors proctor juniors.

In the past, seniors have only proctored in underclassmen dorms to support and advise the younger students.

This year, proctors also live in two upperclassmen dorms.

Hannah Flato ’10, a proctor in Bewkes, the newest junior dorm, said, “Junior proctors are a good thing.

Juniors still need advice, a different kind of advice than freshmen and sophomores, but they do need someone there to talk to.” Flato also believes, “They should continue on with the new system.”

The modified dorms on campus have been a success so far. Associate Director of Admissions and faculty resident Debra Dohrmann said, “Even though there are challenges with new doubles, triples, and no common rooms, I am really impressed so far with how everyone is adjusting.”

Ms. Dohrmann used the example of an impromptu Thursday night dance party in the new triple on her hall, which she had to break up, but was “thrilled that the girls were already so comfortable.”

We A LL Make Up Deerfield

Identity Project 20092010 Anne-MarieWhite The Identity Project is an initiative run by the Office of Multi-Cultural affairs whose mission is to emphasize the importance of personal identity at Deerfield. Earlier in the year, students had their photos taken and were asked to proclaim their “identity” on a piece of paper. Admissions Officer Debra Dohrman, who is directly involved with the initiative along with Anne-Marie White and Ayodeji Perrin, explained the goal of the project as “going beyond the cliché idea of the “Deerfield Boy and Deerfield Girl.” The above photos depict images of the “Deerfield Boy,” “Deerfield Girl,” “Deerfield Faculty,” and Mr. Boyden, but are made up of images of students and faculty that make up our current community.

Rebecca Melvoin

Amy Shimbo

Though Rebecca Melvoin joins the faculty as a history teacher, it will not be her first time living on campus.

As Ms. Melvoin’s father was a teacher at Deerfield, she spent her childhood in Pocumtuck, but now, as a teacher, she lives on Mather II. When asked how she was readjusting to dorm life, Ms. Melvoin responded, “My work at Brown in the dorms helped prepare me. That having been said, I’m still getting used to how loud girls can be when they are excited and having fun.” Ms. Melvoin also enthused over her favorite food to make for feeds: pancakes.

Before coming to Deerfield, Ms. Melvoin attended Bowdoin College and Brown where she received her Master’s degree in American Civilization, and Boston College where she earned a Master’s in history. While at Bowdoin, she dabbled with the idea of becoming a social worker or management consultant before deciding to teach after helping out at a Hebrew School. She has also taught at several secular schools including the Lakeside School in Seattle and Beaver Country Day School in Brookline, MA. When asked why she chose to return to Deerfield, Ms. Melvoin said, “I was so impressed with everyone I met when I came to interview, and I knew that I would enjoy teaching here. Plus, returning home was also very appealing.”

In addition to teaching, she will be coaching squash in the winter and softball in the spring.

Amy Shimbo comes from the suburbs of Seattle, Washington, and will be Deerfield’s new director of music.

Ms. Shimbo has not always wanted to follow a career path in music. In high school, she wanted to partake in psychology research, but she admitted that her “college music classes turned out to be more fun.”

She attended Harvard University and later taught as a graduate student at both Yale University and at the University of Washington. After graduating, Ms. Shimbo taught for three years at Christopher Newport University in Virginia.

Ms. Shimbo said she decided to become a teacher because she “enjoys working with young people and likes that teaching involves so many different skill sets. It forces you to keep learning about the world and your discipline and helps keep you young!”

Though music is her passion, Ms. Shimbo has many other hobbies. Salsa dancing is one of her favorite things to do, although she claims that she is “not very good.” She also enjoys reading, photography, movies, eating, traveling, knitting, and avoiding doing laundry. In addition, she added, “I’ve always been interested in penguins well before they were the stars of any movies.” In fact, if she could go anywhere in the world, she would to Antarctica to go on a penguin tour.

Clearly, Ms. Shimbo will be a welcome addition to the Deerfield community. She is sure to bring some penguin-loving, salsa dancing spice to the music department.

Ms. Shimbo is living on Shumway III and will also be helping out with community service this year.

Students Serve Communities With Academy Grants

BY DANIELLE DALTON Staff Writer Last spring, students and faculty gathered for a community servicethemed school meeting in which Director of Community Service Bernie Baker announced the recipients of the Workman Grants and Cost Award.

Sixteen students received the Workman Grant to support their own community service projects in their hometown. The Cost Award is a $2500 grant in honor of Charles Piper Cost, a Deerfield alum who died in his second year of college at Williams College. The grant is supported by his friends and family.

Generally, the selection committee awards the Cost Award each summer to one student who has created an organization that will last even after the student has graduated and moved on to college. This year, the Cost Award was granted to Andy Harris ’10.

Harris worked on his project with Katie Regan ’10 in Milford, New Hampshire. Harris and Regan directed a children’s musical, Seussical the Musical Junior, with three other high school students at a local boys’ and girls’ Club.

“We did everything from costumes and lights to props and budget planning. We had to rent mikes and pay for everything else in the production,” explained Regan. “The grant helped so much. Without the Cost Award, it wouldn’t have been possible for five high school students to pull it off.”

The application for the Cost Award is essentially the same as that

for a Workman Grant. All interested students apply for a grant; however, students must specify their interest in the Cost Award.

The application process for both grants was extensive. “You have to submit a plan of what you intend for your project to accomplish,” said Harris. “I included information about the show, who I planned on having help with it, the rehearsal schedule, a brief budget, and many other details.”

A selection committee, including Dr. Baker and Associate Head of School and Director of College Advising Martha Lyman, read all the applications and decided which projects to award grants towards.

Despite the hard work that went into this project, including tech week when the high school students spent hours painting the set and working out the lighting, they found their overall involvement to be a lot of fun.

The experience of working with children, Regan stressed, “was absolutely incredible. A lot of the kids had never done theatre before and it was nice to see all these talented kids experience theatre for the first time. It was very rewarding.”

Regan particularly enjoyed working backstage, adding, “I felt almost more nervous than the kids, but I was so excited to see them perform.”

Harris echoed her sentiments, commenting that, “It was great just to work with the kids. They’re all pretty adorable. By the time they get to actually perform, it is so cool to see them on stage and be excited about what they are doing.”

WHAT WAS YOUR FIRST IMPRESSION OF DEERFIELD? New Students Offer Fresh Perspectives

“At first it was intimidating, but now its exciting.”

-Kate Rand ’13

“Life is brighter here.”

-Phillip Heller ’12

“Everyone is really friendly and helpful.”

-Olivia Falcone (PG)

“My classes are really dank, and my teachers seem interested in helping me succeed.”

-William Hess ’12

“Nick Lovejoy’s futon is really comfortable.”

-Ted Barrett (PG)

“My Spanish class is really intense and I have a lot of homework.”

-Gareth Hill ’12

“My hall residents are really nice!”

-Georgina Hutchins ’12

The Deerfield Scroll

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

September 30, 2009

5

I KNOW WHAT YOU DID LAST SUMMER...

Deerfield students expand their artistic talents DARYL COOLEY Staff Writer If they are not at sports camps, at work, or traveling abroad, where do some Deerfield students spend their summers? The answer: art programs.

Through multi-week programs, Deerfield artists practiced their talents, learned from respected professionals, and left with new-found inspirations and motives which they have brought back with them to school.

DANCE: Nina Shevzov-Zebrun ’12 attended a six-week ballet program in New York City at the American Ballet Theater. At ABT, ShevzovZebrun danced from nine in the morning until five in the evening, in classes ranging from ballet technique to pointe variations to jazz dance.

“My favorite part of the program,” shared Shevzov-Zebrun “was that we were able to watch the ABT professional dancers who were rehearsing in the studios.”

Ilse Kapteyn ’12 attended a seven-week-long ballet program with the Chautauqua School of Dance in New York. Kapteyn danced for seven to eight hours a day with about 20 other girls. For Kapteyn, one of the most exciting parts of the program was the opportunity to perform in a huge outdoor amphitheater.

VISUAL ART: Hannah Flato ’10 attended a two-week program at the Marie Walsh Sharpe Art Foundation.

The program accepts about 10% of applicants, and all 60 students get full scholarships. The students at the camp drew and painted for a total of seven hours a day, guided by critically acclaimed artists, who Flato described as “terrifying but wonderful.”

Jacque Hulburd ’10 attended a one-month summer intensive at The Parsons New School of Design in New York. In the digital photography department of the program, Hulburd was in classes for six hours every day.

The classes were either taught by guest speakers, or art history lessons about other photographers. “I learned a lot

about placement, lighting and detail,” she said, “and about the importance of a picture.”

MUSIC: Nick Whittredge ’10, accompanied by his violin, went to the Apple Hill Center for Chamber Music for 20 days. At Apple Hill, in Nelson, New Hampshire, students attended chamber music rehearsals for three to four hours every day. One unique thing that the program does is “take people from conflicted places of the world and put them in a chamber group together,” as Whittredge described. “By the end of the session, they will play a piece of music together. I took away the message of tolerance of others’ music ability and ideology.”

Emlyn Van Eps ’12 attended a four-week musical program at the Luzerne Music Center in New York.

Van Eps’s daily schedule consisted of six hours of rehearsals, both private and group. She also was able to attend performances by professional musicians. “I left the camp motivated to continue playing violin and improve myself,” Van Eps said.

Andy Kang ’10 spent two weeks at a music intensive camp at Tanglewood, in Lenox, Massachusetts.

Kang spent hours in rehearsals during the day, and was able to attend some professional performances at night.

Kang felt that his greatest improvement from the camp was “new confidence and boldness” in his playing.

THEATER: Camille Coppola ’10 went to a five-week acting institution at the National High School Institute Theater Division at Northwestern University. Her daily schedule included movement, text analysis, theater history, set design, and screen writing classes along with rehearsals at night. The group performed ten plays including Columbinus, seen on the Deerfield stage in 2007.

Looking back at her experience, Coppola reflected, “I’ve learned there are so many ways of doing one art form.”

DAISY DOLAN ’11 TEEN MAGAZINE FASHIONISTA SUSANNA KVAM Contributing Writer

Scroll: Have you always wanted to have a career in fashion?

Dolan: My mom used to say that Next time you walk into a drug- Vogue taught me to read, so yeah, I store or pass a newsstand, pick up a guess. But after being around the current issue of Seventeen magazine industry, I’m not positive it’s what I and flip to page 50. want to do when There you will find a I’m older. familiar face promotScroll: What ing the latest trends. I was it like to be at sat down with Daisy a Seventeen fashDolan ’11 to discuss ion shoot? her role on Seventeen’s Dolan: Very style council. long. It’s crazy Scroll: Tell me because you spend about your role as an hour or two in member of the fittings and in hair Seventeen Style and makeup, and Council… then the actual Dolan: It’s really shoot is maybe 6 fun actually. I’m sort minutes. It’s sort of of like a guest editor, awkward because in that we all style our there are 10 people own shoots, and we on set and fans blog on blowing at your face seventeen.com about and you have to sort trends and things like of dance around that. and look like you’re Scroll: How did having a ton of fun. you get chosen to be Scroll: In what on the Style ways has appearCouncil? ing in Seventeen Dolan: I interned changed your life? at a fashion PR comDolan: It has pany the summer definitely opened a after freshman year, lot of doors for me. and my boss got an This summer I email from Seventeen already have two saying that they needinternships planned, ed girls for the posiand I’ve been able tion, so I applied. I to go to fashion actually didn’t know I week and some pregot it until they called mieres, so it’s been a me in for a shoot for pretty cool experithe March issue. ence.

Scroll: How Scroll: Do you would you describe have any other a is ’11 Dolan Daisy your personal style? promotional Dolan: Pretty member of the Seventeen appearances comsimilar to how they Magazine Style Council ing up soon? describe me. I love Dolan: Yes! I’m dresses and skirts, but going to be in a JC Penney promoI’m a lot less preppy than they tional ad for one of their lines, describe me. They needed someone to Decree. And I may also be on an E! fill the “prep school” position.

News segment about holiday shopping, but that’s a few months away.

Steph Olivas

Mr. Coffin, Deerfield’s new Wilson Visiting Fellow, smokes an imaginary pipe at his desk in the Arms Building. He is currently teaching two classes and working on his second novel.

What do a temple in Thailand, a boxing ring in Alaska, and a Deerfield Academy classroom have in common? [Answer: a Coffin] AUDREY CHO Staff Writer A monk, a boxer, and a Gossip Girl watcher—say hello to Deerfield’s new Wilson Visiting Fellow. Jaed Coffin, of half-Thai descent, shared with the Scroll tales of his colorful and unconventional past on a stroll to his house.

The Wallace Wilson Fellowship is a sponsored fellowship that brings a professional to simply teach what they do. As a writer, Mr. Coffin is funded

by Deerfield to teach English for a year while continuing his personal pursuits.

Mr. Coffin maintains his prior position as Master in Fine Arts in Creative Writing at University of Southern Maine.

“I like working with graduate students, but I prefer teaching teenagers,” Mr. Coffin said. He came upon this realization in Alaska while teaching for a year at a non-traditional high school for “kids who didn’t fit the regular mold.” These were students recently expelled or teens with drug-abuse problems.

However, what Mr. Coffin really picked up in Alaska was boxing. When he began to “burn out” on the soccer field, he decided he needed “some-

TAKE A TRIP TO PARADISE SONJA HOLMBERG Staff Writer Fall in the Pioneer Valley represents a lively time for the arts. From October 10 to 12, Paradise City Arts and Crafts Festival, located at the Three County Fairgrounds in Northampton, Massachusetts, is flooded with people from all over the valley who have come to buy (or just to admire) the stunning artwork.

Exploring Paradise City in past years, I have discovered it to be an oasis of fine arts and crafts, produced by artists from all over this country and Canada.

The wide array of arts showcased at Paradise City is part of what makes this festival unique. Studio furniture, art glass, large-scale sculpture, ceramics, jewelry, and painting comprise the art categories. The festival also consists of 2-D mixed media, photography, works on paper, decorative fiber, metal, wood, leather, and wearable art.

All the art created by the festival’s 260 exhibitors is displayed indoors and under tents. In addition, a unique

thing more individually driven and something that inserted me into a different culture.”

In the evenings, Mr. Coffin boxed against local fisherman or indigenous Alaskans in local bars around Juno and Sitka. In fact, his second book, which he hopes to finish by the end of his year here, is about the people he met and with whom he boxed.

Surprisingly, the men grew closer after the fights.

“People assume boxing breeds violence. But actually, the result is more often fraternity,” said Mr. Coffin. In fact, he has kept in touch with his former boxing coach, an electrician who fishes commercially for salmon during the year; in the summer, Mr. Coffin has returned to visit and fish together with him. “The boxing world is truly its own world,” Mr. Coffin mused.

The astonishing cultural explorations of our Wilson Fellow don’t end here. His first book, a memoir called A Chant to Soothe Wild Elephants, is about his brief life in Thailand. The story revolves around a 21 year-old Jaed Coffin returning to his mother’s rural village to become a monk, reaching into his cultural origins, and discovering a new aspect of the world.

So why would someone with such extraordinary experiences come to Deerfield, Massachusetts? “To enjoy being a family,” explained Mr. Coffin.

He liked the idea of getting away from the busy Portland scene and being more local and relaxed, giving him time to write and focus on his family life. “I wanted a place where Jai-yen (his one-year old daughter) will be happy…where I could spend more time with her.”

When Mr. Coffin and I reached our destination, a blue-gray home on the right side of Main Street, we were met by exuberant Jai-Yen and his gentle, slender wife, Jessie Chalmers.

Although the Scroll sat with the Coffin family for only a few minutes, those few minutes offered a window into the young family’s daily harmony.

When asked if there was anything he wanted to say to Deerfield, Mr. Coffin stated three things: One: you can always bring treats to his office, anytime.

Two: he will coach Boys’ Thirds Basketball. (Perhaps a subtle recruiting advertisement?)

Three: to “please come say hi.”

Visiting him and his family at their home is always welcome.

sculpture garden contains some pieces involved in the annual silent auction to benefit Hospice.

When visiting Paradise City, you are sure to discover that the festival’s variety is matched by the level of quality in each artist’s work. Considering that founding directors Geoffrey and Linda Post are both artists with 30 years of experience, it is not surprising that they know how to recognize such expertise.

If you tire out from all the shopping, Paradise City also provides visitors with a wonderful choice of food stands set up by local chefs. Under the food tent you can buy pakoras from India House, pizza from Spoleto, or peanut noodles from Amber Waves. While you’re enjoying the delicious food, you will also have the opportunity to listen to one of the jazz bands that play at Paradise City throughout the three-day weekend.

Just like the art, the food and music at Paradise City exemplify the idea that there is something for everyone.

Another striking feature at Paradise City is the exhibitors’ willingness to talk to visitors about their work and their methods of creating it.

I remember having an intriguing conversation with a potter there three years ago about the process of Raku

firings in ceramics; this inspired me to go on to do Raku at an art camp both this summer and last. Even if you do not consider yourself artistic, Paradise City is mind-opening in the sense that it gives you an idea of the beautiful things people are capable of creating.

Whether or not you are seeking it, you will find inspiration at this paradise of the arts.

Because of the amount of work put into the art at Paradise City, the prices can sometimes run a bit expensive. Scarves, hats, and gloves usually range from $15 to $40 and small photographic prints and paintings can also be purchased at a reasonable price.

Jewelry has a range of prices, but some of it can certainly be bought at a price which will not put a dent in your wallet. Most of the furniture, wood, art glass, and sculptural pieces sell at a higher price.

Paradise City is open between 10 a.m. and 6 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday and from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Monday. Student admission fees are $8, adults are $10. Children under 12 are free and three day passes are available for $15. Free $2 off admission coupons are available on the website: www.paradisecityarts.com. The website also has photos of many of the exhibitors’ works.

6

SpORTS

The Deerfield Scroll

September 30, 2009

Serbian Star Looks to Defend Water Polo Dynasty

By DANIEL LITKE Staff Writer Water polo recruit Borko Kovacev ’10 had never travelled far from his home in Becej, Serbia—that was until his 12-hour journey that ended with his arrival in the United States, and more specifically, Deerfield Academy, a school that is looking for its 3rd consecutive New England Championship in water polo. However, despite disruptions that come with such a change, Kovacev has already made quite a splash at Deerfield.

Like any new student, Kovacev has had to adjust to an unfamiliar environment. However, unlike most, he has the added burden of an extreme culture change and language that is not his own. In spite of this extra hurdle, his transition has been quite smooth thus far.

The pool is one of the places that Kovacev has had to make an adjustment, and according to water polo coach Mark Scandling, he has done a fine job.

“Everything is coming in a second language,” said Mr. Scandling.

“The water polo terminology might be a little different, but he’s been great about making the adjustment in communication.”

As an athletic recruit, Kovacev has faced some additional pressure of performing as an athlete, something which Mr. Scandling believes Kovacev has also handled maturely.

“Kovacev hasn’t felt the need to come in and prove himself and [say] ‘I’m going to be a star’—instead he has said, ‘I’m going to be a teammate,’” said Mr. Scandling.

The ease of Kovacev’s transition is not exclusive to his athletics— something that he credits to the school community.

“There is a nice team, nice school spirit, and the guys in the school are great,” said Kovacev. “I feel like I’ve been here for a while.”

Captain Randwulf Singleton ’10 added that “the squad has welcomed the addition of Kovacev.”

Although Kovacev has been under a constant state of change, it doesn’t seem to be affecting his play.

In the team’s first two games against Andover and NMH, Kovacev totaled four goals and seven steals, helping the team to 10-7 and 17-2 victories respectively.

“He can score almost at free will,” said Singleton. “His knowledge of the sport and feel for the game are wonderful.”

Mr. Scandling said, “Kovacev knows what he wants to do, where he wants to do it, and doesn’t force things.”

Even though he posted some impressive numbers in his first big game, Kovacev does feel that there are some challenges ahead.

There are significant differences between water polo in New England and in Serbia. Kovacev has found that the New England game is based on speed and power rather than individual skill and technique. He admits that he needs to “improve [his] physical shape” because of this.

Water polo is a team sport. That is why Mr. Scandling believes that what Kovacev brings to the team is just as, if not more, important as what he brings as an individual player.

“He’s been wonderful at explaining to his teammates things that they can improve on, without yelling at them or scorning them,” said Mr. Scandling. “He’s a skilled player who’s also a good teacher of the game.”

Kovacev brings a different outlook on the sport, and on the world.

Just as he is learning to live in a new culture, his teammates and peers are learning from him.

“I think we’re all going to benefit from having a person from a different country who has been through different experiences,” Mr. Scandling said.

“What he shares about his life in Serbia will be just as much an important part of our year as his performance in the pool.”

Games to Look For : Field Hockey vs Exeter 10/3/09

Boys’ Varsity Soccer vs Westminster 10/14/09

Varsity Football vs Hotchkiss 10/10/09

Girls’ Varsity Soccer vs NMH 10/14/09

Girls’ Cross Country Gets a Head Start

By NASTASSIA ADKINS Staff Writer This Thanksgiving, members of the girls’ cross country team will have the opportunity to visit what cross country Coach Dennis Cullinane calls “The Deerfield of Dublin,” St. Columba College, a boarding and day school in Dublin, Ireland. Ireland has shown a strong affinity for academics and running, which inspired Dr. Cullinane to pursue the idea of the trip. At first, he attempted to contact some of Deerfield’s Round Square peer schools in England, but none of them showed much interest, leading him to search for schools in Ireland.

There, he received an enthusiastic response from St. Columba’s.

The incentives behind the trip are not only to improve the performance of the team, but also to offer a once in a lifetime opportunity, training against the breath-taking backdrop of the hills and mountains of Dublin. Dr. Cullinane also looks to foster a relationship with the girls at St. Columba’s, hoping the trip may develop into an exchange program.

The girls will stay at a hostel about 20 minutes away from the college, and St. Columba’s will arrange for a few of the girls from the school to stay with the Deerfield team.

Each year, Ivy League colleges hold international races against Oxford University and Cambridge

University in the United Kingdom, which also prompted Dr. Cullinane to look into a trip of this nature.

Dr. Cullinane and his family travelled to Ireland in August to visit St. Columba’s, where they were blown away by the level of hospitality they were shown by both the students and the faculty. While there, a member of the St. Columba faculty hosted them.

“They treated us like family,” said Dr. Cullinane.

The girls’ cross country team has some promising new talent in their midst this season. Among them, new junior Ariel Beauregard-Breton ’11, who hails from a French school in Montreal, qualified for the Canada Games this summer and is nationally ranked in Canada for both the 3000 meter and the 2000 meter steeplechase.

“She’s got a real shot at winning the New-England’s,” said Dr. Cullinane about the new star.

Other newcomers to watch include new sophomore Shelbi Kilcollins from Smith Falls, Ontario and freshman Dashiell Schulte from New York, New York, whose sister Revell Schulte is a senior on the team.

The girls’ cross country team has much to look forward to in the coming months with the prospect of a stellar season of running ahead. To top it all off, the opportunity to travel to Ireland and be a part of such a unique experience sounds too good to pass up.

Jennifer Coulombe

Varsity boys’ football players practice drills with Coach Albertson during preseason

Gridiron Success Means Stepping Up

By ASHIK DESAI and EMMETT KNOWLTON Staff Writer and Editorial Associate After a 6-2 2008 season, the Deerfield boys’ varsity football team is getting ready to play with an inexperienced squad.

Captain Connor Scott ’10 is the only returning starter on this year’s roster. Head Coach Michael Silipo will be working overtime with coaches Nicholas Albertson, Chip Davis, and Mark Ott to rebuild the team and prepare them for the tough season ahead.

“Injuries have plagued the team a little bit during preseason,” Scott said, “so I cannot say anything for sure, but we did some good things during our scrimmages against Andover and Cushing.”

With a new roster comes a new strategy to winning. This year, according to Scott, Coach Silipo plans to “air it out.” This means using new offensive game plans, such as four wide receivers instead of the I-formation the team ran last year. No matter what the strategy may be, Coach Silipo preaches one motto: “The biggest game is the next one.” The team will focus on their opponent of each week and nothing else.

Despite a very new group of varsity players, many of them have formed good relationships from previous years on the jv team. When asked about the team’s chemistry, Nic Mahaney ’12 replied, “It won’t be a big deal. Every team goes through the process of getting to know each other; it’s just one of the things a team has to do.”

One potential new contributor, Mac Roy Jackson ’11, dominated the competition at the jv level last year as the team’s starting running back. “I am looking forward to seeing how he does. He will be making a huge difference for the team this season,” said Scott of the junior.

The team picked up a behemoth post graduate, left tackle Ted Barett who “will be beating up opponents,” according to Scott. Along with Barett, the team will need players like Drew Patenaude ’10 and Jeff Van Oot ’12 to dominate on the offensive line.

“Our game plan this year will revolve around throwing the ball, and so much of that depends on the play of our offensive line,” said Cyrus Wittig ’10. “With Conner and Trevor Wheeler ’10 on the outside, I have no doubt we can throw the ball; it’s just a matter of whether the line is able to provide protection.”

On the defensive side, post-graduates Harley Brown ’10, Charlie Bueneman ’10, and Brendan Gallagher ’10, will all have a huge impact.

“Harley is a very physical defensive end who has a nose for the ball,” said Wittig when discussing the playmakers on defense. “Charlie and Brendan both have a natural feel for the game. Once they fully understand our defensive scheme, they will be hard to stop,” Wittig continued.

In reference to returning varsity player John Zurlo ’10, “He is going to be a factor on the offensive line, and I think he is definitely capable of filling the big shoes Jim Forrey ’09 left behind at defensive end,” Scott enthused.

The team is chomping at the bit to start the season. Only time will tell which players step up. “We have the bodies to compete, it is just a matter of developing the toughness it takes to play football,” said Coach Silipo in a recent speech to the team.

According to Scott, “Our biggest challenge coming into the year was getting a team together as fast as possible, and I have no doubt we have done that. We’re ready. I cannot wait for the season to get underway.”

New Coach Sets Volleyball Team Up for Success

By SARAH OH Staff Writer With the loss of four senior starters and their coach Elizabeth “Scottie” Buron, Captains Shaye Horn ’10 and Morgan Marks ’10 imagined a bleak future for the varsity volleyball season ‘09. That is, until Cathleen Markowski arrived.

The new coach has created quite a buzz for the volleyball team. “I’m so excited for this season, especially as a four year senior, under someone who only coaches volleyball,” says Horn.

With focus solely on volleyball this fall, Coach Markowski came with a definite plan and, most importantly, experience - what Mrs. Markowski can

Jennifer Coulombe

Shaye Horn ’10 practices her form during preseason

offer to the volleyball team is inestimable.

Mrs. Markowski’s coaching experience began as a freshman at UMass Amherst and officially started as a career with the women’s volleyball team at Turners Falls High School.

After four years and a 77W-17L record, Mrs. Markowski set out to coach the men’s and women’s volleyball teams at a division III . She raised their combined record from 4 to 33 wins.

Among the wins, she has also looked over the newly established Rookie of the Year and Player of the Year programs for women. Many players on the men’s team received post season awards, which is undeniably due in part to their effort, but also to Mrs. Markowski’s ability.

How does all of this history translate on the court? As Horn simply puts it, “She’s pushing us harder than any of us have been pushed at Deerfield.” If any player speaks the word, ‘can’t’, she will have to give 25 pushups (Mr. Flaska only asks for 10).

Each practice under the coach’s eye forces every player to take more out of each drill.

In a scrimmage against Kingswood Oxford, Taft, Loomis, and Williston, the team played exceptionally well. The team’s new sophisticated offenses caught other teams off guard, simply because the plans were not generic. Horn, the setter, has up to 15 options of strategy, dictated by hand signals.

“There’s definitely a different feel about the [volleyball] program,” says Marks. “Mrs. Markowski is very dedicated to coaching and really intends to change the program in general.”

One such change is related to the jv team. “I believe that if the two teams practice in a similar fashion and the effort is consistent, eventually,

perhaps the next season, a few of the jv players could transition to the varsity level,” says Mrs. Markowski. Her words put to action, the jv team recently ran with the varsity team for practice, and volleyball coaches are creating plans to incorporate drills between the two teams.

Mrs. Markowski’s involvement with DA may expand to the softball team, but ultimately she hopes to coach volleyball for many seasons.

“I would like the volleyball teams to grow here at Deerfield,” Mrs. Markowski said. “I believe that with time and effort, we can continue the winning tradition.” And fortunately, she has a team willing to work, not just for New England’s, but for every practice.

Jennifer Coulombe

Georgina Hutchins ’13 lines up her serve