Exeter Salutes honors active duty and veteran members of the community

The two-day event celebrated members of the Exeter community who have served or are currently serving in the armed forces of the United States.

Every year, around Veterans Day, Exeter Salutes celebrates faculty, staff, alumni and their family members who have served or are currently serving in the U.S. military. This year was no different with two days of programming that included guest speakers, panels and the chance for the alums to spend time with current students.

The celebration kicked off on Thursday with a virtual panel of young alums detailing their time since leaving the Academy. With their Exeter experience still fresh in their minds, featured speakers Layne Erickson ’18, Cooper Walshe ’21 and Ursula Wise ’21 detailed how the Academy prepared them for life in the military. “A lot of my peers there in my plebe year were really overwhelmed by the amount of work,” Erickson said. “Academically [Exeter] set me up to be very, very successful.”

Friday morning’s assembly speaker Caleb Hoffman Johnson ‘09 delivered a captivating address focused on the core Exeter value of non sibi, or “not for one’s self.” He started with a confession to the student audience.

“When I was your age … I was non sibi agnostic, I had no real concept of non sibi and the culture of this community,” said Hoffman who attended Exeter for a post-grad year. “What non sibi meant to me when I was here and what it means to me now are two very different things,”

Inspired by his grandfathers’ service and yearning for a challenge, Hoffman Johnson joined The Marine Corps after attending Williams College. With reflection in his years following Exeter he said he grew to understand the importance of non sibi in his military career. “As an officer you measured by the capabilities of your subordinates, that is non sibi.”

The programing continued in the afternoon with back-to-back panels in The Forum.

Moderator Jack Herney ’46,’69,’72,’72,’74,’92,’95 (Hon.) emeritus led a panel titled “Lessons Learned” consisting of panelists Bob DeVore ’58; P’95, P’00, Steve Parker ’63, Rich Rowe ’69 P’94, P’02 and David Heist ’92. Heist drew parallels from his time in the service and his years at Exeter. “I really enjoyed the camaraderie that you can get in the dorms … that can be replicated in the military, those late nights of staying up studying or working,” he said.

The programming continued with a panel hosted by Assistant Principal Karen Lassey P’14, P’16, P’18 with featured speakers: Ken Swanberg ’59, Nat Butler ’64, Wick Sloane ’71; P’03, Jeff Eggers ’89, P’28, Lindsey Wetzel ’92 and Miller Pearsall ’96 with discussion around the panelists’ unique paths to military service before all the invitees joined students for dinner to conclude the festivities.

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The dissection of a great American novel

Eleventh grade English class examines F. Scott Fitzgerald's "The Great Gatsby."

Step into Instructor in English Todd Hearon’s Phillips Hall classroom and there’s a lot that catches your eye. Photos of famous Irish writers line the walls, a turntable and a stack of vinyl records sits in the corner and worldly knickknacks occupy the surfaces throughout. But it’s the outsized Harkness table — a quite literal conversation piece — that commands the room. That’s where, on an autumn afternoon, eleven uppers gather to discuss F. Scott Fitzgerald’s classic, “The Great Gatsby.”

The period starts with small group breakouts before the tone of a singing bowl signals the beginning of the Harkness discussion. The day’s conversation centers around chapter five, a pivotal point in which the protagonist comes face to face with his lost love.

Adriano Bozzo ’26 opens the discussion by pointing out Fitzgerald’s use of the weather to symbolize Gatsby’s mood. “When Gatsby was nervous and uptight before meeting Daisy it was raining outside, but once he was reunited and comfortable with her, the weather was nice again.”

As the dissection of the novel continues, Hearon jumps in to point out an untapped topic, and another clever device of Fitzgerald’s, in a scene that finds Daisy fawning over Gatsby’s abundant and varied shirt collection. “There’s definitely some kind of significance behind the different colors and materials of the shirts, maybe we can also try to figure out what that is,” he puts forth to the table.

Zain Reza ’26 jumps in.

“Are any of these [shirt] colors tied into spring and fall?,” he wonders aloud before citing a passage from the chapter. “I’ve got a man in England who buys me clothes. He sends over a selection of things the beginning of each season,” Reza recites before adding a finishing thought. “This strengthens the idea that the clothes represent time passing.”

With the group collectively satisfied by Reza’s interpretation, Julia Malysa ’26 presents a new topic of discussion, the Gatsby’s impression of Daisy following the reunion. Pages turn in unison as she begins.

“On page 95, last paragraph — ‘There must have been moments even that afternoon when Daisey tumbled short of his dreams, not through her own fault, but because of the colossal vitality of his illusion,’” she reads. “I think that Gatsby just built her up so much in his head, and Nick sees this too, that there’s no way that she’s going to be as perfect as he might’ve imagined her.”

Once again the singing bowl chimes and the discussion, at least for this day, comes to a close.

Spreading warmth

Dick Dolloff and Bill Lavertue have each worked in Exeter’s heating plant for more than half a century. Where do they get their energy?

Stocking grocery shelves as a newlywed in his early 20s, Dick Dolloff knew he needed a better job. What he didn’t know is that his next place of employment would probably be his last. Now in his 60th year at Exeter, Dolloff has spent the last five decades maintaining the Academy’s sizable central heating plant systems.

Sitting in an easy chair framed by a picture window at his Exeter residence, Dolloff, 82, jokes about the anonymity of the position — at least most of the time. “On those cold days,” he says, “if things don’t go right, you hear from people before too long.”

Dolloff arrived in the heating plant in1974 after stints in the campus laundry room and with the Grounds Department. “All my learning was on the job,” he says. “In those days, you didn’t necessarily need the sheepskins to make a career; they found a person they had some confidence in.”

He credits the veteran boiler operators, known as firemen, for their guidance, which included a warning about the notoriously finicky No. 6 boiler: “The firemen that were breaking me in said, ‘When you go by that thing at night, sneak; don’t let it see you.’”

One of those vets, Bill Lavertue, has logged 55 years in the central heating plant. He remembers Dolloff as an eager and capable trainee. “I said to Dick, ‘Don’t blow it up’ — and it’s still here,” Lavertue, 91, says with a smile. Together Lavertue and Dolloff have combined for over 115 years of service to the Academy.

I said to Dick, ‘Don’t blow it up’ — and it’s still here,” Lavertue, 91, says with a smile.

The men have seen several modern advancements over the years, including the transition to natural gas and upgrades in the equipment and technology it takes to keep the plant running at peak efficiency. Dolloff talks about the decades gone by, when a fireman would have to rely on intuition, rather than a computer, to know if a machine as working correctly. “Once you’d been in there for a while, you’d become very sensitive to what’s humming right,” he says. “If you’ve got a bearing going bad, it’s going to jump right out at you.”

As for what has kept them at the Academy for so long, Dolloff cites the great benefits and the opportunity for his son, John Dolloff ’81, to attend. Lavertue says, “The people … and the job security is pretty good too.”

Editor’s Note: This article was originally published in the Fall 2024 issue of The Exeter Bulletin.

Jumps Coach

Aaron Gadson ’05 helps his wife win Olympic gold

Aaron Gadson ’05 took a humble and somewhat unexpected route to becoming a jumps coach. A star on the track team during his time at Exeter, Gadson enjoyed continued success at Cornell University. After graduation, he still had the itch to train but quickly found that coaching was the only way to gain consistent access to a training facility.

“I fell into coaching by necessity,” Gadson says. “But I quickly realized that there were a lot of kids who were not able to fully hone their talent because they did not have anyone around with the expertise. I felt like I could fill that gap.”

Gadson landed his first coaching position at the high school level, where skilled instructors in the long jump and triple jump are often hard to find. His quantitative and technical approach helped develop young athletes who took state, regional and national honors. Eventually he began working with more advanced athletes with big dreams.

A former Cornell teammate recommended Gadson to Thea LaFond, a rising star in the triple jump who qualified for the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro but did not reach the finals. She was looking to push herself even further. As Gadson paid meticulous attention to technique and tailored her workouts, he and LaFond developed a strong foundation, professionally and personally. Their collaboration yielded increasingly impressive results. Over time, their partnership deepened and they married in 2022.

“When we first started working out,” Gadson says, “it was something that I took as an extreme honor and something that I wanted to make sure went well. There wasn’t any intention for anything to blossom outside of a good coaching relationship. We immediately developed a relationship of trust and good communication. The rest is kind of history.”

Their shared dedication and work ethic culminated in a historic moment at the Paris Olympics this summer, when LaFond won gold in the triple jump, earning the first Olympic medal for her home country, Dominica.

Following the Games, they traveled to Dominica, where they were welcomed as heroes. “The celebration was like something out of a movie,” Gadson says. “Thousands of people filled the streets, the prime minister gave a speech and showered us with gifts. It was like something you would see after winning the Super Bowl.”

A journey which was ignited through passion and a means to an end, transformed into a legacy that includes the ultimate prize in the sport.

Editor’s Note: This article was originally published in the Fall 2024 issue of The Exeter Bulletin.

Meet the New Dean of Students

Ashley Taylor hired in leadership role.

If the stacked boxes and unhung framed photos lining the perimeter of Ashley Taylor’s Jeremiah Smith Hall office this fall are any indication, Exeter’s new dean of students has been just a little busy since arriving in July. The Washington, D.C., area native spent the summer, she says, settling in to her New Hampshire home with her husband and two young children and learning as much as she could about the Academy before the school year began.

A few months into her first term, Taylor is focusing on getting to know the “engaging and interesting” student body, including her eight advisees in Webster Hall. “Our students seem to seek really big challenges in one way or another,” she says. “They’re here with a sense of purpose and a sense of ‘What can I make of this opportunity?’”

Taylor arrives at Exeter after 14 years at Episcopal High School in Alexandria, Virginia, where she spent the past nine years as the coed boarding school’s dean of students. Prior to that role, she had been a teacher, coach, dorm head, student adviser, senior leadership team member, member of the student life and student health review committees, and chair of strategic planning and scheduling committees and a diversity task force, among other responsibilities. She received numerous awards and recognition during her time there.

In a large pool of highly qualified candidates, Ashley stood out for her ability to inspire students and build meaningful collaborative relationships."

Principal Bill Rawson ’71

Taylor earned her undergraduate degree from Brown University, where she was a member of the varsity women’s lacrosse team. She earned a Master of Liberal Arts with extension studies in Biology from Harvard University.

In an email to students and staff announcing Taylor’s appointment Principal Bill Rawson ’71 wrote: “In a large pool of highly qualified candidates, Ashley stood out for her ability to inspire students and build meaningful collaborative relationships across the community, and for her commitment to challenging and supporting all students in an environment where they are deeply known and encouraged to develop character, self-awareness, resilience, and a sense of purpose.”

Taylor says she was drawn to Exeter for its values, as well as its commitment to diversity, need-blind admissions and Harkness pedagogy. “Exeter is so committed to making this opportunity accessible to students regardless of financial means,” Taylor says. “The fabric of this place is about conversation and diversity of perspectives and being comfortable being challenged and asking respectful, challenging questions.”

For perspective on her new role, Taylor relies on her professional experience, as well as the memories she has from her days as a high schooler at an all-girls independent school in D.C. “Similar to my experience,” Taylor says, “there is an emphasis here on academic excellence, but there’s also an importance of high school being a time of fun, where kids are forming lifelong friendships, trying new things, finding real success in something that they feel good about. I’m impressed by how students seek challenge, and I’m interested in continuing to see how they balance that with fun and joy.”

Taylor says she didn’t come in with a rigid action plan to implement and is instead using the conversations she’s having with students, faculty and staff in her first term on campus to help shape her vision for the future.

“What I have found success in is being able to ask questions, identify where we could be even better in serving the student experience and then help create a process that helps us find the right answer.”

Editor’s Note: This article was originally published in the Fall 2024 issue of The Exeter Bulletin.

Presidential scholar brings historical context to 2024 race

Professor Ellen Fitzpatrick shares the history of women's pursuit of the presidency in visit to campus.

Throughout the history of the United States, most people running for president have had common traits. Regardless of party affiliation, white men of means have traditionally found themselves at the top of the ticket. But as Ellen Fitzpatrick told Assembly Friday, the history of women running for the highest office in the land dates back much further than you might imagine.

“I’m going to begin today with the takeaway message,” Fitzpatrick said. “Historical change takes a very long time. Often to achieve especially transformative and profound change, it doesn’t come easily.”

Fitzpatrick spoke briefly about Hilary Clinton’s unsuccessful 2016 bid for president and acknowledged Vice President Kamala Harris’ current campaign, but chose to use the majority of her time on the Assembly stage to talk about some lesser-known political pioneers. She pointed out that over 200 women have run for president including the first, Victoria Woodhull in 1872, nearly a half century before women had the right to vote.

“She was among the most radical presidential candidates of any sex,” Fitzpatrick said. “She set up her own political party and her own newspaper to promote her candidacy … at 34 she was ineligible under the constitution to even hold the office that she sought.”

A veteran professor of Harvard University, M.I.T. and Wellesley College and Emerita at the University of New Hampshire, Fitzpatrick is the author of The Highest Glass Ceiling: Women’s Quest for the American Presidency, a 2016 “Editor’s Choice” by the New York Times. She continued the conversation with students during a lunch and learn session in the Elting Room where the topics ranged from the upcoming election in the United States to recent elections in Mexico and Europe that have seen women assume ruling positions.

Alum sheds light on perils of media addiction

SeiSei Tatebe-Goddu ’01 discussed the “full-on mental health crisis” affecting teens in assembly address.

“Comparison is the thief of joy.”

SeiSei Tatebe-Goddu’s ’01 pointed words rippled through a captivated Assembly audience on Friday. The founder of Lights on Labs, which builds and directs public demand for responsible technology, discussed the consequences of media addiction with the exact audience that so many companies target — teenagers.

Tatebe-Goddu noted that the daily average amount of screen time for children in the United States is seven hours. She then extrapolated to show that by the time a student graduates, they will have spent more than a full year of high school looking at a screen. She went on to explain the effects of teens seeking positive affirmations on social media through features such as “likes.”

“You know what seven hours of non-stop dopamine hits leads to?,” she asked rhetorically. “Unsurprisingly it is not healthy teens. Tragically, it is higher rates of suicide among 10-14 year olds and other illness like depression and ADHD.”

Throughout the presentation Tatebe-Goddu used the term “big” to describe the warped sense of self-worth, productivity and success outlets present to impressionable young people. Equally damaging to what’s being consumed by teens online, she argued, is what is being minimized or replaced by kids pursuit of “big.” She turned to the crowd for suggestions, hearing examples like “family,” “friends” and “sleep.”

Tatebe-Goddu, part of the executive committee of Exeter’s General Alumni Association, was on hand as part of Exeter Leadership Weekend. Her campaign, Mothers Against Media Addiction, was launched in February and has quickly developed 17 chapters nationwide and received recognition from tastemakers like Oprah Winfrey.

Model students

Exeter Summer course provides hands-on experience in introductory architecture.

Midday light pours through arched windows into the top floor of the Mayer Art Center as focused students hunch over drafting tables, sketchbooks open, chipboard and X-Acto knives in-hand. Instructor Brian Murphy surveys the scene, “They’re working on designing their own design studio and building small scale models,” he says of his upper school students. “It’s about learning the language of how to communicate an idea.”

This week’s project is the latest in the Architectural Design Process class, an introductory course where students learn the basic principles of architectural design and process. In addition to creating, students also learn by observation during walkabouts led by Murphy, a professional architect in nearby Portsmouth, NH, through Exeter’s sprawling campus.

“This campus is a great place to have an introduction to architecture. We have many generations of buildings represented and we have one of the best-known icons of mid-century modern architecture in the library [designed by] a world-famous architect, Louis Kahn.”

The students in the class arrived at Exeter Summer with varying levels of knowledge of architecture. New York City-resident, and rising senior, Jessica says she plans to study architecture in college.

“I was always drawing, so people used to tell me, oh you should be an architect,” she says. “I’ve done a bunch of courses outside of school for architecture and I just think it’s really interesting.”

Pointing to the scale model on her desk, Jessica explains some of the choices she’s made in designing her dream studio.

“I just really like having a lot of open space, so I wanted to make something with huge windows,” she says. “I felt like having two completely open sides would allow me to be inspired by what’s outside.”

One table over, Lia is using today’s class period to overhaul her original plan.

“I started with something more conventional because I didn’t really know what to do, but I felt like I was forcing it,” she says. “I started doing the model and I got the proportions wrong, so I had to start over.”

She used the setback to get a bit more ambitious with her design.

“I was like, ‘What if I do something with a circle?’ And once I started drawing it transformed into this,” she says pointing at her scale model.

“There’s a terrace here, this part would be all windows and try to incorporate a lot of nature, which I like.” The Dominican Republic-native says she didn’t have much prior architectural knowledge and has loved the opportunity to learn about the process, “I never thought I would be designing something like this,” she says with a smile.

Parents, family members and friends of the Class of 2024 gathered in force along with Exeter faculty members on a brilliantly sunny Sunday to send off the graduates in grand style.

Accompanied by the elegant strains of a student string quartet, the seniors made their way across Front Street and proceeded up the center of the lawn, followed by faculty members. After Principal Bill Rawson ’71; P’08 kicked off the ceremony, Senior Class President Ayaan Akhtar welcomed family and friends, as well as his fellow seniors.

“Congratulations — we made it,” Akhtar told his classmates. He mentioned challenges they worked through together during their time at Exeter, including beginning their ninth grade fall in September 2020, deep into the COVID-19 pandemic.

“We attended our first-ever classes scattered across the globe, staring blankly at a Zoom screen,” Akhtar said. “We lacked the instant physical connection every other prep class made as soon as they stepped foot on campus during orientation, yet we brought passion and an overwhelming desire to learn and love one another.”

Akhtar called for a moment of silence for classmate Matthew Clemson, who died last year. “Our class is incomplete without his presence,” Akhtar said. “He brought in irreplaceable light.” He also mentioned world events, including the effects of climate change and ongoing conflicts in Ukraine, Sudan and Gaza, among other regions.

“Transitioning into adulthood brings a rising responsibility to use our education to recognize global adversity and its intersectionality,” he said. “Education truly is an extraordinary gift and an extraordinary luxury we have all been afforded, so it’s on us to use this gift as we become adults in a world full of injustices.”

Graduating students listen to opening remarks from Principal Rawson.

Akhtar ended with a message of “hope and promise” for himself and his fellow graduates. “Let us continue to imagine, to dream — let us utilize our immense curiosity and ability to envision and create a better world.”

After Akhtar’s remarks, Rawson recognized five retiring faculty members who he said represent a combined 162 years of service to the Academy. Michelle Dionne, instructor in the English Department (appointed in 1996); Mark Hiza, instructor in the Science Department (appointed in 1993); Becky Moore, instructor in the English Department (appointed in 1990); and Russell Weatherspoon, dean of students and instructor in the Religion Department (appointed in 1987), were sitting onstage during graduation. Dana Barbin, former athletic director and longtime varsity boys’ hockey coach who was appointed in 1987, also retired this year.

Principal’s farewell

“You came to Exeter to learn and grow, have fun, make lifelong friends, pursue your passions, and lay the surest foundation for the rest of your lives — the surest foundation for leading purposeful lives,” Rawson said at the outset of his farewell address to the Class of 2024. “You have done all that, and you have done it well.”

Like Akhtar, Rawson spoke of the challenges many members of the class had faced together. “I am proud of all that you have accomplished, but even more proud of how you have contributed to the life of the school, and how you have supported each other,” the principal said.

Rawson also discussed the impact of world events on the school community, and the toll taken by daily news reports of “war, violence, disease, hunger, poverty and injustice.” “You have to decide how you want to respond to these and other challenges that you see in the world every day,” he told the graduates. “You have to decide how you want to make the world, the communities in which you live, and the places where you work, better than you found them — not just for some, but for all.”

Crucial to that effort, he emphasized, would be not surrounding themselves with people of similar opinions and outlooks, but seeking to continue learning “with and from others whose ideas, experiences and perspectives differ from your own.”

During their time at Exeter, Rawson said, the seniors heard many alumni speak from the Assembly Hall stage and elsewhere about their experiences applying the core values learned at Exeter in work and life. With graduation, they join that community of Exonians seeking to bring the values of goodness and knowledge to bear on some of the world’s greatest challenges.

“It is your turn now to begin writing your own non sibi stories,” Rawson said. In closing, he welcomed the Class of 2024 into the family of Exeter alumni, assuring them that “You will always be Exonians, and you will always belong here.”

Honors and Special Awards

Before Rawson’s remarks, Dean of Faculty Eimer Page P’22, Akhtar and retiring Trustee Wole Coaxum ’88; P’24 presented this year’s endowed college scholarships, followed by the commencement awards and prizes.

The Faculty Prize for Academic Excellence: Jack Gordon

The Cox Medals: Beeke Fock, Jack Gordon, Daria Ivanova, Emi Levine, Luca Shakoori

The Yale Cup: Byron Grevious

The Ruth and Paul Sadler ’23 Cup: Caroline Shu

The Perry Cup: Nhan (Reggie) Phan

The Williams Cup: Achyuta Rajaram

The Eskie Clark Award: Adora Perry

The Thomas H. Cornell Award: Gretchen (Gigi) Lannon

The Multicultural Leadership Prize: Solu Ajene, Ayaan Akhtar, Stacy Chen, Aliyana Koch-Manzur, Emelia (Emmie) Zarb

Ceremony program

A string quartet consisting of Jaehyun Park ’24, and Ethan Ding ’25 on the violin, Evan Fan ’26 on the viola and Luke Miller ’24 on the cello, played the prelude and processional at the beginning of the ceremony.

After the presentation of honors and special awards, Music Instructor Jerome Walker led a performance of “The Road Home,” composed by Stephen Paulus, by seniors in Exeter’s Concert Choir, including Vera Aimunmondion, Nupur Malhotra, Riya Tyagi, Rodrigo Camara Moreno, Colin Maloney, Ellie Wang, David Goodall, Silja Pope, William Weber, Anna Hanzíková, Christopher Serrao, Corinne Wingate, Ava Lori Hudgins, Aidan Ting and Chengyue Zhang.

Seniors Willa Bazos, Elizabeth Catizone, Nataly Delcid and Nihaal Rana assisted Rawson in handing out the diplomas, while Class Marshals Corinne Blaise, Reid Burke, Lucas Rodriguez and Diego Shetreet escorted their fellow members of the Class of 2024 to their seats before the ceremony.

Alum chronicles father’s remarkable journey of Holocaust survival

Andy Laszlo ’70; P’00, P‘04 addressed assembly to share Andrew Laszlo Sr.’s against-all-odds story of perseverance and success.

From his sober opening line, Andy Laszlo ’70; P’00, P‘04 gripped Tuesday’s assembly audience as he spoke about his father’s survival of the Holocaust. “Many of you are 18 years old … that’s how old my father was when he went into his first concentration camp.”

But the story of Andrew Laszlo Sr. is not one of despair, but rather perseverance in the face of unspeakable horror. In 2002, the junior Laszlo published his father’s memoir, “Footnote to History,” which tells a remarkable firsthand account of the atrocities of World War II, the search for a better life and ultimately, finding success in the emerging mediums of television and film.

As Laszlo shared with assembly, his father chose to keep the heartbreaking contents of his childhood in an increasingly antisemitic Hungary and early adult years in multiple Nazi labor camps from his family for half a century.

“Why did he keep a secret? Maybe he didn’t want to relive his past. Maybe he thought it was too much for us to process or that it might define our lives and make us feel like victims.”

When the elder Laszlo did share his past, it was in the form of a book, sent to his son 50 years to the day from when he emigrated to the U.S. with $2 and the clothes on his back. Upon receipt, Laszlo called his father.

“He was in New York and I was in Montana and it was awkward. He was concerned how his oldest child might feel. I told him that I loved him and was proud to be his son. And from 2,000 miles away, I could feel the angst of 50 years falling off his shoulders.”

Once arriving in the states, Laszlo Sr. tapped into the same resourcefulness that enabled him to survive his persecution in war-torn Europe. A job with the U.S. Army filming bomb testing parlayed into an eventual decades-long career behind the camera. Laszlo was instrumental in broadcasting cultural moments like The Beatles’ 1965 concert at Shea Stadium, Ed Sullivan’s sit-down interview with Cuba’s Fidel Castro and eventually as a cinematographer for blockbusters like the 1982 Rambo film “First Blood.”

Members of the class of 1970 were in attendance to support their classmate, as was childhood friend Principal Bill Rawson ’71; P’08, who pointed out in his introduction that Laszlo’s address came a week and a day after Yam HaShoah, or Holocaust Remembrance Day.

“When he died, [my father] had a smile on his face,” Laszlo said. “He had come to America, kept the family name alive, and had had a great career. His life was the triumph of strong will over evil and his survival is what gave me and my family the gift of life.”

Adam Loyd