In the last days of winter term, snow and a decidedly determined mood blankets campus as students hunker down for final exams before spring break. Yet in Phillips Hall Room 209, the vibe is more jovial. The students in ENG542: Jane Austen are offering their modern takes on the classic Austen works Pride and Prejudice and Emma, rather than taking a traditional final exam or writing a paper.

Under the guidance of Jane Cadwell, instructor in English and the B. Rodney Marriott Chair in the Humanities, seniors in this elective class explore Austen’s work, according to the course description, “with a focus on her use of language to show the universal tension between raw desire — for money, power and love — and the restrictions” of social conventions. In their presentations, the students flex their creative muscles to show how the enduring themes of Austen’s regency-era novels translate to modern life.

Charlotte Dassori ’26 has used her knowledge of computer science to build a functioning online dating app populated with characters from the novels. Dassori invites her classmates and Cadwell to use their laptops to log in and find a match based on their own preferences. The five-minute exercise elicits giggles and leaves a few unhappy customers.

“Aw, I wanted Mr. Darcy!” says Nora Unger ’26, who reveals she matched with Mr. Bingley.

“This would have been helpful for Emma to have,” Cadwell says.
After the exercise, Dassori shows her impressed classmates the backend of the program, revealing the code she used to develop it.
Luca Domingos-Worth ’26 enlisted the help of friends Alex Johnson ’26 and Josh Rohloff ’26 to create a video podcast discussing the Austen novels. The Men in Waistcoats podcast (a play on the name of a popular soccer podcast Men in Blazers) looks at the novels through the lens of free agency in sports, when players are made available to sign contracts with new teams. “I thought a lot of the characters in Pride and Prejudice, they’re always looking to change their status through marriage, and I thought that was reminiscent,” Domingos-Worth says to introduce his video.

Complete with hyperbole and the requisite “hot takes,” the three friends banter about characters and their storylines. The boys liken Emma, the titular character who takes on the role of matchmaker, to a front-office executive of a sports franchise.

“Emma is operating as a general manager at this point,” one says. “She has to be the undisputed G.O.A.T. of matchmaking.” Another says, “Maybe that’s true, but as a manager anyway, big failure to sign a deal for Harriet this past week.”

Kofi Annan-Brown ’26 analyzes the modes of transportation in the novels and likens each to current automobiles. “Transportation was a symbol of status,” he says, “and how often or how quickly a person could get to different locations showed how powerful they were.”

The four-wheeled Barouche carriage Mrs. Elton rides in in Emma, he says, is like a Porsche. “This is a show carriage just meant to flex her wealth,” he adds. “It basically highlights that Mrs. Elton and her friends are very showy people.”

Annan-Brown explains that a single horse or a two-wheeled carriage is akin to a modern-day economy vehicle like a Honda. Annan-Brown then shares a comic strip he created showing the characters alongside their modern translations of transportation.

With the class period, and term, coming to a close, Cadwell provides the students with some parting words. “I appreciate all your engagement and hard work,” she says. “I hope you feel like, ‘Hey, this was a great winter because we got to read these books and talk about them in a funny, entertaining way.’”

Over a decade ago, the Rev. Michael Ambler ’82 spun a globe to figure out how far the frequent-flyer miles left over from his career as a lawyer would take him on vacation. Southeast Asia and back, as it turned out. He didn’t anticipate that he would fall in love with the region and discover his third act: founding Restoration Laos, a nonprofit that supports Lao teams removing unexploded Vietnam War-era bombs.

The teams primarily remove cluster munitions, about the size of a tennis ball and filled with ball bearings. These bombs were among about 270 million dropped in an effort to stop the North Vietnamese moving material along the Ho Chi Minh Trail. An assumed 30 percent explosion failure rate means that roughly 78 million live “bombies,” as they’re called locally, are still on the ground.

“Laos was not a belligerent in the war,” Ambler says, “and if it was in our interest to drop all those bombs, it’s now our responsibility to clean them up.”

When he and his wife, Darreby, class of 1979, established Restoration Laos in 2022, some financial support was available for bomb removal from the U.S. and other nations’ governments, but it was limited. “I thought, I can’t solve that problem, but I can solve it for some people,” he says, reflecting on the many villages likely to wait 50 more years before anybody reaches them. He contacted the U.S. embassy in the capital, Vientiane, to propose the idea of piggybacking on government funding in support of one team and received an unequivocally positive response.

“The goal is not to clear every bomb in Laos,” Ambler says, but “to clear the bombs where the people are” — in rice paddies, gardens, schoolyards and heavily foraged forests. Restoration Laos’ eight-person Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) Team 5 is currently trained and managed by the Mines Advisory Group, a British nongovernmental organization.

The team destroys 1,200-plus bombs of varying sizes annually in Khammouane Province. It surrounds cluster bombs with sandbags to direct the blasts below ground. The sandbags are made of hemp, a pricier but more environmentally friendly alternative to plastic.

Ambler travels to Laos two or three times a year. But he doesn’t want to be seen as just another Westerner with money, so he’s learning to speak Lao. (“The Harkness table taught me I could do hard things badly and survive,” he says with a laugh.)

He has also developed a close connection with EOD Team 5 members, accompanying them at work even though he doesn’t have the training to participate in bomb removal. Seeing detonations up close allows Ambler to describe the work vividly and accurately when he’s speaking in the United States in support of the effort. He has addressed church groups, veterans’ organizations — and even a gathering of spies.

Public speaking comes naturally for Ambler, a former rector of Grace Episcopal Church in Bath, Maine, and canon to the ordinary for the Episcopal Diocese of Maine. In contrast to his work as an attorney and a priest, both of which entailed “wrangling concepts,” Ambler says Restoration Laos allows him to contribute to the greater good in a way that is tangible, not to mention noncontroversial.

“Every single bomb we detonate is a bomb that doesn’t kill a child,” he says, noting that no one has ever approached him to debate the “wisdom or ethics of the Vietnam War. In this unbelievably polarized time, I’ve never met anybody who didn’t think this was a thing worth doing.”  

After more than 30 dual swimming meets over the past four years, seniors Isabel Avelino, Mena Boardman, Ellie Colman, Shawna Jiang, Ellen Jin, Raylea Richmond and Gene Sunthornrangsri will graduate this spring with a particular distinction: They never lost a meet. That is a rare accomplishment, as were their four straight New England Division I titles and four top-five finishes at the Eastern Interscholastic Swimming and Diving Championships. The class of 2026 swimmers hold a special place in program history.

“This group helped push a positive, competitive environment,” head coach Don Mills says. “They connected with members of the team in different ways, played different roles within the team — their leadership culture was one of support and dedication.”

At the center of their success was Boardman, one of the most accomplished swimmers in Academy history. She earned three Eastern Swimmer of the Meet awards and two New England Swimmer of the Meet awards while setting numerous school, meet and regional records.

“We’ve been fortunate to have a core group of girls who have been part of this incredible run,” Mills says. “It starts with Mena and her tremendous talent and commitment. Each year she gets faster and continues to break records. She has been supported by her co-captain, Gene Sunthornrangsri, who came in as a new lower. Gene has an enduring spirit and personality, and serves as our distance specialist, which complements Mena’s strengths.”

The class of 2026 set the tone for the program. Their energy in practice elevated expectations, and their enthusiasm created an environment where every best time, breakthrough swim and hard-fought finish was celebrated. “Ellen came into her own this year as a specialist in the individual medley and breaststroke,” Mills says. “She was on the medley relay team which broke a New England record and was part of the 4×100 winning relay team at New Englands. Shawna took on a new event this year with the backstroke, and she helped score points in the event at New Englands. Every member of this class was selfless, supportive and helped raise the bar of our program.”

While their performance in the pool was outstanding, the team’s culture proved most winning. “I think our success comes from the strong and supportive team community we have,” Jin says. “The girls are always encouraging and uplifting one another, and we all have the energy to do it for the team.

Ana Glidden ’12 is looking for signs of life well outside our solar system — 40 light-years away, to be exact, on the exoplanet TRAPPIST-1 e. A postdoctoral researcher in MIT’s Department of Earth, Atmospheric & Planetary Sciences and the Kavli Institute for Astrophysics and Space Research, Glidden was the first author of “JWST-TST DREAMS: Secondary Atmosphere Constraints for the Habitable Zone Planet TRAPPIST-1 e,” published in The Astrophysical Journal Letters in September.

The researchers used a method called transit spectroscopy, by which astronomers look at light from the host star as it passes through the planet’s atmosphere to determine the atmosphere’s composition. The team compared data from the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) with models Glidden helped develop to assess whether TRAPPIST-1 e might be habitable. As yet, the answer is not clear, but the research is far from complete.

 “Our initial observations are one of the most detailed looks at a rocky, habitable-zone exoplanet to date, a steppingstone along the path in the search for life outside the solar system,” Glidden says.

Glidden’s earlier analysis had shown that if the planet had an atmosphere, carbon dioxide would be the most observable gas. Though none was detected on TRAPPIST-1 e, she says, it doesn’t mean there isn’t any at all. The team continues to use transit spectroscopy to explore the characteristics of the planet.

Glidden has an impressive portfolio of astrophysics research. After earning a bachelor of science degree in physics from MIT, she worked as a software engineer, assisting with camera testing for the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS), an MIT-led NASA mission that uses the transit method to find exoplanets. That work led Glidden to shift her focus from active galactic nuclei and high energy astronomy to characterizing distant planets. She earned a doctorate in planetary science at MIT.

At Exeter, Glidden’s general interest in science led her to astronomy. On the recommendation of Physics Instructor Tatiana Waterman, Glidden enrolled in John Blackwell’s introductory course, where she studied data from the Kepler planet-finding mission and learned about the classification of light curves and finding planets using the transit method. She was invited to participate with Blackwell in the NASA Infrared Processing and Analysis Center Teacher Archive Research Program (NITARP) at Caltech, using ultraviolet satellite images and ground-based optical images to make correlations between the color and luminosity of the hot gas around supermassive black holes at galaxy centers.

Glidden, who is studying the TRAPPIST-1 system of seven Earth-size planets that span the habitable zone, says nothing like that system has ever been found. The team is currently observing the innermost planet, TRAPPIST-1 b, and TRAPPIST-1 e in succession. The studies will allow Glidden and her colleagues to better characterize the exoplanets, as they continue to seek an answer to the age-old question: Are we alone?

“The different ingredients that are necessary for life to form and evolve are mind-boggling,” Glidden says. “We’ve found over 6,000 exoplanets and there have been none like Earth, which makes you realize just how special Earth is.”

This article was originally published in the winter 2026 issue of The Exeter Bulletin.

Each fall, faculty members take to the podium in Phillips Church, in front of peers, students and friends, to deliver meditations. There is no template or paradigm for a meditation. Most are personal and evolve from thinking about life and one’s place in it. One of the earliest published collections of meditations states, “The meditations may well signify the best of what Phillips Exeter Academy seeks to nurture within its community: clear cogent expression, observation and contemplation, respect for others, and a sense of the complex interrelatedness of humankind.” Here is an excerpt from the meditation Courtney Shaw shared with the community this fall.

I have lived long enough to know grief and grace on a first-name basis.

“Mrs. Shaw, your daughter is what we consider gifted and talented.” That was code for I would spend first through fourth grade in the C.L.U.E program, Creative Learning in Unique Environments. I loveeeeed CLUE. I met several politicians, the old Sammy Sosa was my pen pal, and Beowulf was my favorite read!

I didn’t realize this opportunity would come at the cost of being an outcast among my peers. It was also in this program that I learned some people shouldn’t teach young minds. Ms. Flatt was the fourth-grade CLUE instructor and, having had enough of my many questions, told me there was no purpose in answering MY hypotheticals because I wasn’t leaving Memphis.

Turn to your neighbor and say, “Don’t let someone with no vision tell you how to see.”

I remember being so embarrassed because the class was all of, like, six kids. I nervously laughed to keep from crying and was on mute for the rest of the day. I rode the bus home. I remember that at every stop, I would question every word she said to me, analyzing her choice of vocabulary. My brain processes information like a web. You say one thing and I immediately see visuals. When my mom walked through the door and hung her lab coat on the coat hanger and my dad unpacked his uneaten lunch items, I rattled off what Mrs. Flatt said. As I talked, I watched my 6-foot-6¾-inch dad smirk and then exit the kitchen to sit at the dining table for my mother’s response. My mother is one of the wisest people I know. A preacher ordained in ’95. She turned to me: “Well, Courtney, what did you think of what she said? Is it true?”

“Uh, no.”

“Who is she to you?”

“She’s my new CLUE teacher.”

I don’t remember much else other than my parents meeting with the principal and Mrs. Flatt. I finished the year out and didn’t return to public school until college.

Middle school was riddled with its own fun challenges. Mrs. Hiller was cool until she couldn’t find my homework in the homework tray. I asked her to re-check the tray, but she wouldn’t even look, so I was forced to stay behind to complete it. The consequence? Missing break — a time when I could eat and play an intense game of foosball. The break was also a time for the teacher to get a break and for the teacher’s aide to come in. In walks Ms. Newsome. “Courtney, are you OK?”

“No, Mrs. Hiller won’t check the tray and I know my work is there. It’s unfair. I asked and she wouldn’t even look. This feels wrong.”

Man, don’t you know Ms. Newsome gets up, walks out of the class to find the principal. The intercom comes on: “Courtney Shaw, you are needed in the principal’s office.” I take the walk of shame and enter her office where she hands me the phone. It’s my mother: “We’ll handle this at home.” Gyaaaaaaaaat dang mane, I knew exactly what that meant.

When I returned to class, my peers and Mrs. Hiller were walking in from break and a student knocked over the homework tray. Whose homework was at the bottom of the tray? Courtney Shaw’s. My teacher’s response, “Oh here it is.” No apology, no call back home. Grief.

High school was even better! I carved “Life is what you make it” on every notebook I had because I learned then the choice was mine to make the life I wanted. But what you do with the things you DIDN’T MAKE will show you HOW to live.

I was one of five Black students in my school of 500. I, like some teenagers, was angry at my parents for sending me to that school. A bunch of smart kids. Most of them wealthy. Then there was me, full financial aid.

The first time I got called n—– was outside my locker during third period. Followed by a kid in my grade asking if I could bring the fried chicken and watermelon to our Christmas class party.

Grief was when my only outlet, the choir, decided we would sing a Negro spiritual for our road performances … when three of the choir members, including me, are only a few generations removed from slavery.

Grief was being mad at all of this and directing it to my parents. You know, the ones who grew up during Jim Crow and were literally bused to integration.

And grace was them listening to a 14-year-old rant for four years about a high school that was heaven compared with what they endured.

Eighteen years ago, I sat where many of you sit now, Class of 2026. I wasn’t sure where I was going to college. My grind for college was a tad different than my peers’. My parents told me and my sisters, when I was 10, that they weren’t paying for us to go to school. “We got scholarships and worked, so can you. I had my heart set on Vandy until I saw the package Vandy had for me. Yeah, no.

That’s when I pivoted. I fell in love with not only a school that was a good distance away, but a school that wanted to pay me to be there. I took my talents to Middle Tennessee State University, where I excelled and by April of 2012 was set to graduate in May. My plan was to return in the fall to pursue my master’s through an assistantship that would cover the admissions costs.

I was sitting at my internship and decided to call and check the receipt of my grad application. “I’m sorry, Courtney. I don’t see it anywhere.” I was crushed. My face flushed. Tears welled. Plans completely thwarted. I got up from my desk and told my boss that I needed a moment to gather myself. I had to have been in that bathroom for about 15 minutes. I let it out, gathered myself and returned to the office. I sat down at my desk. As I opened my email, my boss stood in the doorway. “I forwarded you a position for a one-year paid internship. Take a look at the description, if you are interested, reach out.”

I sent the email. The hiring personnel responded. Boom, we had a 30-minute call scheduled for that Wednesday. That Wednesday, 30 minutes turned into an hour and a half. That hour and a half turned into my becoming the health education intern at the Academy.

The funny thing is, the day I moved into Webster, my acceptance letter to the grad school arrived at my home. My intern experience at Exeter could be described by my current students as interesting. I spent many nights leaving Lamont heading back to Webster, questioning if I made a mistake coming here. Whether you are a student/kid or staffulty/ adult, this place can be hard. Through the many challenges I faced, it was my perspective, supplied by grace, that I look back and credit, through all of those hard situations, places, times and people, for molding me into the educator I am today.

I guess you could say, 18 years later, I am thankful to still be in a space to learn, and hope you always remember that if you can change your perspective, you can change your life.

This article was originally published in the winter 2026 issue of The Exeter Bulletin.

Courtney Shaw served an internship in the Health and Human Development Department during the 2012-13 school year. She joined the Academy as an instructor in 2021 and is currently the chair of the Department of Health and Human Development.

Sharon Bradey, Exeter’s new director of squash, says her career has been defined as much by lasting relationships as by points won.

Her parents helped run a squash club in Adelaide, Australia, while she was growing up. The club was close enough to home that Bradey ran or biked there nearly every day. “As long as I got home before the sun went down, I could go back the next day,” she says. “Only once did I learn that lesson.”

During the 1980s, squash was booming in Australia. Saturday morning junior clinics regularly drew a large crowd of children competing for court time. By the time Bradey turned 12, she was playing on a team with women who were decades older. Surrounded by “extra mums,” The Kid, as she was called on the court, quickly learned what it meant to compete and to belong. “You played your heart out because you didn’t want to be sitting off the court waiting,” she says.

Bradey spent her teenage years traveling across Australia for junior tournaments and balancing schoolwork with an increasingly demanding squash schedule. At 18, with savings from working part time, she joined the professional tour as a six-month experiment. “There wasn’t much money in it,” Bradey says. “I knew I had to perform well to make enough to travel to the next tournament.”

That experiment turned into a decade-long career that took her around the globe. She was ranked as high as 12th in the world.

After Bradey stepped away from professional competition, she spent the next 30 years coaching at colleges and clubs, including The Harvard Club for 25 years. She also coached national teams in Spain, Denmark and Israel. Her global experiences have helped shape her philosophy as a coach. “Excellence matters,” she says. “But people matter more.”

In 2025, Bradey was inducted into the South Australian Squash Hall of Fame, an emotional homecoming that reunited her with family, mentors and teammates. “Squash has given me a lifetime of relationships,” she says. “I love seeing former players come back as adults, as parents, as coaches themselves. When you realize you have been part of someone’s journey, that’s the sweet spot.”

Now an American citizen and one of the longest-serving female professionals in club squash in North America, Bradey sees Exeter as the place where everything aligns. “To be able to do what I love, in another country, and feel so connected to a school and its students — I’m meant to be here. I believe that.”

This article was originally published in the winter 2026 edition of The Exeter Bulletin.

Emma Finn ’22 was named one of 32 U.S. Rhodes Scholars in November. The scholarship provides full financial support for two to three years of postgraduate work at the University of Oxford for students focused on exemplary academic study and public service.
A senior at Harvard University, Finn is completing a double major in mathematics and classics as well as a concurrent master’s degree in statistics. At Oxford, she plans to pursue a Doctor of Philosophy in statistics or statistical machine learning, focusing on understanding “creativity” in generative models like image-based diffusion models.

Finn also hopes to work with ethicists and policymakers to design tools to help regulate artificial intelligence fairly. “I’m especially excited to be a part of the community of Rhodes Scholars and to be surrounded by people who are driven to make the world a better place,” she says. “I hope to learn from them about the challenges they think are most pressing and work in partnership with them to identify technologies that might address those issues.”

This article was originally published in the winter 2026 edition of The Exeter Bulletin.