Phillips Exeter Academy
Phillips Exeter Academy
Phillips Exeter Academy
Phillips Exeter Academy

Firstname Lastname

Imagining our future

More than 200 Exeter alumni, guests, faculty, staff and trustees convened on campus for a weekend in October to celebrate 55 years of the Afro-Latinx Exonian Society, or A.L.E.S. Founded in 1968 as the Afro-Exonian Society, A.L.E.S. has served ever since as a vital place to support and share the culture and history of Exeter’s Black and Latinx students.

The anniversary programming kicked off with a welcome from the event’s hosts, Academy Trustees Wole Coaxum ’88; P’24 and Paulina Jerez ’91; P’21, in the Class of 1945 Library. Principal Bill Rawson ’71; P’08 offered opening remarks, followed by Academy Trustee Eric Logan ’92 and Magee Lawhorn, Exeter’s head of Archives & Special Collections.

“I submit to you that on Monday Exeter will not be the same school it was yesterday,” Rawson said. “You will be responsible for how we are learning, growing and changing as an educational institution this weekend by being together, telling and hearing your stories, celebrating and reflecting on where we have been, what we have become, and imagining our future.”

Saturday’s panel discussion was a program highlight. Moderated by Dean of Students Russell Weatherspoon ’01, ’03, ’08, ’11 (Hon.); P’92, P’95, P’97, P’01, the panel brought together current students and five alumni spanning five decades with professional expertise in the fields of journalism, medicine, law, venture capital and public policy. The conversation centered on how core values such as knowledge, goodness, truth and justice can be channeled to address the enduring and thorny challenges involving race in our society. A consistent theme emerged: the importance of people of color in general, and Exeter alumni in particular, reaching across generations to support each other.

“When we think about knowledge and access and goodness…it’s complicated to break through those silos, to break through those attitudes, to break through those beliefs,” said Stephanie Neal-Johnson ’85; P’19, COO of the Massachusetts Department of Labor. “But at the end of the day, having those conversations as we are today [is] really what will make the difference.”

Panelist Veronica Juarez ’00, a Houston-based social enterprise investor, spoke of forming her own venture capital firm to invest in companies headed by Latinx founders. “It’s critical for us — being a part of the game, playing the game, getting into this asset class of investing,” Juarez said. “Typically those opportunities have not even been presented to us because they’re private… . You would only access this via your friends who tell you in a closed-door meeting. So, this is our closed-door meeting.”

Claudia Cruz ’96, director of internships and experiential learning at the University of Nevada’s Reynolds School of Journalism, said: “Journalism is important, but we’re not always conveying all the information or all the truths to all the right people. If we did that, could we balance the scales a bit?”

Dr. Leroy Sims, ’97, head of medical operations for the National Basketball Association, spoke of the need for people of color to seek out — and to become — sponsors, rather than mentors.  “A sponsor has to know what your motivations are, what your capabilities are in order to be able to advocate and to be able to say, ‘I’m going to bring you along,’” he said. “It’s just not an invitation… . You need to feel like you belong in that room.”

Mark McClain ’74; P’08, a Baptist minister and attorney from East Cleveland, added, “We can put our minds together and we can really find out what truth is, what justice is. All of these things we talk about as ideas or ideals — we can bring them to reality.”

Upper Sophie Goldman ’25 shared her gratitude and impressions of the event, eliciting applause and visible emotion from the panelists and many in the audience. “I’ve never been in a room where people who looked like me were able to speak these hard truths,” Goldman said. “I want to connect with the alumni in this room because it’s important that…we can make sure the truth changes for the next generation and we’re able to see our own truth.”  

Coaxum offered a touching tribute to Weatherspoon, who is set to retire at the end of this school year after 37 years of service to the Academy. “For many of us, Mr. Weatherspoon played an essential role in our lives as students and continues as we navigate the world as an adult,” Coaxum said. 

To round out the weekend’s programming, attendees and current students enjoyed several appearances by John Forté ’93, the Grammy-nominated recording artist, songwriter, activist and filmmaker. 

At the celebration’s closing dinner in William Boyce Thompson Field House, physician-scientist Dr. Emery Brown ’74, recipient of the 2020 John and Elizabeth Phillips Award, offered some keynote remarks based on his own academic and career journey. “Exeter got me on the road…so I could have a seat at the table. It started that process for me and I’m totally grateful for that,” Brown said. “I think another part of the good fortune I’ve had has been bringing up ideas, or thinking out of the box. What I’ve noticed in problem solving is people will try to solve problems [by] extending what is already being done, as opposed to standing back for a minute and saying, what is it that we really need?”

Amid this packed slate of events, visiting alumni enjoyed some free time to attend sporting events, an A.L.E.S. club meeting and a Morning of Remembrance in the Forrestal-Bowld Music Center, officiated by Bryan Contreras ’91; P’24, to honor those who have touched the lives of the A.L.E.S. and the greater Exeter community.

Before departing campus, alumni and students shared a community-building brunch with Stephanie Bramlett, director of equity and inclusion; and Kevin Pajaro-Mariñez, assistant director of equity and inclusion. 

 

Celebrating 55 Years of A.L.E.S

Alumni across generations gather to celebrate the enduring impact of the Afro-Latinx Exonian Society.  

>> See more from the weekend

Follow me: Exploring synthetic chemistry

Mentor: Manuel Montori ’12, biotech engineer
Student: Nora Sharma, Charles Potje

Nora Sharma ’24 and Charles Potjer ’24 worked alongside Manuel Montori ’12 in the lab at his Austin, Texas, startup, Spero Technologies. Montori and his co-founder are conducting research to benefit biological manufacturing technology, using a system based on recombinant enzymes to produce compounds like pigments, vitamins and aromatics. 

Sharma and Potjer familiarized themselves with Spero’s research and the academic literature supporting it, then moved on to tasks in the lab. Sharma streamlined the lab’s process of growing Physarum enzyme in a bioreactor. Potjer replicated a process called chitin-binding, or immobilizing enzymes, making it easier for them to be purified and increasing their life span.

From the left: Nora Sharma ’24, Charles Potjer ’24

Potjer was impressed by the autonomy he was granted. “I worked one-on-one every day with the company founders and worked independently, helping with lab work, designing experiments and reading through copious amounts of papers,” he says. “I felt like my voice mattered. I got to think creatively, take risks and operate with a level of independence I don’t think I could have in many other spaces. It certainly wasn’t a traditional lab research experience — which is why I loved it!”

Montori lauded the students, saying: “We were impressed by Nora and Charles’ ability to dive into some pretty complex and specialized science, both reading literature and executing experiments in the lab. It was a privilege to work with them. We hope to keep fostering a great relationship with Exeter.”

This story was originally published in the Fall 2023 issue of The Exeter Bulletin.

Read more alumni mentor stories 

More to Explore

See All

Exeter Today

Mapping the mosquito genome

Nico Gallo working with students

The Exeter Bulletin

Designing a better future

Members of the Exeter Physics Club

Exeter Today

Exonians win trip to physics' global epicenter

Exonians in review: Fall 2023

Alumni are encouraged to advise the Bulletin editor (bulletin@exeter.edu) of their own publications, recordings, films, etc., in any field, and those of their classmates, for inclusion in future Exonians in Review columns. Please send a review copy of your published work to the editor to be considered for an extended profile in future issues. Works can be sent to: Phillips Exeter Academy, The Exeter Bulletin, 20 Main Street, Exeter, NH 03833.

ALUMNI
1956—William Peace. Nebrodi Mountains: The Billionaire and the Mafia. (Strategic Book Publishing, 2022)
1968—Anthony Gantner. The City Dionysia. (Norfolk Press, 2023)
1968—John Gentry. Neutering the CIA: Why US Intelligence Versus Trump Has Long-Term Consequences. (Armin Lear Press, 2023)
1969—Richard Maurer. The Woman in the Moon: How Margaret Hamilton Helped Fly the First Astronauts to the Moon. (Roaring Brook Press, 2023)
1971—Dan Hunter. Learning and Teaching Creativity: You Can Only Imagine. (Radio Ranch Press, 2023)
1972—W. Drake McFeely. Books That Live: Norton’s First One Hundred Years. (W.W. Norton & Company, 2023)
1981—Claudia Putnam. Seconds: A Novella. (Neutral Zones Press, 2023)
1982—Judd Kruger Levingston. A Moral Case for Play in K-12 Schools: The Urgency of Advancing Moral Ecologies of Play. (Lexington Books, 2023)
1982—Julie Phillips. The Baby on the Fire Escape: Creativity, Mothering, and the Mind-Baby Problem. (W.W. Norton & Company, 2022)
1991—Sean Mahoney. “Factory Girls,” a rock musical that played at the University of New Hampshire in October.
2001—Mackenzie Hawkins, with Wonchull Park. Nowflow Breath, Movement & Mind: A Living Practice of 3 Nowflow Qualities from 3 Physics Flow Natures. (Thru Publishing, 2023)
2001—Katie Farris. Standing in the Forest of Being Alive, poetry collection. (Alice James Books, 2023)
2008—Amanda Kim, director. Nam June Paik: Moon Is the Oldest TV premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in January 2023.
2015—Lindsey Palmer, assistant. Heart of Stone, film. (Netflix, 2023)
2019—Kristen Richards. as if to return myself to the sea, poetry collection. (Indie Earth Publishing, 2023)

FACULTY
Ralph Sneeden, emeritus English instructor. The Legible Element: Essays. (EastOver Press, 2023)
Chelsea Woodard. At the Lepidopterist’s House. (Southern Indiana Review Press, 2023)

Celebrated writer and social commentator honored with Phillips Award

From her op-ed pieces in The New York Times to her bestselling 2017 memoir Hunger, Roxane Gay ’92 is known for writing with radical honesty, courage and compassion about some of our society’s most difficult and divisive issues. On Friday, she returned to campus to accept the John and Elizabeth Phillips Award, which recognizes an Exonian who has contributed significantly to the welfare of community, country or humanity in their life and work.

“As an author, editor and professor known for your exploration of complex questions surrounding race, class, gender and sexuality, you have become one of the leading social commentators of our time,” said Trustee and General Alumni Association Vice President Una Basak ’90, who delivered Gay’s award citation before an audience of students, faculty, staff and visiting Trustees in the Assembly Hall. “You have earned this distinction by writing about subjects that matter deeply to you, in a way that resonates with millions of readers.”

In addition to accepting the Phillips Award, the Academy’s highest honor for its alumni, Gay visited several classes during her visit to campus. Immediately following the assembly, she sat in on a combined session of REL450: Social Ethics and REL592: An Interdisciplinary Approach to Epistemology held in the Latin Study, in which students read and discussed material from her newly published essay collection, Opinions: A Decade of Arguments, Criticism, and Minding Other People’s Business.

The gift of family support

Addressing the Assembly Hall audience, which included several members of her family, Gay dedicated many of her remarks to her parents, whom she says “saw the power of possibility” in her when they made the investment in her Exeter education. “They saw what I personally would not see for decades, honestly — that I have a powerful voice and something to say.”

She spoke of her time at Exeter as “formative, in ways both good and bad.” There was her English teacher, the late Rex McGuinn, who saw something in her “very bad teenage writing” and encouraged her to take herself seriously as a writer. But she also spoke of experiencing microaggressions, and of being often underestimated by adults and peers alike.

After Exeter, Gay went on to earn her master’s and Ph.D. and began teaching at the college level, all with the goal of supporting her writing career. She published her first book, the short story collection Ayiti, in 2011. She was also blogging regularly at the time; writing articles on race, gender and culture for Salon, The Rumpus, The Nation and TIME, among other outlets; and building a reputation for sharp commentary on Twitter, then a relatively new social network.

Building a career

In 2014, Gay was on the tenure track at Purdue University when the success of her essay collection Bad Feminist launched her to a new level of fame. She published her debut novel, An Untamed State, that same year.

“I’m a writer who has achieved some measure of success because I dared to believe that I had the right as a queer black woman to articulate my understanding of the world,” Gay told the assembly audience. “From an early age, I watched my mother confidently expressing her opinions with wit and intellect… . My mother didn’t necessarily know it at the time, but she consistently modeled for me what it means to have convictions and the confidence to express them.”

Writing for a purpose

Gay spoke of the “massive social upheaval” our culture has experienced over the course of her career, including a global pandemic, a divisive political landscape, rampant misinformation, proliferating anti-LGBTQ policies, book-banning efforts and multiple wars around the world. “The climate into which I write is incredibly fraught, but I do write, nonetheless,” Gay said. “I write to express outrage or to bear witness or express admiration. I write knowing many people will disagree with me for one reason or another.”

In addition to her own writing, Gay has worked throughout her career to amplify the voices of those who are underrepresented in publishing, particularly younger authors of color. She regularly publishes essays by emerging writers in her newsletter The Audacity, which boasts more than 80,000 subscribers. In partnership with Grove Atlantic, Gay recently launched her own publishing imprint, Roxane Gay Books, with three titles in print by the end of 2023.

“People often call me an activist, but truly, I am just a writer,” Gay said near the end of her remarks. “I am fortunate enough to bring attention to the things that matter most to me. I’m able to advocate for vulnerable communities. I do all of this because 35 years ago, my parents had a big, bold vision for myself that started right here.”

Destination Egypt

Instructor in History Sally Komarek documents her trip to Cairo spreading the word of Harkness.

This summer I traveled to Cairo, Egypt, with Global Initiatives Program Director Patty Burke Hickey to teach at the Cairo American College, where Exeter introduced the Harkness model in 2015. Each day offered a new gift. Here’s a look at what I learned about myself and my craft by sharing our practice and exploring a new culture.

August 6-7

Patty and I arrived at Boston Logan International Airport on Sunday afternoon, excited to begin our journey. While waiting for our flight, we chatted about our instruction plans for our time at Cairo American College (CAC). Neither of us had traveled to Egypt before, but we had connected with friends, colleagues and family members who shared suggestions for places to eat, shop and explore. After two lengthy flights and a three-hour layover in London, we landed in Cairo around 5:30 p.m. local time. We enjoyed a late dinner with others, such as individuals working as street sweepers, and children. This was such a beautiful way to meet local Cairenes and learn about the city, its rich history, and the agricultural practices and culinary traditions that make their dishes so special. We ended the tour with full bellies and some new menu ideas to take home.

August 8

We planned our first day as an adjustment period to help us get over any jet lag. After getting a sweat in at the hotel gym, we made our way to the pool to discuss our ideas for the next day’s lessons. We knew that we’d be working with a group of 12 to 15 teachers, and that their experience with Harkness was mixed. Some teachers had participated in numerous Harkness training sessions with current and former Exeter colleagues, and others were brand-new. We decided to use reflection and goal-setting to pull CAC teachers into the conversation regardless of their familiarity with Harkness.

With our Wednesday plan final, Patty and I set out for downtown Cairo, where we took a food tour with Bellies En-Route, a women-owned company that leads zero-waste tours. We started out eating koshari, the national dish of Egypt, a delicious medley of pasta, rice and lentils. We also tasted falafel (made from fava beans, not chickpeas), okra, an assortment of juices (my favorite was tangerine), baba ghanouj and a warm bowl of molokhia, a spinach-like vegetable. We were so appreciative that at every stop our tour guides shared any leftover food overlooking the Nile River, then crashed from the exhaustion of a full day of traveling.

August 9

Patty and I woke early and arrived at CAC at 7:30 a.m. to begin setting up to lead workshops with the humanities faculty. The session started with brief introductions before we asked teachers to journal a personal “Problem of Practice” as it pertains to their Harkness classrooms. There are about 22 students per classroom at CAC and the Harkness table seats 16 to 18 students. The conversation was rich with the challenges of Harkness learning in a larger classroom: How do I build strong student habits and establish classroom norms? How should I give feedback and evaluate participation and engagement? How can I balance participation among so many students? And notably, how do I involve those students on the outside of the Harkness table.

In the afternoon, Patty and I facilitated a Harkness demonstration. The teachers read some short poems from Lamont Poet Natasha Trethewey’s Beyond Katrina: A Meditation on the Mississippi Gulf Coast and Nancy Gibbs’ 2005 Time magazine article “An American Tragedy: The Aftermath.” The conversation was lively, engaging and demonstrated many of the same dynamics we see around our own Harkness tables at Exeter. We wrapped up at CAC and headed back to our hotel, where we reviewed the class’ “Problem of Practice” reflections over dinner and made our plan for Thursday’s sessions.

August 10

We opened our second day of Harkness training with a debriefing about the previous day’s work. Like any Harkness conversation at Exeter, each individual experienced the conversation differently. We unpacked the direction of our conversation, returned to some key moments, and talked over a variety of possible interventions to employ as a Harkness instructor.

Next, we led a session on inclusive Harkness practices; multiple ways of giving feedback; preparation and close-reading practice; “silent discussions”; and discussion roles, among other strategies. The dialogue from this session stretched into lunchtime, and we enjoyed delicious sandwiches while collaborating with one another. After lunch, we split up by discipline to discuss department-specific questions, skill building and written assessments.

For our final session of the week, we returned to the “Problem of Practice” cards from our first session, and asked colleagues to identify new solutions, plans and practices to help them work through their initial “problems” and identify a colleague they can partner with throughout the year. It was terrific to end on such a high note, and the enthusiasm to begin a new school year was palpable. Patty and I carried that energy back to campus.

August 11

We kicked off a weekend of tourism with a trip to the Saqqara and spent a few hours exploring the vast sites and grounds of the step pyramids. Our incredible tour guide, Yomna, explained every historical detail. In the Serapeum, an ancient burial site for sacred bulls, we were blown away by the massive stone sarcophagi nestled deep underground. Touring was such a positive experience and reminded me of how transformative in-person experiences can be when studying history. It made me eager to work in more field trips, day trips and hands-on exploration into my coursework at Exeter.

August 12

We traveled west to explore the famous Giza pyramids. Standing next to the individual blocks of the pyramid, it put into perspective just how massive the pyramids really were. Imagining their construction around 3200 B.C., I was in awe that these magnificent structures predate all of Exeter’s History offerings by more than two centuries. Our next adventure brought us to the Great Sphinx of Giza, which was (you might sense a theme here) even more massive than one could ever imagine! After an incredible day we returned to our hotel with our phone camera rolls full.

August 13

Our final day began with a drive to the Citadel of Cairo, or Citadel of Salah ah-Din. I asked Patty to snap some photos of me in front of the Citadel to show to my future students in HIS205: The Medieval Worlds, as Salah ah-Din is a crucial historical figure in our course study. From there we entered the Muhammad Ali Mosque, which was one of the most breathtaking buildings I’ve ever stepped into. The entire experience was unforgettable. Next, we drove to Old Cairo, where we saw the spectacular Crypt of the Holy Family and the famous Hanging Church. We then spent hours exploring the exhibits, including the mummies, at the National Museum of Egyptian Civilization. The day ended with a trip to Khan al-Khalili market and a felucca ride on the Nile.

August 14

Morning came early for us as we headed to the airport at 5 a.m. to start the journey back to Boston. I am so grateful for our time in Egypt. I gained so much as a teacher of history and Harkness instructor.

This article first appeared in the Fall 2023 issue of The Exeter Bulletin.

Civil discourse

Governor Ned Lamont '72 and Governor Chris Sununu speak at evening assembly

Rancor and disrespect often define political discourse in America today, but two politicians from opposite sides of the aisle showed Exeter that acrimony needn’t be the rule.

Governor Ned Lamont ’72 of Connecticut, a Democrat, and Governor Chris Sununu of New Hampshire, a Republican, took the Assembly Hall stage for an hourlong dialogue devoid of pique. The collegial discussion was co-hosted by the Academy’s Republican and Democratic clubs. Club co-heads Leo Braham ’24, Beverly Oleka ’25, Carter Otis ’24 and Natalie Welling ’24 took turns posing questions to the governors before a crowded hall.

The governors shared messages that mirror the Harkness learning principle of listening to understand, not simply to respond. Sununu asked the audience, “When you come to discussions, whether it’s like this or whether you’re going to have an argument on politics over family dinner or you’re just talking amongst friends, are you coming to have a discussion with a preconceived notion to get your own convictions validated? Or are you coming to the discussion to say, ‘Gee, this person might disagree with me. I wonder why. I wonder what the basis is.’ What’s the background? What’s the history with this individual and this issue that has gotten them from A to B to C that might be completely different from where you are?”

Academy’s Republican and Democratic clubs co-heads took turns posing questions to Lamont ’72 and Sununu

The moderators asked questions on topics such as artificial intelligence, the opioid crisis, a livable wage, gun control and free speech. The governors hold differing views on several subjects. Lamont supports nationalized gun laws, for instance, and Sununu does not. Sununu rejects the practical importance of increasing the minimum wage, and Lamont says it “sends a signal to people that we value their work.” But the tone of the conversation remained respectful.

Lamont was asked how he responds to criticism of his fervent support for public education even though he “attended one of the wealthiest and most prestigious high schools in the nation.”

“I think I went to one of the greatest high schools in America,” he said. “It was much more diverse than Syosset High School on Long Island where I would’ve come from. And I learned a lot about people. We were a little whiter and a hundred percent more male than it is today.

“At my age… it’s not where you’re from, it’s where you stand. And I think I’ve got a long record. People know where I stand on these issues so they can say, ‘Hey, you went to Exeter, you’re not like me.’ And they get to know you and they realize you’re fighting for them every day. … I’m proud of where I came from, and I like to explain that to people every day.”

On the topic of free speech and tolerance for viewpoints different from our own, the governors agree.

“You all know what empathy is, right?” Sununu asked. “Do we practice empathy every day? Empathy is something to be practiced, right? We call it disagreeing better. We all need to disagree better.

This article first appeared in the Fall 2023 issue of The Exeter Bulletin.

Follow me

Alumni Mentors share their workplace and knowledge with rising seniors.

Anne Rankin ’92, the current Bates-Russell Distinguished Faculty Professor and an instructor in science, embraces her role as a change agent at Exeter. Inspired by conversations with current and former students over her nearly 25 years with the Academy, Rankin spent months brainstorming ways to build meaningful connections between the groups. “Students often talk about how valuable it is to have perspective from someone working in a career they’re interested in,” she says.

To provide those opportunities, Rankin coordinated nine new summer internships that pair students with alumni mentors in the workplace. Open by application to rising seniors, the internships placed students in diverse professional settings, including assisting with eye exams at a retinal clinic, helping a sustainable clothing brand prepare its 2024 collection, and collaborating virtually to develop an artificial intelligence module for older adults.

Rankin’s initiative complements the Academy’s robust summer internship program, which includes an 11-year partnership with Dr. Seung Kim ’81, director of the Stanford Diabetes Research Center. Students work alongside Kim in his lab, conducting hands-on biomedical research, creating and characterizing new strains of fruit flies.

Rankin stresses that the internships are more than ways for students to work in interesting settings for a month or so. “It’s also an opportunity to learn from someone other than teachers,” Rankin says. “It’s about human relationships and learning how to be mentored. Putting the students in touch with a caring adult and having them talk to you about your next steps. That’s important.”

The alumni benefit as well. Mentoring students who share their Exeter experience is an opportunity to share real-world experiences as well as insight into their business or area of expertise. “We don’t coddle anyone,” says mentor Dennis Whittle ’79, co-founder of consulting firm Normal>Next. “They’re doing real work with real leaders in real time.”

Ultimately, for Whittle and other alumni, the mentorship opportunity was as rewarding for them as for the students. “It’s a chance to learn how to be mentors,” Rankin says, “and give back to Exeter in a meaningful way beyond financial contributions.”

A look at a few of the new internships
Follow me: Exploring clinical medicine
image for Follow me: Exploring clinical medicine

Alumni mentors share their workplace and knowledge with rising seniors

  • October 30, 2023
image for Follow me: Exploring clinical medicine
Follow me: Exploring synthetic chemistry
image for Follow me: Exploring synthetic chemistry

Alumni mentors share their workplace and knowledge with rising seniors

  • October 30, 2023
image for Follow me: Exploring synthetic chemistry
Follow me: Exploring sustainable fashion
image for Follow me: Exploring sustainable fashion

Alumni mentors share their workplace and knowledge with rising seniors

  • October 30, 2023
image for Follow me: Exploring sustainable fashion

Finis Origine Pendet: Insulting the Prince

In the world of transistors, silicon, steel, resides a set of 0s and 1s named the Prince.

Jailed by Supercell, to dash, lance, and exclaim “Ha Ha,” for millions of cursing prepubescent children, who have not yet finished their homework. It takes 14 of their worthless seconds to generate a prince.

With a clanging of steel, and a foolish overconfidence, he lands on his horse, only to be chipped away by skeletons, defenseless against minions, or kited by a skillfully placed ice golem.

His health bar drained to zero, the prince disappears in a puff of pink smoke. Doomed to reappear, and vanish, many more times until the player finally decides: the Prince is not worth 14 seconds of their time.

Such is the daily routine of the Prince.

Jailed, as we are.

Hopeful, as we are.

Gone, as we will be.

(Inspired by “Insulting the Prince,” by Martin Espada)

Tanay Nandan ’25 was awarded a 2023 Lamont Younger Poet Prize. The prize honors poems of exceptional promise written by preps and lowers at Phillips Exeter Academy as well as achievement in the early years of a student’s developing craft. 

This poem first appeared in the Fall 2023 issue of The Exeter Bulletin.

The power of discovery

CERN, the European Organization for Nuclear Research, is home to the world’s largest particle accelerator and only antimatter factory, and, for two weeks in September, eight extremely excited Exonians.

In the final months of 2022, our Myriad Magnets team — Daniel Jeon ’23, William Lu ’24, Peter Morand ’25, Achyuta Rajaram ’24, William Soh ’24, Isabella Vesely ’23, Ishaan Vohra ’24 (our team lead) and Aubrey Zhang ’23 — met regularly to develop a research proposal for CERN’s Beamline for Schools competition. Our 14-page submission presented a design for an original and modular mechanical setup to replace the high-energy-consuming electromagnets used in all accelerators.

CERN is a major consumer of electricity. A massive portion of this consumption comes from powering all the electromagnets, which bend and focus the particle beams, needed to run the massive accelerator complex.

Our proposal sought to instead use permanent magnets in special geometric formations — no electricity needed.

In July, our plan was one of three winning entries chosen from hundreds of submissions from student groups in over 60 countries. We were invited to test our proposal at the global epicenter of physics among some of the best scientists in the world.

Three-quarters of the way through our stay in Switzerland, our team trickled into our morning meeting room. Some arrived after team breakfast, others after waking up from eventful late nights of work. We started our day together in hybrid fashion with our support scientists and the other two winning teams, Pakistan’s Particular Perspective at CERN, and the Netherlands’ Wire Wizards working at DESY, Germany’s largest accelerator center. After checking in with everyone, we dived in: How is our physics going? What’s going well? What setbacks is everyone facing? Not a single day had passed without an answer to this final question. We discussed and brainstormed as one big team before setting plans for the day. With only three more days of access to the beam, we had zero time to waste.

A short time later we settled into our shifts across the CERN campus. For the rest of the day, subteams rotated to allow each team member to fully explore all parts of the experiment.

Members from the Exeter and Pakistani teams rushed to the test beam control room to check the overnight data and prepare the day’s experiments. We were lucky: Particles came through as expected, and our complex setup with numerous particle physics-specific detectors suffered from no major errors (a true rarity). The calmer aura of this morning was mildly misleading — it was a major development from the beam shifts of the days prior. Since our first day, those assigned to beam shift could expect two hours of intense problem-solving led by our support scientists. From fixing data collection and software concerns to examining mechanical components and detectors that randomly stopped working, each shift was a unique experience at the center of computer, electrical and mechanical engineering in physics.

A few buildings over, a group of students headed to a data analysis session. There we learned the ins and outs of CERN’s data analysis library, called ROOT, from CERN scientists and engineers. Some of our mentor scientists prepared physics and data analysis-specific programming exercises, often using real data from older runs, while other mentors stayed throughout the day to help debug, answer our many questions and offer new ideas to ponder. Ready to start putting our new techniques to the test, we began analyzing our own data. All of our team’s analysis sessions that day consisted of translating numbers into useful methods of understanding our magnet arrays’ effectiveness.

At Exeter, our physics club often looks to show how physics is fun in unconventional ways. CERN’s Markus Joos, our program’s technical coordinator, has perfected a similar pedagogy. In “playground” sessions, he shared his decades of experience working on some of CERN’s largest experiments. Amid CERN stories and general experiment questions and answers, we explored the inner workings of the detectors and computer systems that underlie our own and CERN’s most elaborate experiments. We worked as a team to create a cosmic muon detector, using scintillator detectors to expose the fundamental subatomic particles raining down on us from cosmic radiation.

Our time in the playground enhanced our understanding of the inner mechanisms of our experiment and even inspired new ideas — including a new magnetic mangle design and the possibility of a detector to measure the random positively charged beta particle emission of bananas (a project shaping up to become a senior project for Achyuta Rajaram and William Lu)!

Throughout the week, we attended special lectures from CERN experts. We even had the chance to meet Bathsheba Nell Crocker, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations office in Geneva, and give her a personal tour of our experiment! Taking full advantage of our location, we also toured CERN’s historic first particle accelerator from 1957 (where we realized we had studied its exact physics principles in Exeter’s advanced physics sequence!), the antimatter factory, and the extensive engineering facilities. To cap off a fully immersive experience, we explored the historic and cultural aspects of Geneva, making sure to practice our French even when trying Swiss chocolates.

As the trip ended, we wrapped up our data collection and presented our conclusions to the CERN and DESY labs. Our initial results, using our magnetic mangle in a dipole configuration, showed that a radially and rotationally adjustable magnetic mangle is indeed possible for meaningful particle deflection. In other words: Our design worked! We also confirmed that stationary arrays of magnets in the dipole Halbach configuration can deflect the beam. But after boarding the plane home, our particle physics adventure had only just begun to accelerate. From across the Atlantic, we will stay in contact with CERN, completing our data analysis and exploring the impacts our results may unlock.

This article first appeared in the Fall 2023 issue of The Exeter Bulletin.

Exeter crew medals at historic Head of the Charles

Exeter crew conquered the famed Head of the Charles Regatta in Boston over the weekend, sending three Big Red boats through the twists and turns of the Charles River. A three-day event, the Head of the Charles is the largest regatta in the world, attracting more than 11,000 athletes and thousands of spectators who line the banks with energy and fervor.

“It was terrific to see Exeter field three crews in this huge and popular event, attended by top athletes from the U.S. and abroad,” said coach Greg Spanier. “Our athletes, with a wide range of histories, rowing-wise, trained hard and showed a strong desire to improve their skills and fitness every day.”

The women’s youth 4+ boat of Jane Park ’24, Eden Fisher ’24, Athena Sperantsas ’24, Ava Cathey ’25 and Sophie Turner ’25 delivered a terrific performance, earning a medal with a third-place overall finish in a time of 19:31.934 among a field of 90 boats.

The women’s youth 8+ boat of Victoria Mabardy ’25, Evie Gaylord ’25, Sophia Slosek ’25, Nora Unger ’26, Amelia Post ’26, Chloe Bosma ’26, Bea Prairie ’25, Melissa Yuan ’24 and Kaitlyn Farkas ’26 paced the course in 19:43.965 to finish 56th overall. The men’s youth 4+ of Arian Khichadia ’25, Rohan Radhakeesoon ’24, Mason Cotter ’25, Michael Goodall ’24 and Rohit Kantamneni ’25 made it through the curvy course with a time of 18:24.442 to claim 50th place overall. 

The women’s youth 4+ boat held the lead for more than half the race and were impeded while on the water, forcing them to stop and get separated by the passing boat. The aggressive, meandering course often causes close quarters on the water, and crews who do no yield when being passed are penalized, thus forcing the Big Red boat to pause. An otherwise outstanding performance placed them on the podium. This is the third straight year an Exeter girls 4+ boat has earned a top-five finish at the Head of the Charles. The crew of Jacqueline Luque ‘22, Fisher, Jamie Reidy ‘24, Matilda Damon ‘23 and Charlotte Pulkkinen ’22 claimed second place in 2021; Gracie Keyt ‘23, Fisher, Sperantsas, Damon, and Reidy teamed up for a fifth-place finish in 2022.

“In addition to the athletes themselves, much credit for the success of our program should go to Coach Morris, Coach Moore and Coach Cathey, who have instilled such magnificent skills, spirit and expertise into this particularly successful and competitive group of five athletes,” Spanier said. “Also acknowledged should be the all other coaches in our program for their work with the supporting all of our teams on the water, whose abilities and team spirit form the foundation of the program. Also, Mr. Burnham, who in his role as Boathouse Manager, maintains our access to top-class equipment and who is always willing to make timely repairs and adjustments, often in difficult circumstances and at very short notice.”