Unrivaled pride

In one of the greatest upset victories in the long-running Exeter-Andover sporting rivalry, Big Red rallied from a 17-point, second-period deficit to triumph over Andover and earn the football team its first New England title in 15 years. This is the story of that wild 1971 game as told by Exeter quarterback and legendary Boston sportscaster Mike Lynch ’72 on the 50th anniversary of that memorable meeting at Phelps Stadium.

The record shows that the 90th edition of this rivalry was won by Exeter 30-20 on Saturday, November 13, 1971. I’m here to inform you that this game was unofficially won by Exeter on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, November 9, 10 and 11. I was the quarterback and placekicker on that 1971 New England Prep School championship team. I’ve been asked to pen my recollection of how it happened 50 years ago to the very day.

Sleep was an elusive companion the night before the Andover game. We had just completed a productive week of practice. For three days, coach Alan Estey and his staff walked us through what Andover would do on offense and defense. They were 100% correct. With their preparation and leadership, we felt extremely confident as we wrapped up Friday’s walk-through.

There was a buzz around the Phillips Exeter campus all week, and by Friday night it was palpable. There was a bonfire, a pep rally, and speeches from Coach Estey and our two outstanding captains and leaders, Dave Fullerton ’72 and Drew Mellen ’72. After the bonfire I went in search of a store that sold long underwear. I knew it would be cold during the game and wanted to keep my chest and shoulders warm, especially as the day wore on. I found one up on Portsmouth Avenue. I borrowed Mrs. Estey’s scissors to cut off the sleeves. Check-in was complete at Peabody Hall room 9. My roommate Ernie Pisanelli ’72 (offensive and defensive tackle) and I shut out the lights. The proverbial hay was in the barn.

I can’t recall if we had classes that morning. If we did, our heads were elsewhere. School spirit was at an all-time high as we strolled through campus on the way to get dressed in the locker room in the bowels of the athletic complex. The walk to the stadium across the bridge was brisk. Alums, family, friends and students all wished us well and we proceeded into the stadium for the 1:45 p.m. kickoff.

Rumor had it that the night before the game a few Andover students were stopped at the bridge with four buckets of blue paint hoping to douse the stadium with their school color. But it would not matter. After warm-ups I looked Coach Estey in the eye and he told me to do exactly as we practiced and we would end a two-year drought against Andover.

The opening kickoff was disastrous. The field was glazed with frost, causing our return man, Roy Ball ’72, to slip and fall and dislocate his elbow. Poor Roy was in agony as we huddled up just a few feet away from him. An ambulance drove onto the field and Roy was taken to Exeter Hospital.

Away we went on offense. We managed to get deep into Andover territory before settling for a 31-yard field goal and a 3-0 lead.

And then a blue tidal wave hit us.

Andover scored 20 straight points and led 20-3. I would throw a horrific pass behind Jim Curry ’73 that was picked off by Andover’s Barry Cronin (my eventual college roommate), who took it 85 yards for a score. That pick would have put us in a 28-3 bind save for a clipping call, and thankfully the score was nullified. Still, 20-3 was a tough road to travel … except for this team. Each time I stepped into the huddle, 10 pair of eyes were looking directly at me as I prepared to call each play. Not once did I see or sense panic or despair. I only saw confidence and grit. We were good, really good. Think about our defense. Andover scored its 20th point just two minutes into the second quarter. For the remainder of the game our “D” shut out a very potent Andover “O.” We drove before the half and scored to make it 20-10 at the break.

I’ve always believed a team that scores just before the half has the edge coming out of the locker room, and that would be us. Inside our locker room there was confidence. Coach Estey told me we weren’t changing anything and that the work from Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday would pay off. I never doubted him and he was correct.

We marched down the field running the ball. Randy Lombardo ’73 and Pete Foote ’72 scooted through chasms opened by Pisanelli, Kirby, Mellen, Gleason and Shea. We scored on a quarterback sneak. Andover 20, Exeter 16. By now the soccer, field hockey and cross-country crowds were all in the stadium. To us it looked like 100,000 people. It was a wonderful feeling. Faculty, alumni, students, family and friends all gave off energy that fueled us, and we weren’t about to disappoint them. As the shadows grew longer the defense of Pisanelli, Bossy, Newman, Moutevelis, Fullerton, Mellen, Burns, Trowbridge, Curry, Trivett and Wong stood taller than the mighty pines that framed our stadium. Into the fourth quarter we forged, and a touchdown pass to Dan Fournier ’73 gave us back the lead at 23-20.

By now the field was in complete shade, bordering on darkness. We knew we needed another score, and an interception by “Famous Jamous” Jim Curry set it up at our 10-yard line. Curry and Fournier were as good as it gets for receivers. They certainly bailed this QB out of many a jam. A 90-yard drive mixed with runs, a catch-and-run by Curry and a 49-yard completion to Fournier, who lugged it to the Andover 1-yard line, set up Pete Foote’s touchdown run and we had a 30-20 lead. Twenty-seven unanswered points, a shutout by our defense when it counted the most. Coach Estey and his staff won this game. Their preparation made it impossible to fail.

The scene on the field was chaotic. Everyone wanted to participate in the celebration. Our win made headlines in The New York Times, The Boston Globe and the Boston Herald. Winter wasn’t far off and classes would resume on Monday, but for a few hours on a chilly Saturday November afternoon we rode a wave of joy, happiness and UNRIVALED Exeter pride!

Editor’s note: Class of 1972 President Frank McPhillips first shared Mike Lynch’s story as part of a monthly series of communications to his classmates in the year preceding their 50th reunion. The oral and written histories submitted by various members of the class of 1972, including this one, have been collected in the book, The Ways We Were: Exeter Remembered 1968-1972: Essays by the Exeter Class of 1972.

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Ancient Futurists

What can Vergil, the Greek Magical Papyri of spells and King Croesus of Lydia’s visit to the Oracle of Delphi tell us about the future? A lot, says Grant Parker, a Stanford professor who led a series of student seminars in November called “RetroFutures: Ancient Perspectives on Times Ahead.”

“It was a mind-bending look at how the future looked to people in the past,” says Matt Hartnett, chair of the Classics Department. “It felt very relevant to the current moment, where there is considerable anxiety and uncertainty about what the future holds. Over the intervening millennia we have come up with different ways of divining what we think will happen in the future, but all motivated by the same desire the ancients had to try to make the unknown known.”

It’s clear Parker’s words inspired those who gathered in the Elting Room of Phillips Hall for discourse. “Most Exeter Classics students read or will read Vergil at some point, and Professor Parker’s presentations not only introduced two Vergilian texts outside of the syllabus but also gave me a new perspective on the Aeneid, which I read last year at Exeter,” says Alexandra Wang ’23, who attended three of the four seminars. “At the start of his second seminar, he quoted a writer’s complaint that ‘Vergil is history written in the future tense.’ The quip is shockingly accurate: The story of the Aeneid is propelled by prophecies, but these predicted futures are the reader’s past. … Professor Parker’s seminars showed us that in all literary traditions, the text doesn’t change, its audience does. And each new reader is a new interaction. Each new reader grants the text a new meaning.”

Editor’s note: This article first appeared in the winter 2022 issue of The Exeter Bulletin.

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A momentous decision

On the afternoon of October 22, 2021, moments after voting to admit students without consideration of their ability to pay tuition, Exeter’s Trustees rose from their seats to applaud the moment, the generosity of the Exeter community, and the hard work that had made the decision possible.

Their spontaneous celebration was understandable. Rarely in the Academy’s history have the Trustees been called upon to make such a weighty decision. Just as Edward Harkness’ gift inspired a reimagining of our pedagogy, and the opening of our doors to coeducation transformed the institution, a vote to formally commit to “need-blind” admissions is similarly groundbreaking.

The Trustees’ decision is the first official commitment since the school began charging a fee for tuition in 1809, that cost is no longer a barrier to any qualified student who dreams of attending Phillips Exeter Academy — a decisive step toward becoming the community the found-ers envisioned.

Days after that momentous vote, Principal Bill Rawson ’71; P’08 and Morgan Sze ’83; P’19, P’22, P’25, president of the Trustees, shared the news in a joint statement to the Academy community: “John and Elizabeth Phillips made a commitment that continues to serve as one of our core values: ‘[The Academy] shall ever be equally open to youth of requisite qualifications from every quarter,’” Rawson and Sze wrote in an email to students, employees, alumni and parents.

Today, we renew our commitment to youth from every quarter.”

Principal Bill Rawson '71, P'08

“The commitment expressed in our Deed of Gift ensures that all our students, regardless of economic circumstances, are not only able to attend but also know they belong at Exeter. Financial aid makes it possible for students from ‘every quarter’ to join the Academy community and learn, lead and thrive here. Today, we renew our commitment to youth from every quarter.”

The historic decision came after Exeter donors over the past two years committed more than $90 million in new endowment for financial aid. Further support will be needed to sustain the commitment and fundraising for financial aid will continue to be a priority.

“From our conversations with alumni around the world, from Boston to Beijing, from London to LA, we hear consistently that one of the overarching priorities for the Academy — one of the values our alumni hold most highly — is the commitment to youth from every quarter — the ideal that finances should not be a barrier to students,” says Morgan Dudley ’77, Exeter’s director of institutional advancement. “The opportunity to focus our outreach and engagement efforts on becoming need-blind in admissions is deeply meaningful to every member of the Exeter community.”

Richard (Rick) L. Smith ’66 is one of those alumni for whom need-blind admissions resonates. Smith, who received financial aid to attend the Academy, has been a consistent Exeter donor and volunteer since his graduation, when he sent Exeter Principal Richard Day a letter and a $5 contribution to the school’s Christmas Fund.

“My first contribution to the Christmas Fund is small,” he wrote. “My interest in Exeter, however, is not small.” Smith vowed in that letter to help Exeter always have

“the resources to attract the people it needs to maintain a community marked by excellence.” More than 50 years later, Smith continues to live up to his promise, step-ping forward as one of the first Exonians to support new endowment for financial aid to make need-blind possible.

“It’s a very positive message and provides a greater level of encouragement to students and families seeking financial aid,” says Smith, a former trustee. “It also emphasizes the Academy’s commitment to being a diverse and equitable institution.”

A history of support

Exeter has a long tradition of remaining accessible to applicants of all means. In 1947, the school launched a $5 million campaign to limit tuition increases and “preserve the essential character” of the Academy, according to then-president of the Trustees Thomas Lamont, and enroll the most deserving and talented students from all over the country — not just those who can afford tuition.

The stories of Director of Scholarships H. Hamilton “Hammy” Bissell ’29 barnstorming around the Midwest in the 1950s in search of qualified students are Exeter legend. More than 800 of “Hammy’s boys” attended PEA through the school’s financial support.

The opportunity to focus our outreach and engagement efforts on becoming need-blind in admissions is deeply meaningful to every member of the Exeter community.

Morgan Dudley '77, director of institutional advancement

Those efforts have only grown over time. In 1980, the percentage of need-based financial aid students at Exeter was 26%. Today it is 44%. The Academy awards more than $25 million in financial assistance to its students each year; the largest distribution of endowment income is designated to financial aid.

In 2006, Exeter temporarily achieved need-blind in practice if not official policy, admitting three successive incoming classes regardless of means. A global financial crisis forced the school to curtail the effort in 2009 while pledging to remain free to those qualified students whose family income was $75,000 or less and to meet 100% of the demonstrated need of every admitted student.

Now, the school has formally committed to a need-blind admissions system going forward.

The Exeter community hailed the milestone and the Academy’s commitment to making an Exeter education accessible. “Financial aid at a comprehensive level was critical to my own ability to be one of ‘Hammy’s boys,’” wrote Jim Peterson ’63, “an experience that was life-shaping both for me and my family.”

“We will be forever grateful for our son’s full scholar-ship to attend Exeter for a postgrad year,” Laurie Easton Parker P’11 said. “Without the financial aid, that superior education would have been out of reach for our family. Thank you from the bottom of our hearts!”

Added Jim Rogers ’63; P’05, a former president of the Trustees: “This is wonderful news and such an important and fitting milestone for PEA.”

Rawson and Sze expressed appreciation for the legacy of philanthropy at Exeter that inspired the initiative. “It is humbling to consider the generations of Exonians who have come forward over the years to support the school, often inspired by the gratitude they felt for the assistance they received themselves,” they wrote. “It is equally humbling to contemplate the generosity that will support our school and our commitment to youth from every quarter in years to come.”

Editor’s note: This feature first appeared in the Winter 2022 issue of The Exeter Bulletin.

Need-blind admissions explained

Bill Leahy has made a career of getting to know people. An admissions professional for three decades, he arrived at Exeter in 2016 after serving as director of admission at Phillips Academy; dean of admission at The Hotchkiss School; director of financial aid at St. Paul’s School; global director of enrollment and director of admissions at Avenues: The World School; and as assistant director of admission at Boston University.

We sat down with Leahy in December, one month after the formal adoption of a need-blind policy and on the cusp of his sixth season working with his colleagues in the Exeter Admissions Office to select the next entering class of Exonians.

You’ve been a champion for need-blind admissions since you arrived at Exeter. How do you feel now that it is a reality?

It feels great to be able to fulfill our charge and honor the founding vision of Elizabeth and John Phillips, who called on this school to educate youth from every quarter. Over our school’s history, our definition of youth from every quarter has appropriately evolved and will continue to evolve — that is the power of a timeless mission. Today, with the decision to become need-blind, we are positioned to honor our founders and this school even more by ensuring that family income never becomes a barrier of access to an Exeter education.

Private schools in general have seen declining enrollment. Has the admissions process changed during your time here?

We have seen unprecedented growth in applications to Exeter from around the world in recent years. Each year, we read thousands of applications seeking those students with the most to give and the most to gain by attending Exeter. The admissions committee devotes weeks of careful evaluation and deliberation on every application to Exeter. We work late into the night revisiting files and discussing, sometimes debating, how to narrow the long list of incredibly talented applicants down to just the small number who will ultimately be offered admission.

You and your team are entering your first season with this new policy in place. From a very pragmatic standpoint, what will change for you this winter?

What being need-blind means is that the narrowing down of the final list of admitted students is based solely on the assessment of the applicant and has nothing to do with family financial resources. So many qualified students apply each year and we have removed another hurdle. One’s ability to afford Exeter is not on the table for discussion.

You’ve worked in secondary school admissions for over 30 years. Does Exeter feel different from other schools?

I’ve learned firsthand what a special community Exeter is — in part because of its transformational teaching pedagogy and remarkable resources, but more because of the students and adults who represent the very best of this residential education experience. They are all part of a mission to explore and discover their authentic selves, to collaborate and to consider different perspectives on every topic.

This new need-blind policy has deeper meaning beyond our campus community, doesn’t it?

The commitment to access is a central tenet of Exeter’s identity. When the need-blind announcement was made, I had a chance to travel to New York City for some admission events and on more than one occasion, the audience applauded when we referenced the recent announcement. There are many issues of educational inequity that confront our applicants, and this historic commitment of removing financial barriers to an Exeter education once and for all says so much about our institutional values.

Editor’s note: This feature first appeared in the Winter 2022 issue of The Exeter Bulletin.

Historic giving

In December of 1922, as the nation made a wobbly recovery from a post-war recession and an influenza pandemic that killed millions worldwide, Exeter Principal Lewis Perry sent a letter to the school’s alumni.

He began by thanking them for their “generous help” in erasing the school’s debt and allowing it to pay off its mortgages. “This is truly a thankful achievement and it tells better than anything else can your splendid spirit for this school,” Perry wrote.

But this was not just a thank you note. The principal had other motives. The letter told of a promise the classes of 1920, ’21 and ’22 had made “to send Exeter, for running expenses, Ten Dollars a year at Christmas Time as a part of his Christmas and to do so as long as he lives. Isn’t that fine?” Perry wrote.

Then he arrived at the heart of the matter. “Perhaps then it is not too much for me to ask the older Alumni to join with these youngest classes in sharing their Christmas with the best School in America and to persuade them each one if they can, to give something every year in this way toward current expenses.”

On Dec. 15, 1922, Lewis Perry’s letter launched what would eventually come to be known as The Exeter Fund. That first year returned $5,821 from 302 donations, an average of $19.27 per gift. More critically, it established a mechanism for grateful alumni to give back to their alma mater and help offset expenses that otherwise would be covered by tuition.

When Perry retired in 1946, the fund had raised more than a quarter-million dollars — an unprecedented amount for the times and the footing for what The Exeter Fund would become. Principal William Saltonstall built on Perry’s legacy, helping to launch a $5 million fundraising campaign in 1947 to offset a half-million-dollar annual operating deficit. The culture of philanthropy Perry inspired among Exonians was enduring. By 1980, annual giving surpassed $1 million.

Seven decades after Perry made his initial plea, Kendra Stearns O’Donnell, Exeter’s 12th principal, addressed that culture of giving and its impact in a year-ending letter to alumni: “Those of us privileged to be here now know that the generosity of those who have gone before is the foundation on which we build each day’s accomplishments.”

Last year, thousands of alumni, parents and friends of the Academy combined to donate $10.2 million to The Exeter Fund, which introduced eight targeted designations: financial aid; academic excellence; the arts; athletics; global initiatives; health and wellness; equity and inclusion; and immediate priorities. In December, a campaign to support these designations raised more than $1.6 million from 2,017 donors in a single day.

Dr. Perry would be proud.

Editor’s note: This feature first appeared in the Winter 2022 issue of The Exeter Bulletin.

Building on Strength

I almost didn’t attend Exeter. When I showed my acceptance letter to my father, he told me that the financial aid award was not enough and he was unable to make up the difference. I had not applied to any other school — I wanted to go to Exeter, and my father, a school teacher, thought Exeter was the only school that had the resources to provide the financial aid that we needed. Happily, with additional information, the Academy adjusted the award, and I arrived as a new lower in September 1968.

Financial aid was handled differently back then. Scholarship students, as we were called, were expected to contribute several hundred dollars to the cost of tuition each year through summer earnings, and we held nonpaying “scholarship jobs” on campus that took a few hours each week. I waited on faculty tables in the dining hall and served as an admissions tour guide. Like many scholarship students, I also held paying jobs to make some additional spending money. I was very happy with these arrangements. I was at Exeter.

We’ve come a long way, in so many ways, since my student days, including with our financial aid policies. When I arrived at Exeter, there were just 217 students receiving financial aid. Since then, we have more than doubled that number, and today we have over 450 students supported through financial aid. We long ago stopped expecting students to contribute from their summer earnings or hold nonpaying jobs on campus. Our financial aid awards meet the full demonstrated need of each family, and we provide additional assistance where necessary to ensure that every student has access to the full Exeter experience.

This increased attention to access has reduced a financial barrier in the admissions process, but did not eliminate it. Students requiring financial aid still faced a more challenging admissions process due to the number of spaces available for financial aid students. That is not what John and Elizabeth Phillips intended when they founded Exeter as a free school.

Now, with the Trustees’ momentous decision in October, we can and will operate fully need-blind and realize our founders’ vision that “The Academy shall ever be equally open to youth of requisite qualifications from every quarter.” This milestone builds on the generosity of successive generations of Exonians who have contributed to financial aid endowment — most recently through the tremendous generosity of alumni and parents who have stepped forward and made this bold commitment to being need-blind a reality.

I am deeply grateful for everyone who challenges us to imagine, and helps us achieve, the Exeter of tomorrow."

This commitment means that no child will be turned away because of a family’s inability to pay. And it is one way we more fully realize our vision of a school where youth from diverse backgrounds and perspectives come together to learn from one another and prepare to lead purposeful lives.

I cherish the Exeter I attended. It changed my life. But we know that Exeter has never stayed excellent by staying the same. I am deeply grateful for everyone who challenges us to imagine, and helps us achieve, the Exeter of tomorrow. I’m grateful that financial need will no longer be a barrier to students who dream of attending the Academy.

Editor’s note: This article first appeared in the winter 2022 issue of The Exeter Bulletin.

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Person and path

The question “Who am I?” is central to adolescence. The process of exploring that question with authenticity and goodness is complex and highly individualized. As the world becomes increasingly global and fast-paced, so do the challenges to identity. You need only look back to 2020’s cascade of crises and polarizations to appreciate the urgent impacts on adolescents who are in key stages of forming their identities.

“To be a teenager is to figure out who you are, and that is something that is fundamental to the work of secondary school education,” Religion Instructor Tom Simpson says. “How do you become a full person? How do you become a person who’s not only going to have the technical skills to thrive and succeed in today’s world, but also have the integrity and the sense of self, and the confidence, and the type of relationships, and an awareness of the ways in which our world functions, to be truly who you are and let those technical skills be used for something good?”

Supporting students as they begin the lifelong journey of discovering who they are, and building self-awareness into that process so that they may continue to thrive, is a key theme of the updated Academy mission and values released last September by Principal William Rawson ’71; P’08. Exeter’s mission is to “Unite goodness and knowledge and inspire youth from every quarter to lead purposeful lives.” Five timeless values outline Exeter’s commitment to provide the foundation from which Exonians can become productive citizens of the world. One value, “Youth Is the Important Period,” specifically addresses identity work through its emphasis on instilling a “lasting capacity to nurture one’s self, develop a sense of one’s own potential and consider one’s place in the larger whole” in order for students to develop “their values and passions and the agency needed to carry these forward.”

In these pages we take a look at some of the ways Exeter supports identity-building, including some recent innovations, through the lens of one student’s experience and in conversations with faculty. In future articles, we will continue to explore identity- building for self and in relation to being part of a diverse community.

man rowing a boat

Discovery

“Something I love about Exeter is how clubs and classes feed into each other and build off of each other to help you figure out who you are,” says Anne Brandes ’21. The club that captured this senior’s interest, starting in prep year, was The Exonian, the Academy’s student-run newspaper. In December, she completed her year as editor-in-chief.

Brandes was drawn to The Exonian as a way to make an impact on her community, but as a self-identified introvert, she initially found the work of interviewing daunting. Over time, she acclimated and made important discoveries. “It was great that I could write and I was learning how to write. That was a really significant moment for me,” she says. The other discovery was people. “I can say this confidently as a senior: The point of Exeter isn’t really to get everything right or to have your homework done perfectly or be the most well-prepared when you go into class. If you’re that person, that’s excellent and I definitely recognize why it feels comfortable to be that person, but there’s a lot to be said for taking the extra moments. … If you don’t spend time talking to people, you’re going to miss out on a significant part of Exeter.”

A highlight of Brandes’ work at The Exonian is the “Since 1878” project, an investigation of the newspaper’s coverage of racism at the Academy. Brandes and the editors started formulating the idea in June 2020, after the police killing of George Floyd ignited outrage around the world, and as the Academy was announcing initiatives to institutionalize the practice of anti-racism. “We felt that there was a dissonance between running anti-racist articles now without acknowledging how we’ve contributed to racism and documented racism in the past,” Brandes explains. “The Exonian was also having some serious conversations about its own racism much more recently than 1878 — more like 2020, 2019 — because of the lack of Black and Latinx voices in the newsroom.”

Over the summer, a core group of writers researched and wrote the pieces that comprise the series, an amount of work that Brandes considers both stunning and indicative of her peers’ commitment to the Exeter community. To publish the series, Exonian staff spent weeks fact-checking, then Brandes and a small cadre of Exonian editors worked from 11 a.m. to dorm check-in for five days in November. “Hopefully we can … continue to acknowledge the truths that are part of the Exeter community and part of The Exonian that are harder or uncomfortable to acknowledge,” she says.

It was in a class with History Instructor Leah Merrill ’93 during fall of lower year that Brandes realized “what good writing looks like.” She attributes much of her writing progress to Merrill’s thoughtful comments, which affected Brandes deeply. The research paper from that term holds pride of place in her desk drawer. “I look at that paper and I realize, ‘I can do this. Mrs. Merrill believes in me.’”

Another key to Brandes’ development was the bookending of her work at The Exonian with two religion courses: “Faith and Doubt” in prep year and “Epistemology” in senior fall, both taught by Religion Department Chair Hannah Hofheinz. (Science Instructor John Blackwell co-teaches “Epistemology.”) As her focus on journalism increased, Brandes became acutely aware of the ethics of reporting.

Immersion in the “Epistemology” course readings (a 2,000-year retrospective of knowledge, from Plato and the Western philosophical tradition, to the scientific revolution, postmodernism and modern-day authors), and in particular a 2017 meditation by Math Instructor Jeff Ibbotson on the topic of finding truths, led to a breakthrough. “I realized that I didn’t believe in moral relativism, that I did think that pushing for objectivity was an incredibly important part of journalism … that there are such things as moral truths and that some ways of going about the world are objectively right and objectively wrong,” Brandes explains.

She is well aware of the difficulty of achieving objectivity, “especially in historically white newsrooms,” and feels that the “Epistemology” course had an “immediate impact on my work in journalism, especially because as an editor, ethical decisions are the name of the game.”

compass

Over her years at Exeter, Brandes pushed herself beyond her comfort zone many times and found the “moments of discomfort” to be “some of the biggest moments of growth.”

“The true, amazing part of what we’re doing here is the community we’re in, the people who make it up and the stories they have,” she says. “I think that’s a collective experience that Exonians feel about Exeter: just this tremendous gratitude. You’re not feeling comfortable really until you’re about to leave, because that means that you’re constantly trying to improve yourself while you’re at the Academy.”

For Brandes the “end goal” is “being a listener above everything else, being respectful, regardless of whether or not you agree with the position at hand, and acknowledging the unique context that everybody is in before they enter that Harkness table. … [These] are the moments where the Harkness table becomes the most hard and dangerous, but also the moments where the Harkness table has the most to give back.”

Tradition

All of Exeter’s academic departments share the focus on helping students develop values, identity and purpose, but Hofheinz feels that the Religion Department is exceptionally positioned because of its course catalog, which the department chair compares favorably to that of “any high school or college in terms of the robustness of the offerings and their coherence.” “We get to explore how traditions around the globe throughout time have helped people with that process, not just here now, but everywhere and always,” Hofheinz says. “The wisdom traditions, the religious traditions, the philosophical traditions, ethical traditions, all have massive archives of some of the most committed and beautiful people, writings, artifacts, ideas, dilemmas, puzzles, games: everything that we get to explore with the students and let them experience the possibilities within those different languages. … This allows students different registers into which to enter into this conversation and build on it. What does it mean to live a meaningful life? But also what type? What is meaning? What are you here for? Why are you at all?”

The faculty members of the Religion Department see identity formation as a process, not an outcome. They observe closely and use a variety of techniques to assess how students are progressing along the path of greater self-realization. Ultimately, Hofheinz hopes to see students move toward a state of “coherence” where they are able to achieve authenticity and learn to “hold the whole — contradictions and dilemmas included within [themselves] — and be able to also recognize that other people are doing that as well. … Part of forming yourself is being able to have that coherence.”

“How do I know when they’re doing the work?” Hofheinz asks. “Can they get traction with seeing themselves? Can they get traction with saying not only, ‘This is what it is, but this is why I care.’ Or, ‘This is what I believe, but I see that there are alternatives.’ Or, ‘I used to say this, but I realized that I really said that because that’s what I always heard, and I’m not so sure about that anymore.’ Or, ‘I don’t know.’ … To me that’s one of the greatest successes at the end of a class: when a student says, ‘I don’t know, but I do know that this is a question that I’m interested in.’ … That indicates to me very concretely that they have moved from that immediate, intuitive, sure response that is not yet thought out, and there’s a reflection of the middle years that they’re moving through to becoming more of an autonomous grown-up.”

“With preps and lowers, there are moments when it seems they’re trying to figure out if the idea they hold really matters,” observes Religion Instructor Austin Washington, who came to Exeter in large part because he wanted to teach at a school where “the role of an educator is understood to be in many respects all about identity-building or -shaping in some way.” In contrast, he sees uppers and seniors who are “more convinced of their ideas, and their ability to disagree and sustain their opinions, and allow them to be enriched, but not fundamentally changed. Those are some of the most exciting moments of identity development that I’ve witnessed,” he says, “when students understand that their ideas matter and that it doesn’t make them a bad person to have strong opinions about something, but it does matter how they share those opinions.”

Hofheinz and the other members of the department see Harkness as an ideal environment for identity formation. “That’s the strength of Harkness: It allows that dialectical movement between an individual doing their own wrangling and wrestling, and the teacher being able to interact with them one-on-one through written assignments and individual conferences and conversations, but then really emphasizing that it’s in the students’ mutual interactions that they’re pushing each other to think slightly more and to come at it from different directions,” Hofheinz says. “It’s in that community work that the individual becomes possible.”

Intention

Self-authoring is the name of a new program developed by the College Counseling Office that asks lowers to consider who they are through a series of conversations and written reflections, all based on identity-related questions, such as: Who influences you and how? or, Where are you happiest? These forays into explicit identity work have the double benefit of initiating the college process with a focus on and understanding of self, as opposed to societal trends or external pressures, and introducing the college counselors to younger students in a friendly and supportive way.

“Self-authorship is a way of empowering adolescents,” explains Dean of College Counseling Betsy Dolan. “Being self-actualized and being content with not just who you are, but the fact that you can see yourself growing and that you’re going to continue to grow — you can make decisions that are informed.”

Dolan was inspired to start the program after reading research by Marcia Baxter Magolda, a professor emerita at Miami University of Ohio and a leader in self-authorship theory. Recognizing a clear link between self-authorship and encouraging intentionality in Exeter students, Dolan introduced the concept to her team. Counselors Courtney Skerritt and Jeff Wong developed a curriculum specific to Exeter lowers.

The program launched as a pilot with new lowers in the winter term of the 2019-20 academic year. Partnering with the Health and Human Development Department, college counselors, in pairs, visited several sessions of “HHD240: Thriving in Community,” a course that focuses on developing decision-making skills based on purpose and thoughtfulness. The two-session program culminated in a Harkness discussion about fundamental questions: What does Exeter mean to you? Who are you at Exeter?

“Every class was different,” Wong says. “It usually started with the concrete steps of what is Exeter. But then it became so much more, and that’s where you’d see people jump in and say, ‘I had a very different experience choosing to come here,’ or, ‘I’ve had a very different experience since I’ve gotten here.’ Some people talked about it from the 30,000-foot level of what it means to them or their families. For others, it was much more on the ground: ‘This is a change from where I grew up.’”

Skerritt observed in the self-authoring Harkness conversations a clear willingness among students to “unpack” identity preconceptions, and an openness to new points of view, including those brought by students from around the world and from a tremendous diversity of personal experiences. She sees particular value in exploding some of the negative impacts of social media on identity-building: “With social media, it’s really easy to listen to the voice that is your own echo in terms of political beliefs, background and interests. But you don’t know who you’re going to be with at the Harkness table. … I see Harkness as the anti-social media.”

Although the college counselors planned to reconnect with the lowers during spring term and again in the fall, the coronavirus pandemic put a temporary halt to those efforts. The college counselors are looking forward to rolling out the full program once in-person classes resume.

“The best thing that could happen is students have this experience over the winter and spring terms,” Dolan adds. “We meet with them in the fall to remind them of it. And it informs their college process to such a degree that it doesn’t matter where they go. They know they can feel good about their person going forward, whatever the adventure is.”

Thriving

Exeter’s Counseling and Psychological Services team provides another framework for identity formation based primarily on one-to-one meetings between a counselor and a student. The keys to creating a supportive environment for identity work, says Szu-Hui Lee, director of CAPS, are providing a “safe place, trusted adults, trusted relationships so that students can explore different aspects of themselves and know they’re still cared for, and know they are not judged.” For some Exonians, Lee says, finding their voice can involve healing from experienced trauma. “What we know about trauma work is healing starts when people feel safe,” she says.

CAPS offers free counseling to Exeter students while they are on campus. During the pandemic, as some states have loosened licensure regulations and allowed out-of-state counselors to provide care, CAPS has been able to offer remote counseling to an increasing number of students who live outside of New Hampshire. The five counselors can provide a level of service that is unheard of in public schools and even at many universities, where individualized appointments can be strictly limited, Lee says. “We can see students every week if there is a need, from the time they are preps to the time that they’re seniors. … What does that mean? Some of the things that people might unpack in their adulthood or in college, our students have the opportunity to start a little earlier because they have these resources.”

Lee’s advice to students is: Explore, explore, explore. “This is the time to go down every aisle in the grocery store and check everything out,” she says. “See what’s of interest. Discover things that are different and unfamiliar. And find joy in what you know and love.”

The hoped-for result of this exploration is to anchor habits during four very formative years. “Studies have shown that if you form habits at an early age, that includes between 14 and 18, you’re more likely to have those habits stay with you as an adult,” Lee says. “And it doesn’t end when you graduate from Exeter. … Positive self-identification means that you allow yourself the permission to continue to evolve. … At 24, when you decide to change your mind about something you thought you were pretty darn sure about at 14, that’s OK.”

For many students, Exeter can be a bit of a jolt. “A lot of our students’ identity is grounded in their academics,” Lee says. “They’ve been on this journey to get ahead, get to Exeter, with the hopes that a great college would be next on their trajectory. They’re following markers that they themselves, or society, or their families have set for them.” When those markers are missed — students don’t get the straight-A’s they are used to, or they get injured and can’t perform at their sport — they can falter and wonder about their own identity, sense of purpose and direction. “Counseling comes in around that time to say, how do we modify or create new markers? Let’s explore all aspects of who you are beyond the measures you are used to.”

Lee explains: “I often tell students, think of a stool. There are three legs to a stool to hold it steady. When one is broken off, you can probably still lean on the other two. Healthy self-identification is making sure you know your identity comes from a collection of things that make you who you are. So, you have to make sure to have a lot of legs of different things, so that when something in your life isn’t going well, you’re still getting feedback from other things that matter to you, and holding steady. … That’s how you thrive: You have other things to lean on.”

Editor’s note: This article first appeared in the winter 2021 issue of The Exeter Bulletin.

Chester Finn '62 calls on Exonians to join education 'quest'

Bring an Exeter alumnus who has dedicated his life to improving American education to a thousand Exeter students who are currently deeply invested in their own and you have the makings for a vibrant discussion. Such was the case last Friday, when Chester Finn ’62 delivered remarks and then fielded questions from the community at an assembly titled “Why You Should Join the Unfinished Quest for Equity and Excellence in American Education.”

“Maybe the last thing you want to hear today is why you should make education part of your life’s work,” Finn told his virtual audience. “But my message this morning is that you should seriously consider doing just that. I’ve been at it for a few lifetimes now, starting, as I know some of you have done, with tutoring kids who needed help to succeed in school.”

Finn, introduced by his granddaughter Emma Finn ’22, was only eight years beyond his graduation from PEA before was advising the Nixon White House on matters related to education. Finn has been a professor of education, a consultant on education policy and for four years in the 1980s an assistant secretary in the U.S. Department of Education. A longtime advocate of school choice, he founded and is president emeritus of the Thomas B. Fordham Foundation, a nonprofit dedicated to educational excellence in American schools.

Finn told his audience, “there are innumerable ways you can engage, not just as a full-time occupation, but also by serving on school boards, by volunteering in a thousand different sorts of places, by working with nonprofit organizations, by writing and lobbying and donating, and by taking seriously the education needs of your neighbors in your community, as well as those of yourself, and your family, and others like you.”

After his brief remarks in which he laid out four reasons for his listeners to take on his challenge (the country needs it; justice and fairness depend on it; communities don’t succeed without it; and if not you, then who?), Finn took questions from his listeners.

Watch the full assembly and Q+A here:

Assembly | Chester E. Finn, Jr. ’62 from Phillips Exeter Academy on Vimeo.

Update to athletics spectator policy

The following are the new parameters regarding spectators at Exeter athletic events. We look forward to seeing you!

As of Friday, Jan. 21, we are pleased to welcome the Phillips Exeter Academy internal community — current students, faculty, and staff — to attend winter athletic events (at this time, no spectators will be allowed in the Thompson Field House during track meets).
As of Wednesday, Jan. 26, we will welcome parents of Exeter students to join in the stands. Internal community members and parents will be separated in the bleachers.
Proper masking is required at all time. Spectators who do not comply with proper masking, will be told to leave.
Absolutely no food or drinks are allowed in any athletic venue.
All PEA spectators wishing to travel to an away game in support of Big Red should check the opposing school’s website as most are limiting spectator capacity. Schools may have different policies than those in effect at PEA, including prohibitions on unvaccinated spectators, required proof of vaccination to enter campus, or more strict regulations regarding access to campus buildings.
Most home games will continue to be streamed on Exeter Live.

Willie O'Ree, hockey trailblazer, addresses assembly

When the sharpened blades of Willie O’Ree’s skates met the sheet of ice inside the hallowed Montreal Forum in January of 1958, the hard-checking winger from Fredericton, New Brunswick, achieved his life’s goal of playing in the National Hockey League as a member of the Boston Bruins.

It wasn’t until later that the then 22-year-old would begin to comprehend the magnitude of the moment not only for himself, but for the league, the sport of hockey and the generations players that would follow.

“I didn’t realize at the time that I had broken the color barrier in the National Hockey League — that there had never been a Black player,” he told Assembly.

Like Jackie Robinson, who a decade earlier broke Major League Baseball’s color line, O’Ree’s presence in his sport drew jeers from opposing players and fans.

“I never fought because of racial remarks because I knew I’d be in the penalty box all the time if I did,” he said. “I just let it go in one ear and out the other.”

Racial prejudice wasn’t the only adversity O’Ree overcame during his career. As a junior player he was struck in the face with a puck causing the loss of sight in his right eye. Fearing his disability would prevent him from getting a shot at the pros, he kept the extent of his injury a secret.

“I just said, forget about what you can’t see and concentrate on what you can see,” he said.

During his 20-year professional hockey career, O’Ree played in just 45 contests across two seasons at the game’s highest level, but his impact on the sport and the NHL continues decades later. After hanging up the skates, O’Ree began working with league as an ambassador for NHL’s Diversity Program. His “Hockey is for Everyone” initiative seeks to bring the game to underserved communities across North America.

“We won’t turn any boy or girl away. If they want learn how to skate, we’ll have them learn how to skate. If they want to play hockey and get into an organized hockey program, that’s our job.”

Following the presentation members of Exeter’s hockey program, Akili Tulloch ‘22 and Manan Mendiratta ’22, moderated a Q&A session where O’Ree addressed the state of diversity in the NHL today.

“The game is so much better than it was, it’s opened up to not only Black players, but all players of color,” he said. “There are approximately 40 players of color playing in the league now.”

O’Ree’s Assembly appearance came on the eve of MLK Day weekend which featured a series of events including the student-produced variety show, “UnSilenced,” and a keynote address from Anna Gifty Opoku-Agyema.

The Bruins will honor O’Ree by retiring his jersey number in a ceremony on Jan. 18.