Due to the increased number of academic dishonesty cases over the past few years, the administration has taken new measures to try and discourage academic dishonesty. For instance, earlier in the year, the Academic Honor Committee hosted required information sessions to teach students how to properly cite sources. The meetings were an attempt to quell any uncertainty of the rules students might have had. In addition, a new honor pledge, which would appear on all major assessments and serve as a reminder for students not to cheat, is currently in the works. While this statement was created with the intention of encouraging more students to think before cheating or plagiarizing, it is important to realize that many factors exist that contribute to the rise in AHC cases. If the only things causing students to cheat and plagiarize were complete ignorance of and disdain for the rules, then the statement would solve the problem, but academic dishonesty is just not that simple. There is no one thing or one group to blame. An increase in student stress levels from hectic schedules and a more competitive college admissions process cause students to become desperate to earn high grades while getting work done quickly. In order to remain competitive for college admission, students often take on a course load that is too challenging for them to handle. The competitive environment puts an emphasis on grades rather than learning. Students are more likely to want to simply “get through” their homework rather than really think about the assignment when they are pressed for time. While we like to think it is possible for students to do everything, we need to realize that this is no longer realistic. Faculty and administration need to continue to examine our schedule and make changes as necessary so that students are less likely to feel that desperation to complete their work on time. And students: please remain honest. When you think of taking a shortcut, remember not only that you risk getting in serious trouble, but also that you are ignoring our values and are contributing to the creation of an environment which emphasizes grades and college admission over learning and trust.

Deerfield’s blood drive has struggled to get students to give blood in the past, said faculty organizer Francoise Ellis. Though some people are not eligible to donate, only 6 percent of the school shows up to a typical blood drive hosted by Deerfield and the Red Cross. Ms. Ellis has her hopes up, saying low numbers did not determine the drive’s success. “No matter the outcome in term of numbers, it will always be a success as long as we have members of the community donating and others giving their support by volunteering to help out with the drive,” she said. But many people said they choose not donate blood because they fear the process. “I’m scared of having blood drawn from me because I’ve heard that it can make you tired for the next two to three weeks, which might affect my sport performance,” Morgan Macey ’14 said. Ms. Ellis said, “The first time is always nerve-racking. I fainted the first time.” Others said they were excited to give blood for the first time. The Red Cross requires donors to be 16 years or older. “I am just so grateful to be healthy so I like to donate. And to be honest, donating did not hurt and I did not feel woozy after,” Elana Van Arnam ’13 said. “It is a nice way to give back,” Kylie Davis ’14 added. Many donors ask where the blood gets distributed. Red Cross donor representative Alison Baldree said the blood goes to one of 53 hospitals in Massachusetts that accepts Red Cross blood. There is a great need for blood in our state,” she said. “600 to 750 units of blood are used in Massachusetts everyday.” Ms. Baldree also said that within Massachusetts 37 percent of the population is eligible to donate, but only five percent do. “In order to be eligible to give blood, a donor must be of a certain weight and height, have a healthy iron level and have a healthy haemoglobin count. These factors will be tested before a donor gives blood so all the donor has to worry about before is “drinking lots of fluids, feeling healthy and eating iron-rich foods the day of and prior to the donation,” Ms. Baldree said. The first blood drive of this year is scheduled for October 11, from 3 to 7:30 p.m. in the West Gym.

Connect4 and freshmen groups have scheduled an agenda for next month that promotes discussion over important issues presented in The Laramie Project. Peer counselor David Hamilton ’14 said, “We will talk about how homosexuals are viewed in today’s culture, and what we can do about it here.” While the play deals with the topic of sexuality, the Connect4 program hopes to go beyond that and dive into ethical issues, encouraging discourse on treatment of others. “The goal is to start a conversation about ethical issues and how we act as a community towards each other,” said Connect4 organizer Sam Bicknell. Connect4 will use the play as one example of how intolerance in a community can have grim consequences. “The play is a good transition into a conversation that we should have,” Head Peer Counselor Daniel Rivera ’13 said.

Joseph Morsman, dining hall and sports information director, said he watches TV for The “ O’Reilly Factor , Hannity , and sports games,” he said. “I don’t watch the soaps.” Mr. Morsman is not alone in making room in his day for television. Mariella Rutigliano ’13 enjoys watching shows like “ Grey’s Anatomy ” and reruns of “ House .” “I think doctor shows are really thrilling and very realistic,” she said. “The scenarios are plausible.” Though each dorm has a television, students said they watch shows online when they can fit it into their schedules. “Most kids get their shows on Hulu and Netflix,” Olivia Mosley ’13 said. “If you include re-runs, I know a lot of people love Sex and the City on DVD’s.” Cole Faulkner ’14 added, “I don’t really watch TV here. I don’t have the time.” “Kids like TV shows that are about teens,” Emily Abrams ’14 said. “I don’t know if people still watch Glee , but people like Awkward . I personally like Game of Thrones .” Roommate Lila Lutes said, “I really like Arrested Development , about a weird family in California. It’s kind of like Modern Family but funnier.”

U.S. Poet Laureate (2001-2003) Billy Collins will be our guest for a night of recited poetry on October 4th. Opportunities to interact with Mr. Collins are available through a poetry contest and an informal Q&A session. While the Thursday night Academy Event is the highlight of his visit, Billy Collins has agreed to make himself available to students on a number of other occasions. English teacher Heather Liske, who is in charge of organizing the visit, has made a special effort to insure that as many students as possible can meet Billy Collins in an informal setting. Mr. Collins will hold a poetry workshop with eight students. To be selected, students have been invited to submit an original poem and explanatory statement to Ms. Liske. This prized opportunity to have a poem reviewed by Mr. Collins will take place during faculty break on Thursday, from 11:00 a.m. to 12:15 p.m., followed by a luncheon with students. In the early evening, faculty members will have an opportunity to dine with Mr. Collins in the Caswell Library before the Academy event. At 7:00 PM, Stefani Kuo ’13 and Ben Turner ’13, co-editors of the literary magazine Albany Road , will introduce Billy Collins to the whole school assembled in the large auditorium. Mr. Collins will begin the academy event, and although there will definitely be poetry reading; the rest is a mystery. Immediately following the event, Mr. Collins will be signing books and broadsides in the living room of Ephraim Williams. His books will be available there for purchase, including his latest publication, Horoscopes for the Dead . As the final event on Friday morning, there will be a continental breakfast and informal Q&A session with Mr. Collins in the Hilson Gallery. This setting provides a much more informal ambiance, so students will be able to hear even more of Mr. Collins’ personality and wisdom. Students are encouraged to ask first period teachers if it is possible to take advantage of the special opportunity.

Allan Joel and Thomas Wells Johnson, Deerfield Class of 1937, World War II pilots and brothers whose names are etched in the granite base around the flagpole near the Memorial Building, were killed five days apart in an aerial raid over Germany. “That means the mother received one notification letter, and five days later she received another letter,” said John Cycz, co-chairman of the Deerfield Veterans Street Sign Committee. “You just have to imagine what it was like to be that parent.” The Veterans Street Sign Committee will honor the brothers this Monday at 9 a.m. at the intersection of Routes 5 and 10 and the north end of Old Main Street. They will read biographies of the soldiers and unveil two blue, 36 by 9 inch signs. The signs will rest on top of a street sign to memorialize the brothers. “We wanted to find another way to recognize them besides putting their names on a monument,” Chairman Doug Tierney said. “We came across something in the eastern part of the state, which was to develop signs and put them on top of street signs in proximity to where the men lived.” The Johnson brothers are among the 23 Deerfield soldiers who lost their lives in war. Seven of them graduated from the Academy. With the help of private donations, a project to have all soldiers memorialized over street signs is underway. “Usually a family member will say a few words and pull off the veil [covering the sign] at the end of the ceremony,” Mr. Tierney said. “We have not been able to reach any Johnson family. We see the Academy as the Johnson family.” The Committee hopes to have a senior, junior, sophomore and freshman at the unveiling, as many members of the community as possible. “We think it’s important that DA participates since it has a rich, strong history, strong history about character, values and service,” Mr. Tierney said. “We think it’s equally important that students of the 21st century get to understand 19th and 20th century graduates who helped shape this country.” The heart and soul of the project, Mr. Tierney said, is Researcher Betty Hollingsworth, who spent 18 hours a day researching birth dates, death dates and events leading to their death for the biographies. Ms. Hollingsworth had to validate the data in three different ways. She said the hardest part was the research, since technology and immediate access to information didn’t exist in the Spanish American War, WWI, and WWII. “Except now I have more information on our Spanish American War than I do on anyone else,” she said. Ms. Hollingsworth used town reports, military sources, gravestones newspaper articles, anyone with personal information about the fallen soldiers. An experience that motivates her, she said, comes from when she was 12 years old. “I had twin brothers, and they were both in service in Europe. I was a young girl and I was home all alone. In those days, when a person was killed in action, they sent a service person to the door and delivered the message in person. I saw this uniformed service man walk up to the door. I screamed ‘I will not accept!’ because I thought he had a telegram telling me my brother was killed in action. But as a young girl, that uniform coming to your doorstep meant that you lost a person. And I was affected by it,” she said. “It is emotional, and it is personal,” Mr. Tierney said of the project. “We’re doing the right thing for the right reason for the right people. We think other communities might want to hear about this and perhaps this can serve as an impetus. Our effort is about service to country, not about campaign or politics. We’re here to honor and service the country.” Ms. Hollingsworth added, “You feel a strong association with the veterans. Working with them, every day you get a chance to see lives interrupted, departures and homecomings. Some of them are more joyful than others, but that’s the nature of the service.”

Last year, the Academy was fortunate enough to host W.S. Merwin, the current U.S. Poet Laureate, and after much effort and planning, has the opportunity to welcome Billy Collins this fall. “We landed on Collins because he’s engaging and warm, and we knew that he’d hit it out of the park. Also, he shares an agent with previous guest, W.S. Merwin, making arrangements much easier,” English teacher Heather Liske said. Head of School Margarita Curtis said Mr. Collins’s visit will launch the year in a thoughtful and reflective tone. “Poetry is a good antidote to the life we live here, which is very task and goal oriented,” she said. “Poetry is a balancing element; it’s almost like a deep breath.” Madeline Moon ’16 said, “It’s a great honor to have him on campus, and during the Q&A session, students will be able to take advantage and ask questions about him and writing as a career. Many will see writing in a different way and start to appreciate it a way they’ve never have before.”

Jade Moon ’13 decided to ask Stephen Wolfram, creator of Mathematica, the software her multivariable calculus class used, and iPhone’s Siri, to visit campus last spring. “We were in such awe of him that we decided to email him on a whim, and he responded saying he was happy to come to campus free of charge,” she said. “His visit was important because our math class was based off of his work, and we were able to bring a math speaker for once.” Moon is one of the many students to propose ideas to the Academy Events Committee, a group of faculty members who organize two events per year so that students will experience a diverse range of topics. Though Mr. Wolfram’s visit was not an Academy Event, many students came to hear him speak. “We try to bring something interesting, and also something to get students thinking in new ways, whether it is a global or local issue,” said Committee Member and College Advisor Elizabeth Bishop. Along with Ms. Bishop, Dean of Students Amie Creagh and Theater Director Catriona Hynds, among others, sit in the committee. Ms. Hynds said she uses past experience as a managing director of a performing arts center to play the role of “negotiator” for the Committee. She coordinates contracts and debates fees, legal specification, publicity, and technical needs with visitors’ agents. One of the year’s academy events is dedicated to theater, music or dance according to a three-year rotation. The other event is generally a speaker of any topic. Each Academy Event night has a special schedule. While one event is a co-curricular night, the other is a no-homework night. “We are very fortunate and privileged to get speakers of this caliber on this campus and be able to work directly with the students,” Ms. Hynds said.

The first time Stefani Kuo ’13 encountered Billy Collins was in a four-line poem in his poetry collection Ballistics . Titled “Divorce,” the poem described two spoons that turn into hostile forks, hiring knives to settle the papers. “The entire poem is like a pictograph,” Kuo said. “It’s completely made up of imagery, and the visuals are so basic and common. People assume poetry is obscure and deep and profound. The moment you read something that simple and almost childlike in its direct description, you’re surprised by how poetic that is.” Kuo read the book from cover to cover one Wednesday afternoon. “After the first poem, I started laughing aloud to myself and kept reading,” she said. “It just got funnier and funnier. His writing is direct, relatable and lightheartedly funny without being dense, morbid or undecipherable.” Kuo, along with the rest of the student body, faculty and staff, received a copy of Collins’ Sailing Alone Around the Room at the beginning of the school year. In preparation for the second Academy Event featuring a U.S. poet laureate, English teachers are required to spend at least four days looking at poems from the book. Teachers have taken different approaches to the assignment. English teacher Mark Scandling holds “Poetry Fridays,” during which students read poems aloud and “enjoy Collins’ wit and wisdom,” he said. Mr. Schloat is showing videos of Collins reading his work and having his students read poems in class. English teacher Heather Liske’s class is on “a steady diet of Billy Collins,” she said. “I am definitely excited about his visit, because it is a much more powerful experience to hear him in person, when the words live in a way they can’t when you are just reading his poems alone in your room,” Ms. Liske said. Like the faculty, students said they are eagerly awaiting Collins’ arrival. “I have enjoyed the poems so far and cannot wait to hear him speak in person,” Nina Sola ’13 said. Similarly, Izzy Tang ’14 said, “After all the hype leading up to the event, I am excited to hear what he has to say.” The style of the Academy Event will be very similar to W.S. Merwin’s visit last year, with both guests as Poet Laureate and their reading followed by a book signing at Ephraim Williams. But English Department Chair Mark Ott said Collins is a different kind of poet than Merwin. “Merwin is a poet of mystery,” he said. “Billy Collins is mysterious, too, but he is also more a poet of pleasure. His work is both serious and funny, thoughtful and whimsical.”

Matthew Fox, Deerfield Class of ’85 and actor best known for his role on “Lost,” will speak at school meeting and lead acting and photography classes this week. Front page editor and “Lost” devotee Casey Butler interviewed Mr. Fox. Scroll: Why did you come to Deerfield for your PG year, and how involved were you on campus? Fox: Actually, it was my father’s idea. I was going to high school in Wyoming and I hadn’t really made plans for the future. My father had gone to St. Georges in the east and he recommended I go to the east coast and have a year as a PG. I did that, applied to a bunch of schools and chose Deerfield. I played football and ran track at Deerfield. and it was a fantastic year for me. It was very daunting and I was very nervous at first. I wasn’t sure I could handle being away from home for that long a period of time. I wasn’t sure I could handle the school academically, so I was very nervous. But I made some fantastic friends and when I look back I think it was a very pivotal year of my life. I think it opened up my eyes to many new things and I think that’s what a school like Deerfield is supposed to do. It opens your mind to all the possibilities life has to offer. Scroll: Did anyone here have a particularly big impact on you? A teacher or a coach who helped steer you? Fox: The football coach James Smith was a legend at the school, at the time. He had been coaching for many years. In general, the school had such an incredible spirit of learning and for the first time in my life, I really got excited about learning. I had been an underachiever in high school and really hadn’t spent a lot of time focusing on my studies. For the first time, I was in a school where I had to study hard and get good marks in classes. I enjoyed all of the classes I took that year. Scroll: Do you have a best Deerfield memory? Fox: I have many, many Deerfield memories. It was an amazing year. The first half, I felt like I was treading water a little bit as the barn kid from Wyoming. In the second half of the year, I felt like I had really made friends and felt part of the school. You know, as a PG at any school, you’ve basically just started junior or senior year, and you’re in a class with people who mostly have been together for three or four years. It was easy to feel slightly alienated at the beginning of the year, but by the end, I really felt part of the school. Scroll: Did you act here at all? Fox: I didn’t start acting until I had graduated from Columbia. I didn’t study theatre until I graduated. I got my degree in economics at Columbia, and then I decided to take some acting classes. It was intriguing to me. I was curious about it, and that’s how I started in New York Scroll: What was your first big acting job? Fox: “Party Of Five” was the first big job. I had done some small things. I was in an episode of a show called “Wings” and a small part in a film. But “Party Of Five” turned out to be a six-year chapter of my life working on that show. I had a degree in economics and here I was on a show trying to learn how to be an actor. Scroll: Do you have a favorite character that you have played? Fox: No. They are all very different and have different challenges. They all need different things from you and you learn by trying to figure them out. I’ve enjoyed every one of the projects I’ve been a part of and working as hard as I can to try to bring myself to the telling of a story in the best way I can. Scroll: About “Lost”; It was on for six years, so was it hard to let go of the show, or were you ready to start something new? Fox: Well, a little bit of both. It was an incredible experience, and there were so many people involved in the making of it that I knew I would miss and I probably wouldn’t see again. There was a part of it that was melancholy at saying goodbye to that, but there was also a big part of me that was excited to what was next. That’s why I’m enjoying where I am right now, being home and doing some plays. Scroll: Did you have any favorite storyline in “Lost”? Fox: Well, I always look back at Jack’s storyline, just being around that amazing caliber of writing on the show. I think that whole six years for Jack was one gigantic arc, and I can’t specifically chop out a part and say I like that part best; it really was all leading to the end. I feel very fortunate to have played that role and I really enjoyed it. Scroll: You mentioned the arc of the show; were you surprised by the evolution of the story, or did you know early on where the writers were taking the show? Fox: I had talked about the end pretty early on, but I was surprised by how he got there. I didn’t want them to tell me too much. I wanted to be surprised by the script. I looked forward to getting the scripts every week and seeing where it was headed. I was a big fan of it. The show, for me, was about getting the new scripts. Scroll: Did you keep any props from the set as keepsakes? Fox: (Laugh) No, I didn’t. Sometimes I do that, but Jack didn’t really have anything specific or interesting. Scroll: Emperor just premiered last night at the Toronto Film Festival, right? How was that? Fox: It was amazing. It was very well received and it got a very good domestic distribution deal. It was a very successful festival for us. We don’t have an exact date yet but Lionsgate is looking to release the film sometime in May. Scroll: You mentioned that it was a period piece and based on true events, I was wondering if that influenced how you played and prepared for the role? Fox: I love history, I love learning history and I feel like I don’t know a lot of history. You can dedicate your whole life to learning world history, you know, we have five thousand years of civilization to learn about and you can never scratch the surface, there’s so much to learn so anytime I’m a part of a story where I am going to learn about an historical moment in time, that a win-win, it’s a perfect combination. I’m doing something I love to do which is storytelling, being a part of a group of people who are trying to tell the very best story they can, then to weave in actual historical events that you may not have known much about. This combination is perfect. I learned a lot about the man that I’m playing, because he was an actual guy. I learned a lot about those couple of weeks in August 1945 when there were some incredibly difficult decisions being made and depending on how those decisions were made were going to determine history from that point forward so it was really a cool learning experience for me. I love when those two things go together. Scroll: One of your other new projects is Alex Cross…It seems very different from your other work and I was wondering if it was fun playing the bad guy for a change and how did you decide to take on that roll? Fox: You always hear that in the acting business that the villains are more fun to play. It wasn’t the most enjoyable experience because he is a very messed up human being, but I enjoyed the challenge of it and it was a very challenging project for me. I wanted to take on the challenge where I had to lose a bunch of weight and radically change the way I look. I felt that was very necessary for the role. When I was offered the role, the director called me in London when I was doing a play in the West End. He said “I want you to play this serial killer assassin in a film I’m doing.” In that first moment you think, “I cant believe you’re offering me this role; I’m not right for this role,” but what I love about acting, the challenge of acting and that part of me spoke up. I’ve always wanted to do that type of role, so I said yes. But I knew it would require a lot of work, so I immediately got a trainer and nutritionist to help me figure out a plan and a meal plan so over the five or six month period of time that I had before the movie, I lost a couple pounds and I wanted the guy to look almost disturbingly gaunt and shredded down. His ideas and the way he rationalizes his livelihood and what turns him on and his philosophy would require a tremendous amount of energy, and I think that’s what he would look like. Scroll: Any specific career goals or projects you want to pursue? Fox: No, I like picking them one at a time. I don’t have any genre of film I want to do next. I love not knowing what’s coming. I just wait for the moment when something is going to really hook into you in a way that you feel, “ I absolutely have to be a part of this.” Scroll: Another “Lost “star Nester Carbonell also went to Deerfield as a PG. Did you guys ever talk or exchange Deerfield stories? Fox: Yes, we discussed the fact that we both went there. He is a very good actor. It took us a little while to realize that we had both gone to Deerfield I think he had been working on the show for quite a while before we made that connection. He’s a very good guy. Scroll: Deerfield is starting a program to promote the arts at the school. Do you have any thoughts on promoting the arts for budding actors? Fox: I think the arts are incredibly important in life. Being creative is important to our happiness. I think that young people are too focused on making decisions about what they’re going to do with their lives too early on. I’m going to have an opportunity to speak at school meeting for a few minutes, and I hope encourage everyone to not make choices in life to early to delay and to keep their minds open to all the possibilities, the infinite possibilities of what they might be doing in their lives. They may end up doing many different things in their lives and not making solid decisions, like “I want to be a doctor” or “I want to be a lawyer” or “I want to work in some aspect of the business world” too early on. I want to encourage or to make sure people are creative in their lives. Not to say that they need to go out and pursue a creative endeavor to make a living but just for themselves, just on a day to day basis, try to find avenues to be creative because I really think it a part of who we are as human beings and if we focus too much on the linear side of our minds and are too committed to goal oriented things, it take away from our ability to find peace and happiness and to feel fulfilled. I’m sorry, I know that’s a long and wordy answer to your question but yes, I think that the arts are something you see disappearing everywhere. We’re focusing more and more on academic applications like going to a good college where it more focused on getting you into the right business or field you are pursuing and I feel that’s really dangerous. We need to step back and understand that the more balanced and compete we are its better for us as human beings. It’s very, very important. I really do love the craft of acting. There are many, many things about the acting business and the things that come along with it on the outside that I’m not crazy about, but the actual process and craft of acting is a pretty amazing and interesting thing to be a part of.

With the help of student feedback last year, a committee of faculty and staff members changed this year’s opening days’ schedule to ease academic and social anxieties students face in their first week of school. “The previous schedule didn’t feel like a ‘shared experience’ for new students,” Dean of Students Amie Creagh said. “Some new students felt connected immediately, while others felt out of the loop. That’s not right. We want each new student to feel equally prepared and connected.” Co-ed corridor teams will rotate around stations in key campus locations on Sunday to learn about Deerfield culture. These activities will replace Dorm Olympics, an inter-dorm competition in activities ranging from sponge relays to boomerang tosses. Science teacher Dennis Cullinane said Dorm Olympics was counterproductive for new students in the first days. “My experience with Dorm Olympics was that we always started as a dorm, but then the returners would flock to their friends when we got down to the field, which really defeated the idea behind the event,” he said. Dr. Cullinane continued, “I’m a firm believer in community service, sports and social growth being important components of the Deerfield experience, but we have to remember that academics need to come first.” Another schedule change is the addition of Friday classes and weekend academic orientations designed to prepare students for Deerfield’s academic rigor. “Many faculty felt the opening days were off balance: lots of social emphasis and not enough academic,” Ms. Creagh said. “This is an opportunity to find a better balance between the two.” Science teacher Rich Calhoun said, “I plan on using the day to have a relaxed conversation to get to know my students and answer questions rather than holding a more formal class.” Green Key leaders, proctors, peer counselors and members of the Disciplinary and Academic Honor Committees will discuss ethical leadership and how to build cultural understanding on campus in the leadership program Tuesday. “This is a new initiative, and I think it will allow us to be far more deliberate about what we want for and from our named leaders,” Ms. Creagh said. Faculty members primarily support returning from break five days earlier, and many believe it will benefit students in their classes later in the term. Students, however, seem to be hesitant to embrace an early start. “I’m pretty ambivalent about the changes,” Anna Lu ’13 said. “It was strange to arrive after the returners, but on the other hand, it was also nice that everyone else was already moved in and excited to welcome the new students.” “I do not understand how it is going to make things less hectic when returners arrive the day before classes begin,” Shanisha

For the second year in a row, the boys’ varsity crew team placed at the Junior National championships. But this year they surpassed last year’s bronze metal and took gold on June 12. “Everyone knew it was going to be a war of attrition between the Big Green and the Belmont Hill boat,” said Tee Johnson ’69, who attended the championship. “For the entire length of the course, it was a close race. All teams were well ahead of their previous best time[s], but the last 300 yards was the nail-biter. Deerfield ended up just stroking-through Belmont Hills’ pace to finish less than one half-second ahead and clinch the title with a best time of 6:40.967.” The boat was lead by boys’ head coach Wayne Berger ’84, who spent all season training champions Henry Bird ’12, Brad Hakes ’12, Brad Plunkett ’12, Rich Caputo ’14 and coxswain Grant Louis ’14 “The win didn’t just happen. We worked hard all season and put in the hours to be a winning team, and we wouldn’t have been able to do it without Mr. Berger,” Louis said. “The boat’s performance was amazing at the championship. Everyone was focused both on and off the water to try to win a gold medal.” He continued, “We visualized the race as a group. The rowers lay on the beds and I called the entire race so they could know exactly what was going to happen that afternoon. The rest is a blur.” Looking to build on the wins are the new boys’ captains Warner Brown ’13, Conner Romeyn ’13 and Teddy Romeyn ’13. “I would love to end my career at Deerfield with a National Championship like Hakes, Bird and Plunkett,” Teddy Romeyn said. “I hope this win will give us a sense of urgency to compete for a New England title and a national championship next year.Considering the great success of our novice boats [that won the lower boat championships], this team has a bright future.” However, winning National’s was only the beginning of the summer for Deerfield rowers. Plunkett, Caputo and Claire Collins ’15, as well as Mr. Berger, were selected to represent the United States Junior National Rowing team at the World Championships in Plovidiv, Bulgaria. Collins, who only began rowing in March, won a silver in the Junior Women’s 8+. “Being on the National Team is lots of fun, but lots of hard work,” she said. “I love the team though. All the girls are great.” Louis added, “The bar is set high for next year’s team, but as Mr. Berger told us repeatedly this season, ‘pressure is a privilege.’ I am excited to try to defend our silver at New England’s and the National Championships with next year’s rowers.”