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At the start of the 2023-2024 school year, Deerfield Academy welcomed professional motivational speaker Trevon Bryant as the Assistant Dean of Residential Life.  Prior to working at Deerfield, Mr. Bryant studied human development and family studies as an undergraduate student athlete and adolescent development as a graduate student at the University of New Hampshire.  After […]

In the campaign for the renovation of the Academy’s Dining Hall which started in the summer of 2023, Head of School John Austin described the Dining Hall as the “heart and soul of our campus.” The renovation is meant to expand to fit the entire student body in the sitdown meal program, improve the way […]

In June 2023, the Supreme Court struck down race-based affirmative action as unconstitutional. The Court’s ruling in Students for Fair Admissions (SFFA) v. Harvard and SFFA v. University of North Carolina prohibited universities from giving preferences based on race but preserved their right to consider the impact of race on a student’s life. This means […]

In a world defined by its inequality, education is the greatest equalizer. Education is the quickest path to agency, to knowledge and a passport to freedom. So it’s incredibly scary to hear someone like Florida governor Ron DeSantis justify his whitewashing of the history curriculum by claiming that enslaved African Americans benefited from slavery. When […]

Dear Reader, With the leaves turning golden and crisp and the chill of fall hanging in the air, it’s safe to say that the fall term is fully in swing. With that comes learning in classes venturing beyond the syllabus and general classroom expectations. In such an environment, it was in Hess 123 in Dr. […]

In this very issue, Anna Guerrini ’25 writes an op-ed about the role of the Scroll, suggesting a mission statement for us. While her version doesn’t entirely capture our purpose, we, as the Scroll XCVIII board, agree that we need to more clearly and precisely articulate our role, especially as we enter a new school […]

Here are some arts recommendations to rejuvenate your mind and add to your playlists/watch lists/reading lists. Movies: Grand Budapest Hotel directed by Wes Anderson (Shogo O’Connor ’25). It’s beautiful, artsy, pleasing to the eye, and best of all, it’s symmetrical. Fight Club directed by David Fincher (Billy Tang ’25). It’s surreal, very uncomfortable, and mind-bending. […]

Unlike most stage directors, Greta Steever ’24 unexpectedly stumbled upon her passion for stage managing in a desperate search for a winter co-curricular. She recalled, “I emailed every sports team, and they already had a manager – everything was already full. I ran up to [Director of Theater] Mrs. [Catriona] Hynds in the Dining Hall and begged her, ‘I will do anything, anything you want. I will do it.’ And she said, ‘How about stage managing?’” Steever began singing at the age of 10 and acting during middle school. Since joining the Theater Department, Steever has worked closely under the tutelage of Professional Stage Manager and Associate Director of Admission Pete Hynds. Mr. Hynds has worked with the San Francisco Opera, the Pittsburgh Opera, the Miami Opera, and the Dallas Opera, among many other significant theatrical companies. After each rehearsal, Steever writes a report detailing any changes to the set and is responsible for knowing the play inside-out. She emphasized the high level of professionalism that is not simply expected but required from a stage manager, saying, “Sometimes it’s difficult being a stage manager with your peers because you sometimes have to admonish them for not being on time, not reading the schedule correctly, being late, being noisy, or not having lines memorized.” Mrs. Hynds shared, “It does take a particular kind of student who feels confident enough to carry out these leadership roles that we’re asking of her, and not everyone can do that. But Greta can.” Steever’s peers have echoed Mrs. Hynds’ words, affectionately dubbing her “Stage Mommy.” Actor Daphne Huang ’25 said, “We call her that because she’s like a mom in the way we rely on her so much. Everything that happens on stage – Greta did it. Lights come on stage? Greta did it. All [the] sound cues? Greta did it. She is on a headset with Mrs. Hynds, [Production Services Technician] Mr. [Dustin] Yager, a stage person, and the makeup artists. If things ever go awry, it’s Greta who will fix it.” As a stage manager, Steever expressed the challenge of working with a cast. She explained, “A lot of the time, I’d be like, ‘Why are you complaining about x?’ [Stage managing] has helped so much in understanding actors and how I can better state my own ideas.” Steever encourages every stage manager to pursue acting, especially when the opportunity is still available in high school. Steever continues to pursue her passion for stage management off-campus. Over the summer, she attended the University of Michigan’s MPulse program and, more recently, Northwestern University’s National High School Institute for Stage Management. Outside of the rehearsal room, Steever is the vocal leader of Coda, a head of Reme-D’s, and a member of Rhapso-D’s. Fellow singer and actor Vivian Wan ’25 cites Steever as a creative and personal inspiration. She said, “Greta is a unique artist in that she excels at both organization and creativity. Embracing her creativity is something that I myself, as an artist, struggle with a lot. It’s very inspiring because it also makes her a great leader.” Peers have also praised the complex papier-mâché masks she designs for Halloween. She also frequently appears in Beyond the Valley, Deerfield Academy’s student-run fashion magazine. Steever plans to pursue a theater major through a conservatory or non-conservatory program. Regarding her future stage managing career, Mrs. Hynds summarized Mr. Hynds’ sentiments, saying, “Mr. Hynds is really proud of her and sees absolutely no reason why she couldn’t then go on to work as a stage manager almost anywhere she wants in the future.”

A concert fundraiser for a local library. A series of murals. An original book highlighting female composers. Over the summer, the Center for Service and Global Citizenship supported and funded projects across the country and the world, including noteworthy projects in the arts. Yoonsa Lee ’25, a violist, performed in and organized a youth benefit concert series, with a goal of uplifting young musicians (ages 7 to 18) as well as raise funds for a renovation of her local library. She named her concert series Tutti — “a musical term that denotes that we should all play together as a singular entity,” she explained. Lee chose to reflect this spirit of unity through a diverse program, showcasing a wide range of musicians and artists. Hoping to create accessible and fun performances, she performed many different types of repertoire. Lee said that she hopes to continue this concert series throughout the rest of her time at Deerfield, especially because she received an outpouring of community support including from both students and faculty members. Albert Yuk ’26 captured photos of the concert, not only to remember the special afternoon, but also to promote future events in the series. Recapping the event’s success, Lee remarked, “We raised over 600 dollars for the local library.” Kayleen Tang ’25 painted a mural in Hopkinton, Massachusetts designed to spread awareness about autism. The mural was part of a three-part series sponsored by Tang’s Town Cultural Council; she has created two other murals in the previous two years depicting facets of Chinese and Mexican culture. Tang’s most recent mural is a fence which leads up to a community park. When discussing her aims for the mural, Tang shared, “I want to continue to uplift my community with paint.” According to Tang, she was not knowledgeable about autism and its effects until after her parents had explained it to her. She wanted to reflect educational conversations like her own with her parents by, figuratively and literally, painting autism in a positive light. She hopes to continue this series with a different underrepresented group in the future. Daphne Huang ’25, Liv Boe ’25 and Chloe Xue ’25, titled their project “Uplifting Women Composers.” Huang remarked, “Growing up, Liv, Chloe, and I did not see any women composers reflected in our repertoire, and this made it discouraging for us to continue.” “In response, we started to create a violin book called Maestra, the female version of the word Maestro, which is what we call male composers.” On Sunday, September 24, Huang, Boe, and Xue departed campus to present at the Hampshire Music Club, where they performed music from 10 different female composers, including spoken overviews of their histories. When discussing the challenges of creating such a book, Huang described how Boe, Xue, and herself need to be very specific about what the objectives are. Their book, which is still in its early stages, will be half history and half tutorial-based, detailing the history of some female composers while also teaching string/instrumental techniques through female compositions. Their biggest challenge has been deciding whether to focus on building good habits through specific finger exercises or to focus on building players’ confidence, perhaps forgoing some technique. “For example, there are different ways of pressing the same note with different fingers. The pinky might be used instead of the index finger for better sound; however, it is obviously easier to utilize your index finger,” Huang said. Although the book includes works only from female composers, the book is intended for learners of all genders. “We want female composers to be part of the classical canon,” said Huang. “These composers are just as good, arguably [more impressive] than their male counterparts, [in lieu of] the oppression they faced,” stated Huang. Huang, Boe, and Xue hope to begin selling the book at the Women in Music Concert in Spring 2024.

On Sunday, September 18, students accompanied Photography and Film Teacher Tim Trelease and English Teacher Emma Hodge on a field trip to the Yale Art Gallery. This trip allowed students to get off campus and experience art from various corners of the world. While at Yale University, the group met with Deerfield Alumni, including Lily Lin ’23, Will Sussbauer ’23, Elle Stearns ’23, Stephen Morris ’23, Claire Cummings ’21, and Lukas Trelease ’20. Mr. Trelease described this reunion as “a love fest,” and testament tp Deerfield’s strong community. At the gallery, students viewed many art pieces, including those in the permanent collections and the special Mickalene Thomas exhibit, which focused on early American portraits of black women. Xavier Armas ‘24 described an Indo-Pacific art exhibit featuring a cane that he found interesting. “Although it was just a cane, the effort and energy [the artists] put into every single work showed the cohesion in each piece of art,” Armas explained. Jennifer Luiru ’25 found a piece by multimedia artist Sula Bermúdez-Silverman particularly striking. The piece, an artistic rendition of a dollhouse with boarded-up windows made with Himalayan Salt Resin and sugar, was a commentary on slavery in the Caribbean sugar islands. Luiru said she was struck by “just how beautifully [the artist’s] ideas and thoughts were depicted in an art form.” Many students interacted with the exhibit, taking pictures and using the pieces to inspire their own art. According to Mr. Trelease, student inspiration is what these trips are about. Describing the students’ interest in an exhibit by contemporary Black artists, he said, “Several students went down [to the Gallery] and were really into that connection.” To build interest in his trips, he tries to find permanent collections that are always relevant, as well as a seasonal collection that he thinks students can connect with. Art trips, such as the trip to Yale University, are opportunities for students to view high-caliber artwork off-campus. Reflecting on the experience, Luiru shared, “I feel as if it’s very important and critical for Deerfield students to have an opportunity to look and be inspired by different artists around different parts of the world.” Mr. Trelease sought to inspire students to find dialogue within the pieces. When Tene Ouedraogo ’25 asked him about a painting featuring George Washington with a piece of fabric containing the names of his 250 slaves nailed to his mouth, it opened the door for the two to engage in a conversation on critical analysis of art. Mr. Trelease recalled that this artwork piqued her curiosity as well as his own. In turn, the two found out that there are contemporary artists who aim to express radical and thought-provoking ideas, which give a new voice to “talk about things that are really complicated and powerful.” Regarding this experience, Mr. Trelease said, “That’s the kind of dialogue I love.”

Deerfield girls varsity rowing’s top boat placed second at the Henley Royal Regatta, competing from June 28 to July 2. In the finals on July 2, Deerfield raced against Greenwich, which had recently placed second at the USRowing Nationals in June. It was a close race, with Deerfield taking the lead for the first half. However, Greenwich pulled away at the end; Deerfield lost by a one-third of a length, earning it second place in the regatta.  Rachel Mark ’23 said that the team’s poise helped them perform to their best. “I think that our boat’s ability to row our own race helped us find success at Henley. Every time we lined up against another crew, we always knew that they would be strong, but also that we would be able to stay internal and adjust to whatever they threw at us,” she said. The Henley Royal Regatta takes place annually on the River Thames in Henley-on-Thames, England, a small town just outside London. The course is 2112 meters, over a mile long, upstream. The regatta is a single-elimination tournament with five rounds, one each day. Teams from countries including the UK, USA, and Australia compete for the Prince Phillip Challenge Trophy, inaugurated last year. Thirty-one teams participated, with 20 teams remaining after the qualifying time trials. Deerfield, however, was exempt from these trials due to its entry to the A-Finals at Nationals and its victory at NEIRAS. Deerfield’s team, coached by Parker Washburn, consisted of Mark, Georgia Sackrey ’23, Natalie Meyer ’23, Margot McAuliffe ’24, Lillian Auth ’24, Jenny Jin ’24, Tatum Lowe ’25, Emi Takegami ’25, and Teagan Farley ’26. Deerfield had a bye in the first round on June 28. In the team’s first race on June 29, Deerfield defeated St. Paul’s Girls’ School, an all-girls school in London.  In the quarterfinals on June 30, the girls won their race against St. Catherine’s, which won silver at the Australian National Championship, by over a full boat length, advancing them to the semifinals on July 1. In the semi-finals, Deerfield faced yet another challenging opponent: Winter Park, the 2023 winner of the US Scholastic National Championships. Once again, Deerfield won its race by over a boat length. To prepare for the regatta, the girls trained at Princeton after their trip to Florida for Nationals and then flew to Henley. There, they trained for a week before the regatta twice a day on the official race course.  During their time in Henley, the girls and Ms. Valk stayed with a host family who had hosted crew teams before. The family had two daughters who were both former rowers with whom the girls quickly became friends during their stay. While the girls did eat breakfast and some dinners in the house, most of their time was spent training and outside of the home.  Mark is grateful for the amount of support the girls received.“Every time we raced, I would receive texts from my neighbors, extended family, Deerfield friends, and other community members. It was so fun to see just how many people were cheering us on from afar,” she said.  As a final message of gratitude for the support Deerfield received, Lowe said, “We’re really grateful for Mr. Washburn’s coaching and Ms. Valk for being such a great addition to the trip, but we’re also really grateful for having such a wonderful and supportive host family.”

On July 31, 2023, St. Mark’s School announced its appointment of Deerfield Academy’s Dr. Ivory Hills as Head of School. Dr. Hills, who joined Deerfield in 2011 as a chemistry teacher and is currently Assistant Head of School for Strategy and Planning as well as Dean of Faculty, will move to St. Mark’s on July 1, 2024.  In early March, St Mark’s released its Head of School Position Statement, a document detailing its new opening for head of school and describing its search process. Dr. Hills said that he wasn’t necessarily looking for an opportunity like this, and that there has been a lot of movement regarding leadership at independent schools, and therefore outreach like this has been common.  In his letter to the St. Mark’s community, Dr. Hills underscored his love for teamwork and and highlighted that he is a “strong proponent of cooperation over self-interest,” a value that attracted him to the school in the first place. Though Dr. Hills has yet to visit the St. Mark’s campus, he said that he looks forward to meeting and learning about students and helping them grow.  St. Mark’s, Dr. Hills said, is like Deerfield in the sense that it “leads with a community ethos.” St. Mark’s mission statement states that it hopes to “inspire young people to make the world a better place,” a world that is “more helpful to others.” As outlined in his letter, Dr. Hills plans to achieve this by supporting students as they develop confidence and a sense of self throughout their high school career.  Dr. Hills is highly motivated to support students at St. Mark’s to the best of his ability. “Broadly, my vision is to help run a school that helps students prepare for their future,” he said. “As of today, as a relative outsider, I can’t begin to describe what needs to be done.” He elaborated that he is driven by “taking care of students and positioning them to do the things they want to do with their lives.” This will be Dr. Hills’s thirteenth year at Deerfield. While at the school, he has held the positions of full-time Chemistry Teacher, Director of Sustainability, Academic Dean, and Dean of Faculty, which he currently holds. He explained that his trajectory of continued advancement informed his decision to move to St. Mark’s, as he felt that taking on this new position would allow him to impact students and teachers more. “This logical progression lets me continue to challenge myself and get into positions that will leverage my ability to help schools and teachers take care of students and help students achieve what they want to achieve,” he said.  Dr. Hills explained that he will depart with mixed feelings. Though he knows he can still do “awesome work at Deerfield and Deerfield is still a great school,” he believes that he can be more influential to students elsewhere.  As Dr. Hills enters his last year at Deerfield, he hopes to “continue to support students and [his] colleagues.” He said that he aims to “run past the finish line and put the baton in the next person’s hand so that they have as much of a head start as possible.”