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As society becomes increasingly reliant on phones, Deerfield Academy strives to separate students from their devices. During the cell-phone free week from October 8th to October 17th, approximately 100 students voluntarily turned in their phones to the Academy Security. Connor Merrill, the Dean of Students, explained, “The Philosophy of Happiness started the [cell-phone free] program, but this is the first time the SLO (Student Life Office) is supporting this initiative.” He credits the turnout to the positive experiences students had last year, which encouraged them to tell their friends to join in. Blythe Gering ‘27, a phone-free week participant, shared her reasons for joining, saying, “I had heard from people who had done it in the past that they really enjoyed doing it, and it was really effective. Why not do it?” Gering described the benefits from the challenge, stating, “I definitely don’t go on my phone anymore before bed, because I kind of broke off that dependency. When I go to the dining hall during sit-down dinners, I don’t bring my phone anymore, so it’s just like a lot of more face to face interactions.” Meryl Gilbert ‘27 did not participate in the challenge, but she still felt a positive influence on her phone usage because many people around her had turned in their phones. Gilbert describes her experience on the bus back from a game, explaining, “It was actually kind of cool because a lot of the people in the team did the challenge. And so we were driving back from an away game, I would be the only one on my phone…it just made me put my phone down and it made me want to talk.” However, many students still didn’t participate despite the positive results. Josh Freedman ‘26 explained, “The main reason I didn’t participate in it is because I had a debate tournament that weekend, and I knew that I needed my phone for it.” Freedman elaborates that he would have liked to participate but said, “There’s just a lot of things that I do where I just straight up, like, need my phone, for like communications, or for like timing, like my parents are picking me up this weekend.” These challenges are not unique to Freedman as Mr. Merrill explained, “There are some seniors that did not opt in due to the college application process.” Day students also need their phones as a method of communication with their parents for transportation. Melody Zhao ‘26, a day student, explained, “The reason why I didn’t participate in the no phone challenge was because it’s hard for day students to not have their phones on campus when they need a text to go home and get a ride and when they need to call their parents.” Mr. Merrill elaborates on the SLO’s efforts to accommodate Deerfield students, stating, “We let them pick up their phone if they need to make an important call.” Additionally, the SLO required students who went off campus during the cell-phone-free week to check out their phones for safety. He adds that “There were day students who opted into the initiative, but we recognize the challenges with leaving their phone behind but we want to support them by letting them pick up their phone when they go home.” However, Zhao points out that for day students, “checking our phones out is one step, but still, there’s that element where our parents might be worried about not having our phones there or being able to reach them and call them.” She adds “it wasn’t super clear that you could check your phone out and have that just during the day, because I might have done it.” Another challenge worth addressing is checking the time. Gering explains that “I didn’t really know the time even when it was after the school day. So, like, I’d go to soccer, or I’d get back from sit-down, and I just wouldn’t know the time, and so I wouldn’t know how to, like plan out my day because of that.” The SLO supplied alarm clocks for participants, but Gering states that she “found it super quiet” and had her friends wake her up in the mornings just in case. Zhao concludes that “it was a good challenge, but it could have been more accessible to different people, like day students…I’d say that I would want to participate next time.” Many students grew more aware of their cell phone habits throughout the week. Although a sixth of the school participated in the first official cell phone challenge, some interested students faced challenges that prevented them from turning in their phones. The cell-phone free week is one step closer to distancing students from their phones, but challenges still remain.

Each year, the Academy’s girls come together in the large dance studio to share serious and funny stories meant to showcase the strength of Deerfield’s female community. This year’s Girls’ Meeting was held on Sunday, October 20. The event was organized by girl leaders on the Student Planning Committee and StuCo, including Svetlana Deshpande ’25, Julia Tamul ’25, Ellie Schiller ’25, and Campbell Krotee ’25. Female faculty members started the meeting by sharing personal narratives— many offered tales from their high school days. Afterward, the faculty members left the meeting, offering the space to the students. The four student planners shared their stories, then the floor was opened to anyone who wished to share a story. Associate Head of School for Student Life Amie Creagh, one of the faculty members at the meeting, shared an inspiring perspective on how girls’ roles on campus, and ideas of their place on campus had changed over her time at Deerfield. Ms. Creagh emphasized in an interview that during her time at Deerfield, “the motivation, the goal of the meeting has been the same …to bring girls together with a shared experience of supporting one another.” While this goal has remained constant, the main change of Girls’ Meeting over the years has been its organization. Originally, it was adult-led with student support, but now it is student-led, with students reaching out to adults to share at the meet- ing and support the organization. Ms. Creagh pointed to two main shifts in the conversations during Girls’ Meeting over the years. Ms. Creagh said, “15 years ago they [the adult organizers of Girls’ Meeting] were trying to address girl culture concerns.” However, Ms. Creagh said that their concerns are no longer as pressing, and there is much more “sisterhood and camaraderie of girls coming together on campus,” she said, allowing for the meeting to focus much more on these important connections and stories. The second main shift was that previously “it was contextualized relative to boys.” For Ms. Creagh, this “was disheartening, discouraging…it was just grounded in boys and that seemed counterintuitive,” she added. This approach towards the purpose of the meeting as well “has changed radically over the last 10-15 years.” As she attends more Girls’ Meetings, she increasingly relishes this time for girls to create stronger bonds with one another and learn new things in such a supportive environment, and concluded by saying that “each year, I’m more encouraged by what that space provides for girls,” Creagh said. Once the four student leaders shared their stories, and created an inclusive environment where everyone felt welcome to share, various students stood up and came to the middle of the dance studio under loud cheering and applause to share a short anecdote that they believed exemplified girlhood at Deerfield. Some stories were shared for the purpose of making everyone laugh, while others were more serious, and about overcoming a significant challenge. During the more lighthearted ones, audible laughter never ceased, while during much more emotional ones, everyone listened respectfully. Despite this variation, all of the stories left audience members with a stronger sense of community and more hope for what the community offers them.

September 26th: Hurricane Helene made landfall as a Category 4 hurricane in the panhandle of Florida. The hurricane caused 226 deaths and between 15 billion and 100 billion dollars in damage. Damage was especially severe in North Carolina, where significant acute flooding occurred. (Reuters, New York Times) September 27th: Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah was killed in an airstrike by the Israeli armed forces in a suburb of Beirut, the capital of Lebanon. Nasrallah has led the militant group for over a decade, which has fired rockets on Israel in support of Hamas and Gaza. (NYT, Associated Press) September 29th: The 2024 Austrian Legislative Elections resulted in the far-right Freedom Party gaining a plurality of seats—57 out of a total 183. The previous majority center-right party, The Austrian People’s Party lost 20 seats, only retaining 51 representatives. (Politico) October 1st: Iran launched 200 ballistic missiles at Israel, likely in retaliation for the killing of Nasrallah. Iranian military leaders executed the attack with only hours of warning. The attack widened the nature of the ongoing conflict in the Middle East, shifting the faction warring against Israel from militant proxies of Iran to Iran itself. Two casualties and four injuries were sustained (Cable News Network) October 1st: The U.S. Vice Presidential Debate took place at the CBS Studio in New York, and featured Democrat Governor Tim Walz of Minnesota and Republican Senator JD Vance of Ohio. This debate was the only planned debate between the two vice-presidential candidates between the major parties. (NYT) October 6th: Independent Kais Saied of Tunisia was elected to his 2nd 5-year term as president, winning 91% of the vote. Before the election, many of Saied’s prominent opponents, including Conservative Abir Moussi and Islamist Rached Ghannouchi were imprisoned on a variety of charges; critics say this was a deliberate move by Saied to stifle dissent. The election had remarkably low voter turn-out – only 28.8% of eligible voters participated- due in part to opposition parties’ boycotting the election (National Public Radio). October 9th: Hurricane Milton made landfall in Florida. Milton was the fastest ever storm to turn into a Category 5 hurricane in recent history. Milton resulted in 150 tornado warnings, and knocked out power for 3 million residents across the state. The total material damage caused by the hurricane is estimated to be 50 billion dollars. (AP) October 14th: NASA launched Europa Clipper, a mission meant to investigate Europa, one of Jupiter’s moons. Europa is covered with icy oceans, and has the possibility of harnessing life beneath the solid surface. (NASA) October 16th: Yahya Sinwar, de facto leader of Hamas, is killed by the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) in a shootdown. As the figurehead of the terrorist organization, Sinwar is widely believed to have orchestrated the October 7th attacks, which precipitated the ongoing conflict. (NYT) October 20th: Moldovan citizens headed to the polls to vote on the first round of the Moldovan Presidential Election. Maia Sandu, the incumbent independent candidate captured a plurality of the vote, but failed to garner a majority receiving 42.49% of the vote. Sandu will face Socialist Alexandr Stoiangolo in the second round of voting (NYT, AP) November 5: Donald J. Trump was elected as the 47th President of the United States, winning with 312 electoral votes, beating incumbent Vice President Kamala Harris by 86 votes. (AP) November 12: German Chancellor Olaf Scholz is expected to ask for a vote of confidence in his government on Dec. 16, preparing for the upcoming parliamentary election. The expected vote comes well ahead of original plans, representing a compromise with Sholz’s party, the Social Democrats, and center right Conservatives. (AP) November 5 to Present: Since winning the presidential election, President Donald Trump as announced his intention to appoint a number of Republican politicians to his cabinet. He has ignited some controversy by nominating Former Floridian House Representative Matt Gaetz, who is currently under investigation for sexual misconduct, to the position of Attorney General. (NYT).

Three Deerfield students returned on October 21, 2024, after competing at the International Independent Schools Public Speaking Competition at Bermuda High School and Saltus Grammar School. Edie Huffard ’25, Billy Tang ’25 (who is a Co-Managing Editor for the Scroll ), and Avery Zakowich ’25 (who is the News Page Editor for the Scroll ) competed in several events: parliamentary debate, cross examination debate, persuasive speaking, impromptu speaking, and extemporaneous speaking (Zakowich in parliamentary debate, cross examination and persuasive speaking, Tang in extemporaneous speaking and cross examination, and Huffard in parliamentary debate, impromptu speaking, and interpretive reading). This four-day tournament was highlighted by Huffard winning parliamentary debate, Tang and Zakowich winning cross examination debate, Tang finishing third in parliamentary debate and second in extemporaneous speaking. Because of her success, Zakowich qualified to represent the United States on its national team at the world championships to come in the spring. Huffard explained the organization of the tournament, and shared that there were three preliminary days, and two rounds of each category. Zakowich and Huffard both finaled in two categories, and Tang finaled in three. In describing the quick turn around, Huffard said, “You basically go right into it [the debate tournament]; it’s chaos.” Tang seconded that, explaining that the scheduling was very tight, and said, “The tournament stressed the importance of timeliness and being on schedule; it was very efficiently run.” Despite this initial disarray, Huffard said, “I won top parliamentary debater, and that was based entirely on my final round. It was only my final score that mattered,” touching also on how participants were scored at finals. Tang shared that he found out last spring that he would be going to when the debate program held auditions, and said, “I was one of the lucky few to be accepted out of a very competitive field of people.” In preparing for this tournament, Deerfield’s debaters practiced the style of their categories, running them in-house with Language Department Chair and Debate Team Advisor Dan Houston. Huffard shared that she felt supported by the Deerfield faculty, especially Visual and Performing Arts Department Chair and Theater Director Catriona Hynds. She said, “I found this piece called “Howl” by Amy Newman, and I loved it. I trimmed that piece, then met with Doc about it, and he helped me edit it down, and I met with Ms. Hynds once to practice it, and then ran it a bunch of times.” When reflecting on this tournament, Tang shared that despite the Deerfield debate team being a group of seniors leading busy schedules, he believes its members have a strong sense of camaraderie and leadership that is shared among the people of its board. He said, “We value each other not as just classmates who are equally good at what we do but actual friends who we want to see succeed. Debate gets competitive at this level; a lot is at stake. Every win is a win for us at the Deerfield level.” Huffard shared that she aims to help others grow to feel more comfortable in their debating skills, and said, “A large part of my role in debate is training others.” This sentiment of helping others drives Deerfield’s debate program, and Tang echoed this, saying, “There’s a real feeling of being rewarded as being a part of this community.”

At 5:15 in the evening of January 31, 1988, hundreds of Deerfield boys spilled out of the campus dining hall after Headmaster Robert E. Kaufmann stood in front of the student body and announced that Deerfield Academy would be admitting girls the following year (New York Times). For a while, the boys worried school spirit would be lost as the Academy became coed. But even before Deerfield introduced co-education, school spirit has been an integral part of student culture through DA chants and songs. Today, alumni and community members across campus illustrate how school spirit continues to be an integral part of the school culture. However, how did earlier school spirit affect students’ day to day lives, and how has it changed, continued, and progressed over time? In the ’80s, Deerfield chants and cheers were prominent and highly integrated into the school’s culture. One was simply, “01342 Hey!,” the Academy zip code. Another was the switchboard number “4-1-3-7-7- 2-0-2-4-1!” Students heard these numbers regularly, as all calls to the school had to travel through the switchboard receptionist. Alumni John Knight ’83 jokingly described the cheer, “Our enthusiasm was high but our creativity was low back then.” Aga-chi, a current and widely popular cheer at the academy, has had different versions over the years. It was known as “Acka-lacka-chi, Acka-lacka-cha” to Math Teacher Marc Dancer ’79, while former student Josh Binswanger ’80 remembered it as “Aka lakka ching, Aka lakka chow.” Despite the changes, students continue to chant the traditional school cry at athletic events, school meetings, Sunday sit-downs as well as pass the cheer down down to new freshmen. As it is today, Deerfield and Choate rivaled fervently, and the cheers that accompanied their competitions were no different. Mr. Scandling recalled the banners students would put up to tease Choate as controversial, suggestive, and “innuendofilled”. Alumni B. C. Knowlton ’80 described the anti-Choate cheering culture before Deerfield began accepting girls, saying that students would chant, “Choate has girls but they still can’t score!” as Deerfield’s rival went coed significantly earlier. They would also tease the Choate students with, “Knit one, Pearl two; Choaties, yoo-hoo,” Josh Binswanger ’80 added, the last part in a high pitched voice to reference the antiquated tradition of teaching female students to “knit and pearl” in home economic classes, while boys took shop and learned different skills expected of their gender. When Deerfield started admitting girls, the community began to fear the death of the academy’s school spirit. Mr. Scandling described the dread that many students carried following 1988: “[I]t seemed like …‘our school spirit is dying, our school spirit is dying.’” Much of this was due to the coed transformation. Chief Advancement Officer Chuck Ramsay ’88 added, “[T]he boys were protesting because they felt like, with girls on campus, the school spirit would disappear because boys would be afraid of… cheering not being cool.” The newly coed community reacted by emphasizing school spirit more than ever. New cheers rose up along with the mixed-gender movement, and past chants that teased Choate for being “girl-y” faded while the Deerfield cheerleaders began incorporating girls. One significant change was the nomination of girls as Captain Deerfield, the head cheerleader. “We’ve had really strong school leaders who were girls before, but that idea of who’s in charge of school spirit seemed for a long time to be kind of a male role. You know, a lot of that has changed through the years,” History Teacher Conrad Pitcher mentioned. Today, many Deerfield songs are carried on from the ’80s and ’90s. While some lost popularity, others adapted to a changing student body. “The Sons of Deerfield” song was commonly sung during Frank Boyden’s time and through the ’80s, but as the school underwent its coed transformation, the song was rarely sung again. The Cheering Song starts off every school meeting and adapted pronouns to be inclusive of a coed community and is still prominent today. The Evensong, which is sung after sit down dinners on Sundays today, was sung at a family and school wide spring concert known as the ‘Spring Sing’ in the ’80s. Students used to rehearse the Evensong and the Deerfield Song—which is not sung or known widely today—after meals during the spring term. Eventually, the Deerfield Song faded with the end of Spring Sing. But the end of this spring concert didn’t signify the end of longstanding tradition. As Mr. Pitcher explained, “[Singing the Evensong on Sundays is] something that’s been new, and it’s actually trying to tap into an older tradition…when Frank Boyden was here…they would have Sunday meetings where they would sing songs and gather, and so the decision to…go back to singing the Evensong every Sunday [is] sort of a nod to that older tradition.” “Deerfield used to be a true singing school,” Mr. Dancer described, with music being an integral part of the school’s community. Although Deerfield has pared down on required singing traditions, such as the Spring Sing, students continue to sing and shout the Evensong, the Cheering Song, and many long Evensong-Sheet-Music-nd2 standing cheers across the courts, in the fields, and on the stage. As Mr. Pitcher put it, “[A]t Deerfield, [songs are] really still part of the fabric of who we are as a school.”

Most students at Deerfield are unaware of the effort required to keep the Academy’s lawns and playing fields presentable and functional year round. This summer, the Academy’s contracted R.A.D. Sports, a New England sports facility construction company, to install a new turf field for both the lacrosse and field hockey teams over the summer. The Physical Plant, responsible for the maintenance of the school’s many fields and lawns, also encountered unexpectedly dry weather, which has led to the extensive use of sprinklers around campus. The Academy uses synthetic turf for their field hockey fields for ease of maintenance. Traditional grass fields “require mowing, fertilization, and irrigation,” explained Athletic Grounds Supervisor Chip Williams. “With turf, it’s pretty self-sufficient.” The new turf is also covered with sand, which supplements the turf by providing structure and stability for each blade. However, the new turf isn’t a perfect solution. The height of the grass on the playing field was “a compromise between lacrosse and field hockey,” explained Mr. Williams. The Physical Plant had to consider the technicalities of the two sports when choosing the turf height. Field hockey grass needs to be shorter so that the ball can roll freely without too much resistance, while grass for lacrosse is subject to less stringent requirements. R.A.D. Sports began remodeling the turf field at the end of the previous school year and completed construction in slightly under two months. The construction, while mainly renovation focused, also improved the underlying structure of the fields. Mr. Williams mentioned that the company installed a new stone base for drainage, a layer of foam padding, and additional sand for stability. While the Physical Plant was completing landscaping jobs over the summer, they encountered an unexpected challenge: the Valley experienced a notably dry summer. Typically, Western Massachusetts receives large amounts of rainfall over the summer months, and this deviation left many lawns and fields in an unhealthy state. To restore the grass, the Physical Plant turned on the irrigation system and has been periodically repositioning water sprinklers on the lawns. While this measure significantly improves the condition of the grass, the student body has struggled to change their lawn-crossing habits to account for the placement of these sprinklers. “While I know that the sprinklers are doing their job,” Annie Egleston ’27 said, “[we students] have to time them so that we don’t get sprayed in the middle of the class day.”

represent a commitment to combat food insecurity in Western Massachusetts and develop relationships with nearby towns. Through these efforts, while providing vital support to the region, the Academy can instill values of compassion and service in students and increase awareness of the struggles faced by surrounding communities.

Tommy McMahon ‘25, a two-time Deerfield Boys’ Varsity Basketball Captain and Varsity Tennis player, recently committed to St. Lawrence University to continue his basketball career. McMahon has “ been playing basketball for as long as [he] can remember,” but it wasn’t until a couple years ago where he started to focus more on basketball and […]

There have been some… interesting changes made this year, specifically in regard to the new distinction between lower and upper campus, that might cause some problems for typical activities that occur on Friday and Saturday nights. The Deerfield Academy Student Handbook outlines that the school has “an Upper and Lower Campus.” Upper Campus constitutes “the perimeter around Acad emy buildings” while Lower Campus includes “west to the Deerfield River, north to Round Pond Road, east to Routes 5 & 10, and South to Wells Cross Road.” The handbook furthers that Lower Campus is now off limits after 7:45 pm. In past years, students could venture down to the lower fields at night without much of a problem to hangout and further develop their friendships. In fact, the Cow Turf was frequently visited by students of all grades, especially before October 1st. Unlike the hard surfaces in the Kendall Basement or the Hess practice rooms, the Cow Turf provides visitors with a beautiful view and comfortable field of grass. Who wouldn’t want to hang out in nature and be phys- ically active beneath the stars? However, this common Deerfield hangout spot is now banned after 7:45 pm because it is located on Lower Campus. To start, one Senior, who needed to visit the security office during the opening days of school, claims to have seen screens being monitored by security officers. Furthermore, the student claims to have seen live footage from newly installed security cameras live-recording all of the Lower Fields. Although this account has not been confirmed by the Deerfield Security Department, it does not seem out of the realm of possibility. Furthermore, it appears that when these alleged cameras detect someone, officers dispatch to the scene in the typical security buggy to force the Cow Turf Raids students back into the appropriate area for the night. One Deerfield Senior, who requested to remain anonymous, experienced these new raids of the Cow Turf first hand. After returning to campus this year, they met a new friend in one of their classes. The two hit it off within the first week and began studying together in the Koch at night. After the second week of classes came to a close, the two new friends wanted to go for a nice walk at night in the wonderful weather. Setting off down Albany Road around 9:00 pm, the two were the time of their life. Past Barton and down the path to the lower fields they went, laughing the whole way, blissfully unaware of the heightened security surrounding the lower fields. The returning student had been there many times before and always had an exuberant experience with no interruption. They arrived at the lower fields and did what anyone sneaking off to a secluded location in darkness would do: they obviously took in the beauty of the luscious trees. While they were tree gazing, they became aware of bright headlights coming towards them. Looking over, the student recounts seeing a man, presumably a Deerfield Security Officer, hunched over the steering wheel, beelining towards them. Frightened, the two students who were simply trying to enjoy their night, scrambled to get away from the scary man in the cart. It is of note that the male student was quite uncomfortable as he ran away. While these two were able to escape this Cow Turf raid meant to prevent tree gazing, others might not be so lucky. For now, it is advisable for Deerfield students to stay off of the Cow Turf and fall back to other places to hangout with new friends.

In recent years, the Meat Club rose to become a central aspect of Deerfield weekend events by embodying a fundamental aspect of Deerfield life: community. Deerfield students and teachers alike enjoy unwinding at the Meat Club’s cookouts to catch up with old friends, play Spikeball, and eat the club’s delicious meaty meals. The Meat Club […]

The Young Republicans and Young Democrats clubs existed at Deerfield Academy since before the school was co-ed. Despite their extensive legacy, the clubs are less well known in the Deerfield community than they have been in years prior. The clubs have been productive during earlier periods in their existence. Both Science Teacher Rich Calhoun, advisor […]

It began with a five year old Andy Chen ’25 who, inspired by his parents, played his first notes on the piano. In doing so, he marked the start of a musical journey that would lead him to become an artist at Deerfield. In the beginning, practicing was tough for Chen. “My [parents] did push me a lot, but looking back, I felt like I needed that push as a kid, and I’m glad that it got me to where I am now,” Chen said. He explained that a large reason behind his parent’s desire to keep him playing was because they saw and wanted to foster an innate musical gift in him. They were particularly impressed by his demonstrations of near-perfect pitch when playing songs from movies he had just seen. At the age of nine, Chen attended a piano summer camp in Austria that marked a major milestone in his musical journey. He recalled endless hours practicing the piano and feeling exhausted, bored, and frustrated with the repetitive practice. However, Chen later stated that he was extremely grateful for the opportunity and felt inspired by the musicians he had encountered there. Specifically, Chen said, “Seeing how the professors around me and students around me who are able to work so hard and get somewhere with it, I was inspired to do the same.” When asked about his musical endeavors at Deerfield, Chen expressed his gratitude for opportunities he received. “First of all, I’m really thankful to the entire chamber music program,” Chen said. “Deerfield [is] one of the only schools that has chamber music as a class…I’m just so grateful for all the opportunities that that program has given me.” For him, being able to work on music for hours every week and perform it on stage is a thrilling experience. “Deerfield is a surprisingly musical environment,” Chen said. “Almost every single year, we have been able to pull together three to five hour concerts…I feel like, in a very big sense, coming to Deerfield made me realize that music connects us all,” he added. At Deerfield, Andy has left a significant impact on his fellow musicians. Evan Xie ’25, a fellow pianist and member of the Deerfield Chamber music program said about Chen, “He’s a brilliant pianist. I mean, if you’ve ever seen him perform, you know how musically talented he is, but also how sensitive he is to music. And you can really see his enjoyment and appreciation for music.” Another Deerfield musician, Max Wang ’25, shared how much work Chen has put into his musical career, saying, “Andy is incredibly passionate about music… His commitment to music is like one hundred percent.” Both students noted Chen’s welcoming character outside of the practice rooms as well. Xie said, “You’ll never see him in the dorms without a smile. He greets everyone with such friendliness, and he’s always carrying, like, kind of a very, very nice, positive energy.” To Chen, a moment that stands out in his musical career was when he was performing chamber music on the final night of a summer camp. The piece was progressing to the coda section, and Chen was weaving chords on his piano. Then, suddenly, the lights in the concert hall went out. “My first thought to myself was, was this a test? Because back when I practiced, piano teachers told me,‘If you know your piece well enough, you should be able to do it with your eyes closed.’” Chen then decided to continue playing the piece in the dark room. Soon enough, the violinist followed, succeeded by the cellist, and then the whole orchestra. Chen then looked at the waving crowd, and saw the entire room illuminated by the flashlights on the audience’s phones. “Once I’m up there on the stage, it’s not me who matters, but the music,” he said. “I will always try my best to bring that (the music) to the audience.” In addition to playing piano, Chen also studied music composition, beginning his journey four years ago. By studying scores, textbooks, and having weekly lessons, he learned how to compose music on top of simply playing it. Starting from last winter, he began working on a particular composition with Director of Music Thomas Bergeron. After nearly a year of hard work, and looking into different kinds of hardware and software, this piece is now completed for the Deerfield orchestra and will be performed during the 2024-2025 Fall Family Weekend. Wang shared how much work Chen has put into making sure his composition is not only musically rich, but also approachable for the entire orchestra. He said, “Andy had gone around personally and talked to different instruments to learn specifically their norms and to make his piece easier to read and play for the many different sections within the orchestra. He has also attended all the orchestra rehearsals and given us feedback and support so we can play the best we could.” Looking to the future, Chen said, “Wherever it is that I go, I just look forward to talking about music with people, people who don’t have the same culture as I do, people who don’t share the same language as I do. I think music is a very, very powerful voice.”