The Middle School’s ‘Central Park’ Takes Shape This Summer
Demolition, land grading, leveling and landscaping will reveal a new Middle School quad by late fall. The rolling grassy lawn and network of graded walkways runs from the Academy Road side of campus all the way to the Arts & World Languages Center (AWL). “It’s going to be like [New York City’s] Central Park where they can go and have picnics,” says Middle School Director Jon Meredith. With a nod to an age group that needs a healthy balance of independence and play baked into their outdoor spaces, the quad also boasts an exciting feature: Two large roller slides will be built into a sloping hill next to a set of steps. Students will be able to choose how they travel from one end of campus to the AWL — they can walk or glide down to the AWL’s lower-level entrance!
Instagram: instagram.com/DurhamAcademy
DURHAM ACADEMY
Summer 2023
Vol. 50
EDITORIAL
Melody Guyton Butts // Editor
Victoria Price // Art Director
COMMUNICATIONS communications@da.org
Leslie King // Director of Marketing & Communications
Kate Auger // Digital Content Specialist
Melody Guyton Butts // Assistant Director of Marketing & Communications
Tina Bessias ’78, Sustainability Coordinator; Jon Meredith, Middle School Director; Dr. Cindy Moore, Middle School Learning Specialist; Elizabeth Wong ’23
CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHERS
Michael Branscom; Dave Chandler, Invention Studio Tech; Will Costello; Mehmet Demirci; Margaret Hulka ’24; Bob Karp; Natalie LeDonne; Mary Moore McLean; Evan Pike; Camila Falquez; Kevin Yellock
CONTRIBUTING ARTISTS
Cannon Architects; Members of Lori Hanks’ 2022–2023 kindergarten class
PRODUCTION
RR Donnelley // Printer
LEADERSHIP
Michael Ulku-Steiner // Head of School
Edwin Poston // Chair, Board of Trustees
Meredith White Howell ’97 // President, Alumni Board
PHILANTHROPY AND ALUMNI AFFAIRS philanthropy@da.org
Chris Farr // Director of Philanthropy
Tim McKenna // Director of Alumni Philanthropy & Engagement
Alumni on Instagram: instagram.com/DACavsAlumni
SmugMug: url.da.org/smugmug
CONTENTS
Featured Contributors
Tina Bessias ’78
Bessias — who has served in myriad capacities in her three decades at the Upper School — was last year named DA’s first-ever schoolwide sustainability coordinator. It’s one of many shifts that signal the school’s commitment to environmental sustainability. See page 42.
Jon Meredith
For Meredith, director of the Middle School since 2011, it’s thrilling to see the facilities on campus evolve to match the caliber of teaching and learning that happens within them. See page 30.
Elizabeth Wong ’23
For her speech “Putting the Chinese in Takeout” at the first-ever TEDxDA event, Wong drew on the skills she has honed as a member of DA’s speech and debate team. See page 44.
On the Cover: The Middle School community gathered on Friday, May 19, for the dedication of the Gateway Center. This 48,000-square-foot space supports science, math, social studies and STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts and math) classes with state-of-the-art classrooms and labs, a design studio, student services and a variety of gathering spaces for collaboration.
Photo by Kate Auger
When ‘Off-Script’ is On Point Durham Academy Class of 2023
This year’s senior class has been shaped by all sorts of curveballs, and they’ve thrown a few of their own — and we’re all the better as a result.
18 — Finding The Right Fit
DA’s college counseling team takes an individualized approach — focusing on building relationships with students, helping them look beyond “brand names” and discovering their unique passions.
20 — New College Counseling Team Member Seeks to Build Connections, Help Students Envision Life Beyond College
After serving in myriad roles at DA for nearly 20 years, Lori Reade is now the Upper School’s student development and career exploration counselor.
Staff Spotlight: Assistant Director of Athletics
26 — Meghan Fulton
Fulton sees sports as a way for kids to learn, grow and develop life skills like confidence, self-belief and conflict resolution.
Faculty Spotlight: Middle School Band Teacher
28 — Andrew Lovett
He hopes that for students exposed to music in his class "that this is only a starting point, just one blip in the journey, that they keep going and they come back and tell me about it."
Gateway to Possibilities
The opening of the Gateway Center represents a milestone in the reimagination of the Middle School campus. 30
Innovation Journey Fund
38 — Agile Thinking Seeds Meaningful Change
In the year since DA launched the initiative, 22 out-of-the-box proposals from faculty and staff have been approved to move from concept to concrete.
40 — Advancing Beyond APs
Rigor and flexibility are hallmarks of Durham Academy’s new Advanced curriculum that Upper School faculty designed to fully replace AP Courses in 2024–2025.
42 — An Ever-Greener DA
Change for the good of the planet is happening at DA — and it’s the result of many years of thought and hard work.
46 — Celebrating Our Vibrant Community
DA’s commitment to diversity, equity and engagement has never been so clear as this year — when, at every opportunity, we have come together to celebrate the richness that our differences contribute to the whole.
48 — Lower School Playground Renovation Will Create Space for More Creative Play
When students return from summer break, they’ll find an embankment slide, a “council circle,” meandering pathways amongst plantings, and plenty of room for organic play.
50 — For Newly Appointed Director of Philanthropy Chris Farr, ‘It’s About the People’ Farr has three decades of experience in fundraising, primarily at independent schools.
Beyond the Threshold Bringing Master Plan to Fruition
Durham Academy is close to fully realizing a campus master plan that creates student-focused learning environments that meet the school’s high standard of excellence.
55 — Adam Braude Joins Durham Academy as New Chief Financial and Operations Officer
The appointment is full-circle for Braude, whose decision to pursue a career at the intersection of business and education can be traced back to Durham Academy.
Ashley Hinton, Second-Grade Teacher
F. Robertson Hershey Distinguished Faculty Award
Since arriving at Durham Academy in 2015, she has made her students more eager and able to learn.
ALUMNI
66 — Connecting with Cavs Around the USA
69 — Spring Alumni Reception Honorees
70 — Alumni Faces in the News
72 — Alumni Spotlight: Phil Oldham ’86
74 — Cavaliers on Campus
76 — Alumni Spotlight: Masaki Okawa ’77
78 — In Memoriam
80 — Weddings + Babies
The magazine is online at da.org/magazine
The Durham Academy App is available in the Apple App Store.
Enduring Excellence
In the face of daunting challenges and dizzying change, some communities have the ability to not just survive, but thrive. There’s a word for communities that actually increase their capacity to thrive as a result of stressors, shocks, volatility, faults, failures or attacks — antifragile. “Antifragility is beyond resilience,” writes Nassim Taleb, who first defined the term in Antifragile: Things That Gain From Disorder. “The resilient resists shocks and stays the same; the antifragile gets better.” After the struggles and challenges of the last three years, evidence of increased capacity, compassion and courage abound at DA. Antifragility is one reason why. Durham Academy went off script, and the school and its students got better.
The Class of Antifragility
The largest graduating class in DA history offers the most conspicuous and convincing evidence. After being sent home in March of ninth grade and facing more obstacles than any of the 48 classes that preceded them, our 117 seniors have flourished and are preparing to attend 74 colleges and universities (pages 12–19).
Among their other achievements:
• The Class of 2023 produced more collegiate student-athletes (19) than any in our history. See where they’ll be competing on page 22.
• They created and hosted the first-ever TEDx Durham Academy. Elizabeth Wong ’23 writes about her experience on page 44.
• They helped plan and execute DA’s first-ever Sustain-In, described by one senior as “the world’s most educational sleepover.” Read about DA’s sustainability efforts on page 42.
• They led a joyous All-School Pep Rally (as evidenced in the joy in the photos on the left at our first schoolwide pep rally in more than three years).
Even more impressive than the visible accomplishments of the Class of 2023 are their profound expressions of gratitude, their sweetness, their humility and their sense of purpose. They seem similarly attuned to the privileges and joys of good health, close friendships, caring teachers and supportive families. The pain of the pandemic instilled extraordinary perspective and wisdom within them.
An Antifragile School Community
Evidence of Durham Academy’s thriving in the midst of stressors and volatility are visible far beyond our senior class. Among the highlights:
• The speech and debate program won three consecutive state championships, among many other accolades.
• Our Preschoolers returned to their cherished tradition of partnership and seasonal events with our elder neighbors at Emerald Pond.
• Our varsity athletic teams have performed better in the last five years than ever in DA’s history.
• From full houses for performing arts and fine arts exhibitions, to award-winning competitive robotics and Science Olympiad teams, our students are teaming up to create useful and beautiful things.
• Our eighth annual DA Giving Day raised our highest total ever, in spite of unstable economic conditions.
• The DA Family Association All-School Family Festival drew nearly 800 attendees — one of dozens of signs of volunteers’ success in connecting our diverse community.
• In May, we opened the Gateway Center (page 30) — the Middle School’s purpose-built home for Middle School STEM and social studies, Academy Road’s new front door and largest of the five phases of our Beyond the Threshold campaign.
• We hosted our largest-ever alumni reunion and we returned to hosting alumni visits and gatherings across the country. We held one of the most moving Spring Alumni Receptions ever (page 69) and we created a new connection between students and alumni to help envision their lives beyond DA (page 20).
I will end with gratitude — for all those who have contributed to the remarkable stability, strength and progress of Durham Academy. Like our antifragile 2023 graduates, we will continue to strive to get better and better, hoping to mirror the confidence of Faith Hanson ’20 at the Class of 2023 Commencement Exercises:
"... I am certain the Class of 2023 is ready to succeed in the world. We are a class characterized by our originality, our ability to spread joy, and our drive to revolutionize the status quo. We are unafraid to throw the plan out the window and go off-script, trailblazing new paths and transcending traditions along the way."
Michael Ulku-Steiner Head of School @MrUlkuSteiner
MORAL, HAPPY, PRODUCTIVE
DA'S MISSION IN ACTION
Water-Minded Student Artists Win Big
Durham Academy fourth-graders swept their division of the Durham Department of Water Management’s annual poster contest, which invites students to use their artistic talents to celebrate drinking water and promote water conservation. Participants were tasked with creating artwork inspired by the theme "Save Blue. Go Green."
Winning first place in the grades 3–5 division was Katherine Cerwin ’31, who went on to place second in a statewide competition sponsored by the NC Section of the American Water Works Association/Water Environment Association. Deeya Nanda ’31 placed second, and Maddy Misuraca ’31 placed third.
View all of the top designs at: durhamwater.shortstack.page/JhbhRK.
Helping Hands for Book Harvest
Dismayed by the thought of some children not having access to books in their homes, a group of fourth-graders sprung into action and rallied fellow Durham Academy families to do something about it.
“I believe all kids should have access to books,” said Aditya Agarwal ’31. “When I learned that one kid out of every five in the U.S. doesn’t have access to books, I thought, ‘We needed to reduce this number.’ ”
So he and fellow fourth-graders Caitlin Gottfried, Mack Kantz, Cameron Lang, Arden Perreault and William Zhang organized a book drive for Book Harvest, a Durham-based nonprofit committed to growing lifelong readers and learners by providing free books and literacy support to families and children.
In just two weeks, the drive resulted in the collection of 1,591 books for Book Harvest.
‘Folds of Freedom’
If you visit U.S. Rep. Valerie Foushee’s district office in Durham, you’ll undoubtedly be struck by the beauty and poignancy of “Folds of Freedom,” a painting created by Lexie Chen ’25. Chen won third place in the Congressional Art Competition, which was open this spring to high schoolers living or studying in the 4th District. She was recognized at a Durham Arts Council reception in April.
“Origami is something that I really enjoy, and I have been making cranes ever since I heard the tale of 1,000 of them bringing good luck,” Chen said. “This work specifically is meant to emphasize the importance of freedom and the power of hope. In Japanese culture, cranes are a symbol of hope and healing, and they are often made by those who seek freedom and peace for themselves. This work is meant to reflect this desire.”
Lylah Camire ’26 is Advocating for a More Inclusive Future
An enthusiasm for STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) concepts was kindled in Lylah Camire ’26 when she played with LEGO bricks as a 4-year-old. Through that early exposure, she discovered “what I truly love, which is math and building things,” and she aspires to become an aerospace engineer.
But just as important to Camire as her career goal is her work to help make such aspirations accessible to all young people. She’s one of just 43 teenagers from across the United States who were chosen for the 2023 cohort of the Million Girls Moonshot Flight Crew, a youth ambassadors program that is advancing equity for girls in STEM.
“What inspired me to be a part of this program is to be able to encourage other female and non-binary youth to become more comfortable in the field of STEM, where they are highly underrepresented,” she explained. “I want other kids like me to be able to experience this kind of escapism that STEM can provide. … I am very honored that I can be a part of something that is making STEM more inclusive for everyone. I am also so happy that I have the chance
to change many young people’s feelings about STEM and maybe help them find the thing that makes them feel most like themself.”
Through the program, Camire and fellow Flight Crew members have participated in regular online calls in which they discuss their experiences in STEM with one another, and they’ve had the opportunity to talk with women who have reached great heights in STEM fields. This summer, the cohort will come together at Georgia Tech to meet with and be inspired by even more STEM leaders.
This isn’t Camire’s first experience coming together with like-minded young people for the good of others. For three years, she has been a part of the Children’s General Assembly — through which 80 youths from around the globe weigh in on what they wish for the future, and then voice their shared perspective
Special Olympics Spring Games Return to Durham Academy Fields
Upper School students, faculty and staff hosted the Durham County Special Olympic Spring Games for the 38th year in April, with more than 260 athletes from 19 elementary schools participating. This was the first time DA was able to host the county’s Spring Games competition in three years due to health measures. There were competitive events like the softball toss and 25-meter dash, but also dancing, hula-hooping and face painting. Athletes were paired with DA Upper School students for a day of joy and community.
DA’s longtime commitment to Special Olympics was recognized in January when the Upper School was honored with the 2022 Organization of the Year Award by Special Olympics of North Carolina.
with world leaders. Camire traveled to Billund, Denmark, to participate in the Children’s General Assembly in 2022 (which focused on making schools more accessible for all and making curriculum more inclusive) and plans to participate in Denmark again this year.
“This program has changed my life forever and has opened my perspectives on so many different things,” Camire said. “Communicating and becoming friends with people from all over the world is so eye-opening, and it really highlights that everyone leads such a different life. Although everyone’s lives sounded so different, we all found that our passions were so similar and that we all agreed upon so many things. This program has left me with so many great connections and with a more open perspective on the world.”
Watch the 2022 Children’s General Assembly live broadcast, which Camire co-hosted: https://youtu.be/gMICYEqiTM4.
Omar Pasha ’23 is Striving to Find Common Ground
In a country that can seem more politically divided every day, Omar Pasha ’23 believes tolerance and understanding aren't just possible, but that such civility and open-mindedness are critical.
In his time at Durham Academy Upper School, Pasha sought to create opportunities for students to find common ground. He believes that Talk It Out — a club that he founded this year that creates a respectful environment for discussions of sometimes-contentious topics — will live on at DA well beyond his graduation.
“The point [of Talk It Out] is to go in, not necessarily trying to prove why what you believe is right, but explain what you believe, why you believe it, and then also go in with an open mindset to hearing what other people have to say, and what they believe and why they believe in it,” Pasha explained. “The goal is that we can look at each other as more than just parties or political ideas, but as people,
and be able to have civil conversations with each other.”
Judging from the turnout at Talk It Out meetings — averaging 30–40 students — he isn’t alone in his desire for open, respectful dialogue. Topics discussed this year ranged from gun control and abortion to tax structure and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Among the highlights of the club’s meetings was a visit from Sen. Mujtaba Mohammed, who represents Mecklenburg County’s District 38 in the North Carolina Senate. He spoke about the importance of considering what’s best for all people when deciding whether or not to support a particular policy, rather than toeing the party line.
For Pasha, who served as a page for Gov. Roy Cooper last summer and is interested in one day pursuing public service, Talk It Out interactions have been enlightening.
“The goal is not to change how people think, because everyone's raised differently,
Middle Schoolers Top the (Book) Shelf
The Middle School Battle of the Books team, coached by Middle School librarian Jennifer Longee, won the Regional Independent School Championship (which the Lower School hosted). Competitors included teams from DA, St. Raphael Catholic School, St. Thomas More Catholic School, Immaculata Catholic School, Ravenscroft School and Triangle Day School.
everyone has different values, whether those be religious or faith values, or whether those be personal, moral values. Everyone has specific beliefs,” he said. “What I've learned through this process is that there are fair justifications for beliefs that I don't agree with, or others don't agree with. And I think because of that, it's so important to figure out a way to work together, to find that middle ground.”
Rise Against Hunger Efforts Reach 350,000-Meal Mark
The Durham Academy community packaged over 30,000 meals during the Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Service meal-packaging event, marking a total of 350,000 meals since the event was first held in 2010. About 150 volunteers from 45 families assisted. Students carried 50-pound bags of rice, carefully funneled ingredients into sealable bags, and loaded the packaged meals into the Rise Against Hunger truck for shipment to people in need around the world.
JUST TRYAN IT
Durham Academy's JUST TRYAN IT triathletes were the embodiment of grit, compassion and good spirit at the Chapel Hill competition. The DA triathletes raised $11,216 — the second-highest total of all teams participating — for the nonprofit, which provides financial assistance to families with children in treatment for pediatric cancer. The triathletes had a blast in the process, even as the stormy weather resulted in the racers only being able to complete the run portion of the competition.
Caring for Heroes’ Hands and Hearts
Members of the Upper School’s Students for Troops Club created 245 care packages (including skincare products, handwritten letters and hard candy) for deployed troops in partnership with A Soldier's Hands this spring. Under the guidance of Upper School English teacher Jordan Adair, DA students have worked to support the efforts of A Soldier’s Hands — whose mission is to care for soldiers’ hands and hearts via personalized care packages — for the last eight years. A Soldier’s Hands founder Trish Shallenberger drove down to Durham from her home in State College, Pennsylvania, to help with the event.
Chess Program Rules the Board
Asha Kumar ’25 won first place at the 2023 NC K–12 Girls Chess Championship in March, earning the opportunity to represent North Carolina at the Haring National Tournament of Girls State Champions this summer. Kumar took first place in the girls’ section and won all of the games in her Simultaneous Exhibition.
The DA chess program remains strong at all levels; in February, the K–5 team was named state champion by the North Carolina Chess Association.
Speech and Debate Team Brings Home National Championship
For the fourth time in the 19-year history of Durham Academy speech and debate, Cavaliers have brought home a national championship trophy. Alex Huang ’24 and Michael Hansen ’24 were named national champions in public forum debate at the JW Patterson Tournament of Champions in April. Their performance, along with outstanding showings by their teammates, resulted in Durham Academy winning the William Woods Tate Team Excellence Award, awarded to the tournament’s overall champion. The Tournament of Champions is known as the most competitive tournament of the three national championships in which DA competes..
“And the best thing I’m taking home isn’t the trophy or the photos; it is the fact that I watched these kids do it the right way — with compassion and kindness in addition to being there for one another. I’m so grateful for each of them, the host of friends who coached them throughout the year and the opportunity to call Durham Academy my home,” said Crawford Leavoy, director of DA’s speech and debate program.
Upper School Robotics Team Builds on Successes
In April, DARC SIDE (Durham Academy Robotics Club: Students in Design and Engineering) competed at the North Carolina FRC (FIRST Robotics Competition) State Championship at East Carolina University and placed 10th out of 40 teams, advancing to the playoff semifinals. Next year’s team will be on the lookout for new leadership as the team’s three co-captains for the past two years — Ella Simmons ’23, Bryan Cornejo ’23 and Chris Morris ’23 — are all graduating seniors.
“I’ve gained confidence, technical skills and leadership practice, and, most importantly, I’ve found a community that has been the keystone of my high school experience … I’m applying as a mechanical engineer to colleges, and I aim to continue with mechanical engineering in the real world,” Simmons said in a Durham Magazine feature on local robotics teams.
FIRST Robotics Competition events are full of excitement, as can be observed in an in-depth overview video — featuring the 2021–2022 DARC SIDE team — created by YouTuber and materials scientist Brian Haidet.
For the last few years, Preschool art and cooking teacher Elizabeth McLeod has guided kindergartners through an art project to celebrate the accomplishments and tenacity of Paralympic athletes. The project ties into the kindergarten’s Global Citizens unit — which highlights cultural similarities and differences at home and around the world, providing a framework for exploring other countries. Culminating that unit is the Kindergarten Olympics, in which classes come together for a day of unity and physical challenges modeled after the Olympic Games.
That inspired McLeod to help kindergartners celebrate another group of high-level athletes from around the world: Paralympians. For this project, she prints out black-and-white photographs of athletes on which kindergartners do colorful “dynamic painting to emphasize what these athletes can do,” McLeod explained.
The project inspires meaningful conversations about physical differences. “I emphasize that while these athletes may have differences from us, they have adapted to participate in a way that is incredible, and they’re fantastic athletes,” McLeod said. Later in the spring, many kindergartners had the opportunity to witness the courage and drive of athletes with intellectual differences when the Upper School hosted the Durham County Special Olympics Spring Games.
“We talk about how brave and strong they are, and they could just give up, but these athletes have had to persevere. We don’t just give up when things are hard.”
1. Emma Suggs
2. Marion Bressler
3. Deniz Adali
4. Aria King
5. Barrett Nixon
6. Rachel Huang
7. Ishaan Upadhyaya
8. Sylvia Reed
9. Ameya Namireddy
10. Jonathan Dickens 11. Charlie Michelman
WHEN ‘OFF-SCRIPT’ IS ON POINT Durham Academy Class of 2023
Story by Melody Guyton Butts // Photography by Bob Karp and Kate Auger
Faith Hanson ’23 describes the Durham Academy Class of 2023’s high school experience as “off-script.” As it turns out, that’s not necessarily a bad thing.
Of course, their first two years of Upper School were unlike those of any previous class’ due to the COVID-19 pandemic, with all of the challenges that came with remote and hybrid learning. When school resumed in-person at full capacity, though, the class continued to cruise off-script, said Hanson — who served as co-president of the senior class along with Kennedy Turner ’23 — as she welcomed those in attendance at the 2023 commencement ceremony, held at UNC-Chapel Hill’s Memorial Hall on May 26.
“We deviated from the status quo, always welcoming the opportunity to be the first-ever class to do something,” Hanson recalled, whether earning off-campus privileges as juniors or founding (and winning) the Cavalier Cup, a year-long competition that awards points for student support and attendance at sporting events and performances.
“Off-script is scary,” she continued. “It means abandoning what we know, leaning into the discomfort of the unknown. But off-script is also inherently new, innovative, unexpected. It’s courageous, and filled with mistakes, but authentic. And definitely never boring.”
“Never boring” is an apt way to describe the 117 members of the Class of 2023, the largest senior
said. “Maybe all those things are sparks whose gears, whose teeth and grooves make up the person you have become as you improvised your way here. Maybe the point of this moment is to get a quick look at who that person is now, in this very vanishingly brief window before whatever journey you're about to set out on, however great or modest, begins anew.”
In his address, student speaker Collin Thornburg ’23 reflected on how valuable it has been to learn, strive and “grow up in teams and families that extend and enrich our world view” — classmates,
bandmates and teammates hailing from around the world, representing a range of religious and cultural backgrounds, holding diverse views on politics and world events.
“We may not have seen eye-to-eye, but even in the great diversity there was one attitude that united us all: the idea ‘if not me, then who,’ ” said Thornburg, who will attend the University of Notre Dame on an Army ROTC scholarship.
The Class of 2023 took the idea of “if not me, then who,” and made great strides for the good of the school and planet, Thornburg said.
“We filled our four years with a fight against the apathy and complacency that embroil our world. We worked hard and filled our four years with passion. Because if not us, who else was going to do it?
“I would finish this off by standing up here and saying that we are all special. But we’re not special.
We just owe a lot to a lot of people,” he continued. “But now we have this opportunity in front of us. An opportunity that many can only dream and a responsibility to make the world a better place. There is no better group I could imagine doing it with. Class of 2023, if not us, then who?”
Watch a video recording of the Class of 2023 commencement ceremony and read full transcripts of remarks by each of the speakers — including John Darnielle, Faith Hanson ’23, Maika Quiambao ’23, Collin Thornburg ’23, Kennedy Turner ’23 and Upper School Director Lanis Wilson — at www.da.org/commencement.
SENIORS REFLECT ON TIME AT DA
As their time at Durham Academy drew to a close, we asked members of the Class of 2023 to reflect on their time here. Whether they began their journey in pre-kindergarten or joined the DA community as Upper Schoolers, a common theme of many of their responses was the importance of community — the power of teachers and classmates through the years truly knowing them and championing them through life’s peaks and valleys.
"Moving to DA from Connecticut as a senior, I definitely had a different experience than a lot of my peers. However, from my first summer morning cross-country practice, to the supportive and kind friends I have had the opportunity to meet through activities and classes, I am so thankful for how welcoming the DA community has been to me. Originally being nervous to move into a new environment at such a nontraditional time, I am so grateful for the people I have met at DA for being so accepting and kind. The connections I have made, both with teachers, classmates and teammates, have inspired me to grow both as a learner and individual."
-Jane Smith
"My time at DA has been the greatest time I could have ever asked for. DA has prepared me to face the toughest obstacles in life not only because of the skills it has given me but also because of the amazing friends and mentors I have met along the way. While every school pushes students to grow in some way, to me DA is all about the community and environment I have been lucky to be a part of."
-Charith Fernando
"Mr. [Owen] Bryant [Upper School history teacher] was a life-changing teacher whose name I will never forget. I had the incredible privilege of being in his advisory, and he has just been someone I can go to for a laugh or if I'm having a bad day. He has truly been an inspiration to me, and it breaks my heart to have to say goodbye to someone who has been such an important role model in my life."
-Jordin Brown
"Mr. [Jordan] Adair has completely changed my worldview on literature, art, cinema and life in general. I had him for English 10, AP Art History and his Hero to Anti-Hero senior elective. He's extremely open-minded, kind, funny and understanding. Every course with him was a philosophy class; he forced me to examine my identity, my worldview, how and why I experience life the way I do. His assignments are rigorous and he expects nothing less than the best, but his passion for teaching and the betterment of every student that walks through his classroom is so tangible that he was able to achieve something that so few teachers can: He makes you want to be better."
-Maika Quiambao
MARY MOORE MCLEAN
KEVIN
MARY MOORE MCLEAN
"This year marked my fourth year on DARC SIDE [Upper School robotics team], and to say it’s been the most important part of my high school experience might be underselling it. Although building robots is amazingly fun, and has taught me an incredible amount about engineering and computer science, what is so meaningful about the program is that it is 'more than just robots.' I've found people I connect with, I can talk with, and that understand me, and robotics is a space in which I am empowered, supported and surrounded by an equally passionate team of peers. DARC SIDE has given me so much throughout these last four years: I’ve grown as a person, as a engineer, as a leader and as a teammate; I’ve gained confidence, technical skills and leadership practice; and most importantly, I’ve found a community that has been the keystone of my high school experience."
-Ella Simmons
"A life-changing teacher, coach and advisor to me was Mrs. [Virginia] Hall [Middle School social studies teacher]. Mrs. Hall has to be one of the most genuine and kindest people I have ever met. She took the time multiple times while our fifth grade advisory was in the Upper School to reunite with each of us for an advisory lunch. However, the most impactful thing that she has done for me was sending me a handwritten letter wishing me well when I was struggling with myself over COVID. I will never forget this extremely kind gesture and will always treasure my time as her advisee, student and athlete."
-Noah Triplett
"Being a member of the Augustine Teaching Literacy Skills [in which senior tutors are paired with an elementary school student at Hope Valley Elementary School] was really unique because it taught us about literacy problems across the country and then gave us the opportunity to work one-on-one with a local elementary schooler. At the end of the year, my student had so much more confidence in herself and her reading abilities, and it was incredible to see the impact I'd been able to have on her life."
-MacKenna Morris
"I wasn't confident about coming to DA before freshman year, but during my time here, the people at this school have shown me how kind and extraordinary each of us can be. I'm so proud of this community and its members for striving to be authentic, accepting and a true catalyst for growth."
-Charlie Lyerly
Scan to learn more about each member of the Durham Academy Class of 2023 or visit www.da.org/graduation.
MARY MOORE MCLEAN
EVAN
PIKE
MARY
MOORE MCLEAN
MARY MOORE MCLEAN
Story by Leslie King
Finding the Right Fit
Within the walls of Durham Academy’s college counseling suite are 50 years of collective experience in the college admissions landscape. As the 117 members of the Class of 2023 prepare to head off to 74 colleges and universities as unique as the students themselves, we sat down with DA’s college counseling team and reached out to recent graduates to talk about DA’s individualized approach that is focused on finding each student’s ideal fit. Here are their top five takeaways about how DA helps students navigate the college admissions process and find their college and career path — and equips them with long-lasting life skills.
1. It’s about trusting the process.
Jazmin Garcia Smith, senior dean of college counseling: It starts with a focus on building relationships with students and families. We want to get to know our students as individuals, what they love to learn about, what kinds of things they love to do and most importantly, why.
Katie McEnroe, dean of college counseling: There are family parameters, sometimes it's financial, sometimes it's location; there are personal goals, academically or socially what your next four years would look like; maybe a major or the academic snapshot of where they are right now; and learning a little bit about the educational marketplace. That's how we find that the middle of the Venn diagram, the fit.
Christopher Briggs, dean of college counseling: Some fits are better than others. And we’re helping students understand what they necessarily need to have and what they won't do without. And so as they're evaluating schools … we want them to find an ideal fit. But that's a moving target at times.
McEnroe: If they trust that we have their best interests in mind and they're confident that we see their wonderfulness, then the opportunities expand in such an amazing way. We get to have deep, important conversations about their life and what they want from it and how they're going to get there.
Nechama Huba ’19 (Wellesley College ’23, Columbia University ’25): While I was one of only a handful of students in my year that ended up at a women's college, I felt continuously cheered on.
Carlton zum Brunnen ’20 (Georgetown University’s Walsh School of Foreign Service ’24): While I considered a wide variety of options at the college counselors’ encouragement, the college counseling office ultimately ended up giving me indispensable support to accomplish a goal I already had firmly in mind.
75 STUDENTS will continue studies OUTSIDE OF NORTH CAROLINA.
2 will attend international universities.
2. It’s about looking beyond brand names.
Briggs: There are definitely a group of schools that parents think of from their own experience as “good” colleges. But we know there are more than just that group, and we introduce them to a lot of schools to help them understand the range of opportunities available to them, including colleges that they may not have heard of before.
Garcia Smith: Those are some of the most exciting moments I think I have with students and families, when they can really seriously consider something they hadn't thought of before and find that [it] is a really great place for them.
Briggs: Students are well-positioned to have a group of choices — choices that they're excited about, choices that they feel could all present them the types of growth opportunities they're excited about, choices that are aligned with their values, and places that they want to celebrate.
Cal Baker ’22 (Elon University ’26): I just wrapped up my first year [at Elon] and it couldn’t be a better fit. ... I greatly appreciated the opportunities and advice that they provided, especially regarding feedback on applications and organized events to meet with a representative from a huge variety of colleges.
McEnroe: When they engage and remain open to all the ideas, the relationship is so much fun!
3. It’s about discovering your passion.
Briggs: The thing that I love about college that is really different from high school is that the people who are cool in college are people who love themselves. They confidently pursue their passion with a joy and spirit that just can't be shattered. 117 SENIORS will attend
Huba: One of the main aspects I learned through the college process was the importance of forging your own academic path — regardless of what your other peers are doing — both in terms of the college you choose but also in what you choose to study.
Zum Brunnen: I could not be living this dream without the support of Durham Academy’s community — I’ve had the chance to meet leading politicians, journalists and diplomats, and I love living just a few miles away from the most powerful physical representations of American democracy.
Garcia Smith: Seeing students come back after they've graduated, having them share their successes, their failures, and all the growth that happens is really meaningful and special.
3 SENIORS will attend WOMEN'S COLLEGES.
4. It’s about personal transformation and growth.
Lori Reade, DA student development and career exploration counselor: This is the first time that they're really being vulnerable and sharing, when [typically] it's all about fitting in, wanting to be the same as your peers. It's really the first time that they're stopping to say, ‘what makes me me?’
Briggs: We see it when they finish their Common Application essays and are ready to send those off, that they've done something risky. They've shown a piece of themselves that sometimes they haven't shared with anyone else before.
McEnroe: We’re asked probably 10 to 20 times a year, ‘what are colleges looking for these days?’ And the answer, although simple, doesn't feel simple, because it’s not a prescription. Colleges are looking for the best version of you. A strong citizen of their community, at DA or beyond. And the best version of you challenges yourself, pursues what you want in meaningful ways and works hard.
2 SENIORS will attend HBCUs.
Zum Brunnen: I learned that persistence pays in catching a big dream. ... A diligent effort to determine what kind of college experience I wanted and curate it for myself paid off handsomely. Additionally, I learned never to doubt that I was loved and supported at Durham Academy.
5. It’s about preparation for life.
McEnroe: Our hope is that they'll learn about decision-making not just in the college process, but in every step of their life. If you’re moving to a different city for a job — I want you to investigate that city and that job, I want you to talk to your board of advisors (your dear family and friends who care for you) and ask those important questions so you can figure it out.
Briggs: This is the first time they get to make this major life decision. It's also the last time they have a board of advisors to help them through it — the last time someone's telling them, ‘it's time to decide.’ Resiliency is really important because one of the things we talk about is tolerance for uncertainty. When they send those applications off, they are putting themselves and their next steps in someone else's hands. The tolerance of uncertainty is both ‘how is this process going to end for me this year?’ and also, ‘who do I imagine I will be long term, not just at the end of high school?’
McEnroe: There's a transformation of their self-confidence that they can do hard things, that they can deal with the unknown, and they can handle it because they know how to access resources, they know how to ask themselves good questions, they know how to take steps to make choices for themselves in the future. And if a student can do that, we are truly, truly successful.
New College Counseling Team Member Seeks to Build Connections, Help Students Envision Life Beyond College
Story by Kathy McPherson
Moral. Happy. Productive. Those three words are front and center on the homepage of Durham Academy’s website. Scroll down a bit and you’ll see this: “The purpose of a Durham Academy education is to prepare each student to live a moral, happy and productive life.”
This mission statement is part of Durham Academy’s DNA — starting with a student’s first days of Preschool and continuing through senior commencement — and a new position at the Upper School is helping older students focus on how they can claim that as their own.
“We talk about being moral, happy and productive. Well, what leads to happiness? Hypothetically, we hope that you're doing something that you love,” said Lori Reade, who is the new student development and career exploration counselor at the Upper School. “It's not just for money, it's not just for status, but it's something that's purposeful and meaningful in your world. Hopefully, you're also giving back and contributing.”
Reade’s new position — she has worked at DA for 19 years in a variety of roles — was an outgrowth of Goal One of DA’s Strategic Vision: “Prepare our students for life.” The position was funded for 2022–2023 on a part-time basis through the Strategic Vision’s Innovation Journey Fund, which supports discovery, design and implementation of innovative ways of teaching, learning and operating as a school. The value of Reade’s work quickly became clear, and the role will be full-time going forward.
Jazmin Garcia Smith, DA’s senior dean of college counseling, saw the need for adding a student development and career exploration counselor to the college counseling team. The new position is intended to introduce students
to a range of real-life opportunities including professional work experiences, internships and potential career paths, and build a network of parents, alumni and community members who support students with opportunities for résumé building and career exploration.
DA’s three college counselors — Garcia Smith, Christopher Briggs and Katie McEnroe — typically begin meeting one-on-one with students in the 11th-grade year.
“In that first conference, my colleagues and I saw that our students were coming in not really sure of what their academic interests were, still unsure of what career paths might be available to them,” Garcia Smith said. “And we felt very strongly that there was a real need for some of that development to happen in both the ninth and 10th grade.”
Reade partners with DA’s three college counselors, working with ninth- and 10th-graders “to help them develop and have conversations about who you are, getting them ready and giving them career exposure. They can start thinking about the college counseling process a little bit earlier on, and also get some experience so that when they move into the college counseling process they are better informed.”
Reade is a resource for all Upper School students, but her focus right now is on students in grades nine and 10. In fall 2022, she held a 30-minute, one-on-one meeting with all 114 members of the sophomore class.
“The initial push to meet with all of the sophomores has been great, because it establishes a relationship with them,” Reade said. “It helps them kind of dispel a lot of anxieties that they might have about moving into college counseling and not feeling known. Coming off COVID, it's been just kind of a really unusual transition into high school.”
19 SENIORS TO COMPETE IN COLLEGE ATHLETICS
Story by Bria Irizarry, Assistant Director of Athletics for Student-Athlete Success
From soccer pitches and lacrosse fields, to cross-country courses and swimming pools, to classrooms and labs, members of Durham Academy’s Class of 2023 have balanced a dedication to their sports, academic pursuits and other interests during their time at DA. And 19 of those student-athletes will continue to find that balance by competing in college athletics at the Division I or Division III level — Durham Academy’s largest-ever class of future college student-athletes.
“There are a lot of people here today who have helped you navigate the paths you have taken to get to this point,”
Director of Athletics Pogach said at the spring signing ceremony, the second of two held during the 2022–2023 school
Baseball
Jack Goldstein ’23 RHODES COLLEGE (D-III)
year. “And while we hope each of you will individually thank those who had a special impact on your success, right now I would like us to take a second to thank as a group those parents, siblings, teammates, coaches, teachers and friends who have all played a role in getting you to where you are today.”
Pogach also thanked the DA athletics staff and coaches and all DA student-athletes for their investment of time, energy and talent to the program.
“This group of student-athletes represents the best of our program,” he said. “Tireless workers who have made a commitment to their sport, their teammates and our program, and now we are ready to launch them to the next level of their careers!"
A four-year member of DA’s varsity baseball team, Goldstein will play at Rhodes College in Memphis, Tennessee. In spring 2022, Goldstein hit 16 RBIs, four doubles, one triple and one home run to earn a spot on the All-Conference team. In the 2023 season, he notched five home runs, 28 RBIs and 10 doubles and held the highest fielding percentage on the team. Goldstein also struck out 59 batters over 41 innings and holds an ERA of 4.27.
Sam Schaeffer ’23 HAVERFORD COLLEGE (D-III)
Schaeffer signed with Haverford College in Pennsylvania after spending five years on the varsity squad at DA. In his junior season, Schaeffer led the team in home runs, RBIs and stolen bases and had the highest batting average with a .509. In 2023, he had 33 hits, 31 runs and 26 RBIs. Schaeffer earned All-Conference honors in 2019, 2022 and 2023.
Ben Tarpey ’23 COLLEGE OF WOOSTER (D-III)
Tarpey, who lettered in varsity baseball four years, had an ERA of 3.00 and struck out 48 batters across 42 innings pitched in 2022. In 2023, Tarpey had a 1.06 ERA and struck out 57 batters across 46.1 innings. He will play at the College of Wooster in Ohio.
Basketball
Jake Chisholm ’23 ROANOKE COLLEGE (D-III)
Chisholm — who was named All-Conference in 2021–2022 and 2022–2023 and Conference Player of the Year in 2023 — will continue his basketball career at Roanoke College. Chisholm led the DA varsity boys team in points during the two years that he was a part of the program, scoring 381 points his junior year and 353 points his senior year. He was named to the All-Conference team both seasons, was 2022–2023 TISAC (Triangle Independent Schools Athletic Conference) Player of the Year and was named All-State his senior year. Chisholm scored a total of 1,286 points in his overall high school career.
Joelle Davis ’23
UNC-GREENSBORO (D-I)
Davis joined DA’s varsity basketball team as an eighth-grader, a season in which she helped her team reach the state quarterfinals and was selected honorable mention to the All-Conference team. As a ninth-grader, she scored a team-high 294 points and was named to the All-Conference roster. Despite a season-ending injury in her sophomore year, Davis prevailed in her junior year, finishing with the team’s second-most points and assists and the highest 3-point field goal percentage to again earn a spot on the All-Conference team.
Kendall Harris ’23
HAMILTON COLLEGE (D-III)
Harris, a four-year member of the DA varsity hoops team, will play basketball at Hamilton College in Clinton, New York, after a standout senior season in which she earned All-Conference, All-State and Conference Player of the Year honors. Harris led this year’s team in points, steals and blocks. She averaged 21 points per game in 2022–2023, scored 545 points and recorded 67 steals and 59 blocks. Harris tallied a career-high 32 points vs. Cary Academy this season and scored 1,114 points in her time as a Cavalier.
Cross-Country/Track and Field
Wyatt Benjamin ’23
WASHINGTON AND LEE UNIVERSITY (D-III)
Benjamin will don the blue and white as a member of the track and field team at Washington and Lee in Lexington, Virginia. In fall 2022, Benjamin finished fourth in the conference cross-country meet and earned All-Conference honors. In spring 2023, he ran the second leg of the 4x1,600-meter relay that set a new school record, and his final times in the 1,600-meter and 3,200-meter races rank 13th and seventh, respectively, in the state.
Aaron Caveney ’23 BROWN UNIVERSITY (D-I)
Aaron Caveney will run track and field at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island. Caveney will run middle distance for the team, with a focus on the 400-meter and 800-meter races. In spring 2022, he won TISAC championships in the 400-meter and 800-meter and also finished second in the state in the 800-meter. In 2023, Caveney was a member of the 4x1,600-meter relay team that broke a DA school record. He holds the third-fastest times in DA history for the 400- and 800-meter races.
Sanju Patel ’23 UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO (D-III)
Sanju Patel will continue his running career at the University of Chicago this fall. He will run both cross-country and track, as he did at DA. Patel earned cross-country All-State honors in fall 2022 and had a record-breaking 2023 track and field season; he beat the 3,200-meter school record by six seconds, and he helped the 4x1,600-meter relay team earn a place on the DA record board.
Fencing
Matthew Chaves ’23 BRANDEIS UNIVERSITY (D-III)
Chaves is joining the fencing team at Brandeis University in Massachusetts. He has been fencing since he was 7 years old, having first learned the sport through the Durham Academy Summer program. He fences with Force Fencing and qualified to compete in the Junior Olympic Championships in February 2023. He also significantly contributed to the boys basketball program while at DA and was named All-Conference in the 2022–2023 season.
Golf
Jack Condray ’23
WILLIAM PEACE UNIVERSITY (D-III)
In his two years as a Cavalier, Condray had a tremendous impact on the DA golf program, helping guide the boys team to conference titles in 2022 and 2023 and to a state runner-up finish in 2023. Condray will continue his golf career at William Peace University next year.
Ona Lukes ’23
APPALACHIAN STATE (D-I)
Lukes, a six-year member of the DA varsity girls golf team, will continue her golf career at Appalachian State University. Lukes helped lead the DA team to conference titles in 2019 and 2021 and a second-place finish in the state tournament in 2019, 2020 and 2021 — culminating with conference and state championships in fall 2022. She earned All-Conference honors for four years and All-State honors for three years.
Lacrosse
John Bolognesi ’23
FRANKLIN & MARSHALL COLLEGE (D-III)
Bolognesi, who contributed to the DA varsity boys lacrosse program for four years, has committed to play for Franklin & Marshall College in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. A four-year varsity member and a 2023 team captain, he was named All-Conference in 2021, 2022 and 2023. Bolognesi led the 2023 team in caused turnovers.
Brodie Mason ’23 UNIVERSITY OF LYNCHBURG (D-III)
Mason, a five-year member of the DA varsity boys lacrosse team, will play lacrosse next year for the University of Lynchburg in Virginia. Mason served as a team captain and earned All-Conference honors in 2021, 2022 and 2023. He led his DA team and the TISAC with 48 goals his senior year and was named TISAC Player of the Year.
Soccer
Max Brown ’23 GETTYSBURG COLLEGE (D-III)
Brown, a four-year member of DA’s varsity boys soccer team, will continue his career on the pitch at Gettysburg College. As a junior, he earned All-Conference honors, and as a senior, he was named AllConference and All-State and was recognized as TISAC Player of the Year.
Phoebe Goldthwaite ’23 DUKE UNIVERSITY (D-I)
Goldthwaite will continue her soccer career at Duke University, where she will ultimately compete with her two sisters, both of whom also play soccer in the Atlantic Coast Conference: Peyton ’20 at the University of Virginia, and Baylor ’22 at Wake Forest University. Goldthwaite has played with the N.C. Courage Girls Development Academy as a midfielder. She is a three-time Mid-Atlantic First Team selection and was rated as the No. 35 player in the 2023 class by TopDrawerSoccer
Robert
Hillhouse ’23 COLLEGE OF WOOSTER (D-III)
Hillhouse, a three-year member of the DA varsity boys soccer team, will continue his athletic career at the College of Wooster in Wooster, Ohio, in the fall. He contributed five goals and four assists in 22 career games with the Cavaliers.
Kaia Vorenkamp ’23 OHIO WESLEYAN UNIVERSITY (D-III)
After a four-year varsity career at DA, Vorenkamp signed with Ohio Wesleyan University to play soccer in the fall. She helped lead the DA girls soccer program to three third-place conference finishes and two Cavalier appearances in the state quarterfinals. She was awarded All-Conference honors in 2021 and 2023 and served as a team captain in 2023.
swimming
Eva Boehlke ’23 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA SAN DIEGO (D-I) SWIMMING
In Boehlke’s two years of swimming for the Cavaliers, she has set individual school records in the 100-yard backstroke, 100-yard butterfly, 100-yard freestyle and 200-yard individual medley, and she contributed to school records in the 200-yard medley relay and the 200- and 400-yard freestyle relays. As a senior, she was named TISAC Swimmer of the Year, and her 100-yard butterfly time earned her All-American honors. She earned consecutive state titles in the 100-yard butterfly and was 100-yard backstroke state champion her senior year.
A Banner Year for DA
Cavaliers found much success in 2022-2023, as evidenced by the numbers below. This is the fourth consecutive year that DA student-athletes have set a new school record for points earned in the Wells Fargo Cup, which is an all-sports statewide competition — placing fourth, with only the large Charlotte-area schools scoring more points.
STUDENT-ATHLETES PARTICIPATED ACROSS ALL LEVELS OF COMPETITION 635
21 VARSITY TEAMS 20
12 TOP-FOUR NCISAA FINISHES
ALL-CONFERENCE STUDENT-ATHLETES 92
JV AND MIDDLE SCHOOL TEAMS DA'S HIGHEST-EVER TOTAL WELLS FARGO CUP POINTS 537.5 ALL-SPORTS STATEWIDE COMPETITION
SENIORS COMMITTED TO COMPETE AT THE COLLEGIATE LEVEL 19
TISAC PLAYERS OF THE YEAR 11
MULTI-SPORT VARSITY ATHLETES 95
5 INDIVIDUAL STATE CHAMPIONSHIPS
AUDREY CROWDER '26 (CROSS-COUNTRY) + JENNA KIM '27 (GOLF) + EVA BOEHLKE '23 (SWIMMING) + AMA MENSAH-BOONE '24 (TRACK AND FIELD) + ALI LAROS '25 (TRACK AND FIELD)
TISAC PRESTIGE CUP SWEEP
5TH STRAIGHT FOR BOYS | 2ND STRAIGHT FOR GIRLS (RECOGNIZING SUCCESS ACROSS ALL SPORTS)
1 NCISAA STATE CHAMPIONSHIP (GIRLS GOLF) ALL-STATE STUDENT-ATHLETES 23
Staff Spotlight: Assistant Director of Athletics
Meghan Fulton
Story by Kathy McPherson
A core memory of Meghan Fulton’s childhood is the 1994 Women's World Cup, watching Kristine Lilly and Mia Hamm lead the U.S. women’s soccer team to victory. “Those amazing women were on the world showcase and winning,” she said. “Sports have always been a part of who I am.”
Fulton grew up playing soccer and said she got very into basketball in middle school. “I was cut from my junior varsity basketball team, and I was devastated, devastated. And then I put my energy into lacrosse. I played lacrosse through high school, and I played club lacrosse in college.”
That love of sports, paired with an interest in health and medicine, led Fulton to a career as an athletic trainer, working at the University of Richmond, UNC-Chapel Hill and, since 2017, at Durham Academy.
Fulton didn’t know what she wanted to study in college. Athletic training was not even in the picture. “I always just loved being around sports and I played sports all my life. I took one of those tests, where it's like what should you do when you grow up and it said athletic training,” Fulton recalled.
“I didn't even know that athletic training was an area or profession that you could go into,” she said. “I guess I should look at schools that have that.” She chose to attend Northeastern University in Boston, graduating magna cum laude with a B.S. in athletic training in 2006.
Fulton explained that Northeastern offers a five-year program, with students doing a co-op their third year that involves experiential learning. That gave Fulton the opportunity for hands-on engagement with athletic training and in physical therapy.
“I was trying to figure out if I wanted to go into PT or continue the road of athletic training,” she said. “I did a co-op and worked in a physical therapy clinic. I realized I didn't enjoy the clinic aspects. I much preferred being immersed into athletics. That was pivotal, a really important moment for me. I turned my energy toward figuring out how I could go further with athletic training.”
She was accepted to graduate school at UNC-Chapel Hill and earned a master’s degree in exercise and sport science in 2008. The move to Chapel Hill was hard for Fulton, leaving her entire extended family and all her friends in New England. But she soon grew to love the small town feel of Chapel Hill. It reminded her of Cape Cod, Massachusetts, where she grew up, “but with this amazing university in the middle that I would have an opportunity to be part of.”
Fulton worked as an athletic trainer with the UNC women’s basketball team and women’s lacrosse team while she was in graduate school. Coming from New England, where she said professional sports dominate, she had not realized “just how big college sports were, particularly women's college sports. To be working so closely with two amazing programs really opened my eyes to how amazing women's college sports is. I fell in love with that environment and being an athletic trainer and working alongside these amazing student-athletes.”
Next up for Fulton was two years as an athletic trainer at the University of Richmond, where she worked with women’s field hockey and women’s lacrosse teams.
“I still say to this day, that if it hadn't been for this guy, that I probably would still be at the University of Richmond because I loved it there,” she said.
The guy was Grant Fulton, then a coach with UNC’s field hockey team. Fulton moved back to Chapel Hill, got a job as athletic trainer for UNC’s club sport athletes, and they were married in 2011. The Fultons now have two children: Oliver, a rising fourth-grader at DA, and Everly, a rising DA second-grader.
Fulton never pictured herself working in high school athletics. “I thought I was always going to be in college athletics. And I came over to DA and I just fell in love with it. … I was really excited to come in and build on the
KATHY MCPHERSON
foundation that Jerry [Davis, former athletic trainer] had established, and bring the level of sports medicine care that I was used to delivering in a collegiate environment to the high school.”
She became DA’s head athletic trainer when Davis left DA a few months after she joined the program. Fulton and assistant trainer Jay Dillon work with approximately 450 student-athletes in grades 7 through 12 who play on 45 teams representing 20 sports.
“Sports medicine is heavy into orthopedics and injury management. But there's a big part of our education and what we do which is whole child, whole person kind of care, holistic care,” Fulton explained. “The athletic trainer is such an important piece of the whole health care team. Bringing together lots of different things and being able to figure out, yes, this kid has an ankle sprain, but they're fatigued and tired because they're stressed at school. And this is going on, and this is going on. I think athletic training really kind of lends itself to looking at whole kids rather than just being the person that assesses an injury.”
In addition to her work as head athletic trainer, Fulton serves as assistant director of athletics, chair of the School Wellness Committee and an Upper School advisor.
As an Upper School advisor, working with a group of 10–12 students from their ninth-grade year through graduation, Fulton said “what's important is being an advocate for the kid and an adult in their corner, but also holding them accountable. I think that an important part of being an advisor is helping the kids learn accountability, then being there to help them if that's hard for them.”
She thinks sports are a way for kids to learn, grow and develop life skills.
“I believe with every ounce of my being in the power of sports, how good they can be and the development that they offer, particularly to girls,” she explained. That’s one of the reasons Meghan and Grant Fulton — who now also serves as director of junior high performance with USA Field Hockey — operate a field hockey training program for girls age 6 through high school, from beginner level to elite players.
Fulton said confidence, self-belief, communication skills and conflict resolution learned through sports are especially important for girls.
“I think self-belief and resilience serve them [girls] really well. To believe that things might not go their way but just keep their head down and keep working. Grit and the ability to just keep going.
“Mistakes happen all the time in sports,” she continued. “Things do not go to plan. You can set up a game plan every day, all day, and know exactly what you're supposed to do. Then something happens and you have to make another plan, so flexibility, adaptability, the ability to make decisions quickly. I think the most important thing, especially for young girls, is the self-belief, self-confidence and resilience that sports gives you.”
Fulton values the mentors and people she learned from at Northeastern, Carolina and Richmond, remembering especially the mentor who set her on the right path when he told her that if she wanted to be an athletic trainer, she needed to be better.
“The people that I've been around, that have helped me get where I want to go, have been just so important in my development and what I do. When I think about the [Upper School] kids, I hope someday that if I could maybe be just a small fraction of what those people were to me, then I feel like that's a good thing.”
"I thought I was always going to be in college athletics. And I came over to DA and I just fell in love with it. … I was really excited to come in and build on the foundation that Jerry had established, and bring the level of sports medicine care that I was used to delivering in a collegiate environment to the high school."
-MEGHAN FULTON
Faculty Spotlight: Middle School Band Teacher Andrew Lovett
Story by Kathy McPherson
Andrew Lovett remembers his grandparents forcing him to take piano lessons as a 6-year-old. “I didn't do anything else, any other extracurricular activities,” he said. “I think it was an attempt to get me to try something because I was not into sports. A lot of my family, they're really sports people.”
Lovett explained that his father went to Savannah State University on a basketball scholarship, and his paternal grandfather ran track and played trombone at Benedict College.
Piano lessons set him on a path to teaching music, but participating in his high school marching band sealed the deal for Lovett, who has taught instrumental music at the Durham Academy Middle School since 2019.
Lovett kept up with the piano lessons — his grandparents gave him a choice after the first year, and he opted to continue through elementary school — but when he got to middle school, he switched to saxophone.
“I was eager to try saxophone because on my mom's side of the family I have an uncle who is a saxophone player,”
Lovett said. He explained that Pete Belasco, an instrumental musician and vocalist, “is married to my mom's sister. Since they lived in New York and I was in South Carolina, I didn't see them all the time. I might see them maybe once a year, but seeing my Uncle Pete and hearing him play was so much fun when I was a kid. It made me want to do saxophone in middle school.”
Years of piano lessons meant that sixth-grader Lovett already knew how to read music. “I felt like I was ahead of everybody, and band was the class that I excelled in the most. I took advantage of every opportunity,” including playing saxophone with an after-school festival band that performed at Carowinds amusement park and also performing solos and with ensembles in middle school.
By the time he got to high school, Lovett had moved to Charlotte, and he said he was “lucky to go to a really big high school that had lots of [music] offerings. I went to South Mecklenburg and I did as much band as I could there. I did every music class that was available to me. I even did orchestra for two years. I sang in men's ensemble and I did marching band, earning leadership positions in marching band. I think that was what really made me want to be a music teacher. I would kind of envision myself conducting really fun and difficult band literature or coming up with competitive marching band shows, and things like that, so it became my path pretty early.”
High school was also when Lovett met drumline instructor Chris Hathcock, “a great mentor who is still a mentor to me now.”
When it was time for college, Lovett auditioned for music schools and was awarded a music scholarship to his top choice, UNC-Greensboro. “It's a really rigorous program. It's the best music school in North Carolina, in my opinion, as far as music education and performance goes.”
Prior to coming to DA in 2019, Lovett taught band at a school in Charlotte and at nearby Duke School. He also began playing with local salsa bands; assisting his mentor, Hathcock, with the Jordan High School band program; and working with the woodwind section of UNC-Chapel Hill’s Marching Tar Heels.
At the same time, Lovett was working on his master’s degree at UNC-Greensboro, and he completed it just before coming to Durham Academy in 2019.
It was a particularly exciting time to join the school as an arts educator, with plans in the works for the Arts & World Languages Center (AWL). Lovett was able to offer input on the design of the band room, which includes plenty of space for rehearsing as a large group, as well as for individual practice. The AWL opened in spring 2021.
Students participate in band as part of their Explorations rotation in fifth and sixth grades, so Lovett has the opportunity to teach every fifth- and sixth-grader as well as seventh- and eighth-graders who choose to continue with band as an Elective course.
When fifth- and sixth-graders enter Lovett’s classroom for their band Explorations course, “they're trying something new,” he said. “We're not really doing conservatory
KATHY MCPHERSON
"... you should do something for a living that's fun or fulfilling in some sort of way.”
- ANDREW LOVETT
style here. What I love about it, really, is just that it's fun.
“When I was growing up, the messages that were told to me by my family, by my adults, were things like work hard, and you can do whatever you want and be whatever you want to be, which is kind of true. It's not a bad message. They also taught me that you should do something for a living that's fun or fulfilling in some sort of way. And I think that's actually really good advice because it has to be sustainable.”
Lovett, who also serves as a sixth-grade advisor, said he feels “really lucky that I get to do something fun with kids. You don't have to be especially creative to make music fun. Music is just fun because it's music. Kids come in here with an expectation of fun, they come in here wanting to actually do the thing. … If you're a math teacher, you might be the only one passionate [about math] and you might have to get everyone to come along with you. That's not the case with me. Kids just want to make music.”
He also wants them to know about all kinds of music.
“I'm trying to develop an American music curriculum. I mean American music in the sense of people like that,” Lovett said and pointed to large framed posters in the band room of artists who recorded on the Fania label, as well as funk and soul greats and jazz greats.
Lovett said he only learned about the Fania label last year. “I know a lot of the artists that are on that [poster], like Celia Cruz and Tito Fuente. We've done some of that music here. I've actually played with some of those people, like Roberto Roena. …
“All of that music — soul, hip-hop, rock, salsa — it's all American music even though I don't think people think of it that way. When we think of American music, in my experience, a lot of people think of folk stuff. But this is especially modern and I want to kind of rearticulate the way we talk about it, think about it and appreciate it. … I think it could be a good way to really encourage diversity, too, in what we're learning about.”
Music has been a part of Lovett’s life for so long that “it feels kind of like a daily activity — something that's as normal as exercising, going on a jog. Some people take it really seriously and do it all the time, but it's something that's healthy for everyone to do, even if it's just a little. And it's just really fun to me. It doesn't feel like work when I'm doing it. When we're having a good rehearsal in wind ensemble, time goes by so quickly. And when the students achieve, you're able to push them and do more.”
Lovett’s seventh- and eighth-grade students are grouped into wind ensemble and percussion ensemble rather than by grade level. “The wind ensemble is 25 [students], while the percussion is seven rowdy boys. It's awesome. It's been really good to differentiate them. It's easier to teach that way and it's more fun for the students.”
Lovett is primarily a saxophone player — weekends often find him performing with the Orquesta K’che salsa band — but he can also play clarinet, flute and piano. “I can play a little bit of electric bass because I did upright [bass] in orchestra. I can do rudimental snare drumming, like for percussion, because I did drumline. I knew my stick tricks and things like that. But as far as all the other instruments, I only know them well enough to start beginners. … I tell brass players, if you're really into it, you're probably going to be out-playing me by the time you get to ninth grade, and that's a good goal.”
He wants students to continue making music long after they have left his class, “because in my experience, music making happens in lots of different contexts with lots of different people.
“I think that's kind of why I've been able to do it for so long. It never gets boring. There's always new music, and there's always new groups, and there's always new people that want to make music. I hope that this is only a starting point, just one blip in the journey, that they keep going and they come back and tell me about it.”
KATHY MCPHERSON
MICHAEL BRANSCOM
GATEWAY TO POSSIBILITIES
Opening of Academic Center Represents A Milestone in the Middle School Campus Reimagination
Story by Jon Meredith, Middle School Director // Images by Bob Karp, Kate Auger and Melody Guyton Butts
For decades, Durham Academy’s Middle School managed to thrive on a campus that didn’t quite make sense. Middle School students have been king of the castle — i.e. the sole occupants of the Academy Road campus — since 2002, but the campus was far from ideal.
To understand why that was so, a quick history lesson is in order: The Academy Road campus opened in 1966 to serve students from pre-kindergarten through ninth
grade, and it represented the first school expressly designed and built for DA students. (Flashing farther back in time, the school had previously operated in makeshift schoolhouses, starting with its founding in 1933 as Calvert Method School.) The Academy Road campus was made possible by DA’s first-ever capital campaign, supported solely through the generosity of current parents. As DA added grade levels, it built an Upper School
GATEWAY CENTER
campus for grades 9–12 on Ridge Road in 1973. When Preschool and Lower School students moved to an adjacent new campus on Ridge Road in 2002, the Academy Road became a dedicated Middle School campus for grades 5 through 8.
During the 2015 strategic planning process, the idea of bringing all grades levels to Ridge Road was explored. But after an extensive study, the school decided in 2016 that its middle-grade learners had a uniquely advantageous situation with a campus all to themselves and committed to keeping grades 5 through 8 on Academy Road. That commitment prompted a shift in strategy: Rather than continuing to retrofit and rehabilitate rapidly aging facilities, DA would entirely re-envision the Middle School campus to meet the ambition of its students and the talent of its teachers.
The DA community started a careful process of campus master planning, guided by Cannon Architects — an award-winning, Raleigh-based firm. The next iteration of the Academy Road campus needed to be designed around a commitment to excellence that supported strong academics and built community. Through dozens of surveys, conversations and charrettes with students, faculty and families, a vision emerged.
The new campus would be organized by discipline to foster collaboration between teachers. It would retain regular movement between buildings outside.
It would include flexible spaces to allow learning to spill outside of classrooms into common areas. And it would reflect the humor and fun that make the middle school years special.
The first building to emerge from this plan was the Arts & World Languages Center (AWL), which opened in March 2021. It houses our two loudest disciples and upgraded the Middle School’s auditorium space from one that was woefully undersized to Horton Hall, the largest performing arts center and most technologically advanced theatre facility at DA.
The Gateway Center followed barely two years later, opening in May 2023. Gateway’s airy lobbies, colorful hallways and striking staircase mirror similar features in the AWL. Teachers in math, social studies, science and STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts and math) disciplines are clustered — leveraging proximity to grow collaboration. Along with significant upgrades that will transform the library building into a language arts and library hub, the vision for our academic buildings will be realized. For the first time since DA broke ground on its inaugural Academy Road buildings in the early 1960s, our Middle Schoolers have classrooms and buildings that are purpose-built for them. The reimagination of Academy Road is nearly complete.
Learn more about the Durham Academy's overall campus plan on page 52.
"It’s like the
"New equipment means we can do better-quality experiments. Our whole science team, we all have science labs, and we have official safety stations so all of our students will be much safer when we do our labs. We have lab desks and sinks and nice cabinetry, so our kids will learn how to take care of science equipment. It’s a game-changer. … It’s really exciting for our students to see how much DA cares about them through these spaces. Every decision in this building has been made so thoughtfully for our students."
Alex Eren, Science Teacher
IN WITH THE NEW, ON LIVE THE OLD
When Middle School faculty and staff members moved into their new teaching and office spaces in the Gateway Center, they left behind the majority of the student and teacher desks, bookcases and other pieces of furniture that had been used in their old classrooms. The style of those items didn’t match the airy, modern aesthetic of Gateway — and the flexible seating made possible by newer furniture options has major benefits for student learning.
But prior to the 300 and 400 buildings being razed, those well-loved older pieces of furniture found new homes in nearby schools and community organizations.
Jason Mundy, DA’s director of diversity, equity and engagement, approached Middle School Director Jon Meredith with the idea to repurpose the items. The two worked with Anne McNamara, the Upper School’s archivist and community service coordinator, who led a similar effort in 2019 to repurpose furniture when the Upper School’s “double-decker” building was demolished to create the K Outdoor Family Commons.
On the Academy Road campus, McNamara surveyed the surplus furniture, scheduled time with Middle School teachers, met with local charter school leaders and joined all parties in a common goal — “giving a second life to materials that can
Liam Saraiva ’30
"Honestly, I was really excited to see how much more modern it was. … They definitely put a lot of thought and lots of creativity into it, which I thought was pretty cool. Since DA has such nice teachers, they have to give them the resources to be able to teach the students.”
John David Spatola ’28
continue to be useful in educating North Carolina students,” she explained.
The items — including 400 student desks, 400 chairs, 20 teacher desks, a SMART Board, 70 tables and many chairs, filing cabinets, whiteboards and more — were shared with local schools and organizations including Voyager Academy, School of the Arts for Boys, and Student U. McNamara — who will continue to serve the school as a parttime archivist after retiring from her position at the Upper School this summer — noted that for decades, Durham Academy has partnered with local education-focused programs. Among those
is Durham Nativity School, a tuition-free independent school for middle schoolers, which was founded by a DA family in 2002.
DA community members were also among the community leaders who helped establish Student U nearly 20 years ago, and the student-empowerment organization has hosted its Summer Academy on the DA Middle School campus ever since.
“This [furniture repurposing] effort continues a commitment Durham Academy has kept since its founding to support and engage with the community in advancing education for all students,” McNamara explained.
"I think the new building is amazing. It’s so big, and there are so many things to explore."
Garrett Salama ’30
"Space is really, really important. In math, you think about the geometric aspect of it, and for them to be able to explore different spaces, I think can be really powerful to apply what they’re learning. I can see in this building, as a math teacher, using spaces in the hallway to calculate rates. We can use the blue staircase to calculate the slope of a line, thinking about the rise and run of the stairs. … A couple of weeks ago, one of my students was talking about Gateway, and he said, ‘We are going to be the greatest school in the world.’ I think it really affirms to the Middle School students that you are an extremely important part of DA, and we value you and your learning, and we are investing in that for the long term."
Amy Stanbury, Math Teacher
"I’m really excited about all the space where you can meet up with friends and just hang out."
Georgia Zengerle ’28
"I like how a lot of the spaces are collaborative and shared between parents, faculty and students."
Ronan Hechema ’27
"I think it’s important to have light. It helps your mind and your learning. … I like how there’s floor-to-ceiling open areas, with the blue stairs, and I like how there’s a lot of glass."
Jake Fox ’29
"When we built the AWL [Arts & World Languages Center], we had that philosophy in mind of organizing by discipline, and we’ve seen that pay dividends. We’ve learned that some of the best learning doesn’t happen in classrooms — it happens outside the classroom, where groups spill out into the hallway. We’ve scattered those spaces throughout the building because they worked so well in the AWL."
Jon Meredith, Middle School Director
GATEWAY BY THE NUMBERS
"I had nothing on the board, and [a student] asked, ‘How do you spell possibility?’ So I wrote it on the board, and that’s the only thing on the board right now. It just made me think, that’s so perfect for how we are walking into this new building, thinking about all the possibilities."
VIRGINIA HALL ’91, SOCIAL STUDIES TEACHER
6 SCIENCE LABS + 8 MATH CLASSROOMS + 6 SOCIAL STUDIES CLASSROOMS
455 SIGNATURES of students, staff and faculty on a commemorative “Gateway Center Dedication Day” art piece located on the second floor
1 STEAM DESIGN LAB
equipped with a garage door for easy access to an outdoor concrete pad, 6 collaborative tables, 6 3D printers, & a laser cutter.
12+
spaces scattered throughout common areas for collaborative student work
> 1/2 DOZEN
1 "GRAND STAIRCASE"
creating space for an entire grade level to gather
25 FACULTY MEMBERS
representing science, math, social studies and STEAM, teaching in spaces designed purposefully for their disciplines
316ft2
erasable space for student expression, mathematics work & group collaboration on writeable hallway walls
28 DIGITAL DISPLAYS
2 FISH (1 PACU, 1 OSCAR) swimming alongside passing students in the science wing hallway
1 FOUNDERS ROOM
a multipurpose gathering space with capacity for 50 participants in a rectangular seating arrangement and more in a lecture arrangement
offices increasing student access to learning support, counseling, administrators, security and technology support
115,200 BRICKS
87 SOLAR PANELS
forming a canopy over the front entrance, generating 33 kWh
985yd3 of concrete
4 filtered water bottle filling stations
302 TONS OF STEEL in the building
48,000ft2
Largest facility on any of DA’s campuses
See the Gateway Center and other campus transformation projects in action at da.org/beyondimpact.
INNOVATION JOURNEY FUND
Agile Thinking Seeds Meaningful Change
In the year since Durham Academy launched the Innovation Journey Fund (IJF), 22 out-of-the-box proposals from faculty and staff have been approved to move from concept to concrete. The fund — an outgrowth of the Strategic Vision’s Goal 3, “Innovate more boldly” — encourages discovery, design and implementation of innovative ways of teaching, learning and operating as a school.
Examples of IJF-seeded projects can be seen throughout this magazine, including the two initiatives featured here and on pages 20, 40 and 42. Proposals are considered three times a year, so some projects have come to fruition and others are in the planning stages.
MATH MODELING CLUB PROVIDES A LAUNCH PAD FOR NEW ADVANCED COURSE
While traditional math classes are critical components of a student’s math journey, they don’t have to characterize one’s entire mathematics experience, as Upper Schoolers competing as part of a new extracurricular math modeling club this year learned.
“Mathematical modeling is when you are using math to solve a big, complicated problem, where there may not be one easy right answer, that's based on some kind of phenomenon in the real world,” explained Forrest Hinton, who co-led the group this year with fellow math teacher Jarrod Jenzano.
Math modeling empowers students to bring together all of the principles that they’ve learned in previous math courses and pair that knowledge with research, writing, coding and presentation skills honed in other subjects.
Hinton and Jenzano will co-teach a new, semester-long math modeling course beginning in fall 2023. The course — one of the first Advanced (ADV) offerings next year — will be largely project-based, with students being assessed primarily through written reports and presentations.
TRAILBLAZERS
This project builds on a previous experience to further create opportunities for DA Upper School students to work with underrepresented minorities in STEM. DA is continuing to partner with Maureen Joy Charter School to match students in online mentoring/tutoring opportunities. The DA team is working to improve the structure and implementation of the program through more guided activities for the students. The grant allowed DA to purchase STEM kits.
REAL COMMUNICATION: MEETING THE NEEDS OF ADVANCED-LEVEL LEARNERS
This pilot is tailored to meet the needs of advanced-level Spanish students in practicing their interpersonal speaking proficiency. They will engage in communication with native Spanish speakers overseas through an online platform.
“Rather than focusing on abstract concepts — as math classes tend to — we were able to use those concepts in concrete, real-world situations,” said Michael Hansen ’24. “Even beyond our competitive success this year, being on the modeling team has made me understand that math does not exist in a vacuum but rather represents a valuable lens to analyze and describe the central issues that define the world around us.”
Learn more about DA math modeling at url.da.org/mathmodeling2023.
THIRD GRADE COASTAL COLLABORATION
Upper Schoolers participating in the 2023 “Coastal Sustainability in Action'' Capstone partnered with third-graders to learn more about coastal sustainability. Upper Schoolers led activities and writing workshops in the spring and joined the third-graders on their May field trip to the coast.
STEAMCRAFT WITH SEWING MACHINES
Quality sewing machines can help students learn that engineering and design can be textile-related too, and that creating pieces that are functional and structurally sound can benefit them and their communities. This grant enables DA to acquire a "fleet" of 10 industrial quality machines and supplies that can be used on any campus at any point in the year for any class in which they could enhance STEAM programming or fine arts.
MELODY GUYTON BUTTS
DIASPORA KITCHEN EXPLORES COMMUNITIES VIA CUISINE
Food is about much more than nourishment for bodies — it can also be a reflection of history and a point of connection to one’s homeland, as students in a new Upper School elective course have learned. The course, Diaspora Kitchen, examines the role that food plays in immigration and acculturation, how culinary traditions help keep immigrants connected to their native lands, and how foods of diasporated communities have enriched the Triangle.
History teacher Thomas Phu teaches the course, which traces its origins to Upper School Capstone that he and Victoria Muradi (now director of strategic initiatives) led in 2019.
“It is really important to think about food as a reflection of people,” Rinal Dahhan ’23 said. “There is so much history behind the food we are cooking, so much narrative behind the people we’re talking about.”
COMPETENCY-BASED LEARNING PILOT LEARNING MANAGEMENT SYSTEM
In order to continue to grow the Middle School CompetencyBased Learning pilot, teachers need a learning management system designed to track and communicate learning in this way. Two purpose-built learning management systems are being tested to see if either can meet the CBL pilot’s needs.
FACULTY & STAFF WELL-BEING SURVEY
DA’s human resources and wellness teams conducted an anonymous survey to assess faculty and staff based on a number of mental health indicators. Based on the spring survey, the teams will identify priorities and develop wellness programming around priority areas.
The class split into small groups, with each concentrating on a different culture. Students spent time talking with people from different groups, exploring why they immigrated to the Triangle and how they’ve enriched their new community. Students then made presentations to their classmates on each diaspora and shared food created with recipes sourced from some of the people they met.
Students voted to focus the course’s culminating project, a concept restaurant, on the Korean diaspora.
“We’re trying to share the culture we learned so much about with other people and we’re trying to kind of give back to the communities that were so gracious and let us talk to them,” said Maya Dolan ’24. “We want to be able to show that, hey, we really did learn from you and we want to celebrate your culture.”
UPPER SCHOOL LIFE SKILLS: CPR/AED/FIRST AID CERTIFICATION
From the spring 2023 semester onward, each ninth-grader will be taught and become certified in CPR, AED and First Aid. Medical emergencies are unpredictable and can happen anywhere. Rather than only a handful of community members being equipped with the tools to provide care during a medical emergency, all students will be knowledgeable and prepared to assist if necessary.
Learn more about the Innovation Journey Fund and other Strategic Vision initiatives at www.da.org/strategicvision.
Advancing Beyond APs
Durham Academy Designs Its Own Advanced, Rigorous, Flexible Upper School Curriculum to Replace AP Courses in 2024–2025
For years, the Upper School academic experience at Durham Academy has been defined (for some students) by a magic number, followed by an acronym: how many Advanced Placement (AP) courses and exams you could possibly complete before graduation.
“I definitely wanted to take APs because I thought it was impressive,” recalled Sanju Patel ’23.
“For me, it was just not even a question, APs were something I had to take,” said Emerson Levin ’23.
“When you go into high school you think, oh I want to take as many AP classes as possible, I think it will look really good on my college application,” explained Arya Kumar ’23. “But as soon as you get out of them, you’re like, well, I didn’t really get a whole lot out of that class.”
The College Board develops and administers standardized tests and curricula for Advanced Placement, the SAT and SAT subject tests, and the PSAT. Over the last two decades, teachers and students at top independent schools and Durham Academy began to find the prescriptive structure of what was traditionally a gold standard for advanced high school coursework limiting — they became more aware of those limitations, and started searching for alternatives, convinced there was a better teaching and learning experience that was as rigorous, if not more so, and could prepare students for college-level coursework with lifelong lessons.
Six years ago, Durham Academy started down the path of imagining an advanced college-level curriculum that wasn’t bound to the College Board by asking two reflective questions as part of curricular alignment and risk management committee work:
1) What do we want our graduates to be able to do when they leave DA?
That question guided multi-year horizontal and vertical curriculum alignment efforts. The more DA built and aligned curricular goals, the more it became clear how incompatible those goals were with the goals of the College Board and its AP courses. It also became clear that AP courses were not aligned with DA’s mission or its Strategic Vision, in particular the commitment to prepare our students for both college and their lives beyond that.
2) What could threaten DA’s success in college admissions?
DA’s reputation for the caliber of its students and the quality of its academic program is nationally known. The threat of a stagnant Upper School curriculum that might fail to evolve to meet the 21st century needs of DA students or capitalize on the talents of DA teachers prompted the formation of an Advancing Beyond APs task
Over 97% of colleges and universities indicated support of the shift from APs.
2022
force comprising Upper School Director Lanis Wilson, Upper School academic leaders and deans of college counseling, DA’s directors of enrollment management, strategic initiatives and marketing/ communications and Associate Head of School Kristen Klein, who oversees Strategic Vision initiatives related to academics.
The task force is helmed by former college professor, former AP grader and current, self-described “proud” AP history teacher Dr. Rob Policelli.
“I love my AP course", he said. “But as an AP teacher and grader, I know the AP program well and I’m aware of its limitations,” he explained. “Durham Academy can do better. AP courses are really limiting as an educator because it’s all about preparing students for a massive exam, and the College Board is dictating what content will be on that exam. It limits opportunities to connect what [students are] learning to what’s going on in the world right now.”
“There’s really not a whole lot of wiggle room,” added Upper School Science Academic Leader and AP Biology teacher Tara Eppinger. “I am planning down to the day of the AP exam and simply praying that there are no snow days.”
After two years spent researching more than 70 of the most prestigious independent schools in the country that have already led the way in successfully abandoning APs in favor of their own advanced courses, the decision was clear. A timetable was set to give DA a two-year runway to develop standards for Advanced coursework including skills, scope, sequence and prerequisites, and to prepare families, students, colleges and universities for the shift to a post-AP curriculum.
“I think this is the right time to move in that direction because we have the luxury of having seen other top-tier independent schools having already made this move successfully,” said Senior Dean of College Counseling Jazmin Garcia Smith. “It’s a win-win. Students get to learn more about what they’re interested in, teachers get to teach in a way that feels more engaging in a classroom setting, and it all benefits students in the long run.”
In 2024–2025, Advanced coursework at Durham Academy will only be available through internally designed courses. DA will make testing available for students who want to or need to sit for AP exams to be able to apply to international colleges and universities.
“True academic rigor isn't about consuming content. It's about applying that content to novel situations, thinking in creative ways and working with others to solve problems,” Head of School Michael Ulku-Steiner said.
“We want students who are passionate about their studies and courses. Beyond AP allows students to develop this sense of academic curiosity that will make them successful.”
BOSTON UNIVERSITY
SURVEY BY DA'S OFFICE OF COLLEGE COUNSELING
Story by Leslie King
“And that's exactly what our new fleet of Advanced courses will require and inspire students to do.”
“A pre-packaged AP curriculum is out of step with our mission as a school,” Upper School Director Lanis Wilson said. “Because of the creativity and expertise of our faculty, we can do a better job of creating an advanced, college-level experience in the Upper School that meets our students where they are and prepares them for the challenges and opportunities ahead.”
When AP courses were developed decades ago, evidence of a half dozen or more of them on a high school transcript was a definitive marker of distinction. Now, due to the prolific number of courses available and in an environment like DA or other top independent schools, where the majority of students take them, that’s no longer the case.
APs are outdated and inflexible, and universities are increasingly losing faith in APs’ ability to prepare students for college-level work by giving less college credit for them with every passing year. An advanced curriculum with real-world relevance is, in fact, what students demand from their educational experience. DA has seen students satisfy that need with a huge uptick in the number of students enrolling in interdisciplinary, independent study courses. Advancing beyond APs is becoming best practice.
“I think the benefit of going beyond APs in the college admissions landscape is that it’s going to allow our students to set themselves apart in a way that they haven’t been able to do in the past,” Garcia Smith said. “This will allow us to cater to the interests of our students and in turn make them better candidates for highly selective schools.”
“In my experience, the AP classes that I’ve taken aren’t the most rigorous classes at DA, and the AP exams aren’t the most rigorous in terms of content,” Sarah Muir ’24 said. “We can learn more, we can grow more as students without necessarily having to adhere to that curriculum and having to adhere to something that an external body like the College Board has given us.”
In fall 2022, DA’s Office of College Counseling administered two surveys as a pulse check to see if the shift would give colleges pause — one for the 67 college admissions officers who visited DA’s campus and an
electronic version sent to schools on DA’s five-year matriculation list (20 have responded so far). Of the 76 total colleges and universities represented, 74 indicated consistent support.
Dr. Paul Friga — parent of a rising 10th-grader who will be among the first truly post-AP students — sees the shift to Advanced courses from the constraints of APs as a “terrific strategic move for the school.”
“We chose DA because of their focus on developing moral, happy and productive graduates,” said Friga, who is an associate professor of strategy and innovation at UNC’s Kenan-Flagler Business School. “The most important skills that they can learn coming out of high school are critical thinking skills, team problem-solving skills and I would say communication and presentation skills. And those are taught, not through standard AP per se, which are mostly about deep content, but what to do with that content, how to understand it, how to apply it in the modern world.”
The choice and depth of learning promised by Advanced coursework has received a warm response from students.
“I would have rather spent my time learning more in depth about certain topics rather than kind of brushing over several topics just being able to regurgitate them on an exam and forget all about them,” said Kumar ’23.
“Working on something you’re actually interested in, it’s fun to grow, it’s fun to learn more about, and so I see myself and my well-being definitely improving in classes where I’m curious,” Levin said.
“If you’re offered a choice in your learning, you’re going to buy in more,” Patel agreed. “Talking to my sister who’s two years younger, I’ve been telling her to look forward to it, because there’s going to be classes that I just think are going to be more interesting that you can take.”
“This is an opportunity to teach students how to learn in a way that they’ll always have,” Policelli said, “which is going to set them up well for success in college and for whatever their career is.”
Learn more about Durham Academy’s shift to Advanced coursework at www.da.org/advancing.
“Duke respects the decisions each school makes concerning its curriculum and how it responds to the interests of its faculty and students. If a school elects to offer advanced-level courses in lieu of Advanced Placement we will certainly take that into account in our understanding of the rigor of the curriculum.”
DUKE UNIVERSITY
“I have seen more schools make this transition and it has not hurt students in the admissions process.”
KENYON COLLEGE
MICHAEL BRANSCOM
AN EVER-GREENER DA
Sustainability Efforts Further Take Root in Milestone Year
Story by Tina Bessias '78, Sustainability Coordinator
How do people get involved in environmental sustainability? For some, such as Sanju Patel ’23, an endangered animal captures their heart (a frog, in his case). For others, such as Upper School science teacher Andrea Caruso, it was outdoor trips with relatives as she was growing up. For Merritt Schulz ’25, it was innate curiosity about the natural world and the creatures in it; he feels at home tramping around in the woods. Zara Miller ’25 came to sustainability from an artistic perspective: she wanted more of nature’s beauty in urban areas. I got involved when the 2018 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report coincided with the birth of a new generation in my family. And for some, it’s a direct experience with fire, flood or crushing heat that awakens a sense of urgency.
In recent years, more and more people at Durham Academy have been feeling the pull to make our own lives and our school more sustainable. In 2022–2023,
that effort gained official status through an Innovation Journey Fund grant. We established a Sustainability Leadership Team and contracted with the Cloud Institute for Sustainability Education. We learned about the mindsets and enduring understandings that make environmental sustainability possible. Many of these principles are already being taught in scattered places in our curriculum, particularly because there’s overlap with diversity, equity and engagement. In the next few years, we’ll incorporate principles of sustainability systematically in age-appropriate ways.
The Innovation Journey Fund grant also funded work with GreenPlaces, a Raleigh-based firm that analyzed our data on greenhouse gas emissions and is helping us develop reduction strategies. This effort aligns with the global target of 50% reduction by 2030, which was set by the IPCC of the United Nations. As a small but influential part of the world, we are striving to do our part.
“I am so inspired by the remarkable work of the DA Sustainability Committee. I remember when my friends Andrew Owens [’23], Brandon Caveney [’24] and Will Nichols [’20] founded the Sustainability Club [now a committee of Student Government] with the mission to gauge the Upper School's carbon footprint and develop strategies to reduce emissions and promote environmental consciousness. Their passion and advocacy ignited my interest in learning more about the climate crisis, and since leaving Durham Academy, I have sought numerous opportunities in the climate action space. Last fall, I paused my studies at UNC-Chapel Hill to work with Alon Tal, Israel’s leading environmental activist and a member of the Israeli Parliament. This incredible experience culminated with the privilege of leading a joint American and Israeli youth delegation to the United Nations climate conference known as COP27 in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt. I would have never pursued this opportunity were it not for my friends on the Sustainability Committee. That is why I am thrilled to see current students continue to promote environmental awareness among their peers today."
BENNY KLEIN ’20
FALL DA student-faculty study group forms in response to IPCC report (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) warning of the consequences of a temperature rise beyond 1.5 °C from pre-industrial levels.
FEB Upper School hosts two-day student seminar on climate change, including discussion with IPCC report author and DA parent Dr. Drew Shindell.
MAR A student Sustainability Committee is created through the reorganization of Upper School Student Government.
APR Composting begins via donor-sponsored contract with CompostNow.
FALL Sustainability Committee launches “Operation Shoe Size,” the first effort to calculate the school’s carbon footprint.
Middle Schoolers join the first year of a twoyear Science In Action sustainability elective; students research ecological effects of construction on campus and make suggestions for positive environmental impacts.
JAN Sustainability Committee makes first presentation to the DA Administrative Team, requesting a commitment to a 50% emissions reduction by 2030 and the incorporation of climate change in curriculum.
MAR Upper School creates a new Sustainability Coordinator faculty position.
APR Sustainability Committee plants 80 trees near Upper School track to absorb CO2 and stormwater.
2020–2021
FALL Upper School launches Environmental Sustainability elective course.
JAN “Living Sustainably” is added to the ninth-grade Life Skills course.
MAY Building and Grounds Committee approves Middle School Science In Action students’ proposal for a rain garden to absorb stormwater runoff beside the new Arts & World Languages Center.
APR Campuses unite for the first schoolwide Earth Week observance, including educational activities and service activities.
“Being part of the Sustainability Committee at DA played a huge role in cultivating my interest in the environment, which has continued in college and I hope to incorporate into my future work as well. I'm very passionate about this work because even though DA is only a small part of global carbon emissions, generating a culture of sustainability on campus sets an important foundation for a climate-oriented mindset among DA students who will go on to become key leaders and decision-makers! I'm amazed by the progress that has already been made since I've graduated (especially all of the work that has been done to quantify DA's carbon footprint), and I am so, so proud of all of the students and faculty that have put an incredible amount of time, energy and dedication into making these changes possible. The DA Sustainability Committee will always have a special place in my heart, and I'm so excited to see what they do in the future!”
MUKTA DHARMAPURIKAR ’22
"Over the past few years, it has been inspiring to watch the growth of sustainability at DA. With an ever-increasing level of support from both faculty and students, we are driving meaningful change within our community and laying the foundation for future sustainability projects that aim to increase biodiversity and lower our emissions. Our goal is to set an example for what a sustainable school can look like in North Carolina. I am excited to be a part of this movement in the coming years."
MERRITT SCHULZ ’25
Upper School Sustainability Committee
Co-Chair, 2023–2024
AUG “Don’t Waste It!” — DA’s firstever summer seminar — offers opportunity for students and adults to learn about solid waste, recycling and composting.
OCT Student volunteers do “Dumpster Dive” to audit campus waste.
NOV 21 students representing grades 8 to 12 participate in service-learning seminar “Trees in the Forest, City and Campus,” co-organized by Sustainability Committee and R.A.I.S.E (Raising Awareness for Inclusion and Social Equity) leaders.
JAN Compost is expanded to Upper School restrooms; landfill-destined waste is reduced by 50%.
MAY Innovation Journey Fund (IJF) grant enables DA to partner with two sustainability consultants: GreenPlaces (operations) and the Cloud Institute (curriculum). IJF grant also establishes Sustainability Leadership Team with members from all divisions and a schoolwide Sustainability Coordinator role.
“I believe these next few years will be monumental in changing Durham Academy’s sustainability goals. The committee is only growing, and I’m excited to see how we can build a better environment for future students. During the Sustain-In, the support and funding we got for sustainable projects was incredible. I only hope that we can keep this momentum up in future years!"
ZARA MILLER ’25
Upper School Sustainability Committee
Co-Chair, 2023–2024
AUG More than 40 faculty, staff, students, parents and trustees participate in two-day “Educating for Sustainability” workshop presented by Jaimie Cloud.
SEP In first presentation to Board of Trustees, students seek public commitment to sustainability.
FALL Upper School Environmental Sustainability students gather data for the GreenPlaces assessment of DA’s greenhouse gas emissions.
DEC Report on DA greenhouse gas emissions is complete; students and GreenPlaces make a joint presentation to the school community.
FEB DA’s first-ever Sustain-In — a 14-hour community event to develop strategies for decreasing emissions and increasing biodiversity of campuses — is attended by students of all ages, parents, faculty, staff and alumni.
APR Students and faculty share emissions and carbon footprint study results with Administrative Team and Board of Trustees; they propose specific goals to incorporate sustainability in curriculum, reduce emissions, and increase biodiversity.
TEDxDA Putting the Chinese in Takeout
Story by Elizabeth Wong ’23
I think high school is when you really start to discover who you are because you mature and develop as a person so much in such a short span of time. For me, I really started exploring more about what it meant to be a Chinese American woman starting in my junior year.
During and after the pandemic, I felt more connected to Chinese culture than ever. I remember that it was a real wake-up call when I saw a news headline one morning that told the story of a Chinese restaurant owner being assaulted and their restaurant vandalized with graffiti saying ‘Kung Flu’. It hit really close to home for me. I have multiple local relatives who own restaurants, and it was alarmingly easy to imagine the same thing happening to them.
For my family, food is a pillar of our heritage like many other cultures around the world. It represents a sense of togetherness and familial devotion, but to be honest I was never very open about the complexities of Chinese culture with people outside my home. Chinese food is something I’ve tended to shy away from in conversations simply because it can be controversial at times. For example, some of my favorite dishes consist of ingredients that are considered taboo to Americans (e.g. cow tongue stew). When you grow up around looks of disgust from others at some of your favorite home-cooked meals, you tend to learn from those mistakes pretty quickly and stop talking about it.
So when I was given the chance to apply to be a speaker at Durham Academy’s first-ever TEDx event in January, I knew I wanted to talk about discrimination against Chinese Americans and use food as a vehicle for that.
A lot of the brainstorms and conversations I had with mentors were about my experiences growing up and feeling like I had to hide a huge part of my identity because it was too appalling for others to hear about. More than that, it was a criticism of both parts of my Chinese and American identity. It was a criticism of Chinese culture for hiding a beautiful, vulnerable part of our identity and disguising the white-washed version as an authentic representation of Chinese culture. And it was a criticism toward American culture for being obtuse to the diversity that was so prevalent in our surrounding communities. This speech allowed me to come to terms with my identity and was a big step forward in acknowledging the mistakes that are made surrounding issues of cultural assimilation. I think these conversations and stories are ones that need to be told to truly understand the perspective of minority groups around the world.
In academic settings, it’s easy to lose track of what you’re truly passionate about in favor of getting a better grade. By doing this TEDxDA talk, it forced me to confront some of the emotions and feelings that have been in the back of my mind for the past few years. When you truly do something for yourself, it’s vulnerable and it’s scary. But this has been one of the best experiences I’ve had and is a landmark of personal growth for me as well. It was empowering to give this speech because it wasn’t something for a class or even other people, but rather it was something for me.
LESLIE KING
Seven other Upper School students joined Wong in delivering speeches at the January TEDxDA event:
Connor Ennis ’24
“How to Be a Raindrop in a Storm”
Triyakshari Venkataraja ’23
“Your Memory Sucks. Here’s Why.”
Aneesh Patkar ’25
“The Competition Plaguing School … and Our Minds”
London Burnham ’23
“The Psychology of Authoritarianism”
Ajibola Nureni-Yusuf ’25
“Black Families, Home Ownership, Gentrification, and What You Can Do to Help: A Durham Case Study”
Robert Liu ’24
“China Fluency: Re-Imagining the Way We See China One Student at a Time”
Ella Simmons ’23
“How the Engineering Design Process Can Help Solve Systemic Issues”
Joining the speakers in making the event a success were Blake Roper ’23 and Max Tendler ’23. Roper served as a stage manager, ensuring that the technical aspects of the show ran smoothly. Tendler, a member of DA’s speech and debate team, helped coach speakers on pacing and delivery.
Watch a playlist of TEDxDA talks: url.da.org/tedxda23
LESLIE KING
VIBRANT COMMUNITYCelebrating Our
At the foundation of Durham Academy’s Strategic Vision is the understanding that “for two decades, diversity has been a competitive advantage of our school, an essential element of DA’s identity and a key component of our aspirations for the future.” That future has never looked so bright as it has this year — when, at every opportunity, we have come together to celebrate the richness that our differences contribute to the whole.
Students, faculty and staff members, empowered by their work in affinity groups, hosted events in every division. Parents and caregivers volunteered to share their traditions, cultures, foods and religious beliefs. Teachers continued to find ways to expand the variety of voices and perspectives represented in what they teach, while the entire community came together to explore those things we share in common at DEE (Diversity, Equity and Engagement) Engagement Nights and parent education programs
Lunar New Year In the week leading up to Lunar New Year, each division celebrated with performances, student-led exercises, presentations and Lunar New Year food sampling stations offered by generous DA parents and caregivers.
Eid-al-Fitr Upper Schoolers shared in the celebration of Eid, which marks the end of the holy month of Ramadan, with traditional foods, henna stations and music.
Hispanic Heritage Month Dropoff Preschool/Lower School morning drop-off was particularly festive in October, thanks to DA’s Hispanic-Latinx parent affinity group and Upper School students. Santiago Hernandez-Cortes ’23 organized a display of arts and crafts from Mexico, and car line volunteers wore the traditional dress or jersey representing their country of origin or heritage.
Holi
KATE AUGER
MELODY GUYTON BUTTS
KATHY MCPHERSON
MELODY GUYTON BUTTS
Celebrating Black History Pierce Freelon — a DA parent, Grammy-nominated musician, educator and author — reflected on the importance and impact of art and music in African-American culture — both past and present — at the Upper School’s Black History Month assembly. In a visit to the Middle School ahead of seventh- and eighth-graders’ trip to Washington, D.C., Freelon shared about the life of his late father, architect Phil Freelon, who designed the National Museum of African American History and Culture.
Asian American Pacific Islander Assembly The Upper School’s Asian American and Pacific Islander celebration included Manike dance and music performances, cricket and Mancala games, and a ramen and samosas tasting station featuring eight different types of sauces from India, Thailand, Vietnam, Korea and China.
Upper School Tastes of the World The Upper School held a “Tastes of the World” assembly in April in which students, faculty and family members volunteered to bring in bite-sized samples of food representing their family’s country of origin or heritage. From spanakopita and samosas to hummus and dumplings, all corners of the globe were represented.
Holi Upper Schoolers rang in spring with Holi, the Hindu festival that celebrates the new beginnings brought by the changing of the seasons. The Upper School Asian American and Pacific Islander affinity group hosted a joyous celebration, complete with music from the Indian diaspora and fistfuls of brightly colored powder.
Middle School Cumbia Dance Performance During a Middle School Community Meeting, some of Sonia Salas Chaparro’s Spanish students performed a Cumbia dance (the musical rhythm and traditional folk dance of Colombia) and gave speeches in Spanish.
Parent/Caregiver Engagement Nights Parents and caregivers from all divisions had spring and fall opportunities to gather this year and reconnect, discuss interesting topics, and hear an update of the exciting work being facilitated by the Diversity, Equity and Engagement team. There were 13 parent/caregiver affinity groups this year.
Professional Development In late November, a group of DA faculty and staff attended the NAIS (National Association of Independent Schools) People of Color Conference in San Antonio, Texas, joining almost 8,000 students and educators. The theme for 2022 was “Reunited in Purpose: Elevating Our Worth, Our Agency, & Our Excellence.”
These are but a few examples of DA’s DEE efforts; learn more at da.org/diversity.
Asian American Pacific Islander Assembly
Celebrating Black History
JAZMIN GARCIA SMITH
KATE AUGER
MELODY GUYTON BUTTS
KATE AUGER
MELODY GUYTON BUTTS
COURTESY OF JASON MUNDY
Lower School Playground Renovation Will Create Space for More Creative Play
Story by Kathy McPherson
Lower School students will return to an adventure-filled playground this fall, with landscape architecture to expand its footprint and incorporate natural elements."
“Our first meeting about renovating the playground was in 2016. We've been talking about this for a really long time,” explained Lower School Director Carolyn Ronco.
Jerry Benson — Durham Academy's longtime director of business services, who retired this summer — said surplus funds enabled the initial phase of playground renovations.
“We did very well on summer camps last year. The other source is we exceeded our annual [Durham Academy Fund] giving goal,” he said. “Those two sources [both from the 2021–2022 school year] gave us the funds to go ahead with the first phase of playground renovations.”
The Lower School began working with landscape designer Jesse Turner of Lift Environmental Design in 2016 about making changes to the playground. Turner met with small groups of teachers, attended faculty meetings to facilitate discussions about what the playground needed and designed a plan for initial renovations to the playground.
Ronco said Dan Gilson, director of DA’s Extended Day program, and elliott turnbull, after-school enrichments coordinator, “also were really integral to getting the conversations going and what do we want. They're on the playground with kids all the time with Extended Day.”
One issue that came out of the discussions was the need for more creative play space on the Lower School playground.
“We have lots of big play spaces,” Ronco explained, “and the playground has a big black top, but there's not much shade, not much green, not much space for creative play. Kids find that [creative play] space, they find those things to do, but it's usually in the landscaping rocks and things we don't intend for them to play with and touch.
So we're excited about an intentional space for creative play, for places to gather, for greenery, for shade.”
This initial phase of the renovation focuses on the playground area adjacent to the gymnasium and the grassy area on the lower level between the two covered play areas.
The blacktop area closest to the gym will be reduced by about half and will be replaced with a large play structure called a Kompan tree climber, a “council circle” with log seats, meandering pathways, trees and shrubbery. The existing swings will remain, but will be surrounded with plantings. An observation deck will overlook the lower play area; an embankment slide will be added to the slope and there will be steps with rope handrails up the bank. Artificial turf will be added to the lower level, along with a sittable boulder wall and a log climb-up slope with rope handrails.
Ronco said working with Turner was interesting because “he has done lots of different playground projects across the state and across the Southeast. He watches how kids play, and the kinds of things that they need. That's what he really encouraged us to do as teachers — to watch what kids are doing and talk about what kids are doing during this recess time. That's where the creative play idea came in, because we watched kids. They want to play in the rocks, they want to braid pine needles, they want to set up little fairy forts, they want to just wander.”
The renovations will connect the lower play area with the upper playground, increasing the area for kids to play.
“We have been using that lower space primarily for eating lunch at the picnic tables,” Ronco said, adding that “kids might play down there, but they wanted to run up and down that hill all the time.” The hill was not designed for climbing, but now there will be things on the hill that the children can play on and slide down.
“We're excited about incorporating that and making those two top and bottom spaces feel more combined. … We're adding turf in between the two covered play spaces down at the bottom and adding the [embankment] slide.”
Turf was added several years ago to the lower play area near the Lower School garden, and Ronco said it has been a much appreciated addition.
“The turf has really been a hit for playing soccer, capture the flag and things like that,” she explained. “They like to do gymnastics on it — it's a softer surface. We'll have additional turf space, which we think will be really good.”
The renovated play areas will include more green space. “When you look at the design, you'll see shrubs and trees. That was part of almost every conversation about what kinds of things to bring in,” Ronco added.
Work began May 1, offering students the opportunity to watch ground be prepared and boulders put into place before they departed for summer break. The first phase of the renovation is set to be completed by the time school opens in August.
Future renovations include the Lower School playground area adjacent to the drama and music rooms, as well as the Preschool playground, but those plans have not yet been developed.
FOR NEWLY APPOINTED DIRECTOR OF PHILANTHROPY CHRIS FARR,
‘It’s About the People’
Independent schools are part of Chris Farr’s DNA. He grew up in Connecticut, where his parents served on the faculty of South Kent School for 40 years, and he has taught, coached and held administrative positions at independent schools for all but five years since graduating from Middlebury College in 1988.
Story by Kathy McPherson
“I've been around independent schools most of my life, and I've had the opportunity to visit many, many campuses along the way,” said Farr, who was recently named Durham Academy’s Director of Philanthropy. “There are some schools where you just step on campus and you know that it's a special community. It's not about the buildings, it's not about the athletic facilities or the science centers and all of that. It's about the people. And I had that feeling when I visited DA, I could quickly tell.”
Farr comes to Durham Academy from his alma mater, South Kent School — a boys boarding and day school with grades 9–12 and post graduate — where he served on the board of trustees for six years and then as chief advancement officer for five years. Prior to that, Farr spent 20 years working in fundraising at The Shipley School, a pre-K through grade 12 coeducational day school in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania.
He helped South Kent prepare for its 2023 centennial celebration and was instrumental in securing the two largest gifts — $5 million and $7.5 million — in school history. At Shipley, Farr was director of development when the school raised more than $50 million in its largest-ever campaign to support facilities, endowment and programs.
In addition to his work at South Kent and Shipley, Farr taught English and coached soccer, hockey and lacrosse at Trinity-Pawling School in Pawling, New York; spent three years with a Philadelphia consulting firm raising money for nonprofit clients; and worked for two years in fundraising for The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.
“Chris is the most relevantly prepared philanthropy leader we’ve seen at DA in decades,” said DA Head of School Michael Ulku-Steiner. “He’s been an independent school teacher, coach, advisor, parent and leader of two development teams.
“All that experience combines with Chris' personality — kind, calm, warm and down-to-earth — to make him the mentor and coach our Philanthropy team needs, wants and deserves,” Ulku-Steiner continued.
Farr said DA’s mission statement “to prepare students to lead moral, happy, productive lives” was a primary reason he was drawn to the school.
“The mission of the school resonates with me very personally, because leading a moral, happy, productive life is really the way I try to lead my life. That hit me very strongly and it made me want to investigate Durham Academy much more deeply than I may have otherwise done.”
As Farr got to know Ulku-Steiner, he saw a head of school who “is obviously a very passionate educator, deeply committed to both the students and the faculty and staff who work with him. That is very important to me, the strong leadership at the administrative level, but also at the board [of trustees] level. Upon my visit [to DA], I was able to meet
with the board and they were terrific. I want to be at a place that has very strong board leadership, very collaborative with the administrative team.”
After completing his work at South Kent in May 2022, Farr took time off to re-energize.
“I've been doing this [fundraising] work for about 30 years now, so I took a few months off,” Farr said. “My wife and I knew that we wanted to move down south at some point when we left South Kent. We didn't know where. I have a passion for construction — I actually built houses while growing up and during the summer — so I got our house ready during that time to put it on the market. … It did exactly what I hoped it would do. It created a sense in me of getting back to what I do best and what I love to do, which is to be a part of a community like DA and help it grow with its goals and its aspirations.”
Farr began his tenure at DA on March 20. He and his wife, Liz, a fundraising consultant with the Chicago firm Grenzebach Glier and Associates, are delighted to be in the Bull City.
Farr said his wife frequently travels for business, but when she is home “we love to relax with our two Labrador retrievers, Mabel and Greta. Mabel is a silver Lab, Greta is a black Lab. I have two boys who are both grown. Henry is 25, Keagan is 26. They live in Philadelphia where they grew up, and are out of college and employed there. … Liz and I, in our free time when we're not playing with our pups or seeing our boys, love to play golf together.”
They are looking forward to the year-round golfing opportunities that are abundant in this area, and Farr is excited to be working with DA’s Philanthropy team.
“They are just a group of remarkable people who I'm looking forward to getting to know better, working with and collaborating with,” Farr said. “They've done a terrific job, through a lot of transition in that office, to get DA to the point that it is and so close to the end of the campaign," he said, referencing Beyond The Threshold, which is funding the transformation of the Middle and Upper School campuses.
Thanks to the generosity of the DA community, DA Philanthropy has raised more than $27,000,000 toward the Beyond the Threshold goal of $30,725,000. The campaign will conclude in June 2024.
"I would be remiss if I didn't compliment [the DA Philanthropy team] on what has clearly been a pretty remarkable effort across the board,” Farr said.
Ulku-Steiner was not surprised when Farr’s references “confirmed that he is a team-builder, an investor in professional growth, a leader who prefers lifting up others. Chris is someone who understands and loves the core work of independent schools: building communities that build capable, compassionate, courageous human beings.”
Beyond the Threshold
BRINGING MASTER PLAN TO FRUITION
Pursuing the 30-year vision of strong leaders and loyal community members, Beyond the Threshold delivers on a commitment to create student-focused learning environments that meet Durham Academy’s standard of excellence. With the completion of that plan in sight, a cohesive, connected and collaborative learning experience will be secured for the next generation of Cavaliers.
AUGUST 2018/APRIL 2019
STEM & Humanities Center and Smith Hall
Collaborative, interdisciplinary learning environments for engineering, science, technology, math and humanities. Smith Hall hosts 100+ for meetings and events.
NOVEMBER 2019
K Family Outdoor Commons
Amphitheater and pavilion/performance space with stepped seating that opens to athletic fields. Supports social activities and celebrations.
Campus Master Plan
NOVEMBER 2023
Lower School Playground
Expands the playground's footprint and incorporates natural elements for creative play.
Ridge Road Campus
"A good environment makes learning more meaningful. The Arts & World Languages Center provides so many opportunities for interaction and creativity and shows our students the importance of a good education. We really care about their learning and want their environment to be one that builds happiness and success."
JESÚS SÁNCHEZ, MIDDLE SCHOOL SPANISH TEACHER
Campus Master Plan created Strategic Plan prioritizes 1998 Campus Master Plan
Beyond Excellence Strategic Plan includes revisions to 1998 Campus Master Plan
Beyond Excellence Strategic Plan prioritizes Upper School campus GOAL: $9 MILLION
MARCH 2021
Arts & World Languages
Center and Horton Hall
Collaborative spaces enhance teaching and learning for world languages and arts.
FALL 2024 anticipated completion
MAY 2023
Gateway Center
Interdisciplinary learning environments for science, math and social studies including flexible classrooms, labs, student services and administration.
LATE
FALL 2023
Quad
Creates a true heart of campus with space for outdoor learning, eating, recreation. Graded walkways improve accessibility.
University Drive Entrance and Alumni Way
Creates new main entrance aligned with an existing intersection. Eases dropoff/pickup and traffic flow, increases available parking.
FUTURE PHASE
New Gym and Extended Day Center
New, regulation-size gym with built-in seating supports athletics, doubles available PE space. Renovation of existing gym expands after-school programming.
Academy Road Campus
"We chose to support the Beyond the Threshold campaign in honor of the amazing families, faculty and administrators who helped build this school before us, the incredible community we've become a part of today, and those who will thrive as the result of a DA education in the future. We see and feel the positive impact the mission and vision of DA have on our entire family and are thrilled to contribute to its legacy."
ASHLEY AND LYLE YETMAN, LOWER AND MIDDLE SCHOOL PARENTS
Adam Braude Joins Durham Academy as New Chief Financial and Operations Officer
Story by L eslie King
It was an email Adam Braude had seen dozens of times before throughout his 16-year career — a recruitment firm was pitching an open Chief Financial and Operations Officer position for an independent school. But this one had a set of connections attached that would eventually bring Braude full circle, back to the crossroads where he decided to begin a career at the intersection of business and education, serving and supporting schools.
“Having lived in Durham, having known the reputation of the school, these jobs don't come along very often,” reflected Braude. “And so I knew this was a really good opportunity and I was going to regret it if I didn't at least explore the opportunity. And then once I started exploring, every step I took, it just became more and more appealing.”
Braude earned his M.B.A. from Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business in 2006, and during his two years at Duke, he fell in love with Durham. He describes himself as an atypical M.B.A. candidate: as an Amherst College
undergraduate student, he majored in history and psychology and captained the track and field team; he then worked in corporate and finance roles in Chicago for five years; and then shifted gears prior to business school to help direct his beloved Camp Nebagamon in Wisconsin for four years.
“At one point in time, summer camp was going to be a career, and I had not met my wife at the time. And I just wasn't ready to marry camp before I married a spouse,” he said with a laugh. “And so I think I had come to business school where most people day one want to go to Wall Street, or want to go to one of the big consulting firms, or want to go to one of the big consumer products companies. I was a history major and a camp guy, and in some ways a fish out of water.”
Between his first and second years of business school, Braude had a summer internship as an acquisition analyst for a South Florida company aiming to build a network of independent schools. This experience sparked his interest in the intersection of business and education. To explore the idea further, the second-year Fuqua student cold-called a head of school right in his own backyard — Ed Costello at Durham Academy.
“I was a product of public schools in Kansas and didn't really have any background in independent schools, but the camp world and the independent school world, there's certainly overlap there,” he recalled. “And I came to know some of these schools and a lot of our campers went to places like DA. So I called Ed and said, ‘Would you be willing to meet with me? Here's my résumé — is there a place for someone like me?’ He was kind enough to meet with me and he said, ‘You should talk to [DA Director of Business Services] Jerry Benson.’ Jerry was kind enough to meet with me and said, ‘Once upon a time, these were pretty sleepy places. But as these schools have evolved, they're a lot more complex than they were at one time, between the investment portfolio and the construction projects. And they're actually pretty interesting jobs.”
Braude and his wife, Julie, wanted to put down roots in Durham with their newborn daughter after he graduated from Fuqua, but his new career path led him to Webb School in Knoxville, Tennessee, where they spent 16 years raising Evie (now a rising senior) and her sister Millie (a rising ninth-grader). While they weren't necessarily looking to leave, they also recognized that Knoxville was probably not the last stop on their journey.
“I feel like I’m leaving a place that I have very strong ties to, and I'm going to a place that I'm excited about starting and joining this community,” he said. “And so it's bittersweet, but at the end of the day, it also feels really good to be coming to a place that I feel like is such a good place.”
The synergy between DA and Webb School runs even deeper than Braude’s initial career conversation with
Benson, who retired this summer after a 22-year career at DA. Benson also came to DA from Webb School.
“He's had this fantastic run at DA, and to come back and meet him again, as he was the one that kind of encouraged me before I went down that path, there definitely is a full circle. I think if I was smarter, I'd be much more nervous about following in his footsteps,” Braude said with a laugh. “In my interactions with Jerry, since I’ve taken the job, he’s been great and super helpful and I have an enormous amount of respect for him.”
In announcing Braude’s hire, Head of School Michael Ulku-Steiner accentuated his “deep experience and knowledge, his open and curious personality and his track record of engagement with all aspects of the campus and community.” At Webb, Braude also serves as varsity track assistant coach, varsity cross-country assistant coach, and co-leader of a biennial Outdoor Club backcountry backpacking trip in the Western U.S.
Braude’s approach to the role puts the mission of the school front and center, with an eye toward patient, inclusive progress that includes a balance of new ideas and opportunities and capitalizes on the collective talent of his team.
“I see our job as we're in the service business, so at a place like DA, or at any school like this, they operate across two levels,” he explained. “They are a school, first and foremost, and they're an institution. So we're kind of on the institutional side of the house, but in service to the school. And so our job is to make the school a better place, but run it as an efficient institution and optimize all the processes in place, so that at the end of the day, we have the best school and the best community we can have. So that's kind of the big picture of how I view the job.”
1 My wife, Julie, and I met on a blind date in Chicago. We were married on Madeline Island in Lake Superior, and the Northern Lights made an appearance at our reception.
2 My parents still live in the same house in Mission Woods, Kansas (suburban Kansas City) that I was born in. Lifelong Mizzou (sigh…), Chiefs, and Royals fan.
3 We have two daughters, Evie, 17, and Millie, 14. Evie was born at Durham Regional Hospital [now Duke Regional].
4
I spent 18 summers as a camper and staff member at Camp Nebagamon in Northern Wisconsin. I now serve on its inaugural board, as it recently became a 501(c)(3).
5 My Amherst College experience in 10 words: history; psychology; track; rugby; Antonio’s; undisclosed fun; study abroad Melbourne.
6 Our first home as a married couple was in Trinity Park, where we moved a week after our wedding for me to attend Duke’s Fuqua School of Business.
7 Dogs. 100%. Current bestie is Moose, an 8-year-old Golden Retriever / Redbone Coonhound mix.
8 I’ve co-led Webb School of Knoxville outdoor club backpacking trips to Yosemite, Tetons and Southern Utah.
9
As an athlete, coach and parent, I’ve attended more track and XC meets than I could count.
10 I have essentially no social media presence. I only joined Instagram so I could see photos from our family vacations.
11 I’m not a particularly knowledgeable music fan, but nevertheless I love to attend concerts. Pretty eclectic taste.
12 I participate in an annual camping trip to the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness with a group of old friends.
13
My go-to podcast: The Tony Kornheiser Show. IYKYK.
14 Sadly, several favorite restaurants from our previous stint in NC — Joe & Jo’s; Allen & Son; and Crook’s Corner — are no longer open. We would welcome new recommendations!
15
Last but not least, since few get it right the first time, our name is pronounced “Browdy.” 15 Things About Me
FACULTY & STAFF FAREWELLS
Those saying goodbye have devoted a cumulative 307 years of service to DA.
KATHY MCPHERSON ’66
Content Marketing Writer and Editor
38 YEARS
LYN STRECK
Lower School Science Teacher
31 YEARS
ANNE MCNAMARA
Upper School Community Service Coordinator
29 YEARS
BETH REEVES
Lower School Reading Specialist
29 YEARS
GIB FITZPATRICK
Middle School Math Teacher
26 YEARS
HOWARD LINEBERGER
Upper School Science Teacher
24 YEARS
JERRY BENSON
Director of Business Services
23 YEARS
DR. GERTY WARD
Assistant Middle School Director, Middle School Science Teacher
18 YEARS
CARRIE FITZPATRICK
Fourth Grade Teaching Assistant 13 YEARS
JANET BRIGGS
Director of Human Resources
9 YEARS
ANGIE DUTY
Lower School Teaching Assistant 9 YEARS
DENISE SHAW
Preschool Science Teacher
9 YEARS
LEYF PEIRCE STARLING ’99
Upper School Physics and Robotics Teacher
9 YEARS
MOSES IRVING
Security Officer
6 YEARS
SARAH JANE TART
Brand and Design Manager
5 YEARS
TODD TIGNOR
Second Grade Teaching Assistant 5 YEARS
MORGAN WHALEY ’97
Associate Director of Philanthropy 5 YEARS
NATASHA HULYAYEVA
Accounts Payable Administrator 4 YEARS
ANNA RAY ’97
First Grade Teaching Assistant 4 YEARS
WILLIE BARFIELD
Security Officer 2 YEARS
SARAH LEACH
Upper School Math Teacher 2 YEARS
KELLY NORRIS Third Grade Teacher 2 YEARS
ALYSON WILSON Kindergarten Teaching Assistant 2 YEARS
BRUCE HOOF Middle School History Teacher 1 YEAR
CARLOS RODRIGUEZ Maintenance Foreman 1 YEAR
KELLI MASON
iPad Program Manager 1 YEAR
BONNIE WANG EARNS ACCOLADES WITH CONFERENCE PRESENTATION
At this year’s Fall Foreign Language Association of North Carolina (FLANC) Conference, Upper School Chinese Teacher Bonnie Wang presented a talk titled “Facilitating Discussions on Social Justice and Community Engagement in Heritage Classes" with co-presenter Dr. Lini Ge Polin, an associate professor in Asian and Middle Eastern Studies at the UNC-Chapel Hill. The presentation was voted one of the Top 10 Best of FLANC of the 100 sessions the organization hosted at its 2022 annual conference, and participants in Wang’s session rated it as "one of the best in terms of topic, expertise, delivery, usefulness, audience response and overall quality."
Applauding
YUJIA SUN
DEBBIE SUGGS MAKES NEWS WITH LONG-LASTING IMPACT ON STUDENTS
In November, first-grade teacher Debbie Suggs and her Fabulous First-Grade Explorers were the subjects of a feature produced by DA alumna Halsey Ziglar ’19 that aired on UNC-Chapel Hill’s student-run news program, Carolina Week. Ziglar, who graduated from UNC-Chapel Hill in May with a B.A. in broadcast journalism and communications, was inspired to produce the piece about her former first-grade teacher because “words cannot express the impact she has had on my life and countless others,” she explained. “Her natural ability to teach profound life lessons in simple terms was extraordinary. She is the perfect example of how important educators are in building the foundation for the future. Everyone should have a Mrs. Suggs in their corner.” Suggs, who has taught 28 years’ worth of first-graders, received the Faculty and Staff Legacy Award from the DA Alumni Board in 2019.
Life-Changers
Watch Ziglar’s feature on Suggs: youtu.be/SyrI9ZPoiQM?t=1810
MURRAY HALL HONORS A DA LEGEND
One of Durham Academy’s longest-serving faculty members was honored on Labor Day. Greg Murray — longtime physical education teacher, multi-sport coach, yearbook advisor and Senior Challenge director — retired in spring 2022, closing the book on 43 years at Durham Academy. He relocated to Colorado in summer 2022 to enjoy his new full-time gig as a grandparent, but when he returned to DA for a visit last fall, there was a surprise in store!
The lobby of Kirby Gym had been remodeled to feature an illuminated Durham Academy Athletics logo, flanked by a new “Collegiate Cavaliers” wall of alumni athletes and a redesigned Hall of Fame section — with the lobby as a whole named in Murray’s honor. Many of his friends and former players supported the renovation and dedication of Murray Hall to honor his four decades of service. Parents, current and former players, coaches and colleagues spanning 40 years of DA history were there for the occasion.
F. ROBERTSON HERSHEY DISTINGUISHED FACULTY AWARD
In 1988, the Durham Academy Board of Trustees established the F. Robertson Hershey Distinguished Faculty Award in recognition of former Headmaster Rob Hershey’s decade of dedication to faculty excellence. Since that time, 35 teachers have been recognized for their extraordinary talents and contributions. These teachers represent the best in teaching at Durham Academy by:
• Inspiring enthusiasm in the classroom and encouraging academic aspiration
• Demonstrating sensitivity to the academic and personal needs of the individual student
• Encouraging and supporting the efforts of colleagues
• Promoting the cooperation of a broad spectrum of the Durham Academy community
• Contributing to school life outside the classroom
Ashley Hinton
Second-Grade Teacher
F. ROBERTSON HERSHEY DISTINGUISHED FACULTY AWARD
Story by Dr. Cindy Moore, Middle School Learning Specialist
Second-grade teacher Ashley Hinton, the recipient of this year’s F. Robertson Hershey Distinguished Faculty Award, shines with personality, creativity, commitment and joy. Since arriving at Durham Academy in 2015, she has made her students more eager and able to learn. She has made their parents more knowledgeable and grateful. She has made her colleagues and our program stronger, more engaging and more inclusive. We are all better because she is one of us.
Ashley loves, loves, loves her students. As one parent commented, “she both ‘gets’ and loves your kid.” Every student that walks into her classroom feels seen, heard and known. They know why they are special and seem to rise to the stiff and varied challenges she creates for them. Every year, Ashley builds a classroom culture filled with laughter, learning and community spirit. As one colleague writes, “She cultivates a bond of trust that allows each student to become their best, most authentic self.”
The care Ashley shows for students extends beyond the walls of her classroom. She checks on those out sick at home, knows about their weekend activities and attends after-school events to show her support. Scores of Lower Schoolers have enjoyed her after-school enrichment classes. Leveraging her love of crafts, Harry Potter, sewing and quilting, she makes magic happen after school, too. She strives to make a difference in the life of every single student she encounters — and maintains contact with parents long after their child’s time in her class.
With gentle reminders and fierce passion, this teacher constantly pushes our community to be better. She is the first to volunteer for committees and task forces. She participates actively — enriching the work of these cross-divisional groups with her unique way of thinking, her deep knowledge of Lower Schoolers, her patient attention to detail and her sincere commitment to diversity.
This teacher learns as much as she teaches. She is always trying something new and seeking ways to ensure she reaches each and every student. She uses technology to support her lessons in meaningful ways, plans fun morning meetings and can turn a dreary morning in February into a delightful adventure. From TikTok Tuesdays and Wednesday Wordles, to her frequent costumes, the Hinton Heroes classroom is always buzzing with enthusiastic energy. One of her colleagues writes, “Her infectious positivity and joy is felt the moment you walk into her classroom.” With her sparkle and shine, she is easy to spot, whether it’s at DA’s Halloween festivities, Spirit Week or a Taylor Swift concert.
Webster’s Dictionary defines a hero as “an illustrious warrior,” “a person admired for their noble qualities and achievements,” and one who “shows great courage.” This year’s recipient is a true hero to her students and their families.
Editor’s Note: Dr. Cindy Moore was the 2022 recipient of the F. Robertson Hershey Distinguished Faculty Award for Excellence in Teaching. The Hershey Award was presented to Ashley Hinton in June 2023 at the Lower School closing exercises.
MICHAEL BRANSCOM
2023–2024 Durham Academy
New Trustees
Dr. Bryan Batch
• Associate Professor of Medicine in Endocrinology, Metabolism and Nutrition, Duke University School of Medicine
• DA Diversity, Equity and Engagement Committee
• DA Family Association Diversity Committee
• Middle and Upper School Parent
Ben Edwards
• Principal, Art & Science Group (retired)
• DA Marketing & Communications Committee
• Parent of DA Alumni
Dr. Katherine Knutson
• Senior Vice President, United Health Group
• CEO, Optum Behavioral Care
• DA Diversity, Equity and Engagement Committee
• Lower and Middle School Parent
Anna Wu
• Associate Vice Chair for Facilities, UNC-Chapel Hill (retired)
• DA Upper School Long-Range Planning Committee
• Parent of DA Alumni
Asha Patel, ex officio
• 2023–2024 Family Association President
• Former DA Preschool Teaching Assistant
• DA Learning Environment Committee
• Former Family Association Secretary
• Upper and Middle School Parent
Coffee shop meetup in San Francisco
All smiles for these Cavalier grads
Friends and classmates spend time catching up at DA Alumni event
Class of 2015 representing in the Big Apple
A night out in Oakland with a fun group of alumni
Happy Cavs at DA's Happy Hour in San Francisco
NYC Cavs gather at Torch & Crown Brewing
As another school year comes to a close, I am reminded how fortunate I am to work at a school like Durham Academy. To be surrounded each day by such driven and passionate faculty, staff and students is motivating and rewarding.
This year has been particularly meaningful, as we were able to return to a sense of normalcy with our alumni programs. We held in-person reunions and inducted another fabulous class of alumni at our Athletic Hall of Fame ceremony in December. At April’s Spring Alumni Reception, we honored Kathleen Myers Gibson ’82 with the Distinguished Alumni Award, retired French teacher Wanda Moore with the Faculty & Staff Legacy Award, and Chris White ’92 with the Alumni Service Award. Having alumni and friends back on campus made these events even more special.
Along with our on-campus gatherings, I was able to visit with alumni who live outside of the Triangle. Trips to Washington, D.C., Baltimore, San Francisco, Charlotte and New York City offered opportunities to catch up with alumni and learn about the myriad ways they are making their mark on the world.
There are many exciting things happening at DA every day: the transformation of the Middle School campus is unfolding before our eyes, and Upper School students and faculty continue to experience the benefits of their new state-of-the-art facilities. I invite you to join me for a tour and take a walk down memory lane. These spaces are providing a vibrant environment for our teachers to teach and our students to learn. All of this has occurred thanks to the generosity of the entire Durham Academy community.
I look forward to seeing you Oct. 6 and 7 for Homecoming Weekend. It promises to be another fun-filled gathering. Please follow us on social media for updates and happenings throughout the year.
Go Cavs!
Tim McKenna Director of Alumni Philanthropy & Engagement
FRIDAY, OCT. 6
Gathering for all alumni families and varsity athletic contests
SATURDAY, OCT. 7
Reunion party for alumni of classes ending in 3s and 8s
Visit da.org/homecoming for more details and a link to register.
Alumni Honor Kathleen Myers Gibson ’82, Chris White ’92 and Wanda Moore
Durham Academy alumni spanning the decades gathered for the annual Spring Alumni Reception on April 21 to honor Kathleen Myers Gibson ’82, Chris White ’92 and retired faculty member Wanda Moore. At the core of each of the honorees is an unwavering commitment to service.
Kathleen Myers Gibson ’82 DISTINGUISHED ALUMNI AWARD
The Distinguished Alumni Award recognizes Gibson for her work in removing barriers for people seeking housing to thrive in long-term recovery from substance abuse.
Gibson is chief executive officer of Oxford House, Inc., a 47-year-old national nonprofit that serves as the umbrella organization for a network of more than 3,300 democratically self-governing and financially self-supporting homes for individuals recovering from substance use disorders. Gibson began her journey to long-term recovery as a resident at Oxford House in Raleigh and began working for the organization in 1994. After serving as the state coordinator, she became the chief operating officer of Oxford House in 2007 and served in that position until becoming the chief executive officer in 2022.
Gibson has been the driving force behind Oxford House’s expansion. She led the growth of North Carolina’s network to 300 houses, the second-largest state network in the country. She has been a champion of advocacy and stigma-reduction at the forefront of the New Recovery Advocacy Movement. Under Gibson’s leadership, Oxford House has grown from fewer than 40 employees when she began as chief operating officer, to more than 225 field staff across the country to strengthen and expand the Oxford House model to meet the great need for recovery housing.
Chris White ’92 ALUMNI SERVICE AWARD
The Alumni Service Award honors White for his work with Rosati Leadership Academy, a youth-development social service organization he established in Lewiston, Maine, in 2018 to teach life skills through soccer. Rosati Leadership Academy honors the memory of Chris Rosati ’89, who dedicated his life to spreading kindness after being diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) in 2010.
Lewiston is a mill town with a love of soccer, where jobs had vanished in the 1980s and ’90s. The town’s mostly French-Canadian-based populace was already experiencing poverty in 2001 when an influx of Somali immigrants arrived with few financial resources. White describes the town as having a population of roughly 30,000, including 6,000 Somalis. The high school soccer team won a state championship in 2015, which helped bring the Lewiston community together, but there was still a pronounced racial and religious divide when White arrived in 2018. The Rosati Leadership Academy is helping Lewiston’s youths bridge that divide.
Wanda Moore ALUMNI FACULTY & STAFF LEGACY AWARD
The Alumni Faculty & Staff Legacy Award honors Moore, who retired from Durham Academy in 2022 after teaching French and serving as an advisor for 34 years at the Middle School.
Moore was DA’s only African-American faculty member when she came to DA in 1988. Her influence on students and faculty members could be seen in the classroom and in the community. She was a strong advocate for students in their growth and understanding of themselves, and she was always open to listening to and helping any student who was struggling to integrate successfully into the DA culture.
View speeches from the event and learn more about the awards at www.da.org/alumniawards.
Alumni Faces IN THE NEWS
FAITH COUCH ’15
DR. BILLY FISCHER ’94
A new study called VISION, led by principal investigator Dr. Billy Fischer ’94 and Dr. David Wohl, launched in fall 2022 with a goal of answering some of the biggest questions about COVID-19. The study sought to enroll 7,500 COVID-positive individuals to understand what contributes to individual risk and outcomes related to COVID-19, including recovery from acute illness, symptom rebound, re-infection and long COVID. Fischer and Wohl are also running a newly designated treatment center for highly infectious diseases at UNC Hospitals. The center is one of only two Regional Emerging Special Pathogen Treatment Centers in the Southeast and one of only 13 nationwide.
Read more at url.da.org/billyfischer22.
Photographer, editor, curator and educator Faith Couch ’15 stepped in front of the camera in March as part of a Nike campaign for Women’s History Month shot by photographer Camila Falquez. Couch was featured on the homepage of the Nike website and on their membership page.
TORSIE JUDKINS ’91
Torsie Judkins ’91 is taking on a new adventure as head of school at the Wingra School, a co-ed, progressive K-8 school in Madison, Wisconsin. He has worked in independent schools for more than 20 years, starting as a Durham Academy Middle School advisor, teacher and coach, and then holding leadership roles in admissions and diversity, equity and inclusion at schools in New York and Pennsylvania.
Learn more about Judkins’ career path in education at url.da.org/torsiejudkins21.
NINA VARELA ’13
Juniper Harvey and the Vanishing Kingdom, a new novel by author Nina Varela ’13, was the subject of a March Publishers Weekly examination of new and anticipated titles representing the growing middle grade subgenre of mythology-inspired fantasy adventures. Authors and editors shared their thoughts about the ways that a new wave of diverse, innovative storytellers have honed their craft for this specific audience. Juniper Harvey’s story is inspired by the myth of Pygmalion the Sculptor, combined with a magical setting for Juniper’s world. “I hope this book feels like an escape,” Varela said. “Especially for queer readers, I want joy and safety, comfort and acceptance for them, as much as they can get, as much as I can give.”
Read the Publishers Weekly piece at url.da.org/varela.
PHOTO BY
CAMILA FALQUEZ
TOBY HARRIS ’21
KATHERINE LANTZY ’21
Middlebury College sophomore Katherine Lantzy ’21 helped the school’s field hockey team claim its fifth-straight NCAA championship in thrilling overtime fashion in November. The midfielder started in all 22 games and was tied for eighth in the New England Small College Athletic Conference in assists. Lantzy’s performance earned her postseason honors on the NCAA All-Tournament Team and the National Field Hockey Collegiate Association’s All-Region Second Team. She was also recognized as a scholar of distinction by Middlebury. Watch the team’s season highlights on YouTube: url.da.org/katherinelantzy22
Toby Harris ’21 has continued to find success on the hardwood in his second season competing with the Brandeis University men’s hoops team, earning first-team All-University Athletic Association honors and second-team All-Region by D3hoops. com and the National Association of Basketball Coaches. Harris led the UAA in scoring with an average of 19.2 points per game, and he also led the conference in field goals (168) and 3-pointers made (73). He finished the season 15th among all Division III players in 3-point percentage (44%). Read more about Harris’ success at Brandeis at url.da.org/tobyharris23.
TYLER CARPENTER ’18
Longstick midfielder Tyler Carpenter ’18 earned third-team All-America honors from the U.S. Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association in his senior season with the Duke University men’s lacrosse team. The honor marks his third time earning USILA All-America honors. Carpenter, who served as a captain for the 2023 Duke team, led all non-faceoff specialists in ground balls (59) and had 13 caused turnovers. He ranks fourth on the Duke career charts with 62 caused turnovers. In 2023, Carpenter helped propel the Duke men's lacrosse team to the No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament for the fourth time in program history.
Learn more about Carpenter’s career with the Blue Devils at url.da.org/tylercarpenter23.
BRENDAN BRADLEY ’01
Brendan Bradley ’01 took a star turn with country music legend Dolly Parton, singing and dancing on her Mountain Magic Christmas television special, which aired in December 2022 on NBC. Bradley is currently performing “beyond” the screen in Marvel’s Midnight Suns video game and in his own original live virtual reality stage show.
Keep up with his latest adventures on Instagram at instagram.com/brendanabradley.
DR. CALEB KING ’77
Dr. Caleb King ’77 spoke at Elon University as part of the James P. Elder Lecture series, where he lectured about his work with The Institute for Convergent Science at UNC-Chapel Hill.
Dr. King, a DA Distinguished Alumni Award recipient, uses his experience and education in medicine, engineering and science to foster collaboration across disciplines.
Read more about his work and the lecture series at url.da.org/calebkingelon.
Submit your family and career updates at da.org/shareyournews.
SPORTSPIX.COM
Alumni Spotlight Phil Oldham ’86: HELPING LEAD UKRAINE HUMANITARIAN EFFORTS
"I think the sense of community and purpose that came out of DA also set the stage for me to be ready to do something like this" - Phil Oldham '86
Thirty years into a career that has landed him in Ukraine and other crisis spots around the globe, Phil Oldham is quick to say he didn’t set out to do humanitarian relief work.
He “stumbled into it” in 1990 via a United States Information Agency (USIA) cultural exchange that sent 20 Americans to Vladivostok, a city that had been closed even to Soviet citizens because it was the base of the Soviet Union’s Pacific fleet. It was a good fit for Oldham, who had just graduated from Middlebury College with a degree in Soviet studies and spoke Russian.
When the Soviet Union broke up in December 1991, the U.S. government asked Catholic Relief Services (CRS) to distribute emergency food assistance in Vladivostok. The relief agency looked for people who had been to Vladivostok to staff the program, but “there were only 20 of us in the world, those of us from the USIA exchange,” Oldham said. “Four of us ended up working for CRS, and I have continued with humanitarian work ever since.”
He worked with Catholic Relief Services for 15 years in Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Albania, Democratic Republic of the Congo and Ghana, and for other relief organizations in West Africa and in Haiti after the 2010 earthquake. Oldham stepped back and worked for his alma mater, Middlebury College, in Vermont for six years to give his young family more stability, then returned to relief work about four years ago.
Vermont is home base for the family now, though they have lived in Democratic Republic of the Congo and Ghana. Oldham and his wife, Jen, met when they were both working for CRS in Bosnia. Their son, Jess, attends Fordham University and their daughter, Fiona, graduated from American University in December.
Oldham began his work in Europe in March 2022, initially setting up programs in Romania and Poland, and then going into Ukraine in April 2022.
“I think a lot of people forget that there has been a war going on since they [Russia] took over Crimea and parts of southeast Ukraine in 2014,” he said. ‘It's not been in the press very much because it's been kind of a frozen war, but there have been people dying continuously through those battles. It moved into a new phase in February [2022] when Russia invaded and tried to take over the whole country.”
Oldham served as deputy director for programs for the International Medical Corps (IMC) last fall and winter prior to taking a break in early 2023 to recover from knee surgery.
“We oversee programs in health, mental health, genderbased violence, nutrition, reconstruction of health infrastructure, and water and sanitation,” Oldham explained of the IMC in a December interview. “We distribute cash to people who have been affected by the war, internally displaced people, primarily, as opposed to refugees — people that have fled their homes, but have not left their country.”
With the IMC, Oldham was based in Kyiv, but his work took him all across the country, and physical needs are dire in places that have been recently liberated.
“There's no heat, no water and no electricity,” Oldham said in December. “We're in the midst of a typical, but very hard, winter without those municipal services. We're trying to distribute winterization materials such as flashlights, solar-powered lights, blankets and stoves, both for heating and for cooking. People have been cooking outside on wood fires. That's still possible, but it's obviously much harder now to forage for the wood, get it to start, and then do that. It's a pretty desperate situation in a lot of these places.”
After spending a few months back in the U.S. to recover from his surgery, Oldham was anxious to jump back into action to help Ukrainians. In May, he joined Action Against
Hunger France as field coordinator for southern Ukraine, covering activities in Odesa, Mykolaiv and Kherson oblasts.
“I am setting up a new main base in Mykolaiv and will be working and living there and making trips to Odesa and Kherson as our program expands,” he said in a June email update. “We will focus on three main areas: water and sanitation, direct cash assistance to displaced people, and mental health and psychosocial support for communities and individuals.”
Oldham said the western two-thirds of Ukraine has not been physically affected by the war, “but is full of internally displaced people that have fled the frontline areas and the occupied areas. A lot of municipal infrastructures like health facilities have been overwhelmed by an influx of people. In Lviv, there are 200,000 people that have come there from other parts of the country. So that's an extra 200,000 people that need health care, need education and need other services.”
He described the population as having extreme mental health needs. “Everyone has been traumatized by this to some degree, so there are 45 million people in need of some sort of psychosocial support. Some have lost their family members, their homes, their jobs, and others have just suffered from the fact that their country's been attacked. But everybody has been traumatized by this in some way, so we are providing direct services with a team of Ukrainian psychologists.”
But that is also problematic. Oldham said about 20 percent of the population has fled the country, including doctors and other health care workers, “so staffing is an issue for now.”
Non-governmental organizations like those Oldham has supported are also reconstructing and re-equipping health infrastructure that has been damaged by the war. The IMC is importing huge generators that can power a whole hospital.
“We want to make sure health services can continue to be delivered even when there's no electricity, by having a backup power source for hospitals or for hospitals that have been totally put off the grid by extensive damage in some of these formerly occupied areas.”
There is much to be done, and Oldham is hoping to stay in Ukraine for several more years.
“I really feel like with my cultural and language skills, this is where I'm meant to be in the world right now,” Oldham said.
“I'm hoping to stay through reconstruction, three to five years. You know, otherwise Kyiv is a very nice city. Wonderful people, beautiful, on the banks of the Dnieper River, beautiful onion-domed churches.
“It's a bit of a contradiction because we hear the bombs go off — sometimes they're that close to us — and we see the aftermath of that,” he continued. “But at the same time, I can go to the Nike store and get a new pair of sneakers. I can go to the
Story by Kathy McPherson
grocery store and get an avocado from Mexico, a banana from Ecuador or a tangerine from Morocco. There's no shortage of those basic goods in most of the country now. In the areas that have been recently liberated and a lot of that was damaged, those markets haven't returned and food is in short supply, but they will come back quickly.”
While Oldham’s entry into relief work was not intentional, he said “once I got into it, I was very drawn to the work and the sense of purpose, the meaningfulness of it, the challenges and the rewards of operating in complex, sometimes dangerous, operating environments.
“In a place like this [Ukraine], you really see the difference you're making in people's lives. Other places it's harder, like in Congo and Haiti. I was there after the earthquake in Haiti, and I'm not sure if Haiti is better off today. It continues to spiral backwards rather than forwards. … I've remained committed to this work. I cannot foresee doing anything else until I choose to retire, whenever that is.”
Oldham thinks growing up in Durham and attending Durham Academy helped set him on that path.
His father, Newland Oldham, was a Duke physician who did a lot of surgery overseas with Duke and with mission groups, including in Zimbabwe, Tanzania, Korea and Saudi Arabia.
And Oldham’s time at DA “was definitely a global, broadening experience. Dave Gould [a longtime history teacher who died in 2016] was one of the more influential teachers in my DA experience. … I think the sense of community and purpose that came out of DA also set the stage for me to be ready to do something like this, even though there wasn't a direct link. As I'm happy to admit, I stumbled into this just because I was a Russian speaker. I stumbled into Russian at Middlebury, but it all worked out.”
He remains committed to humanitarian work.
Looking back on 30 years of international relief work, “I obviously like it and feel it's challenging, rewarding, meaningful and satisfying, even when I'm in places like Haiti where it's maybe not really making a big difference. … But you know, in the end you do your best. You hope you've done something good today when you go to bed, and if you didn't you tried.”
PHOTOS COURTESY OF PHIL OLDHAM
ON
Cavaliers Campus
ALUMNI RETURN TO CAMPUS TO CONNECT, ENCOURAGE AND INSPIRE
GENERATIONAL CONNECTIONS
It’s always fun when multiple generations of Cavaliers cross paths! In May, kindergarten teacher Elizabeth Parry ’13 hosted her class play. Among the rapt audience members were her mom, former Middle School language arts and fourth-grade teacher Sarah Parry, and two of Sarah’s former students — Rob Bressler ’03 and Will Perrault ’02 — both of whom are dads to kindergartners in Elizabeth’s class. Elizabeth made sure to document the occasion because “I just thought it was a beautiful show of the family life at DA. �� ”
Brian Dibbert ’01 and Michael Dibbert ’99 stopped by Academy Road to get a first-hand look at the reimagination of the Middle School campus and a behind-the-scenes tour of the Gateway Center in April. During their visit, they also ran into their beloved former fifth-grade math teacher, Middle School Dean of Students Robert Wilson. Wilson was Brian's advisor and the Senior Project guide for Michael, who has taught and held leadership roles in schools in Memphis, Durham, Switzerland and Boston.
GETTING A LOOK AT GATEWAY
In January, a group of young DA alumni participated in a career panel for Upper School students. The group, which included Mukta Dharmapurikar ’22 (Harvard University), Walker Benjamin ’21 (Davidson College), Claire Middleton ’20 (Princeton University), Raksha Ramanan ’19 (Tufts University), Scarlett Reade ’18 (University of Southern California), Derek Rhodes ’11 (Duke University) and Braden Saba ’16 (University of Pennsylvania and Wake Forest University School of Medicine — not pictured), gathered in Smith Hall to share stories and advice about their college and career experiences. The event was organized by Lori Reade, who is serving in a new role as student development and career exploration counselor at the Upper School (learn more on page 20).
This year’s edition of In The Pocket’s annual Alumni & Family Show also celebrated a quarter-century of Durham Academy’s jazz-rock ensemble. More than 20 alumni from the classes of 1999 to 2022 joined current ITP members in January for the long-awaited anniversary performance in Kenan Auditorium. COVID-19 restrictions ruled out the 2021 show, and a surge of the COVID-19 Omicron variant canceled the 2022 show just days before the event. “The family reunion aspect makes it so special,” said Mike Meyer, Upper School music teacher and director of ITP. “It's so much fun having the alumni come back and putting this big party on stage. And also for the older alumni to get to meet the current group and the current group to get to meet the alumni. I think it's great for them to understand that they're part of a tradition that's been going on for a long time — honestly, before any of them were born. It's just crazy to think about. It's this cool thing that's been going on for years, and they get to be a part of it with each other.”
BUILDING THE METAVERSE
ITP ALUMNI & FAMILY SHOW
See the full performance at: url.da.org/itpalumni23
In February, Matt Earp ’97 visited the Upper School campus to share stories with students about his path from DA to Wesleyan University, from working as a professional DJ to managing a German lifestyle magazine to working at Google and ultimately joining Facebook to eventually help build the Metaverse. Earp described his current career as a content design leader for the Metaverse: “I create immersive experiences that are open, inclusive and joyful for everyone. My current focus is Meta Horizon Worlds, Meta's immersive world-building platform, helping people understand and navigate their experience through words, signs, symbols, sounds and shapes.”
Learn about Earp’s experience designing Meta Connect — a fully augmented reality/virtual reality conference — via LinkedIn: url.da.org/mattearp
YOUNG ALUMNI CAREER PANEL
Alumni Spotlight
Masaki Okawa ’77: REMAINING CONNECTED TO DA FROM JAPAN
“It's strange because it was only one year, my senior year, but that year changed my life forever.”
- Masaki Okawa '77
Masaki Okawa ’77 attended Durham Academy for only one year — 1976–1977 as an AFS Intercultural Programs exchange student from Japan — but those nine months represent decades’ worth of impact on his life.
“I owe so many things to my year at DA,” Okawa said when he returned to campus for Homecoming Weekend and his 45th reunion last September. “It's strange because it was only one year, my senior year, but that year changed my life forever.”
It was the third time Okawa had returned to DA. He visited in 2007 to participate in his 30th reunion activities — marking the first time he left Japan since 1977 — and also visited DA in 2017. After his 2007 visit, Okawa wrote a letter to his math teacher, Dr. Steve Davis, to tell him about the impact the teacher had on his life.
Reflecting on his senior year at DA, Okawa said “the most distinctive thing I learned from Durham Academy is that everything has to be seen from more than one frame of reference. … It's easy to say A is better and B is worse, but that's not true.
“What I want to say is I learned to appreciate or respect the differences at Durham Academy. Of course, I learned English, I learned mathematics, physics, and I owe everything, my entire existence, to Durham Academy, Dr. Davis and those teachers.” When Okawa was on campus in September, he participated in dedicating the STEM building's math faculty office in honor of Davis.
Okawa had been studying English for five years when he came to Chapel Hill in July 1976 to live with his host family, DA students Emily Oliver ’80, Todd Oliver ’84 and their parents.
“It was very different and very difficult because I couldn't understand what was going on around me. I didn't understand English at all, not at all. It was very difficult to follow the classes, especially English and U.S. History. Those two subjects were very, very difficult for me.”
AP Physics and AP Calculus were not as challenging. “Those two — well, those are very difficult courses — but still, they have physics and maths, so language was not a big deal for me.”
Athletic Hall of Fame Inducts Fifth Class
The Durham Academy Athletic Hall of Fame inducted its fifth class of honorees on Dec. 16, 2022, at halftime of the varsity boys basketball game in Kirby Gym. Following the game, the honorees were recognized in a more formal program in Smith Hall.
Established in 2013, the DA Athletic Hall of Fame comprises alumni athletes, coaches, administrators and supporters who were particularly outstanding in a specific sport and helped to advance athletics at DA in their time. With the induction of the 2021 class (its ceremony delayed until 2022 by COVID-19), the hall stands at 37 members, representing alumni classes ranging from 1977 to 2016, as well as coaches and supporters spanning the decades. The next class of the hall will be inducted in December 2024.
Inductees:
Tom Beischer ’87
Erika Streck Cerwin ’98
Adrianne Soo ’09
Justin Warren ’15
Cha’Mia Rothwell ’16
Ann Carole Moylan (posthumous)
Joe Moylan (posthumous)
Okawa said the Upper School was very different then. Students used pencils to take notes during class because “there was only one computer terminal on campus, which [classmate] George Williams used.”
He remembered that he was the only Asian person in the class of 1977 and was one of only two students of color in the class. He was amazed when Head of School Michael Ulku-Steiner told him students of color now comprise 45% of DA’s enrollment.
Okawa returned to Japan after his year at DA, graduated from Nagoya University, earned a law degree from Kyoto University and works in Tokyo, a city with a population of 14 million. He doesn’t practice law, but works to help U.S. and international companies get patents.
“The patent firm I work for is very old. It was established in 1902. The founder of the patent firm was general counsel to Gen. [Douglas] MacArthur and had a very strong connection with the U.S. We have many American clients — let's say, 95% of our clients are American corporations.
“We work for companies such as Microsoft, Pfizer, Honeywell, John Deere. I'm in the electronics, computer, communications and internet section, so some of the inventions I handle are from Microsoft. Also, recently the headquarters of Honeywell moved to Charlotte, so interestingly, I write many emails to them.”
Writing emails to a multinational company headquartered in North Carolina’s largest city is a quantum leap from 1976, when Okawa learned he was headed to North Carolina and had no familiarity with the U.S. state that would be his home for a year.
It was Okawa’s father who encouraged him to study and stay in the U.S. Okawa grew up in Ito, a resort town about two hours from Tokyo. His father, a university professor who commuted between Ito and Tokyo, had traveled to the United States as a tourist.
Okawa remembered his father saying, “Masaki, hey, you have to go to that great big, great country to see things. He didn't specify what I should do, but he said, ‘Why don't you
Story by Kathy McPherson
apply to this [AFS exchange program]?’ If he didn't, maybe I wouldn't have come.”
His life-changing experience as an exchange student has led to Okawa serving as an interviewer for Japan AFS for 30 years.
Coming to the U.S. for his senior year of high school meant Okawa started college a year later than his classmates because in Japan school starts in April, not in August or September. “I had to wait until the next spring to go to college,” Okawa said. “If I didn't come to the U.S., I would have gone [to college] in 1977 but I had to wait until ’78.
“Some people said that you shouldn't do that, because you can go to the university right away. But to me, it was not a bad choice because I got so many things from my experience. If I didn't come to the U.S., my life would have been not very different from other people in Japan. My life has been different from my, let's say, high school classmates in Japan, because I came to the U.S. and attended DA.”
Present for the induction ceremony were Justin Warren ’15, Erika Streck Cerwin ’98, Cha’Mia Rothwell ’16 and Tom Beischer ’87. Adrianne Soo ’09 was represented by her sister, Lindsay Soo ’12, and the late Ann Carole and Joe Moylan were represented by a host of family members.
Learn more about these legends of DA athletics and suggest future members at da.org/hof.
Read Okawa’s 2007 letter to Steve Davis, former Upper School math teacher at url.da.org/okawadavis
Charles Alexander 'Lex' Roach, Jr. ’66
Charles Alexander “Lex” Roach, Jr. died at his home in Durham on July 4, 2022. He graduated from North Carolina Wesleyan College, where he was class president. He began a successful sales career with Lane Furniture Company, where he was awarded Distinguished Sales Achiever multiple times and was promoted to Central Sales Manager. He never met a stranger and will be remembered for his genuine spirit, sense of humor, entertaining stories and lifelong love of Duke basketball. Survivors include two daughters, Lauren Shell Converse and Lindsey Roach Simmons; a sister, Nancy Roach Dougherty; two brothers, William Allen Roach and John Wesley Roach; and four grandchildren.
Anna Pleasants Collawn
Anna Pleasants Collawn passed away at her home in Charlotte on July 8, 2022. She grew up in Durham and graduated from Salem College. Collawn taught second grade at Calvert Method School, which became Durham Academy, and worked in the president's office at Duke University. She was a member of the Junior League of Charlotte and was active in the Booster Club at Charlotte Latin School. When Collawn died at age 92, she was in the midst of two novels on two different Kindles as well as a paperback and could recount every detail of all three. Survivors include a son, James Belknap Collawn; a daughter, Anna Collawn Bowden; and six grandchildren.
Julia Bailey Rowe ’12
Brilliant, hilarious and irrepressible, Julia Rowe died July 30, 2022, in Boston. She was intellectually curious throughout her education at Durham Academy and Tufts University, a five-year career at Wayfair, and beyond. She had a wickedly quick wit; was a deep and broad thinker; an inveterate feminist; an intimidating game/debate opponent; and an artistic soul. She was contagiously silly and a constant source of entertainment. She is survived by her parents, Timothy Durrett and Lori Sailer Rowe, and her younger sister, Dana Grace Rowe ’15.
Amelia Matthews
Amelia Keen Matthews died Aug. 17, 2022, at Duke Hospital. A graduate of Louisiana State University, she was awarded a Fulbright Scholarship to study in France, where she earned a master’s degree. Matthews taught French for 25 years at Durham Academy, and also taught at Durham School of the Arts. She was an outstanding teacher with high standards and compassion who was also fun to be with. Survivors include her husband of 47 years, John Matthews; a son, James Clifton Elam ’81; and three grandchildren.
Viola 'Tiny' Bradley
Viola “Tiny” Bradley died Sept. 8, 2022, in Durham. She thoroughly enjoyed her work career in school administration with Wake County Public Schools, followed by 26 years at Durham Academy. Once retired, Bradley frequently
In Memoriam
served as a substitute at DA, in addition to volunteering in the office at Westminster Presbyterian Church where she was an active member. She is survived by her husband of 66 years, James C. Bradley, Jr.; daughter, Susan Bradley Petry; sons, James William Bradley and Robert Michael Bradley; five grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.
Harriet Ann Little ’74
Harriet Ann Little died Jan. 15, 2023, in Wilmington. She was a student at Durham Academy from kindergarten through ninth grade, attended N.C. State University and graduated from UNC-Chapel Hill. Little took pride in her career as a dental hygienist in Atlanta and Wilmington, and she enjoyed volunteering for Lower Cape Fear Hospice and the local animal shelter. She is survived by her mother, Ann Miles Little Smyth of Wilmington, and her brother, Thomas A. Little of Durham.
Stephen 'Steve' Walker Harris
Stephen "Steve" Walker Harris died Jan. 31, 2023, in Durham. He navigated many health issues with his head held high and left a trail of witty one-liners for whomever was around. A man of few words, who had a far-reaching impact on many people and organizations, he was a true Tar Heel who loved to see Duke lose and as a CPA loved doing "hard math" to the end. Survivors include his wife of 60 years, Chasie Allen Harris ’59; four children; 10 grandchildren; and his brother, Bo Harris ’56.
Nancy 'Nan' Alyea Schiebel
Nancy "Nan" Alyea Schiebel died Feb. 13, 2023, in Durham. She grew up in Durham and graduated from Duke University. After studying accounting at UNC-Chapel Hill, Schiebel
became a Certified Public Accountant at a time when there were almost no female CPAs. She worked as a CPA for more than 20 years, and was an active community volunteer for more than 50 years, including serving as a trustee of Durham Academy. She is survived by a daughter, Elizabeth Schiebel Albright ’88; two grandsons, Max Albright ’26 and James Albright ’28; and a brother, Edwin Alyea, Jr..
Ezekiel 'Zeke' Tulsky ’15
Ezekiel “Zeke” Tulsky died on Feb. 24, 2023, after an acute abdominal emergency. He died with his loving family by his side and, with the same kindness with which he lived his life, he participated in the organ donation program and was able to save the lives of four people. Tulsky was a graduate of Cornell University's School of Hotel Administration, and he served as a senior associate with Creo Advisors in New York. He is survived by his parents, James Tulsky and Ilana Saraf, and a brother, Noah Tulsky ’12.
Jones Davis 'Dave' Pollard ’60
Jones Davis “Dave” Pollard passed away at Duke Hospital on Feb. 27, 2023. He attended Atlantic Christian College and served in the U.S. Army reserves from 1964–1970 as a drill sergeant. Pollard worked in banking, real estate and investments, but wildlife preservation was a lifetime cause. He founded the original Durham chapter of the Ducks Unlimited (DU) organization in 1970 and was a passionate waterfowl decoy collector. He was a member of Watts Street Baptist Church throughout his life. Survivors include his wife of 51 years, Rhonda Pollard; two daughters, Julia Pollard Rice and Joy Pollard Halsey; a brother, Larry Pollard '66; and three grandchildren.
Robert Alexander 'Bob' Ingram
Robert Alexander Ingram died March 24, 2023, in Durham. He served on the Durham Academy Board of Trustees from 1991–1994. A graduate of Eastern Illinois University, he joined Glaxo in 1990, was head of its U.S. operations, led the British firm GlaxoWellcome through its merger to become GlaxoSmithKline and was promoted to CEO. He was an advocate for cancer awareness, forming the CEO Roundtable on Cancer in 2001 at the behest of former President George H.W. Bush and served on the National Institutes of Health Cancer Advisory Board. Survivors include his wife, Jeanie Ingram; sons Rory Ingram and Cam Ingram ’95; and grandchildren Olivia Ingram and Cameron Ingram.
Mary Peacock Nelson ’64
Mary Peacock Nelson died April 6, 2023, in Northfield, Minnesota. A graduate of St. Olaf College, she became a teacher before working at Carleton College as secretary in the physical plant, admissions office and language center for over 35 years. Survivors include her son, Cullen; two grandsons; and a sister, Margaret Peacock ’71.
WEDDINGS
1. Samantha Leder ’08 & Phil Bick ’05
April 30, 2022 | Chapel Hill, NC
Pictured in the wedding party from the left Emma Bick ’11 (fourth), Constance Leder ’14 (fifth) and Evan Bick ’02 (eighth)
2. Nina Borges ’03 & William Peyton
July 30, 2022 | Durham, NC
3. Elizabeth South & David Miller
Preschool music and Lower School
drama teacher
Dec. 22, 2022 | Chapel Hill, NC
BABIES
4. Shayna Willis Dorvilier
First-grade teacher
SON: Giovanni
5. Jesús Sánchez
Middle School Spanish teacher
SON: Nolan
6. Courtney Monahan and John Phillips
Upper School Latin teacher and Upper School
Latin and history teacher, respectively
SON: Brendan Michael
7. Caitlin Cleaver ’10
SON: Patrick
Pictured with big sister, Rose
8. Hunter and Jordan Babwah
Health director and fitness director, respectively
DAUGHTER: Carter
9. Pamela McKenney
Lower School art teacher
SON: Grey
Pictured with brothers, Hayes and Jack, and dad, Cullen McKenney
10.Costen Irons ’98
Preschool/Lower School PE teacher
SON: River
Pictured with big sister, Cypress, and mom, Chela Tu
Share your wedding or baby news with us at da.org/shareyournews, and we'll include it in a future issue of DA Magazine!
Kathy McPherson ’66 A Cavalier Through and Through
This issue of Durham Academy Magazine is dedicated to Kathy Davenport McPherson’s love of Durham Academy has compelled her to tell the story of the school and its students, faculty and staff for 38 years.
For the majority of her decades as Associate Director of Communications, Kathy served as a one-woman marketing and communications shop — the creative and eagle-eyed editor of this magazine, a prolific and talented writer, a skilled photographer and a forwardthinking strategist. Eventually, she was joined in this work by colleagues who have been kept in awe by her encyclopedic knowledge of the school and its people. She has served as a mentor to many and a friend to all whose paths she has crossed.
Kathy’s association with Durham Academy dates to 1953, when she enrolled in Calvert Method School (later
renamed Durham Academy) as a kindergartner. She is mother to two DA alumni, Will McPherson ’97 and Maggie McPherson Weir ’01, and she will add “DA grandmother” to her long list of DA ties this fall, as her granddaughter Kit Weir ’35 enrolls in first grade.
Kathy retires from Durham Academy at the close of the 2022–2023 school year, having made the school a better place each day through her work. Among the words her colleagues through the years used to describe her: loyal, principled, compassionate, committed, dedicated, genuine and grace. May we all strive to live, learn and serve by her example.
Congratulations, Durham Academy Class of 2023! We wish you success in your future endeavors:
