The Exeter Bulletin, summer 2013

The Exeter Bulletin

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Summer 2013

Commencement 2013

We couldn’t have said it any better.

Thank you.

When you choose to support the Academy, it’s more than a transaction. It’s a demonstration of your belief in the value of the Exeter experience and a direct investment in the lives of our students and faculty.

On behalf of everyone at Exeter, thank you.

The Exeter Fund

Around the Table

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Contents

Principal Thomas E.Hassan ’56,’66,’70,’06(Hon.);P’11 Director of Communications Robin Giampa Editor Karen Ingraham Staff Writers Mike Catano, Alice Gray, Nicole Pellaton, Famebridge Witherspoon

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Features 20 | COMMENCEMENT 2013 Pathways traveled together Address by Principal Thomas E. Hassan, plus photos of the day

Class Notes Editor Janice M. Reiter Editorial Assistant Susan Goraczkowski Creative Director/Design David Nelson, Nelson Design Contributing Editors Edouard L. Desrochers Karen Stewart Communications Advisory Committee Daniel G. Brown ’82, Robert C. Burtman ’74, Dorinda Elliott ’76, Alison Freeland ’72, Keith Johnson ’52, Yvonne M. Lopez ’93 TRUSTEES President G. Thompson Hutton ’73 Vice President Eunice Johnson Panetta ’84 Wole C. Coaxum ’88, Flobelle Burden Davis ’87, Marc C. de La Bruyère ’77, Walter C. Donovan ’81, John A. Downer ’75, Mark A. Edwards ’78, Jonathan W. Galassi ’67, Thomas E. Hassan ’56, ’66, ’70, ’06 (Hon.); P’11, Jennifer P. Holleran ’86, David R. Horn ’85, William K. Rawson ’71, Dr. Nina D. Russell ’82, J. Douglas Smith ’83, Della Spring ’79, Morgan C. Sze ’83, and Remy White Trafelet ’88 The Exeter Bulletin (ISSN No. 0195-0207) is published four times each year: fall, winter, spring, and summer, by Phillips Exeter Academy, 20 Main Street, Exeter NH 03833-2460, 603-772-4311.

Periodicals postage paid at Exeter, NH, and at additional mailing offices. Printed in the USA by Cummings Printing.

The Exeter Bulletin is printed on recycled paper and sent free of charge to alumni, parents, grandparents, friends, and educational institutions by Phillips Exeter Academy, Exeter, NH. Communications may be addressed to the editor; email bulletin@exeter.edu.

Copyright 2013 by the Trustees of Phillips Exeter Academy.

ISSN-0195-0207 Postmasters: Send address changes to: Phillips Exeter Academy, Records Office, 20 Main Street, Exeter, NH 03833-2460.

28 | LITERATURE OVER LUNCH Breaking down silos with PEA’s Weekly Book Club

By Lee Behnke, instructor in classical languages and English

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Departments 4 Around the Table: Faculty appointments, Exeter in India and Israel, curatorial Harkness, and more.

10 Table Talk with Zachary Lehman ’91 and Kendra Stearns O’Donnell 14 Exoniana: A classical way to tell time, and memories of the origins of Principal’s Day 17 Exonians in Review: America 1933: The Great Depression, Lorena Hickok, Eleanor Roosevelt, and the Shaping of the New Deal by Michael Golay, history instructor. Reviewed by Townsend Ludington ’53

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33 Inside the Shell: The art and science behind Exeter Crew

by Mike Catano. Plus, spring sports roundup.

38 Connections: News and Notes from the Alumni Community 40 Profiles: Fred Culick ’52, Betsy Williamson ’88 and Cindy Chang ’02 108 Memorial Minutes: Charles Pratt ’52, former Bennett Fellow director, and David Thomas, emeritus chair of the Classical Languages Department 112 Finis Origine Pendet: “For I have pressing business to attend.” By Ama Boah ’98 Visit Exeter on the web at www.exeter.edu.

Email us at bulletin@exeter.edu.

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THE EXETER BULLETIN IS PRINTED ON PAPER WITH 10% POST-CONSUMER CONTENT, USING SOY-BASED INKS.

COVER: HALEY BAKER ’13 AND VERONICA SCOTT ’13. PHOTO BY CHERYL SENTER.

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Graduation Day 2013 Seniors, their family and friends, and the Academy community gathered together on June 9 to celebrate a journey’s end—a rite of passage more than two centuries old at the Academy.

—Photo by Cheryl Senter

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The View from Here

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Around theTable

What’s new and notable at the Academy

Curatorial Harkness M O U N T I N G L U M I N O U S T E R R A I N : T H E A RT O F T H E W H I T E M O U N TA I N S AT T H E L A M O N T G A L L E RY

By Lauren O’Neal, Lamont Gallery director

“If, then, it is indeed true that the contemplation of scenery can be so abundant a source of delight and improvement, a taste for it is certainly worthy of particular cultivation; for the capacity for enjoyment increases with the knowledge of the true means of obtaining it.” —Thomas Cole, in “Essay on American Scenery,” from the January 1836 American Monthly Magazine 1.

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SARA ZELA

his spring, the Lamont Gallery hosted an exceptionally successful exhibition that featured the private collections of four PEA alumni (classes of 1943, 1951 and 1965).What was distinctive about this exhibition—in addition to the quality and range of the work on view— was that the planning and execution of the project was the curatorial equivalent of a Harkness discussion.

Perhaps coincidentally, this approach mirrored the development of the White Mountains region itself: Early settlers built guesthouses and hotels, offering tourists places to stay, warm meals and guided visits to the mountaintops. The works of artists and wr iters such as Benjamin Champney and Nathaniel Hawthorne encouraged yet more people to explore the area. Not every aspect of this history was as tranquil as it would seem in the paintings, but the desire for adventure, knowledge and spiritual enlightenment was shared by all who made the journey.

Our understanding of the White Mountains has been shaped by this lively assortment of visitors, with their own particular observations, opinions or relationships to the region.While some voices, such as the Rev. Thomas Starr King’s, were quite influential, it was the accumulation of every visitor’s voice that contributed to the captivating history that we know today.

Luminous Terrain: The Art of the White Mountains also came into being as a collective endeavor, incorporating the contributions of numerous people and institutions. While it began with one collec-

tor, the concept quickly grew to include three other collectors, united by an affiliation with Exeter and a passion for White Mountain paintings. Other voices, from historians to designers, were invited into the discussion, shaping the exhibition in unexpected ways.

Throughout the process, this dynamic and diverse group asked a lot of questions. How many paintings? Four or 400? (We settled on 44.) How would the paintings be displayed? Stacked “salon style” as was fashionable in centuries past, or did each painting require its own, albeit small, territory, to allow the visitor to contemplate the subtleties of brushstroke and color at close range? What resources did the Academy Library offer that we could integrate into the display? What other programs could complement viewers’ understanding of the work? Lectures? Readings? Hikes in long skirts to re-create the winter Mount Washington journey of Lucy Crawford’s mountaineering daughters in 1874? We did not lack for ideas, just as early travelers did not lack for new summits to explore.

“What about this?” was a common starting point for discussions, which took place in person and via email and phone, in kitchens and storage rooms, while driving on New Hampshire’s scenic back roads or inching through rush-hour traffic in downtown Boston. Once the exhibition opened, visitors, too, offered their input and suggestions, and we continued to add elements, such as a map of the region, in response. Much of our time in the gallery was spent talking—exchanging ideas, gaining new insights, and hearing stories of visitors’ personal encounters with the landscapes around them.

While not all of our questions were answered during the process, and not all of our ideas were implemented, these overlapping discussions amounted to a deeply rewarding curatorial dialogue. Thank you to all of the many different voices that contributed to this rich discussion. It was a process, to paraphrase Thomas Cole, well worth cultivating.

Trustee Roundup

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he Trustees of the Academy met on campus Wednesday, May 15, through Friday, May 17. On Wednesday, several trustees met with members of the Principal’s Staff and academic department heads as part of an annual evaluation of Principal Tom Hassan. Later that evening, the Trustees gathered for dinner and conversation.

The Trustees began their official meetings Thursday morning with a report highlighting the Academy’s diversity and equity work, which is aimed at fostering a caring and connected PEA community.

The Trustees then discussed issues related to our alumni and fundraising efforts. Director of Institutional Advancement Ted Probert P’12 reported on the changes in The Exeter Fund, a program that for years has been known as the Annual Giving Fund.

Director of Alumni and Parent Relations Harold Brown ’74 outlined his successful efforts to become better acquainted with Exeter parents in Asian countries.

The meeting then turned to a discussion of facilities. Chief of Planning and Facilities Roger Wakeman P’09, P’11 updated the Trustees on various projects under construction or being planned.

He noted that several summer projects, including the upgrade of the steam distribution system on Elliot Street, the Lamont Health and Wellness Center renovation and the Williams House construction, are proceeding as planned.

Other projects being planned for the upcoming months include the exterior upgrade of Webster Hall and landscaping of the quad between Phillips Hall and Wetherell Dining Hall. The trees and plantings in that area will be minimal in accordance with input received from community members. Wakeman also provided brief updates on planning for summer 2014 work, which will include the interior of Webster Hall and upgrades to Elm Street Dining Hall.

Finally, Wakeman and the Trustees discussed the need to keep in mind master planning for our athletic facilities, especially the aging Thompson Cage.

The morning meetings concluded with a report from the Investment Committee and a discussion of a letter received from a group of students calling for the Academy’s divestment in companies that produce fossil fuels.

Part of Thursday afternoon was devoted to a review of the Academy budgets for the current year and 2013–14. An operating budget of $91 million was approved for the 2013–14 academic year.

Trustee Chair of the Budget and Finance Committee Tony Downer ’75; P’06, P’06, P’07 thanked Chief Financial Officer Chris Wejchert for his dedicated service to the Trustees and to the Academy and wished Wejchert success in his new role at The Governor’s Academy. The afternoon meetings ended with a discussion of Exeter’s three immediate priorities—Intellectual Ambition, Goodness and Global Exploration—and a review of the progress being made in those areas. Principal Hassan stated the need to work with the community on additional planning around these pillar concepts (continued on page 107) and will ask the community for

Faculty and Staff Awards and Prizes This spring, the following Exeter faculty and staff members were recognized for the quality of their work and their contributions to the life of the school.

Blair Brown ’58 and Borden Brown ’56 Staff Excellence Awards Anita Bailey Facilities Management Dylan Morrissette Grill Jeanne Moser Institutional Advancement Eric Roach Dining Services Karin Tenney-Helfrich Summer School The Brown Family Faculty Fund Awards David Gulick Science

New Teacher Awards Kevin Bartkovich Mathematics Nori Down (New Faculty Award) Admissions Allison Duke Theater and Dance The Class of 1964 Fund Awards Pat Buxton Facilities Management Tom French Facilities Management Deborah Waleryszak Admissions

Nat Hawkins English

Diane Wojtkowski Harris Family Children’s Center

Leah Merrill ’93 History

Tobi Zinck Facilities Management

Matt Miller English

The Rupert Radford Faculty Fellowship Awards Dale Braile Mathematics

Fermín Pérez-Andreu Modern Languages Dr. Daniel E. Koshland Jr. ’37 Distinguished Faculty Awards Zuming Feng Mathematics Tom Simpson Religion Dorm Adviser Awards Kwasi Boadi History Christina Breen English Matt Hartnett Classical Languages

Gordon Coole Lamont Health and Wellness Center, Physical Education Bill Dennehy Physical Education Sharon Finley Science Lark Hammond English Hobart Hardej Mathematics Chris Matlack Science

George S. Heyer Jr. ’48 Teaching Fund Awards Barbara Eggers History Andy Hertig ’57 History

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Around the Table

In the Assembly Hall A S A M P L I N G O F S P E A K E R S W H O C A M E TO C A M P U S March 26: Majka Burhardt Professional climber, author and filmmaker

MIKE CATANO

March 29: Victoria Arlen Gold and silver medalist, London 2012 Paralympic Games

NICOLE PELLATON

Victoria Arlen, 18, who won gold and silver medals in the London 2012 Paralympic Games just four years after emerging from a coma, captured the hearts of the assembled students with her relentlessly upbeat message of overcoming obstacles, connecting directly with the students in ways they could understand.

“This is a tough age,” the Exeter High School senior said. “We are all trying to figure out who we are, what we are doing, even what we’re going to wear. I feel for you! There’s a reason for each and every one of us being here today.”

At the age of 11, Arlen contracted a rare viral disease that left 6

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April 9: Parnian Nazary ’06 Program associate, Conflict Prevention and Peace Forum

“Whenever I come to Exeter, I feel like I am coming home because it was the first home for me when I left Afghanistan in 2004,” Parnian Nazary told students.

She shared the story of her personal journey from the Middle East to PEA dur ing assembly, which was part of the multiday Robbins Memorial Symposium.

Nazary told Exonians of a childhood spent in Pakistani refugee camps and in Afghanistan under the Taliban, where to be female meant no schooling and no jobs. Nazary said she relied mainly on her family and her own efforts to keep learning: “The best I could do was silent resistance. I could only fight such ideology through the power of education. My home became my school and I became my own teacher. . . .This strong motivation to learn, born at that time, will live with me forever.”

After the Taliban fell, Nazary returned to Afghan schools as a ninth-grader before studying at Exeter.

“I’m very thankful for the support of the Exeter community,” she told students. “When I came to Exeter, I had teachers not only inside my classes, [but] they were also happy to meet me outside of class! I spent a lot of time with my teachers and that’s why some of them are my friends now.”

Today, Nazary is a program associate for the Conflict Prevention and Peace Forum at the Social Science Research Council in New York.

MIKE CATANO

Beginning life as a self-described “wussy kid,” Majka Burhardt says a “toughen up Majka campaign” by her father awakened within her an eventual passion for outdoor adventure in remote areas.

The professional climber’s highly energized assembly talk focused on her journeys to the African countries of Ethiopia and Namibia, where Burhardt not only scaled unclimbed rock faces but also discovered ways to combine physical adventure with greater cultural awareness, something she terms “Additive Adventure.”

The author of two books, Vertical Ethiopia: Climbing Toward Possibility in the Horn of Africa and Coffee Story: Ethiopia, Burhardt spoke of her desire in 2009 to explore Namibia, the second least-populated country in Africa, after seeing images of rock faces there.

“It wasn’t just the rocks that excited me,” she said. “I thought, ‘What else could be there?’ It didn’t take me long in my research to come across photos of the Himba people.” A year later, Burhardt had produced a documentary film, Waypoint Namibia, capturing first ascents and cultural connections with the remote, pastoral tribes.

“Adventure doesn’t happen in a vacuum,” she told students.

“You are next to history, you are next to the living of history, and the living of the day’s reality. . . . [As] adventurers, we can project a new way to think about the world. If we can share that with the world, how can we not [do so]?”

Outing Club members and other students joined Burhardt for lunch in the Latin Study afterward.

her without the use of her legs after two years in a coma. As she recovered, she began a new athletic career starting with sled hockey, where she made the U.S. Women’s National Sled Hockey Team after only a few months. In August 2011, encouraged to restart her swimming career, Arlen set her sights on competing in the London 2012 Paralympic Games for Team USA. Ultimately, she astounded even her fans with three silver medals and a gold medal in the 100-meter freestyle as she set a world record of 1 minute, 13.3 seconds.

At the close of assembly, Arlen taught PEA students her motto for dealing with life’s obstacles: “Face it. Embrace it. Defy it.

Conquer it.”

April 19: John Lynch New Hampshire’s 80th governor

When former New Hampshire Gov. John Lynch was CEO of Knoll Inc., a national furniture manufacturer, he gave every employee his home phone number. Later, as governor, he sometimes gave his cellphone number to residents.

During a talk made possible by the Robert H. Mundheim ’50 Lecture Fund, Lynch, who served as governor for four terms (2004–12), focused on the similarities and differences between public- and private-sector leadership.

“You need to earn the trust of the people with whom you work,” he said. “As governor, every morning [when] I woke up I thought about going out and earning the trust of the people of New Hampshire.” His role at Knoll was no different. Hired to turn around a company losing $50 million a year, he said, “It wasn’t until I had earned the trust of the people that I saw the company turning and ultimately becoming very profitable.”

Lynch also addressed the challenges of decision-making in the public sector, where he had 400 state representatives, 24 state senators and five executive councilors, “each of whom wanted to be involved in every decision I made, however big or small.”

Yet, he added, “I absolutely loved being governor. It really does give you the opportunity to make a difference in the lives of other people.”

After assembly, Lynch met with two classes and had lunch with students.

April 26: N. Gregory Mankiw Robert M. Beren Professor of Economics, Harvard University

NICOLE PELLATON

MIKE CATANO

Around the Table

April 23: Nicholas Kristof

Nicholas Kristof spent two days on PEA’s campus, meeting with students, presenting at assembly and delivering an evening talk.

Kristof, who travels the world to investigate issues of human rights, health, education, poverty and gender inequality, spoke about his work as a journalist and his book, Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide, coauthored with his wife, Sher yl WuDunn.

At assembly, Kristof told stories about his exper iences working abroad—some humorous, such as finding a listening device planted in his apartment in China, and many others focused on his work to fight oppression against women and girls.

“There are incredible ways we can help other people,” said Kristof, encouraging Exonians to take part in community service projects, and to learn about diverse cultures directly through work and educational experiences abroad.

Kristof was warmly welcomed by the student board and faculty advisers of Exeter’s student newspaper, The Exonian, who hosted him, as well as the Selected Topics in Religion class, which focuses on New York Times best-sellers. In stories that traveled the globe—from Tiananmen Square to Steubenville, OH—Kristof spoke to Exonians with empathy and experience.

His visit was sponsored by the Richard and Joan S. Strickler Exonian Fund.

May 10: John Hays ’78 Deputy chairman of Christie’s

DAN COURTER

NICOLE PELLATON

Author and award-winning columnist, The New York Times

A generational conflict is in the works—between you and the aging baby boomers. That was the message of N. Gregory Mankiw, head of Harvard’s Department of Economics and former chairman of President George W. Bush’s Council of Economic Advisers, at assembly.

People are living longer and having fewer children, leading to an increasing elderly share of the population and a concomitant increase in costs to government-funded retirement and health care programs, Mankiw explained.

“Who is going to have to pay for these programs?” Mankiw asked.

“You are. . . .The question is, what do we do about it? Spend less?

Tax more? The big generational conflict is to what extent we are going to do those two things.”

Mankiw detailed several strategies to show that, from an economist’s point of view, the result may not necessarily be what’s expected. “A lot of preventative care is a good thing but is not going to save us money,” he said, citing smoking.While stopping smoking is good for health reasons, it increases health care costs overall because “smokers tend to die young,” which saves money on Social Security and Medicare. “Don’t smoke!” he told Exonians, for your health, not economics.

During his two-day visit to campus, Mankiw also met with three classes and gave a public evening lecture titled “The Fiscal Challenges Ahead.” Mankiw’s visit was sponsored by the Hotchkis Visitors Program, established by Preston B. Hotchkis ’47.

On campus for his 35th reunion, John Hays, deputy chairman of Christie’s, regaled his audience at assembly with stories about the auction house’s most historic sales of American art.

Hays detailed the meticulous work of art historians who research each auction item, illustrating his point with the discovery of the Joseph and Bathsheba Pope valuables cabinet. Christie’s staff, after nights poring over the archives, assigned a 1679 date to the piece and placed it in Salem, MA—in the midst of the infamous witch trials. The cabinet went on to sell for more than $2.4 million.

He also gave an insider’s view into the story behind the $6.7 million auction of a 1770s Philadelphia tea table. Hays’ Christie’s team won out over an offer from a competing auctioneer by arriving unannounced at the owner’s home with a moving van, which just happened to be fully equipped and ready to whisk the table away to New York City, pending the owner’s approval.

“The moral: You can will yourself to [do] anything,” Hays told students.

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Eastern Exposure F A C U LT Y A N D S T U D E N T S S P E N D S P R I N G B R E A K I N A S I A

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n March, Academy community members traveled eastward to two different countries and a kaleidescope of cultural experiences—a reflection of the Academy’s mission to expand opportunities for global exploration and learning.

Israel

(Opposite page, top) PEA students and faculty with Santiniketan tribal village members, in West Bengal, India.

Twelve faculty members representing 10 different academic and administrative departments on campus, traveled to Israel and journeyed through urban and remote areas of the country—from the Western Wall and the Temple Mount in the Old City of Jerusalem northward to the Sea of Galilee and the Golan Heights. The faculty not only visited sites of historical and cultural significance but also spoke with everyday citizens in the regions they visited, as well as politicians, journalists, academics, tour guides and community leaders. The experience made lasting impressions, as expressed below: “Our immersion into the complexities of religion, culture, history and politics provoked deep questions, self-corrections and insights at every turn. We met with a Jerusalem city councilwoman who is a modern Orthodox Jewish feminist. We stood at the foot of the massive wall separating Jerusalem from Bethlehem, and my stomach turned as an endless line of Palestinian workers streamed on foot through a checkpoint, only to begin another phase of their long commute.

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India

India was the destination for Exeter’s first studentfaculty co-learning trip. Ten students and 10 faculty members spent two weeks together touring New Delhi, Varanasi and smaller towns like Santiniketan, in West Bengal. Along the way, they met tribal villagers, high school students and teachers, tour guides and Indian citizens—experiencing the culture through these different lenses as well as through their own impressions. Several trip members cast their reflections into poems or essays written as the trip concluded. Others captured the people and places in vivid photography. All returned to Exeter and shared these transformative experiences with the broader community, which culminated in an evening presen-

JOANNE LEMBO

(Above) Faculty members in front of the Temple Mount, a religious site in the Old City of Jerusalem.

We stood on a lookout near the vineyards and waterfalls of spectacular Golan Heights, looking into southern Syria, a nation that may no longer exist. I was moved to tears by the children’s memorial at Yad Vashem (the Israeli Holocaust museum) and the Yitzhak Rabin museum. Then the same tears flowed as a Palestinian woman, a high school English teacher, told us she was getting ready to teach ‘The Road Not Taken.’ I walked in the footsteps of Jesus in Jerusalem and the Sea of Galilee, and I walked in the footsteps of Madonna in the holy city of Safed, the mystic birthplace of Kabbalah. I sang my alma mater’s fight song in the Roman amphitheater at Caesarea (in the footsteps of Dylan, Clapton and Baez!), and I glimpsed the gorgeous intimacy of Jaffa’s mosques, churches, synagogues, cafes, market stalls and artists’ studios on the Mediterranean.Then I remembered that just a few miles away, Palestinian children are growing to be 10, 15, 20 years old without ever seeing that sea….I cannot express how grateful I am to have had the chance to take this journey with so many wonderful colleagues. We have become much closer to one another, and our enduring closeness and passion are bound to have a remarkable ripple effect on our community in the months and years to come.”

—Religion Instructor Tom Simpson

DAVID GULICK

Around the Table

tation and exhibit in May at the Academy Library. One student shared an experience she had in Delhi: “One day, while we were waiting outside a restaurant for lunch, a little boy walked up to me. Now in India I had already experienced children approaching me and begging for food or money, but this boy was different. He was holding a wooden toolkit with polish and cloth in it and asked, ‘Ma’am may I polish your shoes?’ Then he place his toolkit on the ground and knelt down in front of me. I couldn’t help but feel that this little boy was lowering himself in front of me, almost as if he were part of the ground I walked on. He always kept his eyes down, never looking me in the eyes. I was heartbroken. I didn’t want to leave him, though I also didn’t want my canvas shoes polished, so instead I sat down with him. We probably looked like quite a spectacle in the middle of a parking lot. He surely looked confused at my actions.

His name was Hashim. He was 10. I asked if he was in school, but he didn’t answer, simple looked down at his livelihood sitting in front of him. I tried to ask about his family, but I had reached the language barrier. I wanted to do something for Hashim, but I knew that giving to the street children was ill-advised. I

remembered the necklaces I had bought earlier. I had 20, and I sure didn’t need that many so I gave Hashim a black one. I also remember a Coke I had been given earlier, so I took that out, opened it and gave it to him. I could see the smile forming. But soon I had to leave Hashim. In the few moments I spent with him, he taught me something. That if I can make someone smile or happy maybe for only a few minutes, then I have accomplished something. It’s a small gesture but it truly does count.

The poverty in India is shocking. The [number] of children begging for food and money on the streets is absolutely appalling.... And we are the people who have the capabilities to change this…for the children like Hashim in the world. Now Hashim didn’t talk much, but I surely heard his voice.

—Madison Firkey ’14

Two Lacrosse Players Named Under Armour All-Americans

MIKE CATANO (2)

Seniors Chris Keating and Matt Ryan, members of PEA’s boys varsity lacrosse this spring, were named to the Under Armour All-America Game, which was played on July 6 at Towson University’s Johnny Unitas Stadium in Towson, MD. Only 44 of the nation’s top male high school seniors earn the sport’s most prestigious honor. Under Armour AllAmericans are selected by a panel of lacrosse experts at Inside Lacrosse magazine. The yearlong process includes input from college and high school coaches from across the country. Keating will attend Yale in the fall, and Ryan will compete against him when he takes to the field for Harvard.

Longtime coach and Mathematics Instructor Eric Bergofsky ’79 (Hon.); P’98, P’02 enjoyed having these two players on his team during his final season. Bergofsky retired from coaching in May, after 36 years, to dedicate more time to his new role as chair of the Mathematics Department.

(Left) Matt Ryan ’13 on the offensive against a St. Sebastian School player.

(Right) Chris Keating ’13 defends against a Northfield Mount Hermon player.

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From One Principal to Another TA B L E TA L K W I T H K E N D R A S T E A R N S O ’ D O N N E L L A N D Z A C H A RY L E H M A N ’ 9 1 By Susannah Clark ’84

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FRED CARLSON

n his first year as headmaster at The Hill School, a coeducational boarding school of 512 secondary school students in Pottstown, PA, Zachary Lehman ’91 has—like most new headmasters—dealt with “a number of issues on the table,” from fundraising to iPads in the classroom to a hurricane strike, and he’s had to tackle them without the benefit of prior experience to guide him.

But Lehman, who took the helm last fall, hasn’t gone it alone. Soon after his appointment, he picked up the phone and called Exeter Principal Emerita Kendra Stearns O’Donnell ’31, ’47, ’63, ’91, ’97 (Hon.); P’00, to ask if she would mentor him. In her decade at Exeter (1987–97), O’Donnell implemented significant changes and weathered her share of administrative trials, experience she could offer to Lehman.

“I can turn to her for anything, from finance to fundraising to student life to academics to spiritual life,” Lehman says. “She always has an anecdote or experience that’s relevant, [like,] ‘Let me tell you the story about the Potting Shed at Exeter.’ She has r ight-on-themoney, great advice that usually confirms my instinct. She allows me to vent, and then says, ‘Now let’s talk about what you should really do.’ ” This relationship began informally when Lehman was applying for headmaster positions. He was not an obvious candidate; he first worked as an attorney after graduating from Harvard Law School and then spent six years at Gould Academy in Bethel, ME, as assistant head of school for advancement. “Any search committee would be taking a risk with him; part of his background wouldn’t match what they would be looking for,” O’Donnell observes. “I helped him think through some of the questions he could expect and where to look in his own experience for the answers.”

When he began at The Hill, Lehman formalized the relationship with O’Donnell. “Many people said, ‘Make sure you get a good coach, someone you can turn to outside the school for advice,’ ” he says. “There’s not exactly a Yellow Pages for headmaster coaches, but I really thought that [Kendra’s] experience—having come to Exeter as a younger, nontraditional, first female headmaster—would be helpful to me. I knew how much she had accomplished there, and I had a nice rapport with her.”

“I thought it was a great idea,” O’Donnell agrees. “I liked Zack, and I was pleased that he had landed at The Hill—exactly the kind of school that I thought would be a great fit for him, a really solid place but facing challenges. And I thought I would have something to contribute because I understand, I have experience, and I want to share it.”

For instance, O’Donnell says, “Zack felt he couldn’t wait around to make things happen. But I asked (continued on page 107) him to take a step back:To solve all the issues may take a bit longer than

Faculty Wire N E W F A C U LT Y A P P O I N T M E N T S A N N O U N C E D

RICHARD HOWARD

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ean of Faculty Ron Kim

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BRIAN CROWLEY

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announced the following six faculty member appointments to endowed teaching positions: Science Instructor Townley Chisholm P’10, P’11, P’14 is now the Independence Foundation Distinguished Professor. This award was created to honor a long-standing faculty member recognized as among the Academy’s most esteemed teachers. Chisholm, who earned his B.A. from Harvard University and his M.Sc. from Pembroke College (Oxford), came to the Academy in 1994.

Mathematics Instructor Stephanie Girard P’13 is the John E. and Mary E. Smith Memorial Distinguished Professor in Mathematics, created to support “an accomplished senior faculty member from the Mathematics Department.” Girard is recognized for her high standard of scholarship and teaching and her success in mentoring the Academy’s young faculty.

Girard joined the faculty in 1986, and earned her B.A. from Boston College and her M.A. from the University of Virginia.

Brooks Moriarty ’87, an instructor in English since 2008, is the Barton Evans and H. Andrea Neves Instructor in the Humanities. Established in 2004 by Neves and Evans ’66, this award honors an early or midcareer member of the teaching faculty who plays a multidimensional role at Exeter. Moriarty earned his B.A. from Yale University, and his M.A. and Ph.D. (ABD) from the University of Virginia.

Modern Languages Instructor Viviana Santos P’17 is the new

Robert W. Kesler ’47 (Hon.) Distinguished Professor in Modern Languages. Established by the class of 1947 on its 40th reunion, the appointment is awarded to an exceptional Modern Languages instructor.

Before joining the Academy’s faculty in 2001, Santos taught French, Spanish and Italian at public and independent schools, as well as at the university level. She earned a B.S. from Georgetown University, an M.A. and M.S.Ed. from Middlebury College and the University of Pennsylvania, respectively, and her Ph.D. from Rutgers University.

Masami Stahr P’11, P’14, an instructor in mathematics since 2008, is the Smith Family Instructor in Mathematics. Endowed in 2006, this position was established by former Trustee Rick Smith ’66 to support an exceptional early-career instructor in mathematics who has demonstrated particular promise in scholarship, student guidance and involvement in Academy life. Stahr earned a B.S., M.S. and Ph.D. from

George Mason University.

Science Instructor Tanya Waterman is the Alfred Hayes ’25 and Jean M. Hayes Teaching Chair in Science. This endowed position is awarded to a Science Department member who has served fewer than 10 years and fosters enthusiasm for science, coupled with a genuine interest in and love for the students.

Waterman earned a B.Sc. from the University of Thessaloniki, Greece, and a M.Sc. from Brown University. She began teaching at Exeter in 2004.

Albert Chu ’13 Named U.S. Presidential Scholar Albert Chu, of Exeter, NH, was one of 141 U.S. high school seniors chosen by the U.S. Department of Education as a 2013 U.S. Presidential Scholar.The honor recognizes Chu’s outstanding academic achievement, artistic excellence, leadership, citizenship, service, and contribution to school and community. Initially, he was one of 3,000 graduating seniors and 560 semifinalists who qualified for this

award, based on SAT and ACT scores and nominations through the National Young Arts Foundation.

Chu and the other scholars were awarded Presidential Scholars Medallions in June during a ceremony sponsored by the White House. Earlier this year, Chu was also the recipient of a record 19 awards given by the 2013 National Scholastic Art and Writing Awards.

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Around the Table

Campus Life at a Glance

For videos and slideshows highlighting these events and more, go to www. exeter.edu/bulletin.

CONNOR BLOOM ’15

Snapshots from spring term

MIKE CATANO

A

STEFAN KOHLI ’14

ADELA LOCSIN ’13

B

C

CONNOR BLOOM ’15

NICOLE PELLATON

D

(A) Twisting for a cause at the annual Relay for Life.

About 700 people attended the event, and all proceeds go to the American Cancer Society. (B) Exonians work on the ice rink as one of the 75 Community Action Day projects undertaken by students and faculty in April. (C) Armed with colored water and powders, Exonians douse each other to celebrate Holi, the Hindu holiday that marks the arrival of spring. (D) Brave performers give their all during the Student Council’s annual spring talent show. (E) In June, students ran to beat the world record for fastest mile with flippers. The results have been submitted to Guinness World Records for formal review. (F) Good weather makes for watery fun during the traditional senior skip day. (G) Handshakes conclude the annual softball game between Facilities Management employees and the JV baseball team after Facilities Management captured the trophy. (H) Elegantly attired seniors greet paparazzi while waiting to depart for the prom.

F

MIKE CATANO

NANCY SHIPLEY

E

G

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Around the Table

Exeter Honors Susan Herney with Founder’s Day Award

F

DAN COURTER

or portions of five decades, Susan Herney ’69, ’74, ’83 (Hon.) served

Exeter as a leading voice for inclusion and an advocate for change. In recognition of her lifetime of service to Exeter, Herney received the 2013 Founder’s Day Award at a special assembly on May 17.

During her 19 years in the Dean of Students Office (1972–91), Herney advocated for female students and faculty, pushed for cultural inclusivity and helped smooth Exeter’s transition to coeducation. When she became Exeter’s first female dean of students in 1985, Herney instituted training on adolescent development for faculty and programs to support students who struggled academically or socially. Her actions helped guide Exeter’s shift in the 1970s and ’80s from an austere institution to a nurturing school that sought to educate and prepare the whole student.

In the Dean of Students Office and as the head of five dorms, Herney became known as a role model who held students to high standards of behavior, yet did everything with a sense of kindness and compassion that touched the lives of many.

Always willing to serve, Herney took on other leadership Watch the positions after concluding her term as dean. In a seven-year Founder’s Day Award assembly stint with the Office of Alumni Affairs and Development, and read Herney’s Herney built the Academy’s stewardship program and overfull remarks at saw the use of hundreds of Exeter’s endowed funds. In 1998, www.exeter.edu/ she moved to Admissions as associate director and expanded bulletinextras.

Exeter’s travel program in an effort to attract students from more diverse backgrounds.

During her career, Herney worked continually to build up others. In seeking to enhance the status of women, adding warmth to the rigorous academic life, stewarding gifts to the Academy, and searching out talented students “from every quarter,” Herney exemplified the spirit of non sibi in every position she held.

Baseball Dugouts Named in Honor of Bill Dennehy

COURTESY FACILITIES MANAGEMENT

Retiring head coach’s 42 years reflected in tribute It rained hard enough on May 25 to postpone the baseball game between Exeter and Andover during E/A weekend. (Exeter would go on to beat Big Blue 6-2 the following Wednesday.)

But the weather didn’t stop students, alumni, and family and friends of Physical Education Instructor Bill Dennehy P’90, P’92 from gathering in the Cage to celebrate his 42 years at the Academy. Dennehy was honored at a dedication ceremony that formally named the new baseball dugouts located in the adjacent field as the “Dennehy Dugouts.”

Dennehy, who also coached boys varsity hockey and soccer for many years, retired at the end of the academic

year, closing out his final baseball season as head coach with a 13-7 record and his varsity team as quarterfinalists in the Central New England Prep School Baseball Championship. Reflecting on his tenure, Dennehy says, “To be so involved managing and coaching, it’s always been exciting. I love it. It’s that fun of being in a chess match: being patient, yet also being ready to go.”

A Wiffle ball game held in the Cage following the dedication was enjoyed by Dennehy, a coach who—as the new dugouts’ signs note—“mentored and inspired Big Red athletes” for more than four decades.

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Around the Table

Exoniana D O YO U R E M E M B E R ?

PEA ARCHIVES

The sundial in this photograph was installed on campus in 1925. It currently stands near a pathway and dormitory. Can you identify its location? Perhaps you can tell us something about it, or about life in the dorm it stands near?

There will be two prizes awarded at random from the answers received.

Email us at Exoniana@exeter.edu. Or, send your responses to Exoniana, c/o The Exeter Bulletin, Phillips Exeter Academy, Communications Office, 20 Main Street, Exeter, NH 03833-2460. Entries may be edited for length and clarity.

Answers to the spring 2013 issue:

Exonian memories of Principal’s Day, or St. Gurdon’s Day as it was first known, included crooning PEADQUACS, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off at the IOKA theater, and a voice mail from the principal during the first year of telephones in dorm rooms.

This year, on May 1, Principal Hassan opted for people to discover their good “fortune” during lunchtime.

Our two winners are: R.D. Boyd Harman ’58, Glenview, IL, who

received an Exeter pen.

“The whole approach to ‘Principal’s Day,’ now a ‘spring surprise’ event, has changed greatly from the ‘St. Gurdon’s Day’ that existed in the 1950s. At that time, there was no advance alert (the methods of which incidentally sound very creative!). Rather, Principal Saltonstall ’24 would announce it (or not announce it, as the case might be) at the end of Morning Chapel on the very day. And that day was invariably in February—a cold day, with lots of snow on the ground. No forward planning, but an enjoyable respite from the midwinter grind nonetheless.

“I should mention that the

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A IOKA theater was B strictly off-limits to Exonians when I was there.We saw our movies in the gym on Saturday evenings, courtesy of projectionist Darcy Curwen (and actually there were some real classics!). No radios were permitted in your room either. But on the other hand, every dorm had a ‘butt room’ dedicated for the use of smokers. Go figure. Times have changed!”

Dr. Joseph E. “Joe” Sundeen ’60, Yardley, PA, who received an Exeter pen.

“I do indeed have fond memories of St. Gurdon’s Day, which was a little different from Principal’s Day. We did not in fact have a day to plan for our holiday in midwinter. The Academy would assemble as usual at 8 a.m. with the usual rustling of whispers and coughs, but as the days passed into the month of January with no mention from Salty, we began to despair that this might be the year that he dis-

continued what had become a beloved tradition. But then a day midweek in January would dawn with bright, clear-blue skies, and expectations would rise to a fever pitch. With bated breath, we would wait for our principal to rise from his chair and approach the podium. He would stare solemnly out at us, and then break into a huge radiant grin and at once pandemonium would ensue and we would all bolt for the doors. As a day student living 14 miles away, in Raymond, I quickly ran for a pay phone to call my father, who had left for his building supply store only a few minutes earlier, to announce the great news. As soon as he received the message, he would load the car up with skis and poles and boots and ski pants, and head back to Exeter. We would then take off for a day of skiing and thorough enjoyment of the ‘unexpected’ break in the routine. The memory of Salty, with his white hair and bushy eyebrows and infectious grin, will stay with me always. And so will the memory of my father on those magic days; for the ‘unexpected’ break was good news for him as well, giving him an excuse to give himself a day off.”

No Principal’s Day

In 1943, we not only had no Principal’s Day but also no girls.

John B. Pepper ’43; P’72 Jackson, NH

Around the Table

Last to Know

Singing Announcement

Certainly, I was about the last to learn of “St. Gurdon’s” Day. Principal Saltonstall announced it in Chapel one day in the mid-winter of my upper year and, apparently, he never shared his idea with anyone. Not even the faculty.

I was a scholarship boy and worked in the Academy kitchens (assistant to the dishwasher) and as such, I was excused from Chapel. At the appointed time, I took off my white coat, hung it up and went off to my 8:25 a.m. class. I don’t remember what it was but I believe that it was up in Phillips Hall. I believe that the instructor was Mr. Jones.

As every day, I arrived at or about class time, as did Mr. Jones. (He did not go to Chapel either.) And nobody else! We were baffled. Neither of us had the slightest clue about what was going on. Looking out the window, there was no sign of students scurrying from the Academy Building to class or to the Post Office. The quadrangle was deserted!

We were afraid to just leave. Finally, we heard the sounds of some faculty members coming into the department room down the hall and Mr. Jones went down to learn the answer. When he came back and told me, it was the first I’d heard of St. Gurdon’s Day. Since I was one of the class bell ringers, I knew there was one thing for sure that I would not have to do that day.

Principal Saltonstall was right and no one (certainly not the students) had any objections. Campus morale was lower than a snake’s belly. It seemed that over half the student body was on the Infirmary list.The Lamont Infirmary was full, as was the Infirmary Annex, and the overflow were confined to their rooms. We had lost to Andover—big! The usual walkway passing greeting had changed from “Hi!” to “Doi” (with no exclamation point). I believe that the sudden announcement was the most important part of St. Gurdon’s Day. Lawrence B. “Larry” Clark ’53 Wilsonville, AL

The only announcement I remember was done by the PEADQUACS in the dining hall.

Ian Crew ’92 Berkeley, CA Telephone Message

Voice mail from Principal Kendra Stearns O’Donnell the first year we had phones in our rooms. It was awesome.

Isobel A. “Abby” Ridge Anderson ’97 Frederick, MD A Day at the Movies

I thought the picture [in photo (A)] was from my senior year, class of ’99. They announced it on the IOKA sign and then rented the theater for us and played Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. Nicole M.Taylor ’99 Tucson, AZ Breaking News

My Principal’s Day was actually the picture [in (A)]! The IOKA sign broke the news. Stay classy.

Sarah L. Callender ’05 Bath, ME

Letters to the Editor A Different Perspective

Lindsey Mead Russell’s review (Spring 2013 Bulletin) of Shani Boianjiu’s new novel, The People of Forever Are Not Afraid, caught my eye because most of the book is set in the Israeli military, an institution I myself have observed in detail during the six-plus months I’ve spent over the last decade in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. Ms. Russell ’92 writes that Boianjiu ’05 “beautifully evokes life at the border’s checkpoints.” In my opinion, that statement needs a couple of clarifications. First, most of the checkpoints described in the novel, like the vast majority of Israel’s checkpoints, are not in fact on any border, but well within the West Bank—Palestinian territory that Israel occupies in defiance of international law, multiple United Nations

resolutions, and even nominal United States policy. The purpose of these checkpoints is not to defend Israel from invasion or infiltration, but to restrict the movement of the Palestinian population. (For details, visit the website of the Israeli human-rights group B’Tselem, www. btselem.org.)

As to the life Boianjiu evokes, it’s strictly the life of young Israeli soldiers— their boredom, their neuroses, and their hormones. To judge by the novel, neither the author nor her characters have any real feel for or interest in the lives of the people they lord it over. In fact, Palestinians scarcely appear in the book, except occasionally as thieves, would-be assassins, or, in one particularly appalling chapter (the one The New Yorker chose to print), as simpletons staging a demonstration not to demand their rights, but only in hopes of provoking enough violence from their masters to get them into the newspapers.

Anyone interested in a more realistic perspective on what the occupying army really does—albeit not from a PEA alum—should check out another recent memoir by an Israeli veteran, Noam Chayut’s The Girl Who Stole My Holocaust, or a moving collection of video statements by women vets, roughly peers of Boianjiu and her characters, collected by the Israeli veterans’ organization Breaking the Silence and posted at www.breakingthesilence.org.il.

Henry Norr ’64 Berkeley, CA Note of Thanks

I wish to express my profound appreciation to those who gathered at Fenway Park in Boston to hear an abridged rendition of “Casey at the Bat.” Don Chiofaro’s influence with the Red Sox brass got things moving; Carl Goodwin coordinated the Academy’s alumni who wished to attend; Carter Lord’s coaching my delivery was critical. Some have told me I hit a home run. Thank you.

Morton G. Soule ’64 Portland, ME SUMMER 2013

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Around the Table

PEA’s Muslim Prayer Room Formally Dedicated

O

cially celebrate the renovated Muslim prayer room, located on the ground floor of Phillips Church. Installed last fall, the central addition to the room is the mihrab, a decorative wall niche that mirrors a doorway and is built into the mosque’s eastward-facing wall, or qibla, to indicate the direction of Mecca.

PEA’s mihrab is a reproduction of an Iranian mihrab on display in an Israeli museum, where Albert Hinckley Jr. ’51 first saw it. Compelled to provide a more authentic space in Phillips Church for Muslim students after he toured the prayer room during his 60th reunion, Hinckley and classmate David Rush worked together to obtain a scaled, photographic version of the original mihrab. The classmates also collaborated with the Academy and the parents of a student to install new carpeting, lighting and bookcases.

“I hope that the prayer room will be well received by the broad Exeter community,” Hinckley says, “and will also serve as a bridge for the Muslim students to the members of the other religions, and vice versa. Further, the mihrab provides a superb example of Islamic art to a degree that may be enlightening to the Muslim students, as well as the whole community.”

The renovations are dedicated in memory of Hinckley’s late brother, George Fox Steedman Hinckley ’49; P’78, P’91, and Rush’s father, Samuel Hersh Rush P’51.

PEA Earns National Award for Sustainability Efforts U.S. Department of Education Names it a Green Ribbon School

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NANCY SHIPLEY

The Academy is one of 64 schools nationwide to receive recognition by the U.S. Department of Education for its efforts to lessen environmental impact, which include installation of geothermal wells, LEED-certified construction practices, elimination of plastic water bottles, composting of food waste and environmental education.

Chief of Planning and Facilities Roger Wakeman and Environmental Stewardship Manager Jill Robinson presented the 2013 Green Ribbon Schools award to Principal Hassan in June. The Academy is one of only 10 independent schools in the country to be honored with this distinction this year.

To learn more about PEA’s sustainability practices, visit www.exeter.edu/sustainability.

ADELA LOCSIN ’13

(Above, left-right) Muslim Student Association co-heads Vahid FazelRezai ’14 and Amina Kunnummal ’14, Albert Hinckley Jr. ’51, MSA co-head Milton Syed ’14 and David Rush ’51.

n June 3, alumni, students and faculty joined together to offi-

Exonians in Review

The Worst of Times A M E R I C A 1 9 3 3 : T H E G R E AT D E P R E S S I O N, L O R E N A H I C KO K , E L E A N O R RO O S E V E LT, A N D T H E S H A P I N G O F T H E N E W D E A L , B Y H I S T O RY I N S T RU C T O R M I C H A E L G O L AY A review by Townsend Ludington ’53

CHERYL SENTER

“

V

ag” is a character sketch that ends John Dos Passos’ U.S.A. trilogy about the

nation’s wild economic ride from 1900 to the crash of 1929. In it he portrays a vagabond waiting “at the edge of the concrete. . . . Head swims, hunger has twisted the belly tight.” Homeless, jobless, he hopes for a ride “a hundred miles down the road.” For all his misery, he is less desperate than the utterly destitute people whom the journalist Lorena Hickok describes in letters and reports she wrote during 1933–34 to her intimate friend first lady Eleanor Roosevelt and to her boss, Harry Hopkins, President Franklin Roosevelt’s right-hand man. Truth, in this case, was harsher than fiction.

Drawing heavily from Hickok’s papers housed at the Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum in Hyde Park, NY, the talented author Michael Golay, who teaches history at the Academy, has written America 1933: The Great Depression, Lorena Hickok, Eleanor Roosevelt, and the Shaping of the New Deal. Lest anyone imagine that America 1933 is but another volume about some narrow aspect of the Great Depression, he or she need only read several pages to understand that built around Hickok’s vivid detailing of the horrors of extreme poverty is Golay’s own narrative, which sets her nine lengthy “on-the-road investigative assignments” in a broader context.

An early chapter entitled “Muffled Figures, Bitter Winds” is an example: “The tally of the unemployed passed 10 million early in 1932— 20 percent of the workforce—and rose throughout the year. By March 1933, 13 million Americans would be jobless, fully 25 percent of the laboring population.” The dismal figures roll on, though a thickskinned reader might say that in 2013 they are yesterday’s news. But add to the many “muffled figures” a piece such as that below, of which there are many about both rural and urban poverty blending Hickok’s and Golay’s voices, and America 1933 becomes a fascinating if deeply disturbing account of what American life was like for millions of people during the Great Depression that lasted for more than a decade.

Immediately after her lengthy investigation of the Dakotas during the fall of 1933, Hickok wrote Hopkins, “If the President ever becomes dictator . . . I’ve got a grand idea for him. He can label this country out here ‘Siberia’ and send all his exiles here. A more hopeless place I never saw.”

Her seeming scorn is not that of a big-city reporter—she had grown up in South Dakota. The remark is an expression of her deep sympathy for the abject poverty she had witnessed. “West of Bismarck,” Golay writes,

Michael Golay’s latest book on American history is a stark look into the human cost of the Great Depression.

A dirt road, rutted and barely passable, led over smooth rounded hills to a worn church where Hickok found a dozen men bent against a lacerating wind, waiting for a word with the Morton County relief agents. Paintless and frail-looking, encouched in dry grass, the church stood alone in the vast wind-scoured prairie. The men grouped near the entrance had been “hailed out” during the summer, their crops destroyed by ferocious storms in June and July. With winter coming on, they were desperate for help. On the way to this bleak rendezvous Hickok passed withered and SUMMER 2013

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stunted cornfields, desiccated stalks the hail had beaten into the ground. Only one or two of the men wore overcoats. The others shivered in faded, thin, shabby denim. “Cotton denim doesn’t keep out the wind very well,” she observed. When she returned to the car, it was full of men.

Seeking warmth, they had crawled in and rolled up the windows.

This book is about a number of matters: Hickok’s acute observations about ordinary Americans suffering from the Great Depression; her often emotional assertions to Eleanor Roosevelt and Hopkins, which not infrequently reached the president’s ears and thus influenced federal policy; the love that developed between her and Eleanor; and about a time of severe economic crisis with substantial similarities to the present. Hickok’s work stands alongside U.S.A., John Steinbeck’s The Grapes of Wrath and James Agee’s Let Us Now Praise Famous Men as powerful art documenting the Depression. Further, knowing about Hickok’s intimacy with Eleanor helps to explain the latter’s deep commitment to bettering the state of “the little man.” And the question arises, what do the Great Depression and the New Deal responses to it teach us about the economic woes that surfaced in 2007 and for the most part remain with us today? “What would the future hold for the strandees?” Golay asks. “Figuratively, and perhaps literally too, their descendants are among the 40 million Americans stranded in poverty today.” In 1933 “defaulters . . . skittish depositors, and fatally weakened banks . . . extended and deepened the nationwide financial crisis.” Golay notes, “Ill-judged loans, questionable, careless, or inept practices, bad luck, and panicked depositors withdrawing their little all led to a renewed rush of bank failures. . . . Businesses couldn’t pay wages, buy America 1933 becomes a materials, or borrow money.” The journalist Matthew Josephson was down to his last $10 when he remarked that “the land of the almighty dolfascinating if deeply lar had run out of dollars.” disturbing account of what Sound familiar, despite differences between then and now? Ellen Chesler, a Senior Fellow with the Roosevelt Institute, asserts that America American life was like for 1933 “should be assigned reading for the Obama White House and for all millions of people.... those in Congress who stand in the way of the president’s efforts to lead us through our own challenging times.” This is sensible advice, even for those who do not buy into the president’s “progressive” program—we avoid the term “liberal” these days. Dos Passos, in one of the expressionistic pieces he called “Camera Eye”—this one just before “Vag” at the end of U.S.A.—lamented the executions in 1927 of the Italian anarchists Sacco and Vanzetti: “America our nation has been beaten by strangers who have turned our language inside out who have taken the clean words our father spoke and made them slimy and foul . . . all right we are two nations . . . we stand defeated America.” More than just about the Italians’ deaths, the piece is about the haves and the have-nots.

Though less immersed in the miseries of extreme poverty than Hickok became, Dos Passos had seen them firsthand in places like Harlan County, KY: “at the head of the valley in the dark of the hills on the broken floor of a lurchedover cabin a man halfsits halflies propped up by an old woman two wrinkled girls that might be young chunks of coal flare in the hearth flicker in his face white and sagging as dough blacken the cavedin mouth the taut throat the belly swelled enormous with the wound he got working on the minetipple,” he wrote in the last “Camera Eye” of his trilogy. What Dos Passos experienced in the wake of the 1927 executions and what he saw in Kentucky in 1931 seemed to him to signify the defeat of American democracy. Eleanor, President Roosevelt and Hickok were horrified by the same things, but they went further to overcome defeatism.The complacency of some, the fear of change on the part of many, and the powerlessness of millions more—the malaise of the nation—had to be dealt with. Through the New Deal, however imperfectly, it was. Golay’s fine book documents that.

Townsend Ludington ’53; P’83 is the Boshamer Distinguished Professor of American Studies and English, Emeritus at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

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

ALUMNI 1953—Peter M. Wolf. My

New Orleans, Gone Away: A Memoir of Loss and Renewal.

(Delphinium, 2013)

1970—John C. Taliaferro.

All the Great Prizes:The Life of John Hay, from Lincoln to Roosevelt. (Simon & Schuster, 2013).

1975—Brooks D. Simpson.

Gettysburg, 1863. (Potomac Books Inc., 2013)

1986—Wendy (Holt) Francis. Three Good Things:

A Novel. (Simon & Schuster, 2013)

1991—Noel Sloboda and 1958—Roger Lipsey.

Hammarskjöld: A Life. (University of Michigan Press, 2013) 1959—Richard Davidson, editor. Prelude, A Novel & The 1854 Diary of Adeline Elizabeth Hoe, by Helen Taylor Davidson. (Peter E. Randall, 2013) 1959—Tom Mankiewicz

and Robert Crane. My Life as a Mankiewicz: An Insider’s Journey through Hollywood.

(The University Press of Kentucky, 2012) 1959—Jan Schreiber.

Sparring with the Sun: Poets and the Ways We Think about Poetry in the Late Days of Modernism. (Antilever Press, 2013) 1962—J.P. Jones. Convictions.

(CreateSpace, 2013) 1963—Bill Schubart. I am Baybie: A Novel. (Magic Hill Press, 2013) 1966—Peter Thompson.

Angle of Incidence/Shades.

(Diálogos, 2012)

others. Our Rarer Monsters. (sunnyoutside, 2013) BRIEFLY NOTED 1958—Bo Wreden and J.S. 1981—Pamela Erens. The

Virgins: A Novel. (Tin House Books, 2013) 1981—Claudia Putnam.

Wild Thing in Our Known World. (Finishing Line Press, 2013) 1982—Dan Brown. Inferno: A Novel. (Doubleday, 2013) 1983—Doug Mayer and others. Mountain Voices: Stories of Life and Adventure in the White Mountains and Beyond. (Appalachian Mountain Club Books, 2012)

Zil. Albert Nalbandian and the Preservation of Armenian Books and Art: “Look Forward and Never Look Back.” IN The Book Club of California Quarterly NewsLetter. (v. 77, no. 3, 74-79, summer 2012) —“Stanford Wreden Prize Winners 2011.” IN The Book Club of California Quarterly News-Letter. (v. 77, no. 2, 44-45, spring 2012) 1961—Thomas A. Lovejoy, contributor. The Greek House:The Story of a Painter’s Love Affair with the Island of Sifnos, by Christian Brechneff. (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2013) 1977—Kathleen C. Engel

and Thomas J. Fitzpatrick IV. “Complexity, Complicity, and Liability up the Securitization Food Chain: Investor and Arranger Exposure to Consumer Claims.” IN Harvard Business Law Review. (v.

2, no. 2, Summer 2012)

1988—Rebecca T. Emeny

and others. “Job strain associated CRP is mediated by leisure time physical activity: Results from the MONICA/KORA study.” IN Brain, Behavior, and Immunity. (v. 26, no. 7, 1077-1084, October 2012) —and others. “Job StrainAssociated Inflammatory Burden and Long-Term Risk of Coronary Events: Findings from the MONICA/KORA Augsburg Case-Cohort Study.” IN Psychosomatic Medicine. (v. 75, no. 3, 317325, April 2013) 1991—Ana Silva. “Elementary.” [poem] IN The Mom Egg [“Mother Tongue”]. (v. 11, 2013) 1996—Jasmin Dreame Wagner. “Champion Mill”

[poem] IN The Arcadia Project: Post American Postmodern Pastoral. (AHSAHTA Press, 2012) —“String Theory.” [fiction] IN NANO Fiction. (v. 6, no.1, fall 2012) 2002—Alex M. Solomon

and others. “The Special Litigation Committee: Special handling required.” IN Directors & Boards. (First Quarter, 2013) FACULTY/FORMER BENNETT FELLOW Michael Golay. America

1933:The Great Depression, Lorena Hickok, Eleanor Roosevelt, and the Shaping of the New Deal. (Free Press, 2013).

Claudia Putnam ’81. Wild Thing in Our Known World.

(Finishing Line Press, 2013)

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(Top) Student Council President Max Freedman ’13, who assisted Principal Hassan in handing out diplomas, receives his own. (Above) Modern Languages Instructor Ming Fontaine and other faculty members line the pathways to cheer on the graduates. (Right) Twentythree seniors earned classical diplomas. (Below) Joana Andoh ’13 talks with a fellow classical student.

Commencement

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G

ood morning, Exeter, and welcome to this very spe-

cial occasion marking the Commencement of the 311 members of Phillips Exeter Academy’s class of 2013. As we celebrate the individual and collective journeys of the members of this graduating class, we should take a moment to acknowledge the people who trod this road with them . . . sometimes beside them . . . sometimes ahead of them . . . or sometimes following in their wake. Seniors, please stand and join me in thanking your fellow travelers—your parents, family members and friends in this audience and elsewhere—with a round of applause as an expression of your gratitude and your love.

“Journeys” is the theme of my address to the class of 2013 today. When we contemplate a journey, we think of a trip or expedition from one place to another, or a gradual passing from one state to another, as from innocence to a mature awareness; or perhaps the journey is a spiritual one. The seniors sitting here today have experienced one or more of these passages during their time at the Academy.

This is Exeter’s 232nd Commencement. For me, it is a partic-

Pathways Traveled Together Commencement address by Principal Thomas E. Hassan ’56, ’66, ’70, ’06 (Hon.); P’11 Photography by Cheryl Senter

Find more graduation photos at www.exeter.edu/bulletinextras

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(Top) Calais Larson ’13 multitasks with breakfast and lastminute mascara before lining up. (Above) Alexander Fuchs ’13 shakes hands with Science Instructor Michele Chapman during the graduates’ processional. (Right) Diplomas in hand, the class of 2013 begins a new journey.

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ularly special graduation. Four years ago, many of you were preps when I began my “prep year” as head of school. I have watched you grow in confidence and success around the Harkness tables and on the playing fields, and I have seen you bond together as a class. And no matter when you entered the Academy, we have all been on a fantastic journey toward this day together.

Exeter alumni, who experienced their first steps on this path before you, have had stories to tell of their odysseys, some similar to yours and some very different. From the earliest years in our school’s history, the journey to Exeter was an adventure-filled, and sometimes challenging, one.

If you read the oldest accounts of the Academy, you will find stories of young men who walked barefoot from distant farms to this very place, carrying their shoes over their shoulders so as not to wear them out before they had to put them on for classes.

In one case, John Vinton, class of 1823, walked 566 miles from his New York home to Exeter, choosing the school, even back then, for its generous financial package.

As early as the 1780s, right after the school opened, the first four boys in a long line of students from afar made the voyage to Exeter from the West Indies.

Some came on merchant vessels to Portsmouth, NH, or Salem, MA, and others sailed up the Squamscott River and disembarked right in Exeter. While these overseas voyages could take months, it isn’t as strange as it might seem, since some of the town’s prominent merchants with names familiar to us—like Peabody and Gilman—were active in the West Indies trade.

For many of you this will have been a cultural journey—a journey from families and backgrounds that may not have emphasized the same social and practical skills you found to be valued here at Exeter. In this, you follow in the footsteps of many Exonians.

The famous orator Sen. Daniel Webster, class of 1796, was one of Exeter’s earliest graduates, and one of its most illustrious. He came to Exeter as a raw boy wearing a homespun suit that was too small for him and mounted on a bony horse . . . right off the farm in Salisbury, NH. He saw himself as a poor student and he had problems adjusting to Academy life, but, beyond that, his table manners were atrocious. His father urged that young Daniel be taught how to hold a knife and fork. Mr. Webster wrote, “Daniel knows no more about it . . . than a cow does . . . about holding a spade.”

I suspect that the members of the class of 2013 came to Exeter with a greater knowledge of table manners than poor Daniel did, but living and learning at a singular place like the Academy can certainly be a journey of adjustment for anyone. And that expedition can be filled with excitement and joy.

I know it was that way for me. As I was growing up in a small town in Connecticut, no one in my family was aware that there was a place called Phillips Exeter Academy. In high school, like

many other public school students, I read A Separate Peace by John Knowles ’45, and my imagination was piqued by the idea of a boarding school like the one he described. Then as a student in college, I met Exeter grads and learned about the transformational education they had experienced here. I knew at that time that I wanted to be a teacher, and I was fascinated by the idea of living and working at a place like Exeter. It was when I first sat at a Harkness table as I was interviewing for a job here 25 years ago that I immediately knew this was the right place for me.The lively conversations, which placed students at the center, were pure magic to someone who had spent most of his education in rows of desks, where memorizing and repeating information was the most valued skill a student was called upon to develop.

Many of you have made the trip to Exeter and have taken a seat around our tables from well beyond Connecticut. In fact your ranks represent students from more than 22 countries and nearly all of the 50 states.

I have watched the class of 2013 with great pride as you traveled toward this moment.The 203 preps who arrived on campus in the fall of 2009 might have agreed with Oliver Goldsmith, Anglo-Irish novelist, playwright and poet of the 1700s, who observed, “Life is a journey that must be traveled no matter how bad the roads and accommodations.”

The preps of 2009 experienced a fall term that was inaugurated by the outbreak of H1N1, better known as swine flu—or as you christened it “Swine ’09.” Assemblies, dances and large gatherings were canceled, and huge gallon-sized bottles of hand sanitizer populated every surface. Hand-washing was the order of the day, and one student observed that he went through a 2-liter bottle of Purell in just a week. But Exonians showed the newcomers how we bounce back. Smaller impromptu dances were held in Wheelwright and Amen Halls, and the Peabody boys built their own outdoor theater. Dean [Russell] Weatherspoon lived up to the challenge of keeping order, and by the end of November the flu had pretty much run its course.

The class of 2013 continued to run its course as well, and in your time here you have been involved in some significant journeys: • At least two trips to Carnegie Hall, one to rehearse as part of the First National Youth Orchestra and another to receive a 2013 Scholastic Art & Writing Award.

• The Senior Acting Ensemble transported us to Inishmaan, one of the Aran Isles off the west coast of Ireland, to experience the stark drama of The Cripple of Inishmaan.

• We cheered sports teams on their roads to victory, including: • The fifth consecutive Big Red football win over Andover • Championship seasons for boys cross-country, water polo, boys basketball, and girls and boys crew.

• In the spring, students in Biology 470—a new course offered in collaboration with a Stanford University research lab— dove into the world of the fruit fly, growing and examining strains of this insect to aid in the search for a diabetes cure.

• And three seniors charted a new path of non sibi by working in nearby Manchester, NH, on a project focused on improving the nutritional needs of refugee children there.

This program was an outgrowth of the summer Student Global Leadership Institute that we have been doing in conjunction with the Punahou School in Hawaii for the past four years.

Just as you, class of 2013, have been in a constant state of

(Top) William Yu ’13, violinist for the ceremony’s String Quartet, with his mom. (Above) Sanam Shetty ’13 and her family. (Left) Seniors Gian Paul Graziosi and Zoe Ene pose in front of Phillips Church.

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(Above) Senior Joonhyuk Yang receives the Thomas H. Cornell Award from Principal Hassan.

(Clockwise from above) Senior Class President Alexander Yang delivers his remarks; Geda Tola ’13 celebrates with his family; from cameras to iPads, the graduates’ families were ready to capture the big day.

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evolution, so too has the school you are about to leave. A venerable institution such as this must evolve or it will stagnate.

As Exeter examines its place in an ever-changing world, it must nevertheless remain true to the vision and mission expressed by our founder John Phillips in the school’s 1781 Deed of Gift: to educate individuals of the “noblest character” and provide them with the “surest foundation of usefulness to mankind.” But the Academy also needs to carry these values into new territories.

The great challenge now, as it has been in the past, is how to honor and propagate these values as Exeter progresses. In the early 20th century, the gift of Edward Harkness helped Exeter refocus its method of teaching, but that work didn’t alter the Academy’s core commitment to academic rigor. During the 1940s through the 1960s, Hammy Bissell’s work recruiting scholarship students, followed later by the admission of girls beginning in the 1970s, transformed our understanding of John Phillips’ call for youth from every quarter. Our foundation of intellectual inquiry, however, never changed . . . nor does it to this day.

Exeter is once again at another critical juncture in history.The key matters the class of 2013 has faced and will continue to grapple with are clear-cut. Take technology as one example: In his best-selling book, The Shallows: What the Internet Is Doing to Our Brains, journalist Nicholas Carr posits that our participation in the online world has made it more difficult to focus on lengthy texts and complicated ideas. How does his hypothesis play out as we remain true to our commitment to engaged, in-depth analysis and conversation while introducing technological tools that can enhance the Harkness discussion? With its resources, academic traditions and commitment to the students, Exeter is uniquely positioned to prepare our graduates to face a variety of such emergent issues and to be at the fore in aiding others with these challenges.

We must continue to expand opportunities for world exploration by students and faculty, examine the ways in which we measure success, and maintain our academic rigor as we evaluate new technologies. Above all, we must focus on the completeness of the experience we provide to our students and the faculty who teach them.

I believe that during my years as principal, some of which I have shared with the class of 2013, we have just begun this process. I am committed during my tenure to ensuring Exeter’s people and programs will further engage in spirited intellectual exploration beyond the physical confines of our campus and the pedagogic strictures of the past.

The term “Exeter bubble” has been used to describe the sometimes insular nature of this institution. Members of the class of 2013, you have been my partners in bursting that bubble. And the inside covers of your PEAN this year captured it so well: Exeter can no longer focus only on “youth from every quarter.”

It is our duty to prepare our graduates to become “youth for every quarter.”

Toward that goal, some of you traveled with your teachers to India this spring and brought back stories, pictures and learning experiences. One student blogged from India: The trip is approximately two weeks, and every day has been one of exploration and intrigue. This adventure has changed me in a variety of facets. Without Exeter, I believe I would never have seen this part of the world, and that would have been a shame. India is a beautiful country; especially when I have the Exeter community to share it with.

Others have seen their lives change while working and studying in the Bahamas, China, Ecuador, England, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Russia, Spain, Washington, D.C., and Vermont. But as you explored the world beyond our campus, you, members of the class of 2013, haven’t forgotten the importance of your connections right here in Exeter. I have been deeply impressed with the ways you have cultivated a spirit of camaraderie not only with your class but also with your faculty. The dodgeball competition is one shining example. Or the ways in which you captured your own stories in your meditations and the generous way you have published those narratives for all of you to keep and read for years to come. You are a highly connected, firmly rooted and deeply compassionate class.

And the fact that you are a unique group was very evident in your final days on campus: The class of 2013 must surely be the first one who, thanks to Mr. [Todd] Hearon, has been the subject

G R A D U AT I O N

P R I Z E S

The Yale Cup, awarded each year by the Aurelian Honor Society of Yale University to the member of the senior class who best combines the highest standards of character and leadership with excellence in his studies and in athletics: Alexander Yong Tse Yang,Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

The Ruth and Paul Sadler ’23 Cup, awarded each year to that member of the senior class who best combines the highest standards of character and leadership with excellence in her studies and in athletics: Haley Elizabeth Baker, Kensington, NH

The Perry Cup, established by the class of 1945 in honor of Dr. Lewis Perry, eighth principal of the Academy, and given annually to a senior who has shown outstanding qualities of leadership and school spirit: Max Montag Freedman, Westport, CT

The Williams Cup, established in memory of George Lynde Richardson Jr. ’37 and given annually to a student who, having been in the Academy four years, has, by personal qualities, brought distinction to Phillips Exeter: Lydia MacFarlane Watt, Durham, NH

The Eskie Clark Award, given annually to that scholarship student in the graduating class who, through hard work and perseverance, has excelled in both athletics and scholarship in a manner exemplified by Eskie Clark of the class of 1919: Darby Elizabeth Henry, Kentfield, CA

The Cornell Award, decided by the senior class and given annually to that member of the graduating class who exemplifies the Exeter Spirit typified by Thomas Hilary Cornell of the class of 1911: Joonhyuk Yang, Seoul, Republic of Korea

The Cox Medals, given by Oscar S. Cox Esq., in memory of his father, Jacob Cox, are awarded each year to the five members of the graduating class who, having been two or more years in the Academy, have attained the highest scholastic rank: Shi-Fan Stephen Chen,Taipei,Taiwan Xin Xuan Chen, Shenzhen, P.R. China Emma Hagood Clarkson, Portsmouth, NH Alexander Yong Tse Yang,Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada Joonhyuk Yang, Seoul, Republic of Korea

The Faculty Prize for Academic Excellence, given to that member of the graduating class who, having been two or more years in the Academy, is recognized on the basis of scholarship as holding the first rank: Emma Hagood Clarkson, Portsmouth, NH

of a Horatian ode and was subsequently serenaded by harmonica and banjo. I hope the memory of that special evening keeps you “Forever Young.” And speaking of forever young, certainly Dean [Ron] Kim’s spirited if somewhat surprising rendition of “Party in the U.S.A.” at the Senior Night festivities shows his dedication to abiding youth. That performance was complemented by Max Freedman’s own karaoke version, including a musical skipping trip around the gym.

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Retiring faculty members include (clockwise from right) History Instructor Barbara Eggers, English Instructor Lark Hammond and History Instructor Andy Hertig ’57. Also retiring but not pictured are Physical Education Instructor Bill Dennehy and Science Instructor Sharon Finley.

(Above) When Ingrid Gutierrez-Sifuentes ’13 mailed out her graduation invitations, she sent one to her middle school principal, who had helped her apply to Exeter, and to the mayor of her town, who had followed her progress at PEA with pride.To GutierrezSifuentes’ surprise and delight, both men accepted her invitation, eager to honor this young woman from Brownsville,TX. Pictured, from left to right: Michael Motyl, former principal and now president of Guadalupe Regional Middle School; Gutierrez-Sifuentes’ brother, Javier; Gutierrez-Sifuentes; her mother, Florina Sifuentes; Principal Hassan; and Brownsville Mayor Tony Martinez, a founding member and former president of the GRMS’s board of directors.

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ing point for many journeys, and it will always be a place that welcomes back the class of 2013.Your class gift, a Harkness circle surrounded by 13 granite seating blocks, will forever reside on the Ford Quadrangle between Phillips Hall and Wetherell Dining Hall. It will be a symbolic place that reminds you that your teachers, classmates and friends—both adults and students—have been and will be waiting to help you through your trials and to join you in celebrating your triumphs. It will be a place for you to reconnect when you are back for your reunions and a place for future generations of Exonians to find inspiration from the gift you leave. Thank you for your generosity of gift and of spirit.

Now comes the time that I must say farewell to you, the class of 2013. And, in doing so, I offer you my customary charge. I hope it is as helpful for you to hear it as it is for me to read it: First, you have been given the gift of a Harkness education.

Use the voices you have developed around our oval tables to speak up, to speak your own mind and to draw out others around you. But more importantly, help those who cannot speak up for themselves.

In the words of Proverbs 31:8, “Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves, for the rights of all who are destitute. Speak up and judge fairly; defend the rights of the poor.”

Second, you have learned well the lesson of uniting knowledge and goodness. Go forth and give of yourself to your communities and to this world, and in the process, do so for others and not for yourself alone.

Remember the words of Mahatma Gandhi: “I shall pass through this world but once.

Any good therefore that I can do or any kindness that I can show to any human being, let me do it now. Let me not defer or neglect it, for I shall not pass this way again.” And I add the words of someone with whom you are most familiar, Dr. Seuss [from The Lorax]: “Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It’s not.”

And, finally, remain connected with each other and to our school. Take the connections and special friendships you have formed at Exeter with you, and nurture them in years to come.

To reinforce that thought, I leave you with the words of the Greek philosopher, mathematician and religious scholar Pythagoras: “Friends are as companions on a journey, who ought to aid each other to persevere in the road to a happier life.”

Goodbye, class of 2013. Godspeed, class of 2013. God bless you on all of your journeys, class of 2013.

Olivia Jackson ’13 gives a big thumbs-up after receiving her diploma.

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e sit Harkness-style around a table in the Seabrooke Room in Elm Street Dining Hall.We are reading Oliver Sacks’ book, The Mind’s Eye. The central character of the first chapter is Lilian, a concert pianist who is gradually going blind. Sacks intersperses her poignant tale with research about the brain and how we perceive things.

Suddenly, Religion Instructor Kathy Brownback P’08 suggests we all close our eyes for the rest of the discussion. Since Kathy always has the best suggestions, we close our eyes. Silence ensues. As the convener of this Weekly Book Club, comprised of PEA emeriti, faculty and staff members, I feel anxiety rising:What if no one says anything? What if people think this is a bogus idea? Slowly, very slowly, comments arise. Instead of comments on the text per se, they are reflections of how it feels to try to “read” the group while sightless. Some say the distant clatter of the dining hall is receding, others say the sound is magnified. Slowly the conversation swings back to Lilian and how her world is simultaneously shrinking and expanding. We leave for classes and offices feeling somehow changed by our attempt to “live” into the book.

Literature Over Lunch Breaking down silos with PEA’s Weekly Book Club

By Lee Behnke, instructor in classical languages and English Photography by Cheryl Senter The Weekly Book Club is weekly but definitely not a club—rather an ever-revolving group of readers. It started spontaneously four years ago when I returned to New England from the University of Chicago and was hired by the Academy’s Classical Languages Department. Former History Instructor Lawrence Smith P’03, P’05 was at the time overseeing faculty continuing development and the opening fall faculty meeting. The opening speaker in 2010 sent a recommended reading list. One of the books on the list was The Shallows by Nicholas Carr, who had written a cover article in The Atlantic entitled, “Is Google Making Us Stupid?” The Shallows grew out of that article. Since I had read the magazine piece with interest, I proposed that a group of faculty might be interested in discussing the book since it seemed especially relevant to our role as teachers of young brains. Principal Hassan, an early and enthusiastic supporter of the plan, offered financial support to buy the books. A mass email sent to the faculty immediately generated 20 responses. We decided to limit the size to 20 because that number of people can hardly fit around a table and have a productive conversation. Lawrence then secured a room for us to use every Thursday at lunchtime.

Having been in a book club in Hyde Park consisting of faculty from the University of Chicago, I knew that reading an entire book to discuss, say, every month would prove daunting to a faculty as stretched as Exeter’s. The 24/7 nature of the job here is a source of wonder and admiration to this happily part-time teacher. On the fly, I decided on a weekly close reading of 20 pages or less. At 200 pages, The Shallows broke nicely into manageable weekly chunks. Like my

(Top right) School Counselor Connie Morse. (Bottom left) Emerita Religion Instructor Betsy Farnham and Admissions Intern Claire Abisalih ’07. (Bottom right) Math Instructor Joe Wolfson.

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(Top left) Book club founder Lee Behnke. (Top right) Claire Abisalih and Religion Instructor Kathy Brownback. (Bottom right) Modern Languages Instructor Evelyn Christoph.

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Hyde Park group, each session began by a member asking a starting question, pointing to a provocative section of the text, or providing some context for the piece at hand.We discovered while reading The Shallows that the brain is “massively plastic,” with neurons constantly breaking down and remaking connections. By the end of the fall term, we became aware of the potential for distraction if not reorganization of the brain—not just the growing brain but any brain. Our brains. We became conscious of our own ability or non-ability to focus, and under what conditions.

For each Academy term over the three years since, there has been a different book and a changing group of faculty and staff, though a core of about six hardy perennials anchors the group.

Some participants are repeaters as their interests and schedules allow; some, like our current

Informed Teaching Originally it was The Shallows that reeled me in. I had read it and wanted to discuss it with colleagues. After that first oasis experience, I was hooked. A bookaholic, I found a group of colleagues to discuss ideas that can make my teaching more informed, if not better. The topics are not just good for my classroom teaching but also for the overall mission of the school: [educating] “the whole person,” goodness, community. I get a break from the crisis-management mode I usually find myself operating in. I make myself read, instead of putting it off.The weekly format is ideal. It gives us plenty but not an overwhelming amount to talk about, and enough time to do it, with the luxury of a detailed discussion.

—Tanya Waterman science instructor

interns, are one-time participants. Almost every academic department has been represented since 2010, as well as the College Counseling Office, Office of Institutional Advancement, the Academy Library, and the Lamont Health and Wellness Center. These diverse participants, whose ages range from 60-plus to 23, bring a richness of perCross-Disciplinary spectives as well as keen intelExchange ligence and hearts devoted to Our Book Club has been a wonderful the development of educated opportunity for faculty and staff from and moral young people. across many disciplines to come togethMost of the books we er in a welcoming, relaxed atmosphere to share impressions, learn and reflect have read concern cognition, with each other. Too often in our busy the brain, cultural assumptions, lives on campus, we are caught in our cognitive bias as well as the phiown worlds, in our own perspectives and losophy of thought. Principal vantage points.The [club] has afforded Hassan has requested a unique chance to know each other in a new way by making time to read a that the books be noncommon book. This is my second time fiction and at least tanin the group and I have marveled how gentially related to the often the books from other terms are tasks of life at the Acadewoven into the discussion—often buildmy. Although this stipulaing upon thoughts, topics or knowledge from previous books. We are all gratetion is felt to be most ful for administrative support and for the reasonable, a hunger for lively, proactive spirit and joie de vivre of more and different book our fearless leader, Lee [Behnke]. discussions arose in the —Connie Morse P’03, book group almost from the school counselor and student listener coordinator start. We therefore started onetime lunch or dinner book discussions several times a year.

A book is proposed; folks sign up; the proposer orders the books and collects money; a date is set. The date is usually after the winter or spring break. Fiction has been a common choice. Percy C. Rogers Professor in Romance Languages and Modern Languages Instructor Evelyn Christoph P’06, P’07, P’10 suggested The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery; Emerita Chair of the Math Department and John E. and Mary E. Smith Memorial Distinguished Professor Joyce Kemp ’87, ’89 (Hon.); P’88, P’90 suggested The Housekeeper and the Professor by Yoko Ogawa.

The consummate bibliophile, Science Instructor Tanya Waterman also proposed a text, and a group of us met in late March for dinner at Tanya’s apartment to discuss Sebastian Faulks’ A Possible Life: A Novel in Five Parts. Not only was the dinner delicious but—for me at least—the discussion was mind-boggling. Despite my years of reading and teaching texts, I turned out not to have understood this Faulks “novel” at all. I drove home in wonder at the intellectual firepower of the Exeter faculty.

Each term brings a new book, new people and new insights to the formal book group. It is a fact that after English Instructor Ralph Sneeden ’98 (Hon.); P’07, P’09, P’13 sends an email to the community announcing the book for the next term, my inbox and the group are full within three hours. Three times we have formed a second, satellite group coordinated by a volunteer to meet the demand. English Instructor Ellen Wolff P’17 ran such a group last fall to discuss the chosen text, Quiet by Susan Cain. Kathy has run two consecutive groups this year on a text she finds profoundly important, Your Unique Self: The Radical Path to Personal Enlightenment by Marc Gafni. Several instructors in her group are using the book and the related discussions as part of their

The Weekly Book Club’s Recommended Reading List The Shallows: What the Internet Is Doing to Our Brains, by Nicholas Carr The Happiness Hypothesis: Finding Modern Truth in Ancient Wisdom,

by Jonathan Haidt Buddha’s Brain:The Practical Neuroscience of Happiness, Love, and Wisdom, by Rick Hanson and Richard Mendius Not For Profit: Why Democracy Needs the Humanities, by Martha C. Nussbaum The Heart of Higher Education: A Call to Renewal, by Parker J. Palmer and Arthur Zajonc, with Megan Scribner The Geography of Thought: How Asians and Westerners Think Differently . . . and Why, by Richard Nisbett The Mind’s Eye, by Oliver Sacks Quiet:The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking, by Susan Cain

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Cultural and Personal Discovery

continuing professional development. We are now reading Blindspot: Hidden Biases of Good People by Mahzarin R. Banaji and Anthony G. Greenwald, which was suggested

by Math Instructor Cath Holden P’02. This book provides additional evidence that the human brain sees and processes what it “wants” to perceive. Blindspot is unusual in that the authors have done large-scale surveys and developed tests to reveal unconscious biases within people.The authors themselves demonstrated bias when they took the tests—and they created the tests! The book includes sample tests, which some members of the group have completed. As Socrates said, “The unexamined life is not worth living,” so we are making our lives more worthwhile by examining our biases.

A conversation has grown out of the Weekly Book Club about a possible future interdisciplinary course involving physics, chemistry, classical languages and theater. It was initiated by Tanya, who spent her fall 2012 sabbatical term visiting Trinity College Dublin, where she serendipitously discovered the play Ear to the Edge of Time by Alana Valentine, which won an international competition for the best new play about science and technology. Having read The Swerve: How the World Became Modern by Stephen Greenblatt, Tanya approached Theater and Dance Department Chair Sarah Ream ’75; P’09, P’11, Science Instructor Andrew McTammany ’04 and me about hatching a senior course about science and the arts, which would communicate ideas across the interface of language, creativity and imagination. We feel this interconnected and complex world of science and art is already extant in digital, artistic and literary intermingling.The “cultures” of arts and sciences need bridges between them, and we hope that future PEA alumni will be better positioned if they are able to straddle these two cultures.

The goal of the course would be to explore the connections of science and the humanities from the ancient atomists through the Renaissance to quantum physics.

Excited about the idea, Sarah began thinking up short plays as student projects.

Andrew is a science history buff whose ideas include re-enacting historic experiments.

And I love the linking of the Augustan Age and the poems of Lucretius with that era’s afterlife in the Renaissance and beyond. The course would be team-taught, and students would read Lucretius’ “De Rerum Natura” (in translation) and The Two Cultures

by C.P. Snow, in addition to The Swerve. We thought a possible title for such a course might be Tracing the Sky or Time Travels with Epicurus.What a treat to brainstorm a possible new course, with its roots in Book Club readings and its crown perhaps in the Courses of Instruction!

From the popularity of the Book Club and the relationships and collaborations that emerge from it, one can sense a hunger for connection in the Phillips Exeter Personal Connections community. Because of the school’s size, I joined the Book Club to interact with “silos” stemming from departments other members of the Exeter community being located all over campus and in sepwhom I wouldn’t normally have the chance or the pleasure to meet. . . . arate buildings, and the pace of life, peoAlthough the Book Club isn’t a social ple want connections across disciplines, gathering per se, I’ve learned more about professions, age groups and interests. The other members of the club and their club is one of a number of initiatives that opinions than I have from the books Principal Hassan has put in place since his themselves. It’s a rare opportunity to be at a Harkness table with other Exeter tenure began four years ago. From open teachers. The book we read in the winhouses at Saltonstall House for rotating ter term was a great discussion starter, groups of faculty and staff to Academyand it initiated conversations about our sponsored faculty trips to India and Israel, these sense of morality, personal philosophies, efforts provide new experiences for the communiand, yes, even the meaning of life. The spring term selection is also a good conty and are effective in breaking down the organiversation opener, and while I’m eager to zational divisions that exist. Only the Book Club, discover and explore my blind spots alone, however, provides an ongoing dialogue about our it’s been better and more comforting to students, our classrooms and our lives. There is do so with other people.” something almost spiritual about fostering our —Petra Laohakul classical languages intern connections to each other through a book, a lunch, a laugh and a conversation.

W h e n L e e [ B e h n ke ] f i r s t m a d e a n announcement about what was to become the book group, I was drawn much more to Nicholas Carr’s The Shallows than to the idea of acquiring a new weekly commitment. But the group that formed, and the quality of the discussion, soon made Thursday lunch a favorite appointment on my calendar. As we discussed Carr’s book, we began to realize that the group itself was answering one of his queries—in our webconnected world, where do we join together for in-depth, person-to-person conversation, and for close reading together over time? Without particularly setting out to do so, we began to develop such a place. Our topics revolve around teaching at Exeter, but really around living in the world together—how East and West approach life differently and what they bring to each other, what brain research tells us about mindfulness and emotion, why the humanities are important in a civil society (and important even to the sciences), and where we find “the heart of higher education.”

It wasn’t long before committees and groups scheduling meetings began to realize that Thursday lunch was sacrosanct for people in the group.A cross section of academic departments is generally repres e n t e d , w h i c h m a ke s f o r a f e r t i l e cross-disciplinary conversation, and among teachers are always staff members who point to the relevance of all this to the campus community outside the classroom.

There is an appealing vibrancy to the discussion, and always a friendly one. I remember arriving late for a meeting, and upon seeing my various colleagues immersed around a table in an intense discussion of page 142, I thought, “This is Exeter . . . this is what we do. Strange that we don’t do it more often.” Many people come in and out of the group depending on the book and their schedules that term. But some are regulars who’ve yet to miss a book. I’m one of those. As my colleague [Math Instructor] Joe Wolfson said at the end of one term when it came time to choose a book, “Whatever we decide, I’m in.”

—Kathy Brownback religion instructor and Vira I. Heinz Distinguished Professor

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Sports

Inside the Shell T H E A RT A N D S C I E N C E B E H I N D E X E T E R C R E W

By Mike Catano

MARK DRURY P’14

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he Exeter crew program consistently launches boats that win. In fact, this spring, four of the six crew boats medaled at the New England Interscholastic Rowing Association regatta, with both the boys and girls varsity boats impressively capturing first place.

Many Exonian rowers go on to compete successfully in college and some qualify for competitions as elite as the Olympics. Yet, each year, Exeter crew starts its season with many new athletes who have little to no experience rowing in an eight-person boat.

What then goes into developing crews that consistently cross the finish line first?

Sports science and technology have certainly made it easier—as the infographic on the following pages demonstrates—but data compiled during training is only useful as a starting point, and it doesn’t account for the critical human/boat interaction. “There is really an art to putting together a boat in the most efficient way, and choosing the people [who will] work together,” says Classical Languages Instructor Sally Morris P’07, P’08, P’10, Exeter crew program director and head coach of girls crew.

Take Julian Drury ’14, who sits in seat 8 of the B2 boat. As the “stroke,” Drury must be physically strong, but he also holds a high-stakes leadership position responsible for setting the stroke rate and rhythm for the entire crew, based on what the coxswain calls. He says, “In my position, I can keep my rowers in time, keep them strong and keep them motivated.That ability is also the most challenging part of sitting stroke seat. If I take a weak stroke, or a mistimed stroke, I can set the whole boat off.”

Jessica Michaels ’14, the coxswain for the G1 boat, must call out the different stroke rates to her rowers based on the race plan as well as data from the boat’s electronic instruments and what’s going on around them. “Winning a crew race all comes down to how well the rowers and coxswains can work together and adapt,” she says. “[I] must earn the trust of the rowers who are sitting backward and have no clue what is going on out of the boat; they look to [me] to know what place they are in and how effective they are being.”

During the season, rowers are often shifted within a boat and between boats during practices. Morris describes the challenging balance they are trying to achieve: “You have people who row port, people who row starboard, people who row both sides, people who are tall, people who are short . . . leaders, followers, well-rested and consistent performers.You have to put them in the right order in the boat. I changed the order in the G1 boat and it went from tied with the G2 boat to seven lengths [of] open water ahead. It’s amazing how much difference it can make.”

The time on the water each season is relatively short, so the coaches finalize their respective boat crews during the last few weeks leading up to the New England championship races, and sometimes only days before. During this time, the coaches also devise a race strategy and implement it during practice sessions. “There are some things that are formulaic,” Morris says, “[like] the start of the race, settling into your rhythm and [the] sprint at the finish.

Within that, there is a strategy and different ways to plan the race. The more experienced the crew, the more you can do that.”

In the end, it all comes down to Michaels, Drury and the other crew members pushing their boats off from the dock on race day. “We cannot coach them during a race,” says English Instructor Becky Moore P’03, P’05, P’08, who coaches the G3 and G4 boats. “When they’re out on the water, it’s a completely teenage operation.”

What follows is a look at that operation, from the inside out.

PEA boys crew at a meet in late April.

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From Bow to Stern The Boat

A L O O K AT T H E C O M P L E X N AT U R E

Designed for eight rowers plus a coxswain, the boats used in PEA rowing are manufactured for speed and are highly customizable. Boats are made out of carbon fiber-reinforced plastic and average about 60 feet long, with a maximum width of 22 inches. Once coaches assign the final crew, the boat rig is fully customized: Oarlock placement and the location and angle of foot plates, for example, can be adjusted on an individual basis.

Coxswain

Stroke 7: Works to mirror the body mechanics of the lead stroke, from hip positioning to oar placement, to further establish the stroke rate for the rest of the boat.The two seats are often referred to as the stern pair.

DAN MAHR

Stroke: Critical rower who sets the stroke rate for the entire boat based on the coxswain’s commands. Must possess the rhythm and confidence to establish and execute consistent strokes throughout a race.The stroke must be strong enough to set up a stroke that the rest of the boat can follow.

Coxswain:Voice of the boat.

Discusses race plan with the coach and also with the crew. Has the accelerator— sets stroke rate and communicates ongoing race status to crew. Calls to crew to get maximum performance during race.

Stern Pair Stroke 8

Engine

Stroke 7

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To maximize performance, a coxswain relies on a “cox box”— a digital display of data including elapsed time and stroke rate, which is generated as a magnet on the stroke seat passes over a receptor on the deck.

The coxswain steers the boat using left/right cables attached to the stern’s rudder.

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Speakers are distributed throughout the boat to broadcast the coxswain’s calls to the crew.

JOHN REICHENBACH ’76

The Race

When the starter’s voice calls, “Attention, go,” the coxswain and stroke work to execute the coach’s strategy in order to outpace the competing boats. During the roughly fiveminute race, the coxswain tracks elapsed time, stroke rate and the location of the other

A flutter is akin to the start, where the crew must deliver quick, powerful strokes to surge ahead during critical moments in the race.

Start

The start requires a succession of partial strokes of increasing length to get the boat up to speed as quickly as possible.

10-20 High

10 Settle to Base Pace

5 Start Strokes

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S UMMER 2013

10 Base Pace

Halfway >

500 Meters >

750 Meters >

70 strokes gone > About 1 minute, 40 seconds >

90 strokes gone > About 2 minutes, 30 seconds >

10 Power Strokes

10 Base Pace

10 Base Pace 5 Flutter

10 Power

Sports O F ROW I N G

Engine: The crew’s more powerful rowers, whose purpose is to put their strength behind each stroke based on the pace set by the stroke.

Rower 3 4

Lighter rowers whose finesse helps keep the bow light and the boat set, or balanced. “Fast-twitch” athletes are needed here so they can keep up with the rate initiated from the stroke rower. Rowers who can anticipate the catch (when the oar blade enters the water) are ideal for these positions.

A stable rower whose skills transition from the power of the “engine” to the fastresponse bow rowers.

3

Bow Pair 2

1

The oars are typically carbon fiber shafts that vary in diameter and length; the attached blades can also vary in shape, which allows for a high degree of customization. A proper stroke has the oar shaft dipping 8 inches into the water.

The angle of the rowing shoes, which are built into a foot stretcher, is customized to each rower.

boats, making frequent calls to the rowers for changes in stroke rate and effort. A base rate of 36 strokes per minute is typical but the final sprint may demand an intense stretch of 40 strokes per minute.The graphic shows an example of a race plan.

When the coxswain calls for “power,” the crew must deliver the next 10 strokes at maximum effort.

The coxswain will call for a sprint during the last 500 meters.

On average, a crew will complete 180 strokes by the finish line of a five-minute race.

1500 Meters >

125 strokes gone > About 3 minutes, 20 seconds >

180 strokes gone > About 5 minutes >

10 Power

10 Base Pace

10 Base Pace

10 Base Pace 5 Flutter

UNLESS OTHERWISE NOTED, ALL PHOTOS MIKE CATANO

10 Power

10 Power

10 Power

Finish

1000 Meters >

10 Power

5 Flutter

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Sports

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A C

Spring Sports

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G F H 36

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S UMMER 2013

(A) Baseball Record: 13-7 New England Championship Quarterfinalist

Head Coach: Bill Dennehy Assistant Coach: Dana Barbin Captain: Hunter Carey ’13 MVP: Hunter Carey (B) Boys Crew Record: 5-5 NEIRA Championship Winner

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Head Coach: Albert Leger Assistant Coaches:Tyler Caldwell, Greg Spanier Captains: Denis Rondeau ’13, Mark Serbent ’13 MVP: Finn Meeks ’13 (C) Girls Crew Record: 9-1 NEIRA Championship Winner

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Head Coach: Sally Morris Assistant Coach: Becky Moore Captains: Karla Beltran ’13, Catherine Denton ’13 MVP: Emily Ball ’13 (D) Boys and Girls Cycling Record: No record in dual races 3rd in NERCL Series Championship

Head Coach: Don Mills Assistant Coaches:Vicki Baggia, Steve Wilson Captains: Gene Young Chang ’13, Joonhyuk Yang ’13 MVP: Rohan Pavuluri ’14 (E) Boys and Girls Golf Record: 6-6-1

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Head Coach: Bob Bailey Assistant Coach: Joanna Ro Captains: Ryuta Oku ’13, Nissim Ray ’13 MVP: Kyle Alexander ’14 (F) Boys Lacrosse Record: 14-5

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Head Coach: Eric Bergofsky Assistant Coach: Bill Glennon Captains: Forrest Corcoran ’13, Christopher Keating ’13, Nicholas Weigel ’13 MVP: Matthew Ryan ’13 (G) Girls Lacrosse Record: 6-9

Head Coach: Christina Breen Assistant Coaches: Shane LaPointe, Keslie Tomlinson Captains: Darby Henry ’13, Gabriella Wozniak ’13 MVP: Gabriella Wozniak

(H) Softball Record: 9-8

Head Coach: Nancy Thompson Assistant Coach: Erin Mitchell Captains: Paula Gaither ’13, Ashley Metcalf ’13 MVP: Ashley Metcalf (I) Boys A Tennis Record: 7-4

Head Coach:Tony Greene Captains: Henry Cilek ’13, Kelvin Lee ’13 MVP: Kenneth Tao ’15 (J) Girls A Tennis Record: 3-4

Head Coach: Jean Chase Farnum Captains: Giulia Olsson ’13, Nicole Yoon ’13 MVPs: Giulia Olsson, Nicole Yoon (K) Boys Track Record: 12-0 New England Champions

Head Coach: Hilary Coder Assistant Coaches: Sami Atif, Toyin Augustus-Ikwuakor, Hobart Hardej, Mark Hiza, AK Ikwuakor, Brandon Newbould, Francis Ronan, Bruce Shang Captain: Alexander Yang ’13 MVP:Tyler Courville ’14 (L) Girls Track Record: 10-0 New England Champions

Head Coach: Hilary Coder Assistant Coaches: Sami Atif, Toyin Augustus-Ikwuakor, Hobart Hardej, Mark Hiza, AK Ikwuakor, Brandon Newbould, Francis Ronan, Bruce Shang Captain: Haley Baker ’13 MVP: Haley Baker (M) Girls Water Polo Record: 8-7 3rd in New England Championship

Head Coaches: Andrew McTammany ’04, Melissa Pacific Captains: Mariah Mastrodimos ’13, Catharine Shipps ’13 MVP: Catharine Shipps Editor’s Note: In the winter 2013 Bulletin, we neglected to list Kelvin Lee ’13 as a co-captain of the boys varsity squash team.

M PHOTOS BY MIKE CATANO EXCEPT FOR (E) ROBERT BAILEY AND (D), (K), (L) CONNOR BLOOM ’15.

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Connections

EXONIAN PROFILE

FRED E. CULICK ’52

How Fancy Took Flight

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Fred Culick '52 taxis down a runway in a replica of the Wright Flyer.

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ore than 30 years after Orville and Wilbur Wright glided their bare-winged, boxy aircraft—the Wright Flyer—just 10 feet off the ground, Fred E. Culick ’52 discovered he shared the brothers’ passion for flying machines.

When Culick was a tyke, the distant groaning of an engine overhead would drive him out of the house. Neck strained, eyes up, he would search the skies over Camden, ME. When he was 5, he remembers attending his first gas model airplane competition with his mother. These were the seeds that ultimately led to a career in aerodynamics and a passion for building model and actual-sized replicas of the Wright Flyer.

Exeter’s physics and chemistry classes helped solidify Culick’s interest in the sciences, and he says, “I was torn between going into physics [or] aeronautics when I was at MIT, but flying won out.” Culick left MIT with undergraduate and graduate degrees in aeronautics and astronautics and was immediately hired at the California Institute of Technology, where he has taught and conducted research ever since. He is currently the Richard L. and Dorothy M. Hayman Professor of Mechanical Engineering and Professor of Jet Propulsion, Emeritus “Flying is not the exciting part,” he says. “The fun part is building the airplane, making sure it’s going to work right. You know that saying, ‘A good landing is when you can walk away and a great landing is when you can fly the plane again.’ ” In 1977 Culick saw the first replica of the Wright 1903 Flyer at the San Diego Air & Space Museum. “I was amazed I didn’t know more about the way the plane was made,” he says, like, “Why did the Wrights put the tail in front?”

With a NASA grant, Culick decided to build and test a one-sixth scale model of the Flyer in Caltech’s wind tunnel. While this project was under way, a fire at the San Diego museum destroyed the Flyer replica. Culick quickly volunteered for the Wright Flyer Project, an initiative by the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) to build a new replica of the famous plane—one that could fly.

Culick offered to provide the initial data and flight characteristics from testing his model so the group could make any minor design adjustments to the full-scale version (to ensure its stability and safety). In exchange, Culick asked to be made the replica’s first pilot and was appointed the project’s chief engineer.

When the NASA Ames Research Laboratory offered its large wind tunnel for testing a full-scale aircraft, the project members decided to build such a model (the AIAA 1903 Wright Flyer) to test at NASA and then a second aircraft to fly.

It took the next 20 years (mostly Saturdays) for the volunteers to complete the AIAA Flyer, but it was finished with testing completed in time for it to tour more than 40 U.S. states, where it was exhibited to more than 40,000 students as part of the Wright Flyer’s 100th anniversary in 2003.This model is now on display in the Los Angeles office of the Federal Aviation Administration.

In his NASA Quest online biography, Culick writes of the original 1903 Wright Flyer, “It began all flying everywhere. It led to airlines, to warplanes, airplanes that you and I can fly, and eventually to the Space Shuttle. …It is very important, as part of our heritage, to understand what the Wright Brothers did, how they did it…and finally how their airplane worked.”

Culick is among five core project participants who continue to spend every Saturday morning tinkering with the replica that will fly. Last fall, the aircraft taxied down a runway with success. The actual flight test, where Culick will be strapped in, facedown, to pilot the craft, was imminent as of press time. This Wright Flyer is expected to travel a projected 1,000 feet at 35 miles per hour.

—Famebridge Witherspoon

S UMMER 2013

Connections

EXONIAN PROFILE

BETSY WILLIAMSON ’88

Designing Livable Art

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etsy Williamson ’88 is an artist. Her medium is wood, her palette is very large, and her official job title is architect, but in Williamson’s mind, the two disciplines are inextricably linked. “Part of being a good architect is being visually astute,” she asserts. Williamson first realized the incredibly expressive power of her profession during her final year at Exeter. “I took my first architecture course, as well as one in art history, my senior year,” she recalls, “and together they opened my eyes to what the profession can be.Today design is part of my life, but at that point it was a revelation to me!”

Williamson continued her education in architecture and the arts after departing Exeter, earning a B.A. in architecture from Barnard College in 1992 and a professional Master in Architecture degree from Harvard University in 1997. And what she discovered in the course of her studies is that one can’t separate the two disciplines. “Studying great art at the same time that I was learning about how materials work in three dimensions changed my life,” she observes. “I learned how to think in the right way— about proportion, color, how one lives in a space, and how the dimensions of the space relate to the human body, among other things.”

It is obviously a lesson that Williamson learned well; she and her partners (husband Shane Williamson and Donald Chong) at the architectural firm Williamson Chong were recently awarded the Professional Prix de Rome in Architecture from the Canada Council for the Arts. The award was given to the firm “for their efforts to unlock the design potential of new wood products and create buildings that are as beautiful as they are ecologically sound.” The award is a major accomplishment for the firm, not only for the valuable exposure if affords, but also for the generous prize ($50,000) that accompanies it.The firm enters a number of competitions every year, both local and international, to keep their skills sharp, Williamson explains. Because the majority of Williamson Chong’s projects are residential while the design competitions are usually for institutional spaces, they offer Williamson and her colleagues a chance to “exercise their design muscles” on a larger scale.

The firm’s winning submission, “Living Wood,” outlined a plan for exploring innovative wood technology within a broader cultural and ecological context, with a particular focus on a new product called cross-laminated timber.The partners are focusing their explorations on Europe and Asia, visiting buildings and production facilities and meeting with industry manufacturers, researchers, designers and writers in each country. Williamson and her husband and daughter recently returned from their first excursion for the project—a three-week journey to Scandinavia—and she is brimming with enthusiasm. “Nothing can replace seeing iconic work in person or meeting with people face to face,” Williamson asserts. “It’s invaluable to meet with others in the field and learn more about how they work— we’re discovering that there are many common challenges in our profession. We’re always seeking ways to further our education—the broader our knowledge base, the more innovative we can be while still keeping our practice viable.”

Education is a common theme in Williamson’s life. In addition to maintaining a thriving practice, she also teaches graduate students in the University of Toronto’s John H. Daniels Faculty of Architecture, Landscape, and Design, and serves on a number of design review committees in the city of Toronto. She is particularly interested in mentoring young women in the field. “Architecture is still a profession where all of the stars are men,” Williamson observes.

“Within the university system, the gender balance is virtually 50/50, but the number of women who actually go on to practice architecture is much lower.” Because Williamson has found her career so rewarding, she’d like to see those statistics change. “The field of architecture is not just about studying,” she concludes, “it’s about making it your career.”

—Lori Ferguson

Betsy Williamson ’88 in her firm’s office, with partners Donald Chong and her husband, Shane Williamson.

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Connections

EXONIAN PROFILE

D R . C I N DY C H A N G ’ 0 2

Tackling Global Health Issues Head On

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Cindy Chang ’02 spent a year in Malawi working to mitigate malnutrition in children.

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ollege internships in reality TV and fashion design were the unconventional paths that led Dr. Cindy Chang ’02 to a career in medicine. A Cornell engineering undergrad who’d toyed with attending art school, Chang spent two summers assisting in the production of three “pretty trashy” TV shows filmed in trailer parks. Chang, who’d lived in some 25 cities in Japan, the United States and Taiwan, was alarmed by the public health issues she observed there.

“I thought that if even in the U.S. something like this was going on,” she says, “then clearly there were a lot of people who were worse off [worldwide].”

The following year, on a lark Chang applied for an internship with fashion brand Donna Karan. The fast pace there, Chang now realizes, prepared her for work in emergency medicine. Though she was offered full-time jobs after both internships, Chang realized neither was her ultimate goal. She adds, however, “Because of those experiences, I have a much better sense of how one area of the world affects another.”

Chang completed her undergraduate degree in three years, but stayed one more to earn a master’s in engineering before taking a job at the Broad Institute in Cambridge, MA. She was researching cancer genomics when her boss’s unadulterated joy over the successful growth of a bacterium spurred her in a different direction. “My reaction to that petri dish was, ‘Oh great, it grew, and we don’t have to do it again,’ ” Chang says, “but he was ecstatic.” So Chang sought a career that would be genuinely fulfilling.

This May, she graduated from the Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine of Case Western Reserve University, whose five-year program requires one year of research as part of the degree. Thus began a dizzying, globe-hopping tour of underserved areas and low-resource communities, starting with a Fellowship at Auschwitz for the Study of Professional Ethics. That experience quickly proved invaluable. “When you have resource constraints, a lot of ethical issues come up,” Chang says.

In Malawi, she spent a year helping to run a pediatric malnutrition project and supervised 18 mobile feeding clinics, requiring hours of travel to remote locations; despite those efforts, children died from malnutrition at an alarming rate. She also managed two randomized clinical trials on diagnosing and treating acute malnutrition, information that the World Food Programme was eager to use in its programs. In recognition of that work, Chang was named one of Forbes’ “30 Under 30” in December 2012, and was profiled in the Science & Healthcare category.

She’s also managed to fit in time in Khayelitsha, South Africa, a township outside Cape Town, where she worked a trauma rotation. She completed required rotations in Boston and Cleveland, and then headed to a Navajo reservation in Arizona to learn about midwifery, which she cites as another method for improving health care access in lowresource areas.

Not resting, Chang has worked in a Nepalese clinic (climbing to the Mount Everest base camp because it was there); assisted in a primary care/orthopedics clinic in Big Sky, MT, where she was able to snowboard right out of the office; and spent a month on a boat clinic in Tonle Sap, Cambodia. She’s now set to begin a residency in emergency medicine at Boston’s Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Massachusetts General Hospital..

Chang has already agreed to return to Malawi for at least part of the six-month elective portion of her residency, determined to help with what she sees as a fixable problem in the global health arena.

“We already know what it is that we need to do to treat these kids,” she says. “We have the knowledge; we have the resources. It’s very much an engineering supply-chain distribution issue.” That’s at the root of most of Chang’s ventures: “The theme in all this is I’m trying to figure out how people get resources to places that don’t have them, and how to do it in an efficient, long-term, sustainable way.”

—Sarah Zobel S UMMER 2013

Trustee Roundup (continued from page 5) collective reactions and suggestions as these models continue to develop.

Thursday evening was devoted to a dinner in honor of two retiring trustees: Alan Jones ’72 and Rob Silberman ’76; P’07, P’12.

Several trustees began Friday morning by meeting with the students and faculty who had traveled to India over spring break. The Trustees were pleased to hear the trip details from the participants and to discuss these global experiences in Harkness fashion. Later that morning, the Trustees took time from their sessions to attend the assembly and the Founder’s Day Award speech delivered by this year’s recipient Susan Herney ’69, ’74, ’83 (Hon.), emerita dean of students.

Following the assembly, the Trustees read a citation honoring Julie Quinn for her 16 years of distinguished service as the Academy’s director of communications. Director of College Counseling Betsy Dolan then discussed the changing landscape of college admissions and the importance of differentiating Exeter candidates in an increasingly competitive pool of applicants. Director of Admissions Michael Gary P’06, P’11 reported on the Academy’s high yield of accepted students this spring, particularly in the prep class, and on our ongoing efforts to recruit the most promising candidates from all quarters.

Dean of Faculty Ron Kim talked about the recruitment efforts regarding Exeter’s faculty. He also presented a new program that will provide support and lodging for two dissertation fellows from underrepresented groups during the next academic year, so these doctoral candidates can continue their research and writing. The Dissertation Year Fellowship program is modeled after the Academy’s highly successful Bennett Fellowship program. Dean of Students Melissa Mischke and Interim Dean of Multicultural Affairs Russell Weatherspoon ’01, ’03, ’08, ’11 (Hon.); P’92, P’95, P’97, P’01 spoke to the Trustees about the work of the Advising Committee, which will bring final recommendations to the faculty and principal.

The remainder of Friday was devoted to a conversation with Academy members of the Performing Arts Review Committee, who underscored the need for new facilities and reviewed initial thoughts on how we will begin to raise funds in support of this project. Both the Trustees and Principal Hassan have declared this new performing

arts facility as the Academy’s top fundraising objective.

The Trustees’ time on campus ended with a dinner at Saltonstall House, at which the retiring faculty members in attendance were honored.The Trustees appreciated the warm welcome they received from staff, faculty and students and look forward to returning to campus in October for their next meeting.

Table Talk (continued from page 10) anybody might want.When I was principal at Exeter, if I couldn’t change things overnight, I was pretty good about saying, ‘What can we do right now?’ We can sure as heck improve faculty salaries. There’s always good on-the-ground work, and then you can work patiently and persistently at the larger issues. If you can’t fix everything right now, you don’t have to twiddle your thumbs.”

“That’s our largest topic of conversation: She tells me to slow down,” Lehman agrees.

“If you see the change that has to happen, don’t wait.You’ve got to make the changes even if they’re unpopular. But you also have to…think about it, and ask yourself, ‘Is this a change [I] have to make now?’ ” Key to making change, O’Donnell advises, is finding the common ground that unites both you and those who may hold differing viewpoints. “At Exeter, the biggest common ground was academic rigor, the academic success of students,” she says.

“Everyone agreed that was the school’s most important mission. Over time, we were able to demonstrate that gratuitous suffering was not a requirement for academic rigor. I tried to show that in changing the culture of the school, we are not going to lose what we value most; in fact we might do a better job of realizing what we value most.” O’Donnell also encourages team building: “It’s important to understand that you always have allies. We sometimes concentrate on the people we think will fight us, when in fact, the people we should concentrate on are the people who understand the situation as we do.”

Having O’Donnell as an ally has contributed to Lehman’s strength in his position. “As a new young headmaster, when I can say I’ve spoken with Kendra and she agrees, it’s like the stamp, ‘Approved by

Inspector No. 7.’ ‘Approved by Kendra O’Donnell’ lends some weight.” Lehman adds that sometimes the resume of his mentor can be a little intimidating. “I was afraid after she came to visit The Hill and presented to the board that they might scrap me and get her instead,” he laughs.

O’Donnell points out that even though she’s the mentor in this relationship, there is a lot she has learned from Lehman.

“There is so much around us that could discourage us, but working with Zack reminds me of the virtues of enthusiasm, of ambition in the nicest sense, of real desire to make things better, of intelligence brought to bear on a task,” she declares.

“I’ve also learned from him that some things that seem obvious are not obvious.

When you get to my age, you have fully formed responses to things. Working with Zack has taught me to open my mind, to be open to discovery. In helping him to slow down and look at things, I have learned to do the same.”

Sharing an Exeter background has also been a binding force. “I had a very good relationship with [Kendra] when I was at Exeter,” Lehman says, “[but] like any 16or 17-year-old, I didn’t always realize what she was doing when I was there.

When I came back [later] and saw the development of the campus, the faculty and the mission of the school, I realized in retrospect how much she had done.”

O’Donnell adds, “I’ve been in other mentorship positions, and this is somehow different because we share that [Exeter] experience. Zack for me exemplifies what it means to be an Exonian. He has a very strong sense of right and wrong. He has values that [would make] Exeter proud.

Those values show themselves in how you treat people. I think it’s a shared understanding of what needs to be preserved as you move forward, the understanding of the importance of human relationships.”

Though their formal relationship concludes in July, Lehman knows he will be able to reach out to O’Donnell in the future. In the meantime, the imprint of their yearlong connection remains with him.

“Kendra’s guidance certainly has helped me be more confident in my decisions and actions in my first year,” he says, “and she has helped me to understand the more subtle aspects of this job, find joy in school life, make time for my family, and stay true to my values and ideals.”

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Memorial Minute

Charles Wolsey “Charlie” Pratt ’52; E N G L I S H I N S T RU C T O R A N D D I R E C T O R O F T H E B E N N E T T F E L L OW S H I P P RO G R A M ( 1 9 3 5 – 2 0 1 2 )

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harles Wolsey Pratt ’52; ’72 (Hon.); P’83 ’84 was born in

ponent of the celebration. In the meantime he managed another Boston on June 1, 1935. He attended the Fenn School in extended stay in Europe, this time as the English teacher in School Concord, MA, then matriculated at Phillips Exeter Year Abroad France during 1975–76. The love of France and the Academy, graduating in 1952. In French that grew in both the his ninth-grade year, he had the Pratts led to five summer trips pluck to challenge Charles Dickto Brittany with Exeter stuens, writing in a letter to his pardents in which they all worked ents that A Tale of Two Cities was on the restoration of an old simply a “mess,” composed “as if chapel. It also led locally to a Dickens was purposely trying to popular creperie that he and mix the reader up.” Such precoJoanie ran out of their Elliot cious literary confidence perhaps Street home on Saturday nights, foreshadowed Charlie’s going on to the delight of students in the to win the Manley Prize for lower early days of coeducation. In a English, the Mer r ill Pr ize for note to Charlie before his death, upper English and the Lamont one Exonian said simply: “You Prize for senior English. He also and Mrs. Pratt played a major earned letters in soccer, hockey role in my senior year: The and lacrosse, thereby contradicting crepes you served up with hot his nickname, “Homunculus.” cider were one of my greatest Charlie moved on to Princeton sources of pleasure.” where he earned an A.B. in English Charlie played a major role with high honors. Also, as a senior, for many in the classroom as he was awarded the William B. well. In a letter of condolences Blackwell Trophy, Princeton’s most to Joanie, one graduate spoke for significant recognition of a hockey many: “What I most appreciatCharlie Pratt (middle) with Brooks player. Following his graduation in ed were his patience with me Moriarty ’87 and Emeritus English 1956, he served two years as an offiand his apparent intuition that Instructor Bill Hagen. cer in the Navy, after which he there was some reason I wantbegan his career as a teacher at the ed to be writing.” Patient, genNarragansett Regional High School in Baldwinville, MA. In the tle, soft-spoken: words that appear again and again in reference to spring of 1960, he accepted a position at Phillips Exeter Acade- Charlie Pratt as a teacher. Casual acquaintances might even have my as one of the first two teaching fellows at the Academy. characterized Charlie as mild-mannered to the point of passivity, The year following, he accepted a position at the Pomfret but they would have been wrong; many letters to the Academy’s School, where he and his wife, Joanie ’72 (Hon.); P’83, P’84, administration make clear just how forthright and firm he could stayed for five satisfying years. In 1966, he returned to Phillips Exeter be. A champion of students receiving financial aid and always Academy as a full-time member of the English Department.Two urging expansion of its program, he proclaimed in a letter to years later, the administration granted him an Academy leave for Principal Steve Kurtz ’44, ’46, ’78, ’87 (Hon.); P’77 in 1978: “I’m a year of study in Cambridge, England, where he earned a Diplo- willing to be the underpaid teacher of students of all backgrounds ma in English Studies. He then resumed teaching at Exeter, liv- who themselves are willing to sacrifice some comfort in order to ing in Amen Hall, coaching at different times both the boys varsity learn, but I’m not willing to be the underpaid servant of the rich. and the girls varsity hockey teams—the latter for five key years in I’ll give myself away, in other words, but I don’t want to be sold its evolution—serving on the Executive Committee, the Committee cheap.” To that comment he added: “. . . without a full scholarto Enhance the Status of Women, the Ninth-Grade Program ship budget, the more the school costs, the less it’s worth.”

Committee, the Agenda Committee, the Lamont Poetry Committee, In 1984, Charlie and Joanie left their home near campus for and in 1981 the Bi-Centennial Committee, chairing the arts com- an orchard in Brentwood named Apple Annie. Lines from Char-

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lie’s poem, “Into Place,” characterize the move: It’s not so much a departure as an arrival, Or rather, a having arrived—as when, out driving, You pass an orchard on a southward hill, Old apple trees aslant in heaps of prunings.

For Sale. . . .

So the sign said, and so they bought it. For each of the next two years, Charlie took a personal leave during the first semester to learn the orchardist’s trade and to ply his poet’s craft. The latter he did alone, but the former he did, as always, with Joanie.They learned together, they harvested together, they sold their produce together, and in the winter they pruned together, stooping low as they prepared the trees for the spring bloom.The final lines of “After Pruning” bespeak that partnership: But now this pause after the snow has melted, Before the blunt thrust of bud and bulb, We have this hurried stooping along together, So much like love.

This work together led to a co-authored book entitled Take the Apple, a mix of essays, poems and recipes. Charlie and Joanie Pratt, Joanie and Charlie Pratt: Names linked in so many endeavors.

From 1986 to 1991, Charlie taught two sections of English per semester and was a member of the Bennett Fellow Committee.

In 1991, he left behind his classroom in Phillips Hall to attend more fully to his work as an orchardist-poet, a kind of Wendell Berry of New Hampshire, and that work led to delicious hand-pressed cider and to his first book of poems, aptly titled In the Orchard. Clearly, his experience living and working at Apple Annie was proving to be, as he put it, “Most fruitful, pomiculturally and poetically.”

All the while, however, he remained committed to the work with the Bennett Fellow program, becoming its director in 1991, a position he held until he stepped down in 2008. Elias Kulukundis ’55 had established the program in 1968, honoring George Bennett ’23; P’60, whom he deemed to be “the most significant influence in my becoming a writer.” Coincidentally, Charlie had also, three years earlier, studied with Bennett, and thought about him in equally appreciative terms. It is perhaps no surprise therefore when, at the occasion recognizing Charlie for more than 20 years of superb stewardship, Elias said of his friend that he “knew what I wanted [with the fellowship] without our ever really talking about it.” Then, with an appreciation and respect he felt that friend had earned, he added: “Charlie really created the fellowship.” Tributes from multiple winners of that fellowship attest to Charlie’s influence on their lives as writers. One after another has offered a version of this simple description: “Charlie was inexhaustibly friendly, helpful, supportive.” A few recall that it was an encouraging note written in Charlie’s own hand that led them to react to the disappointing news that someone else had won the fellowship by applying again another year.And not one would disagree with this playful summary assessment: “One firm apple, that Charlie Pratt—good to the core.”

Outside of the Academy community, Charlie worked unstintingly for causes in which he believed. For many years he was the president of SAPL, the Seacoast Anti-Pollution League, which challenged the licensing of the Seabrook Nuclear Power Plant. He was a member of the Exeter Evacuation Committee, which drew up

plans for an evacuation in the case of a nuclear accident. And he was a member of the Southeast Land Trust of New Hampshire from the days when it was the Rockingham Land Trust. It is indicative of his and Joanie’s influence in this area that in 2005, they earned the Jack Heath Conservation Award from the land trust. And it is reflective of their love of the land that they were founding members of Willow Pond Farm, a community-supported agricultural project that enjoys a healthy life to this day.

But however engaged publicly Charlie was as a political activist or a teacher of English or a sensitive mentor to young writers or a determined orchardist, he was privately always a poet, a poet with a subtle and substantial and ever-probing mind. At the end of his poem “Spray or Pray,” he asks a basic question: In what then do I have faith, The way at night, going from barn to house, The body knows its way without misstep: Assumes the invisible orchard?

The question mark that concludes that sentence marks him as a man who lived in the gray area, an area of uncertainty. In the final two lines of “Stones,” the word “almost” hints at the same philosophical stance: And he is grateful for [stones], Presences he can almost count on.

In a letter to a colleague, Charlie wrote: “I fear people with too clear a vision of how things ought to be, with too clear a map; I prefer to feel my way along.” At the same time, he described his life as “a search for some relative stability and the discovery of it in the grasping of essentially unstable things: human relations and nature.”

Only in the final two years of his life did Charlie’s poetry begin to get the national attention it deserved. The publication in 2010 of From the Box Marked Some Are Missing: New & Selected Poems was greeted with strong support from such notables as X.J. Kennedy and Maxine Kumin, as well as from former Bennett Fellow Ilya Kaminsky, but it was Garrison Keillor who brought Charlie’s name into the national literary conversation by choosing to read four of his poems in three different airings of “The Writer’s Almanac.”

Each November the English Department holds an annual “[Thomas] Hardy Party,” based on that author’s evocations of the approach of winter.The department’s retired colleagues are invited to the party, and the eldest in attendance reads a passage from The Return of the Native, a rousing call for fortitude in the face of the coming seasonal darkness. In the fall of 2011, Charlie read the passage.Toward the end of the party, English Instructor Brooks Moriarty ’87 asked that a picture be taken of him and Charlie, in that Charlie had been his teacher when Brooks was a student at Phillips Exeter Academy. It was to be Charlie’s last Hardy Party, but the photograph stands as a testament to the passing of the torch from one generation to the next.

At their 40th reunion in May of 2012, the class of ’72 made Charlie an honorary member. From the presentation statement, Gussie Wilson ’72; P’00, P’03, P’06 read the following, an echo of what Charlie himself said of George Bennett: “[Charlie] made his students feel respected and smart. So it was safe—good, even— to listen to how you felt and allow it to be written down. His manner was quiet and encouraging, allowing students to find ways to make their writing better by being still, by observing.” Being still, SUMMER 2013

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Memorial Minute

observing: How apt for the approach that Charlie took more broadly to life, and to writing about life. That approach, plus his powerful mind and his remarkable touch with language, led, in his poem “Wolsey’s Hole,” to the following lines, now so poignant: . . . . Can I learn To think of death not as infinite contraction, Curtains closed over midnight, but as curtains drawn back To let in the moon and the stars, the whole horizon, To let in the dead and the living—a rope thrown down To haul me from the hole of my heart, all dripping and shining?

In 2008, Charlie had published a chapbook entitled Still Here.

The title poem ends with the line: “When a friend calls to tell us another friend has died.” On May 27, 2012, that phone call, those

phone calls, had to be made, for Charlie Pratt, friend to so many, had died. His stirring voice had been stilled. But that voice speaking in his poetry allows us to throw down the rope of our attention and haul from the hole of the heart a presence we can indeed count on. We are the better for having known him while he was alive; we are the better for being nourished still by the enduring ripeness of his verse.

This Memorial Minute was written by Peter Greer ’58; ’71, ’81, ’83, ’97, ’00 (Hon.); P’81, P’83, P’94;Todd Hearon; Ralph Sneeden ’98 (Hon.); P’07, P’09, P’13; and David Weber ’71, ’74 (Hon.); P’92, and was presented at faculty meeting on April 29, 2013.

David E.Thomas G E O R G E S H AT T U C K M O R I S O N P RO F E S S O R O F L AT I N A N D C H A I R O F T H E C L A S S I C A L L A N G UAG E S D E PA RT M E N T, E M E R I T U S ( 1 9 3 0 – 2 0 1 2 )

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orn in Middletown, PA, in 1930, David E. Thomas received his bachelor’s degree from Gettysburg College and his master’s from the University of Pittsburgh, after which he taught for one year at Deerfield Academy and three at Phillips Andover. David joined the faculty of Phillips Exeter Academy in 1957 and retired in 1996. A firm believer in the value of travel for a student of classics, David attended The American School of Classical Studies in Athens in the summer of 1953 and the American Academy in Rome and the Villa Vergiliana in the summer of 1956.

At the department party in honor of his retirement, David’s colleagues presented him with a granite stone to be placed alongside the tree planted on campus in honor of his 25th year as an instructor. The inscription included an excerpt from Vergil’s “Aeneid,” pietate gravem ac meritis virum, “a man weighty with devotion and accomplishments.” These Latin terms, with their connotations of dedication to duty, of firmness, and of influence earned by astute and thoughtful service, suit David perfectly, for he was absolutely devoted to the Academy. He never shirked his responsibilities and volunteered his time generously in all aspects of the life of the school. In addition to teaching, coaching and dormitory service, he also worked on countless committees and served as director of College Placement from 1970 to 1975, dean of students from 1975 to 1980, chair of the Classical Languages Department from 1982 to 1990, and clerk of the Trustees from 1990 to 1993. Yet above David’s dedication to Exeter stood his dedication to basic decency and fairness. His caring treatment of everyone with whom he dealt, no matter their role at the school, brought him enormous respect and the additional responsibility of acting as mentor and adviser to anyone who sought the unbiased, honest opinion of a person of experience and principled nature. This combination of principle and devotion also meant 110

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that he knew well both the strengths and weaknesses of this human institution and that he felt free to speak frankly his approval or disapproval of how the business of the school was conducted. Though proud of his accomplishments, David also had an inherent humility. When presented with the aforementioned stone, he at first did not even imagine the true extent of the compliment, which was to liken him to Vergil’s ideal statesman, but simply thanked his colleagues for including one of his favorite lines of Vergil.

David’s classes were rigorous, and challenging; he expected the highest standards of behavior and integrity. As in all he did at Exeter, he was fearless in upholding the standards of the school and of his department. Once, while he was chair, another member of the department proudly presented him with a program designed to compute the average grade on a test and then adjust all the grades to fit the instructor, or department’s, preferred, i.e., higher, average. An honorable man who did not believe in fudging numbers or cooking the books, David was thoroughly horrified. Yet this firmness was balanced always by respect for his students and by the absence of histrionics or favoritism. His teaching, and so his classes and the texts he taught, were enlivened by his deep love for, devotion to, and curiosity about the Classics.

When a student was facing difficulties, whether academic or personal, David was understanding and patient, as well as generous in offering a kindly ear or extra help with Latin or Greek. David’s contributions in athletics were also considerable, and as a coach of tennis and squash, he was as helpful to, and influential on, his players as he was with students in the classroom.

Everywhere he worked was enlivened also by his dry, infectious sense of humor.Those who knew him soon came to recognize the twinkle in his eye when he observed something foolish or slightly absurd, such as when he was successfully pulling your leg. On one

occasion, for instance, he convinced a gullible junior member of turn up the instrument. his department that he had been born and raised in Alaska, and that Throughout his service to the Academy, David remained this was the reason for his legendary habit of throwing open the devoted also to his family, in which he was the sole male. One windows of his classroom in the dead of winter. family dog, though female, was named “Charles” to provide Because of his many talents and abilities, David served in sev- some balance in the family. David spoke with pride about his eral administrative positions, but always as the servant of the fac- three daughters, who remain close though living in far-ranging ulty and always ready to return to teaching and coaching, where parts of the world. While he and Jackie arrived at Exeter during he may have been happiest. David was an era when faculty wives were often appointed dean of students in 1975 considered unpaid assistants to their just after Steven Kurtz was named the husbands, they set an unparalleled 11th principal. Principal Kurtz had example of mutual support and of balbeen charged by the Tr ustees to ance. When Jackie began her own “warm up” the school after a period of work in the Academy Library, David rather tense and difficult relations took over the household chores and between faculty and the administraparental responsibilities that Jackie had tion. As dean, David’s even temperashouldered for many years. They were ment, sense of humor, keen devoted to one another and shared organization, and genuine care of stumany interests—reading, travel, tennis, dents all contributed to making Exeter music, food and cooking—and their a better place for students and faculty friends have many wonderful memoto live and grow. At the time, there ries of the social occasions in their were those who felt that any hint of home at 16 Elm Street, which is now warming up the school would mean owned by the school and named the not only a quick decline in discipline Thomas House in David and Jackie’s but more importantly in academic honor through a gift of the class of rigor. David, in his steady, patient, calm 1968. David’s contributions to Exeter manner did a great deal to change that Dave Thomas received the were also recognized by his being view. He treated students with imparFounder’s Day Award in 2000. appointed the George Shattuck Moritiality and kindness, such that even son Professor of Latin and his receivthose students who were required to leave the school felt they ing the Rupert Radford ’15 Distinguished Service Award had been listened to and treated fairly. David could also inter- (1988), the George S. Heyer Jr. ’48 Teaching Award (1995), and vene in a contentious situation among adults, listen to all sides, the Founder’s Day Award (2000). stay calm and often manage to have all leave believing that their Even in retirement, David participated actively in the life of claim had won the day. He was a master at keeping even serious the Academy, in part through the reflected glory he gained by situations in perspective. At the same time, he could be direct, his association with the head of the library, but also because he when necessary, and even a little impatient, with students and served as an unpaid tutor to students having difficulty with parents. For example, after several occasions on which, in his role Latin. When, in the late 1990s, the part-time classical languages as Dean, he called a parent about his or her child and was put on instructor resigned abruptly, David, without fanfare, agreed to hold for a considerable time by the parent’s office assistant, he return to the classroom, a service for which his colleagues at the adopted the following procedure: if he called a parent at the time were very grateful and for which his students, whether workplace, which meant that the situation was a serious one, and they realized it at the time or not, were exceptionally fortunate. the assistant was directed to ask him to hold, David simply hung Even when he stepped down from part-time teaching, he mainup and left it to the parent to return the call. tained close ties with the department and helped to welcome Those who knew David benefited from association with one new members. of the most honorable people who have been part of the school, David passed away in his home in Newmarket, NH, on and those who became friends of David and his wife, Emerita December 2, 2012. He faced the health challenges late in his life Academy Librarian Jackie Thomas, were still more fortunate. He calmly and matter-of-factly, with strength and stoicism. He was unfailingly dedicated to friends, and he even became both approached them, in fact, with the same practicality and curiosifriends with, and mentor to, some former students. One telling ty that characterized his entire life, and he never lost the twinkle story relates how David and Jackie, while living in Ewald Hall, in his eye. A favorite quotation of his was, “A man of courage can had stored a valuable musical instrument for a friend who had do without a reputation.” David Thomas’ reputation, however, left Exeter to run the SYA Spain program. A year or so after leav- will live on at Phillips Exeter Academy, and in the hearts of all ing Ewald Hall—without the instrument—David wanted to who knew him, for many, many years to come. retrieve it for his friend, but the current residents of the apartment had been unable to locate it. So concerned was David This Memorial Minute was written by David Arnold ’83 (Hon.); Paul Goldabout finding his friend’s possession that he underwent hypnosis to see if he could remember exactly where he had put it.Though enheim ’68; Susan Herney; Paul Langford; Robert Shapiro; and Allan Wooley this approach proved unsuccessful, a second search finally did Jr. ’54; P’84, and was presented at faculty meeting on May 13, 2013.

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Finis Origine Pendet

“For I have pressing business to attend.”*

By Ama Boah ’98

I

just returned from my 15-year Exeter reunion. It was wonderful to reconnect with classmates, teammates

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* Bertie W.H. Davis [class of 1913] senior PEAN quotation.

FRED CARLSON

Ama Boah ’98 and her brother, Kofi Boah ’96

and dorm friends.The new buildings on campus are beautiful, and their more modern architecture seems to meld seamlessly with the traditional brick with white window shutters of the past. Yet the moment that stopped me in my tracks occurred while walking out to the football stadium and playing fields with my partner, Conor. We had just finished watching the end of a softball game, and I was telling him about the time during my prep year on the varsity softball team when I had lost the ball in the sun. It landed right on my nose, which instantly started to bleed, and I had to sit in all of my afternoon classes and the dining hall with a giant ice pack on my face. I remember being very embarrassed. As Conor and I approached the bridge to cross over to the fields, I mentioned how my teammates and I used to jump off of it on the last day of practice each year. I then noticed a plaque on a rock with a dedication to Hamilton “Hammy” Bissell ’29, signifying that the bridge was now known as “Hammy’s Way.” I clutched hands over my heart and let the tears flow. I first met Hammy my prep year when I played with his granddaughter on the softball team. He would pedal his bike out to practice every day, sit on the bleachers and clap and cheer, occasionally ducking out of the way of an errant foul ball. I did not know much about Hammy and his connection to Exeter, except that he was an alumnus who had worked in the Admissions Office for many years. He was the team’s unofficial grandfather, and his classic “Hammy Bars”—giant Cadbury Fruit & Nut [Milk] Chocolate Bars— were bestowed on us as we departed from the Love Gym for away games. Hammy was a fixture during my sports practices in the fall for field hockey and in the spring for softball all four of my years at Exeter. After a field hockey practice my senior year, I sat with Hammy, as I had a question for him.

During my time at Exeter, I never mentioned to anyone that my great-grandfather, Bertie Whitley Horsford Davis, had also attended Exeter, graduating in 1913. While there are many legacy families at Exeter, my familial history at the Academy differs in that my great-grandfather was one of a handful of black Exonians during those years. Despite his age difference with Hammy, my great-grandfather had lived in Boston for many years, and I always wondered if they had known each other.

Bertie W.H. Davis was born in 1896 on the beautiful island of Antigua in what was then the British West Indies. He had the opportunity to attend a prestigious prep school on the island, and his demonstration of academic promise led to a scholarship that brought him to Phillips Exeter Academy. He began his lower middler year in 1910 and flourished in the nurturing academic environment of the Academy. After graduation, he went on to receive his bachelor’s degree from Harvard University in 1917; I also completed a master’s degree from the Harvard School of Public Health in 2009.

During his time at Harvard, my great-grandfather would launder, press and mend the clothes of his fellow students for money. He was a talented tailor, and after completing school he ran a tailoring business in Harvard Square for a while before pursuing other business ventures. My grandfather, Bertie W.H. Davis Jr., was born and raised in Boston. He did not attend PEA; my great-grandfather was very socially active and felt it was important for his children to have a role in the move toward integration of Boston public schools.Through all of my greatgrandfather’s actions, his desire that all children—regardless of race, gender or class—have access to education was always apparent.

That afternoon while sitting with Hammy, I asked him if he had known my great-grandfather, and he had.

While working with the Admissions Office on initiatives to increase diversity at Exeter, Hammy had sought my great-grandfather’s help in identifying promising students of color from Boston. He discussed my great-grandfather’s commitment to education and his desire to see the Academy become coed. Hammy also mentioned that he had a Westcott vest that my great-grandfather had made for him as a gift and token of their friendship.

My journey to Exeter began long before my birth. My mother would receive letters as a young girl from her grandfather talking about Exeter and how much he hoped she would be able to experience it one day. (continued on page 106) Unfortunately, when my mother was in high school in the ’60s, the school

Finis (continued from page 112) did not yet admit women.

I grew up in Saudi Arabia due to my father’s job. At the time there were no options for high school in the kingdom, so it became clear that my brother and I would attend boarding school.

Despite numerous options, we both chose to go to Exeter.

Dur ing the fall Exeter/ Andover weekend of my senior year, my brother, Kofi ’96, came to visit and watch my last field hockey game. As usual, Hammy was seated in the bleachers, cheering our team on. At the end of the game, I walked over and introduced him to my brother. They shook hands and we chatted about the day, and Hammy said that he had something for us. He reached beside him to pick up a small brown package, and handed it to me. “This,” he said, “is the Westcott that Bertie Davis made for me, and I want you and your family to have it.”

I unwrapped the green-andblack plaid vest, feeling the material and admiring the workmanship. My brother and I both embraced Hammy in tears and said thank you. In that moment, Hammy helped me to realize the impact of my great-grandfather’s time at the Academy— that his two great-grandchildren, African-American, one male, one female, had the opportunity to attend a school that had given him such pleasure, happiness and knowledge.

I have waited 15 years to tell the story of my great-grandfather and to formally thank Hammy Bissell for his kindness and exemplification of non sibi.This year marks the 100th anniversary of my great-grandfather’s graduation from the Academy, and I have personally dedicated 2013 to honor him. It is only fitting that these words find a home in Finis Origine Pendet, which translates as “the end depends upon the beginning.”

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Columns were submitted on April 1 (nonreunion classes) and June 1 (reunion classes).

EXETER FAMILY WEEKEND 2013 Save the Date!

OCTOBER 11-14, 2013 Family members of current students are warmly invited to spend an autumn weekend on campus and experience the richness and variety of life at Exeter.

• Visit your student’s Harkness classes • Attend Principal Hassan’s assembly • Take in sports team practices and music ensemble rehearsals

• Hear from the College Counseling Office

• Tour the campus • Get to know other Exeter families from around the world Watch your email for more information.

A program of events and travel information will be available closer to the date at www.exeter.edu/parents.

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

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Welcome matter when you graduated, to the No you are a lifetime member of family. Exeter’s alumni community.