Rawson began his remarks by welcoming this year’s 336 new students, who hail from 36 states and 26 countries. He offered students his now-familiar advice for both new and returning students, which he said he himself would have appreciated hearing when he arrived at the Academy as a new lower: “You can do the work. You will make lifelong friends. Absolutely, you belong here.”

Changes on campus

“Each year at Exeter is a little different,” Rawson said, addressing the fact that the assembly was held in Love Gymnasium due to the ongoing renewal of the Academy Building and Assembly Hall, which began at the conclusion of last school year. Rawson went on to outline some of the other adjustments that have been made to class schedules and locations due to the renovation.

“Your patience will be rewarded with a beautifully restored Academy Building, a new Assembly Hall that will seat more than 1,300, a new design lab — and, importantly, air conditioning,” he said, to a hearty round of applause from the audience.

The new school year also marks the opening of the renovated Davis Hall, built in 1911 and formerly used as a library and a student center. The building, adjacent to the Class of 1945 Library and Elm Street Dining Hall, is the new home of the Classical Languages Department, but it also houses a spacious reading room and smaller meeting room that are open to all students. “You don’t have to study Latin or Greek to go into this building,” Rawson stressed.

Core values and the year ahead

As is customary in Opening Assembly, Rawson reflected on the school’s Deed of Gift, and the core values that can be traced to that founding document: knowledge and goodness, academic excellence, youth from every quarter, non sibi and “youth is the important period.”