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Economics Teacher Kristin McVaugh starts every class by asking students what they read in the news since they last met. As a teacher, she loves watching students fuse what they are learning in Honors Economics with what they see happening in the world. Mrs. McVaugh will be leaving the Academy after 16 years of teaching. Over her Deerfield career, she has taught in both the Math and Social Studies Departments, coached Varsity Field Hockey, and been a dorm resident on Johnson II and Pocumtuck.  Mrs. McVaugh's favorite classroom memory was Liberation Day because she enjoyed “watching students thoughtfully analyze these policies and the execution of those policies and use their background economic knowledge.” Although she is excited for her next chapter, Mrs. McVaugh will “miss everything about teaching.” She said, “I love my students. I love my colleagues. I love talking to people personally.” Starting next year, she will be working remotely as an economic advisor at a Boston-based company. About her next job, Mrs. McVaugh said, “I'm looking forward to learning something new, challenging myself, meeting new people, and just seeing what the business world is like.” Although she is excited to try something new—she has taught at Deerfield since graduating college—she is also grateful that she will still be around familiar faces in the Valley.

Known for being Deerfield’s Dean of Inclusion and Community Life and his adorable corgi Oli Jo, Steven Lee will be ending his Deerfield days after spending four years in the Student Life Office.  Mr. Lee’s dedication can be reflected in his work with ninth graders. “I really like teaching ninth graders a lot,” he said. “Deerfield ninth graders are really eager to learn, and they are like little bunny rabbits.” He further commented the freshman boys of Doubleday III as “fun” and is really glad he got to live with them as their faculty resident.  Mr. Lee’s work extended beyond the classroom and the dorms. One of Mr. Lee’s most memorable moments was about organizing the 2024 Martin Luther King Jr. Day celebration. “I think one of the proudest moments I had was planning the Martin Luther King celebration with Peniel E. Joseph…He was a really dynamic speaker, and people learned a lot.” Looking to the future, Mr. Lee’s next step will take him south to Mercersburg Academy, a private boarding school located in Pennsylvania, as the assistant head of school. While this is exciting to him, there are aspects of Deerfield he will deeply miss, including watching the hockey teams with Ollie Joe. “Ollie and I would go to every single ice hockey game that we could. We'd always sit in the same place,” he said. “I'll definitely miss going to hockey games.”  From Doubleday to the rink, from classrooms to MLK day, the spot Mr. Lee shared with Olie Jo leaves a substantial mark in the Deerfield community.

History Teacher Tara Keegan has been teaching at Deerfield Academy for three years during which she has taught U.S. History and senior electives, been the dorm resident on Johnson II and been Director of Training of Boys and Girls Track and Field. Balancing the new experiences of working at an independent school, Dr. Keegan shared, “Because of the class sizes, I've gotten somewhat close with almost every student I've taught here. I think that there's just a real curiosity and drive for learning here.” Additionally, Dr. Keegan expressed how she appreciated her experience as a dorm resident, saying “learning more about teenagers in all of their glory has helped me be a better teacher and a coach.” Yewon Kim ’28, a freshman on Dr. Keegan’s hall, shared, “Dr. Keegan is one of the few faculty members that I instantly bonded with since my arrival, and she is one of the most understanding, compassionate human beings you'll ever encounter.” As a farewell message, Dr. Keegan shared, “I know that life here gets really stressful, especially with how much students are balancing.  I really just want students to build confidence here… The adults here believe in you, and if you could just take a piece of how much we believe in you and believe in yourself that much, you wouldn't feel as much stress.  The rest will follow.” Looking forward, Dr. Keegan is writing a book based on her graduate school dissertation about the first ultramarathon in U.S. History.

Classics Teacher Anna Delwiche grants one special exception to mild tardiness: food. “If you’re late and you have a snack for her, she won’t give you APs,” said Zohan Subhash ’26, who once brought her a surprise birthday gift to Latin I. “I walk in 10 minutes late with half a chocolate cake and she just pulls out a knife from her cupboard and starts cutting the cake… it was like the funniest thing ever.” Ms. Delwiche will depart the Academy after four years of teaching. Although originally hired as a Latin teacher, she has also taught Greek, French, and Classics electives. Ms. Delwiche has also served as a faculty advisor for the Scroll  alongside English Teacher Justin Romick and a dorm resident in McAllister and Shumway.  Language Department Chair and Classics Teacher Dan Houston praised Ms. Delwiche’s ability to teach both inside and outside the classroom. “She’s been such a great colleague, a really good person to share Classics with, and such a talented teacher, too, for our department,” he said. “Her ability to teach Latin, Greek and French is really wonderful.” Dr. Houston also noted Ms. Delwiche’s ability to foster “that kind of ‘boarding school magic’ where a lot of the teaching that you do happens not in the classroom, but happens in conversation… Ms. Delwiche is so good at teaching in those informal moments, especially getting kids to rise to the top challenge of being young adults.” Mr. Romick highlighted Ms. Delwiche’s significant contributions to the Scroll  through her role as a faculty advisor. “She has a lot of really good ideas about how we could improve the paper—not just in the final product—but how we work our way through the process of getting to the end,” he said. “She’s also kind of a visionary when it comes to things that we should be covering and things that we shouldn’t. I just hope that we can continue making a great paper without her because she’s been a big part of the reason why the paper’s been great.” Ms. Delwiche began teaching at Deerfield in 2021 after completing her M.S.Ed. at the University of Pennsylvania’s Independent School Teaching Residency program. “It was only my third year of teaching,” she said. “Coming here was a lot of firsts. This was my first full time teaching, first time doing co-ed[ucational], first time advising… I grew as a teacher in a lot of ways.” Ms. Delwiche noted that watching the growth of her students has been a particularly rewarding experience. “This is the first time I’m really seeing kids that I knew when they were really young adolescents… and change so much,” she said. “Like, maintain a lot of who you were as ninth graders, but grow up and mature and start to, you know, develop your identity, mentor other people… It’s really, really special to see.” Austin Zhang ’25, one of Ms. Delwiche’s advisees, reflected on her advice during the college application process. “She’s told me… to not get too bogged down by trying to figure out exactly what you want to do,” he said. Zhang learned to trust the process and have faith that “you will get somewhere that you are happy with… even if that’s not like where you thought you would end up initially.” Chelsea Shen ’27, a student in her Latin III class, praised her comforting presence and reliability. “She’s on top of what she’s doing and kind of has a sense of security,” she said. “You’re fine when you’re with her. You’re never lost and you’re never out of help… She’s always available for you to go to at any point.” Next fall, Ms. Delwiche will teach French at the Harvard Westlake School in Los Angeles, California. Although she is excited to move to a city, she will miss the quiet of Deerfield. “I really notice myself feeling a calm come over me when I start driving back into this area,” said Ms. Delwiche. “I’m gonna miss the comfort and the familiarity of living in a place like rural Mass[achusetts]… Someone told me it’s gonna feel like leaving your hometown.”

From river trips to pictionary and macroinvertebrates, Science teacher Caleb Corliss engages his students in learning and displays his passion for science. He will be leaving this year after four years of teaching at the Academy. Throughout his time here, Mr. Corliss has taught Honors Biology 1, Honors Biology 2, Chemistry 1, and Chemistry 1 Accelerated. He has also coached JV Boys’ Soccer and Varsity Boys’ Rowing as an assistant coach.   Honors Biology 2 student Elena Tskhvitaria ’25 described Mr. Corliss as a very hands-on teacher and is thankful for his unique pedagogy. “He’s fun, but he also wants his students to learn,” she explained. “We are currently reading this paper on river ecosystems … so we went to the river, and I feel like not every teacher would actually go down to the river.”  Mr. Corliss knew from a young age that he wanted to pursue a career in the science field. At Deerfield, Honors Biology 2 is his favorite class to teach. “The version of Honors Bio 2 that we’ve done the past couple of years has been like my baby. I've gotten to plan out the curriculum and run out how I want to run it,” he stated.   An integral part of Mr. Corliss’s experience at the academy is Deerfield’s rowing team, an aspect of Deerfield that he will miss the most. “It [the rowing team] has been a really special team, and we have had success both in terms of results and in terms of athletes developing and improving,” he said. Mr Corliss’s opportunity to attend the Henley Regatta in England with the rowing team two years ago remains one of his favorite Deerfield memories.  Looking forward, Mr. Corliss will move to Northern Vermont with his wife and dog, where he plans to continue teaching biology to high school students.

English teacher Alexandra Carter has taught at Deerfield Academy since 2022. For the last three years, Dr. Carter has also served as one of the faculty advisors for Albany Road , Deerfield’s literary and arts magazine.  Albany Road Co-Editor in Chief and Scroll  News Editor Melody Zhao ’26 described Dr. Carter as a kind, clever, creative,“ball of light” during Albany Road meetings. “Dr. Carter was the one who gave us the idea to connect with [poet] BJ Love…She just knows how to make Albany Road itself more far-reaching,” Zhao said.  Dr. Carter recalled her first year teaching American Gothic to be “a very nervous experience because [she] had never taught it before.” Despite her worries, she remembers “feeling very impressed about how willing [her] students in that class were to go on that adventure with [her], and it ended up being a really wonderful, heartwarming experience.”  Casey Kittredge ’25 said what she likes most about Dr. Carter is “her willingness to listen to what students are interested in learning and doing during class.” Kittredge said her favorite part of Dr. Carter’s Food Writing class was the visit to Sweet Lucy’s Bake Shop. There, Dr. Carter brought each student a “delicious baked good as [they] sat discussing and enjoying the beautiful weather.”  Dr. Carter advises students to take the time and explore various opportunities. “I want to tell Deerfield students to trust your passions and do something that makes you sincerely curious about in this amazing space that you are surrounded by.” she said.

On Friday, May 2, Albany Road welcomed poet BJ Love to Deerfield Academy for a writing workshop. Mr. Love set the mood for his workshop with candles for everyone to hold and meditative music playing in the background. Scroll News Editor and Albany Road Editor-in-Chief Melody Zhao ’26 described the event as “vibey,” “ritualistic,” and “eye-opening.” Continuing over lunch, she talked with Love about his experiences as a magazine editor at his high school and a faculty advisor for his current school’s magazine. Mr. Love took advantage of his leadership position to develop the club from nothing to “the largest one on campus,” Zhao said. According to Zhao, Albany Road discovered Mr. Love through English Teacher Alexandra Carter. She said, “[Dr. Carter] reached out to him... He was willing to come over for a day or two and just meet students around here.” Not only was Mr. Love a good friend to Dr. Carter, but he was also a teaching mentor to her 11th grade classes on how to write and analyze metaphors. She hoped that “working with him and hearing his approach to writing reminded us [the Deerfield community] of the possibility that poetry can be silly and serious at once.” An example of his unique style can be seen in his poem “My Dog Barfed.”  Zhao and Dr. Carter both expressed that this was their favorite poem from him. Love writes every day by capturing mundane moments in his life and using them as inspiration in his work. Dr. Carter said her favorite line in the poem was “This poem / is about light, is about / all the places we can / find light if we just / try harder to find it” because Love reminds the reader to take a second and reflect on their surroundings. However, Zhao explained how there were some scheduling conflicts with this event as the event coincided with date night and the last weekend before AP exams. Zhao said, “We decided to go ahead with it because we didn’t want to have to switch plans last minute for him.” Zhao hopes that Love’s visit helped students connect with inspiring writers outside of Deerfield. She explains that “Deerfield is sort of a bubble sometimes,” and Mr. Love’s visit “did that sort of really well in a really creative way.” From his experience in managing his school magazine, Love brought many of his ideas to Deerfield that united workshop participants in their passion for writing.

COURTSEY OF DEERFIELD COMMUNICATIONS During her two years at Deerfield, Liana Chen ’25, senior co-captain of the Deerfield Varsity Golf Team, has dedicated her spirit and time to the team around the year.  Chen began playing golf when she was 10 years old. Under the influence of her parents, she played a wide variety of sports. “I swam competitively when I was younger, ” Chen said, “[b]ut ever since I started playing golf at a higher level, I have had less time to play other sports.” Prior to her time at Deerfield, Chen had participated in many tournaments for individual golf. “Golf was a very individual sport for me as I grew up, and my time at Deerfield completely changed it,” she said. “I love being in a team where I try my best not only for myself but also for others.”  “Liana is a terrific golfer,” History & Social Science Teacher and Head Coach Joseph Lyons said, “She maintains a smooth tempo throughout her beautiful swing. When competing, she remains unflappable, able to stay focused regardless of the bad weather or the challenges of the course.” As a captain, Chen embraced her leadership role by welcoming new players to the team. She also demonstrated consistent care and support for her teammates, despite the emphasis on individual performance in this sport.  “In which it is easy to focus on one’s own performance, Liana supports her teammates at all times, for she never lets her own performance affect her leadership,” said Mr. Lyons. “She remains positive and calm, and she loves to have fun and laugh. All of these traits make her a great co-captain.”  Other members of the team also appreciate Chen’s leadership. “Liana is a natural leader on the team,” Deerfield Varsity Golf member Tucker Sichol ’27 said, “As a new member of the golf team, Liana has inspired me to embrace the challenges and has shown me that my teammates are always there when [I] struggle.” While Chen offered her skills and practical feedback to the team, she also contributed to the team’s culture. She maintained the enthusiastic spirit of the golf team through her humor and lightheartedness.  “Liana's positivity and supportiveness [are] infectious and always elevate the vibe in the van and the course,” Sichol said, “She fosters joy and humor on the team, always improving the team's attitude and energy. She also naturally wants to help others. On long van rides, she will try to teach me and Aaron Koo [’28] Chinese, which does not go very well.” Liana enjoys spending time with the team on the course, occasionally engaging in friendly competitions for a meal at the Greer.  Even during her off-seasons, Chen practiced consistently to improve her techniques. “I spend time in the golf simulator around one to two times a week so I don’t lose my swing. There are some times when the coaches can take us out to play in [the] fall, but it doesn’t happen regularly,” she said.  Chen had found Deerfield’s golf simulator helpful when practicing in her own time. “We have a trackman system that allows us to analyze swing statistics, which helps me fix my swing,” she said.  Having committed to Georgetown University early in the fall, Chen will continue her journey in golf in Washington, D.C. “There is a good chance I will play college golf and we’ll see how that goes after I go to Georgetown this coming fall,” she said.  However, she is still deciding on her long-term commitment to golf. “I love this sport, but I think it’ll become a hobby after [college],” Chen said.

O’Byrne Curtis: In my opinion, and the opinion of many others on campus, the upperclassmen boys dorm of O’Byrne Curtis (OBC) is the worst dorm on campus. Not only is it far away from all of the class buildings and the dining hall due to its location on the opposite side of Old Main Street, it has been plagued recently by a series of unfortunate events (stomps). While the stomping is briefly on hiatus because some teachers had a difficult conversation with the students living in the dorm, the spectre of the stomp continues to haunt OBC. Let faculty tremble in the spectre of the Stomp Revolution. The students have nothing to lose but their diplomas (and visitation rights). Thus, OBC is not the place to be. Doubleday: During my walks through the Doubleday dormitory, I have witnessed many a spectacle first hand. Shoes are often hurled around the dorm at supersonic speeds, and people wander around the hallways with the strangest objects, making for scenes so surreal you’d think that you fell down a rabbit hole. Most notably, I’ve seen doors, dozens of ice cream cones, and even the elusive phone being hauled around during study hall. While my time living in Doubleday has been mostly uneventful, there have been some “happy little accidents,” such as scooters in the hallways and the occasional destroyed bathroom. However, we (so far) have had no problems with water leakages, which, apparently, has been rearing its ugly head in some rooms in Johnson, destroying furniture and student’s belongings. Johnson: My friends in the Johnson Dorm are generally quite happy with their dorm lives and are enjoying their experience overall. One student, Juliet Lopez ’28, commented that the common rooms create a very friendly environment, and people have been predispositioned to be kind to their roommates and hallmates. Many of us made some of our first friends on campus through roommates, so in this way, roommates are essential to the Freshman ExperienceTM. While some might experience anguish and a loss of sleep, whether it be from late-night chats in adjacent rooms, the use of bathrooms well past midnight, or the periodical messiness of the shared spaces, it seems as though many who live in Johnson appreciate the sense of comradarie and community that this (mandatory) experience has provided. Rosenwald-Shumway (Ro-Sho)/upperclassmen girl dorms: In other dorms such as Pocumtuck and Rosenwald-Shumway, life has been pretty calm, for the most part. Over the past couple of weeks, I have spoken with seniors Dasha Lukyanenko ’25 and Mae Bender ’25 about their living situation, and their excitement to approach the onset of college. Specifically, they are both likely to live with a roommate at their respective colleges, and while they look forward to this, they will surely miss the privacy of a single room, a luxury not offered by many institutions. While the Hess is their second home, they expressed that living in RoSho has been a great experience due to its convenient location and notable lack of OBC-esque activity. Therefore, Ro-Sho is the best dorm on campus.

There seems to be a new movement shaking campus recently... quite literally shaking certain buildings on campus. It started in the much loved upperclassmen boys dorm of O’Byrne Curtis (affectionately known as OBC or O-Block by its residents). The ruckus took campus by storm. Soon, DeNunzio and Simmons shook. What dorm will feel it next? A new trend has taken campus by storm: The Deerfield Stomp. It started on one gloomy night a few months ago when the boys assembled on the second floor common room of OBC. Faculty peacefully rested and lounged on the first floor, blissfully unaware of the chaos that was about to ensue. Fifteen boys prepared for war. Armed with tables, their feet, and heavy objects, they were ready. An eerie silence fell over the second floor. Knowing students on the first floor hunkered down in their rooms...waiting... fearing what was to come. At 9:45 EST, the stomp commenced. The weight of about fifteen boys, three tables, a few chairs, and some other large objects were all bouncing up and down in unison. Booms erupted with each strike of the floor. The silence was gone. The peace was over. It was stomping time. OBC shook as the group smashed the floor. Then, as soon as the sneak attack began, it was over. The sounds of the soldiers retreating were followed by doors slamming and locking. Silence fell again over OBC. It wasn’t a peaceful silence this time. It was the silence felt after a big battle in war. The damage was done. They waited in silence for retaliation from the first floor. The dorm wasn’t the only thing that shook. The hall residents shook with anger. In the past, the residents often fought back against such behavior. Everyone remembers when hot dogs were thrown around OBC and they were denied parietals for the next weekend. After all, it makes perfect sense to say if you’re going to play with hot dogs you don’t get to have women in the dorm on weekends, right? The hall residents tried to shut down the stomp but with little success. While the soldiers rested for a few days, the stomp came back stronger than ever. More men filled the dorm. Allegedly, this time boys from DeNunzio, Simmons, Field, Louis Marx and even Doubleday rushed into OBC. Another stomp occurred. Some men were unfortunately captured for their atrocious acts of war against the residents of the first floor of OBC. The leadership of the stomps remained unharmed. Then, the stomps spread. DeNunzio and Simmons shook one fateful night. Pillows and couches smashed up and down on the floor right in front of a dorm resident’s door. Known for previous shenanigans involving speakers and megaphones between the hours of 12:00am and 3:00am, DeNunzio had some men ready to continue the Deerfield stomps. However, there was only ever one stomp in Denunzio. In contrast, OBC has had quite a few stomps. The battleground of Denunzio just isn’t the same as OBC. Seems like there’s less ammunition in DeNunzio to carry out the stomps. Yet, the stompers have been quiet recently. No one knows for sure who the leaders are. Some low ranking men in the stomps have fallen, but no one of note. They wreak havoc a ton at nights, causing dorm residents to both fear and despise their presence. When and where will the next stomp be? No one knows. However, it will likely be in OBC based on the track record of stomps. For now, first floor residents can rest.

How long have you been teaching at Deerfield? This is my second year. What drew you to Deerfield in the first place? Family. We have a lot of our family, especially Mrs. Dollhopf’s father, but a lot of our family is outside of Boston. And so we wanted to get closer to them than we had been in Pennsylvania. What school did you teach before you came to Deerfield? We were at the Hill School, in Pennsylvania, for 25 years. What is most satisfying moment you have in the classroom so far? That’s really tough. I don’t know if I have one single most satisfying thing. I think it’s any time students are engaged and are curious and excited about what they’re learning, having fun, learning a lot of math at the same time. And I’ve had a lot of those moments, so it’s hard to pick just one. What do many students misunderstand about math? I think math is much more about why things work than just how to do things. I think a lot of people approach math kind of like a recipe book that they just learn methods rather than really understanding it. And I think the students that take the time to understand it, to ask the question why, understand the question why, more deeply. What’s your favorite part of being in OBC? To see the guys on Thursday nights and hearing what they’re up to and bringing them snacks sometimes. What are they up to? It depends. A lot of them are getting a lot of work done, working really hard and worried about whether they’re gonna get enough sleep that night, because of how much work they have to do. What’s your least favorite part being in OBC? The stomp, which has been something starting this year. It’s really disturbing to the people that live in the dorm, the little kids that live in the dorms. Finally, if you weren’t a teacher, what would you think you’d be doing? I don’t know, I’ve been a teacher my whole life, so it’s hard to think of something else. I’ve never thought of something different...I just really enjoy teaching!

On Saturday, April 26th, the Deerfield Math Club hosted its eighth annual Deerfield Math Competition (DMC). The DMC, modeled after the Harvard-MIT Mathematics Tournament, invited students from surrounding middle schools to compete in a series of student-written math problems across four sections: Individual Theme, Individual Relay, Team General, and Team Guts. Throughout the day, participants worked in the Garonzik and solved a wide range of complex problems, testing their collaboration and critical thinking skills. Eaglebrook came victorious with two of their teams placing first and third, while Bement placed second. Junior Vice President of the Math Club Kyle Yang ‘25 said, “The Eaglebrook faculty really liked it, and the students had a lot of fun.”  A key feature of this year’s DMC was its increased pool of participants. Yang explained, “This year, we got a really big turnout… around 70 to 80 students… [and] a lot of schools, many schools we don’t normally see.” He credited the success to the logistical team’s efforts in outreach and coordination, which brought schools together through targeted emails and efficient surveys.   Points during the competition were tracked via a Google Sheets with automatic score calculation. Andy Chen ‘25, who helped organize the problems and keep track of scoring during the competition, explained, “The power of setting up a Google Sheets is that you can accommodate for any number of competitors and any number of scores.” He believed that this system vastly improved the efficiency of the scoring process compared to the earlier years of DMC. However, Yang mentioned that due to the large number of participants, the team experienced a “small hiccup in the spreadsheets during the competition.” Chen explained that the function for calculating the scores was not transferred to the final spreadsheet, resulting in slight delays in the proceeding. Nevertheless, the team quickly fixed this issue, and Chen described, “[In the end], the Google Sheets were working out, the score calculations were correct…and the new system of scoring ended up having no ties.” In addition, Yang also credited the problem-writing team for their efficiency. The problems had to be challenging yet not discouraging, and intellectually demanding but still fun. The team, consisting of students from all grades, went through iterative stages of brainstorming, drafting, and revising. Each problem was carefully reviewed and refined to ensure clarity and appropriate difficulty. After the competition, the team met to analyse results from each problem to assess the quality and effectiveness of each question. Reflecting on his two years of participation, Yang expressed, “I think this was the best year we’ve had…it’s been getting more organized, [and] it’s been getting more students.” Chen shared similar sentiments, stating, “I feel like at this point we definitely streamlined the process…[and even though] we had 80 students with different answers and only four people, it only took us 15 minutes.” As the DMC grows, the Math Club looks towards future improvements. Yang described that they will continue the dynamic scoring during certain rounds, which results in a more energetic and competitive atmosphere. Chen also encouraged students to “sign up to be a chaperone and to help solve some problems…[because] it doesn’t require a lot of skill.” He recounted his experience of organizing the DMC, saying, “It’s something that’s really inspiring to me and something that’s really fun.”