Search this site

Ashley Manning ’19 is an accomplished squash player, and she is still only a junior. Entering Deerfield as a new sophomore last year, she quickly gained her place on the girls varsity team, earning her spot as not only a top athlete, but the number one seed. Last year, she led the team to claim the Class A New England Championships, finishing second in the #1 flight. Manning described her experience at the New England Championships: “I can’t explain how amazing that felt. It was a super close five-game match, and when I won, my entire team came running onto the court to congratulate me. Words can’t really describe the emotions I was feeling; I’ll admit I was tearing up. It was in that moment that I realized how much I loved my team and this school, and I recognized how coming to Deerfield was the best choice I ever made.” However, the athlete’s successes in squash go far beyond the Deerfield courts. Over the week of January 5, Manning traveled all the way to London to represent Team USA at the British Junior Open. A type of experience most people only dream of, she described it as “surreal,” saying, “In each match, I was wearing a USA top to show that I was representing America, and it was pretty amazing. Wearing that shirt was definitely a lot of pressure, but I recognized that I was part of a team and I was playing for our country, and that was one of the coolest feelings ever.” Manning went an impressive 5-2 in the girls U17 division, and returned to campus with an even broader understanding of the sport and battling tough competition. Although this is only her second year at Deerfield, Manning has left an impact not only on the courts, but as a leader on the team. Now as a junior co-captain, she is held in the highest regard by her teammates, and she leads through example and kindness. Griffin Dewey ’20 said, “Ashley does an amazing job offering support and encouragement to myself and the whole team. She pushes us to work harder and constantly encourages us to do our best. She is a phenomenal captain!” This season, the girls varsity squash team is undefeated at 6-0 thus far, and Manning has swept through the first seed. Many watched the nail-biting home opener, where she battled against Hotchkiss’s senior captain. After being behind, Manning showed her grit and resilience when she fought back and not only won her match, but won the day for the Big Green. Despite the pressure of performing at the number one spot, Manning said she manages it by recognizing “that there will be no easy matches, and at this age, everyone knows how to play squash, so it becomes more about strategy and who can last longer. The worst enemy of being seeded number one is letting it get to your head.” The girls have beaten their first three opponents, but they still have a long season ahead. They are a team with five new players, but Manning says, “Our team dynamic has improved so much from the beginning of the season, and everyone seems to be learning and getting better. I hope that as the season goes on we can keep up with our winning streak, continue to become stronger both as individual players and as a team, and hopefully win New England’s again this year!” Manning and the rest of the girls will continue to fight towards that goal, facing St. Paul’s at home on January 27. With Manning’s leadership and the team’s unwavering spirit, the sky is the limit.

The construction of the new athletic complex presented both the boys and girls varsity hockey teams with the challenge of adjusting to a new “home” rink at the Eaglebrook School. “It’s been a big change,” girls hockey coach Gen Pitt said. “Every practice at Eaglebrook takes about three hours of [the girls’] day.” The changing locations — the girls team practices at the Collins/Moylan Skating Arena in Greenfield as well — have kept the teams from wearing in their home rink. “It’s become our rink, but at the same time we know it’s a temporary one,” said boys hockey coach Jan Flaska. “Music, the locker room, all the things that make up a team’s aesthetic, we don’t have that.” Buying into the extra time needed for practice has been essential for success this season. “We as a team talked about it early on and how this is part of the deal this season. We didn’t want to let it be an excuse this year,” said Ms. Pitt. “The payoff is obviously worth it, but we won’t let this be a layer to our mindset, our fitness and our energy on the ice.” For girls hockey, their focus has created successful results, and they look to continue what has already been a strong start to 2018 following three consecutive wins in January, all of which they earned on their opponent’s ice. “The girls are a lot of fun,” Ms. Pitt concluded. “They take hockey seriously, and they take their school work seriously, but they still joke around and sing on the bus, and it’s fun being with them every day.” On the boys’ side of things, the Eaglebrook rink has not hindered them either. The team comes off of a 7-3 dismantling of Loomis Chaffee, and more recently a 4-2 win at home against Trinity-Pawling. One of the defining qualities of this year’s team is the upperclassmen’s outreach to younger players, facilitated by the added time together in transportation to the other rinks. When asked about his favorite aspect of the team this year, Will Holland ’20 did not hesitate: “My teammates. They’re all great guys, and I learn a lot from them,” he said. Captain Theo Lenz ’18 explains that “having to travel everywhere has definintely been somewhat of a humbling experience. Sure we don’t have a nice locker room to call home, but it’s created a culture where the team feels at home when we are all together, no matter the location.” Looking forward to the second half of the hockey season, the two varsity hockey teams continue to find success in every rink they come across.

You walk into your classroom a few minutes early and no one is there, but everyone has left their belongings, including backpacks and wallets. Do you take a small amount of money from each of your classmates, maybe just a quarter from each person? Nobody would ever notice — it’s just a quarter, after all. But of course you don’t. No one at Deerfield would even think about doing that. We don’t take what’s not ours. Yet many students at Deerfield gain an unfair advantage on graded assignments or tests by cheating. No matter how you look at it, cheating at Deerfield is widespread, whether it’s plagiarizing a foreign language translation or getting a hint from a friend about what’s on a test, whether it’s cheating on a term exam or on a seemingly meaningless pop quiz. Big or small, it’s all cheating, and it’s all pretty much the same thing as stealing quarters from your peers. It’s a pretty basic concept: Just. Don’t. Cheat. At its core, Deerfield is an academic institution. Cheating dilutes this education for every single student. Teachers base their lesson plans and tests on their assessment of how the class is doing with the material. When a teacher sees that most of the class is struggling with the material, we would hope that she or he might choose to slow down or plan extra review time. But when students cheat, they compromise this process. We are at Deerfield at least in part to get into college, and grades are a big part of that. It’s not that I agree with this unforgiving numerical approach. (That’s a topic for another opinion piece.) It’s merely a fact of life that we are all competing for the same spots at the same colleges, and grades are an important quantitative way we are assessed in relation to one another. Given the suggested median of 89 and many curved classes, your grades impact the rest of the class. Grades at Deerfield are only meaningful because they are relative to one another. And by cheating, you are raising yourself up by putting everyone else down. Cheating is not a victimless crime. Your actions hurt those around you. Over time, all together, it matters. It’s the difference between no curve and a 10-point curve in a class, the difference between cum laude and just missing the cut, maybe even the difference between an “Accept” or a “Defer” from your early decision school. When you cheat, you are stealing from your peers. It may be just a quarter at a time, but it’s still stealing. Cheating on a single assignment in a single class might not affect anyone drastically. But what gives you the right to take something that isn’t yours? You didn’t earn those points. They’re not yours to take. Let me say it again: They. Are. Not. Yours. To. Take. We all have nights when we wonder if we’re going to finish our work. We all walk into tests unsure if we’re going to pass. We all face confusing essay prompts, short stories that don’t make sense to us, math problems and science labs that seem to go in circles. As Deerfield students, we share in a common experience: we all struggle here. Every single one of us. By cheating — by taking away a bit of your struggling, by easing your workload — you circumvent the very thing that binds us as Deerfield students, the willingness to sit with confusion and sometimes even fail. You are taking the easy way out as your classmates sit studying during all hours of the day and night, as your classmates consider and debate and think — as your classmates do the hard work that is learning. Deerfield, you are better than this. If you are aware that cheating is occurring in your class, alert a faculty member. It’s easy to do the right thing. Yes, students might get in trouble. But they got themselves in trouble by cheating. You’re just the messenger. And if you’ve accidentally acquired an unfair advantage on an assignment (for example, you overhear someone discussing the answers to a test you haven’t taken yet), tell your teacher immediately. If you’re still not convinced, if my idealistic anti-cheating propaganda has fallen flat and you still think it’s worthwhile to cheat, ask yourself whether it’s really worth the risk. Is getting a few extra points on a test really worth the possibility of a zero on the assignment, a three-day suspension, and college notification? You need to look no further than the Honor Code of (insert the name of your first-choice college here) to know what colleges think about cheating. Spoiler alert: They despise it. As Dr. Hills said during our December 13 school meeting, “You are enough.” You do not need those extra points to validate your place at Deerfield. Do not risk your entire future (and the futures of those around you) for them. Perhaps you’re still not convinced. Maybe you believe everyone is cheating, so you have to as well just to be on an even playing field. But I’m not, and I want my quarters back.

Each year, a new wave of Deerfield athletes enters into all divisions of collegiate athletics. For Division I and Division II athletes, the first step in this process is the signing of the National Letter of Intent, or NLI for short. This fall, Deerfield had four student-athletes from four different sports sign early to Division I and Division II programs. On November 8, 2017, Jose Boyer ’18 signed to play lacrosse at the University of Notre Dame, Bailey Smith ’18 signed to swim at Northeastern University, and Erin Tudryn ’18 signed to play field hockey at Molloy College. Additionally, on December 20, 2017, Mike Bevino ’18 signed to play football at Colgate University. Bevino entered Deerfield this year as a postgraduate student and began his DA athletic career in the fall as a starting tight end for the football team. Bevino described his college recruiting process as a “very long and tiring process, filled with a lot of ups and downs.” According to Bevino, signing his intent to continue to play football at Colgate was “most exciting, stress relieving, blissful moment of [his] life.” He is very excited to start at Colgate in the fall, as he noted, “The campus is absolutely beautiful and I just couldn’t see myself anywhere else.” Boyer also came to Deerfield this year as a postgraduate. He verbally committed to the University of Notre Dame the summer leading into his junior year, with the understanding that he would have to do a fifth year of high school. For him, signing the NLI “really made him feel like all [his] hard work had paid off.” As a long stick midfielder, Boyer knew that he wanted the challenge that a top Division I lacrosse program like Notre Dame’s could offer him. He also noted that Notre Dame was unique to him because it “offered everything [he] was looking for academically, athletically and socially.” Smith is a four-year senior, and currently serves as captain of the varsity swimming and diving team. She describes signing the NLI as “something I dreamt of since 7th or 8th grade” so on November 8th, she “couldn’t have been happier or prouder.” After a “long and demanding” recruiting process, Smith eventually chose Northeastern because of their support system for athletes. She is excited to participate in their co-op program, where she can “follow her passions before I even graduate college.” Tudryn came to Deerfield last year as a new junior and quickly established a crucial role on all three of her varsity teams. She eventually ended up choosing Molloy because she “loved the vibe on campus and the team was so welcoming.” Tudryn described signing day as both exciting and nerve warcking. Recounting the day, she remembered that “there was a point where my hand was shaking that my signature didn’t look right!” Looking forward to the next chapter in their athletic lives, all four athletes hope to take the lessons Deerfield Athletics has taught them and continue succeeding.

Drawn by the scent of pepperoni pizza in the common room, I floated towards the towering cardboard boxes on the table for all of LM to feast upon. Finding a spot on a couch, we turned on the TV only to find live coverage of the college football championship game. Feeds are perfect times for students to relax and rewind after busy days. Given how early dinner is served, it is not surprising that feeds have become an important tradition at Deerfield. This tradition provides new students with the opportunity to find a smaller community, their dorms, within the Deerfield campus. Charlie Pink ’18 specified, “As a sophomore living on a hall with ten other boys I didn’t know well, I thought I was just going to be in my room watching Netflix. Mr. Stallings made sure this was not the case as he walked into the common room with a massive crock pot filled with his home-cooked jambalaya.” He added, “I would not have had the sense of comfort to get out of my room and interact with people if I didn’t have the excuse to go out and grab some food.” Appreciating the unity feeds brought, Jack Brown ’18 recalled his freshman year vividly: “The Washburns would host pancake feeds, and they invited the entire dormitory to eat and socialize. Their commitment to bringing the whole dorm together each week gave us an opportunity to establish a strong hall identity.” In addition to forming connections within halls, feeds can assist in fostering interactions across different classes. Athalie Bastien ’18 noted, “My sophomore year, we had a special feed with Nigel Andrews ’16 and Charlie Carpenter ’16 where we played family feud; I loved meeting upperclassmen boys.” Finally, feeds are instrumental in creating the familial atmosphere that characterizes each hall whether through humor or hall traditions. A member of the once-legendary hall @poc1isphat, whole motto was “Create aesthetics for other halls to aspire to,” Alli Norris ’18 noted one of her most memorable feed memories was during her freshman year: “My proctors bought root beer from the Greer and tubs of vanilla froyos and we recorded a video pouring the root beer into the fro-yo with ‘Take Me to Church’ playing in the background.” Also reflecting on defining moments during feeds, Soo Oh ’20 jokingly referred to one Wednesday night when she convinced Doubleday 3 that she had a dog from North Korea. Andrea Lopez ’19 reminisced about group singalongs, “My entire hall freshman year, Johnson 2, would sing ‘Ain’t No Mountain High Enough’ and ‘Lean on Me’ with Bailey Cheetham ’19 and Margaret Williams ’19 as the lead singers and ukulele players. This reaffirmed our sense of family time and time again.” Filled with lots of laughs, bonding, and food, feeds are the perfect opportunity to cultivate long lasting friendships with all of the members of the hall.

As an Asian-American, I often feel conflicted in the nationwide debate regarding race in college admissions. According to , the percentage of students at Ivy League universities that are Asian-American has been relatively unchanged since the 1990s, despite the fact that in the USA, the number of college-age Asians has doubled since then, while the college-age white population has stayed about the same. Though most universities deny the use of quotas, such statistics have led many to believe in “Asian quotas” at elite universities — hence, the Justice Department’s ongoing investigation of Harvard University for discrimination. Do I think racial quotas are fair? Absolutely not. They are in blatant contradiction with the principles of meritocracy that many of us, myself included, believe in dearly. Then, do I believe in what some have called a “purely meritocratic” admissions process, one based solely on credentials, in which race and other measures of diversity are not considered at all? No, I don’t think that is the answer either. My experience at Deerfield has taught me the value of diversity, as I have been exposed to a vast array of personal experiences while here — people of color have described the fear they feel when walking alone at night, others have recounted how Islam has inspired in them peace and compassion, and still others have explained why they supported Trump. In a diverse learning community, each student brings a wide range of such experiences, along with opinions and perspectives inspired by these experiences, to class discussions, thereby contributing to everyone’s education. Frankly, I would not want to learn in a community where everyone shares the same background and beliefs; it is hearing opinions that expand or challenge our own views that leads to self-reflection and a deeper understanding of the world. Still, we must recognize that college admissions is a zero-sum game; each college has a limited number of beds it can fill, as the ever-dwindling acceptance rates nationwide can assure us. Thus, every applicant admitted in part for diversity reasons corresponds to an applicant who is rejected but would have otherwise been admitted. For me, this is the hardest part of the debate: the desires to create diversity and to make meritocratic decisions are inherently in conflict. Issues such as socioeconomic status and historical injustices only further complicate the matter by blurring the concept of fairness itself. Is it fair to expect a student working multiple jobs after school to achieve the same test scores as one who has been tutored since childhood? And what about African Americans, who have been systematically disadvantaged by centuries of slavery, racist zoning laws, and everything in between? Admittedly, giving a boost to the disadvantaged raises more issues as well: What if we are deciding between two applicants of equal merit: a white student who has faced significant adversity and a well-to-do African American student? Where do we draw the line for “significant adversity” or “well-to-do”? And what if the applicants were differing in merit? I have no easy answers to these questions, but these questions are worth our time. While I do concede that there is a certain simplicity and perceived sense of fairness in the idea of admissions based solely on credentials, this system fails to take into account the disadvantaged and the value of diversity. I am not saying that the current admissions process is perfect by any means, as evidenced by the statistics supporting the idea of an Asian quota, but we, as a nation, cannot settle for the simple solution. We must continue to have conversations regarding inequality, historical injustices, and diversity, if we are to achieve both equitable college admissions and vibrant college communities.

During a school meeting this past fall, Dr. Curtis informed us that a faculty member’s employment had been terminated due to the violation of student-teacher “boundaries.” In the silence that ensued, several unanswered questions swirled in the tense air: What happened? Who was it? What did he do? What even are these “boundaries?” Have a teacher and I ever crossed one? Then, a few weeks later, again, we heard the same speech and received little information about a staff member who was let go. While the missing face or hallway whispers eventually made it clear to some of us, at first, all we were told was that an employee had again been terminated due to some sort of boundary violation. In response to the two cases of boundary violations in such close proximity, Dr. Curtis and the administration opened up the Caswell one night in the fall to provide an opportunity for discussion about boundaries at Deerfield. Lilley Salmon ’18, one of the seven students who attended the forum, recalled a list of “red flags” Dr. Curtis read, none of which were mentioned at school meeting. Some of these red flags included teachers texting students late at night, revealing personal information to them, or using inappropriate language in front of them. Multiple instances of these red flags could lead to termination. Salmon recounted, “[Dr. Curtis] said that firing faculty is the hardest part of her job, but sometimes it can’t be avoided.” Recently, while it went widely unnoticed, the writing of nicknames on boxes at Shipping and Receiving was deemed to fall under what now seems to be an umbrella term called a “boundary violation.” If such a seemingly small detail of Deerfield life has reason to be outlawed by the administration as a potential threat to our safety, students are left to wonder, where do we draw the line? In an effort to protect us emotionally and physically, are our relationships being compromised? Even if there is a valid reason to call nicknames a boundary violation, many students would not see it that way, and we want to learn the reasoning behind policies regarding the relationships we have with other members of our community. Although adults are typically held more accountable than students for boundary violations, students still have a role to play, as we want to both protect ourselves and ensure that we don’t put faculty or staff members in uncomfortable positions. But how can we do that when we don’t know what these “boundaries” are? We know that the school is only looking out for us and fulfilling a responsibility to keep us safe, but that responsibility should extend to informing us. If teachers have conversations at the beginning of a school year on boundaries, students should receive similar training or information. At a boarding school, our teachers are also our coaches, hall residents, advisors, and more. With this much overlap, it is inevitable that the “boundaries” in student-adult relationships will blur together. Some boundary crossing might even be what makes Deerfield the special community that it is; English Teacher Julianne Schloat mentioned that during the training that faculty received at the start of the school year, they were told that “at a boarding school, teachers will often brush up against boundaries, but [they] wouldn’t be good faculty members if [they] didn’t.” It’s the boundary violations that cause the trouble, but as students, we don’t know the difference between brushing up against boundaries and violating them. If we’re going to make Deerfield a safer environment for student-adult relationships, we have to work together, but we can’t do that until we first do a better job of educating the entire community on what boundaries are to begin with, and what they should look like at Deerfield.

Walking into the basement of the Hess Center for the Arts, one often hears the faint murmur of a harmonious piano melody, the lilting, lyrical notes of a singer, or perhaps the vibrant solo of a flutist. For the student artists at Deerfield who play a musical instrument or sing, private lessons with the music staff are available to help develop skill in various artistic pursuits. Regardless of whether students wish to pick up the cello for the first time, or continue training voice following years of instruction, anyone can sign up for weekly lessons. The incredible selection of musical offerings that students can pick from includes “all orchestra strings, woodwinds, brass, piano, voice, guitar, organ, bagpipes, drumset and percussion, as well as composition and improvisation,” according to the Music Department. Anthony Berner, a violin and viola instructor as well as a chamber music coach, started teaching at Deerfield in 2004. He brings fifty years of classical music experience to the table, having performed at Lincoln Center and the Aspen Music Festival, among other distinguished venues. He started teaching as a college student, and said, “It’s important for me to teach what I do myself as a musician so that the students can learn to teach themselves.” He added, “Musicians all have the same issues because it’s extremely difficult to play an instrument, whether you are a seasoned musician or a beginner.” He pointed out that it’s all about making the music come to life and accomplishing not just technical skill, but also delving deeper “to truly serve the music.” Music is indeed a form of expression that transcends the act of learning all the right notes and being able to execute perfect arpeggios or trills. In a deeper sense, music can be about living in the composer’s life, creating stories and feeling the embedded emotions or changes in mood should the musician choose to meet the piece halfway. The mutual act of engaging in music as the music engages in you is an idea echoed by Yu-Mei Wei, a piano instructor and chamber music coach. The winner of numerous international piano competitions and a member of two renowned chamber groups, her musical career started at just six years old. She recently joined the Academy after moving to Deerfield with her family, and started teaching students this school year. Mrs. Wei called herself lucky that piano is her passion since teaching and performing comprise the bulk of her career. She said, “I’ve definitely had my ups and downs with piano, because it can be hard being shut in a four-walled room for a long time, playing alone.” She added, “But that’s where chamber music comes in. Playing with a group of other musicians is an excellent solution to the problem of loneliness and solitude in music.” Both Mr. Berner and Mrs. Wei agree that seeing their students improve is the best part of teaching. Mrs. Wei stated, “I view my student as my equal partner. When it clicks and there is a mutual connection between me and my partner, we both know that it was a good lesson.” Mr. Berner said, “It’s definitely fun when the student has a eureka moment.” The teachers behind our private lessons passionately work to help students find their “eureka moments.” They continue to make their mark on the musical world, and with every lesson, learn more and more about what music has to offer, right alongside their protégés.

This year’s Martin Luther King Day celebration took place on Tuesday, January 16 and featured Jeff Hobbs, the author of , as the keynote speaker. To comment, Director of Inclusion and Community Life Marjorie Young stated, “The themes in the book, which include race, class, education … and the duality and difficulty that may come from having a home life and school life that are extremely different, are ones with which we believe much of our Deerfield community can relate.” Ms. Young also explained why Deerfield typically celebrates MLK Day on a Tuesday, stating, “Our decision was based on several factors, including the availability of more prominent speakers, the ability to accommodate the large number of admission candidates who visit on MLK Day, and the desire to ensure that the visitors can observe our school on a typical day.” The Martin Luther King Day Planning Committee organizes the workshops and other accompanying events each year. Office of Inclusion research assistant Abby Lupi ’18 clarified, “The Planning Committee … shares ideas among … Deerfield faculty and students who submit workshop proposals based on a yearly theme. This year’s theme is ‘the beloved community.’ ” Additionally, Ms. Young explained that the Planning Committee also worked with outside organizations this year, stating, “We were excited to welcome Michael Carter ’07 … who works for the non-profit Encampment for Citizenship, which conducts residential summer programs for ‘young people of widely diverse backgrounds and nations.’ He [facilitated] the Spoken Word Event on Monday and workshops on Tuesday.” This year’s MLK Day celebration also incorporated several changes, most notably requiring a grade-wide service component to the ninth grade schedule. Ms. Young specified, “The ninth graders [went] off campus to … work in partnership with the CSGC to expose students to the pressing issue of food insecurity. In collaboration with the Food Bank of Western Massachusetts, our ninth grade students [had] the opportunity to learn directly from non-profit organizations in the local area.” Barnes agreed, “I think that exposing the ninth graders to service and setting the tone for their Deerfield careers is so important before they go into tenth grade.” Barnes urged students not to think of MLK Day as a “day of preaching” and also stated, “MLK Day is mainly about yourself and self-care. … Buying into Dr. King’s message is a daily action.”

In the fall of 2017, History Department Chair Julia Rivellino-Lyons and History Teacher Samuel Chapin began using the iPad application “Equity Maps” in their Honors U.S. History class periods. The app serves to track the dialogue between members of a group with a special emphasis on gender equity. Equity Maps was built to serve a variety of discussion settings, such as a seminar table, lecture-style classroom, or business meeting. By tapping on each speaker, the user can record the frequency and duration of members’ comments in a discussion. Deerfield alumna and former history teaching fellow Kayla Corcoran ’09 initially introduced Equity Maps to other Deerfield Teaching Fellows, including Mr. Chapin, who then shared the app with Ms. Rivellino-Lyons. Both teachers felt compelled to incorporate the tool into their classrooms, as they have shared a deep interest in analyzing classroom dynamics for much of their teaching careers. Ms. Rivellino-Lyons and Mr. Chapin have recorded data for both a typical school day, during which the teacher and students speak in roughly equal amounts, and a graded, almost exclusively student-led discussion called a “round table.” At the conclusion of each “session,” the app offers a wide array of analytic tools to evaluate the discussion. Available features include a playback of the discussion by drawing lines to connect members in the order they spoke, as well as the number of times every student spoke and the average duration of his or her comments. Melisa Gurkan ’19 praised Equity Maps as a powerful tool for reflection and self-improvement in the classroom. “I myself am someone who talks a lot in class, so after looking at the statistics one day, I would stop myself the next time if I realized that I was talking for too long.” She also noted that this heightened self-awareness encouraged her to improve the experiences of other members in the discussion. “If I recognized that someone was trying to say something but they never got the chance to jump in, I would jump in and ask a question and gear it towards them so they could answer the question and make the point they had,” she recalled. After each discussion, the app also calculates ratios for duration and number of times spoken by gender in addition to “Equity Factors” for the same two sets of data and one “Equity Quotient.” Dave Nelson, Founder of Equity Maps, explained that the Equity Factors are found by calculating the Gini Coefficient, while the Equity Quotient is an average of those two calculations. The Gini Coefficient is an index of measuring inequality, originally used to determine income inequality in a society, which “seemed most suitable for these circumstances” to Nelson. Equity Maps offers five ratings, from “limited/exclusive” to “widely inclusive,” depending on the balance of speaking time and between boys and girls. Students in Ms. Rivellino-Lyons’s and Mr. Chapin’s classes tend to earn the “High” or “Medium” ratings. Students have drawn mixed conclusions from the statistics. “I do believe that gender equity in classroom discussions is an issue,” Colin Olson ’19 said. “[The data repeatedly suggests that] the males in our class speak more frequently and longer than their female counterparts, and I would argue that a shift in the class dynamic is a worthy goal to pursue.” However, Kishor Bharadwaj ’19 acknowledged that internal factors might compromise students’ performance: “I think the majority of students are inclusive and kind. That being said, if you choose not to speak because you are afraid of not having your opinion understood or disrespected due to some external factor such as race or gender, then that is your own prejudice. However, if students of some minority have spoken up and not had their opinion respected, that is a different issue that we need to address as a school.” Both teachers cautioned against drawing conclusions from this data, as the sample size is small. They also observed that many variables can affect the statistics, such as the discussion topic, personalities of students, or even weather and students feeling sick. “I’m not sure what [Equity Maps] says about gender roles on campus. The app only shows that there was some discrepancy in participation based on gender during the particular class periods tracked,” said Ms. Rivellino-Lyons. “Equity Maps is not a perfect instrument for assessing participation, but I do think it’s a useful tool for building a group dynamic.” Mr. Chapin expressed that the greatest strength of the app is promoting how to interact thoughtfully with the Deerfield community: “We live in a world in which structural injustice exists, and in order to fairly and honestly engage with that world, we need to be educated about the nature of those structures and how that influences us.” Ms. Rivellino-Lyons introduced Equity Maps at the weekly Chair Symposium. She and Mr. Chapin will also present at a faculty meeting focused on technology use. English Teacher Peter Nilsson, who also serves as the Director of Research, Innovation, and Outreach, highlighted the app in his weekly newsletter, “Educator’s Notebook,” to which hundreds of educators subscribe. Mr. Chapin believes this data is a natural addition to Deerfield’s efforts towards inclusion: “[The app] is a valuable conversation starter for talking about balance and equity, especially with the attention at Deerfield that I think is being rightly paid to cultural competency. We can always do better to be more aware about how much space we are taking up, especially for those who possess a certain set of identities.”

This fall, Assistant Head of School for Student Life Amie Creagh invited the student body to join in discussions on possible changes to Deerfield’s dress code, one of its oldest traditions. Ms. Creagh formed a committee of students that is currently planning to pilot several revised versions of a dress code in the spring and gauge their impact on the student body. Deerfield has debated the possibility of changing its dress code for many years. One commonly discussed aspect has been the inconsistency between boys’ and girls’ Academic Dress, the clothes students wear each school day. Head of School Margarita Curtis explained, “I have felt that there is a bit of a dichotomy here. The boys look very professional, and it’s easy — the boys’ dress code is very clear and standardized. The girls’ dress code leaves itself more open to interpretation.” In the Deerfield handbook, girls’ Academic dress code is currently described as follows: Expressing her opinion, Sophie Opler ’18, a member of the revision committe, said, “I initially became involved in the conversation…to address the ambiguity within the definition of ‘female class dress’. It is often less clear as to whether or not a female student is in class dress, in comparison to male students who can be called out in a second (i.e. their shirt is untucked, they’re not wearing a tie, etc.).” However, many do believe that the dress code as it is currently written is clear enough, yet, students are simply not following the guidelines. When the prospect of changing Academic Dress was brought up at a board meeting in late October, Dr. Curtis explained, “there was considerable concern” on the part of many on the Board of Trustees, especially considering making changes to the boys’ dress code. While there are still plans for a piloted dress code, these will mostly revolve around changes to the girls’ dress code. Permanent changes in Academic Dress are currently unlikely. “This is not a detailed analysis,” Dr. Curtis clarified. “This has not been a comprehensive conversation. It hasn’t even been brought to the whole board. They were just reacting to what they had read in the report — they want to preserve for the time being, something that feels very distinctive.” Parents and board members alike believe that Deerfield’s dress code is a special part of its identity. While some students may criticize the dress code, many also see it as a distinctive element of Deerfield that is important not only to current students, but to alumni and future students as well. “[Deerfield’s dress code] is a huge selling point on why Deerfield is special,” Ollie Hollo ’18 remarked. “Issues of institutional identity or distinctiveness are incredibly critical to our admissions and to our alumni… When you’re talking about issues of institutional identity, I think it’s very important that you keep the Board informed,” Dr. Curtis added. Another common concern has been that Deerfield’s gender-binary dress code is not inclusive of gender fluid students. Ms. Creagh and her dress code committee hope to pilot two dress codes in April, one of which will likely be gender-neutral. “We are all about making every child that comes to Deerfield feel comfortable, welcome, and appreciated.” Dr. Curtis affirmed. Dr. Curtis invited interested students to attend a Student Life Committee luncheon in April, during which board members interact and hear directly from students. Dr. Curtis explained, “They are open to hearing a wide array of students. We would like to hear from different opinion groups — those who think it should change, those who think it should stay the same, and everything in between.”

With the advent of the New Year, it’s common practice to make (only to later break) New Year’s Resolutions. Here are some resolutions that are worth keeping: Reread the Student Handbook. Give up social media for a week (or maybe just a few days) Participate in PSATs recreationally. Call your family more often. Only say “fam” to your actual family. Give a compliment once a day. Love life. Go to a club meeting that you have never been to before. Show up and be present, wherever you are. Be on time for first period. Be as beautiful as Beyonce. Sit with new people at walk-thru meals. Read outside of class. Find a balance between relaxing and working ahead in your free time. Be zen during School Meeting meditation. Check in on your goals. Be a big baller. Say hi to everyone you see as you walk past them. Sleep. Get #swolebody. Have long Dining hall dinner chats. Take shower parties to conserve water. Finally talk to that cute PG. Love yourself like Kanye loves Kanye. Buy in. Even doing one of these will help to make 2018 your year! Make sure to document these moments with #newyearsresolution and tag @thedeerfieldscroll!