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B E W O R T H Y: A CA M PA I G N F O R D E E R F I E L D

volume 81/2

Barton Dorm

DOMINICAN REPUBLIC TRIP: A DESIGNER’S PERSPECTIVE

RETIREMENTS

ALBANY ROAD + COMMENCEMENT REMARKS FROM HOS JOHN AUSTIN

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The Archives

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BE WORTHY: A CAMPAIGN FOR DEERFIELD

ON THE COVER: A rainy Commencement day forced the Class of 2026 to process from the Wachsman Athletics Complex— serendipitously introducing what may have become a new tradition: one last clank of the horse hitch for good luck!

COMMON ROOM

See page 84 for a funstastic 1950's archival view!

Production Manager

Steve Berman

Director of Communications/ Editor-in-Chief

Jessica Day

Graphic Designer

Jojo Delgado

Digital Engagement Manager

Dave Fraser

REORIENTATED HEADMASTER'S FIELD

Design & Art Director

Social Media and Email Manager

Academy Archivist

Brent M. Hale

Spencer Kruse-Melfi

Anne Lozier

SUMMER 2026 | volume 81/2

SPOTLIGHT ON: 5th YEARS!

Associate Director of Advancement Communications/ Managing Editor

Carly Nartowicz

West Campus Dorm / online Fall 2027; updates p.18

This issue of Deerfield Magazine arrives at a particularly meaningful moment in the Academy’s history. In May, we launched Be Worthy: A Campaign for Deerfield—an ambitious effort to ensure that the school we love remains as vibrant, welcoming, and transformational for future generations as it has been for those who came before. In the pages that follow, you’ll read about the campaign’s priorities: expanding access through financial aid, investing in extraordinary faculty, strengthening our residential community, and sustaining the programs that make a Deerfield education unlike any other. It is an inspiring—and important—vision. But the part that has stayed with me isn’t the dollar goal or the construction projects or even the campaign’s remarkable momentum (which you can learn more about at beworthy. deerfield.edu). It’s those two simple words: Be worthy. They’ve been on my mind a great deal in the weeks since the campaign launched, and not just because we’ve been asking alumni and other community members what being worthy means to them. It’s because they’re words we don’t often hear in everyday conversations. We may talk about being successful, happy, productive, accomplished—even exceptional. Worthy feels quieter than that. More personal. Less about achievement than character. So what does it mean to be worthy? I’ve had the privilege of hearing Deerfield stories for many years. Alumni tell me about a teacher who changed the course of their lives. Parents describe watching their children become more confident, more curious, more independent. Teachers speak

about students who surprised them—not necessarily with perfect grades, but with resilience, kindness, or unexpected courage. None of these stories hinge on prestige. They are stories about people becoming the fullest version of themselves and helping others do the same. Maybe that’s what worthiness looks like. I also think about worthiness in the context of stewardship. As we’re all aware, Deerfield didn’t simply appear one day as the place we know now—far from it, in fact. Every generation inherited something valuable, cared for it, and left it a little stronger for the next. Sometimes that meant expanding a building. Sometimes it meant endowing a scholarship fund. Often it meant something less grand: a conversation in the dining hall; encouragement on the sidelines; teaching a class with extraordinary care; volunteering for a Reunion committee; making a $25 gift that felt meaningful because it represented gratitude. Each act says the same thing: This place has given something to me, and I want to leave it stronger than I found it. That feels like a worthy aspiration—not only for an institution, but for a life. One story from my own family gives these ideas particular resonance. My older daughter boarded at Deerfield during the pandemic, when circumstances unexpectedly brought students together in ways none of us could have anticipated. What could have been an isolating time instead became a season of remarkable closeness and friendship. It was, in many ways, an unlikely silver lining. By the time my younger daughter was a Deerfield student, life had returned to normal—and with it, a different Deerfield experience.

That contrast reminds me that the Deerfield experience is shaped not only by classrooms and traditions, but by the daily rhythms of living together: sit-down meals, conversations, laughter in the dorm, spontaneous moments of encouragement, and the relationships that quietly define these formative years. Those experiences don’t happen by accident. They are created intentionally, nurtured over time, and renewed by every generation. As you’ll see throughout this issue, Be Worthy is ultimately about preserving and strengthening those experiences. From a feature about the Academy Archives—where our school’s history is a vibrant part of the here and now, to the Boyden Society Roll Call, which honors those in our community who have included Deerfield in their long-term financial or estate plans, to alumni spotlights that highlight the good work Deerfield graduates are doing out in the world—this issue of Deerfield Magazine asks us to think not only about what Deerfield has been, but what it can become. I hope you’ll enjoy reading these stories as much as we enjoy telling them. More than anything, I hope they prompt the same reflection they’ve prompted in me: “What does it mean to be worthy?” I suspect the answer is different for each of us, but that it begins in much the same place: with gratitude for what we’ve been given, humility about our responsibility to care for it, and optimism that what we leave behind is even better than what we inherited. //

Jessica Day

covers: Brent Hale; drone: Dave Fraser

Director of Communications/Editor-in-Chief

Produced by the Deerfield Academy Communications Office: Deerfield Academy, Deerfield, MA 01342. Telephone: 413-774-1860 communications@deerfield.edu Publication Office: Cummings Printing, Hooksett, NH. Third class postage paid at Deerfield, Massachusetts, and additional mailing office.

Deerfield Magazine is published three times a year. Deerfield Academy does not discriminate against any individual on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, transgender status, marital status, national origin, ancestry, genetic information, age, disability, status as a veteran or being a member of the Reserves or National Guard, or any other classification protected under state or federal law. Copyright ©2026 The Trustees of Deerfield Academy (all rights reserved)

2026 ALBANY ROAD

Commencement

The Fourth Branch (of Government) Remarks from the Head of School This is Deerfield’s 227th Commencement. It’s extraordinary to think that we are part of something that has endured for so long. For just a moment, I’d like to take you back to the end of the 18th century. I recently reread Deerfield’s founding charter, entitled An Act for Establishing an Academy in the Town of Deerfield, approved by the Massachusetts Senate and House of Representatives on March 1, 1797, and subsequently signed by then-Governor Samuel Adams on June 9 of the same year. Adams was a revolutionist, a statesman, an early advocate for female education, and signer of the Declaration of Independence. The founding of this Academy coincided with two events of tremendous importance: the establishment of this country, and a great movement, across the emerging nation, to create academies of learning for what our charter calls “the common benefit.”

“A decent respect for the opinions of mankind.”

Brent Hale; drone: Dave Fraser

These two events—one of political establishment, the other educational—are in fact one and the same: expressions, mutually reinforcing and deeply dependent on one another, of a shared project and aspiration. This year, on July 4, we will mark the 250th anniversary of the adoption of the Declaration of Independence. Statesmen like Adams understood that declarations and constitutions were necessary for self-government. But they were wise enough to know that they were also insufficient. They understood that this country’s national experiment in self-governance would not—could not—last without a comparably ambitious experiment in education; without what our charter explicitly calls “liberal education”—that is, education directed to the responsible and thoughtful exercise of liberty. So, they created schools. Many hundreds of them. Like Deerfield. As another way—almost another branch of government—to support and protect the integrity of that great—and always unfinished—experiment we mark, symbolically, on July 4. As we celebrate your graduation—itself a kind of independence day—I think it is worth recalling this history—this original purpose of your school, Deerfield. As you know from your American history classes, ours is one of the only forms of government intended to be conducted through public discussion and debate. That is why the Declaration of Independence takes the form of a persuasive argument. Even as its authors publicly declared their rebellion—inviting the war that would follow—they felt an obligation to submit their thinking to the world. To justify. To give reasons. ‘A decent respect for the opinions of mankind,’ the authors wrote in the first sentence of that Declaration, requiring that they explain themselves. “A decent respect for the opinions of mankind.” I have always admired that phrase. When seen in the broader context of the American Enlightenment, it encapsulates an entire philosophy. Of government: conducted through dialogue, persuasion, and compromise. Of education: dedicated to the habits of respect and openness, reason-giving, and pluralism. And of schools: created so that young people could gather to practice and perfect those habits. These habits are as important now as they ever were. Perhaps more so. This, I would suggest to you, is one of the purposes of your Deerfield education, and it is one of the things we celebrate today: not simply learning how to think— that has become a bit of a cliché—but learning how to think together. To think in the collective. That is why rhetorical arts of writing, persuasion, and dialogue were so important to that early generation of school makers: They knew that a flourishing republic requires a lettered, deeply literate citizenry capable of deliberation, dialogue, and collective judgment.

ALBANY ROAD / COMMENCEMENT + REMARKS FROM HOS

The educator and political scientist Danielle Allen, who spoke to us earlier in the year, reminds us that one of our great challenges is to ‘learn how to respect, relate, and cooperate across lines of difference.’ It seems so simple, but we all know that it is easier said than done. But that is what a school like this one, at its best, is about: bringing young people together, from across this country and globe, to think, to learn, and to live with one another. Class of 2026, you have done this magnificently. Throughout the life of the Academy—in the classroom, in the residence halls, on your teams, in your ensembles and performances—you have brought energy, imagination, and joy. This is one of the things I most admire about you. Again and again, you lifted one another, made one another better—often in quiet, unheralded ways—renewing with your collective engagement the goodness of this school and the promise of our charter’s founding hope. What has distinguished your class is not so much what you have achieved individually—though your many accomplishments are impressive and well deserved—but during your time here what you achieved and created together. And, ultimately, what you have left for those who follow: the Classes of 2027, 2028, and 2029 who surround you and next year will take up your legacy. You have led the way with generosity, humor, kindness, and friendship, setting an example of which you should be proud. For this, we are deeply grateful, and I take great joy in knowing that your journey is now forever part of the Deerfield story. Wherever you go next, know that Deerfield will be with you. Class of 2026: Congratulations. ///

Brent Hale

This is one of the things I most admire about you. Again and again, you lifted one another, made one another better—often in quiet, unheralded ways—renewing with your collective engagement the goodness of this school and the promise of our charter’s founding hope.—John Austin

SENIOR A D D R E S S : Ellora Devitre

S EN I O R ADDR E S S :

K EY NOTE A DDR E S S Elliot Ackerman

Patrick Zhang

The Deer f i e l d C up Vic’Kaysha Rivera

T he Ro b er t C r ow Awar d JT Gally

ALBANY ROAD / COMMENCEMENT + REMARKS FROM HOS

CONGRATS CLASS OF 2026

More photographs on biggreen.photos

Brent Hale

ALBANY ROAD / GUEST SPEAKER S

Anna Guo Ya Pettee ’13 2026 ASHLEY AWARD RECIPIENT

Marshall Field V ’59 2026 HERITAGE AWARD RECIPIENT

This year’s Ashley and Heritage Award recipients were both recognized for their dedication to conservation and the environment when they spoke at School Meetings during the Winter and Spring Terms. Marshall Field V ’59 was presented with the 2026 Heritage Award for a lifetime of leadership in environmental conservation and philanthropy, including his work to protect the Florida Everglades, conserve monarch butterflies, and strengthen communities through thoughtful stewardship. Anna Guo Ya Pettee ’13 received the 2026 Ashley Award in recognition of her dedicated work as an environmental educator and advocate, and for her extraordinary commitment to conservation on a global level. The Ashley Award is given annually to an alumnus/a who graduated less that 20 years ago and who exemplifies Tom Ashley’s (Class of 1911) spirit of service and commitment to others. The Heritage Award is also presented annually and recognizes an alumnus/a whose professional and personal achievements represent a special contribution to the betterment of society. Both awards are given to those who personify the Academy’s motto: “Be worthy of your heritage.” //

2026 DEERFIELD FORUM x MUNK DEBATES

The Deerfield Forum Munk Debate is available to watch at Munkdebates.com

Brent Hale

Deerfield Forum was held on April 21 in the Hess Auditorium in partnership with the Munk Debates, a non-profit that seeks /// The to promote the art of civil and substantive public debate by convening the brightest thinkers of our time to weigh in on the big issues of the day. Founded by industrialist Peter Munk in 2008, the Debates began as twice-annual live debates in Toronto, Canada. Fifteen years later, the Debates have won international acclaim and expanded beyond live events into a popular podcast series, online video programming, and an 80,000-person active membership. Hosted by Rudyard Griffiths, chair and moderator of the Munk Debates and a senior fellow at the Munk School for Global Affairs and Public Policy, best-selling author, and the publisher of The Hub, Canada’s leading online news outlet for public policy debate and analysis, the motion was argued in favor by the biophysicist, best-selling author, biotechnology entrepreneur, and the former director of the Program on Medicine, Technology and Society at UCLA School of Medicine, Gregory Stock. His debate partner was the internationally acclaimed strategic philosopher and pioneering transhumanist Max More. Arguing against the motion was the prominent American bioethicist Ezekiel J. Emanuel, Special Advisor to the Director General of the WHO and a former founding chair of the Department of Bioethics at the National Institutes for Health. His debate partner was Joyce Harper, the award-winning educator, author, and Professor of Reproductive Science at University College London. A unique feature of the Munk Debates is that the audience is polled before the debate and again at its conclusion, and the winning team is determined by which has changed the most minds; in this instance, the “pro” team won. Head of School John Austin said, “The Munk Debates were built on a conviction I share: that serious argument, conducted in good faith, can change minds, and that changing one’s mind is not a sign of weakness but of intellectual honesty and courage. I can think of no better model for what we are trying to accomplish here at Deerfield, and we are honored that Munk chose Deerfield as the place to bring that model to a school for the first time.” //

ALBANY ROAD / GUEST SPEAKER S

DIA LOGUE : T he Deer fiel d P o d c a st The first season of Dialogue ended on a high note with a conversation between Head of School Dr. John Austin and 2026 Commencement keynote speaker Elliot Ackerman, as they discussed leadership, the lessons of military service, and the value of persistance, among other topics. Hosted by Dr. Austin, this inaugural year of Dialogue showcased Deerfield as a place of ideas and intellectual inquiry, and featured conversations with leading voices whose work reflects the Academy’s educational priorities, such as curiosity, reading, civic engagement, and substantive, nonpartisian conversations. Many of Dialogue’s guests also addressed students at School Meeting or during other events on campus. All 2025-26 episodes of Dialogue are now available on Apple, Spotify, and YouTube, and stay tuned for season two!

Listen / Watch Listen now on podcast platforms (Apple and Spotify) or visit the Head of School’s page: deerfield.edu/headofschool

Board President Leila Govi ’93 P’26,’28 and Trustee Dana Tang P’24 on The Brick, Community, and School Culture

Bob Dewey ’77 P’12,’14,’17,’20 Host of Exploring Prosperity

Justin Driver Yale Law Professor

Elliot Ackerman Former U.S. Marine, Novelist

Noel Rubinton ’73 Author of Looking for a Story: A Complete Guide to the Writings of John McPhee (’49)

Matthew Cavanaugh

THE BRICK DEDICATION On Saturday, March 28, the Deerfield community gathered to dedicate the new dining hall, The Brick— a space that serves as a central hub of daily life on campus. Made possible through the generosity of Ambassador and Mrs. Johnson P’24, the building was named in honor of their son, Brick ’24. In remarks throughout the evening, speakers reflected on the dining hall’s role as both a shared space and a defining part of the Deerfield experience— what Dr. John Austin has described as “our most important classroom,” and so much more than simply a space to eat; The Brick is where students come together to build friendships and take part in the community life that shapes their time at Deerfield. //

ALBANY ROAD / SFW

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/// p h o t o g r a p h s b y M a t t h e w C a v a n a u g h ///

SPRING FAMILY WEEKEND

Brent Hale

A L B A N Y R O A D / S P R I N G P L AY

A L BA N Y R OA D / F I V E - M I N U T E I N T E RV I E W

FIVE-MINUTE INTERVIEW W/ DIRECTOR OF ATHLETICS

GREGG DINARDO What drew you to Deerfield at this moment? I’ve felt a strong sense of connection to the Deerfield community throughout the 16 years that my family has lived on campus. (Gregg’s wife, Allison, is an associate director of Admission and director of Health Education at the Academy.) The Deerfield students I met along that journey of feeds, team meals, and advisory outings always impressed me with their maturity, confidence, and purpose. When the Director of Athletics opportunity arose, I was drawn to the chance to work more directly with students, as my former collegiate role at Amherst demanded less student-facing engagement. The landscape of sports at all levels (youth, high school, college) is changing rapidly, and I hope my 20+ years in college athletics will help Deerfield navigate these stormy waters. I also believe in DA’s commitment to sub-varsity athletics, and I’ll be proud to champion opportunities for all students to understand the value of a team experience. Ultimately, I’m honored and humbled to be part of the long history and great tradition of Deerfield Athletics. How did your experience as a student-athlete and team captain shape the way you approach athletics and leadership today? As a student-athlete, I was fortunate to play for coaches who placed the highest emphasis on team cultures rooted in character, sportsmanship, and integrity. I experienced transformational teams that shaped me as much off the ice and field as on it. I credit my high school and collegiate coaches with steering me toward some of the most important values I continue to hold today, and that impact is what propelled me to pursue a career rooted in paying it forward. I believe in the power of being part of a great team, and that value serves as the core of my approach to leadership.

What excites you most about Deerfield’s athletics program? Deerfield boasts an amazing history of tradition and success. I’m excited to build upon the generations of coaches and students who have made Deerfield’s athletics program what it is today. Also the sideline passion. No school rivals DA’s spirit— hands down. Beat Choate! How do you define success for a program like Deerfield’s—both on the field and in the broader student experience? My hope is that Deerfield student-athletes continue to walk away from their teams carrying the strongest of bonds with their teammates and coaches. We’re a school that values relationships, and sports—at their best—uniquely and beautifully serve that mission. Sports provide space for personal growth and the development of confidence and character; you should never overlook their value. That said, we’re also a school that values excellence, and Deerfield has a long tradition of pride in athletic success. Continuing that legacy matters. As you look ahead to your first year, what are your early priorities? Getting to know the students. It’s all about relationships for me. I want to engrain myself in all aspects of Deerfield life; I want to be seen as someone who is approachable and supportive, not only in Athletics but also in the life of Deerfield, whether that’s in the dining hall or dorms. In my time on campus, I have loved getting to know the students in more depth; they are all so amazing: smart, curious, talented, and personable, just to name a few of their many strengths. In addition, I look forward to getting to know my colleagues. I want to work hard and be viewed as a great campus partner. Athletics can’t be successful without the support of so many other departments. I want to learn how we in Athletics can support other areas of the Academy. Again, we’re one big team here at DA, and I want to be a great teammate to all.

You and your family are already part of the Deerfield community—how does that perspective shape your approach to this role?

Tom Kates

When you live and breathe Deerfield, employee or not, you can’t help but feel the heartbeat of the place. The spirit, the joy, the history. Tradition carries weight at Deerfield. I’ve felt it, and I can’t wait to live it. //

ALBANY ROAD / CHAMPIONS

FLYING HIGH The Big Green swimming and diving teams competed at the 2026 NEPSAC Division I Swimming and Diving Championships hosted by Phillips Academy Andover in March. Deerfield divers Gage Calhoun ’27 and Alex Chutkow ’26 delivered standout performances, capturing first place in the girls and boys one-meter diving events, respectively. On the girls side, Gage then surged ahead on her final dive to secure the gold medal with a combined score of 459.20. In the boys competition, Alex earned the top spot on the podium with a total score of 435.55. Their victories mark a notable milestone: the first time in Deerfield program history—and in NEPSAC/NEPSSA championship history— that Deerfield divers swept both the girls and boys one-meter diving titles at the same championship meet. The Big Green diving team also saw strong performances across the board, with Jewel Suh ’28 placing fifth in the girls competition with a score of 393.20, and contributing 14 points to the team total. On the boys side, Teddy Gonzalez ’26 finished eleventh and Rowan Muzzy ’28 placed thirteenth, adding six and three points, respectively. Congratulations to Gage, Alex, their teammates, and the Big Green coaching staff on an exceptional championship meet and season.

COMBINED SCORE OF

435.55 16

COMBINED SCORE OF

459.20

Diving, Risley Sports Photography; illustration, Jojo Delgado

ALEX CHUTKOW ’26 GOLD MEDAL

GAGE CALHOUN ’27 GOLD MEDAL

US ROWING YOUTH NATIONALS SARASOTA,FL ////// After winning the New England Independent Rowing Association Boys and Girls 8+ Championships in May, the Big Green 1V and 2V crews resumed training for the US Rowing Youth National Championships in Sarasota, FL, and for the first time in program history, Big Green rowing qualified four 8V+ boats for the 2026 US Rowing Youth National Championships: Boys and Girls 1V and 2V. The crews further etched their names into US Rowing and Deerfield history as the Boys 1V captured the Men’s 8+ National title and the Girls 2V earned the bronze medal in the Women’s 2V 8+. Both the Boys 2V and Girls 1V finished in seventh place in the Grand A Final to secure the top seventh spot nationally. This national championship event drew 235 clubs and included 863 entries from across the US.

HENLEY ROYAL REGATTA

Molly Lyons

HENLEY,ENGLAND ////// From Florida, the crews returned to the northeast to prepare for the Henley Royal Regatta in the UK. On Saturday, June 28, the Henley draws were selected, and the Big Green started their Henley racing on June 30. Racing in The Prince Philip Challenge Trophy division, the Big Green girls crews defeated Shrewsbury School in their opening race. In the Princess Elizabeth Challenge Cup, the boys crew defeated Dulwich College in a gutsy come-from-behind victory. Both crews advanced and returned to the Thames on July 1 for another head-tohead race. The girls were again victorious and beat Latymer Upper School to advance to the next round. On the boys side, the King’s College School, Wimbledon, crossed the finish line ahead of the Big Green to conclude their Henley journey. After a day of rest, the girls resumed racing in the quarterfinal against Headington School, and fell short to close out their Henley quest. Nevertheless, congratulations to the Big Green crews on a historic season! //

A L BA N Y R OA D / B U I L D I N G A F U L LY - R E S I D E N T I A L D E E R F I E L D

Building a Fully-Residential Deerfield Construction of the West Campus Dorm and reorienting the baseball field to its original position on Albany Road are both well underway this summer. The new field includes an extension that can be used for other sports, such as soccer and lacrosse, and will be ready for use in the fall of 2027, when the West Campus Dorm also opens. The first games on the baseball field are expected to be played in the spring of 2028. The West Campus Dorm—the first girls dormitory constructed since 2002—will provide 38 student rooms and four new faculty residences, bringing teachers closer to the campus core and the student experience; reinforcing the “all in” faculty model, and strengthening the Academy’s ideal 10:1 faculty to student ratio in dormitories. It will also allow for a more inclusive and cohesive Deerfield experience for every student by

providing the necessary space to enfold the children of local families fully within the community as boarding students for the first time in the Academy’s history. The decision to move to a full-boarding model was unanimously endorsed by the Academy’s Board of Trustees at their 2026 spring meeting. While students who are enrolled as day students in the 2026-27 school year will retain that status through their graduation, when the West Campus Dorm opens in the fall of 2027, Deerfield will be a fully-boarding school. As local children are enfolded into campus life as boarders, the Academy has also moved to a single tuition rate that is truly comprehensive with no additional fees or hidden costs. And the Financial Aid Initiative (domestic families with a documented income of $150,000 or less annually pay nothing to attend Deerfield; families making over that threshold will pay no more than ten percent of their verified annual income) will help support the needs of local families in this transition to full boarding.

We remain steadfastly invested in our mission and our core values. A fully-boarding Deerfield—with its commitment to ‘shared experience’— is a natural next step in fulfilling that mission, and we’re thrilled that we’ll be able to offer this experience to local families through the full-boarding model. —Associate Head of School for Student Life Amie Creagh Associate Head of School for Student Life As part of the Financial Aid Amie Creagh said, “We remain steadfastly Initiative, local families will also be invested in our mission and our core values. supported as “Boyden Scholars,” a A fully-boarding Deerfield—with its commit- program within the Initiative that ment to ‘shared experience’—is a natural is earmarked to support students next step in fulfilling that mission, and from the town of Deerfield and we’re thrilled that we’ll be able to offer this surrounding communities. See experience to local families through the page 42 for more information. // full-boarding model.”

Learn more at: beworthy.deerfield.edu

ALBANY ROAD / TEAM BUILD

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FOR THE SECOND YEAR IN A ROW OVER SPRING VACATION, A GROUP OF DEERFIELD EMPLOYEES SPENT A WEEK IN THE DOMINICAN REPUBLIC WITH CAMBIANDO VIDAS TO HELP BUILD A HOME FOR A LOCAL FAMILY. IT WAS AN EXPERIENCE I’LL REMEMBER FOR A LONG TIME. I knew going into the trip that it would be meaningful. What I didn’t expect was how much it would challenge the way I think about work, community, and what it means to contribute. The days were long and physical, and early on, I put a lot of pressure on myself to be as useful as possible. I wanted to keep up, pull my weight, and prove I could handle the work. But eventually, that mindset shifted. I realized the experience wasn’t about being the strongest person on the site or doing the most. It was about being part of a team and finding ways to support the people around you. In some moments that meant scooping cement or sifting dirt. Other times it was bringing water, checking in on someone, or simply helping to keep spirits high. What stayed with me most was the sense of community surrounding the project. This wasn’t just a group of volunteers building a house. It was Deerfield people returning year after year to support one another in a payit-forward cycle. Once you witness that kind of generosity in action, you are inspired to keep it going. And when we got back, I was happy to create a keepsake for my fellow builders that included some of their reflections on the trip. Here are some excerpts from what they—and I—wrote.

SIEMPRE IS A SPANISH ADVERB MEANING ALWAYS, FOREVER, OR AT ALL TIMES.

Cambiando Vidas began with a single act of kindness in 1997, when Jose “Pepo” Abreu’s community rebuilt his mother’s home after it was destroyed in a fire. Inspired by this generosity, Abreu founded Cambiando Vidas to provide safe, affordable homes for deserving families in the Dominican Republic. Since 2009, Deerfield Academy has sent more than 20 trips and well over 300 students to work with Cambiando Vidas under the guidance of faculty member Sheryl Koyama, who retired at the end of this school year (see page 24). Sheryl will continue to work with Abreu as president of the Cambiando Vidas Board of Trustees, and at the Academy, faculty member Jim Perry has been named liasion; under the auspices of Deerfield’s Center for Global and Civic Engagement, student and employee trips will continue on.

HAND BOUND BOOK USING COPTIC STITCHING METHOD. SCAN QR CODE TO WATCH THE PROCESS ››

ALBANY ROAD / TEAM BUILD

JOJO What really stood out to me was the sense of community that exists around this project. I was amazed to learn that many people return year after year to help build homes for other families, even though the only requirement is helping with the house before and after your own is built. It’s this pay-it-forward cycle that has people continuously returning to do just that, because if you have the opportunity to help those around you, why wouldn’t you take it? At Deerfield, we often talk about the importance of community, and being here gave me the chance to see what that idea can actually look like in practice. This program exemplifies that spirit in a very real way, bringing people together not just to experience another place, but to work alongside a community and support one another.

AT DEERFIELD, WE OFTEN TALK ABOUT THE IMPORTANCE OF COMMUNITY, AND BEING HERE GAVE ME THE CHANCE TO SEE WHAT THAT IDEA CAN ACTUALLY LOOK LIKE IN PRACTICE.

CLAIRE The rooster crows, it is still dark. He is not an alarm clock, he has no use for human time. The smell of coffee is welcoming. Outside the light changes and the sun gets stronger. White clouds soften the blue mountains. We gather and give thanks. The rice fields shine bright green against the mountains. Children and teachers gather outside for school. Trees rush by. The men are working hard when we arrive. If you watch, you learn. The men are patient. They show you how to turn rebar into cage. Bending metal and twisting wire. You get a thumbs up, but sometimes they need to show you again.

LA CAMIONETA (THE VAN) THAT WE TRAVELED TOGETHER IN

WE STAYED HYDRATED ON SITE WITH JUGO DE GUAVA (GUAVA JUICE)

BEN When we were building your house I was there dropping rocks Into the holes below the window Where you look out at the mountains I crushed them up with a hammer into small little pieces And let them fall into the hole you share with your future It was dark down there and I couldn’t see them land But I heard them catch each other

JOHN

THE DEERFIELD* TEAM

We had our evening repast overlooking the dam at a place owned by a friend of Jose’s. He has so many. As we drove down the road and across the dam, we had to stop multiple times for him to greet people he saw. After dinner, we shared something we had learned about another member of our group over the course of the week, and as a result we all knew even more about each other and how much we appreciate each other. We grow closer and closer. //

JOSE ABREU *Cambiando Vidas Founder

JOHN DOLLHOPF Math Teacher

BEN GULLA English Teacher

JOJO DELGADO Graphic Designer

ERIN DONNALLY-DRAKE Manager of Student Information Systems

SHERYL KOYAMA Math Teacher

DENISE DEVLIN Human Resources Coordinator

EVER FLEMING Admissions Data Entry Coordinator

CLAIRE O’CONNOR Health & Wellness Admin Assistant

ELIZABETH DOLLHOPF Math Teacher

LISA GAIMARI Portfolio Analyst and Researcher

JIM PERRY Science Teacher

ALBANY ROAD / RETIREMENTS

SHERYL KOYAMA Mathematics Teacher

37 YEARS

/// b y K a t e G o d i n ///

Tom Kates

BLAZE

Sheryl Koyama was a math major in her junior year at St. Olaf students adapt to life at the Academy—and by extensive conversations College when her advisor and the chair of the math department sat with both students and colleagues—the four-day program helps her down and suggested she take some education credits because participants navigate the academic and social terrain of boarding they believed she would make a good teacher. “I think I said, ‘I would school life. “Rising Scholars might be the thing I’m most proud of,” rather burn in hell than teach high school mathematics,’” Sheryl Sheryl says. “Along with Cambiando Vidas, it’s where I’ve been able to have the greatest impact.” laughs. “They both loved telling that story.” After graduating, Sheryl spent two years as a Peace Corps Sheryl traces her devotion to serving her students—challenging volunteer in Kenya—teaching. She arrived at Deerfield in 1989, and supporting them in equal measure—to her upbringing. “I was just as the school was returning to coeducation, to join the math raised in a family where there was a lot of talk about commitment to department. And so began a long, rich career defined by a deep things beyond yourself,” she says. That personal ethic appears in her generosity of spirit and steadfast ethic of service. email signature: Do Justice. Love Kindness. Walk humbly. “I’m pragmatic There have been a few surprises along the way: giving birth and I like simplicity,” Sheryl notes, “and this motto is just really clear.” unexpectedly in Rosenwald dorm, taking a jam-packed sabbatical All of this—her values combined with a wholehearted approach to year that included traveling to nine different countries and getting learning inside and outside of the classroom—has made Sheryl a married, and building more than 20 houses in the Dominican Republic deeply caring, empathetic, and effective educator. She has held the with Deerfield students and fellow employees. Helen C. Boyden Chair of Science and Mathematics and won the Greer But the biggest surprises were quieter. “Right away, I was struck Chair, awarded in recognition of exceptional contributions to the by the genuineness of students’ enthusiasm for learning and wanting school community, after being nominated by students and colleagues. to do well,” Sheryl recalls. Her colleagues “I was pretty overwhelmed by were also a revelation. “During hard that,” she recalls, “and it felt pretty times, they surrounded me in ways that great.” Right away, I was struck by I hadn’t anticipated,” she says. “They Sheryl’s plans for retirement are the genuineness of students’ became my community and some of my as rich and full as her life at Deerbest friends.” field has always been. She and her enthusiasm for learning and From the outset, Sheryl has been husband look forward to a lot of driven by a desire to make a meaningful which began with chaperwanting to do well,” Sheryl recalls. travel, impact. Over the years, she has taught oning a three-week Deerfield trip nearly every course in the math curricto Spain in May and June, followed Her colleagues were also a ulum, gravitating toward younger by walking one of the Caminos in students. “That’s where I felt I could the network of pilgrimage routes revelation.“During hard times, make the greatest difference,” she says, leading to Santiago de Compostela. “focusing less on content and more on Sheryl will also continue her work they surrounded me in ways that instilling the habits and attributes of a with Cambiando Vidas as presiI hadn’t anticipated,” she says. good student.” dent of the board of directors. Closer to home, she hopes to Her dedication has extended well beyond the math classroom. In 2009, “They would become my community become involved with a local orgaSheryl began leading annual spring trips nization such as the Center for New and some of my best friends. to the Dominican Republic, where she Americans—and to make time for as much salsa dancing as possible. and Deerfield students partner with the nonprofit Cambiando Vidas to build a home for a local family. “When There is much Sheryl will miss about Deerfield as a place—from we arrive, there are only one or two courses of concrete blocks,” she working in the Caswell Library to passing Brooke’s Garden every explains. “When we leave less than a week later, the house is morning on her way to class—and as a community of remarkable complete, with running water and electricity.” Since then, Sheryl has students and generous colleagues. But it is also time. Sheryl says she led 20 trips involving more than 300 students and, last March, orga- feels lucky that she still loves her job and wants to love it on her last nized the first-ever employee trip. Deerfield teams have, in fact, day at work. And so she is ready to honor a promise she made in her constructed a quarter of all the homes Cambiando Vidas has built. 2022 Convocation address to that year’s ninth graders: that they Sheryl considers herself fortunate to have been part of work that has would graduate together. “Everyone knows this is the year when I shaped her in lasting ways. “It has been life-changing for me,” she retire,” she says. “It was good for me to put a pin in it, because I could adds, “which is fitting, since cambiando vidas means ‘changing lives.’” see myself becoming the kind of person who says, ‘Oh, I’ll stay one In 2012, Sheryl co-founded Deerfield’s Rising Scholars Program, more year—one more year.’” a pre-orientation initiative for a self-selecting group of incoming After 37 years at Deerfield, Sheryl Koyama is satisfied with her ninth- and tenth-graders. “I grew up in the Midwest and attended legacy at Deerfield and energized about the future. In the end, her public school, so I’ve always been mindful of how to level the playing path was the right one for her. “When someone asks me what I do,” field at Deerfield,” she says. Informed by years of observing how she says, “I feel really proud to say, ‘I’m a high school math teacher.’”//

ALBANY ROAD / RETIREMENTS

YANIK NICHOLS French Teacher

15 YEARS

Tom Kates

/// b y K a t e G o d i n ///

Travel makes students strong and resilient . . . It gives them confidence to experiment, to fail, and to try again. It makes them empathetic and kind, less prone to snap judgments. For me, travel is education personified. For Yanik Nichols, travel is central to a complete education. Reflecting on her 15 years as a French teacher at Deerfield, she is most proud of introducing students to new countries—and new ways of being in the world. “Travel makes you understand very quickly and very clearly that there are many ways to do things and to be successful,” she says. Yanik’s own life has been shaped by travel from the beginning. Born and raised in Vanuatu, an island nation in the South Pacific, she set out at age 19 on two years of global travel through the Working Holiday Visa program, which allowed young people to live and work abroad. During that time, she met her husband in the Athens airport— both en route to Turkey—and they continued traveling together for another two years. These early experiences proved formative, fueling Yanik’s passion to take her students abroad. “Travel makes students strong and resilient,” she says. “It gives them confidence to experiment, to fail, and to try again. It makes them empathetic and kind, less prone to snap judgments. For me, travel is education personified.” Since arriving at Deerfield in 2011, Yanik has logged many miles with her students on a wide range of trips. She has led language immersions to France, where one powerful moment involved silently observing the American and German cemeteries in Normandy before reflecting together on students’ reactions; agricultural sustainability trips to Tanzania, where students saw how one person’s idea and follow-through can create meaningful change; an immigration trip to Arizona, which brought students face-to-face with human suffering and asked them to lean into empathy; and a (language) trip to China, during which she witnessed remarkable language growth over the course of a month. That same impulse—to broaden perspectives by changing the setting—also shapes how Yanik teaches at Deerfield, where she brings students to different spaces over the course of a semester. “One of Deerfield’s many resources is its gorgeous physical campus,” she says, “and so I’ve taken advantage of that.” Yanik teaches activities linked to Jean Giono’s The Man Who Planted Trees, for example, in the Academy’s greenhouse. Surrounded by raised beds of spinach and field peas, she and her students discuss together, in French, the story of one man’s quiet dedication to transforming a barren valley into a thriving forest over many years. That profound act of generosity captures what Yanik hopes students will carry with them into the world. She reinforces the lesson through an Arbor Day tree planting program, working closely with Academy groundsperson, Jodi Tanguay. “That project would not have gotten off the ground without Jodi,” Yanik notes. “Her expertise has been essential, both for planting the trees and for all the greenhouse learning we do.” Yanik also believes that planting a tree gives students a tangible stake in the campus itself. “They can visit their tree when they return for their 20th Reunion!” she says with delight.

Even as she embraces unconventional learning spaces, Yanik describes herself as a traditionalist in the fundamentals of language teaching, where practice and repetition are essential. “I have no problem being an old dragon who says, ‘You have to learn how to conjugate verbs,’” she laughs. Yanik believes students must internalize the language—its structures, rhythms, and rules—through steady drilling and memorization before they can speak with clarity and confidence. “Watching French movies and listening to French songs is really fun and useful,” she says, “but you’ve got to master those core elements to be able to move forward in a coherent manner.” Yanik’s commitment to rigorous learning brought her back to Vanuatu in 2023 as a Fulbright Scholar. While in graduate school, she promised herself she would apply for a Fulbright once she became a U.S. citizen. “I did not realize I would be almost 60 when that event came to pass!” she says. She was awarded the grant and, with Deerfield’s support, took a sabbatical to return to her home country to research and support teacher-training programs. “The goal was just to apply because I’d promised myself,” she adds. “I was totally shocked when I got it.” Yanik’s project grew out of her own educational history. She attended school in Vanuatu when it was still a French colony and experienced a rigorous, centralized system that faltered after independence in 1980. Motivated by a belief that “a country can’t survive if they don’t have an educated populace,” she worked through the School of Education to observe classes and mentor 25 teachersin-training across eleven schools. She reviewed lesson plans, observed and videotaped their teaching, and offered detailed feedback— support often missing in a swim-or-sink system—before helping them create electronic portfolios to carry forward in their careers. “They’re brilliant,” Yanik says. “All they need is a little help and guidance.” As Yanik looks ahead to retirement, she finds herself thinking not only about the work she has done abroad but also the community she will be saying good-bye to. “I will miss my dear colleagues in the language department, and many more around campus. I will miss witnessing the way students evolve over their time at Deerfield,” she says. “I feel grateful to have been surrounded by such smart people from whom I learned constantly. They give me so much hope for the future.” Her immediate plans, fittingly, are full of travel. She and her husband plan to spend a year abroad, beginning in France and returning to Turkey—the country that brought them together decades ago at the Athens airport—to hike the Lycian Way and explore the region, with stops in the Balkans and perhaps the South Pacific before returning to France. Along the way, Yanik will keep in touch with her teacher -training cohort in Vanuatu and pursue rigorous volunteer work in education. Even in retirement, she will follow the same compass that has guided her life: curiosity, generosity, and a love of learning. //

ALBANY ROAD / RETIREMENTS

THOMAS SHARPE Manager of Maintenance and Projects

14 YEARS

Tom Kates

/// b y K a t e G o d i n ///

After more than a decade as Manager of Maintenance and Projects at Deerfield Academy, Tom Sharpe leaves behind a legacy of meticulously finished woodwork, beautifully restored buildings, and a deep respect for craft. His retirement marks the end of a career at the Academy guided by patient stewardship and a commitment to excellence in caring for the spaces that the Deerfield community relies on. Tom’s relationship with Deerfield began with hands-on work in the Koch Center, where he spent a year and a half installing the finish carpentry package—doors, window frames and trim, cabinetry, handrails and molding—as an independent subcontractor. That initial project led to others in quick succession: supervising the renovation of the Main School Building’s third floor, followed by a series of summer projects that included the Arms Building lower-level classroom renovations and the addition to Ephriam Williams House. During the Little Brown House renovation in 2012, Tom was offered a full-time position, solidifying his connection to Deerfield. As he puts it simply, “I never left that summer.” Moving from contractor to caretaker, Tom’s work has spanned the full spectrum of campus life, though nearly always behind the scenes. Students, faculty, and staff live, study, gather and work in the spaces he has maintained and improved. His role has centered largely on building maintenance: tending to paint, flooring, windows, and the countless details that keep a busy living-and-learning environment functioning. “This campus sees a lot of wear and tear,” he notes, and his steady hand has helped to ensure that it is always in good repair. Unlike teaching faculty, Tom’s interaction with students has been indirect but no less meaningful for that. “My student involvement is to be in their spaces when they are not,” he says, pointing to the inconspicuous nature of his work. His engagement with faculty has come through managing residential renovations, preparing homes for new occupants, and stepping in when repairs or updates were needed. In ways large and small, Tom’s work has crossed campus life and supported the community as a whole. Before Deerfield, Tom learned his craft in western Connecticut, working under two skilled carpenters who specialized in custom homes. The experience left a lasting impression. “It was like working on the set of This Old House before there was This Old House,” he says. Even now, he often thinks of those early mentors and the standards they set. At Deerfield, the campus, with its blend of historic homes and modern facilities, offered opportunities rarely available in the private sector. Tom counts among his highlights the chance to work on multiple full-house renovations of 18th-century residences—projects

that required both technical skill and sensitivity to history. With his trademark care, he navigated the delicate balance of preserving the character of these buildings while adapting them for daily, contemporary use. Among his proudest accomplishments is the Physical Plant office and shop building at Williams Farm, an effort that he saw through from initial sketches to final inspection. He also takes pride in his role managing the construction of the South County Ambulance building in South Deerfield, which extended his impact beyond the Academy and into the broader community. Similarly, his contributions to the renovation of the Manse, one of Deerfield’s notable historic properties and home to the head of school, underscore the range and significance of his work. For Tom, there is as much satisfaction in the simpler moments as in the dramatic achievements. “A really great day means no drama, no surprises,” he says. “In building maintenance, that’s as good as it gets.” This outlook is shaped by years of experience: he knows firsthand how things can go wrong and how much effort it takes to ensure they don’t. Even after years on campus, Deerfield has continued to reveal itself to him in unexpected ways. Not long ago, he discovered a dorm attic scuttle space he had never seen before. “I really think that was the last hidden spot,” he says, adding wryly. “Does that mean it’s time to go?” Certain places on campus hold special meaning; Tom’s youngest daughter was married in the Hess Lobby. “Since that day, that space has a whole new meaning to me,” he says. It is a beautiful example of how his professional and personal lives have intersected over the years, weaving his own story into the fabric of Deerfield. In retirement, Tom will welcome a shift in pace and focus. He plans on more time with family, opportunities for slow travel and a chance to reconnect with carpentry on his own terms. “I’m ready to laser in on things rather than spinning eight plates in the air,” he reflects. There will also be more time on the water—from kayak fishing in local ponds and rivers to offshore, saltwater fishing. Still, leaving is not without its challenges. Tom talks about the familiarity that comes from caring deeply for a place, and it is that sense of stewardship he will miss most even as he looks forward to new experiences. Over the years, he has helped care for the buildings that define the Academy, often without fanfare. His contributions may not always have been visible, but they were essential. As he retires, Tom leaves behind not just a well-maintained campus, but a standard of craftsmanship and care that will continue to shape Deerfield for years to come. //

T O M TAL KS ABO U T T HE FAM I L I AR I T Y T HAT CO M E S F RO M CAR I N G DE E P LY FO R A P L ACE , AN D I T I S T HAT S E N S E O F S T E WAR DS HI P H E WI L L M I S S M O S T E VE N AS HE LO O KS F O R WAR D T O N E W E XP E R E N CE S .

Ca. 1955 typewriter that belonged to the poet John Ashbery ’45. During his lifetime, Ashbery won nearly every major award for poetry, including the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award.

The History That Is Happening Now: A Visit to the Academy Archives /// by Julia Elliott ///

Leatherbound Ledgers!

THE football from THE 1965 Northfield Mount Hermon “Fire Game!”

Last September, Brian Hamilton brought his Honors Historical Research class to visit the Academy Archives. They had been reading about the 1704 raid on Deerfield and the capture of Reverend John Williams and his family by French and Indigenous forces. As students settled into a classroom in the library’s lower level, Academy Archivist Anne Lozier set before them original letters exchanged between Williams and his sons, part of the Williams Family Papers, recently given to the Academy by alumnus, Deerfield parent, and current Trustee Gustave Lipman ’89.

/// Teacher Brian Hamilton with students; Williams papers housed in a “phase box;” correspondense between a father and son in 1718 ///

Anne Lozier [Academy Archivist]

Working in the Archives, students learn to slow down, dig a little bit, and let the material come to them.

Lozier carefully removed one of the letters from its protective covering so it could be unfolded and read. “She said, ‘feel the paper,’” says Sophia Gao ’26, “and having [the letter] in my hands made me feel a lot more connected with it.” “We got to see things beyond the writing,” adds Josh Freedman ’26, “the wax seal, the kind of paper they used, what they wrote with.” Later, after the documents were returned to their cases, Hamilton reflected on the richness of his students’ experience in the Academy Archives. By examining the letters in person, Hamilton says, the

students could project themselves into 18th-century Deerfield and “imagine how news traveled, how fathers and sons communicated, the fabric of community life.” “When you go to a school in such a historical location,” says Gao, “it’s really valuable to be able to understand the stories behind it.” For students and teachers, but also for administrators, outside researchers, and alumni, the Archives is a valuable resource for connecting more deeply with Deerfield Academy’s history and the many individual lives contained within.

Lozier became Deerfield’s first full-time archivist in 2005. She came to the position with a master’s degree in library and information science from Simmons College and experience at the Smith College Archives and the Harvard Law Library. When Lozier arrived, materials were stored in several places around the campus: in an unused classroom, in the library attic, and in what became her office: a small, windowless room in the library’s basement. Previous librarians and a part-time archivist had created finding aids and documented the collections “on a surface level,” says Lozier, “which was extremely important and helpful when I arrived, but without someone in that position on a full-time basis, there simply hadn’t been enough time to give the ideal amount of attention to the collection—think of it as a 250-year backlog.” Such constraints are common in archives: “Whenever a group of archivists gets together, the conversation will inevitably turn to ‘There’s never enough time or space,’” Lozier says with a chuckle. Fortunately, much changed in 2015 with the opening of the renovated Boyden Library. Now, Lozier occupies a large office on the lower level with big windows and room to both process and exhibit materials. Across the hall from her is a reading room for researchers, and beyond that is a large climate-controlled storage space with moveable, compact shelving that can accommodate the Academy’s history. The Archives consist primarily of institutional records such as student files, administrative records, publications— including The Scroll, Pocumtuck yearbooks, Admission publications, student publications, Deerfield Magazine, etc.—and special collections, including the Frank L. Boyden Papers. There are at least fifty thousand photos as well as film reels, videotapes, audio tapes, and other audio-visual material. And there is also an artifact category, which includes such treasured objects as Mr. Boyden’s baseball cleats, which were recently included in displays at the Be Worthy campaign launch in New York City.

Mr. Boyden’s love of baseball is legendary. During the early years of his career, there were not enough students to field a complete team, so he played first base. These are his well-used Spot Bilt cleats—US size seven.

(pictured)

John Van Atta Historian and Author

50K+ photographs, reels, and tapes!

A Historian’s History “I think of everything in historical terms,” says Historian Jim Banner ’53, and so it bothered him that no comprehensive history of Deerfield Academy exists. There are two books about legendary Headmaster Frank L. Boyden, a “pictorial history” published in 1997 to celebrate the Academy’s bicentennial, and, most recently, an architectural tour book. None of these, however, spans Deerfield’s entire history and is told from a scholarly perspective. Banner is also extremely dogged. “I’m the kind of person who, when I see a hole, I have it filled,” he says. For years, he worked behind the scenes to get the project off the ground: raising funds in support of it, and persuading Head of School John Austin that the time was right. He met fellow historian John Van Atta at a conference and, over lunch one day, learned that John had written a history of Brunswick Academy, the all-boys school in Greenwich, CT. Banner asked to read it. Van Atta taught at Brunswick for 36 years. He holds a PhD in history from the University of Virginia and has authored five books, most of which focus on the early American republic. When the headmaster of Brunswick inquired if he would write a book about the school, Van Atta laid out his terms. “The bookshelves are filled with coffee table books that tout the greatness of a school,” he says. “I didn’t want the Brunswick book to be like that. A school history should address the downs as well as the ups. It should be very much aware of the historical context, social and cultural developments, and what other schools were going through at the same time.” A Place for Boys: Brunswick School and the Building of Young Men was published in 2001. Banner found it to be “very good,” and Van Atta was subsequently hired by the Academy to write a history of the school. For the past two years, Van Atta, who has since retired to Northampton (MA), spends several days a week in the Academy Archives. “John is a fantastically good archive-driven historian,” says Banner, and Van Atta has found Deerfield’s archives more than adequate for his needs, with boxes of records and documents relating to key moments in the Academy’s history. He finds it especially interesting to look through early yearbooks and school newspapers “to get student perspectives on changing times.”

“Schools are interesting places because they reflect culture,” That is the thing about my writing (and the book that will result from it) that I want to make different—it’s about what was happening in the bigger world and how Deerfield Academy reflected some of that.”

Orra White Hitchcock Herbarium [1817-1821] (This is a bound facsimile of the collection.)

The Archives consist primarily of institutional records such as student files, administrative records, publications—including The Scroll, Pocumtuck yearbooks, Admission publications, student publications, Deerfield Magazine, etc.—and special collections, including the Frank L. Boyden Papers. There are at least fifty thousand photos as well as film reels, videotapes, audio tapes, and other audio-visual material. And there is also an artifact category, which includes such treasured objects as Mr. Boyden’s baseball cleats, which were recently included in displays at the

Be Worthy campaign launch in New York City.

Ice hockey sweater + “Millers Maulers” club baseball!

Lozier occasionally gets new acquisitions donated by alumni or their families, such as the Williams Family Papers, and she is constantly digging deeper into existing collections. “I’m finding new things all the time,” she says, and notes that every item has value. One of Lozier’s favorite items is the Orra White Hitchcock Herbarium, a compendium of watercolors of native plants painted by Hitchcock, a botanist, artist, and educator whose husband, Edward, was the Academy’s “preceptor” from 1816 to 1819. He later became president of Amherst College. Edward was born in Hitchcock House, which, early in Mr. Boyden’s tenure, served as the Academy’s dining hall; today, it is the school bookstore. For over 20 years, Orra illustrated Edward’s lectures and his books, including his Report on the Geology, Mineralogy, Botany, and Zoology of Massachusetts. Some of the illustrations in her Herbarium now decorate a wall in the employee dining room in The Brick, and some were beautifully projected on the walls of the Temple of Dendur during the campaign launch. A recent surprising item that Lozier came across was a recipe for moonshine tucked away in a student’s scrapbook from 1921, and while discoveries such as this are fun, the Archives does have some holes; many early student files and administrative records were lost in a fire in the late 1800s. “It hurts every time I say that,” says Lozier. For Lozier, it’s important to get the Archives out into the Deerfield community and vice versa. In exhibit cases that current and prospective students pass by every day, she always has items on display so that everyone can catch a glimpse of Deerfield history. She also collaborates with the library and other departments, including the Office of Advancement, to create exhibits such as one celebrating the hundredth year of Deerfield’s ice hockey program in 2023. Lozier embraces any opportunity to “teach people a little bit of history and remind them of all the things that came before them.”

“Schools are interesting places because they reflect culture,” says Van Atta. “That is the thing about my writing (and the book that will result from it) that I want to make different—it’s about what was happening in the bigger world and how Deerfield Academy reflected some of that.” One great challenge in writing a Deerfield history is its inextricable link to Frank Boyden. Van Atta wants to broaden that view: “Much of the school history on both ends of Boyden, before he showed up and after he retired, is not nearly as well known. The history of Deerfield Academy is far more than the history of Boyden’s school.” Van Atta’s favorite part of being a writer is telling stories. Readers will meet John Stebbins Lee, the son of a Vermont farmer, who detailed 1830s Academy life in his diaries. Van Atta re-introduces us to Tom Ashley, Class of 1911, the beloved student killed in World War I who Boyden mythologized as the ideal Deerfield boy, and who, prior to the war, was working with Boyden to reimagine every aspect of the Academy: campus layout, a school catalog, and a general description of the school’s mission. Recently, Van Atta has been looking into the stories of the 61 Deerfield boys killed in World War II. “To think,” he says, “the Boydens knew every one of them.” Banner is certain Van Atta’s book will be of interest to everyone in the Deerfield community but will also be “a historian’s history” with broad appeal—especially to scholars. To that end, he has put together an advisory committee that includes the Academy’s History Department Chair and recently-appointed Assistant Head of School for Academic Affairs Brian Hamilton; former Deerfield Dean of Students and former Head of Belmont Hill School Richard I. Melvoin; Professor Emerita at City University of New York and author of a book on the Dalton School Susan F. Semel; former history teacher at the Groton School John Tyler, and as an ex-officio member of the committee, Deerfield’s Director of Communications Jessica Day. Van Atta agrees that his history of Deerfield Academy, which he estimates will be complete in another two years, should past scholarly muster. Most importantly, he says it will be full of great stories: “I hope the book that readers will eventually hold in their hands will be so engaging that it’s hard to put down.”//

Books by John Van Atta: The Day They Hanged Old Brown: The Making of Celebrity and Martyrdom in the Civil War Era

Charging Up San Juan Hill: Theodore Roosevelt and the Making of Imperial America

Wolf by the Ears: The Missouri Crisis, 1819–1821

Securing the West: Politics, Public Lands, and the Fate of the Old Republic, 1785–1850

A Place for Boys: Brunswick School and the Building of Young Men

As a teaching tool, the Archives is a fertile resource for faculty and students. “It’s important for any aspiring historian to be humbled by how hard the work is,” says Hamilton. Puzzling over the Williams Family Papers was a great opportunity for his Honors History students “to reckon with the difficulty of reading 18th-century handwriting and making sense of things such as genealogy and geography.” Eva Bramwell ’26 is a classics scholar who “hadn’t really considered that, with all these ancient texts that I read online, there’s so much work behind them. An archivist had to decipher the handwriting, and so much can be lost because of the [fragile] physical material. It was a whole layer of history that I had never considered.” Working in the Archives, Lozier says, students learn “to slow down, dig a little bit, and let the material come to them.”

/// The very first Scroll; a 1930’s diary written in French ///

Lozier often reaches out to faculty members if she thinks a particular item will be of interest. Knowing that former Dean of Academic Affairs and teacher Anne Bruder wanted to develop a class on epistolary writing, Lozier told her about a collection of letters by a Deerfield alumnus who died fighting in World War II, which Bruder then worked into her 2024 “Dear Reader” class. Lozier showed Director of Planned Giving (and former French teacher) Matt Westman three 1930s diaries composed by an Exeter student—the brother of a Deerfield boy—learning French, which Westman then used as a translation exercise for his intermediate French students. “Anne has wide-ranging interests,” says Westman. “She is curious, thoughtful, generous, and willing to share with others.” Since moving into his new role, Westman has been an even more frequent visitor to the Archives—sharing photos and even letters to family members from Mr. Boyden whose files reside in the space.

Students taking Tim McVaugh and Sam Morris’s “River and Rock” class spend a few days in the Archives researching their final paper, a braided essay combining the history of a specific spot on campus with a story about themselves. Lozier is tasked with helping as many as 30 students research interests as diverse as the “Cow Turf” (the multipurpose field near the Yazwinski farm), Ephraim Williams House, or a place on campus that could illustrate a personal story about gender dynamics. “There’s the moment when the students are at the tables and Anne’s distributed the materials to them,” says Morris. “Some of these documents could disintegrate at a sneeze, and she is so gently prioritizing both the preservation of these historical materials and, with equal measure, the experience of the students. She is just a terrific teacher.” Students also come to the Archives on their own time, either with a specific research question or because they’re simply wondering, what is this place with all the old stuff in the display cases? Cheerleaders want to know about past Choate Day rituals. Photography students have questions about student fashions popular in the 1970s. Especially around Halloween, writers from The Scroll inquire: What’s the history of ghost sightings on campus? For the past year, twice a week, historian John Van Atta camps out in the Archives reading room, working on a new history of Deerfield Academy, surrounded by boxes of material Lozier has pulled for him. Van Atta is one of many researchers who rely on Lozier and the Archives, whether for a simple genealogy question or a years-long project. “You just don’t find schools like this with climate-controlled rooms where the school’s records, pictures, documents—you name it—are stored,” says Van Atta. “Anne Lozier is the best in the business as far as I’m concerned,” he continues. “She knows how to build an archive, and she’s done that here. She’s extremely cordial about helping researchers like me. I sing her praises from the highest rooftops—and I’ve been to a lot of archives!” One of Lozier’s favorite parts of her job is that she has contact with every single part of campus; Head of School John Austin often reaches out with questions about Academy history. “John is a true scholar, and his questions always have layers—he’s always curious for more—and I think he appreciates that [through the Archives] he can understand more about what it took to get Deerfield to where we are today,” she says. Recently, before embarking on the restoration of the World War II Memorial Flagpole, Construction Projects and Planning Manager Andrew DeMado reached out to ask if Lozier had any documentation related to the project. She located the original 1951 shop drawings detailing the size and font of the memorial’s lettering, saving DeMado valuable time and ensuring historical accuracy. “In my work, it’s an incredible resource,” says Westman, referring to the many ways the Office of Advancement relies on the Archives. Before meeting with a current or potential member of the Boyden Society, Westman will often reach out to Lozier. “It’s interesting to find out more about [an alumnus’] experience at Deerfield through correspondence between their parents and Mr. Boyden, for instance,” says Westman. And if Lozier finds something special, Westman will often bring a copy to the meeting.

He recently showed one alumnus the handwritten letter he wrote to Mr. Boyden after he was accepted to Deerfield. For another, it was an article in The Scroll about a laser he built and showcased at School Meeting, which inspired a personal essay nearly 60 years later (see page 54). “The Archives are a way to bring alumni right back to their time as a student here,” says Westman, “And to honor their connection in a unique way.” Alumni are one of the Archives’ most important constituencies. They reach out to Lozier with quick questions about names and dates, or because they are undertaking large projects, such as Noel Rubinton ’73’s Looking for a Story: A Complete Guide to the Writings of John McPhee (’49). During Reunion Weekends, Lozier sets up in the lower level study area of the library; archival videos and photo slideshows loop on screens, and student papers, yearbooks, class records, and photos are spread out on tables. “That is always a big hit,” she says. “They get into conversations with each other while looking at everything. They have me pause the video so they can identify classmates and each other.” Lozier encourages alumni to dig in, pick up photos, and handle the material. “That agency is a perfect connecting tool, because we do want them to remember that this is their school and this is their archives.” A similar loop of old footage was playing when Brian Hamilton’s Historical Research class walked into the Archives last September. “It was really cool to see old Deerfield students and compare them to us today,” says Gao. “You could see how [the school] has evolved over time,” agrees Freedman. Hamilton, who nonetheless asked Lozier to turn off the video so the students could focus on the 300-year-old Williams Family Papers, appreciates that the Academy Archives “can help render the familiar strange in ways that expand the minds of our students. [This] is one of the important endeavors we take up as educators—and is important for all of us throughout our lives.” Lozier is helping to ensure that the Deerfield of today will be accessible to future visitors. “The Archives has the ability to bring someone directly to a moment in time, in a powerful, personal way,” she says. “I hope that seeing, using, and interacting with archival material gives people a deeper awareness of the care the Academy brings to preserving its history. When someone witnesses or participates in that process, that awareness can be contagious and grow into a sense of pride and connection that reaches across generations.” When his students work in the Archives, Morris says, “it brings to life that idea that you can look at a building on campus and there are all these stories behind the doors, behind the windows, and all these ghosts that wander around—and [the students] recognize that they are soon to be ghosts, too. Last spring, one student suddenly said, ‘Oh, we are going to be in the Archives!’ I think that’s a compelling moment: ‘Yes, you are the history that is happening now.’” //

is an invitation to Deerfield’s global community to renew the promise that has defined this school for more than two centuries: that each generation enriches the Academy for the next, leaving Deerfield stronger, more deeply Deerfield, and more worthy than they found it. It is a call to honor the obligation at the heart of our school’s identity: to extend opportunity to those who need it most, to strengthen the bonds of a community unlike any other, and to deepen a culture of rigorous, independent thought that inspires students to lead across differences and to lives of engaged and generous citizenship.

May 13, 2026, New York City

For more than two centuries, Deerfield has asked something of everyone who passes through it. That ask has been captured in five words: Be worthy of your heritage. Those words can feel important but elusive—almost like a riddle. What heritage? Worthy of what, exactly? Over time, the answer reveals itself. It means this: Honor the Third. Everything we hope for our students rests on the strength generations who came before and built Deerfield. Honor the teachers and renewal of our faculty. A priority of the campaign is to be who have given life to its mission. Honor the students who came worthy of this model, knowing that it is the foundation of a Deerbefore you and left our school better than they found it. And then, field education, a proven and time-tested way to foster in young do the same. Leave Deerfield stronger, more deeply itself, more people those qualities of character, curiosity, and independent worthy than you found it. That is the standard, and it is the oldest thought that prepare them to lead with resiliency and judgement. one this school knows. There are some who say that this model is outdated—nostalgic. We have named this campaign Be Worthy because that is That is nonsense. We know from experience and generations of precisely what it asks of us. The responsibility to steward, to sustain, Deerfield students, and we know as parents, that young people and to build for the future—renewed, as it must be, by every gener- flourish when faculty are fully present in their lives, generous with ation. This campaign is our generation’s answer to that call. their time and talent, and committed to forging relationships We gather to affirm that responsibility—to answer that call— of trust, challenge, and wise mentorship that span the many and to meet, together, what I believe to be three of the great and dimensions of the Deerfield experience. urgent challenges facing American independent schools: How to So. Three challenges. Three opportunities. Three ways to be forge a dynamic, inclusive community amid fragmentation, worthy. Each of these are deliberate, countercultural choices. division, and disruption; how to ensure opportunity and access to In keeping with our history and traditions. Responsive to the great the Deerfield experience for future generations of students; and challenges facing schools—and young people—today. how to sustain a faculty model of teaching and mentorship that From necessity, a campaign puts dollar amounts on each of these. transforms the lives of young people—a foundation essential to But all of us know that like most of the things that truly matter in student flourishing. the life of a young person, these opportunities are beyond Our campus is as old as the nation itself. Deerfield stands as one measure—they are priceless. of the rare schools whose landscape, vistas, and buildings are Our campaign leadership and our Board of Trustees understand themselves the expression of its most noble aspirations and values. that great schools know who they are. That they are confident This campaign—first of all—seeks to be worthy of our historic in their ethos and values. That they build outward from their and cherished campus. We will restore the campus core entirely defining strengths and distinctive histories. That they are agile, to teaching and learning; expand and deepen our residential dynamic, open to change, and attentive to future opportunity. program; and fortify the architecture of belonging that makes this Deerfield is a great, multi-generational accomplishment, and community unlike any other in the nation. we are poised to build upon its historic strengths by broadening Second. We seek to be worthy of our historic commitment to its commitment to excellence and student flourishing. access and affordability. Mr. Boyden’s invitation to families to ‘pay I discussed three ways of being worthy. There is a fourth, which what you can’ was one of the most radical—and inspiring—acts I have saved for last: being worthy together. What has always in the history of American independent school education, and it sustained team Deerfield is the collective power of a community has touched the lives of thousands of Deerfield graduates. It said that believes in the school and supports it broadly and proudly. to all families simply and clearly: a Deerfield education should Whether through the Deerfield Fund, a bequest, or the Parents belong to every young person of potential and promise, regardless Fund, our greatest strength is when we work together. of means. This campaign seeks to make that promise permanent Our hope is that every member of our community feels inspired by fully endowing our financial aid program, expanding access by the campaign and its vision for Deerfield. And for that reason, for middle-income families, and ensuring that the full Deerfield we want this campaign to set a standard—not simply by achieving experience is open to—and shared by—every student. its stated goals, but for how many people choose to be a part of it. If we do that—and I know we will—we will take the great school that you know and love to a new level of excellence.

Looking Ahead: • Deerfield Academy will offer access to the most promising students from across the country and around the globe—regardless of financial means. • The Academy community will be more inclusive than ever before, as all students live and learn on campus in new and restored residential and academic buildings. • Deerfield will be the premier New England boarding school to offer the fully engaged faculty model—in which faculty members teach, coach, and live with their students, thus providing the most meaningful experience possible. • Deerfield will be established as a national leader and model in the habits of teaching independent thought; in graduating students who are conversant with the norms of disciplined inquiry, and empowered to discover, develop, and courageously express their own political and civic commitments, practice free speech, and engage across differences. • D eerfield Academy will be prepared to

thrive in its mission well into the 21st century.

The campaign’s priorities are organized around four pillars:

Worthy of: This Opportunity p.42

This Place p.44

$100 MILLION

$158 MILLION

At Deerfield, promise matters more than means.

By living and learning together, every student shares fully in the Deerfield Experience.

Our Faculty p.46

Our Community p.48

$100 MILLION

$142 MILLION

The Deerfield difference is faculty who are all in—every day, in every aspect of school life.

Deerfield is an extraordinary community that inspires its members for life.

Worthy of This Opportunity Deerfield’s commitment to access is historic and central to its mission. Frank Boyden’s invitation to families to “pay what you can” was itself an act of worthiness, a declaration that the collective Deerfield experience should belong to every young person of promise, regardless of means. Our campaign renews that commitment with conviction and intention, ensuring that Deerfield recruits students based on ability and character alone, drawn from the broadest possible range of backgrounds and lived experiences. This is not simply a matter of fairness. A student body that reflects the full spectrum of American and global life brings a richness to the school that a curriculum alone cannot provide, and produces graduates who are prepared to lead in a world of genuine human complexity.

Endowing Financial Aid $ 5 5 M I L L I O N Deerfield aspires to lead among the nation’s great boarding schools in access and opportunity, building on a financial aid program that already supports more than forty percent of the student body. Fully endowing that commitment will represent a generational achievement for an Academy priority and transform a recurring budget line into a permanent promise, ensuring that Deerfield—classrooms, dining hall, athletic fields, studios, and dormitories—will always reflect the full range of human experience. Socioeconomic diversity deepens learning, sharpens thinking, and produces graduates more prepared to lead in a complex world.

The Full Experience $ 3 0 M I L L I O N Tuition is not the only cost of a Deerfield education. For many students, the full life of the school can carry hidden costs that aid does not cover, such as airfare to and from campus, health insurance, athletic equipment, eyeglasses, winter clothing, musical instruments, faculty-led trips, and summer enrichment programs. These are not luxuries. They are the very experiences that make Deerfield formative rather than merely academic. Financial aid allows students to attend Deerfield, but full experience funding (“supplemental aid”) levels the playing field, ensuring that no student ever has to sit out a defining moment because of financial circumstance, and that being admitted to Deerfield means being admitted to the full “Deerfield Experience.”

The Access Initiative $ 1 0 M I L L I O N Among the most important issues facing independent secondary schools is affordability. Increases in tuition have dramatically outpaced family incomes. In response, Deerfield has launched—and seeks to endow—one of the most ambitious financial aid initiatives in the nation. As of the 2025-26 academic year, domestic families earning up to $150,000 now pay $0 to attend the Academy, and those earning above $150,000 pay no more than 10% of their total income. The Access Initiative is a recognition that the most vibrant learning community reflects the widest possible range of families, and this campaign provides the resources to make that promise permanent. The Wall Street Journal shared news of Deerfield’s leadership in 2024 and applauded the Academy for setting the initiative’s threshold at nearly double the median US household income.

The Boyden Scholars $ 5 M I L L I O N The Academy’s singular sense of place is not merely a backdrop for a Deerfield education. It is part of the education itself. The Boyden Scholars program honors that truth by bringing students from the local area and surrounding communities to Deerfield—students who carry the living heritage of the Pioneer Valley with them. As Deerfield embraces a full-boarding model, this investment will be more meaningful than ever; to learn beside someone who is truly of this place is to understand, in the most immediate way, what it means to be worthy of it.

Worthy of This Place Dr. Austin has called the dining hall Deerfield’s greatest classroom, and it is easy to understand why. Something extraordinary happens when an entire community gathers around tables, across every age, interest, and perspective. But the dining hall is only the beginning. In classrooms designed for dialogue, in dormitories that ask students to navigate the challenges and joy of shared life, and in cocurricular programs that demand collaboration and reward teamwork, Deerfield offers what few schools can: a continuous, fully inhabited laboratory for leadership across every dimension of school life. Our traditions are not incidental; they are the architecture of belonging, forged in a setting of rare and particular beauty— a living village whose own history asks something of everyone who passes through it.

The Main School Building: Reimagined for its Centennial $ 6 0 M I L L I O N The centerpiece of the Academy’s first capital campaign in 1929, the Main School Building, known as the “MSB,” opened its doors in 1931 and quickly became the pride of campus. For nearly a century, it has stood at the center of Deerfield life, serving as the intellectual and academic heart of the school and the first touch point for prospective students and families. This campaign creates an opportunity to renew and rededicate the Main School Building to its original purpose as the Academy’s academic core, ensuring that a foundational vision for Deerfield continues to inspire all who teach and learn here. The restoration, planned for the MSB’s centennial in 2031, will expand classroom spaces and create a home for the Student Life Office, while ensconcing the History and Social Science Department on the upper floors for programmatic coherence. The building will be returned fully to the purposes for which it was built, with the Head of School’s Office remaining as its anchor.

West Campus Dorm: A Full-Boarding Model $ 4 0 M I L L I O N The power of a Deerfield education is inseparable from the power of living it together. With the creation of the West Campus Dorm, Deerfield will embrace a fully residential boarding school model, strengthening our priorities of community, connection, shared responsibilities, and a deep sense of belonging. As the first girls dormitory to be built in more than two decades, the West Campus Dorm—located beside Barton—will complete Deerfield’s “twins and quads” model, which pairs girls and boys dorms around common spaces. The project will create thirty-eight student rooms and four faculty residences, bringing teachers closer to the campus core. This is a defining moment in the Academy’s history, and it will deepen the shared experiences, lasting friendships, and collective commitments that shape our students’ lives.

The Brick: Deerfield’s Dining Hall $ 5 8 M I L L I O N Seven times a week, the entire community gathers at tables of nine students and a faculty member, drawn together across every grade and nationality. Each meal opens with words every student and teacher knows by heart: “For food, for friendship, and for the blessings of the day, we give thanks,” and Sunday dinner ends with the entire school singing the “Evensong” together. The revitalized Brick honors this tradition with a stunning, light-filled hall and state-of-the-art culinary facilities, designed to ensure that this most defining of Deerfield rituals endures for the generations ahead.

Worthy of Our Faculty Everything we hope for our students rests on the strength and renewal of our faculty. We know, from decades of experience and research across disparate fields, that young people flourish when faculty are fully present in their lives and committed to relationships of trust, challenge, and wise mentorship. That is the professional standard we expect and celebrate—and that our campaign will support. For decades, Deerfield has refined the high-engagement model that seeks exceptionally talented and highly committed faculty who want to engage with the whole student—in the classroom and beyond. We seek to provide our faculty with unprecedented tools to achieve their best in the form of enrichment from a new Institute, from the Center for Global and Civic Engagement, from peer mentoring, and from opportunities to incorporate their family life more easily into their Academy life. Guided by Dr. Austin’s Framework for Schools, relationships at Deerfield are built on a single animating conviction: that the deepest obligation of a great teacher is not to provide answers but to cultivate the capacity to ask better questions, to hold complexity, engage in disagreement with confidence and humility, and to think for oneself. In a world increasingly hostile to nuance, this capacity is not a luxury: It is the worthiest ability Deerfield can teach.

A Faculty That Is All In $ 5 0 M I L L I O N Deerfield faculty strive to create and nurture meaningful relationships with students across all areas of campus life: in the classroom, of course, where they seek to inspire a deep and enduring love of learning, but also on the playing fields, in art studios, in the dorm, and at the sit-down table. As peer institutions move away from this “all-in” model, Deerfield is deepening its commitment to it. This investment supports faculty compensation, establishes endowed positions to recognize excellence, and funds sabbaticals that keep our faculty at the leading edge of their disciplines.

Supporting Faculty and Families $ 1 5 M I L L I O N Through this campaign, Deerfield aspires to have the best residential boarding faculty in the United States and establish an industry-leading approach to faculty compensation, benefits, recruitment, and retention. This requires a genuine commitment to supporting faculty and their families in the 24 / 7 environment of boarding school life. We will invest in childcare and the Early Learning Center for faculty families, and we will provide full tuition remission for the children of faculty and staff who attend Deerfield. These initiatives will create the conditions for faculty to flourish within the high engagement model, which in turn allows students to thrive. A faculty that feels supported and valued is a faculty that remains committed to Deerfield.

The Institute for the Future of Learning $ 2 5 M I L L I O N At a moment of rapid change in education—driven by advances in technology, evolving student needs, and new research in the science of learning—Deerfield has an opportunity to lead. We propose the creation of the Institute for the Future of Learning, an initiative that will position Deerfield at the forefront of secondary school instruction and curriculum while deepening the excellence that has always defined our academic program. The Institute will bring together existing strengths and new initiatives under one coordinated vision, ensuring that we remain a leader in innovative, human-centered education. Designed as both an incubator and a hub, the Institute for the Future of Learning will provide endowment for academic leadership positions, sustain Deerfield’s Classroom Insights program, create opportunities for faculty to deepen their expertise during the summer, and lead our engagement with emerging technologies.

The Center for Global and Civic Engagement $ 1 0 M I L L I O N The Center for Global and Civic Engagement brings students out into the world, and the world to Deerfield. It prepares students for leadership by connecting them to local communities, international experiences, and the urgent challenges of civic life. The Center also supports faculty-led travel programs, semester exchanges, community service partnerships across Franklin County and beyond, and offers grants allowing students to pursue opportunities during the summer months. The Center also fosters Deerfield’s commitment to pluralistic, inquiry-driven teaching and the development of independent thought. Grounded in Dr. Austin’s Framework for Schools, the Center is where faculty develop the skills to engage students across differences and ensure every classroom is a space where every voice is heard, ensuring that Deerfield students are not only prepared to ask better questions but are also committed to putting the answers to use in service to others.

Worthy Together What makes Deerfield endure is not any single donor or gift, but the collective power of a community that believes in what this school makes possible. Every contribution to this campaign, whether large or small, made today or planned for tomorrow, is an act of worthiness. Together, they seed the innovation and possibility that keeps Deerfield’s timeless formula alive and vital for generations to come.

The Deerfield Fund $ 4 2 M I L L I O N The Deerfield Fund is the heartbeat of this campaign and the most immediate expression of what it means to be worthy together. Every year, tuition covers the majority of what it costs to educate a Deerfield student, but not all of it. The Deerfield Fund closes that gap, providing the unrestricted resources that give the school the freedom to respond, invest, and innovate in ways no restricted gift can. A gift of any size counts fully and completely, and what we are working toward is something rarer than any single large contribution: 50 percent participation from our alumni and the broadest possible engagement from our families. Every gift, at any level, affirms the same essential truth: that this community has always been Deerfield’s greatest asset.

Bequest Intentions and Planned Gifts $ 5 0 M I L L I O N A bequest intention is one of the most profound acts of generosity available to any member of this community, and one of the most accessible. It requires no immediate outlay of funds and no change to how you live today. It asks only that you include Deerfield in your plans, whether through your estate, a beneficiary designation, or a deferred life-income arrangement. Each of these is a worthy act, extending the values and possibilities of a Deerfield education deep into the future. Our goal is $50 million, knowing that behind every intention is a Deerfield story and the conviction that what Deerfield made possible for you—and for so many others— is worth carrying forward.

Unrestricted Endowment $ 5 0 M I L L I O N An unrestricted endowment is the most powerful and flexible gift a donor can make. It provides Deerfield with a permanent source of income that the Head of School and Board of Trustees can direct to the areas of greatest need and opportunity, without restriction. It funds the unexpected, seeds the innovative, and ensures that Deerfield can respond to challenges and possibilities that no campaign document can fully anticipate. Every dollar in unrestricted endowment is a vote of confidence in the people who lead this school and a commitment to its long-term health and freedom.

We have named this campaign Be Worthy because that is precisely what it asks of us. The responsibility to steward, to sustain, and to build for the future— renewed, as it must be, by every generation. This campaign is our generation’s answer to that call. —Dr. John P.N. Austin

Please join us:

beworthy.deerfield.edu

CAMPAIGN LEADERSHIP h onor a ry c h a i r s Stephanie and Chase Coleman ’93 P’25,’27,’30 New York, NY Susan and John Hess P’05,’07,’12 New York, NY E. John Rosenwald ’48 P’76 New York, NY

c h a i r s* Jennifer Min and Steve Harrick ’89 P’23,’28 Menlo Park, CA Dana Tang P’24 New York, NY Cricket Whitton ’04 and Nick Hammerschlag ’04 Miami, FL Kimberly Kravis P’25,’29 New York, NY

h e a d of s c h ool* John P.N. Austin Deerfield, MA

boa r d p r e s i d e n t * Leila Govi ’93 P’26,’28 New York, NY

cam pai g n e x e c u t i v e c om m i t t e e Nicola and Francis Idehen ’95 P’27,’29 Chicago, IL, Parent Chairs Bob Lasher ’84 Hanover, NH Gustave Lipman ’89 P’24,’27 New York, NY, Planned Giving Chair Mark McInerney ’81 P’10,’13,’16 San Francisco, CA Dana Mead ’78 P’18,’22 Palo Alto, CA Gabriela Perez Rocchietti and Carlos Rodriguez-Pastor P’28,’30 New York, NY, Parent Chairs Margot Pfohl ’97 New York, NY, Deerfield Fund Chair

*Also members of the Campaign Executive Committee 51

THE COMMON ROOM 53

F I R S T P E R S O N : J I M A C K E R LY ’ 6 7

LASER FOCUSED

Academy Archives

A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away (1954, New Canaan, CT) a youngster was lying in bed and wondering why the sound of cars going by in the street went in one direction, but the light along his bedroom wall from their headlights moved in the opposite direction. It didn’t take long to determine that the light was being directed by a window; it wasn’t being bent, just focused in a crude way. That’s how it began. A decade later, George Girton ’67 and I fetched up in the same Deerfield dorm, Pocumtuck, with overlapping interests in how things work. In that same era, Scientific American, the primary journal of interesting things for the masses to read about, published an article on the invention of the laser (1960) and a later one on using lasers in photography. These were intriguing articles that went way beyond what was being taught in the science department at Deerfield, where the focus was on weights, levers, pulleys, electrons, atoms, and other basic aspects of post-war physics. The author of the first article that caught our attention was Arthur L. Schawlow, co-inventor of the laser, for which he later received a Nobel Prize. It has since been said he often carried a toy laser gun that included a real ruby laser inside. Then he would inflate a double balloon—a clear outer shell with a dark blue Disney mouse inside. Joking that “mice get into everything,” he would use the laser to dispatch the mouse balloon and leave the clear one intact, demonstrating that a red laser would pass through the transparent balloon without harming it and have the energy in its beam absorbed by whatever was beyond.

LESSONS LEARNED: 1) Follow your interests. 2) When teaching, be memorable, not just full of information. (See Arthur L. Schawlow, Richard Feynman, Walter Lewin) 3) View Deerfield in a new way. Not as a place to accumulate facts and meet people who can do you some good in the future. Not as a protracted entrance exam to a good college. View it as a fertile ground for exploring topics that interest you and go deep, as deep as you like, with or without the direct help of faculty.

Later on in his teaching career, Schawlow could see it clearly illuminate the snowalso enjoyed demonstrating the “laser flakes but was just high enough to be out of eraser.” Impishly, he would ask to borrow reach. It was like the high wire in a circus a $1 bill; then he’d pull out a small Nd:glass but made of light. laser and erase part of George Washington’s And then there was the night we bravely face with a few pulls of the trigger. shined it into a window of the auditorium That kind of thing leaves an impression during the then-attendance-required on teenagers. George and I were hooked. In Sunday hymn sing. While the entire faculty that era of Heathkit radios and oscillo- was up on stage—as always—the beam fell scopes, we saw no reason not to build a laser. just above the EXIT sign to the right of the Without using school resources, in our stage steps, out of sight of those who might copious spare time (ha!) we set out to do object. (That was a lucky landing for a just that, and for a pair of kids to make a casually aimed beam.) The entire student perfect rod made of synthetic ruby was a body saw it but no faculty members. While stretch too far. So, we went to a Connecticut the penultimate verse of the traditional company that did all kinds of scientific final hymn, “Now The Day Is Over,” was things. PerkinElmer had made the lenses sung, the auditorium lights were dimmed for Norden bomb sites in WWII and had and the headmaster noticed the student grown to make many kinds of scientific body distracted by something. But the instruments since then. faculty had seen nothing and was confused by the ruckus. When the lights came back

But not for now. One of these miracles is the phenomenon of wave interference and holography. It turns out that in addition to popping one balloon when it is inside another, you can light up a scene on a table top with a laser and shine some of it directly on a plate nearby so the illuminated scene and the direct beam both land on the photographic plate. The two photon beams interfere with each other on the plane of the plate, which doesn’t record a traditional image as a camera would; it records the direction of the beam that illuminated the scene, and it turns magically into a window through which you can see the original scene. Actual 3-D photography. You are then looking through a window at subject matter that is no longer there!

And then there was the night we bravely shined it into a window of the auditorium during the then-attendancerequired Sunday hymn sing. While the entire faculty was up on stage—as always—the beam fell just above the EXIT sign to the right of the stage steps, out of sight of those who might object. Fast forward many months, and George up for the “When the morning wakens” and I had in hand a laser that used a mixture verse, the laser was again less obvious. As of Neon and Helium to make a 500mw beam if on cue, whoever was running the stage of 6328 Å light that went on and on and on lights then dimmed them once again to into wherever we shined it. (For reference, show everyone what the hubbub was all 500mW is the power equivalent of half a about, and the faculty joined in the pointing dozen LED Christmas tree lights.) and noise-making. The optics and metalworking and mirrors No harm. No foul. No repercussions. and geometries and power supply electronics Just a science experiment done in public. were interesting, but the more fun part was Although we don’t talk about it every what we could do with the end result. time we meet, which is way too infreTo paint a picture of the times, we had quently, George and I still think about recently seen Goldfinger, a James Bond “6328Å” and Brewster angled glass and movie in which our hero had been strapped magic mirrors tuned just so and how you to a gold table and a red laser threatened can measure a light shined at the moon to cut him in half up between the legs. from Earth, and other seeming miracles. At the time, people were not accustomed It is tempting to branch into the wide to lasers or the limits of what they could be variety of materials that can be made into used for. Any red beam was dangerous, lasers (most anything that can be made to most thought. glow can be made into a laser) of different What would teenage boys do with such types and uses, pulse and continuous, visible a thing? and invisible, tunable (yes, tunable), and There was the snowy evening when we everything else; they are used for weapshined it out a window from Barton across onry, writing data on CDs, pointers, printthe campus to the amusement of all who ers, scaring neighbors at night when they don’t know you well . . ..

The word holography is often used now to describe any number of unrelated tricky optical things, like security stickers on credit cards, but the holograms we made cause the word hologram to stick in my head like Elizabethan English vocabulary with a meaning so changed by time that it lost its original intent. We both had occasion to meet Arthur Schawlow along the way. George saw him in Utah where he played “Good Vibrations” (pun certainly intended) sent from one spot to another over a laser beam while discussing light phenomena. Think about what happens in a fiberoptic cable with a laser at each end and then remove the cable. That’s the phenomenon he demonstrated. I spent the summer of 1969 studying at Stanford where he taught and did research from 1961 until his retirement in 1996. I was privileged to see him multiple times discuss holography and balloon-popping pistols. I told him his Scientific American article was an inspiration to me, and it has taken me nearly 60 years to appreciate how true that was. //

Roll Call We’d like to publicly thank and honor the following members:

Mr. and Mrs. Charles B. McCabe III ’50 Mr. and Mrs. Edward R. H. McDowell ’50 P’75 Mr. and Mrs. Edward H. Miller III ’50 Mr. Edgar H. Parker ’50 Mr. Stephen P. White ’50 1951

Mrs. Nancy H. Ames Mrs. Carol Carpenter P’80 Sandy and Dozier Gardner ’51 G’21,’24 Mr. and Mrs. Charles B. Grace Jr. ’51 P’83

The Frank L. and Helen Childs Boyden Society recognizes alumni, parents, and friends who have included Deerfield Academy in their long-term financial or estate plans. More than 500 members of this community are helping to ensure that future generations of students benefit from the Deerfield experience. At its core, the Boyden Society reflects a shared belief: Deerfield is worth sustaining. Like Mr. and Mrs. Boyden, whose foresight continues to shape the Academy, members make deliberate choices that extend Deerfield’s strength well beyond their own time on campus. There are several ways to include Deerfield in your plans: a bequest in your will or trust for a percentage of your estate or a specific dollar amount, a beneficiary designation on a retirement account or life insurance policy, or a life income gift. Each year, more members of the Deerfield community take this step. If you have already included Deerfield in your plans, we would love to hear from you. If you are considering it, and have questions, please reach out to our Director of Planned Giving Matt Westman via email at mwestman@deerfield.edu or at 413-774-1872.

1936

Ed and Laura Opler Jr. ’51 P’73,’74,’89 G’19

Mrs. Joy Lee Gebhard

Mrs. Alita Reed P’84 G’13,’18

1939

Dr. and Mrs. David T. Uehling ’51

Dr. Alice Cary 1942

Mrs. Louise Starzenski P’68 1943

1952

Dr. David S. Beebe ’52 Prof. and Mrs. James D. Hays ’52 Mr. and Mrs. John B. Horton ’52 P’89 Mrs. Louisa Knowles

Mrs. Melene Bruce

Mr. and Mrs. Ralph T. Linsley ’52

Mrs. Britt Zimmerman P’77,’78 G’25

Mr. and Mrs. Philip F. Palmedo ’52

1944

Mr. and Mrs. K. Reynierson Smith II ’52

Mr. Kenneth F. Clark Jr. ’44

Mr. and Mrs. Robert J. Swain ’52 P’77

1945

1953

Mrs. Louise Biggs

Mr. Frederick H. Baird ’53

Mrs. Patsy Shumway P’78 G’12

Mr. and Mrs. Donald I. Baker ’53

The Hon. and Mrs. James W. Symington ’45 P’75 G’00

Mr. and Mrs. Robert A. Beebe ’53

1946

Mr. Peter McE. Buchanan ’53

Mrs. Joan Buchanan P’82,’88 Mrs. Lydia Lauderdale P’76 Mrs. Carol Postell P’76 Mrs. Nancy Riegel 1947

Mrs. Marcia Caldwell P’81 Mrs. June K. Fryer

Mr. and Mrs. Aaron M. Daniels ’53 P’84 Mr. Michael P. Erdman ’53 Sara and Craig Fanning ’53 Greer Family Foundation ’53 P’94 G’13,’16,’22,’23,’27 Mrs. Anne Jeffrey Mrs. Katherine Lenoue Jane Sloan Duffy and H. Stanley Mansfield Jr. ’53 G’03 Mrs. Edeltraud M. McCarthy

1948

Mr. and Mrs. Edward U. Notz ’53

Mrs. Rebecca S. Bumsted

Dr. and Mrs. Calvin G. Perry ’53

Mrs. Nancy Kempf

Mr. and Mrs. Hugh Smith ’53 P’76

1949

Mr. Richard P. Towne Jr. ’53

Mr. John Beard Jr. ’49 P’91

1954

Mr. Lewis H. Brown ’49

Mr. and Mrs. Myles H. Alderman Sr. ’54

Mrs. Harriet B. Dewey P’77 G’11,’12,’14,’17,’20

Dr. and Mrs. Sherman M. Bull ’54

Mrs. Laura M. Dodge P’76

Mr. and Mrs. Philip R. Chase Jr. ’54 P’78,’81

Louis Marx Jr. ’49 P’86,’89

Mr. and Mrs. Hoyt J. Goodrich ’54

1950

Mrs. Elizabeth P. Heald

Mr. R. Warren Breckenridge ’50, P’16 James L. Garard Jr. ’50

Mrs. Judith P. Meyer

Mr. and Mrs. Robert L. Hinckley ’54 P’84 G’05,’07,’19 Mr. Henry Van Zile Hyde Jr. ’54 Mrs. Jane Kellogg P’79

Mr. Robert C. Keltie ’54 P’87

Col. and Mrs. Nicolas R. Vay ’57

Mr. and Mrs. Cornelius H. Marx ’61

1965

Mr. Richard B. Lombard Jr. ’54

Ms. Meera Viswanathan

Mr. and Mrs. Whitefoord S. Mays III ’61

Mr. and Mrs. Michael J. Baker ’65

Mr. and Mrs. Edwin H. Metcalf ’54

Mr. and Mrs. Frederick L. Webber ’57

Mr. John R. Newburger ’61

Mr. and Mrs. Stephen K. Brayton ’65

1958

Mr. and Mrs. Peter M. Nicholson ’61 P’00

Mr. Luis P. Glass ’65

Dr. Antony A. Phipps ’61

Alec J. Megibow M.D. ’65

Mr. Thomas M. Poor ’61 P’95,’97,’15,’17

Mr. William F. Sadowski ’65

Mr. and Mrs. O. Griffith Sexton IV ’61

Dr. and Mrs. A. James Shapiro ’65

Dr. Peter L. Clark ’58 and Ms. Ellen Barol

Mr. Baldwin Smith Jr. ’61 P’99 G’25

Mr. Douglas A. Spragg ’65

Mr. and Mrs. John H. Hayward Jr. ’58 P’02

Mr. and Mrs. John H. Vogel ’61

Mr. and Mrs. Andrew R. Steele ’65

Mr. and Mrs. Harvey D. Hinman ’58

Mr. and Mrs. John F. Walsh ’61 P’08

Mr. Winship A. Todd Jr. ’65

Mr. and Mrs. Robert L. Mahar ’58

Mr. Peter K. Woerner ’61

Mr. and Mrs. Samuel Weisman ’65

Mr. John A. Mendelson ’58

1962

1966

Mr. Richard B. Boardman ’62

Mr. and Mrs. Peter J. Abrams ’66

Mr. Howard Coonley II ’62

Mr. and Mrs. Garret M. Bensen ’66 P’96,’99

Mr. and Mrs. Mark C. Garrison ’62

Mr. Arthur J. Clement ’66 P’00

Mr. Jonathan T. Gregg ’62

Mr. and Mrs. Peter P. Drake ’66 P’93,’96

Mr. and Mrs. Thomas A. Kelly Jr. ’62

Susan and James Dunning Jr. ’66 P’01,’04

Mr. Frank A. Markus ’62

Mr. John H. Fitzhugh ’66

Mr. and Mrs. William B. Ogden IV ’62

Mr. and Mrs. John H. Frost ’66

Mr. and Mrs. Robert Serenbetz ’62

Mr. and Mrs. Richard C. Garrison ’66 P’94,’00

Mr. Andrew E. Sims ’62

Mr. and Mrs. James A. Gray III ’66

Dr. and Mrs. Charles L. Snow Jr. ’62

Mary Ellen and Gates Hawn ’66

Nancy and Mike Tooke ’62 P’94

Mr. J. Bruce Hoof ’66

Mr. Robert L. Wilson ’62

Mr. Frederick R. Horne, II ’66

Mrs. Mary Stevens G’12 Mr. and Mrs. Harold R. Talbot Jr. ’54 Mr. and Mrs. Michael A. Uihlein ’54 1955

Mrs. Peggy Anderson Mr. and Mrs. Carlile Bolton-Smith Jr. ’55 Mr. Bradford R. Frost Jr. ’55 Mr. and Mrs. Milton A. Fuller Jr. ’55 P’93 Mrs. Geneva Heller Mr. and Mrs. Thomas J. L’Esperance ’55 Mr. Malcolm MacLaren ’55 Mr. and Mrs. John J. McCloy II ’55 P’90,’92 Mrs. Margaret L. McEwan Perkins Mr. and Mrs. Alan B. Miller ’55 Mr. and Mrs. William G. Morton Jr. ’55 Mrs. Jane Nordlander Mr. and Mrs. W. Jeremy Rood ’55

Mrs. Nancy Atwood Mr. and Mrs. George W. Carmany III ’58 P’91,’93

Mr. and Mrs. Brian A. Rosborough ’58 P’03,’06 Mrs. Barbara Schwendler 1959

Mr. and Mrs. Donald R. Clark Jr. ’59 Mr. and Mrs. Eugene W. Goodwillie Jr. ’59 Dr. and Mrs. Peter L. Grose ’59 Mr. and Mrs. Jay C. Huffard ’59 P’87,’88 G’25

1956

Dr. John F. Kikoski, Jr. ’59 P’83

Mrs. Jane Emerson

Dr. and Mrs. Robert W. Lennon ’59

Mrs. Katharine Hardy

Mr. and Mrs. Robert H. Mattoon Jr. ’59

Dr. and Mrs. G. Allen Holloway Jr. ’56

Mrs. Patricia Meneely

Mr. and Mrs. Jonathan R. Knowles ’56

Dr. Richard M. Timms Jr. ’59

Mr. and Mrs. Dwight E. Zeller Jr. ’62 P’02 G’26

Mr. and Mrs. John A. Jensen Jr. ’66

Mr. John G. Long Jr. ’56

The Rev. Guido F. Verbeck III ’59

1963

Violetta and Andy Merin ’66

Mr. Merrill L. Magowan ’56 P’88 G’09,’15

Mr. and Mrs. William J. Zisson ’59

Mr. Peter A. Acly ’63

Mr. and Mrs. Kingsley C. Norris ’66

Mr. and Mrs. Bradford C. Oelman ’56 P’98 G’13

1960

Mr. and Mrs. Robert Gold ’63 P’07,’23,’25

Mr. and Mrs. John G. O’Connell ’66

Mr. and Mrs. George R. Hinman Jr. ’63 P’95

Ms. Denise Sirotta

Mr. Orin S. Kramer ’63

Mr. and Mrs. Timothy S. Sponseller ’66

Mr. and Mrs. Frank W. Krogh ’63

Mr. and Mrs. David H. Van Etten ’66

W. Reed Simmons ’63 P’08

Mrs. Elizabeth F. Vary

Mr. and Mrs. Paul M. Whitbeck ’63

1967

Mr. Richard Lewisohn III ’60 P’88

1964

Mr. and Mrs. Thomas O. Barnes ’67 P’94,’95,’99

Dr. and Mrs. Appleton A. Mason III ’60

Mr. John P. Baumann ’64

Dr. Richard A. Berg ’67

Mrs. Romey McPherson

Mr. and Mrs. Francis P. Carolan ’64

Mr. and Mrs. William R. Briggs ’67

Mr. W. Bradford Rutledge ’60

Mr. Richard W. Cheek ’64

Mr. Peter F. Dessauer ’67

1961

Dr. Alan R. Cohen ’64 and Ms. Michele Langer

Mr. Peter G. Huidekoper Jr. ’67

Dr. George M. Feldman ’64

Mr. and Mrs. Stephen C. Muther ’67

Carlie and Neal Garonzik ’64 P’03,’05

Mr. Winthrop H. Smith Jr. ’67

Mr. John L. Heath ’64

1968

Mrs. Joyce Holly

Dr. Edgar A. Bates III ’68

Barbara and H. Rodgin Cohen ’61

Mr. Charles G. Krogh ’64 and Ms. Ellen Duenow

Brigita and John Clementi ’68 P’98,’01,’05

Mr. and Mrs. James W. DeYoung ’61 P’91,’95

Mr. and Mrs. Richard A. Lange ’64

Mr. and Mrs. Payson Coleman Jr. ’68 P’93 G’25,’26,’27,’28

Mr. and Mrs. Christopher G. Mumford ’64 P’01

Mr. and Mrs. Leonard T. Jernigan Jr. ’68

Mr. and Mrs. William H. Rousseau ’64

Mr. and Mrs. Michael R. Katz ’68 P’05

Mr. and Mrs. Charles B. Sethness ’64 P’02,’07

Mr. Rudge S. McKenney ’68

Mr. and Mrs. Robert S. O’Hara Jr. ’56 Mr. and Mrs. Charles F. Pickhardt ’56 Mr. Bruce R. Rippey ’56 P’79 Jane and Ted Simmons ’56 Mr. and Mrs. Denis M. Turko ’56 P’85 Joseph B. Twichell M.D. ’56 P’87 1957

Mr. and Mrs. Hugh B. Andrews ’57 P’91 Mr. and Mrs. Paul T. Collyer ’57 Mr.C. James Curtiss II ’57 Mr. and Mrs. Theodore F. Ells ’57 Dr. and Mrs. Harvey K. Flad ’57 Mr. Peter W. Gilson ’57 P’84 G’12 Mr. Arthur W. Gregg ’57 P’88 Mr. Jonathan Harwell ’57 Mr. and Mrs. John T. Russell ’57 Mr. and Mrs. Lloyd A. Semple ’57 P’86 Mr. and Mrs. James T. B. Tripp ’57 Mr. Charles B. Updike ’57 and Ms. Beth Kaufman, Esq.

Mr. and Mrs. Christian Baldenhofer ’60 Mr. Donald A. Burgess ’60 Mr. James H. Cohen ’60 Mr. L. Stevens Edwards ’60 The Rev. Robert F. Herrick ’60

Mr. and Mrs. Theodore W. Atkinson Jr. ’61 P’95 Mr. and Mrs. Jon W. Barker ’61 P’06 Mr. Timothy B. Barnard ’61 Mr. Robinson D. Bullard Jr. ’61

Mr. H. William Happel III ’61 Ms. Anne L. Kalemjian Mr. and Mrs. Frederick C. Kneip ’61 Mr. and Mrs. Bruce Macleod ’61 P’92,’94

Mr. and Mrs. Richard J. Sterne ’64

1969

1973

1978

1984

Dr. and Mrs. Steven W. Esthimer ’69

Mr. Robert A. Beane ’73

Mr. and Mrs. Richard R. Hrabchak ’78 P’15

Mr. and Mrs. William W. Ettelson ’84 P’23

Mr. Neil H. Jacobs ’69

Mr. and Mrs. Richard P. Clarendon ’73

Mr. and Mrs. Edward W. Phares ’78

Mr. Robert W. Lasher ’84 and Mr. Ali M. Gilmore

Mr. and Mrs. Christian E. Liipfert ’69

Mr. and Mrs. Sidney H. Evans Jr. ’73 P’09,’12

Mr. Al B. Sawyers ’78 P’15,’17,’21

Mr. and Mrs. Christopher S. Miller ’84

Mr. Brian E. Shea ’78

Dr. and Mrs. William B. Tisol ’84

1974

Mr. and Mrs. Trumbull D. Soule ’78

Dr. and Mrs. Michael J. Toletino ’84

Mr. Graham H. Anthony II ’74

Mr. and Mrs. Scott W. Vallar ’78 P’12,’14,’16

1985

Mr. Joseph H. Moriarty ’69 Mr. Charles V. Olchowski ’69 and Ms. Marguerite Atkinson Mr. and Mrs. Stuart P. Ray ’69 Mr. W. Casey Reed ’69 Mr. John H. Shanholt ’69 P’05 Nicholas Warren Squires Family Fund ’69 P’09 Mr. and Mrs. Austin C. Starkey Jr. ’69 Mr. Alexander Sandy B. Weissent ’69 1970

Mr. and Mrs. Michael H. Bartlett ’70 Dr. and Mrs. Gregory B. Begin ’70 Dr. and Mrs. Jonathan T. Clarke ’70 Mr. and Mrs. William L. Courshon ’70 Mr. Stephen W. Hannock ’70 Dr. James B. Kiracofe ’70 Gilbert Lamphere ’70 P’00,’03 Mr. and Mrs. Keith Mackay ’70 P’17,’18 Mr. Tom R. Montgomery ’70 Mrs. Tara Olson P’02,’05 Mr. and Mrs. Thomas E. Schneiter ’70 Dr. and Mrs. Charles H. Trautmann ’70 1971

Mr. and Mrs. Douglas C. Bargar ’74

Mr. Derek H. Webb ’78

Mr. FitzJohn J. Flynn ’85 Mr. and Mrs. Lee C. Hansen ’85 P’21

Mr. and Mrs. John L. Bruch III ’74

1979

Mr. and Mrs. Jeffrey R. Dufresne ’74

Mr. and Mrs. John H. Christel ’79

Mr. Nicholas P. Helides ’74 and Ms. Rosina Gerolimatos

Mr. and Mrs. John J. Dinneen III ’79

Mr. Brian St. David Reed ’85 and Ms. Jenifer Cromwell

Mr. and Mrs. Daniel F. Goss ’79

Mr. and Mrs. Christopher J. Tierney ’85

Mr. and Mrs. Peter K. Poli ’79

1986

Mr. and Mrs. Peter K. Jameson ’74 Roger S. McEniry ’74 P’07,’10

Mr. and Mrs. Henry B. D. Smith ’79

Dr. Frederick A. C. Ilchman ’85

Mr. and Mrs. Henry Beyer Jr. ’86

Mr. David B. Middleton ’74 and Ms. Martha Hart Eddy

Mr. D. Reed Webster ’79 P’19

Mr. Frederic C. Rich ’74

1980

Mr. Dan E. Cranshaw Jr. ’86

Mr. Eric C. Williams ’74

Mr. Donald B. Brown ’80 and Ms. Suzanne I. Tyndall

Mr. and Mrs. Todd H. Eckler ’86

1975

Mr. and Mrs. E. Thomas Broadhurst III ’75 P’11 Jane Mendillo and Ralph Earle III ’75 P’10,’12 Mr. Bradley A. Ferst ’75 Mr. and Mrs. Frederick L. Friedman ’75 Mr. and Mrs. Jeffrey W. Hoye ’75 Hon. and Mrs. John B. Hunt ’75

Mr. G. Allen Fowlkes Jr. ’80 Mr. Dwayne A. Gathers ’80 Mr. and Mrs. Joseph P. Manory ’80 Mr. and Mrs. Geoffrey L. Newton ’80 P’12,’22,’24 Mr. Thomas C. Schoeffler ’80

Lt. and Mrs. Lawrence V. Biondo Jr. ’86 P’21

Mr. and Mrs. Wesley H. Himes ’86 Mr. and Mrs. William N. Macartney IV ’86 Mr. and Mrs. Robert S. McCain ’86 Mr. Francis W. Moyer ’86 and Ms. Holly Henson Col. and Mrs. Erik C. Osborn ’86 Mr. and Mrs. Anthony R. Tait ’86

Mr. Glenn P. Schwitter Sr. ’80

1987

1981

Mr. and Mrs. Kevin B. Kroeger ’87

Kelly and Samuel Bronfman II ’71 P’15

Mr. and Mrs. Francis A. L’Esperance III ’75 P’13,’15,’17,’22

Mr. and Mrs. Ian C. Devine ’71

Mr. Timothy H. Schoeffler ’75

Mr. Thomas W. Hogan ’81

Mr. and Mrs. John S. Hutchins ’71 P’05,’07

1976

Hilary and Mark McInerney ’81 P’10,’13,’16

Mr. Roberto Powers ’71

Mr. A. Mark Berlin Jr. ’76

Mr. and Mrs. Antonio D. Pyle ’71

Mr. and Mrs. Robert G. Bannish ’81 P’25

Mr. and Mrs. Peter L. O’Brien ’87 P’17,’20 Drs. Paul-Thomas and Adriana Tremoulet ’87 Mr. and Mrs. Gordon H. Woodward ’87 P’19,’22

Mr. and Mrs. Peter F. McLaughlin Jr. ’81

1988

Mr. Miles Byrne ’76 and Ms. Karyn Wilson

1982

Mr. and Mrs. Oscar K. Anderson III ’88 P’22

Mr. and Mrs. K. C. Ramsay ’71

Mr. and Mrs. Marshall F. Campbell III ’76

Mr. and Mrs. Andrew K. Bain ’82

Mr. and Mrs. Edwin G. Reade III ’71

Mr. and Mrs. Benjamin W. Cart ’76

Mr. and Mrs. Samuel G. Bayne II ’82

Mr. and Mrs. Allan L. Reagan ’71

Mr. and Mrs. Harald B. Findlay ’76

Mr. and Mrs. Joseph M. Connors ’82

Dr. and Mrs. John L. Reed ’71 P’05

Mr. Henry S. Fox ’76 P’12 and Ms. Elizabeth P. DeLana P’12

Dr. and Mrs. James D. Ferrari ’82 P’16

Mr. Kenneth S. Klaus ’76

Mr. Philip E. McCarthy II ’82

Lesley and David Koeppel ’76 P’14,’15,’18

Mr. and Mrs. Marc L. McMurphy ’82

Mr. and Mrs. William L. Simpson ’76

Mr. and Mrs. Frank H. Reichel III ’82

Mr. John O. Batson III ’72

Mr. John W. Straton Jr. ’76

Mr. and Mrs. Geoffrey G. Tolsdorf ’82

1989

Mr. Thomas D. Klingenstein ’72

Mr. C. Henry Stuart ’76

Mr. James M. Wilmott ’82 P’24

Mr. and Mrs. Gustave K. Lipman ’89 P’24,’27

Mr. Michael C. Perry ’72 P’01

1977

Mr. Thomas S. Montgomery ’89

Mr. James C. Reed ’72

1983

Mr. Grant C. Davis ’77

Mr. and Mrs. Adam J. Feiges ’83

Mr. and Mrs. David S. Sanderson ’72

Mr. and Mrs. Robert M. Dewey III ’77 P’12,’14,’17,’20

Mr. John G. Knight ’83 and Ms. Martha Wofford

1990

Mr. Steven C. Smiley ’72

Mr. and Mrs. Andrew M. Ling ’77

Mr. James L. Wareck ’83

Mr. Jeb S. Armstrong ’90

Mr. James I. Swinden ’72

Mr. Scott R. Mackey ’77

Mr. and Mrs. Philip B. Weymouth III ’83 P’18,’20,’23

Mr. William W. Rutledge ’90

Mr. Robert Dell Vuyosevich ’72 Mr. Robert L. Wynn II ’72 and Ms. Millie J. Jones

Mr. and Mrs. Stephen L. Sweet ’77

1972

Mr. Bradford W. Agry ’72 Mr. and Mrs. Joseph F. Anderson Jr. ’72 P’10,’12,’14

Mr. John C. Baity Jr. ’74

Mr. and Mrs. Michael L. Flynn ’82

Mr. Richard R. Hough, III ’88 Mr. and Mrs. Harold R. Kroeger ’88 Mr. V. Richard La Rocca ’88 Mr. Christopher J. Ladley ’88 Mr. and Mrs. Stephen T. Mong ’88 Mr. Charles A. Ramsay ’88 Mr. and Mrs. Gordon C. Spater ’88 P’21,’23,’25 Mr. and Mrs. Ned W. Waters ’88

Mr. and Mrs. William S. Morrison IV ’89

1991

Mrs. Andrea Landers ’98 and Mr. Ryan Landers

2009

Dr. Margarita R. O. Curtis H’57,’69

Mr. and Mrs. Alan R. Leist III ’91

Mr. and Mrs. Scott W. MacArthur ’98

Mr. Albert C. Nichols ’09

Mr. George W. Cushman Past Faculty

Mr. Richard H. Rowland Jr. ’91

Mrs. Carolina D. Ponzer ’98

Ms. Catherine R. Wittig ’09

Dr. Rashad E. Dabaghi P’06

Mr. Michael L. Sucsy ’91 and Mr. Demitri Sgourakis

Mr. and Mrs. Grant S. Quasha ’98

2010

Mr. Michael J. Del Sarto P’21

Mr. and Mrs. David A. Thiel ’91 P’22 Mr. Nicholas K. Vita ’91 Mr. and Mrs. William M. Waugh ’91 Mr. Timothy B. Weymouth ’91 and Dr. Katharine Lopez Weymouth 1992

Mr. and Mrs. Jeffrey J. VanDam ’98 2000

Ms. Lacey K. Bowman ’00 Ms. Virginia C. Kress-Mitchell ’00 Mr. James P. Nicholson ’00 Mr. and Mrs. Tyler Webb ’00

Mr. West D. Hubbard ’10 2011

Ms. Julia D. Dolan ’11

Ms. Merideth D. Dolan P’06,’08,’11 Mr. and Mrs. William S. Dorson P’02,’98 Ms. Anne Marie Durkot P’07 Mr. Colin M. Farmer P’26

2012

Mr. Howard C. Foster III P’29

Mr. Luke Barkowski ’12

Mr. and Mrs. William P. Hamlen P’20,’22

Mr. Charles E. Jones ’12

Dr. Sung Hee Han P’09

2013

Mr. and Mrs. Michael Holland P’19,’21,’23

Mr. John Adornato III ’92

2001

Mr. and Mrs. Keith T. Carpenter ’92

Mrs. Marisa V. Clementi-Thomas ’01

Mr. Ryan M. FitzSimons ’92

Mrs. Courtney L. Holland ’01

Mr. Raymond L. Walker ’92

Mr. and Mrs. Martin K. Mumford ’01

2015

1993

Mr. Robert B. Nolan III ’01

Mr. Bryce M. Klehm ’15

Mrs. Hilton H. Ball ’93 P’25,’28

2002

2016

Mr. and Mrs. Stephen J. Ketchum P’24

Ms. Melanie A. Corcoran ’93

Mr. William Malcolm Dorson ’02

Ms. Elliot H. Gilbert ’16

Mr. L. Mark Kibler P’10

Mr. Bruce G. Hut ’93

Mr. and Mrs. Frederick V. McDonald III ’02

2017

Lucy Lamphere P’00,’03

Ms. Jay S. Newton-Small ’93

2003

Mr. Patrick Han ’17

Mr. and Mrs. Michael Lanahan P’04

1994

Mr. and Ms. Nicholas C. Fersen ’03

Mr. Gordon V. Johnson ’17

Mr. and Mrs. Alan R. Leist Jr. P’00,’91,’97

Mr. and Mrs. David S. Cornell ’94

Mr. Randall A. Hack Jr. ’03

Mr. and Mrs. Christopher P. Halpin ’94 P’23

Mr. James G. Luckenbill ’03

2019

Mr. Roberto Ochoa ’94

Mr. Kristofer C. Peterson ’03

1995

2004

Mr. and Mrs. Wilhelmus B. Bryan IV ’95

Mr. Christopher M. Ajello ’04

Ms. Nicole A. DiSalvo ’95 P’25

Mr. Michael P. Baity ’04

Mr. and Mrs. Walter S. Tomenson III ’95

2005

Ms. Mara E. Whalen ’95

Ms. Ann C. Redpath ’05

1996

Mr. Brendan P. Scherer ’05

Mr. Peter W. Espy ’96

Mr. Elliott G. Smith ’05

Ms. Emily M. Reycroft ’96

2006

Mr. and Mrs. Charles Ayres P’22,’24

Mr. Nathan F. Swem ’96

Mr. Julius D. Berman ’06

Mrs. Patricia Baity P’74,’91,’04,’05,’08

1997

Mr. Eugene Garrett Bewkes ’06

Mr. Michael Banas Friend

Mr. Hamilton S. Colwell ’97

Mr. A. Brooks Farrar ’06

Dr. Shirley Baron P’99

Ms. K. Blythe Daly ’97

Mr. and Mrs. Oliver R. Merrill ’06

Mr. and Mrs. Richard D. Barr P’93,’94

Mr. and Mrs. Michael J. Drake ’97

Mrs. Ann Parker Weeden ’06

Mr. Ashley Barstow Staff

Mr. and Mrs. Andrew R. Goltra ’97 P’27,’29

2007

The Rev. Robert Batcho Friend

Mrs. Amy S. Harsch ’97 and Mr. Brett Harsch

Mr. Steven B. Sethness ’07

Mr. Dylan E. Korpita ’97 Alexandra and Alexander Robertson ’97 Mr. and Mrs. Edward T. Schiff ’97 1998

2008

Mr. Mark A. Baity ’08 Ms. Cordelia W. Cowan ’08 Ms. Francoise A. de Saint Phalle ’08

Mr. Brandon J. Cobb ’98

Mr. Nathaniel T. Gordon ’08

Mr. and Mrs. Andrew S. Gralnek ’98

Ms. Meridith E. McGraw ’08

Mr. Thomas C. Cowan ’13

Mr. Matthew J. Brosseau ’19 2024

Mr. and Mrs. Kenneth Kadow P’13 Dr. William Kaelin P’11,’14 Mr. and Mrs. Robert E. Kaufmann P’83, ’97 Dr. Sherry Kelly P’22

Ms. Nancy Locke P’03,’92 Mr. and Mrs. Christopher Manning P’19,’21 Mr. and Mrs. Frederick V. McDonald Jr. P’02 Ms. Rachel Moore P’03

Mr. Levi W. Tipton ’24

Mr. and Mrs. N. James Myerberg P’96

2025

Mr. and Mrs. James B. Orthwein Jr. P’99,’02

Ms. Hannah G. Horner ’25

Mr. and Mrs. David G. Pond P’92,’98 Mrs. Janet Rogers G’07

PARENTS, FACULTY, AND FRIENDS

Alice A. Ruth and Ronald M. Alvarez P’13,’17

Mr. Theodore H. Ashford P’82,’84 G’14

Mr. and Mrs. Joseph M. Scharfenberger Jr. P’21,’23

Mr. and Mrs. Mark E. Augustine P’24

Ms. Michele M. Bertrand P’99 Ms. Judith A. Biondo P’06 Dr. Jose C. Briones, Jr. P’82,’84,’90 G’16 Mrs. Sylvia V.A. Brown P’69 G’07 Mr. and Mrs. Andrew F. Buteux P’04 Lisa and Dick Cashin P’03,’07 Ms. Ana Centola P’18,’21

Mr. and Mrs. Robert Seabolt P’10 Mrs. Hinda Simon P’92 Mr. and Mrs. Kevin Smith Jr. P’10 Mrs. Theodore H. Smith P’80 Ms. Lynnette Sodha P’97 Mrs. Cynthia Busbee Sullivan P’05,’09 Mr. and Mrs. Stephen Sullivan P’12,’16 Mr. and Mrs. Douglas T. Tansill P’92 Ms. Julia A. Thomas P’08,’11,’14,’17 Mrs. Astrid Tollefsen P’84 Mr. and Mrs. Thaddeus E. Toomer P’04 Mrs. Louise E. Turner P’08,’13 Ms. Louise Wasso P’16 Mr. and Mrs. Jeffrey M. Webb P’27

Mr. and Mrs. Robert B. Hosea ’98

THE COMMON RO OM: LESSONS FOR LIFE BY WIN SMITH ’67

Win’s application photo>>>>

Lessons for Life: The Enduring Influence of Frank Boyden

’67

While every member of the Boyden That early structure helped lay the groundAcademics were equally influential, Society honors the legacy of Mr. and Mrs. work for lasting friendships. “The fellow shaped by the rigor of the classroom as well Boyden by including Deerfield in their who lived across the hall was (classmate) as the relationships within it. Smith estate plans, few share as long or personal Jim Smith,” he recalls. “We became best remembers a roster of exceptional faculty: a connection to the legendary headmaster friends—and still are today.” Bob Crow for history, Larry Boyle for Latin, as Winthrop H. “Win” Smith Jr. ’67. Athletics played a central role in Win’s and Helen Boyden for chemistry. “There “My parents knew Dr. Boyden very well,” Deerfield experience, challenging him were so many good teachers,” he says. Smith recalls. “When my father passed to stretch himself and learn new skills. What truly distinguished Deerfield, in away when I was 11, Dr. Boyden was incredibly “I appreciated that we had to play sports Smith’s view, was the personal investment kind. He came to visit, and we began corre- three seasons a year—you had to try some- faculty made in their students. “It wasn’t sponding. So when it came time to think thing new,” he says. He discovered soccer just strong academics,” he says. “Teachers about going away to school, there was never at Deerfield, a sport he had never played went out of their way to help. Everyone was any place in my mind other than Deerfield.” before. “I really developed as a player my a mentor in their own way.” Smith arrived on campus from New York senior year under Coach Bobby Merriam,” City in the fall of 1963. He began his Deerfield he explains. “I went on to be named All-New journey in John Williams House under England in college, and I credit that to what dorm master Red Sullivan. “He was a I learned at Deerfield.” wonderful person to introduce us to the 1966-67 Varsity Soccer (Win in action) school,” Smith says. “I’d call it tough love.”

THE COMMON RO OM: LESSONS FOR LIFE BY WIN SMITH ’67

Win himself became a mentor during senior year as a proctor in John Williams. By then, Mr. Boyle had succeeded Red Sullivan as dorm master. “He was very different,” Smith says, “but it was a great experience. Even though I was still a student, I was also becoming a colleague in many ways.” It was the shared responsibility of the freshmen to navigate the challenges of dorm life together. “There were always boys who tested the rules—staying up late or sneaking out,” Smith says. “But that’s part of growing up, part of the fun and part of the learning.” Smith credits Mr. Boyden with modeling a supportive, growth-oriented approach that shaped Deerfield culture. “Frank Boyden was very forgiving,” Win reflects. “It was okay to make a mistake as long as you learned from it and moved forward.” Mr. Boyden’s presence on campus also reinforced those values. “He used to drive around in his golf cart and stop by dorms during study hall,” Smith remembers. “He’d pop in just to say hello and ask how you were doing. I think he knew every boy’s name.” For Smith, Mr. Boyden embodied integrity, honesty, responsibility, and curiosity— values that served him throughout his life. After graduating from college and business school, Win spent 28 years at Merrill Lynch before retiring in 2001 and relocating to Vermont. There, he purchased and ran a ski area for two decades. He also remained connected to Deerfield, serving two five-year terms on the Board of Trustees. “That was a great experience,” he says. “As much as I loved my four years as a student, the school had grown even stronger—with coeducation and other changes. It was fun coming to campus several times a year.”

Smith credits Mr. Boyden with modeling a supportive, growth-oriented approach that shaped Deerfield culture. “Frank Boyden was very forgiving,” Win reflects. ‘It was okay to make a mistake as long as you learned from it and moved forward.’

Win’s gratitude for Deerfield has taken the form of a deferred gift, pledged now and realized later as part of his estate plans. “As we entered our later years, we wanted income rather than capital appreciation,” he explains. “So we used stock to create a Legacy Income Trust.” For Smith, it represents a win-win: lifetime income, a tax benefit, and a meaningful gift to Deerfield in the future. //

FROM THE ARCHIVES

1966/67

THE COMMON ROOM / CLASSNOTES

1950 Mr. Boyden had arrived, and he wasn’t happy. He proceeded to tell us how disappointed he was and how much he had thought of each of us. And, we had let him down. He never showed any anger. Never a threat. Just great disappointment.

A February issue of The New York Times featured an obituary of Edward Hoagland. “Edward Hoagland, whose shimmering essays explored the wonders of the natural world, the sights of faraway places and his own journeys into blindness, died on Tuesday in Manhattan. He was 93.” As obituarist Margalit Fox says, “In his hands, nature writing and personal history dovetailed impeccably, as if to declare that the subject matter of each was nothing less than life’s inexorable cycle.”

1951 In April, John Bell wrote: “The night after our 1951 graduation, Nori Kabyama, Charlie Guggenheimer, and I planned our own celebration by sharing a can of beer. Long after lights out, we started our event. Passing the treasured brew around, everything was going well. That is, until we heard a suspicious door open in corridor master Bob Crow’s quarters. Clump, clump, clump came the familiar foot beats. Mr. Crow stopped outside my door, knocked, and came in. ‘Good evening, boys. What’s going on?’ ‘Oh, nothin’, nothin’ . . . sir.’ By this time, Mr. Crow had seen enough, for in those frantic moments before his arrival, one of us had inadvertently knocked over the can. While we were unaware of our fatal error, Mr. Crow saw enough of the foamy brew between our feet. Whew! We were excused and sent off to our rooms. A short time later, Mr. Crow was back, and we were to report to his quarters immediately. Mr. Boyden had arrived, and he wasn’t happy. He proceeded to tell us how disappointed he was and how much he had thought of each of us. And, we had let him down. He never showed any anger. Never a threat. Just great disappointment. I felt terrible, like crying, because I had hurt someone whom I held in the very highest respect and love. It was an awful feeling. This wasn’t the end of the story, though. Later that summer, Mr. Boyden called me and asked if I would come back and join the school staff. The headmaster was more than head of school.

1953 In May, Mark Claire wrote to us about the passing of his father, Bill Claire. He was born in Northampton, MA, in 1935, and died on February 17, 2026, at age 90. A graduate of Deerfield Academy, Columbia University, and Georgetown University, he served in Korea and Japan as a reporter for Stars and Stripes. He later worked in Washington, DC, as a Pentagon speechwriter during the Kennedy administration, with U.S. Representative Silvio Conte, for The American Paper Institute, the State University of New York, and his own consulting firm, Washington Resources, Inc. A poet, essayist, and author, Bill published work in more than 50 major publications, including the Library of Congress archives, The American Scholar, Antioch Review, The New York Times, Smithsonian Magazine, The New Republic, and The New York Review of Books. He founded and edited Voyages: A National Literary Magazine from 1967 to 1973, guided by board members including Mark Van Doren and Anaïs Nin. A Yaddo and MacDowell fellow, he also received a Rockefeller Foundation residency grant for Villa Serbelloni in Italy. He organized literary festivals and readings at venues including the Kennedy Center, the National Press Club, the Folger Shakespeare Library, and the Lewes Library. Later in life, Bill lived in Lewes, DE, and Naples, FL, where he operated Voyages Books and Art, an antiquarian book and art business. An early online bookselling pioneer, he also maintained six Delmarva locations and donated materials from his collections to universities. His final unfinished article, “7 reasons why baseball is different,” will be completed by family and submitted posthumously. He was also devoted to his basset hounds. Bill died from complications after a fall but remained healthy and happy until the end. He is survived by his partner of 45 years, Sue Ellis; his son, Mark; his daughter-in-law, Aubrey Zerkle; and his great-niece, Remi Claire. He wished memorial donations be sent to Habitat for Humanity. Peter Howe Searl, 89, passed away peacefully in December. Born in Syracuse, NY, he graduated from Deerfield Academy, Dartmouth College, and Syracuse University College of Law. From 1958 to 1967, he served intermittently in the United States Army. In 1957, he married Priscilla Bruns; eight years later, they moved with their three children to Honolulu, HI, where Peter lived for twenty two years—practicing law, running marathons, teaching Hawaiian history, and interpreting daily life in the past at the Mission Houses Museum. Peter later moved to Massachusetts, where he became a historical interpreter at Old Sturbridge Village. While there, he met Mary Ellen Birkett, a professor at Smith College. They married in 1991 and made their home in Northampton, MA, with extended residences in Paris, France, and Geneva, Switzerland. In 2013, they moved to Santa Barbara, CA, where Peter continued to explore the world with the stamina of an athlete, the mind of a lawyer, the curiosity of a historian, and the temperament of an artist. He leaves his wife of 35 years, Mary Ellen Birkett; son Christopher Howe Searl and partner Jennifer Wood; son Peter Clayton Searl; and daughter Elizabeth Searl Crawford and husband Neil Crawford. He is also survived by four grandchildren—Lauren Crawford, Marshall Crawford, Ryan Searl, Jack Searl, and wife Jessie; and a great grandson, Stellan Searl. Donations in Peter’s memory may be made to the Hawaiian Historical Society or to the Samarkand Benevolent Fund.

’53

THE COMMON ROOM

’56

It is a pleasure to see how Deerfield has continued to evolve. Coed since we were there, but always maintaining the vision of humanity, and how we can both be a part of, and assist in helping, our fellow companions on the planet. —Allen Holloway ’56

1956 Charlie Weymouth wrote: “Jonathan Blake—Class Officer, later a Rhodes Scholar from Yale, accomplished athlete, and longtime manager of a leading Washington law firm—was honored by having his name enshrined in the Make Every Vote Count Foundation. Until the year before his death, the ever-energetic Jonathan worked tirelessly to advance equality in national voting. In true Deerfield fashion, Jon remained characteristically modest about his many contributions.” Allen Holloway wrote: “Been living in Arizona for 37 years now and have had a very eclectic career in medicine. I am fortunate to have been able to remain active and still practice medicine, although on a limited basis. Probably not going to be able to attend the reunion, but I hope we will be able to have a Zoom meeting so that those of us remaining can say ‘hi’ to ‘old’ friends. It is a pleasure to see how Deerfield has continued to evolve. Coed since we were there, but always maintaining the vision of humanity, and how we can both be a part of, and assist in helping, our fellow companions on the planet.”

1958 Since the Great ’58’s 65th reunion, about 30 classmates have maintained camaraderie through Zoom gatherings three or four times a year. Each session draws 18–20 classmates, plus occasional wives assisting less technical spouses. The goal, as Jim Guest describes it, has been fostering a “community of classmates . . . learning something new and experiencing fascinating exchanges,” while sharing personal news, recommended books, and travel stories. Last October, at Brian Rosborough’s initiative, the group changed course with a lively Zoom interview featuring Dr. John Austin, Head of School. The hour was divided into thirds: classmates interviewed Austin, he questioned them, and the class then posed additional questions. Rosborough opened by asking whether Deerfield should prepare students for life or college admissions, and whether it should offer a more practical curriculum. Austin discussed Deerfield’s efforts to prepare students for both life and academics. The conversation turned to reading and comprehension in an AI age increasingly reliant on summaries and algorithms. Jim Guest asked whether AI interferes with teaching and learning. Austin replied: “This is a Gutenberg-like moment. We’re in a post-literate screen age . . . with individuals spending on average seven hours a day on a screen. Community takes a hit. But we continue to emphasize deep reading and independent thinking.” Austin then asked classmates what enduring lessons Deerfield had left them. Responses included community, rigor, determination, sportsmanship, structure, and the reminder to “Finish up strong.” In the final segment, classmates questioned Dr. Austin about technology, COVID’s impact on community, diversity efforts, and service. Regarding today’s competitive secondary education world, George Carmany asked about the “value proposition” of a school that charges $85K/year with only 60 percent paying full boat. This was made palpable by the statistic Dr. Austin cited that “only 18 private schools out of hundreds are more than fifty percent endowment-income reliant.” Dr. Austin thanked the class for the lively exchange. Following the program, the attendees expressed strong appreciation for the articulate leadership with which Dr. Austin is meeting the challenges of the 21st century. The twenty-four ’58 classmates attending were (in addition to those mentioned): Woody Chittick, Bill Cummings, Otto Doering, Tim Evers, Bob Fernholz, Jerry Gibson, Bruce Grinnell, John Hayward, Roger Hoit, Spen Kellogg, Robin Mahar, Peter McCurrach, John Mendelson, Bob Murray, Warner North, Floyd Russell, Bayley Silleck, Tiff Tiffany, Bill Webster, and Porter Wheeler.

’56 Jon Barker is delighted to share the birth of his grandson to his daughter, Alex Barker ’06 on March 30 of this year. Congratulations to the whole Barker family!

THE COMMON ROOM

1964 In December, Rich Lange wrote: At 79, I’m still working at The Acorn School, which my wife Kitty and I founded 46 years ago. It’s full of joy and keeps me young! We spend four months at Walloon Lake, MI, during the summer, then back home to San Antonio for the good weather! We enjoy our ranch in the beautiful Texas Hill Country and travel when we want, so we’re getting to finish our lives out on our own terms! We’re blessed to have good health and lots of friends; life is good!

1966 Ron Battocchi ’67 had a delightful visit with Gary Larson in Seattle last year. We had lunch at one of many fine dumpling restaurants in Seattle. Gary then gave me a terrific tour of the University of Washington. He lives a few blocks from the campus. Here’s a photo of us and one of Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (Lew Alcindor) trying to guard Gary when he played for the University of Washington. (left)

1967 Ron Battocchi, Gary Larson ’66, Roger Percy, and Jim Burns had lunch in Seattle this spring (below). Gary, looking very trim, shared details about his basketball career at the University of Washington and his family’s extensive, long-term connections to the local community. Roger related details about his thriving family. Jim shared samples of his artistic talent, including exhibitions, and enthusiastically mentioned that his ’67 classmates have been communicating and sharing information on a group email and a few Zoom visits in just the last year or so. Ron stated that he and his wife enjoy traveling, especially to see family, and that he derives joy from gardening and cooking.

’67

’66

1968 Oystein “Stein” Gronning wrote: “Just in case you weren’t notified already. Philip Le Breton Douglas passed away last November.

I was in touch with him up until two weeks before his passing and attended Phil’s memorial at Grace Church in Manhattan with my wife, Marit Unstad, on January 10.”

1971 This May, KC Ramsay, John Hutchins, and Jeff Van Nest caught up with John Upton while food touring together in the Testacccio neighborhood of Rome in March. In December KC, John Rhodes, and Bill Traina reconnected at the Celebration of Life for Mark Marcoplos in Chapel Hill. Ned Reade wrote: “How proud is the Class of 1971 to hear our classmate Chris Whipple interviewed on NPR and read his article on Susie Willes in Vanity Fair in December 2025! Yet he is always as down-to-earth as he was when he played hockey for the Big Green and focused on his American History class! Looking forward to watching him moderate a panel with former Chiefs of Staff of past presidents at our reunion.”

’71

1973 Noel Rubinton wrote in April: “I had a wonderful two-day visit to Deerfield in February. I spoke to students and faculty about the work of John McPhee ’49 and my Looking for a Story: A Complete Guide to the Writings of John McPhee, which Princeton University Press published in 2025. I also had a chance to visit the terrific English class of Justin Romick, and he even let me assign some McPhee readings to discuss, including his great essay on Structure. It was a lively session. I also met with many current editors and writers of The Scroll who are doing an excellent job, and with some current Jewish students, and heard about how the school has made huge strides in becoming more welcoming and inclusive. And I taped a podcast with John Austin. It was extraordinary to be on campus while in session. It is a place transformed since our time, but also happily, it shares the culture and core values that have made the school so remarkable.”

1975

’73 Scan to watch and listen to my conversation with HOS John Austin

’75

We are saddened to share the passing of Rob Winans in January 2026, a beloved member of the Class of 1975. Rob was an active and enthusiastic presence in our alumni community and recently served on the 50th Reunion Planning Committee, where his contributions were deeply appreciated. Rob will be remembered for his friendship, dedication, and the generous spirit he brought to our class. Our condolences go out to Rob’s family, friends, and classmates.

THE COMMON ROOM

1976

’76

A few months ago Steve Tenney was able to get David McCullough, Joe Finigan, Miles Byrne together for dinner with our respective wives. Was so much fun catching up with everyone.

1980 In March, alumni joined Deerfield’s Director of International Advancement Erika Shelburne for a lovely dinner. Left front to right back: Niti Osathanugrah ’92, Stephen Briones ’84, P’16, Kalin Sarasin ’80 Right front to right back: Judy Briones, Erika Shelburne, Petch Sarasin

1981 The New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival and Foundation is heartbroken to learn of the passing of Scott Aiges, Director of Programs, Marketing, and Communications at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Foundation from 2007 to 2019. Scott died Tuesday, April 7, 2026, at the age of 63 in White Plains, NY, following a battle with glioblastoma.

’80

1982 The Tenth Gala Celebration of Ukrainian Global Scholars was held on February 7, 2026, at the University of Massachusetts Club in Boston. Ambassador Bridget Brink P’26, Dasha Lukyanenko ’25, Nikol Kmita ’25, J.J. Briones ’82 P’11, Misha Lemesh ’02, and his wife, Julia.

1985 Jay Flemma writes, “I moved to Boise, ID, and took a job doing

’85

con law and civil rights. Played golf in England for two weeks while covering the Open Championship for Golf News Net. Now, as the current VP of the North American Snowsports Journalists, I can cover both Summer and Winter Olympics. I hope to see everyone from both Snowbird/Alta in July for the Open Championship.” Chuck Berwick and Matt Harrington celebrated a big win by Bradford “Ice Veins” Berwick, shown here with two of his four victory-sealing free throws from December 2025.

’79

Art Dwight, Colin Cooper, Dan Pryor, Brad Bush, Chris Sullivan, Stephen Hurley, Jim Bloomer, Jamie McWhorter, Brad Palmer, David Lucas, and John Dinneen gathered in May for a spontaneous “mancation” in Asheville, NC, in April, including a hike to the top of Tennent Mountain.

THE COMMON ROOM

’87

Paul Robinson completed a thru-hike of the Appalachian Trail. He continuously hiked all 2,197 miles from Springer Mountain, GA, to Mount Katahdin, ME, over 24 weeks, from April to September of 2025.

1992 This past December, Keith Carpenter organized/hosted a get-together in the Toronto area. In attendance were Keith, Steve MacLeod ’95, Panos Kelamis ’00, Kosei Masutani ’04 , Kelly Matheson ’08 , Eric Kim ’18 , Lisa Ito-Bagshaw ’21, Steve Bagshaw P’21,’22, Ryan Bullock ’24, Dave Bullock P’24, Mason Brozek ’24, and Cooper Brozek ’26.

’92

’88 “Here are some pics from the 1988 weekend in Lexington, KY, hosted by Rob Brewer. That last one is Rob with our winnings— we each kicked in $20 at the start, and Rob placed bets on each race, letting it all ride (most of the time). Ended up paying for the day! Fun weekend, great class. Now I need about a week to recover . . ..” —Chuck Ramsay

THE COMMON ROOM

’97

1997

2009

In December, Blythe Daly and Elizabeth Urstadt ’99 crossed off their seventh continent together while on a cruise in Antarctica. Blythe was Beth’s proctor at Deerfield, and they reconnected several years ago while both were living in New York. Blythe now lives in Miami and works as an attorney at Royal Caribbean Group, where Charles Giannini ’11 began working recently.

Cecelela Tomi wrote in May: “I recently defended my dissertation

last month, a study of the experiences of children of Tanzanian care workers in shared living arrangements. I will graduate this May and remain based in South Jersey. My work sits at the intersection of caregiving, family systems, and health equity. I’m exploring opportunities in health policy and related fields, including roles in the Gulf region. I am continuing work on a documentary project. If any Deerfield alumni have connections or insights across these areas, I would welcome the conversation at cecelela@gmail.com.” (photo on p. 75)

Saira Amed writes, “I had a relaxing weekend catching up with Michelle Kelly ’15 (left) and Yaoyao Kelly ’06 (middle) in Longboat Key!”

’05

2013

’09

’13

In February, Bowling Green State University named Greg Froelich special teams coordinator. He will work under former Heisman Trophy-winner Eddie George.

2022 Our young, enlisted graduates enjoyed the Army-Navy game’s storied rivalry. From left to right: Anthony Sparacio ’25, Adeeva Ali, HD Lee ’24, and Mark Cai.

2023 Chelsea Antero and several graduates had dinner with Brian Hamil-

ton and current students during a February CSGC trip. Including Alva Fink ’25, Abby Tang ’25, Victoria Oguta ’25, Zavier Salomon-Fernandez ’25, Emily Bruno ’25, Jeff Wang ’23, Neha Jampala ’23, Preyas Sinha ’24, and Carson Belaire ’23.

’22

THE COMMON ROOM

A selection of highlights of Deerfield alumni competing collegiately curated from their respective school websites. This issue includes those competing in the 2025–2026 fall and winter seasons. We welcome all alumni to share any news about your collegiate careers.

Max Abene ’22

Colby College (Mens Ice Hockey) • Played in 22 games this season; scoring 9 goals and registering 7 assists

Robert Amundson ’22 Bates College (Mens Swimming & Diving)

• NESCAC Winter All-Academic selection and named to the College Sports Communicators Mens and Womens Swimming & Diving Academic All-District® Team for second time in his career • Appeared in 7 meets this season, establishing new personal best in the 50 yard free • Named to the NESCAC Winter All-Sportsmanship Team

Ryan Amundson ’24

Bates College (Mens Swimming & Diving) • NESCAC Winter All-Academic selection

Maeve Baker ’23 Stanford University (Womens Squash)

• Appeared in 9 games as a reserve defensive lineman; recorded 7 total tackles including 5 solo stops and 2 assists

Christian Capella ’25

Harvard University (Mens Squash) • Named the Ivy League Rookie of the Year and named to All-Ivy League second Team; finished the season with a 12-3 record, predominantly competing from the No. 4 spot where he compiled a 10-3 record and a 2-0 record from the No. 3 spot

•R eceived the College Squash Association (CSA) Scholar Athlete Award and earned MASC All-Academic Team honors

Lauryn Broecker ’23

• I ndividually went 8-4 on the season, competed at the No. 5 through No. 9 spot

• Played in 36 games this season; recording 8 points

•M ASC Team Champions! Finished third in the country as a team; ended the season 11–3 overall, CSA National Championship team semifinalist

• NEWHA Championship Tournament Semifinalist

• Named the Harvard Crimson Student Newspaper Male Rookie of the Year

Avery Burns ’22

• Received the Harvard Squash Most Valuable Player 2025–26

Yale University (Field Hockey)

Connecticut College (Womens Basketball)

•N amed to the NFHCA National Academic Squad for the second consecutive year

• Named to the Womens basketball NESCAC Winter All-Sportsmanship Team

• Selected to compete with Team USA at the British Junior Open (Jan. 2–6); finished fourth and became the first American to reach back-to-back BJO U19 semifinals

•A warded The Amanda Walton Award by team and coaches, given to the team member who demonstrates the ability to confront challenges, displaying the courage to overcome them while inspiring teammates with work ethic and an unselfish attitude

• NESCAC Championship Tournament Quarterfinalists

Ben Cook ’24

Cole Bennett ’24

• Played in 7 games this season, with a .875 save percentage and making 77 saves

Colby College (Womens Ice Hockey)

•N amed College Sport Communicators (CSC) Academic All-District

• NESCAC Championship Tournament Finalist

• Skated in 26 games in her rookie season; registering 4 goals and 10 assists

Fev Barinova ’24

Cornell University (Football)

Assumption College (Womens Ice Hockey)

• Named to NEWHA All-Academic Team

• Played in 13 games for the Camels; amassing 151 minutes played

Grace Caligiuri ’22

Colby College (Womens Ice Hockey)

• Earned CSA second Team All-America Honors

Amherst College (Mens Ice Hockey) • Earned a spot on the 2026 NESCAC Winter All-Academic Team

Alli Corrieri ’25

• NESCAC Championship Tournament Finalist

Kai Darrell ’24

Williams College (Mens Soccer) • Advanced to the NCAA DIII Championship Sweet Sixteen • Saw action in 8 games in the fall season for the Ephs and earned 3 shutouts

Ella Davies ’24

Bowdoin College (Field Hockey) • Appeared in 15 games for the Polar Bears

•E CAC Hockey Championship Quarterfinalist; tallied an assist in an ECAC Championship Quarterfinal victory at Princeton

Grace Dumond ’22 Salve Regina University (Womens Ice Hockey)

•P layed in 21 games and recorded 5 points

Bennett Eun ’23

Yale University (Mens Squash)

• Registered 3 goals and 2 assists on the season

•R ecorded a 5-8 record primarily from the No. 8 position

• Helped the Polar Bears advance to the NCAA DIII Championship second Round

Callia Ferraris ’23

CC DesLauriers ’23 University of Vermont (Womens Ice Hockey) • Played in 13 games for the Catamounts • Hockey East Championship Tournament Quarterfinalist

Annie Dinges ’24

Middlebury College (Womens Ice Hockey)

•N ESCAC All-Academic Team for the second consecutive year •N ESCAC Championship Tournament Semifinalist •P layed in 26 games this season; recording 6 assists

Sabina Frosk ’24

Daphne Gavros ’22 MIT (Womens Volleyball)

• Earned AVCA All-America Honorable Mention and named to the AVCA Region 2 All-Region first Team • Received NEWMAC All-Conference second Team honors • Named to the NCAA Division III Championship Regional All-Tournament Team • 3x NEWMAC Academic All-Conference Team (2023, 2024, 2025) • 2025 CSC Academic All-District Team • NEWMAC Tournament Champion • Played in 108 sets, recording 451 digs, 103 assists, and 43 aces

Zoe Gavros ’23

Carnegie Mellon University (Womens Volleyball) • Named to the College Sports Communicators Academic All-District Team

Babson College (Womens Volleyball)

• Received UAA All-Academic Honors

Harvard University (Womens Ice Hockey)

•P layed in 126 sets in the 2025 season; recorded 225 digs

• Skated in all 34 games and totaled 6 points on three goals and 3 assists

•A dvanced to the second round of the NCAA DIII Championship Tournament

• Named to the NCAA Tournament All-Region Team and earned All-UAA Honorable Mention

• 2026 Beanpot Champion

•N EWMAC Championship Tournament Finalist

• Played in all 35 matches; led team with 590 digs; had 26 matches in double-digit digs; recorded 104 assists

Savannah Gibbs ’22

Carnegie Mellon University (Womens Basketball) • Named College Sports Communicators Academic All-District Team and UAA All-Academic Team • Started all 25 games; averaged 9.2 points per game in 27.8 minutes per game; averaged 5.6 rebounds and 1.5 assists per game • Became the 15th player in Carnegie Mellon history to record 1,000 career points and grabbed her 500th rebound during the season

Donnie Gray ’21

University of Massachusetts (Football) • Competed in 12 games for the Minutemen; caught 27 passes for 260 yards and totaled 23 yards on 4 rushes

Alexander Grosse ’22

Carleton College (Mens Soccer) • Led the team in minutes played, amassing 1,469 minutes; started all 17 games and started 68 of Carleton’s last 69 games • Named to the MIAC Fall 2025 Academic All-Conference Team for the third consecutive year • Named to the College Sports Communicators (CSC) Academic All-District® Team for 2025

THE COMMON ROOM

Alex Haight ’22

Kelly Howe ’22

• Appeared in 4 games; finished the year with 102 receiving yards on 11 receptions

William Smith College (Womens Ice Hockey)

8 passes for 132 yards and a touchdown and rushing for a 20-yard touchdown on a fake field goal in a win over Penn

•2 026 Hockey Humanitarian Award Nominee

• Awarded the Barry Fetterman Award at the year-end banquet

•S erved as team captain; played all 27 games, recorded 12 points on 6 goals and six assists; won 222 faceoffs; tied the program record in career games played with 107

• Patriot League Champion and advanced to the NCAA FCS second Round

University of Pennsylvania (Football)

Quinn Hampson ’22

Tufts University (Mens Cross Country) • Received 2025 NCAA DIII USTFCCCA All-Region Cross Country Athlete Honors • Recorded a personal best time of 24:36.8 and a fifth-place finish at the NCAA Division III East Region Cross Country Championships • Helped Tufts finish the season as NESCAC Champions

Riley Harrington’24

Trinity College (Field Hockey) • Played in 13 games for the Bantams and registered 1 goal in her sophomore campaign

Rowan Heitoff ’24

Williams College (Mens Ice Hockey) • Played in 21 games; scoring 3 goals and registering 6 assists

Matt Hickey ’22

Will Holland ’20

Babson College (Mens Ice Hockey) • Named to the Little East Conference (LEC) 2025–26 Academic All-Conference Team • Saw action in all 27 games this season; finished fourth on the team in assists as a defenseman and second in the LEC in plus/minus (+29) • LEC Championship Tournament Finalist

• Named to the All-NE10 Academic Honor Roll

Kaley MacDonald ’23 • Skated in all 34 games and totaled 8 points (3 goals and 5 assists)

University of Vermont (Field Hockey)

• Led the team with 112 shots on goal

•S aw action in a career-high 9 games; made a career-best 3 starts

• AHA Championship Tournament Semifinalist

• Posted a team-leading 81 blocks, second-most in the ECAC

Ainsley Hubbard ’22

•A s team captain, led the Catamounts to their first regular season championship and an appearance in the America East Championship Game

Sara Ito-Bagshaw ’22 Bowdoin College (Womens Ice Hockey)

Avery Izzo ’24

• Stayed in the top 10 with a 21.99 in the 50 Free at the Colgate Invitational to start the season

• Started all 11 games and helped a line that advanced to the NCAA first Round

• Played in all 37 games and finished the season with 8 goals, 9 assists, and 17 points

• Named to the NESCAC All-Conference second Team

Colgate University (Mens Swimming & Diving)

Syracuse University (Womens Ice Hockey)

• All-NE10 first Team for the third consecutive season

Harvard University (Womens Ice Hockey)

Trinity College (Football)

Will Hill ’24

Jackson Kinsler ’23

Bentley University (Football)

• Served as an Assistant Captain

•W inner of the William Smith Athletics Madeline Buckley ’15 Award

•P layed in 16 games; recording 11 points during the season

• At defensive line in 8 games, recorded 3.5 sacks with 17 tackles, 5.0 TFLs, and 2 QB hurries

•S UNYAC Championship Tournament Semifinalist

Joe Lochiatto ’22

Daniel King ’25

Cornell University (Mens Squash) • Posted a 2-8 record across 10 matches • Competed between the No. 4–7 positions, going 0-1 at No. 4, 0-3 at No. 5, 1-4 at No. 6, and 1-0 at No. 7

Caleb Kirkpatrick ’24

• 2026 Beanpot Champion; scored the overtime game-winning goal vs. Boston College in the Beanpot Semifinals • Registered an assist and the game-winning goal against St. Lawrence in overtime of the ECAC Championship Opening Round • Named ECAC Hockey Defender of the Week (Feb. 24)

Kenyon College (Football)

• ECAC Hockey Championship Tournament Quarterfinalist

• Named to the All-NCAC Football third Team Offense in 2025

Liam McBride ’24

• Played in all 10 games for the Owls

Bowdoin College (Mens Basketball)

• Helped the team average 85.6 rushing yards per game and 246.3 passing yards per game

• Played in 14 games this season

•S cored first career goal vs. UC Santa Cruz

Jakub Kohn ’24

Tommy McMahon ’25

•H elped the Sagehens advance to the NCAA DIII Championship Round of Eight

• Played in 13 games this season

Pomona-Pitzer College (Womens Soccer) •P layed in 18 matches; totaled 352 minutes of action on the season

Geoffrey Jamiel ’22

Lehigh University (Football) •R eceived first Team All-Patriot League and FCS Football Central third Team All-American honors •L ed the Patriot League with 73 receptions and 1,067 receiving yards •H auled in 8 receiving touchdowns and recorded 4 100-yard receiving games •N amed Patriot League Offensive Player of the Week after catching

Wesleyan University (Mens Ice Hockey)

• Earned NESCAC All-Academic Team honors

Jamezell Lassiter ’24

• Recorded 2 blocks, 3 steals, 6 assists, and 37 points

St. Lawrence University (Mens Basketball)

• In his rookie season, played 27 games for the Saints • Amassed 718 minutes, 169 points, 53 assists, and 31 steals

Vanderbilt University (Football)

• Liberty League Championship Tournament Semifinalist

• Played in 10 games for the Commodores

Joe Metzger ’22

• Recorded 2 touchdowns and amassed 200 total yards on the season

College of the Holy Cross (Football)

• Rushed for 143 yards and collected 57 receiving yards

• Made 6 starts at right tackle and 6 at left guard

• Started all 12 games he appeared in for the Crusaders

Giulio Migliarina ’25

Nick Peltekian ’22

Cate Shanahan ’23

• Met the NCAA qualifying mark in the 200-yard butterfly

•P layed in 9 games for Lehigh and made 5 starts on one of the nation’s top defensive units

• Received first Team All-WCC honors

• Won two Centennial Championship gold medals (200 FR, 400 FR)

• Named to the WCC All-Academic Team and CSC Academic All-District Team

Caden True ’25

Carnegie Mellon University (Mens Swimming & Diving)

• Finished sixth in the 200-yard butterfly at the UAA Championships

Tommy Molson ’24

Yale University (Mens Ice Hockey) • Appeared in 21 games • Recorded 3 goals and 5 assists for 8 points

Justin Odibo ’24

University of Rochester (Mens Basketball) • Played in 25 games this season • Amassed 726 minutes, 23 assists, 5 blocks, and 261 points

Liam O’Brien ’22

University of Pennsylvania (Football) • Stats Perform FCS National Player of the Week and Co-Ivy League Offensive Player of the Week • Named to the College Sports Communicators (CSC) Football Academic All-District Team • First Team All-Ivy

Chigozie Oge-Evans ’23

Georgetown University (Football) • Named to the Patriot League Academic Honor Roll • Named to the 2025 Phil Steele Patriot League All-Conference second Team • Played in all 12 games for the Hoyas and recorded a career-high 27 tackles (18 solo, 9 assists) • Recorded 4 sacks for a loss of 26 yards, a pass breakup, and a forced fumble

Lauren O’Donald ’22

Bowdoin College (Field Hockey) • Started and played in all 18 games for the Polar Bears • Posted 2 shutouts and advanced to the second round of the NCAA DIII Field Hockey Tournament • Named to the NESCAC All-Academic Team in 2025 for the second consecutive year

Lehigh University (Football)

•T otaled 28 tackles •R ecorded 5 tackles and a key interception in the Lafayette game

Santa Clara University (Womens Volleyball)

• Earned Catholic Challenge All-Tournament Team honors

•P atriot League Champion and advanced to the NCAA FCS second Round

• Led the team and finished sixth in the WCC with 372 kills while starting all 29 matches

Sage Piekarski ’23

• Finished eighth in the conference with 3.23 kills per set

Harvard University (Field Hockey) •E arned National Field Hockey Coaches Association National Academic Squad honors

• Finished third on the team with 202 digs

• Earned All-America honors in the 400 free relay (second Team) and 200 medley relay (second Team)

University of New Hampshire (Football) • Played in 6 games for the Wildcats in his rookie season • Named to the CAA Football Commissioner’s Academic Honor Roll for the Fall 2025 semester

Daniel Wareham ’24

Caltech (Mens Swimming & Diving)

•A ll-America second Team selection

• Named WCC Offensive Player of the Week on Oct. 6 for the first time in her career

• Placed first and second in the 100-yard and 200-yard breaststroke events in a January tri-meet

•L ed Harvard and the Ivy League in scoring with 16 goals and 36 points

Anna Shumway ’24

• Helped the team finish fourth at the SCIAC Championships

•T ied for third all-time in school history for goals in a single season • I vy League Offensive Player of the Year •N CAA DI Field Hockey Championship Semifinalist • I vy League Championship Finalist

Sawyer Ramey ’24 Middlebury College (Mens Basketball)

•N amed to the NESCAC All-Academic Team •P layed in 24 games for the Panthers •R ecorded 144 points, 23 steals, and 64 assists

Luke Reilly ’24

Lehigh University (Football) •N amed to the Patriot League Academic Honor Roll •P atriot League Champion and advanced to the NCAA FCS second Round

Sekou Roland ’22

• Princeton University (Football) •P layed in 9 games for the Tigers •R ecorded 25 tackles

University of Virginia (Womens Squash)

• Named to the MASC All-Academic Team • Individually went 2-2 on the season at the No. 9 position • 2026 CSA National Team Championship Quarterfinalist

Lauren Sobczak ’24 Middlebury College (Womens Ice Hockey)

• American Hockey Coaches Association/Krampade All-American SCholar and NESCAC All-Academic

CJ Williams ’24

Vanderbilt University (Football) • Named to the 2025 SEC Academic Honor Roll

Maddy Zavalick ’22

Yale University (Field Hockey) • Named to the NFHCA National Academic Squad for the fourth consecutive year • Started all 18 games, a career high • Advanced to the first round of the NCAA DI National Championship Tournament

Levi Tipton ’24

Ben Zimmerman ’21

• Named Academic All-Centennial

• NCAA Division III Mens Ice Hockey National Champion

Swarthmore College (Mens Swimming & Diving) • Earned Centennial League Honor Roll recognition • Named PhillySIDA Academic All-Area and College Sports Communicators Academic All-District • Swam on Swarthmore’s schoolrecord 200 free relay (1:20.31), 400 free relay (2:58.76), and 200 medley relay (1:28.19) • Competed in the 200 free relay, 400 free relay, and 200 medley relay at the NCAA Championships

Hamilton College (Mens Ice Hockey)

• Scored a key goal with 4:19 remaining in the second period of the NCAA Tournament semifinal • Played in 20 games this season • Recorded 10 points

FOLLOW @deerfieldteams on Instagram to follow future superstars! 79

THE COMMON RO OM / REUNIONS 2026

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THE COMMON ROOM / SPOTLIGHT

Anna Harvey RESEARCH FELLOW/PROGRAM OFFICER

’18

Courtesy of Anna Harvey

by Emily Gold Boutillier

Deerfield is where Anna first developed her interests in history, research, and global affairs. In United States history with Tim McVaugh, she chose a research paper topic that predicted her future path: she compared U.S. and Russian attitudes toward the Cold War and examined how anxiety about nuclear annihilation affected the two societies.

It’s a common misconception that US policymaking takes place mostly inside government buildings. In fact, it often begins at a think tank, as a researcher analyzes a primary source, tests an idea, and reaches a conclusion that, once published, a legislator reads and decides to pursue. There are roughly 400 think tanks in Washington, DC, alone. One is the American Foreign Policy Council, where Anna Harvey ’18 is a research fellow and program officer. She studies Ukrainian and Russian history and politics with a specific focus on defense planning and military innovation. Harvey’s analysis has appeared in a wide range of publications: Newsweek, the Central Asia-Caucasus Analyst, the Estonian newspaper Postimees, and the US Army War College War Room journal. She For Anna, the opportunity to learn alongside international students at Deerfield co-edits her organization’s Russia Policy sparked a lasting interest in language study and travel abroad. The summer before her Monitor and is an associate editor of its senior year at the Academy, she took part in an Academy-sponsored trip to Granada, Spain. flagship journal, Statecraft & Strategy. “That experience gave me confidence to seek out similar opportunities in college and Right now, she’s writing a book that grad school,” Anna says. compares the US and Ukrainian defense Harvey studied in Russia and Italy on her way to earning a bachelor’s in Russian and industries. Italian and a certificate in security studies from Dickinson College. Her next stop was “There are a lot of cogs in the machine. Cahul, Moldova, for a Fulbright English-teaching assistantship. Living in Moldova drew Think tanks are one of those cogs,” Harvey her attention to the role of smaller state actors in global affairs. This led her to shift her says. “And so for me, it’s exciting to see academic focus to Ukraine in grad school. how research that individuals do can actuAs part of her graduate work at Stanford, she traveled to Estonia, where she served ally influence policy in DC.” as a research assistant at the Johan Skytte Institute of Political Studies. She went on to Deerfield is where Anna first developed take a research job at the Institute for the Study of War—another Washington, DC, think her interests in history, research, and tank—before landing her current role at the Council. global affairs. In United States history with Her primary job this year is to write the book. It covers how the Ukraine defense Tim McVaugh, she chose a research paper industry has accelerated its research and development programs and its production and topic that predicted her future path: procurement timelines during wartime, as well as lessons the US defense industry can She compared US and Russian attitudes take from Ukraine’s experience. toward the Cold War and examined how “One of the things that I bring to the table as a researcher is that I’m always willing to anxiety about nuclear annihilation affected admit when I don’t know something and when I need to find somebody who can teach the two societies. me about it,” Harvey says. “I think that started at Deerfield when I showed up as a new Years later, when she moved to Northern junior and had to learn to seek out knowledge and support from others.” California for her master’s in Russian, She recalls one Deerfield friend who tutored her in math, another who explained East European, and Eurasian studies at chemistry concepts, and the many teachers who encouraged her questions and believed Stanford, she brought along an anthology in her abilities. she’d read her senior year at the Academy, “Deerfield gave me this baseline confidence to be intellectually curious, to be a lifelong in history teacher Bernie Baker’s class on learner, and to always ask questions,” she says. After growing up in many different places—her father, Edward Harvey ’88, was in the genocide studies. “That was something I don’t think most Air Force—Anna can picture herself settling down in DC. people are exposed to in their high school “My number one hobby right now is taking the Metro,” Anna laughs. She reads contemeducations, but because I was taking this porary Irish literature during her daily commute, and when she’s not on the train, heavy and serious course on genocide stud- she enjoys the city’s cultural and educational offerings. “I spend a lot of time going to ies at 18 and then became fascinated by the different events around DC. Tonight, for example, I’m going to an event about the future subject at the graduate level, I went back of moon research that my friend is putting on. I don’t know anything about space policy, to those same texts that I’d read at Deerfield.” but I’m going to go, have a glass of wine, and hang out with space people.” //

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FROM THE ARCHIVES

1950’s

THE COMMON ROOM / SPOTLIGHT

Melissa Mitrovic DIGITAL & BRAND MARKETING SPECIALIST AT NIKE

’19

I grew tremendously during my years at the Academy, she continues. “As a student, you’re engaged in the classroom and challenged to use your voice. traditions like sit-down dinners taught me accountability, how to get out of my comfort zone, and helped me get to know many different students and teachers.

Courtesy of Melissa Mitrovic

by Lori Ferguson

Within minutes of beginning a conversation Following graduation, Melissa quickly Being in such a high-performing environwith Melissa Mitrovic, one thing becomes parlayed that knowledge and experience ment truly pushes you to grow and excel in abundantly clear: For her, life is a team into real-world opportunities. After everything that you do. sport and she’s an enthusiastic player. It’s completing her bachelor’s degree, she “I grew tremendously during my years at an attitude that’s perfectly suited to her secured an internship at Nike® as a North the Academy,” she continues. “As a student, role at Nike, as a NikeSKIMS Digital & America Marketplace Marketing Intern. you’re engaged in the classroom and Brand Marketing Specialist. Working at the The experience cemented her belief that she challenged to use your voice. Traditions intersection of sport, style, and culture, she wanted sports in her life both personally like sit-down dinners taught me accountleads marketing efforts that span both and professionally. “During my internship, ability, how to get out of my comfort zone, digital platforms and real-world brand I worked on several actual Nike® projects and helped me get to know many different experiences. “One of our responsibilities is and campaigns for events” she recalls. “As students and teachers. The experience to understand what our consumers care an intern, I got the unique opportunity to refined my ability to engage with others about and then build marketing journeys create and bring experiential marketing and increased my self-confidence. It was that meet them where they are. Whether events for young athletes to life. Getting to challenging but also a lot of fun.” that’s through digital experiences, creator come up with an idea, pitch it and then watch Deerfield’s sense of community and the partnerships, athlete storytelling, or it come to life was extremely rewarding.” emphasis on human connection also made in-person activations, the goal is always to Melissa returned to Nike® in February of a deep impression, Melissa continues. create meaningful connections with the 2023, joining the company as a Digital “Living on campus you become part of a brand.” she explains. Brand Marketing Specialist II for Women’s community and learn to participate in ways For Melissa, the work is deeply personal. Fitness and working her way through the that you wouldn’t otherwise,” she observes. “I’ve loved sports my entire life,” she notes ranks to her current position with Nike- “You learn the importance of making an in a burst of enthusiasm. “My whole SKIMS. The role dovetails nicely with her effort to know your peers and show up for family is sports-oriented; my dad played team ethos and deep understanding of others, lessons I took into college and then basketball, my mom played volleyball, my the ways that sports can shape a life. And into my professional life.” youngest brother is a freshman on the the job includes a huge collaborative Her Deerfield coaches also made an Cal Berkeley Basketball team, and I was component, requiring that Melissa interact indelible impression, Melissa notes. “My recruited to Deerfield to play basketball. with colleagues from across the company rowing coach, Coach O (Melanie Onufrieff), And now in my job at Nike®, I work with so much as she collaborated with teammates and my basketball coach, Coach Stedman, many people that it’s like being on a big on the court. saw me not only an athlete but also as a team. I know it’s a cliché, but there’s “I love sports, style, movement, and fitness, student and a person. They took an interest no ‘I’ in team, especially in my work. We’re so my role as a digital brand marketing in me both during and after practice and all working together to create a future specialist for NikeSKIMS is a perfect fit,” their knowledge of me outside of athletics generation of athletes.” she enthuses. “Every day is different, which informed the way they coached me—they Melissa knows well the impact that I love. I get to interact with consumers and helped me to realize my full potential athletics can have on one’s life. She arrived at bring their insights to bear on our marketing because they understood me on a more Deerfield as a new junior, recruited by girls and branding decisions. I’m not just writing personal level, not just as an athlete.” basketball team coach Caroline Stedman, up reports, I’m formulating ideas and then Melissa says the experience of injuring and hit the courts with enthusiasm and an bringing them to life through the digital her knee and having to explore a sport eye to playing college ball. Then a knee journeys and in-person experiences.” other than basketball taught her a valuable injury changed the calculus. Melissa says her time at Deerfield lesson as well. “If you want to find success, Seeking opportunities to rehab and provided the ideal foundation for the work whether it is in a sport, career or personal keep moving, Melissa turned to rowing. she does today. “The Academy prepped me life, you need to be open to new opportuni“I had never rowed in my life, but it came extremely well to succeed in college and ties,” she observes. “Deerfield helped me naturally to me,” she recalls. She quickly beyond,” she insists. “My fellow students see that there was more than one path to discovered a natural affinity for the activity were well-rounded and competitive, both happiness and success. There will always and grew curious to see how she measured academically and athletically, so I really be changes in life—you never know what up to others in the sport. On a lark, she took appreciated the opportunity to be challenged might happen. But I’ve learned that if you a 2K Erg Test and uploaded her time to her both in the classroom and in athletics. keep an open mind, good things come.” // recruiting profile on “Be Recruited.” That impulse proved auspicious; Melissa’s time landed her a full rowing scholarship to the University of Texas at Austin. In typical fashion, she went full steam into the experience and again found sports Deerfield Rowing days paving the way for her to find community. “UT Austin is a big sports school, and athletics play a big role in campus social life, so I felt right at home,” she explains.

IN MEMORIAM

1953

Dwight L. Eaton

November 22, 2025 1951

November 30, 2025

James R. Cravens Jr.

February 20, 2026

Richard J. Eckart Jr.

December 23, 2025

January 5, 2024

December 31, 2025

July 23, 2023

John B. M. Frederick 1945

Merritt D. Billings

August 18, 2024

Richardson McKinney *

Robert E. Milkey

Robert L. Jedrey

John W. Hubbard

1955

Frederick P. Wurlitzer

July 19, 2024

Thomas C. McLellan

1956

1952

January 25, 2026

December 26, 2025

February 11, 2026 1950

Andrew G. Galef May 22, 2024

Edward M. Hoagland

December 4, 2025

Henrik Blohm Martin R. Bowen

1957

Armand J. Cincotta

January 22, 2026

September 28, 2025 February 10, 2026

Graeme K. Howard Jr.

April 5, 2026

Michael G. Korjeff

February 13, 2025

William H. Shields Jr.

August 1, 2020

February 28, 2026

W. Wilson Keithline

October 2025

G. Carleton Ray

October 2025

David N. Cohen

November 23, 2025

February 17, 2026

November 6, 2025

Edward R. Cowles Jr. Rolf C. Margenau Robert S. Sams Jr.

David H. Blake *

1958

Richard J. Hannah

February 7, 2026

William H. Webster, III *

February 25, 2026

David W. Slingerland

May 8, 2024

Frederick H. Sillman *

January 14, 2026

Wallace S. Wilson *

February 17, 2025

December 14, 2023

1954

November 21, 2025

1946

E.A. Grosvenor Blair

Peter H. Searl

August 7, 2022

G. Quincey Lumsden Jr.

January 11, 2024

William K. Frymoyer

November 2, 2024

1948

March 31, 2026

April 2, 2025

October 29, 2025

February 24, 2026

Frederick G. Baily

Peter B. Franz

Morris C. Kellett *

Jamie Malcolm-Brown

1947

Robert H. Edwards

Alfred S. Bryant

1959

Michael C. Bowen

January 25, 2026

Guy M. Dart

November 18, 2025 1960

A. Joseph Ripka November 26, 2025

1961

John Charles Revson

June 23, 2025 1962

James Douglas Abercrombie, III February 18, 2025

Peter M. P. Atkinson

January 25, 2025 1963

Jeffrey E. McPherson April 5, 2026

1965

Clifford M. Baker, III

September 2025 1966

Jeffrey L. Berkowitz April 26, 2026

Ernst J. Bever

1968

Philip Douglas

November 30, 2025

David H. Pearlman

February 12, 2026

John Leo Racine November 27, 2025

1969

Douglas M. Arnstein

November 3, 2025

Herschel Douglas Collins Jr.

September 3, 2025

A. Charles Hoffman Jr. November 25, 2025

1971

Robert W. Lawson

December 15, 2025

1975

Robert K. Winans

January 30, 2026 1976

William E. Mitchell

January 9, 2022

Edmund C. Monell Jr.

1981

Scott Aiges

April 7, 2026 1985

Karl W. von Kries

November 13, 2023

December 6, 2025

Robert E. Prasch, III

1999

1977

February 17, 2026

January 25, 2015

Danielle Bertrand Keatley

Rafael Malave Jr.

November 2, 2019

Mark E. McGoldrick

November 23, 2023

* Boyden Society Member

1980

In Memoriam as of June 1, 2026. Please go to: deerfield.edu/edu/commonroom for the most up-to-date information on classmates, including obituaries.

James B. Dinneen Jr. * October 31, 2025

November 25, 2025

T H E C O M M O N R O O M / 5 th R E U N I O N S P O T L I G H T S

’21

Willy Conzelman ENTREPRENEUR

Rob Rich

by Emily Gold Boutilier

As cofounder and chief marketing officer of the dating app Cerca, Willy Conzelman ’21 helped grow the company from a rough idea into a platform downloaded by hundreds of thousands of college students and young professionals, even as dating apps as a whole declined in popularity. Then he left—because he realized his goal is not to launch a startup. It’s to launch many. “I’m most excited when I’m working across different products and teams,” Conzelman says. “That’s where I unlock the most growth and learn the fastest.” That’s been true ever since high school. At Deerfield, Willy captained the water polo team, played varsity squash and golf, and ran the fly fishing club. Active in student council all four years, he loved having a direct hand in improving the That marketing lesson proved essential The summer before he co-founded Cerca, campus experience—using the same instincts he later brought to building Cerca. when launching Cerca, because the app’s Willy interned at a New York City investWilly also developed a lasting interest in concept is that it matches users with ment banking firm. While he enjoyed that Spanish at the Academy. (Cerca means friends of their friends rather than with work, he spent his off-hours conjuring up “near” in Spanish.) strangers. It’s a model that only works new app ideas. But of all his Deerfield experiences, what when a critical mass of people sign up for To that end, Conzelman now aims to prepared him the most for life as an entre- the app and upload their contacts’ phone build an app studio. From his home base in preneur were sit-down meals, where numbers. New York City, he envisions working on he says he learned to have meaningful Cerca launched in March 2025, when several consumer app concepts at once and conversations with peers and teachers he Conzelman was a Georgetown senior. A partnering with developers and marketers classmate had pitched him the idea for the to bring the most promising ideas to life. didn’t initially know well. “Really understanding how to ask questions company and asked him to be a cofounder. “I love to dream,” he says. “There’s someand learn from one another is something At the time, Willy was working on another thing really exciting about not knowing I got from Deerfield,” Willy says. “Most of app idea, but he was drawn to starting a where an idea will end up.” what I’ve learned about marketing and company as part of a team and thought the Willy is constantly coming up with ideas. How many does he think are viable? Maybe building a company has come from the Cerca concept was strong. people around me. Deerfield showed me the They started small, with the app initially one or two a month, he says. impact of creating genuine relationships.” available only at Georgetown. “We got a That’s all part of the process, both at Willy took that foundation with him to few thousand students in our first month,” the idea stage and beyond. Founders Georgetown University, where he majored Conzelman says. When they expanded to from Thomas Edison to Steve Jobs have in Spanish and environmental studies. New York City, another several thousand famously pointed to failure as an inevitable Sophomore year, he saw his first success young professionals quickly signed on. and important part of being an entrepreneur. as an entrepreneur when he and some “That was enough for us to raise venture “In periods of slower growth, it becomes friends organized and sold tickets to house capital funding” from Corazon Capital, a lot trickier to get up and after it again,” music shows at various DC venues. which is led by dating industry veterans Conzelman says. “But those are the days when you can make the most progress. “We would start with our own network— from Match, OKCupid, and Tinder. With dating app strategies backing the Momentum is oxygen for a startup and it’s sending invites to friends and classmates,” he says. “Once we’d reached a critical mass, app, Cerca continued to grow, surpassing hard to go a long time without it.” maybe 300 people, it would take on a life 300,000 downloads by the time Conzelman For Conzelman, the ups and downs of of its own; word spreads, momentum left in February 2026. This is especially building something that’s truly yours make builds, and people start getting tickets notable amid recent signs of cooling in the the small wins feel big. So today: 10 ideas. because there’s growing excitement market, with CNN reporting in 2024 that Tomorrow: 10 more. // around the event.” annual downloads of dating apps have shrunk from a 2020 peak.

Most of what I’ve learned about marketing and building a company has come from the people around me. Deerfield showed me the impact of creating genuine relationships.

T H E C O M M O N R O O M / 5 th R E U N I O N S P O T L I G H T S

Piper Day ILLUSTRATOR / GRAPHIC DESIGNER

I feel like I came out of Deerfield well-read and wellrounded, . . . as a student, I was challenged to stretch intellectually as well as socially, interacting with students from many different places and cultures. As a result, I’m now extremely comfortable in my business life meeting people from all walks of life.

’21

Courtesy of Piper Day

by Lori Ferguson

Piper’s signature illustration style

skills. “I created a lot of who was always in the Hess illustrations in those five studios working and spendmonths,” she recalls. The ing time with classmates. position was a wonderful Art was always a big part of experience, she says, and her life, and seeing her a fitting prelude to her sketchbook was seeing the current work with J. mind of a young artist at Crew. She joined the work. She left a big impact specialty clothing retailer on the program for her as a graphic designer in stunning work, creativity, and commitment.” June of 2025. Visiting art teacher “As a member of the Girls Crewcut team, my Angel Abreu ’92 also made days are pretty varied,” a deep impression on Piper Piper says. “I’m charged during her senior year. with designing all the “His approach to art was As a kid, Piper Day heard repeatedly from graphics for girls’ t-shirts in the Crewcuts division, very different,” she her mother that she would be a great so I’m drawing all day, every day. I also meet regularly explains. “He encouraged graphic designer. Piper responded as most with creative directors and collaborate with different me to move beyond a focus teenagers would. “I said no and waged a teams across our department. It’s a lot of fun.” on technical competency vendetta against graphic design,” she Given this emphasis on a cross-team development and delve deeper into my recalls with a chuckle. As it turns out, her process, Piper is frequently called upon to present her ideas creative side. It was a mother had the last laugh; today, Piper to groups. It’s a task she readily leans into, in large part, she wonderful experience.” works as an assistant graphic designer for says, due to the training she received while at the Academy. As she was anticipating J. Crew Girls Crewcuts. And she’s enjoying “I attribute all my presentation skills to what I learned at her first Deerfield Reunion every minute. Deerfield,” she notes. “As students, we were really pushed this summer, Piper was “As a student at Deerfield, I planned on to develop our speaking abilities, both in formal presenta- eager to reconnect with far pursuing a career as a traditional artist and tions and in the way we presented ourselves in general.” flung classmates. “A lot of took a lot of technically-based classes And that training has paid off handsomely, she says. Deerfield alums live in New to sharpen my skills,” Piper recalls. “Even “I’m very comfortable presenting my work to others and York City like me, so I have though I didn’t go down the path of becom- interacting with colleagues who occupy supervisory roles, the pleasure of seeing old ing a studio artist, the foundation I built which makes it much easier for me to do my job.” friends from time to time, was incredibly helpful.” Indeed, Piper says Completing high school under Deerfield’s rigorous but it’s really exciting to her Deerfield art courses provided a solid academic standards proved beneficial as well, Piper contemplate having everyfoundation on which to build as a design continues. “I feel like I came out of Deerfield well-read one back in one place,” she and illustration major at Pratt Institute. and well-rounded,” she observes. “As a student, I was observes. “The sense of Upon entering college, Piper wasted challenged to stretch intellectually as well as socially, community at Deerfield is little time before beginning to explore ways interacting with students from many different places and something special. I realize in which her talent for drawing and design cultures. As a result, I’m now extremely comfortable in my that it’s an atypical high school experience to be could be applied after graduation. She business life meeting people from all walks of life.” created graphics for the Institute’s Film Deerfield faculty members were also a source of inspiration surrounded by teachers and Video Department and secured a free- and support, says Piper. “I grew up at Deerfield—my and friends all the time, lance position at Massachusetts-based mother, Jess Day, has worked in the Communications but I loved it. The sense of independent book publisher Lethe Press, Department there for over 30 years—so the Academy has community and the designing and illustrating book covers and always been a part of my life, but as a student, I experienced impact of a quality educaauthor tote bags. She also interned as a the faculty and staff in an entirely new way,” she observes. tion remain long after one Piper cites arts teacher Mercedes Taylor, who was also leaves campus.” // graphic designer with Oscar de la Renta, a stint that proved providential as it her advisor, as a terrific source of inspiration. “I miss her allowed her to wed a long-time interest in dearly,” she says candidly. Mrs. Taylor is equally effusive. fashion with her burgeoning illustration “When I think of Piper,” says Taylor, “I think of a student

’21

Connor Flannery SOCIAL MEDIA BRAND BUILDER by Lori Ferguson

PugsMedia: left: co-founder and COO Charlie Phinney right: co-founder and CEO, Connor Flannery

Connor Flannery is a rare bird, a numbers guy with a knack for storytelling. If you’re a founder and leader looking to define your personal brand at scale, Connor is the guy. At 23, this social media savant has amassed a personal tally of over 4 million followers across Facebook, YouTube and Instagram and logged a staggering 4.2 billion views on his sites. His skill at developing highly consumable content for these platforms, which started as a lark in high school, has morphed into a rapidly growing internet business called PugsMedia. The eponymously named business, a nod to Connor’s nickname, positions itself as a “social media growth partner” that thoughtfully leverages social media to build powerful personal brands for founders, leaders, and teams. And as co-founder and CEO, Connor is on the front lines, using his decade of personal experience in the space to guide clients seeking to expand their influence and develop their voice online. His enthusiasm for the work is palpable and deeply rooted. “As much as I love making my own content, I’ve realized that I enjoy helping others build their own brands even more,” he observes. Connor admits he’s always had the yen to create. “I started a YouTube channel as a teenager, before I got to Deerfield,” he recalls. “Initially it was a hobby—I posted all sorts of content, from game videos to personal ruminations, just to see what resonated. Before long, I had a couple thousand subscribers.” He continued experimenting during his four years at Deerfield, launching an Instagram page, and amassing some 40,000 followers in his sophomore year and increasing his commitment to YouTube in his junior year, despite dealing with Covid and the college application process. “I did write my college essay on social media,” he admits with a chuckle. During his senior year, Connor doubled down. “I got into Wake Forest University early decision and had a little more time on my hands, so I started creating a steady stream of YouTube videos in my dorm room and quickly saw my efforts compounding,” he recalls. “My following was growing and I was earning some money; I even earned a Silver Play Button from the platform for reaching the milestone of over 100,000 subscribers.” In August of 2020, Connor realized that his social media side gig had the potential to be much more than an amusing hobby. “I became more disciplined in developing my presence, posting consistently and refining my understanding of what strategies worked and why,” he says. “I also immersed myself in the business side of things, analyzing how companies placed ads and worked with influencers.” Connor continued to enhance his understanding of social media’s potential power as a marketing tool during his four years at Wake Forest, earning a bachelor’s in mathematics and spending time in the university’s Center for Entrepreneurship. Then in 2024, during a chance conversation with two independent financial advisors who had built a robust investment portfolio through social media, he had an epiphany. “I realized the true potency of social media and realized I could turn my knowledge into a business, using the experience I’d gained over the past 10 years to assist others in getting the right views by the right people to realize the right business value,” he explains. A short time later, he launched PugsMedia with his friend Charlie Phinney, now the company’s president and COO.

Courtesy of Connor Flannery

Screenshot from pugs.media

T H E C O M M O N R O O M / 5 th R E U N I O N S P O T L I G H T S

Today the pair oversees a team of three and spends their days assisting founders and leaders build their brand through thoughtful, well-placed short-form videos. “Our focus is on scaling the brand of an individual, for example a company founder or CEO,” says Connor. “Experience shows that the best way to tell your story is through people. People connect with other people more than with products, so we help our clients create premium content that scales across platforms and encourages engagement with the audience they are trying to reach.” The work is demanding and requires consistency as well as a great deal of personal involvement, says Connor. “I’m involved in every case we take on,” he notes. “It’s my job to make sure your videos are Faculty members also go the extra mile reaching your audience. Our team is to help students realize success, Connor Connor, right, with super-specific in its approach; we pride notes. “I was terrible at math,” he recalls, prominent entrepreneur, ourselves on being intimately acquainted “but Ms. Koyama stuck it out with me and author, and speaker, with every client’s needs and goals.” helped me get a grasp on the material.” She Gary Vaynerchuk, aka “Gary Vee.” Connor credits Deerfield for cultivating was so successful, in fact, that Connor the intellectual rigor and strong work ethic opted to pursue a degree in mathematics in that his chosen career demands. “Deerfield college. whips you into shape,” he observes with a “Connor was a student in my Algebra 2 Mr. Hamilton was equally impressed by chuckle. “The school sets a high academic class during his sophomore year,” recalls Connor’s dedication. “Connor’s superb work bar, and to succeed, you need to level up to Ms. Koyama. “Despite his best efforts the in class represented only a fraction of his the standard. During my time at the Acad- course was a real challenge for him. At the broad, energetic intellectual pursuits,” says emy, my critical thinking skills improved, beginning of the year, he was pretty Hamilton. “His command of monetary policy, and I learned the importance of discipline discouraged but by the end of the year he for instance, was impressive not just for a and consistency, all things that have helped felt more confident with each success. We teenager; he could explain the Fed better me tremendously as I grow my business. worked hard to change his perspective than most adults. Getting to work with a “When it comes to social media, consis- from ‘I can’t’ to ‘I can’t right now but I will student eager to devote summer hours to tency is key,” he continues. “I have deter- be able to in the future.’ What really working through all 720 pages of Adam mination and drive—it’s what’s enabled me impressed me about Connor is that he was Tooze’s magisterial history of the global to post over 10,000 videos in the last 10 not willing to define himself based on his financial crisis—that’s a teacher’s dream years—and I hold myself to a high standard experience in one high school mathematics that comes true at Deerfield.” so that I can deliver the best product possible course. He maintained his passion about As Connor approached his 5 th year to my clients.” mathematics and knew that would be his Reunion, he was eager to reconnect with Deerfield’s commitment to community is path. I’m so proud of him!” the community that had given him so much. also something Connor values more with Connor cites history teacher Brian Hamilton “I haven’t seen many of my classmates since each passing year. “People are dedicated to as another great influence. “There was a graduation, so it will be great to hear about lifting one another up,” he observes. book on the history of the financial industry what everyone’s been up to—I’m sure “I experienced it while still on campus—my that I wanted to read and discuss with him, people are doing amazing things.” And he is classmates were always supportive—but but we weren’t able to finish before the end more than willing to share his experiences I’ve become more keenly aware of how of the school year. So, he scheduled time as well. “I’m happy to talk to any current wonderful the Deerfield connection is since on Zoom with me after graduation to allow students or alums who are interested in graduating. Several classmates and alumni us to complete our conversation. That’s the learning more about social media,” Connor have facilitated valuable introductions that kind of commitment that Deerfield faculty enthuses. “I never gatekeep information; have helped me professionally.” I’m always down for a conversation.” // makes to their students.”

THANK YOU DEERFIELD. 2 0 2 6 D AY O F G I V I N G R E S U LT S

TOTAL DONO R S :

1,752

In February, the Deerfield community united to support our ninth annual Day of Giving. Together, we raised over $1 million for Deerfield and set an incredible new record of 1,752 donors—far surpassing the previous record by made this milestone possible. Thank you for helping us make history!

TOP PARENT CLASS: 2027

ALUMNI DONOR RANGE:

TOTAL YOUNG ALUMNI DONORS:

$1 million+

1944-2025

276

TOP TEN CLASSES BY DONORS:

TOP CLASSES BY DECADE:

1997, 1979, 1990, 1989, 1988, 1998, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2010

1944, 1958, 1965, 1979, 1989, 1997, 2000, 2010, 2025

M O S T P O P UL AR DE S I G N AT I ONS

WHERE NEEDED MOST

D OG OVERALL CHA MP IO N S

F IRS T WA I T E R C H A M P I O N S

(MOST DONORS AND DOLL ARS)

(MOST EARLY GIFTS)

N U M BE R O F GI FTS BE T W E E N $5- $1 00:

CLASS OF

1,573 ALUMNI 206 PARENTS 16 GRANDPARENTS 41 EMPLOYEES 12 FRIENDS

over 300 donors! Your generosity and Big Green spirit

TOTAL DOLL ARS:

N EW D O G R EC OR D !

1997

CLASS OF

1979

NEW RECORD!

& FINANCIAL AID

1,246

NU M BE R O F M ATC HING D O N O R S:

N UM BE R O F DO G C A P TA I N S A N D C L A S S VO L U N T E E R S

A N E W G I FT A R R I VE D E VERY

80+

2 MIN 45 SEC

O B J E C T L E S S O N : W I L L I A M S PA P E R S

THE WILLIAMS PAPERS letter, circa 1718-1719

Read The History That is Happening Now on page 30 to learn more about the Williams papers. The closest translation of the letter below wins a swag bag from Communications! Send your entry to: communications@deerfield.edu

Deerfield Academy | PO Box 87 | Deerfield, MA | 01342