Class of 2021, in less than an hour you will be graduates of Phillips Exeter Academy. I am very pleased to deliver this farewell address.

My graduation was held in this stadium on June 5, 1971, 50 years ago plus one day. I felt a sense of joy that day, joy that comes with a feeling of accomplishment. I felt a certain pride, or happiness, in being part of a school whose values were important to me, where hard work and integrity meant a lot, where teachers and coaches expected and demanded that we be our best, and where students delighted in each other’s successes and accomplishments. I felt prepared for what lay ahead, and certain that the bonds of friendship forged here would endure. I was leaving with a strong sense of belonging.

And now, it is time for you to leave Exeter, hopefully with many of the same feelings I had all those years ago.

We must begin by acknowledging that this has been a very challenging year. We have been through a pandemic — in fact, are still experiencing a pandemic — the likes of which the world had not seen in more than 100 years. We have been fortunate, very fortunate indeed, to be able to teach, learn and be in community during the pandemic as much as we have, while much greater hardship and loss have been experienced in other parts of the United States and around the world. Even so, we must acknowledge that the pandemic has posed significant challenges for our school, and for all or you.

Happily, with vaccines available and a decline in local cases, you have enjoyed a senior week with activities that we could not have imagined only a few weeks ago. It is wonderful to see you sitting here not wearing masks. It has been a long 15 months, since spring of last year when we had to close campus unexpectedly, and you had to learn remotely. Meeting the Academy’s expectations under the constantly changing circumstances of the pandemic, and achieving your own ambitions under these conditions, has been very challenging.

Seniors, I am grateful for all that you have done during the course of the year to help keep our community safe, and I am proud of how you have adapted to these circumstances during the course of the year. I am proud — and you should be proud — of all that you have accomplished, and all that you have contributed to our school during your time here.

You have distinguished yourselves in academics, individually and as teams, including in numerous prestigious competitions across a wide range of disciplines. You have excelled in music, drama, dance and the visual arts with commitment and passion. Finally, this spring, it was exciting to see our athletes compete against other schools. You had a winning record, by a decisive margin, across all competitions against our rival to the south. In all of your endeavors, you have worked hard, given your best and aspired to excellence, and you have achieved excellence.

In the spirit of non sibi, you have provided strong leadership across all aspects of school life, and you have helped us maintain a strong sense of community despite the isolation imposed and felt during the pandemic. You also played critical leadership roles in our anti-racism work, and have endeavored throughout your time here to make our school more inclusive and more equitable.

Your commitment to non sibi has extended to the local community, as you cooperated to help safeguard the health and safety of the town, and developed creative ideas for ESSO interactions with senior citizens and other residents in our town. Equally important, you have supported each other, and made lifelong friends.

I will say again that I am immensely proud of all that you have contributed and done. You have not done all of this alone. We must acknowledge how your families have supported your education at Exeter, especially this year. Please take a moment, and with rousing cheers and applause, let’s thank your families for the support they have given you during your time at Exeter.

We also must recognize and thank all of the adults on campus who have played a significant role in your time here. Those who have taught, coached, advised or counseled you, kept you healthy and safe, and fed you during this pandemic year, and also those who have worked behind the scenes in many ways to support your education and experiences at Exeter. Please again take a moment to express your gratitude for everything they have done to support you.

And now a few words about what lies ahead: I feel tremendous optimism for the class of 2021. I see in your class the qualities and abilities that will enable you to live up to what Stephen Robert, class of 1958, said to you in assembly two years ago. He boldly declared, “Your time has come, and you will be the change-makers.”

You are ready to live up to those words and make a positive difference in the world, in whatever venues and on whatever scale you choose. Just as you have done here.

In our core value statement of non sibi, we proudly proclaim that we seek to graduate young people whose ambitions and actions are inspired by their interest in others and the world around them, and that the wisdom gained here should be used for others as well as for oneself. The world now more than ever needs you to confront the greatest challenges of our day, and do what you can to produce a more just and sustainable society — environmentally, economically and socially. Go be the change-makers.

Go with confidence. You have been challenged during your time here, and you have succeeded. Whether you have been at the Academy for one year or four, you have grown in ways that you could not have imagined when you first arrived.

Our mission as a school is to “unite goodness and knowledge and inspire youth from every quarter to lead purposeful lives.” You don’t need to know now how you will live a life of purpose and meaning beyond Exeter. You have time to reflect, to ponder your place in the world, to explore your current passions and develop new ones. You are leaving Exeter with the necessary foundation.

In the past 50 years, we have seen dramatic changes in the world in every field of human endeavor. We will see even more dramatic changes over the next 50 years. One thing, though, will not change: the need for citizens and leaders to act with empathy, understanding and respect for their fellow human beings. You will be those kinds of citizens and leaders.

Intellect alone will not be enough. As our Deed of Gift states, knowledge and goodness: “Both united form the noblest character, and lay the surest foundation of usefulness to [hu]mankind.” John and Elizabeth Phillips wrote those words in 1781. They remain true today.

As you go forward with confidence, go forward also with humility — with the humility that comes from understanding that we are at our best when we are open to the thoughts and ideas of others, particularly those whose experiences and perspectives differ from our own. The greatest challenges the world faces will be solved by teams, not individuals. Our Harkness pedagogy has uniquely prepared you to be a member and leader of these teams.  

Seniors, I am coming to the end of my remarks. After you receive your diplomas, I will no longer be able to call you seniors. You will be fellow Exeter alumni. In that sense, you and I will be peers, members of the same extended Exeter community.  

As I left Exeter 50 years ago with a strong sense of belonging, I hope you, too, will leave with the same feeling today. And I hope you will return to the Academy often to share your stories with future Exonians, and by your example, and through your stories, encourage and inspire them.

And finally, just as you will always belong here, so too will you always belong to each other. You will always be the great class of 2021.

Congratulations!

Good morning, Exeter.

Today, we mark the start of the Academy’s 240th year. We do so in a manner quite different from how we traditionally open the school. I am speaking in front of Phillips Hall, where we teach English and Modern Languages, and before me are a dozen students who have been elected by their peers to serve in various leadership positions. Ordinarily, we would gather in Assembly Hall. The air would be charged with excitement as students cheer and applaud the faculty processing into the Assembly Hall from both sides. Seniors would claim seats in the front row for the first time, and preps would take it all in from the balcony, perhaps with a bit of wonder.

Although we cannot gather together in person for this address, I know that you share in my excitement today to begin this academic year. It certainly will be unlike any other year, but I believe it will be an important year, and a very good year, one that will stand out in our memories because of obstacles overcome and important work accomplished.

We return to school having been through a very difficult period of separation, with the emergence of COVID-19, the recognition of its disparate impact that mirrors inequities in this country and the world, and the trauma induced by anti-Black violence and racism that continue to plague this country. We come together each year to teach and to learn, to be in community, and to support one another. We need to be in community now as much as ever, and we will navigate the challenges before us together.

And so I welcome you to the start of school. Welcome to our students and faculty, and to all of the employees who contribute to the teaching and learning that occur here. Welcome to our distinguished emeriti/ae faculty, who ordinarily would join me on stage in Assembly Hall for this address. I hope you are able to join us remotely. I thank you for the many years of service that you have given to Exeter and its students.

I would also like to extend a warm welcome to parents and express my gratitude for the trust you have placed in us and for your support of our school. And, finally, I welcome those alumni who are watching. I thank you for your many voices, and for the many ways you support our school and our students, for whom I know you care very deeply.

Students, among the wonderful gifts of an Exeter education are the relationships that you form not only with your classmates, but across generations of Exonians. The community we build here together will be carried with you throughout your lifetime, and will be there to support you wherever you may go.

To our new students, who join us for the first time, I will say to you what I say to all new students every year. If you are feeling a little anxious, that is entirely normal. You likely are not alone. Rest assured:

You can do the work.
You will make lifelong friends. 
Absolutely, you belong here.

To our students who are not on campus, we miss your physical presence; we look forward to having you back on campus when it is possible; we will do everything we can to hold you in community while you learn remotely.

To our students who are on campus, and to those who will be joining us in a few weeks, welcome back. Many people have worked very hard all summer to prepare campus for your return. Their commitment stems from a deep belief in the mission of our school and a genuine affection for the entire student body. I hope that when you have an opportunity, you will express gratitude to all of the people whose efforts and dedication make your time and experiences at Exeter possible.

In my first opening-of-school address, I spoke of respect: “It starts with understanding the privilege we all enjoy simply by being here. If we take things for granted, or act with a sense of entitlement, we disrespect the privilege we enjoy by being here, and we disrespect the sacrifices of others that have made our time here possible.”

I followed with: “We are not special simply because we are here. But because we are here, we have the opportunity to accomplish special things together.”

I hope you will internalize these words as we begin the new term. Respect is an essential component of how we live, learn and build community at Exeter. So, too, are cooperation, empathy and participation. I ask each of you to practice those traits in full as we navigate this pivotal time together.

Students on campus, we must all commit to live by the health and safety protocols that we have developed to combat the pandemic. We must take these responsibilities seriously and follow them without exception. We are fortunate that in New Hampshire the pandemic is less prevalent than it was in the spring, but it remains a threat that must be taken seriously. Our ability to stay in community on campus depends on our unfailing adherence to these protocols.

This is non sibi in action. Wearing a mask, keeping physically distant, washing hands, and using hand sanitizer at every opportunity are ways we help protect the health of those around us. This includes your friends, the adults in our school community and their families, and the people in the town of Exeter.

Though this year will be different as a consequence of the pandemic, our aspirations as a school are the same. You will be challenged in your classes; exposed to new ideas; learn and grow in unexpected ways; and assume new leadership roles — as Exonians do each and every year. You will work hard, and we will support you in all that you choose to pursue.

My hopes for you as students also are unchanged. I would like you to feel about Exeter today as I did when I was a student. I hope you find joy in all of your activities; in knowing that you belong here; in finding kindred spirits; and in building friendships with those who might seem very different from you. I encourage you to focus not on what is currently out of reach because of the pandemic, but on what you can do, here and now, to make the most of every day and every opportunity. I am excited to see what you will accomplish in the coming months.

I urge you to take advantage of the many kinds of support that we have here to help you thrive, including proctors and student listeners, affinity groups, deans, counselors, your teachers, coaches, advisers, doctors and nurses, the adults who supervise clubs and student activities, and more. We all need support from time to time — please use these supports.

In the very first paragraph of the school’s Deed of Gift, the founders wrote, “The time of youth is the important period, on the improvement or neglect of which depend the most weighty consequences, to individuals themselves and the community.” I have quoted this section before because it is the singular reason our school exists today. Your time here matters, not only to your own development as human beings, but also to those with whom you will engage throughout the course of your lives.

The Academy’s mission and everything we do together at Exeter is grounded in that belief.

Last year, a small group of trustees and faculty were charged with producing a short, modern expression of Exeter’s mission: a concise statement adapted from our original mission that can live at the forefront of our minds as we go about our daily business of teaching and learning.

Our revised mission — each word derived from our Deed of Gift — is to unite goodness and knowledge and inspire youth from every quarter to lead purposeful lives.

Our mission statement is accompanied by five core school values, which draw more extensively on the rich language found in our Deed of Gift, and which I will summarize briefly here.

Our first core value is our commitment to uniting goodness and knowledge. The Deed of Gift states:

“Above all, it is expected that the attention of instructors to the disposition of the minds and morals of the youth under their charge will exceed every other care; well considering that though goodness without knowledge is weak and feeble, yet knowledge without goodness is dangerous, and that both united form the noblest character, and lay the surest foundation of usefulness to [hu]mankind.”

The challenges that students meet at Exeter and the support they receive have a common purpose: to stimulate their development as individuals and prepare them to lead purposeful lives.

Our second core value is our commitment to academic excellence. In every discipline, and at every level within our curriculum, we inspire students to develop critical-thinking skills and seek complex truths. Intellectual exploration through rigorous inquiry and thoughtful discourse at the Harkness table nurtures inquisitiveness, creativity, insight, empathy, independent thought and mastery in our students.

Our third core value is our commitment to youth from every quarter. Our Deed of Gift states that the Academy “shall ever be equally open to youth of requisite qualifications from every quarter.” We seek to build an intentionally diverse community of students and adults. Our Harkness pedagogy is grounded in the belief that we are all better equipped to learn and to lead when our thoughts are tested by others, particularly by those whose ideas, perspectives, experiences or identities are different from our own.

Our fourth core value is derived from the sentence in the Deed of Gift that I quoted earlier, that the “time of youth is the important period.”

Our fifth core value, non sibi, or “not for oneself,” is inscribed on the school seal and attests to the philosophy that wisdom gained here should be used for others as well as for oneself. We seek to graduate young people whose ambitions and actions are inspired by their interest in others and the world around them.

These five values reflect the character of our school and the reason that we are all here today: to prepare you to lead purposeful lives. I hope that you will take these words to heart and see our school’s mission as an invitation to open your minds and to seek out new avenues of discovery in all that you pursue here.

Fifty years ago, almost to the day, I sat in Assembly Hall as a senior and listened to Principal Richard Day’s Opening Assembly. He began by telling us, “This will be a year of precedents — set by you.” In the audience sat 39 courageous girls, including 10 seniors. They were day students embarking on their first term at the Academy. Trustees had approved coeducation just seven months earlier. Boarding girls would begin to matriculate the following year, and the number of girls overall would grow as each year passed.

Principal Day went on to say to us, “You bear a special kind of responsibility to show, by the way things go this year, that girls are not only admitted to Exeter but that they are really accepted, and part of the life here. Let people say of this year that it was a happy one, a year when we grew in awareness and understanding of each other, in which we made a fundamental change with wisdom and foresight.”

As we sat there, my friends and I understood what Principal Day asked of us, but few could comprehend fully the impact coeducation would have on Exeter. The Trustees’ decision was fundamental in nature and as transformative as the decision years earlier to adopt Harkness as our method of instruction. We will dedicate the entire academic year to celebrating this pivotal milestone and how it has shaped the school you know today.

Our theme will be “Her Voice at the Table: 50 Years of Coeducation at Exeter.” Ours will be an inclusive history and honest reflection, explored through assemblies and guest speakers, our course curriculum, a special website, alumni virtual events, and — if safe to do so — an on-campus celebration in May.

We will recognize that the journey was not always easy, and for some it was painful. We will recognize that part of our story. At the same time, we will honor fully “Her Voice” in every aspect of Academy life.

We will celebrate the extraordinary accomplishments of our alumnae, as students here at Exeter and in the world beyond. We will celebrate the impact and leadership of women who broke into the leadership ranks at the Academy and fought to accelerate equity and inclusion within every aspect of Exeter life. It is going to be a historic celebration, and there is much that we can all learn from it as we move forward.

We also commit ourselves this year to taking important, concrete steps toward realizing our vision for diversity, equity and inclusion at Exeter. This work, as stated in our Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Vision Statement, is “fundamental to our educational mission and method.” In June, we announced the Academy’s renewed commitment to realizing our DEI vision, and expressly stated our commitment to becoming an anti-racist school. We listed a series of initiatives to advance our work toward these ends. We will pursue our DEI work this year with unwavering dedication and a greater sense of urgency.  

This work of self-examination and action touches on all aspects of Academy life — including how we incorporate issues of race, equity and justice into our curriculum; how we provide support for Black students and all students of color; and our commitment to increasing the representation of Black faculty and all faculty of color in our classrooms and in leadership positions across all areas of Academy life. We have set aside times in our weekly schedule for students and adults to have intentional conversations about what it means to be an anti-racist school, and what we must do to live up to our vision for diversity, equity and inclusion. We will have more to say about these initiatives in the coming weeks and during the school year, but as we move forward with this work and achieve our objectives, we will become a stronger and better school.

Our DEI work and commitment to becoming an anti-racist school is not the work of a few; it is work we all share. It is work we must actively do together. As stated in our DEI Vision Statement, this work “is critical to sustaining and strengthening our tradition of excellence in all aspects of life at Exeter.” Our mission and our school values and our vision for diversity, equity and inclusion are inseparable.

Our success will depend on our willingness to think critically, challenge our assumptions, listen to thoughts and perspectives that differ from our own, and, in the words of the DEI vision statement, “collaborate to forge a greater understanding of the world.” The emphasis is not on thinking alike, but on unlocking the richness of our diversity and engaging across differences. The Vision Statement concludes, “Only when we skillfully engage our differences … will we find a path to that greater understanding of the world and how we can be of service to it.”

I encourage all of you to commit to this work. When it feels a little uncomfortable, commit yourselves even more fully. The work that you do here to help us achieve our vision for diversity, equity and inclusion is just one way you will be preparing yourselves to lead purposeful lives.

Brazilian author Paulo Coelho, in his short novel The Alchemist, writes, “When someone makes a decision, he is really diving into a strong current that will carry him to places he had never dreamed of when he first made the decision.”

Students, in deciding to study and learn at Exeter, you have jumped into a strong current — a current wide, deep and rich with opportunities and possibilities. It might take you where you have always wanted to go, or in entirely new and unexpected directions. If you are focused on the former, I urge you to be open to the latter, and to all kinds of as yet unimagined possibilities. The process starts the day you arrive, and continues long after you graduate.

As you are on a journey, so, too, is the school. When we look back on this year, I hope we will be able to say that we worked hard, with purpose, kindness and joy. Echoing Principal Day’s remarks on the first day of coeducation 50 years ago, I hope we will also be able to say that we grew in awareness and understanding of one another, and brought about changes grounded in wisdom and foresight.

Senior class.

Members of the Class of 2022.  It is now time for a farewell address.  I am pleased to have this opportunity to celebrate all that you have accomplished during your time here, and offer some words of encouragement as you look to the future. 

I feel a special connection to the Class of 2022.  We started together.  Your first assembly was my first assembly.  You were nervous and excited preps.  I was your nervous and excited new principal. 

And here we are today, four years later. 

Your class has grown in numbers and become stronger each year, as we have welcomed new Lowers, new Uppers, and this year new Seniors.  You have all grown in your accomplishments and personal development.  I have enjoyed getting to know many of you quite well along the way.  But your time here hasn’t been easy. 

For more than two years now, we have been mired in a global pandemic the likes of which the world had not seen in more than a century.  We are grateful for those who have worked hard to keep our community safe.  Even so, we must acknowledge that the pandemic has posed significant hardships and challenges for all of you.  You have met those challenges with perseverance and grace.

In all your endeavors, you have worked hard, given your best, aspired to excellence, and achieved excellence.  You have distinguished yourselves academically.  You have excelled in music, drama, dance and the visual arts.  You have competed at a high level in athletics.  It has been a delight for me to watch you learn and grow, pursue your passions, and thrive across all aspects of school life. 

I am proud of all that you have accomplished during your time here, and you should be as well. 

I also am grateful for the ways you have endeavored to make our school a more equitable and inclusive community.  You have been leaders in our anti-racism work.  You have helped create numerous programs and events to celebrate the rich diversity of our school, and to support a strong sense of belonging for all members of our community.  You have worked to promote greater awareness and understanding around issues of sexual assault, consent, and healthy relationships.  You have been strong advocates for environmental sustainability. 

You have done all this in the spirit of non sibi, to make Exeter a stronger community for all its members.

I also admire the way you have cared for and supported each other.

I think back to E/A weekend in the fall, which Dean Weatherspoon has said was the best he had seen in more than 30 years.  That was your doing.  You were in the stands, leading the cheers, screaming your lungs out, starting with our volleyball triumph in the morning, and ending with our football triumph at the end of the day.  I think about seeing you rush the court after the girls’ basketball victory at Andover, but also individual moments, how a football captain stood on a bench and addressed the team following the last game, and the times I saw one of you congratulate or console a teammate after a triumph or disappointment.  This was more than school spirit.  It was students supporting each other, celebrating each other, and caring for one another. 

I have seen this across all aspects of school life this year.  I have seen it in the energy and buzz in the lobby of the Goel Center after theater and dance performances, and in the way you have supported each other after performances and competitions in The Bowld.  I have seen it in crowded hallways at student art shows; and in how you have greeted each other with hugs after meditations.  And there is much that I do not see, that happens in clubs, affinity groups, dorms, classrooms and labs.  You care deeply for each other.  You always show up for each other.  In doing so, you have set a powerful example for the classes that will follow. 

Seniors, I say again that I am proud of all that you have accomplished, and all that you have contributed to the life of our school. 

You have not done all this alone.  I would like to acknowledge all the adults on campus who have supported you during your time here: your teachers, coaches, advisors and counselors; those who have kept you healthy and safe; those who have prepared your food; those who maintain our facilities; and all the others who in countless ways, often behind the scenes, have supported your education and experiences at Exeter.  Please take a moment to express your gratitude for everything all the adults on campus have done to support you. 

An Exeter education is an extraordinary gift.  Your families have made many sacrifices so you could be here.  Let’s also take a moment to thank them for the sacrifices they have made, and all the support they have given you, during your time at Exeter.

And now, a few words about what lies ahead.

I would like to share with you this morning something that my Exeter classmate, Roberto Garcia, said at our Exeter graduation 51 years ago. 

Roberto was our Senior Class President and also Student Council president, and he was on campus just a few weeks ago for our class reunion.  This is what he said at our graduation in 1971:

“This education has done more than just serve its purpose. It was a unique experience which has to some extent opened our minds to the virtues and inadequacies of human beings. It has contributed to the construction of our self-confidence and self-awareness. It has intensified my personal conviction that although people are basically self-centered, they are also basically good and that primary desires can be overlooked to make a human connection between ourselves. I’ve learned that despite the fundamental paradoxes in the American system and the resulting confusion, people can still work together.“

You hear in Roberto’s words his optimism and his faith in the basic goodness of people.  Fundamentally, he was saying to his classmates, we can make a difference.  We can put personal needs aside, confront injustices, and make the world better — how? — by making human connections.  By working together.

Earlier this year, a faculty member greeted me on the paths and asked, “How are you?”  Impulsively, I answered, “I am an optimist!”  That was not an answer the faculty member might have expected, but it is true.  I am an optimist.  And like my classmate and good friend Roberto, I believe that most people are basically good and capable of doing good things.  I expect most people to do good things.  I remember a line from a grace my grandparents taught me to say: “may we the good in others see.”

But it has been hard work of late being an optimist.  It is hard not to despair, in the face of racially-motivated and religiously-motivated killings, and other senseless violence.  These repeated hate-fueled acts of violence shake the very core of our being and our common humanity.  We also are deeply disturbed by the war in Ukraine and other troubling events around the world and here in the United States.  At times, it is hard to know what to believe in these days.

But seniors, I will tell you this:

I believe in the mission of our school.

And I believe in this senior class.  

Our mission as a school  is to unite goodness and knowledge and inspire youth from every quarter to lead purposeful lives.

Your mission in being here is to be challenged, learn and grow, have fun, make lifelong friends, find and pursue your passions, and in the process, prepare yourselves to lead purposeful lives. 

You have done all that.  You have been challenged during your time here, and you have succeeded.  Whether you have been here for one year or four, you have grown in ways that you could not have imagined when you first arrived.  And you are ready to take your next steps. 

“Exeter seeks to graduate young people whose ambitions and actions are inspired by their interest in others and the world around them, and who understand that the wisdom gained here should be used for others as well as for oneself.”  That is what our non sibi core value statement says.  I have every confidence that you will be such graduates. 

Imbued with knowledge and goodness – which our Deed of Gift tells us “united form the noblest character, and lay the surest foundation of usefulness to [hu]mankind” – you are ready to take your place in the world, follow the examples of generations of Exonians who have come before, and make a difference in service to humanity.

You are ready to be the kinds of citizens and leaders that our world needs — citizens and leaders who will act with empathy, understanding, and respect for their fellow human beings, who will make the “human connections” that Roberto talked about, and who will work together to break patterns of injustice and form a better world.  You have been doing that work here.  You can do it next year.  You can do it for your entire lives.

You don’t need to know now what you will do with your lives.  Whatever paths you choose, you are leaving Exeter with the necessary foundation to be successful and make a positive difference in the world. 

Go with confidence, but also with humility.  Harkness teaches us that we are at our best when we are open to the thoughts and ideas of others, particularly those whose experiences and perspectives differ from our own.  Our Harkness pedagogy has uniquely prepared you to be a member and leader of teams – teams that can change the world.  Indeed, I believe your greatest fulfillment in your personal and professional lives will be determined by the quality of the relationships that you build, and what those relationships yield. 

Scale does not matter.  Keep in mind that when you change the life of one person, you change the world for that person.  If you respect the dignity of every human life — every day, all the time — then you are certain to change many lives along the way.

Seniors, I graduated from Exeter exactly 51 years ago today.  I left Exeter with deep feelings of gratitude for the education that I had received here, and with a strong sense of belonging.  I hope you will leave with the same feelings today. 

I hope that you will return to Exeter from time to time to share your stories with future Exonians, and by your examples, inspire them, as you have been inspired during your time here.

I also hope you will keep in touch with those adults on campus who have cared for you during your time here.  They will continue to care for you, and will be eager to hear from you.

You might recall something that I said to you in a virtual assembly during the spring of 2020, when you were learning remotely from home.  I said that “Exeter lives within each of us and forms around us, no matter the distance between us.”  That will remain true in the years ahead, as you travel far and near.  You will always remain part of the Exeter community.  You will always have a home here. 

And you will always be the great class of 2022. 

Congratulations!

July 1, 2023

Dear Exeter community,

On Thursday, the Supreme Court issued a decision addressing consideration of race in college admissions decisions. While the Court’s decision does not apply directly to Phillips Exeter Academy, this seems an appropriate time to reaffirm our mission-based approach to enrolling students and supporting them through the college admission process.

Our deed of gift, written in 1781, states that Exeter “shall ever be equally open to youth of requisite qualifications from every quarter.”  Motivated by the understanding, also expressed in our deed of gift, that “goodness without knowledge is weak and feeble, yet knowledge without goodness is dangerous, and that both united form the noblest character, and lay the surest foundation for usefulness to [hu]mankind,” our mission is to “unite goodness and knowledge and inspire youth from every quarter to lead purposeful lives.”

Pursuant to our timeless mission, Exeter seeks to enroll students of outstanding character who exhibit intellectual curiosity, courage and resilience, and who welcome the challenges and opportunities provided by a rigorous academic program and diverse community.  We admit students who demonstrate interest in and involvement with others, who have the capacity to grow, and who are likely to thrive at Exeter and contribute to our programs and the life of the school in positive ways.  We seek students of such promising ability and character from a wide range of backgrounds, experiences and identities – socioeconomic, ethnic, religious, racial, gender, geographical and cultural.  Our students bring a stimulating diversity of experiences and perspectives, and together create a rich educational environment inside and outside the classroom.  We are committed to a holistic approach to admissions, recognizing that each individual candidate is a composite of identities, backgrounds, abilities and experiences, and recognizing further that diversity is found within diversity.

Toward the foregoing mission- and values-based objectives, we are committed to broad-based outreach efforts that yield highly qualified candidates across the wide range of backgrounds, experiences and identities described above.  We admit students without regard to any family’s ability to pay tuition or other costs of an Exeter education, and are committed to meeting the full demonstrated need of families who qualify for financial assistance.  The rich diversity that results is a defining strength of our school, as is the diversity of the faculty who teach our students. The strength of our school lies in our people. Consistent with our mission and values, affirmed in our DEI Vision Statement, we remain steadfast in our commitment to diversity and inclusion in our admissions policies and practices.

Throughout their time at Exeter, our students have educational opportunities that help them reflect on who they are and who they are becoming.  As they enter the college admission process, we remain equally steadfast in our commitment to helping them explore a range of educational opportunities at the collegiate level.  Our expert college counseling team will continue to work tirelessly in representing our students to each college and university and supporting their applications for admission.

We remain deeply grateful for the support of the entire Exeter community as we seek to attract and support students of promising ability and character from diverse backgrounds and experiences, and as we seek to assemble the finest faculty from equally diverse backgrounds and experiences. We do this in pursuit of our mission to unite goodness and knowledge and inspire youth from every quarter to lead purposeful lives.

Thank you,

Bill Rawson

Good morning, Exeter.

I welcome you again to this Opening Assembly, which marks the beginning of the 242nd year in the history of our school.

It is indeed wonderful to see everyone gathered together, and to feel the energy and excitement in the room.  For some, this represents a return to the school you already know well and love, and to friendships that already have been formed and mean the world to you.  For others, it represents a new beginning.  I am happy and excited to see all of you here this morning.

I would like to thank Dean Page for welcoming and introducing our new faculty to our school community.  We are so excited that our new faculty are here and are now a part of the Exeter community.

Thank you, Dean Weatherspoon, for welcoming and recognizing our emeriti faculty.  We are deeply grateful for our emeriti faculty’s presence this morning and for their enduring commitment to our school.

I would like to extend a special, warm welcome to all our new students.  You are 341 in number, and come from 34 states and 20 countries.  You bring a wonderful diversity of backgrounds, experiences, talents and interests.  Every one of you was admitted without regard to your family’s ability to pay tuition or other costs of attending Exeter.

Watch the Opening Assembly remarks

Last November we announced a “need-blind” admissions policy, meaning that Exeter’s admissions decisions are made without regard to any family’s ability to pay, and the Academy is committed to meeting the full demonstrated financial need of every student.  The generosity of alumni, parents and friends of the Academy, recently and over many generations, has made these commitments possible, and we are indeed very grateful.

In addition to welcoming our new students, I would like to assure you that I have every confidence in your success at Exeter.  I say that from the perspective of having once occupied your seat, as a new Lower, many years ago.  I came from a modest background and was a financial aid recipient.  When I attended opening assembly for the first time, I certainly was happy to be here, and of course I felt the excitement of the day, but I also was a little nervous, and perhaps even a bit overwhelmed or intimidated by everything and everyone around me.  That was many years ago.  With our robust orientation programs today, hopefully you have already left those uncertain feelings behind, but just in case, let me tell you what I tell all our new students every year.

You can do the work.

You will make lifelong friends.

Absolutely, you belong here. 

It has been my custom during my tenure as principal to unveil at Opening Assembly each year a new school T-shirt, and I will do that now. This is an additional way to welcome our new students, and to reinforce for all students, new and returning, a sense of pride and belonging. You are all Exonians. You will be able to collect your T-shirts outside as you leave the gym, and keep an eye out for Exeter bars outside McConnnell Hall as you head to class.

Seniors, members of the Class of 2023, I want to add that it is wonderful to see you in the front section!  This will be an important and memorable year for you.  We have 31 new seniors this year.  Whether this is your fourth year at Exeter or first, or in between, your leadership across all aspects of school life will be important to the success of our school this year.  

Uppers, members of the Class of 2024, you have passed the halfway point.  It will be exciting to see you continue to learn and grow this year, and to watch as you emerge into leadership positions in your own right.  Please welcome 25 new students to your class.   

Lowers, Class of 2025, we have 62 new Lowers this year.  This is a year for you to explore new passions and develop new strengths, perhaps strengths that prior to coming to Exeter you never imagined you could have.  

And finally, preps, Class of 2026, 222 strong and all new to Exeter.  It might be hard for you to imagine, but in time you will be seniors, and a new class of preps will be looking up to you.  For now, I encourage you to reach out to older students for advice; they can tell you what they wish they had known when they arrived as new students.

It also is our custom at Exeter for the principal at Opening Assembly to talk about the Academy’s Deed of Gift and reflect on the mission of our school.  The Deed of Gift was signed by co-founders John and Elizabeth Phillips in 1781, five years after the signing of the Declaration of Independence, and seven years before the State of New Hampshire became the ninth state to ratifify the U.S. Constitution.  Our Deed of Gift is a remarkable document.

It states that Exeter “shall ever be equally open to youth of requisite qualifications from every quarter.”  

And it states, “Above all, it is expected that the attention of instructors to the disposition of the minds and morals of the youth under their charge will exceed every other care; well considering that though goodness without knowledge is weak and feeble, yet knowledge without goodness is dangerous, and that both united form the noblest character, and lay the surest foundation of usefulness to humankind.” 

From these passages, we derive our school mission.  Our mission is to unite goodness and knowledge and inspire youth from every quarter to lead purposeful lives.

We proudly proclaim “academic excellence” as a core value and signature strength of our school.  Indeed, that is one of the reasons you are here — to excel academically. Our core value states, “In every discipline, and at every level within our curriculum, we seek to inspire students to develop critical thinking skills and seek complex truths. Intellectual exploration through rigorous inquiry and thoughtful discourse at the Harkness table nurtures inquisitiveness, creativity, insight, empathy, independent thought and mastery in our students.”

We aim high at Exeter.  We will help you excel in your academic pursuits, and in all your other endeavors.  Our objective is to teach you how to think, not what to think, and the focus, inside and outside the classroom, will always be on knowledge and goodness.  

As The Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. said, while an undergraduate at Morehouse College, “We must remember that intelligence is not enough. Intelligence plus character—that is the goal of true education.”

At Exeter, we are committed to building a diverse, equitable and inclusive community, where all members of the community have a strong sense of belonging and equal opportunity to thrive.  In this regard, our commitment to youth from every quarter is integral to how we teach and learn, and inseparable from our mission to unite goodness and knowledge and prepare our students – all of you – to lead purposeful lives.  

The Academy’s Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Vision Statement explicitly states:

“Our Harkness pedagogy is grounded in the belief that we are all better equipped to learn and to lead when our thoughts are tested by others, particularly by those whose thoughts or identities are different from our own. Only when we skillfully engage our differences …  will we find a path to that greater understanding of the world and how we can be of service to it.”

As an educational institution, we value free expression.  We recognize that free expression is essential to robust and free intellectual inquiry.  We understand that the promise of a diverse community is not realized without such free expression, just as the benefit of free expression is not fully realized without a commitment to diversity.  

In our national discourse today, too often we see division, rancor and meanness, a predisposition to attack opponents personally, and a strategy to prevail through some combination of sound bites, half-truths, untruths, and deceptions, or sidestepping the issues entirely. 

At Exeter, the goal is not to win but to learn, and the strategy for learning must be precisely as stated in our DEI Vision Statement:  

“We must harness perspectives from every quarter to encourage adults and students to think critically, realize and challenge their assumptions, and collaborate to forge a greater understanding of the world. This means developing an inclination toward, and facility with, diversity of thought, perspective and experience. This also means cultivating the empathy, understanding, and respect necessary to open one’s mind to those thoughts, perspectives and experiences that differ from one’s own.”

Experienced Harkness students know that listening with empathy – really being curious about why another person might feel or think differently than you do — is a critical skill, upon which your learning and personal growth will greatly depend.

Learning in this way from each other is exciting, but we recognize that at times it also can be uncomfortable.  It can be uncomfortable to have your ideas and assumptions challenged by others.  We must be comfortable with being uncomfortable, and we must understand that in a thriving educational community we should expect a diversity of viewpoints on almost every subject worth exploring.    

We also want you to find the work challenging and at times even difficult, so you will come to understand your own capacity to meet the challenges that we offer.  It is through meeting the challenges that you face that you will come to realize your own possibilities to learn and grow.

This is how we aspire to teach, and how you will learn.  In particular, this is how you will learn from one another.  It is how together we can seek complex truths.  It is the essence of a Harkness education.  It is how you prepare yourselves to be the kinds of leaders and citizens that our world needs today. 

I would like to draw your attention to a third passage in the Deed of Gift.  In the very first paragraph, our Founders wrote, “the time of youth is the important period, on the improvement or neglect of which depend the most weighty consequences, to individuals themselves and the community.” In essence, our Founders were saying that your time here matters.  It matters not only to your own development as human beings, but also to those with whom you will engage throughout the course of your lives.  Our founders were expressing a belief that imbued with knowledge and goodness, each and every one of you will have the capacity to make a positive difference in the world and in the communities in which you will live.  

We give expression to this idea on our school seal, with the words “non sibi,” which in Latin means not for oneself.  Non sibi also is a core value of our school, and signifies our belief that wisdom gained here should be used for others as well as for oneself.  We state plainly that we “seek to graduate students who are motivated to face the challenges of their day, and whose ambitions and actions are inspired by their interest in others and the world around them.”  Non sibi is the very spirit and ethos of our school.

One aspect of our commitment to non sibi is our long history at Exeter of environmental stewardship.  Gifford Pinchot, Exeter Class of 1885 and generally regarded as the founder of the conservation movement in the United States, championed conservation of our natural resources when he returned to the Academy to speak in assembly in 1919. The first outing club was formed not long thereafter. Our first ecology club was formed, and the first ecology course taught, more than 50 years ago. 

In April 1970, quite a number of students boarded buses and went to Washington, D.C., to attend the first Earth Day. Student engagement on environmental issues has been strong ever since, and is strong now, and with good reason, as we hear and read about the existential threat of climate change on a daily basis.  

The Academy is committed to doing its part.  In recent years, we have reduced scope 1 and scope 2 carbon emissions by more than 60 percent. We have achieved our emissions reductions through a variety of means, including introducing geothermal heating and cooling in several buildings (including the new dorm), and the installation of solar panels on the roof of the field house. We also have steadily grown our curricular offerings in the areas of sustainability and climate science.  We will continue to build on these accomplishments this year and in the years to come, and student engagement will be important, as we continue to explore ways to incorporate sustainability into all aspects of our programs, operations and daily lives at the Academy.   

I will close this morning by saying that I am excited about this new academic year.  It has been a great pleasure to walk about the campus these past few days and feel the excitement, energy and joy that all of you bring to a new school year.  When I was a student, I spent my summers waiting to come back.  I sense a similar feeling among all of you.  

It will be exciting this year to watch you excel across all academic disciplines and thrive in the arts — visual, music, drama and dance.  You will compete at a high level in athletics, perhaps win a championship or two, and forge lifelong bonds with your teammates.  You will carry on a tradition of numerous strong student publications, excel in other clubs and activities, and provide leadership for affinity groups.  You will perform in assembly, give meditations, and be leaders of student religious groups.  In all these and many other ways, you will have fun, learn and grow, and, importantly, support each other.

It was very moving at graduation three months ago to hear our graduating seniors express their deep gratitude for their time at Exeter.  We all should start this new academic year with similar feelings of deep appreciation and gratitude for the opportunities and privileges that we all enjoy by being a part of the Exeter community. 

I will be excited to see what special things you will accomplish this year, how you will contribute to the life of the school, and how you will lay the surest foundation for your own purposeful lives.

And now, for the benefit of the new students, by tradition, we end an assembly by saying “senior class” and give the seniors an opportunity to leave first. Senior class.