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SENIORS Paper Doll — John Mayer Recommended by Lily Oliver Gallows — Townies Recommended by Josh Freedman J UNIORS Another Sad Love Song — Khalid Recommended by Lucy Linnenbach Otis (feat. Otis Redding) — JAY-Z & Kanye West Recommended by Nate Ugwonali SOPHOMORES Shake the Frost — Tyler Childers Recommended by Yewon Kim Flake — Jack Johnson Recommended by PJ Pirsch FRESHMEN California Dreamin’ — The Mamas & the Papas Recommended by Emilia Perez Save Me — Sam Barber Recommended by Nic DeSano

The long-awaited outdoor rink finally opened this week, and Deerfield’s quad has turned into a stage where new students learn many things: how to fall without losing aura, how to pretend slipping was part of skating, and how to spray snow in the direction of their crush without impressing them at all. As the fall term concluded and the winter term began, the rink looked amazing, surrounded by lights and snow. But as the rink stayed open, there was plenty to see. There was a freshman trying out (what I think was) a trick for the first time and ended up inventing an Olympic-worthy move that involves skating, falling, and then somehow not hitting the ice. A couple of days later, I witnessed a romance comedy unfolding. There was a brave skater going out with their huzz, trying to perform a cool trick with them, only for him to fall and slam onto the ice. His date, on the other hand, glided on the ice... poor guy. The hype isn’t limited to casual skaters. The JV hockey and recreational hockey teams have begun using the rink for what I think are supposed to be practice drills: lots of falling, dramatic saves, and acting worthy of an Oscar. Safety-wise, there were a couple of issues. Some skaters had the confidence but not the skills. Skates weren’t always tied properly, and I personally saw more heads than helmets. While no one seemed to leave the rink with a permanent injury, seeing a sophomore face-planting into the ground (and standing up trying to look uninjured) made it clear: organizational tweaks could help. The rink’s diversity is the main attraction. It has become a site for bonding, flirting, and trying out a new sport. Groups of friends, especially those with nothing to do on weekends, group up in corners talking about skating hacks, near-death experiences, and (of course) their grades. The rink has become both literally and figuratively an icebreaker. If you haven’t made it to the rink yet, go. Bring a friend and a willingness to laugh at yourself, before your friends do. The outdoor rink has already reminded Deerfield how much we value these small, shared traditions and communal spaces. Whether you leave the ice with either an unscathed or broken body, you’ll have a memory that’ll be the talk of your friend group for around four days. And honestly, that’s why we keep coming back.

Albert Yuk/Deerfield Scroll On Friday, December 13, the Deerfield Academy Music Program performed The Winter Concert. The concert’s goal was to provide joy for the whole community during the winter. The concert featured a large collaboration between the orchestra and chorus. Choral Director Michael Pfitzer cited the biggest challenge to the concert as “fitting everyone on stage.” He noted that this was a good problem to have because it indicated that “all programs are growing and the stage is getting too small.” The small stage in the Elizabeth Wachsman Concert Hall is conducive to the atmosphere of collaboration as Dr. Pfitzer noted that “even though you’re crammed in, everybody was really happy to participate together.” Additionally, the two programs did not have much time to practice together because of limited rehearsal time. Dr. Pfitzer said the orchestra and chorus only held “three [joint] rehearsals together, where chorus would come down for the second half, so in total it was about two and a half hours [of rehearsal] for an eight minute piece.” However, staff mainly used these two and a half hours for troubleshooting tech problems and spacing. Deerfield singers performed ‘Carol of the Bells’, a traditional Christmas carol by Ukrainian Composer Mykola Leontovych. Audience member Julia Horobets ’26 said about the piece, “It was a pleasure to hear Deerfield musicians perform a song that is so impactful to me because it was written by a composer from my home country.” To present a concert which achieved Dr. Pfitzer’s goal of “engaging our community in things that are fun and enjoyable,” the music program decided to continue the Frozen theme from last year. The music came from a Frozen 2 medley found online. Dr. Pfitzer explained the challenge of finding a medley “which is the right level for everyone.” Additionally, the music program decided to “add the ‘Lost in the Woods’ piece because it wasn’t in the medley but [it] was something [that the] musicians wanted to perform.” Jessica Wu ’27 particularly enjoyed the medley and the theatrical introduction to the piece. She said, “It was really interesting, especially when they had the Elsa scene; all the kids were laughing. During the medley, lots of the faculty kids were singing along, which I thought was really fun.” In conclusion, said what he enjoyed the most about the Winter Concert is how “it isn’t just for musicians…but something accessible and fun, especially during the winter.”

Tucker Gongaware ’26 Q: What is your go-to order from the Koch Cafe? A: Everything sausage and an iced coffee. Q: What is the best spot for locking in on-campus? A: Best spot to lock in is wherever people is not. I thinik that speaks to the happy and social community at Deerfield. Like, if youre trying to study with people, you will start a conversation, get completely distracted in the best way, and get no work done. Q: What is your favorite thing about Deerfield? A: How freedom manifests in nature. For example, bike rides, cliffs, messing around by the river, et cetera. I think that makes relationships more genuine and provides for connection that is unique among boarding schools. Q: What tradition do you hope lasts forever? A: I want to continue to buy in. Throughout my time here, there is a pressure to be present and active in the community that people refer to jokingly as buying in. But I think it’s a real force of connectivity and spirit. Tucker Sichol ’27 Q: What is your go-to order from the Koch Cafe? A: Everything bagel with sausage and an iced coffee. Q: What is the best spot for locking in on-campus? A: The Caswell. Q: What is your favorite thing about Deerfield? A: The community. Q: What tradition do you hope lasts forever? A: Shriv. Iris Zhu ’28 Q: What is your go-to order from the Koch Cafe? A: During community time, I like to grab a dirty iced chai to sip as I study. When the weather is cold, I always go for a cinabon to warm myself up in the Fall and Winter. Q: What is the best spot for locking in on-campus? A: On Sundays, I like to do homework in the Greer. I find the library to be too quiet at times, and my room is too distracting, so the Greer is the perfect spot to lock in. I also like how I am able to get a snack from the Greer as I study. Q: What is your favorite thing about Deerfield? A: My favorite thing at Deerfield are the weekends because that’s when the campus is busy with athletic competitions, dances, and activities to do with all your friends. Q: What tradition do you hope lasts forever? A: I love getting up in the dining hall to celebrate and sing Happy Birthday to my friends and peers on their birthdays. I think it’s a very special tradition and I hope that every Deerfield student gets to experience it in their career here. Audrey Tjoeng ’29 Q: What is your go-to order from the Koch Cafe? A: In community time, I always grab a sweet treat. My current favorite is cinabun and an iced coffee. Q: What is the best spot for locking in on-campus? A: Study rooms on the thirdfloor of the library are the best, especially the one with a round table for two or three people. Q: What is your favorite thing about Deerfield? A: My favorite thing about Deerfield is how each class stands to chant before all-school meetings. It ’s a consistent showcase of the community here. Q: What tradition do you hope lasts forever? A: I hope we never stop clapping for meals that deserve extra recognition.

Every fall, Deerfield welcomes hundreds of new sophomores, juniors, and seniors/post-graduate students aside from just freshmen. However, these new students, me included, are likely to face loneliness, anxiety, and a lack of support. I believe that the SLO’s role, in this case, is to bring support and care to the students and help them embrace a Deerfield life embodying our community pledge, “I will act with respect, integrity, and care for others.” I have found trouble adapting to Deerfield this fall. I expected integrating to be challenging but possible and eventual. I felt awkward when I saw a bunch of friends swarming about campus that I couldn’t say I've had so far at Deerfield. I've gotten a few opportunities to make friends like the new junior panel and various orientations, but it’s never enough to form deep connections. I had thought to myself in the first couple of days: “Why am I here?” This seems to be a common sentiment amongst the new students. Being a new student in Deerfield’s overwhelming culture that stresses excellence is hard; for me, being a new junior is full of confusion. I began classes, and the academic and athletic pressure started to accumulate, leaving me no time to socialize. After some weeks, I still felt alone. Anxiety that I’ll never belong to Deerfield and an unhealthy amount of focus on academics and athletics become too much sometimes. There’s no simple solution, but I think the SLO is meant to be there to help. I could have gone about never saying anything, and no one would have ever noticed. I think the advisor role that the SLO attempts to curate doesn't work as well as expected. For example, if you don’t feel comfortable with your advisor, there’s practically no support. But I think that Deerfield is supposed to help students navigate these challenges. In my experience, I often had to find other ways of supporting myself than the ways the school offers. I feel that a lot of the new juniors I connected with would agree. I believe the problem is not that the SLO doesn't know how to help new students to integrate into the Deerfield community. It seems to me that adapting to Deerfield as a freshman is so much easier than adapting to Deerfield as a new student of any other grade. Freshmen gets their village, a trip to Camp Greylock, and four years to form their own communities. The SLO should emulate these activities when helping other new students to bond and fit in. I hope these instances where new students feel ignored are merely out of a misunderstanding of the dynamics of integrating into a new environment. I simply wish for the SLO to be more intentional with their purpose of providing a true Deerfield experience that applies to everyone, not just the new freshmen class. I believe there should be more attention devoted to the struggles of students entering Deerfield after 9th grade. Actions like checking in with new students, making sure advisors are supporting them, and curating more opportunities where new students can connect with the whole class are some suggestions.

At Deerfield, underclassmen can't follow the age-old rule that advises people to separate their place of work and rest. I attribute this unfortunate reality to the dorm study hall which all underclassmen are required to attend. My dorm room is usually last on the list of places I choose to spend my time outside of class, particularly study time. Deerfield’s campus is a greater view to enjoy than the four walls of my dorm room. My desk’s green plastic chair pales in comparison to the picturesque scenes from the patio chairs on the lawn. Deerfield’s library offers access to a breadth of knowledge incomparable to that of my dorm room. I have found that Deerfield's campus is a great place to focus and do work. The last hours of the day are an exception to productive work: study hall. For underclassmen, it takes place in dorm rooms from 7:45pm to 9:45pm. Study hall disallows the opportunities of failure and overcoming challenges because everyone is forced to work under the scrutinizing watch of teachers. Structure that is not offered by choice but force-fed to underclassmen does not help me learn to manage my time efficiently. It is no secret that Deerfield asks its students to exceed many expectations: social, athletic, academic, and many more. The common theme at Deerfield is that students are capable of success. In order to expand our abilities, we require time management skills, dedication, and mental fortitudes. I believe that study hall acts as a hindrance to the development of all of these healthy study habits. The two hours I spend in my dorm room are not unproductive, but they don't make me practice my ability to decide my own study habits. I believe that study hall is a handicap for underclassmen developing independence as we adapt to Deerfield’s rigorous academic environment. I believe that challenges are what inspire growth. Removing the challenge of managing time delays the process by which we learn to work productively despite the distractions around us. What is universal in this process, however, is failure. Failure begins in the first years of our lives. We fall for the first time, landing flat on our faces, and learn we must extend our arms. The next time we fall, we land on our hands. The pain of the fall prevents us from making the same mistake twice. Having a choice of where and how to undertake study hall gives students the choice of how to spend their time, which is crucial to the maturation of independence. This choice includes the freedom to fail with limited consequences, the chance to collaborate with peers, and the opportunity to adapt to the patterns of upperclassmen life before the stakes become too high. I also believe that a mandatory study hall is unproductive since we have to work in the space which we rest in. There is much scientific research that backs this concern. Each moment, an astounding amount of stimuli is being perceived by our brains. Some are more useful (like what’s on my French test tomorrow) and some are less so (like how I should make my bed). Yet all of this information is not simply stored into our long-term memory. The Cognitive Load Theory, proposed by John Sweller at the University of New South Wales, suggests that working memory has a limited capacity. In order for learning to be efficient, intrinsic load must be optimized while extraneous load is reduced. Intrinsic load is the active effort of working on the learning task, and extrinsic load is the distractions perceived. During study hall, I experience an intense extraneous cognitive load that is generated by the distractions from being in my room. I am not only thinking of my work, but whether my laundry has finished, when I will fold it, and if I should eat some of the snacks I have in my drawer. When outside, distractions of scenery and the environment are tools, rather than hindrances, for rigorous study sessions. The library is an even more tranquil resource, in which all outside distractions can be brought to a minimum. Extraneous load, conjured up by our wandering minds, can be minimized. The rigidity of the dorm study hall is not conducive to the development and synthesis of ideas. I believe that the freedom during study hall for underclassmen could easily be expanded to give everyone more room to practice their time management skills and less distractions from work. So why don’t we let underclassmen have the choice of where and how their study hall takes place? I think that it will do us a whole lot more benefit than harm.

“I will act with respect, integrity, and care for others, and I will seek to inspire the same values in our community and beyond.” That’s the community pledge that we’ve all heard. It’s plastered on our classroom walls, posted on bulletin boards across dorms, and the Student Life Office’s emphasis on it is tangible across campus. The Deerfield community does many things that embody this mission: we hold doors for the people walking behind us, say "hello" to those we encounter on the way to class, and embody a sense of unity that permeates throughout bleacher stands, pep rallies, and agachi chants. However, below the surface, the student body does not embody this mission so well. At the first all school meeting every year, the sixteen peer counselors stand on the Large Auditorium stage and each share one of their vulnerabilities with the entire school in hopes of making someone in the audience feel less alone in their struggles. As he shared with the Deerfield community in his Convocation Address, I agree with Mr. John Leistler that this is a “brave thing.” Yet apparently, significant portions of the student body don’t agree with this assessment. While those peer counselors were onstage, I heard giggling coming from various parts of the sophomore section. While I hoped this experience was exclusive to the sophomore section, I quickly found that this was not the case. Through conversation with many friends and classmates, it became apparent that this case of “the giggles” permeated through every portion of the student body. During the 2023 Deerfield Forum, Yale University professor Akhil Reed Amar spoke about constitutional law and recommended that Deerfield students read his book, The Words That Made Us. Instead of listening respectfully, the student body loudly burst into laughter. On September 24, 2025, Harvard professor Dr. Allison Wood Brooks gave a talk on the behavioral science of conversation. Throughout her presentation, she needed to repeatedly quiet the student body before continuing. As these examples show, the student body often violates the community pledge and the values it stands for. Yet despite their emphasis on respect, the SLO and faculty body in general rarely respond to these infractions. Before moving on, it's important to recognize the difference between explicit and implicit violations of the pledge. Violations are explicit when the SLO can quantify the physical or monetary damage inflicted by the infraction. They’re implicit when they can’t—such as when unidentifiable individuals act disrespectfully during school meetings. In my observation, the SLO in particular has responded quite directly to explicit breaches of the community values. Last year’s April Fools pranks serve as a primary example. The SLO provided no formal response to a group of freshman girls printing out hundreds of pictures of a fellow male classmate and hanging them around Johnson, or a group of sophomore boys deconstructing furniture in LM. It was only when people's computers malfunctioned, or an international student couldn't return home for break, that the SLO intervened with a formal response through early curfew or mandatory cleanups. I believe the main reason the SLO intervened in these cases was not only because it violated community values, but resulted in clear, monetary damages. Instead of their current response, I believe SLO needs to find a middle-ground between formally responding to both explicit and implicit infractions of the community pledge. Instead of universal mandatory cleanups or early curfews, which sparked discontent amongst students and fomented, what I believe to be, a culture of distrust between the student body and the SLO, faculty and members of the SLO should push students to reflect on how much they can personally live up to the pledge. This isn't to say that the SLO can go completely hands off. When a significant portion of the student body acts in a manner that directly contradicts the values of the pledge in a rude and unacceptable way, the SLO and individual faculty—including Dr. Austin—should provide a formal reminder or response to the student body, rather than responding with silence. I believe that every member of the Deerfield community agrees, at least in principle, with the values staked in the student pledge. However, the student body requires reminders for when they stray too far from it. These reminders shouldn't be just limited to the general “remember to be kind” presentations that the SLO periodically gives during school meetings. Instead, they need to be intentional and direct, pointing out precisely which parts of student behavior were unacceptable. Then, the SLO and faculty should give students space and freedom to grow. I believe that the SLO's lack of formal response to implicit infractions of the community pledge shows that they don’t actually prioritize the pledge in practice. When the majority of the student body is aware of widespread violation of Deerfield community values and sees the SLO displaying no opposition to it, I believe it propagates the idea that unacceptable behavior is okay. Currently, I believe the SLO is not holding up its community values enough. It doesn’t do enough to ingrain them into the Deerfield community, and it does nothing when they are violated. To claim they stand for the values in the community pledge, the SLO must take a more proactive role in addressing community action.

If you’ve ever tried to keep a journal, you would know that it isn’t the most rewarding activity at the moment. It might even feel like a chore at times, especially if you’re trying to form a habit of journaling regularly. But the reason you journal isn’t to feel satisfied immediately. You journal because when you look back months and years later, you’ll be overwhelmed with satisfaction and nostalgia that comes from reminiscing about the past. In a way, the Scroll is just like that—a chore at times, but an extremely rewarding one. Although we’re a student-run newspaper, we don’t function like a traditional newspaper that vies for readership. Instead of operating like The New York Times , whose immediate goal is to capture audience attention and bring up-to-date news, the Scroll solidifies moments that happen on campus and around the world into written history—both for ourselves, of course, but also for the generations to come. In a sense, the Scroll is a glorified version of a journaling club, detailing the events that happen to the group of people that we call our schoolmates. Even if we have a test, essay, or just a homework assignment due the next day, we find ourselves in the basement of the Kendall, writing and editing away all in service to the next edition of the Scroll . As a board, we don’t think this belittles the Scroll ’s worth as a student-run newspaper. Indeed, even before the Scroll publishes an article about an event, news of it has most likely already been disseminated across the student body through announcements or school meetings. Instead, we think that our mission as a news-journaling club only bolsters our purpose on campus. Unlike the many clubs on campus that come and go—each allowing the transient passions of students to flourish— Scroll writers document student life at Deerfield onto a 12 to 16 page paper published nearly every month of the school year. Instead of striving to create the most eye-catching or dazzling issue, we pride ourselves in consistency, ensuring that all noteworthy events and achievements will not be forgotten once we graduate. Our history is a testament to that. This year marks the 100th volume of the Scroll , a century since the first issue was published in 1925. Since then, one hundred classes of writers have written for the Scroll , each writer dutifully recording their days of glory in the lines of each monthly issue. From the detailed football reports of the early days to the discussion of a return to co-education in the later years, all articles constitute a part of our heritage—the heritage we vowed to live up to when we bought into the mantra of “be worthy of your heritage.” To protect and continue this priceless legacy passed down onto our hands, the best way is to write on, recording each event in the journal of Deerfield. But the Scroll doesn’t just serve future generations of students. It also serves as a crucial block of communication between the Deerfield bubble and the external world—parents, alumni, prospective students, and many more. People who want to know Deerfield want to hear it from the voices of students. The influence of your writing in the Scroll extends well beyond campus, and each Scroll writer—or journaler—carries the responsibility of the way you want the Academy to be perceived. Each writer’s role is just as important as any other leadership position on campus as you work to complete the image of Deerfield, of the community that we take so much pride in being part of. It is a privilege to represent Deerfield. Even if the Scroll isn’t a fully fledged newspaper, there is another appeal to the Scroll : the dedication to the practice of journalism. Although we don’t produce timely news, we do still commit to publishing informative articles written and edited with high journalistic standards. This means that we seek to expose all aspects of campus life, including ones that are more serious and controversial. For example, in the November issue of 2018, ex-Editor-In-Chief Joshua Fang ’19 reported on a lawsuit by former English teacher Sonja O’Donnel, who sued the Academy of gender discrimination responding to reports of sexual harassment. Handling such a challenging and provocative topic, Fang published a highly professional news report that won him the 2019 Ancil Payne Award for Ethics in Journalism. The other recipients of the award were professional journalists from the Associated Press and ProPublica. Fang’s accomplishment shows the power of the Scroll as an outlet for campus news that accurately reflects the state of the Academy. But aside from the shiny accolades and our names on the mantelpiece of the Scroll —tiny engravings of our names on the masthead— why do we, and why should you, write for the Scroll ? What justifies the time and effort that goes into publishing a 16-page issue even if we see copies of the Scroll lying in our common rooms going unread? Although the Scroll advertises itself as a “student-run newspaper,” and it indeed does provide valuable experience in writing and journalism, helping students become better newspaper writers isn’t the only function of the Scroll . Instead, we point to a hypothetical: let’s say a student thirty years later—in the class of 2066—wanted to know what student life was like three decades ago. We hope foremost, that the Scroll still exists, but also that the student would turn to our publication as a written record of days at Deerfield. If we’re fortunate enough, that student could pick up this month’s edition of the Scroll , and use it as a gateway back in time to our era. As a board and as a community, we write for the Scroll as a way to be worthy of our heritage, not for ourselves, but for the future Deerfield community to come.

Dear Reader, Merriam-Webster defines the slang term “crash out” as “to become suddenly, uncontrollably angry or distressed.” During the first month of Senior Fall, I’ll admit, I’ve crashed out more than a couple of times. My friends will second this, yet they’ll be surprised to learn that most of my crash outs in front of them are purely for laughs—believe it or not, I don’t really crash out that much. Growing up, I’d always—at least subconsciously—think that I shouldn’t display my extreme emotions. Always bottling up my emotions however, has had terrible ramifications when I finally do need to vent. In those moments, I feel utterly stripped of self-autonomy, acting in a regrettable fashion to everyone close to me and then feeling terrible about it afterwards. After experiencing many of these intense emotional moments this year, I found the silver lining to be this: self-censoring my emotions is dangerous. And during my moment of reflection that came upon this revelation on the importance of self-expression, it reminded me of another pertinent issue plaguing American life today: the sanctity and security of free speech. Charlie Kirk’s assassination on September 10, 2025, was one such case. Disney’s temporary cancellation of the Jimmy Kimmel Show after being strong-armed by the Federal Communications Committee Chair Brendan Carr marked another case. Whether you’re a Republican or a Democrat, freedom of speech is a nonpartisan issue. And right now, more and more people on both sides of the political spectrum are being silenced for exercising their inalienable right to free speech. I understand that in uncertain times we tend to stay quiet to avoid conflict. However, it’s especially in times like these that we can’t afford to—we mustn’t let our fear be the driver behind our self-censorship. If we do, we are surrendering to those who wish to strip us of our rights. Furthermore, you are depriving society of possible benefits that’ll arise from your input. For a recent writing assignment in Mr. Romick's Creative Nonfiction English class, we’re writing profiles on a classmate, interviewing the person’s friends, parents, coaches, advisors, etc. to craft a holistic image. Haley Hickman, who’s writing the profile on me, interviewed Chloe Xue last week and invited me to listen along. I had fully expected Chloe to make good-natured fun of my crash outs (which I often did in front of her last year), so I was in shock when her response was entirely opposite, instead framing my release of emotions in public as “a healthy expression of [my] emotions,” which encouraged her to also feel free to vent whenever she needed to, in public or not. Because Chloe thought that my crash outs were real, and because I frequently crashed out, Chloe got the confidence and freedom she needed to let out her own feelings in public. In a call with her later that week, she told me that regularly crashing out now has helped her manage anxiety at college. I’d like to emphasize that I’m not condoning crash outs. However, there is a common thread between suppressing your emotions in public and not speaking up: self-censorship is dangerous. Speaking up isn’t an act of resistance or defiance, and it's not a tool to purposefully incite conflict. Rather, it’s a simple expression of our fundamental freedoms, guaranteed by the Constitution. So Deerfield, I encourage you to speak up and share your ideas. Do not allow those who wish to silence you succeed at taking away your rights by staying silent. Because you never know: something you say or do can benefit others in a much more signifcant way than you can ever imagine. Yours in Service, John Qi Liu

As the fall athletic season enters its final days, Deerfield captains reflected on their teams’ journeys, sharing early challenges, lasting memories, and the motivation that will drive them through the remainder of the season. Boys’ Varsity Cross Country The Boys’ Varsity Cross Country team saw a largely undefeated season, with the exception of a single loss to Exeter. Notably, Thijs Wittink ’25 won first place in the NEPSAC JV Cross Country Race, being the first Deerfield Athlete in over ten years to do so. Captain Reid McCoy ’26 described the team’s success as a reflection of its emphasis on individual improvement. “Our hope is that every runner develops their own speed and mindset throughout the season,” McCoy said. He noted that the focus on personal growth has created a stronger collective team performance. “This year, we have more people who come to practice excited to do the hard work that it takes to achieve success,” he added. McCoy expressed that the captains have become “more engaged” by helping run practices and form closer connections with teammates. He also gave a shoutout to new runners like Will Golding ’29 and Hayston Hay ’29 for their “incredible attitudes” and strong race performances. Boys’ Varsity Soccer The Boys’ Varsity Soccer Team has faced challenges with early injuries but continued to focus on unity and effort. “We wanted to be a competitive team in the New England Preparatory School Athletic Council (NEPSAC),” said Captain Alex Salvo ’26, adding that setbacks haven’t diminished their strong team chemistry. Salvo explained that this year’s leadership structure, with four captains instead of two, has helped the team find balance and take on responsibility. “We all have our strong points as captains,” he said. The team began the year with a pre-season training trip to Spain, where they built a tight bond through shared matches, travel, and cultural experiences. On Choate Day, the team reached their goal, as Salvo described, to “finish the season on a strong note,” by winning the game. Girls’ Varsity Soccer Captain Keira Austin ’26 said the Girls’ Varsity Soccer team’s main goal remained the same each year: to make the playoffs and “feel good about our performance and effort every game.” The team spent 11 days in Spain with the boys' team during preseason, training, competing, and bonding. “From playing semiprofessional teams to signing with a musician in his bodega, our team got so much closer,” Austin said. The trip’s impact showed early in the season, with a 2-0 win against Milton. Austin highlighted sophomore goalie Winnie Underwood ’28 as a key player, describing her as “one of the hardest workers on the field” whose performances have been crucial to the team’s success. Boys’ Varsity Water Polo Boys Varsity Water Polo entered this season focused on building a foundation for future success. “We have a lot of young talent and only a handful of upperclassmen,” said Captain Patrick Zhang ’26, “so our goal was to lay the groundwork for the years ahead.” Zhang described this year’s energy as “boisterous” and full of potential. “When directed toward something productive, we play and practice incredibly well,” he said. He also recognized standout performances from GD Lee ’28, as well as newcomers James Leung ’29 and Saxon Girodet ’28, whose contributions have been “incredibly valuable.” Girls’ Varsity Volleyball Under the leadership of co-captain Captain Harmoni Dobbins ’26 and Evelyn Kunde ’26, Girls Varsity Volleyball held a 16-3 record and made it to the quarterfinals of the NEPSAC Tournament. "eir shared goal has been to create a "competitive, safe, and welcoming community.” “We came into the season focused and determined,” Dobbins said. “Everyone on the team is here for one reason: to win.” The team faced a challenge against the King School, a Class C opponent that competes in Class A. After that setback, the team used the experience to refocus and fuel their motivation throughout the rest of the season. “We all got in a circle and said, ‘We lost yesterday, but we’ve won so many other games, and we know it’s possible to beat them,’” Dobbins recalled. Outside of competitions, team bonding has also been central to their success. Dobbins emphasized the team dinners after practices as one of the key traditions that strengthened their connection. “After every practice, we try to come together as a team and spend at least 30 minutes at team dinner together,” she said. Having been on the team for four years, Dobbins described the relationships she’s built as some of her “most cherished.”

In the fitness center then, Ms. Creagh said, there were rarely girls. “Now if you go to the fitness center in the mornings there are a lot of girls in there living weights,” she said. Although the gender ratio in the gym has leveled out, Eva Bramwell ’26 described how even today, “girls’ [sports] don’t get the same crowd that guys do. Girls field hockey will never have the same crowd as football.” Even though the sports crowds may vary in size, Ms. Govi had the feeling as one of the first girls of Deerfield, “you could play anything, you could join anything.” The social dynamics between girls and boys at Deerfield have evolved over the decades. " the boys must’ve been given a talking to. ey were very careful about opening the doors for us,” Ms. Govi said, humorously recounting how the boys would wait for her to choose a seat in class. On the other hand, Bramwell shared a different experience than that of the 1990s. She explained that “when a girl gets on stage to dance, to sing, or to get an award, the guys will immediately say the guy that she’s associated with.” She added, “I think that’s so disrespectful because she just won an award, and you’re just taking her achievement and putting it on the guy that she’s with.” In the classroom, Bramwell recounted how her history teacher tracked the gender distribution of discussion, and 76% of the conversation was controlled by male students, even in a class with more girls than boys. At the same time, though, Sophie Simonds ’26 explained, “If I compare my friends here to my friends at home, people here are just much more comfortable and much more themselves around people of the opposite sex.” Deerfield’s female community has a reputation among other schools as an “unkind girl culture,” according to Ms. Creagh. Bramwell echoed this sentiment, describing how she once heard a senior boy say, “You should definitely send your son to Deerfield, but I don’t think that you should send your daughter.” Simonds explained how “the toxic girl behavior is prevalent as underclassmen, but as [she] progresses through Deerfield, particularly in [her] senior year, the girls have gotten nicer.” As an upperclassmen, she began to feel a stronger culture of community. Ms. Snow affirmed the positive female culture, saying that in her time at Deerfield, girls were supportive of each other. “Our class especially had a really good spirit and was very cohesive,” she said, adding, “Now when I go back for reunions it feels like you’d fall right back in the friendships you had when you were there.” Ms. Creagh said that she would describe the culture as “supportive, [with] older girls mentoring younger girls either explicitly or implicitly … I would also describe girls on this campus as powerful and culture builders.” Since its first co-educational class in 1989, what it means to be a girl at Deerfield has evolved. No two girls will have the same experience at Deerfield, but every Deerfield girl in the past decades will have le" a mark on the 36 years of co-educational history. Describing the girls of the class of 1993, Ms. Govi said, “We were so much more than [just] the first girls. You were going to pave the way, whatever the way was going to be.”

In 2012, former Math Teacher Darnel Barnes and current Math Teacher Sheryl Koyama took a group of Deerfield seniors out to dinner. The math teachers had been observing for years how these different students adapted to Deerfield. During this dinner, they posed a question: What could we have done better? The students proposed a pre-orientation program for Deerfield, and that idea has since become the Rising Scholars Program, colloquially known as RSP. Initially established to help students from diverse backgrounds grow accustomed to the academic rigour of boarding schools, RSP has since become a program aimed at helping students navigate both the social and academic landscapes of Deerfield. “RSP gave me leverage above other students who came later … I was able to know the campus more than other students who just arrived,” said Precious Ewuzie ’28, an RSP alumna and proctor for the summer of 2025. All new 9th and 10th grade students receive an email inviting them to apply for the program, and about 36 students get accepted each year. RSP is specifically focused on serving students with limited experience in a boarding school environment. Ms. Koyama, the former director of RSP, believes it is important to point out what RSP is not: “It’s not academic recovery. It’s not a program for students on financial aid. It’s not a program for students of color. It’s a program for kids for whom the transition to Deerfield might be a pretty big change,” she said. Head Proctor Tashvi Reddy ’27 said, in her view, that “the purpose of RSP is to bring students not accustomed to the boarding school … way of life here, to help them dip their toes into the water.” She added that the most important part of the program is to make the scholars “feel at home.” During the program, students attend core classes such as Science, History, and English to get used to the feeling of discussion-based learning. They have study hall, sit-down meals, and also must turn in their phones for the night. RSP also includes icebreaker sessions, a campus-wide scavenger hunt to locate and remember the people and places of Deerfield, a day for community service exploring the local area around Deerfield, and bonding activities such as games and movies. RSP student proctors are chosen in the spring through an application process, and head proctors are chosen by Director of Academic Support Jaclyn DeLuca. “What we’re looking for when we select scholars is a wide range of students’ experiences and backgrounds … we want to have a diverse cohort,” Ms. DeLuca said. She also highlighted the importance of the nature of proctoring as a leadership role: “It’s a great opportunity for students who maybe don’t have other leadership opportunities on campus.” Reflecting on her proctoring experience, Ewuzie ’28 said, “I felt like I was like a role model to the students.” Head Proctor Eddie Andrews ’27 said that RSP allowed him to get to know a lot of underclassmen he wouldn’t have known without the program. “I would recommend everyone to apply to be a proctor, whether you did it or not … It definitely changed my outlook on boarding school,” he said. Ms. DeLuca spoke about how some students had expressed that during RSP, they felt part of a tight-knit, supportive community, which they lost when school actually started. Students who had grown close together in the small group were again thrust into a sea of new faces without the guidance they had previously relied on. To try and remedy this, Ms. DeLuca is working on bringing the RSP cohort from this past August back together during Turkey Term to discuss ideas to further the program. “Ideas for the program mostly come from students themselves,” Ms. DeLuca said. Ms. Koyama also added that she had a vision for the program where older scholars would become mentors for others in the program throughout the years. “Once a scholar, always a scholar,” she said. Both Ewuzie and Ms. Koyama emphasized the importance of the relationships made in RSP. “The relationships that they make with the other scholars, as well as with the proctors, have been the things that they said they’ve taken away the most,” Ms. Koyama said. Ewuzie agreed, adding, “A bunch of the friendships I have currently are because of RSP.” Ewuzie describes RSP as having a lasting impact on the way she views Deerfield. As she said, “The final moments of RSP have always stuck with me. I feel like at that moment I knew that I chose the right school for me.