If the warm voice rising above the low hum and occasional crackle of the old recording isn’t instantly recognizable, the words most certainly are. The familiar and timeless lines linger: “Two roads diverged in a yellow wood/And sorry I could not travel both.”

For decades, historical photographs and audiotapes — like the one documenting poet Robert Frost’s reading of “The Road Not Taken” on a visit to campus some 67 years ago — have remained quietly preserved in the Class of 1945 Library’s Center for Archives and Special Collections. Now a group of enterprising students are making these treasures easily accessible to a wider audience and, along the way, connecting to Exeter’s past in a most modern way.

So far, the student library proctors have uploaded eight audio files to YouTube and have featured their findings on posters displayed in a library exhibit called “Hidden Gems.” Much of the exhibit came from what Head of Archives and Special Collections Magee Lawhorn calls a “catchall collection” that she asked the students to sort and digitize. “They’re going through the boxes one by one and transferring cassettes or still images to digital,” she says.

As the student proctors sifted, certain pieces would catch an eye or an ear and be set aside for further exploration and potential inclusion in the exhibit. Among the standouts are scenes from E/A games of yore and the recordings from notable assembly speakers such as Frost and primatologist Jane Goodall. Lawhorn delights in seeing the proctors connect with Exeter’s past. “What’s great about these images,” she says, “is that our students start to see [former] students just like them, in slightly older clothes, but doing the same things they all do. Moving in, getting mail, just doing mundane things. And that’s really what it is: It’s just humanizing people from the past.”

Brenda Romero-Torres ’24 had that feeling when she uncovered a 1944 recording of the Exeter Glee Club performing “Dickey Slip Blues.” “It was my favorite discovery and brought a smile to my face,” she says. “It’s a sentiment that resonates with Exeter students to this day, having those dickey slip blues.”

Lawhorn hopes to build the collection with new finds by proctors in the coming years. “We try to make all of our exhibits something where we can keep adding to as a way to refresh them,” she says. “The process of the discovery can be super positive. When the student came across Jane Goodall’s assembly and said: ‘Oh, my gosh. I never knew she came here.’ I said: ‘Hey, I didn’t know either. We’re both learning.’”

Find audio recordings from the exhibit in a YouTube playlist here.

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

Director of Equity and Inclusion cheers the strides our community is making.

In my five years at Exeter, I have seen a tremendous amount of change. We have introduced a number of exciting new courses that prompt students to think about identity and culture, we have launched robust student leadership training programs, and so much more. I’m so grateful for all of the students and teachers who championed belonging long before the Office of Equity and Inclusion was created. Exeter isn’t the same school that it was five years ago — we are better. And five years from now, we will be even better still. As Principal Bill Rawson often says, “We don’t stay excellent by staying the same.” The through link is our mission: “To unite goodness and knowledge and inspire youth from every quarter to lead purposeful lives.”

In June 2020, Exeter announced an initiative to be an antiracist institution and shared a list of priorities. I am proud of the work that we have done to make progress toward each of these goals in the past three years. Here are a few examples of that progress:

• Next year, the Committee to Study Slavery and Its Legacy at Exeter will begin its work. In Phase I, the committee will research and write a report about the enslaved people who were connected to the Academy. The committee will also make recommendations for ways to recognize these enslaved people. In Phase II, the committee will tell the story of early Black Exonians. What are the names of some of the earliest students, teachers and trustees? How should were cognize them? I am honored to co-lead this work with Magee Lawhorn, head of archives and special collections, and I am looking forward to working with the students, staffulty (i.e. staff and faculty), alumni and local research partners who will contribute to this important project. If you have ideas for the committee, we would love to hear from you.

• In partnership with two deans of faculty and all academic department chairs, we have continued to work to increase the number of faculty of color. Our gains have been steady but modest in this area, and we continue to develop new ways to attract and support incredible teachers. It is important to note that some faculty of color have left Exeter with the skills and experiences to thrive at other schools. We are equally focused on the retention of teachers. We have established a number of affinity groups, cultural groups and interest groups. From a Lunar New Year Celebration to a half-marathon at Hampton Beach, faculty had a lot of fun over the past year making connections that were limited during the pandemic. Community is critical to the success of any residential school teacher, and we actively create opportunities for teachers to find a sense of belonging in multiple places throughout the campus and surrounding area.

• The space housing the Office of Multicultural Affairs underwent a beautiful renovation last year, and that team continues to offer many opportunities for students to make cultural connections — both to their own cultures and to learn about others’ cultures. Student clubs, heritage month celebrations, student leadership development and discussions around the Harkness table provide welcoming spaces for all students to explore, learn and grow. From the Díade los Muertos celebration to a community iftar at Instructor in English Sahar Ullah’s house, Exonians can immerse themselves in the rich cultural diversity of our school. The Core Values Project (CVP): Conversations about Anti-Oppression, Community Values, and Justice will be entering its third year as a curricular requirement and has become crucial to how students, faculty and staff put our institutional values into practice. The CVP program was not originally included in the June 2020 letter, but has been instrumental to how Exeter tangibly demonstrates our commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion. Anyone can submit a CVP idea, and students in all grades have the opportunity to be part of the discussion.

This year, there were over 70 CVP groups and major themes included: athletes supporting equity and inclusion, wellness initiatives, cultural exploration, and courageous conversations across differences. Next year, I look forward to providing more space within CVP for students to train curiosity, share perspectives and practice intellectual humility. I think we need more meaningful conversations across differences in our world, and I am so grateful to be part of a community that values them. This year I’ve also gotten the opportunity to connect with alumni and parents who have generously shared with me and each other their experiences at Exeter. Whether connecting with folks in the Identity+Affinity Alumni Group meetings on Zoom this winter, sharing an update on DEI work with the Exeter Association of Greater New York at the annual luncheon, or traveling to Texas to meet with Exeter alumni this spring, I have thoroughly enjoyed every conversation and connection I have made. I am particularly excited about working with the team planning the campus’s 55th anniversary celebration for the Afro-Latinx Exonian Society, scheduled for October 28-29. The program will include a panel discussion, a mentoring event, a celebration dinner and a brunch with students. All alumni are invited to take part in the celebration.

Our commitment to belonging is palpable throughout the campus. From our classes and departments, to dorms and teams, and even the ways we communicate with each other — we are committed to cultivating an environment where everyone can thrive and where everyone feels that they belong.

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

Inside PEA Puzzle Hunt 2023.

It’s 6:30 on a Friday night in May. Classes are finished for the week, the dining hall is open, and the night is young. I, however, am not at Elm. I’m guiding people through the Academy Building basement to Mayer Auditorium, where about 50 students and a few teachers are gathered in anticipation: PEA Puzzle Hunt 2023 is about to begin. For the rest of the weekend, the Academy Building will be ours.

PEA Puzzle Hunt is a student-run puzzle-solving competition founded in 2016 by Vinjai Vale ’18, Richard Chen ’17 and Matthew Hambacher ’17. Teams of three to 10 Academy students, alumni and faculty race to solve the puzzles before the weekend ends. The Hunt is divided into four or five Meta sections, each containing roughly five visual, word, or logic puzzles, or a combination, riddled with references from pop culture and Exonian culture. Within a Meta, puzzle answers are used to solve the section’s Meta Puzzle. Then the answers to the Meta Puzzles are used to solve the final, most difficult puzzle of the Hunt, the Meta Meta.

As Hunt co-director, I explain all of this to the assembled teams with the help of my co-director, Liam Brown ’23. Next, we go over the rules (please follow the E Book) and explain how to use our website to submit answers and request hints from Puzzle Hunt HQ. Finally, we introduce the plot of this year’s hunt by playing a video from our “favorite YouTuber” (Sav Bartkovich ’23), who is trapped inside a “magical TV.” It’s up to our teams to solve the puzzles within each channel and help him escape. There’s no time to waste!

As the teams rush to their assigned Academy Building classrooms, HQ members hurry to Room 103 to set up. I plug in my laptop and open our shared HQ drive folder. Other members of HQ quickly follow suit and soon we have three computers open to monitor our teams’ progress, answer submissions and hint requests.

By 8:30 p.m., HQ is spread thin. The other six members of HQ are giving hint requests in various classrooms, so I am monitoring answer submissions solo in HQ. For each submission, I call to inform the team whether the answer is correct. Confirming a correct answer often results in a delightfully deafening cheer from the team.

When we close HQ at 9:55 p.m., student teams lamfam and The Riddlers, and alumni team NAT1, have each solved more than half of Meta 1, while team Sticker Herd (a combination of last year’s Sticker Factory and NerdHerd) has started Meta 2. Their night may be over, but HQ always has puzzles to fine-tune. Back in my dorm, I spend the next two hours test-solving our remaining puzzles before calling it a night and heading to bed.

I wake up early on Saturday to unlock the Academy Building with Campus Safety at 8 a.m., but a few other members of HQ beat me to it. A couple of teams arrive minutes after we open, armed with breakfast bagels and new ideas. It might seem early for a weekend, but the Hunt scratches the creative problem-solving itch in every Exonian’s brain. Sure, finding a puzzle answer is fun, but the process of solving that puzzle is even more rewarding. At its core, the Hunt encourages us not only to think outside the box, but also to ask what would happen if we folded the box into an origami crane.

After setting up the HQ computers again, I dispatch myself to answer a hint request. I’m welcomed into the team’s classroom, stocked with Pringles and graph paper. While one member of the team has been deciphering Hitomezashi stitch patterns, the other two have been collaborating on one of the puzzles I wrote. I ask them to walk me through their progress, only to discover that they’re only a few steps from the answer! One of them asks me what the next step is. My clueless expression is clearly fake.

Inaugural music composition competition brings student-created music to center stage.

The last rays of twilight filtered through the windows of the Forrestal-Bowld Music Center as Polly Vaillant ’23 stepped to the microphone, guitar in hand, and told a brief story about developing the ballad “A Ten and Two Pennies.” It’s based on an interaction she had while working in a local coffee shop as well as a reflection on being a senior and preparing herself for new adventures. The audience of students, parents, faculty and others listened appreciatively as she sang her thoughtful, hopeful and funny song.

Vaillant is one of nine students whose songs were presented or performed in May during the “concert of finalists,” the culminating event in the Pittman Family Student Composition Competition — a new initiative focused on original works written by Exonians.

Vaillant’s witty take on her present and future struck a chord with the competition judges. She won the songwriting category and the overall competition. Albert Lu ’26 and Vi Matheos ’24 received honor-able mentions: Lu for “A Turbulent Festival,” a notated score; and Matheos for “Or Not To,” a vibrant electronic and vocal composition. Vaillant’s prize was an online course at Berklee College of Music. Lu and Matheos received credit toward private lessons with an Academy music teacher of their choice.

Competition organizer Eric Schultz, Exeter’s director of electronic and emerging music and the evening’s host, is quick to point out that all of the students “won” by participating. He is thrilled that 20 students entered 25 pieces of music, numbers far exceeding his expectations.

Two instructors with more than a half-century of combined service to Exeter and its community retired at the end of the academic year.

Alison Hobbie

Harlan M. Ellis Distinguished Professor, Vira I. Heinz Professor and Instructor in science

Hobbie, who earned her B.A. in both chemistry and women’s studies at Wellesley College and completed her M.S. in environmental science at the University of Virginia, joined the Exeter faculty in 2001. During her tenure, she contributed positively to all aspects of student life.

She coached volleyball and crew, served as a dorm head in Langdell Hall, participated on the Curriculum Committee, the Agenda Committee, the Health and Wellness Council, and as chair in the Department of Science. She also served as adviser to the Class of 2015, the Women in Science  and Engineering Club, the Chemistry Club, the Genetic Journal Club, the Science Olympiad Association and Exeter Investigation Society.

Hobbie has received numerous teaching awards, including the Brown Family Faculty Award; the Alfred H. Hayes, Class of 1925, and Jean M. Hayes Teaching Chair in Science; the Harlan M. Ellis Distinguished Professor; and the Vira I. Heinz Professorship. Hobbie was recognized by Stanford University for exceptional teaching, and in 2011, 2015 and 2021 she was named as “most influential teacher” by former students attending MIT.

Science Instructor Sydnee Goddard shared her appreciation of Hobbie in the 2023 PEAN: “Self-effacing, positive, articulate, compassionate, gracious, giving, hard-working, organized, open-minded, bright and curious are some of the words that epitomize Mrs. Hobbie. These traits have made her an effective Harkness instructor, community leader and lifelong learner. … She sees her life’s work as a ‘service’ to others.”

Honoring Hobbie during faculty meeting, Dean of Faculty Eimer Page said: “Alison, you have worked over the course of your career to inspire, encourage and guide the students in your care, and in so doing you have inspired, encouraged and guided those colleagues who were fortunate enough to work alongside you. We are deeply grateful for all that you have given to Exeter, and we are glad to have known you as our colleague and friend.”

 

Rob Morris

Health Education Instructor

Morris received a B.S. in health education from Springfield College and joined the Academy’s young and growing Health Education Department in 1992, helping shape its development during his career. Having completed a postgraduate year at Tilton Academy, Morris was deeply invested in the concept of residential education, and it is no surprise that his influence was felt beyond the athletic fields and across the academic, residential, club and committee areas of the school. During his tenure he was honored with the Brown Award and a Radford Award.

Morris and his family first lived in Webster Hall, where Morris served as the dorm head of Webster North. He later served as dorm head in Wentworth from 1999 to 2006 and as a dorm affiliate in Moulton House from 2009 to 2023. He was a steady presence in the lives of the students, and their trust in him in the dormitory spaces extended to his work developing the Academy Student Assistance Program.

During his nine-year tenure as athletic director, Morris worked tirelessly to help coaches develop through a combi-nation of positive feedback and professional development. His commitment to teaching the game and to the development of each player was foundational to his approach as both the junior varsity and varsity head football coach. He was also a vital member of the principal’s staff, the Catholic Exonians, the Health and Wellness Council, the Orientation Program Committee and the Athletic Policy Committee, among other groups.

Morris’ leadership among his colleagues and advising relationships with students are testimonies to his emphasis on character education, developing strong and supportive teams, and doing the work that needs to be done without fanfare. One colleague shared: “Rob has been the moral compass of the department, extremely dependable and could be counted on to tell you how he truly feels. … Rob kept the students’ best interest in mind when designing courses and updating curriculum; he was and always will be care before content — Maslow before Bloom.”  

This story was first published in the Summer 2023 issue of The Exeter Bulletin.

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

1953—Luigi Einaudi. Learning Diplomacy: An Oral History. (Xlibris, 2023)

1959—Don Burnes, with Kevin F. Adler. When We Walk By: Forgotten Humanity, Broken Systems, and the Role We Can Each Play in Ending Homelessness in America. (North Atlantic Books, 2023)

1962—George Berger. Chasing Justice: A Legal Thriller. (Acorn Publishing, 2022)

1965—Ridge Kennedy. The Rules: Money Management for the 21st Century. (Self-published, 2022)

1966—Tom Archer, editor. Obstetric Anesthesia: A Case-Based and Visual Approach. (Springer, 2020)

1970—Andrew Laszlo. Footnote to History: From Hungary to America, The Memoir of a Holocaust Survivor. (Outskirts Press, 2023)

1981—Claudia Putnam. “Firebirds” and “5 Earthquake,” poems. (Good River Review, Issue 5, spring 2023)

1983—Doug Mayer. The Race That Changed Running: The Inside Story of UTMB. (Helvetiq, 2023)

1984—Scott Schang, coeditor. Governing for Sustainability. (Environmental Law Institute, 2023)

1987—Katherine Dauge-Roth, co-editor. Stigma: Marks on Skin in the Early Modern World. (Pennsylvania State University Press, 2023)

1989—Jason Fulman, with Persi Diaconis. The Mathematics of Shuffling Cards. (American Mathematical Society, 2023)

1991—Dorn Cox, with Courtney White. The Great Regeneration:  Ecological Agriculture, Open-Source Technology, and a Radical Vision of Hope. (Chelsea Green Publishing, 2023)

1993—Aomawa Shields. Life on Other Planets: A Memoir of Finding My Place in the Universe. (Viking Books, 2023)

1994—Debby Herbenick. Yes, Your Kid: What Parents Need to Know About Today’s Teens and Sex. (BenBella Books, 2023)

1996—Eirene Donohue, writer. A Tourist’s Guide to Love, movie. (Netflix, 2023)

2007—Kelly Hoffer. Undershore: Poems. (Lightscatter Press, 2023)

FACULTY

Matt W. Miller. “Plodding Through,” poem. (Rhino Poetry, 2023)

—“An Act of the Mind,” poem. (Five Points: A Journal of Literature & Art, 2023)

—“Graduated,” poem. (Narrative, 2023)

The bonds between teachers, coaches and classmates span the decades.

Strike up a conversation with Exeter alumni about their time at the  Academy, and they’ll most likely tell you about at least one person who made their experience truly meaningful. It could be the teacher who sparked their lifelong passion for ornithology, Arabic or economics, or the adviser who helped them get their grades back on track. Maybe it was a roommate, dorm proctor or classmate with whom they bonded over late-night pizzas and study sessions. Or the coach who saw their potential and drew out their best performances on the field, court, river or rink.

Exeter is a place where lifelong relationships are forged and nurtured; where teachers become mentors, colleagues and friends; where alumni from different generations find common ground; and where the formative experiences of four years — or even a single year — can be recalled as easily as if they happened yesterday.

This summer, we celebrate the enduring power and positive impact of  these connections made at Exeter and sustained through geographical separation, busy lives and careers and the passage of time.

Did you form a lasting connection with someone through Exeter? Tell us about it! Share your story at bulletin@exeter.edu.

Sarah Odell ’06 and Becky Moore, instructor in English and crew coach

Sarah Odell ’06 first met Becky Moore ’77 (Hon.); P’03, P’05, P’08 when Sarah joined the junior varsity crew team her lower year. As Odell embarked on her own teaching career, Moore became a valued mentor, offering advice and support for her work in the classroom. Now the director of the Center for Gender and Ethical Leadership in Society at The Hewitt School in New York City, Odell counts Moore as a trusted colleague and an inspiration for her research in gender studies and educational leadership.

ODELL: Initially, I was intimidated by [coach Moore]. It was clear she was incredibly smart, loved teaching and loved getting up early to speak through her bullhorn on the river. As I got to know her better, I realized we were similar in a lot of ways. We’re both direct, we both love the life of the mind, and we see teaching as an intellectual pursuit. I came to the Exeter Humanities Institute when I started teaching in 2013, and she was one of my instructors. I used to call her when I was teaching English, and she always had a deeply thought-out answer that showed her abiding passion for what she does as a teacher.

When I did my doctorate in educational leadership at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, I spoke to Becky constantly about what I was reading and thinking about. I study the K-12 leadership pipeline and how gender impacts individuals as they navigate it. I think of how many other women like her may be out there who weren’t given an opportunity to steward our schools and our profession. She sustains my research by keeping me going — just as she did once upon a time as a crew coach.

MOORE: Sarah invited me to work with the English Department at Miss Porter’s School when she was teaching there. It was the sort of invitation that Sarah is so good at — getting people to come together and talk about education, gender and leadership. I visited Sarah’s classes and gave her some observations about the ways I saw her and the students using discussion. She often cites that class visit as a pivotal part of her growth as a teacher and an observer of teachers.

Sarah has been a cheerleader of my career, suggesting me for leadership positions and, in turn, I have recommended her for jobs, workshops and general connections. To mark the 50th year of coeducation at Exeter in 2020-21, we teamed up with Alex Myers ’96 to create a collection of readings and speakers. I remember enjoying planning meetings — in the pit of the pandemic — with Sarah thinking of scholars and readings from her capacious graduate work. To have a former student work to keep up the connection and invite conversation and collaboration has helped switch our initial power imbalance of student and teacher to mentee and mentor, and later to colleague and colleague.

James Johnson-Piett ’97 and Sunil Narayan ’97

When James Johnson-Piett ’97 was looking to expand his team at Urbane, the economic development consultancy he founded in 2008, he called on his longtime friend Sunil Narayan ’97, whom he met when both were preps living on the fourth floor of Cilley Hall. Drawing on decades of shared history and mutual trust, Johnson-Piett and Narayan, now Urbane’s national strategy lead, have joined forces to channel the spirit of non sibi into the company’s work fostering business and community development in historically  disinvested communities.

JOHNSON-PIETT: Sunil dressed kind of like me — think Fresh Prince 1993 — so it was a natural connection point around hip-hop/urban fashion that was an initial bond [at Exeter]. Every so often, kids would order pizza or a chicken finger sub from Romeo’s after check-in to share. It was always awkward to pretend I didn’t want any or I wasn’t a starving 15-year-old at 10 p.m. I think Sunil picked up on it and just started covering me, no questions asked. A dollar investment forged a brotherhood over a slice.

After college, I had many career and entrepreneurial twists and turns. I was a one-man show at Urbane for a little while, but eventually work started flowing and I needed help. Sunil had an interesting mix of skills between corporate HR, teaching high schoolers, and leveraging his math major [to do quantitative analysis]. Most importantly, I knew him, and I trusted him. He’ll always push to make sure strategy is sound and that we’re not getting ahead of our skis, so to speak.

NARAYAN: I felt adrift the first few months at Exeter — a bizarro world of L.L. Bean and J.Crew and New England-isms that was completely foreign to the child of immigrant South Indians from small-town West Virginia. Maybe James sensed how lost and alone I was, or admired my Adidas track suit game, but suddenly he was my friend, and by proxy, his circle of friends and then the entire Afro-Latino Exonian Society. A simple act of kindness from a 13-year-old kid from North Philly changed the trajectory of my life. We roomed together during the Washington Intern Program as seniors and again as summer interns during college. We zipped around on Chinatown buses to hang out and James even humored my transition to a pierced, platinum blond D.C. raver and N.Y.C. party boy.

When he reached out to explain his vision [for Urbane] and inquire if I had an interest in linking up, it was a no-brainer. Balancing a longstanding friendship with the fact that he’s my boss can be a delicate dance at times, but it has been a net positive. We remind each other to eat when we’re cranky, get geeked out with Harkness-y style conversations around community wealth building, and indulge each other’s esoteric tangents. Not many people get the chance to work with someone they’ve known and grown with since they were 13.

Caitlin Corner-Dolloff ’03 and Chris Matlack, instructor in science 

After taking accelerated biology with Chris Matlack her prep year, Caitlin Corner-Dolloff ’03 was so impressed with his humor and hands-on teaching style that she asked him to be her adviser. Matlack’s support buoyed her through Exeter and beyond, while his ability to engage and inspire in the classroom helped launch her on a career path in ecology and environmental change management. During her senior year at Cornell, she won a Merrill Presidential Scholarship that allowed her to invite her most influential high school teacher to campus for the ceremony. Corner-Dolloff immediately thought of Matlack. Today, she is senior policy adviser for climate and agriculture in USAID’s Bureau for Resilience and Food Security.

CORNER-DOLLOFF: During prep bio, we had to set up an experiment with a partner, and while our proposal required complex supplies and monitoring, [Mr. Matlack] didn’t hesitate to make sure we had everything we needed. It’s so vivid in my mind — the memory of feeling for the first time at Exeter that I had a teacher completely in my corner, wanting me to succeed and encouraging me to explore and follow my own areas of interest.

Like everyone at Exeter, I held myself to super-high standards. He helped me remember to find balance and focus on my own path toward what I wanted to achieve. I was thankful, but not surprised, when he supported my decision to defer college a year and engage in experiential learning in New Zealand and work as a naturalist aboard a tall ship in Seattle. He truly believed I had it in me to accomplish my goals and reach beyond them, and that confidence helped me in proposing an independent major at Cornell. Chris remains an important mentor, and I feel I owe much of my success and interest in biology and natural resources to him.

MATLACK: Caitlin was a very good student who prepared extremely thorough answers to every question I asked, whether it was on the homework or an assessment. She had no middle ground: If her name was going on the paper, her best work was as well. After her lower year, she joined my advisee group, which at the time was made up of all boys. It quickly grew to a mixed group, and Caitlin was an integral member for the remainder of her time at Exeter.

During the event at Cornell, Caitlin was able to tour me through her favorite areas, including the school’s ornithology labs at Sapsucker Woods. This was the only time I attended an event for a former student like this at a college, and I was very honored that she selected me. Caitlin always contacts me when she visits campus and periodically sends long emails about her current work. I’ve enjoyed following her varied international career and always look forward to hearing from her.

Gordon Smith ’74 and Paul Outlaw ’74

As teenagers, Gordon Smith ’74 and Paul Outlaw ’74 bonded while listening to records by “prog rock” bands and hanging out in the basement of their dorm, Webster North. These late-night conversations set the foundation for more than 50 years of friendship, strengthened by a mutual passion for music and a shared experience of embracing their LGBTQ+ identity post-Exeter.

SMITH: Anyone who’s lived long enough knows how important it is to have great friends who “knew you then.” Paul and I started hanging out in the Webster North butt room, and our little group grew to include some girls from one of the new girls dorms. We eventually started dating those girls. I knew from experience that it would be impossible to be gay at Exeter, so I suppressed it and tried being “normal,” not knowing that Paul was doing the same.

In 1978, I moved to the New York City area. I had just come out as gay, and when I told [another friend from Exeter] this, he said that Paul was gay and living in N.Y.C. I happily reconnected with Paul, and he introduced me to my first gay bar in Manhattan, the Ninth Circle. I attribute my love of Stevie Wonder and Prince to Paul. We have so many interests in common: Aside from his acting, he wrote and recorded some very original songs with electronic instrumentation, my own specialty. Paul and I attended each other’s weddings to our long-term partners and have continued to play an important role in each other’s lives. He’s probably the most relentlessly positive person I’ve ever known, [and] he always manages to pull me out of myself with his incredible enthusiasm and creative drive.

OUTLAW: I remember Gordon from my prep year as a shy, quiet person who was academically and artistically gifted. I may have found out that year that he and I shared an appreciation (putting it mildly) for the music of the Supremes and Elton John — code for queerness that neither of us consciously understood at the time. Before I left Harvard in the summer of 1976 to transfer to N.Y.U., I remember a long-haired, bespectacled Gordon Smith visiting me and disco dancing to Donna Summer with my friends at dorm parties.

Living in New York City in the early 1980s, I became an unofficial groupie of Gordon’s two bands, and Gordon came to see me perform in downtown theater productions. During a decade living in Berlin, my performing arts practice expanded to include music, as a frontman and lyricist in various bands and a singer-songwriter of my own material. I can’t help but think that I was influenced in some way by Gordon’s commitment to his music and our shared love of the electronic music of the ’70s and ’80s. Gordon’s serenity and undiminished youthfulness have been an inspiration to me throughout our friendship.

Mike McCarthy ’95 and Rob Morris, instructor in health and human development and football coach

When Mike McCarthy ’95 and Rob Morris showed up for preseason football in August 1992, they were both new to Exeter. Over many hours spent together on the field and in Webster North over the next three years, they developed a connection that would endure past McCarthy’s graduation, evolving from a relationship between a coach and an athlete to that of close friends. McCarthy returns to campus regularly to visit Morris and his family and says he thinks of Morris as a second father.

MCCARTHY: Coach’s whole idea was: When you see somebody on the paths walking between dorms, you always say hello, you always nod, you always smile, you say good morning. He was all about being respectful to everybody, even the people you didn’t know. His point was: Don’t just be a typical jock. Be way more than that.

He and I love the same music. He’s a diehard Jimmy Buffett and Bruce Springsteen fan, and those are two of my favorites. We would sit in the dorm and he would play records and we would just talk about life. Exeter was a wonderful experience for me in general, but he certainly enhanced it, that’s for sure.

Rob and his wife, Cindy, have been super close to me from the minute I got to know them, from me babysitting their kids when they would go to Jimmy Buffett concerts to Rob coming up to Vermont and watching me play polo or come to football matches when he could. I’ve visited him and the family at least two or three times a year, and last year he came down and visited me for five or six days in South Carolina, which was great.

MORRIS: When I met Mike, I was a 25-year-old, first-year, part-time health teacher and football coach. At the conclusion of preseason, when the football players moved into their permanent dorms, Mike moved into Webster North, where I had recently moved with my wife, Cindy. In addition to coaching Mike over the next three years, he was also my advisee. I became dorm head in my second year, and Mike served as one of my proctors during his senior year. We navigated together the usual ups and downs of boarding school life. Many days felt like a TV sitcom, with most episodes entitled: “What have you gotten yourself into this time, Mike?”

We kept in touch during Mike’s college years, and we talked often about our respective football seasons. One of my greatest memories as head football coach at Exeter is having Mike return each preseason as a volunteer coach on my staff. We’ve leaned on each other more than a few times over the years when facing life challenges, and he’s one of my closest friends. Thirty years later, he still has the same qualities he had when he was a new lower: outgoing, friendly and an intense competitor on the field, as well as a strong work ethic, curiosity, kindness and a great sense of humor.

Editor’s note: This article first appeared in the summer 2023 issue of The Exeter Bulletin.

Four Exeter alumni with a history of giving back to the Academy have joined the ranks of the institution’s Trustees, beginning a five-year term July 1.

Bradford “Brad” Briner ’95; P’25

Chapel Hill, North Carolina, and New York, New York

Brad Briner entered Exeter as a prep from Dallas, Texas, and lived in Wentworth Hall. He participated in football, winter and spring track, and Student Council, and served as a dorm proctor and volunteer guide. He holds a B.A. in economics from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (Morehead Scholar) and an MBA from Harvard Business School. Brad is a co-chief investment officer of Willett Advisors L.L.C., which manages the philanthropic assets of Michael Bloomberg. He previously was a co-founder of Morgan Creek Capital Management and worked for the University of North Carolina’s endowment. Brad is an associate member of Exeter’s Investment Committee. Additionally, he serves on the board of directors for Boston Omaha Corporation and is a member of the Debt Affordability Advisory Committee for the State of North Carolina.

 

Christine M. Robson Weaver ’99

San Jose, California

Christine Robson Weaver entered Exeter as a prep in Bancroft Hall, where she helped get the first Exeter students onto the internet and email. During her tenure, she was coxswain for the crew team, head photographer for PEAN, and was involved in the math, science and computer clubs. She also participated in the Japan Abroad Program and was a dorm proctor. Christine received degrees in mathematics, electrical engineering and computer science from MIT, and a Ph.D. in computer science from the University of California, Berkeley, while working at IBM Research on artificial intelligence and related fields. In 2012, she joined Google Research to lead product management for machine learning. She is currently head of product for Google Search Quality. Christine has served as class secretary for 20 years and is a member of the Women’s Leadership Circle.

 

Leroy Sims ’97

San Mateo, California

Leroy Sims entered Exeter as an upper from the Providence St. Mel School in Chicago. He lived in Ewald South, was a dorm proctor and participated in the Afro-Latinx Exonian Society, student listeners, WPEA, basketball, and spring track and field. He holds a B.S. and an M.Sc. in biological sciences from Stanford University and an M.D. from Stanford University School of Medicine. He is board-certified in emergency medicine and primary care sports medicine. He is senior vice president and head of medical operations for the National Basketball Association. In 2020, Leroy was heavily involved in the creation and execution of the stringent COVID-19 medical protocols the NBA implemented in 2020 during the restart of its season at Walt Disney World Resort, also known as the NBA Bubble. Leroy was a team physician for USA Basketball at the 2020 Summer Olympic Games in Tokyo, team physician for the U.S. track and field team at the 2016 Summer Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, and medical director and team physician for the NBA’s Golden State Warriors. He has served on the board of trustees for the Boys and Girls Clubs of America.

Belinda A. Tate ’90

Kalamazoo, Michigan

Belinda Tate lived in Merrill Hall and was president of the Afro-Exonian Society, a dorm proctor and founder of the Diversity Council. She also participated in Exeter’s Community Support Group, gospel choir and spring track. She earned a B.A. in art history from Yale University and an M.A. in liberal studies from Wake Forest University. Belinda currently serves as the executive director of the Kalamazoo Institute of Arts, home to the Kirk Newman Art School and one of the leading museums in the Midwest. For more than 15 years, she was the director of Diggs Gallery at Winston-Salem State University, one of North Carolina’s largest exhibition spaces dedicated to the art of Africa and the African diaspora. Additionally, she was appointed an at-large commissioner of African American heritage for the state of North Carolina. Belinda is a member of the board of trustees of the American Federation of Arts and a former board member of the Reynold a House Museum of American Art in Winston-Salem and the Association of Art Museum Directors