Combine a student with passion and a dream with a teacher’s encouragement and anything is achievable. Easter is the son of Mark (Bufithis) ‘69, and Bonnie, a teacher at Huntington School in Norwich. Throughout his school years, he had a dream – to be Indiana Jones, searching for lost artifacts and returning them to their rightful owners. He watched every movie – from Raiders of the Lost Ark to Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom; he dressed like the character every Halloween. Though it seemed like his dream was fixed, Easter is emphatic that his high school experience helped him develop both a context and path for his goal. “I had a great time at NFA. There were so many options; NFA gave me the opportunity to dabble in lots of stuff to find out what I’d really like to be.” Though he had never been a competitive swimmer, when he came to NFA Easter joined the swim team, a glimpse into the bold ventures which have become his forte. The measure also exposed him to the influences of opportunities and people for which NFA is noted. Coach Tom Theve ‘68 fostered a family like atmosphere on the team, and Easter flourished. “When you’re with a group of people for four years, for three-four months out of the year, they have a huge impact on you,” he recalls. Another individual who had a lasting effect on Easter was his 11th grade AP U.S. History teacher, Reggie Levanto ‘68, pictured right. “Before Miss Levanto, whenever I told anyone of my dream to be Indiana Jones, they’d say ‘you can’t do that.’ I would sit in class and come up with things to do, and she would say, ‘Well, Brent, if anyone could do that, I believe it would be you.’” More than providing encouragement, though, Levanto pushed Easter to be a critical thinker. Levanto says, “Brent Easter was a dedicated, hardworking student in my third year AP U.S. History class. That describes most kids in any AP class, but Brent was different. His zany sense of humor lightened up any tense discussion and was guaranteed to send me into gales of laughter. Most people took his goal of being the next Indiana Jones as just another joke, but I knew the real Brent and knew he would find his way.”
18
www.nfaschool.org
She challenged Easter to think about how he would execute his seemingly impossible plans and why. “Mrs. Levanto taught me that if I thought things through, I could figure them out,” says Easter. “I thought that if she believed in me, I could believe in myself.” Easter, who thinks of Levanto as a second mother, reflects, “She taught me that if you think a dream through, you can pursue it.”
Pursuing the dream After graduating from Norwich Free Academy in 1998, Easter went to Brandeis University. He recalls that he was “so well prepared coming out of NFA, there was no real transition to college.” He joined the Brandeis swim team, where he met his future wife. Having taken time to think his dream through, as Mrs. Levanto had recommended, he decided to become an educator or work for the federal government. He began his studies at Brandeis to become an archaeology or anthropology professor – much like the fictional Dr. Jones.