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To most teenagers, turning sixteen years old and learning how to drive is one of the most exciting experiences. However, going to an isolated boarding school like Deerfield makes it difficult for students to complete the required forty hours of supervised driving and acquire their licenses.  Most students with driver’s licenses use them as a form of government-issued identification. When discussing with Dean of Residential Life and Twelfth Grade Dean Rebecca Melvoin about licenses on campus, she shared, “Students use their licenses for travel purposes, such as getting on airplanes. It’s helpful to have identification that’s not a student ID.”   Other students like international student Mandy Xiang ’23 hoped to get a license in the United States before returning home in the summer because she thought this would be important for college, so in the future, she could “commute on a college campus.”  To aquire her license, Xiang even tried to get a co-curricular alternative. According to Xiang, she “just wanted the license itself, not a car on Deerfield’s campus.” However, after contacting the athletic offices, Xiang’s request was denied, and she will resort to getting her license over the summer.  Regarding co-curricular alternatives, Assistant Head of School for Student Life Amie Creagh noted that students aren’t allowed to use co-curricular time to get their licenses and shared that such a co-curricular alternative has never happened before.  In addition to just having a driver’s license, some students wish to have cars on campus for commuting purposes. Dr. Melvoin said, “There are three criteria boarders have to meet to have cars on campus: pursuit of excellence, family health emergency, and if a student has a chronic health problem that cannot be treated on campus.”  The first criterion, pursuit of excellence, was demonstrated by Ben Cook ’24, who had a car on campus during the fall term to travel to hockey practices and games. He said, “Other kids use cars for the same thing, and we drive each other to practices.” His travel was limited because he could “only leave on weekends when allowed to,” but he found it “really beneficial,” he said. Cook added, “I live an hour and a half away, and it saves a lot of time for my parents when they don’t have to drive me to practice.” Cook mentioned that there aren’t many students who have cars on campus and shared, “I really only know five other kids with driver’s licenses.” He got his own license “at the beginning of last summer,” and said that it took a while to get it. However, he still found that “having a license can be really important,” he said. Despite boarders experiencing vehicle restrictions, day students are allowed to have cars on campus, primarily for the commute from school to home. However, some day students have found issues regarding car ownership. Regarding the potential damage to student cars left on campus, Dr. Melvoin said that the Student Life Office would have that student “reach out to their insurance company.” Ms. Creagh added that there could be some instances of snow damage or other factors that could cause harm to students’ cars.  Recently, day student Margaret Melnik ’24 was parked between Field and MacAlister, near the baseball field’s fence. A baseball “went through [her] back windshield,” she said. and she was instructed to contact her insurance. After doing so, her insurance didn’t cover it, so she contacted the finance office. She said, “I asked for a reimbursement to cover the damage, and I’m getting it reimbursed now.” Instances like these can impact other students on campus, as people learn to park their cars elsewhere and keep their cars damage free.  Despite these difficulties with car ownership and limitations by a boarding school, many high school students still consider getting their driver’s license a priority. However, based on the views of the school, receiving a driver’s license will remain a hardship for the student body.

“I was one of those little kids who liked to draw. I was sent down to the principal’s office not because I did anything but because I had done a really good drawing.” In his early life, Greer Worker Rob Chirico thought he was going to be an artist, but upon taking an art class in college, he quickly switched trajectories. Mr. Chirico said, “I hated it.” After his art class debacle, he decided to take art history. He received his Bachelor’s Degree from Queens College and his Master of Arts from New York University, both in art history. He said, “I wrote quite a number of important art historical articles and was an assistant professor in New York for years.” Even though he decided he didn’t want to be an artist during college, Mr. Chirico couldn’t stay away from painting. While living in Argentina and France, Mr. Chirico’s artwork was quite popular, and he sold a lot of paintings. However, even though he was doing well as an artist, Mr. Chirico was interested in other areas. “I sold a lot of paintings, but at the same time, I was interested in writing.”  After returning to America, Mr. Chirico began working as an art director in cookbook public relations for The Ekus Group, which runs a number of services. Somebody asked his coworker if they knew anybody with knowledge about cocktails. His friend directed them to Mr. Chirico. “And that’s the book I wrote, which has now sold 30,000 copies.” Mr. Chircio’s book, Field Guide to Cocktails: How to Identify and Prepare Virtually Every Mixed Drink at the Bar, spawned from that interaction. Moments like these were the starting point for many of Mr. Chirico’s books. “Somebody said … There’s so much swearing going on these days, and I wanted to read a book about it. So I wrote this [his book], and I would give this to you guys, but I would probably be fired.”  Mr. Chirico’s book, Damn! A Cultural History of Swearing in Modern America represents his humorous personality. Mr. Chirico finds that when he talks about his book, people start to swear in front of him more. “It’s like you’ve given them a license to swear,” he said. His book Not My Mother’s Kitchen: Rediscovering Italian-American Cooking Through Stories and Recipes was inspired by his Italian mother, who could not cook. So, when he was younger, he learned how to cook. He learned many recipes in the book during his trips to Italy. Part of his food knowledge comes from working in the food industry with chefs. He was the Head Director at the Blue Heron restaurant in Sunderland, Massachusetts. “I got to learn a lot about the inside of actual hands-on cooking,” He said. “I wrote a book about that whole business, about working in the kitchen, working public relations, working with authors, and working with chefs.” After his adventures through the worlds of Europe and South America, the kitchen, and public relations, Mr. Chirico decided to retire. His wife was also retired but worked at the Academy in the Greer Café. “She said, ‘You’re just sitting at home writing. Why don’t you get involved with people at Deerfield?’” Mr. Chirico wasn’t new to the Academy; in fact, his son was a Deerfield student. Now Mr. Chirico works at the Greer a couple of days a week. He said, “It’s fun. Speaking with older kids, getting to know them, getting to joke with them.” He then elaborated, “I get to cook a little bit, but mostly I work the register. It’s something to do instead of just sitting home and trying to figure out what to write next.” Right now, Mr. Chirico is working on his next two books. One is about how to get away with crime, and the other is a poetry collection similar to Spoon River Anthology—a classic work of free verse poetry by Edgar Lee Masters. Similar to Deerfield’s yearbook, Mr. Chirico’s high school had a superlative called The Golden Dozen. Mr. Chircio was chosen for ‘best wit.’ Mr. Chirico has a plethora of skills and an array of interests. He said, “I think if you’re focused on an art or writing, it’s good, but I’m not focused on any of those things. So something else comes along, and I think it knows what’s next.”

Treating anything from a common cold to a broken bone, facilitating medication pick-ups, and scheduling counseling meetings, the staff at the Chen Health Center is the pillar of community wellness at Deerfield. The nurses play an essential role in the day-to-day operations of the Health Center, and they manage everything from runny noses to trips to the emergency room. While the nurses are most often seen helping patients, they spend much of their time managing medications, talking to pharmacies, and filing reports.  The daily activities of the Chen nurses are incredibly varied, including both patient-focused and administrative duties. While they spend much of their time helping students in person for walk-in visits, they also administer allergy shots and prepare students for provider appointments with doctors or nurse practitioners.  Additionally, they answer student questions over the phone and email. Nurses at the Health Center are responsible for many of the administrative tasks that go unnoticed by students, including coordinating transportation to off-campus medical facilities. Director of Nursing Kate Rolland said the Health Center team works together to create the health forms for parents and students, and attend meetings with Deerfield administrators about the general health of the Deerfield community.  Some of the nurses’ duties can be much harder than others, and Ms. Rolland noted that medication management can be especially difficult, saying, “There are a lot of details surrounding medication administration at the Health Center in accordance with laws, campus policy and provider support and managing medications for students who come from every state and/or internationally, which can be challenging.” Since the COVID-19 pandemic, the nurses have experienced a few major changes at Deerfield, namely the increased testing of sick students. Because the Chen was so involved in the daily life of students during the height of the pandemic, many students became more aware of the clinic, leading the Chen to see a general increase in student needs. With the increase of student usage throughout the years, there have been plenty of new faces added to the nursing team. The Chen nurses came from a variety of backgrounds before landing at Deerfield, often saying that they enjoy working at Deerfield because it doesn’t have a hospital or emergency room environment. Lise Ross, an evening nurse, said, “While the Chen can be busy at times, it’s more manageable. While I worked in the emergency room I felt as though I was constantly drowning, and a lot of those patients were very sick.” Ms. Rolland echoed some of the same sentiment, saying, “I was working in the hospital setting and 12-hour shifts were taking a toll on my body and psyche. I loved the family-oriented nature of this position.” On the other hand, Nurse Estibaliz McCoy was happy to be able to exercise some of her more technical nursing skills, saying, “I started working part-time at Deerfield Academy and loved the full circle perspective this setting offers… being able to see a health issue present, be treated, and resolve.” Deerfield Academy and other boarding schools are very different from public schools in this manner, and Ms. McCoy explained that in a boarding school setting, “the nurses are able to perform testing and administer vaccines, both of which include many clinical skills such as phlebotomy and urinalysis.”   Nursing at a boarding school does not foster the intense environments found in a hospital or emergency           room, but it still gives nurses ample time to interact with patients and form lasting connections with them. Assistant Director of Nursing and Medication Nurse Daika Diefendorf said, “Working at Deerfield is a much more light-hearted environment, with mostly healthy students with the occasional illness.” Additionally, she said she enjoys “building relationships with students, and watching students mature and attain their goals, sharing their triumphs and exciting events or news.” Ms. Rolland agreed, saying, “Working with the adolescent population is a huge gift.  There are very few places where a nurse can care for this population alone in a highly clinical setting.”  Though they all came to Deerfield from different places, every nurse is a critical part of the Chen Health Center’s operations, each working their hardest – with patients and with paperwork – to keep Deerfield healthy.

The Office of Inclusion and Community Life, also known as the OICL, also known as Steven Lee (and his pet corgi, Ollie-Joe Lee), exists at the center of life at the Academy. Though students may not hear about all its initiatives, the OICL diligently and consistently works towards the goals of diversity, equity, and inclusion through events from the MLK Day workshops to interschool conferences. Currently, some of the OICL’s main initiatives include working with the different alliances on campus to facilitate their event planning, from the Latin American Student Alliance (LASA) Dance to the Gender and Sexuality Alliance (GSA) Pride Prom. The office  also communicates with fellow boarding schools to participate in and host cultural competency conferences, such as the recent 2023 Asian American Faces Conference at St. Paul’s School, as well as the 2023 14th Annual Spectrum Interschool Conference at Choate Rosemary Hall.  Director of Office of Inclusion and Community Life Steven Lee shared that he is currently working on a Dialogue and Deliberation Initiative. Through a video created by the OICL student ambassadors as well as a series of personal narratives from students, Mr. Lee hopes to further cultural competency at Deerfield. He aims to create an environment at Deerfield where faculty and students are able to “facilitate and have difficult conversations,” he said. He added, “My goal is to have a faculty that is 100 percent culturally competent, meaning that if something were to happen in the classroom, or in the dorm, or on the sports field related to diversity, equity, and inclusion, we always have an adult who is trained on how to support students through that experience.”  To further this goal, Mr. Lee has invited Bob Bordone, a senior fellow at Harvard Law School who founded and directed the Harvard Law School Negotiation and Mediation Clinical Program, for faculty workshops. Mr. Bordone will lead a workshop to advance Deerfield faculty’s ability to facilitate dialogue about cultural competency. Mr. Lee also mentioned that a lot of his time is spent working with Deerfield’s grade deans and the counseling center, “talking about individual students and how to support them. So kids who are struggling… academically or socially,” he said.  Mr. Lee acknowledges that the OICL is a work in progress: “Next year, I want to do more marketing, like informing people what this office does and to drum up more enthusiasm and support for it. I was kind of trying to build the airplane and fly it at the same time this year. So I think once we become more established, then we’ll be able to share what we’re doing more.” In terms of diversity in general, Mr. Lee identified the concept of “assimilation” as a prevalent social pressure at Deerfield, explaining that “in some ways, it may be that some degree of assimilation is inevitable, just because we exist as a community,” he said. “But, I would hope that because we are a diverse community, even as you are assimilating, you are somehow changing the dominant culture.”  Finally, some of the OICL’s plans for next year include working on land acknowledgement at Deerfield, a larger scale LASA dance, as well as commending the 20th Anniversary of the passing of Matthew Shepard, a gay student who was assaulted to death in Wyoming.  Mr. Lee said he believes that the OICL office will continue to grow and develop in the future, and that more interaction with the student body and active student feedback will be a strong push for growth. He said,“I’ve… been really strategic in terms of living in Doubleday, because I figured I wanted to get to know all of the ninth graders to the best that I could. I’ve also tried to go to a lot of sporting events. And then I just kind of walk up to people and ask them, like, ‘what’s your name?’ And sometimes people are like ‘am I in trouble?’ I’m like ‘I just want to meet you.’” As he plans for another busy year for OICL, Mr. Lee hopes students will reach out to him with ideas of what they hope to see the OICL accomplish next year.

“Artificial Intelligence and the Future of Being Human”, the second annual Deerfield Forum, took place on April 11, 2023. With the recent release of ChatGPT other artificial intelligence platforms, the Academy focused this year’s forum on showing civil discussion on the contemporary and ambiguous topic of AI’s anticipated impact on society.  The Forum welcomed two experts in the field of AI as guest panelists. Stuart Russell (Ph.D.) is a pioneer and leading thinker in AI and professor at UC Berkeley who has written multiple books on AI and received numerous awards for his contributions to computer science. Melanie Mitchell (Ph.D.) is an educator, researcher, and professor at the Santa Fe Institute, a top science and technology think-tank, who specializes in cognitive science and artificial intelligence and whose work has appeared in the New York Times, Science Magazine, and others publications. The Forum was moderated by Steven Johnson, author, co-creator, and host of an Emmy-winning PBS/BBC series. Dean of Academic Affairs Anne Bruder, a key organizer of the event, defined the purpose of the Forum: “[It’s] to bring leading voices to campus to talk about issues of contemporary concern to students, to our country, to the world. It’s to model what it looks like when leading thinkers sit down and have a conversation together about big, complex, not very easy questions.” When asked about the Forum’s chosen topic, Dr. Bruder said the Academy considered several ideas, but when GPT-3 emerged at the end of November, Dr. Bruder realized “[AI was] clearly going to be the dominant issue, not only in education, but in tech, and in a range of fields.” Dr. Bruder engaged in thorough research to find qualified panelists and a moderator. In this process, Dr. Russell emerged as one of the leading thinkers about artificial intelligence. His skills in explaining complex topics and his futuristic insight in his BBC Reith Lectures prompted Dr. Bruder to reach out. Dr. Mitchell came to the school’s attention through her debate with Dr. Russell in The Munk Debates in early 2021. Dr. Bruder heard the panelists “articulate pretty clear differences” and realized they were perfect for the Forum. When it came to finding a moderator, Dr. Bruder was fascinated by Mr. Johnson’s New York Times piece on AI last year and thought he “would be a lively, smart, engaging moderator who was himself very familiar with the work of both Russell and Mitchell.”  During the Forum, Mr. Johnson asked the panelists various questions about uses and concerns of AI, first centering the discussion on the technological shift and capabilities introduced by new AI. Dr. Russell summarized the development of language models since the first of its kind was developed by Andre Markov in 1913 and highlighted the exponential growth of recent developments. He said, “We don’t know where these systems are, between a piece of paper that’s simply regurgitating some intelligent thing that humans said and human.” However, he pointed out that researchers from Microsoft and members of the National Academies are claiming “sparks of artificial general intelligence.” Dr. Mitchell added that AI systems “have produced behaviors that are not what people who built them would have predicted,” but believes that the models cannot fully “get to human-like common sense because a lot of what we know is not expressed anywhere on the internet or books or any different training data for these systems.” Both panelists agreed that language models including GPT significantly impact the classroom because educators need to learn how to account for shortcuts created by AI and how to properly utilize it. Emphasizing a sense of urgency, Dr. Russell added, “This is not automating tedious, mindless recipes. This is potentially replacing all the tools that we use in education to help students learn how to think, how to argue.” The panelists then discussed a recently released letter from the Future of Life Institute calling for the immediate pause of training of all Artificial Intelligence systems more advanced than GPT-4 for safety studies. The letter was signed by various tech executives and AI researchers, including Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak and Tesla CEO Elon Musk.  Dr. Mitchell and Dr. Russell had contrasting views, prompting one to sign while the other refrained. Dr. Mitchell did not sign as she felt it misrepresented the severity and urgency of different concerns. On the other hand, Dr. Russell did sign as he believed more intervention was needed.  On the topic of regulating AI, Dr. Russell referenced rules proposed by the Cyberspace Administration of China on the same day of the Forum (April 11). Along with requiring AI models to respect intellectual property rights, output only true information, avoid discriminatory language, and prevent physical or mental harm to others, the CAC stated that all AI products and services must subscribe to socialist ideology and cannot undermine state power. According to Dr. Russell, the European Union is also currently working on creating regulations in the industry. To contextualize the problem AI poses, Dr. Russell said, “Don’t think about Terminators, think about oil companies.” He explained that oil companies have taken over many countries’ political systems through corruption and that “No matter what you say or what you think, [those companies] have won.” Dr. Russell continued, “Don’t think about a single robot, but think about an entity that spans the entire globe that draws on the computational resources of every data center in the world and has read every written word that the human race has ever produced.” He concluded that it becomes “much more plausible that we could gradually lose control over our own future if we don’t design [AI] the right way.” Reflecting on the forum, Eric Li ’24 wished the panelists covered “technical details of the base logic of AI” and discussed more “the realistic benefits and conveniences,” instead of focusing on potential harms of intelligence. “ChatGPT’s intelligence is a well-fabricated illusion, mere glorified clockwork…logical reasoning couldn’t be grasped by ChatGPT,” stated Li. “I just don’t think it’s fair to focus so extensively on the theoretical potential harms of AI technology while ignoring its practical realistic benefits.”  Aka Egbosimba ’24 similarly felt that “their skepticism toward the actual ‘intelligence’ of AI was a bit narrow-minded”, but believed that “regulation is certainly needed in the interest of safety.”  While Li wishes that the school invited a panelist who supported AI development, he still received “useful perspectives” and learned from the Forum. Egbosimba also appreciated the extensive content and insights covered in the forum and Mr. Johnson for “smooth[ing] out the discussion and keep[ing] it cohesive even with the contrasting opinions.” Overall, Egbosimba felt that the content was “extensive” and exceeded his expectations and believes that “though it[AI] will bring a lot of change that will inevitably come with dangers, AI will ultimately act as a positive force in the world.”  To conclude the Forum, Mr. Johnson emphasized the purpose of fostering civil discussion by observing “two extremely gifted thinkers in front of [a] situation where there was a lot of uncertainty and ambiguity,” and reiterated that “you can see [the speakers] leaning into that and embracing that and seeing that as something to be inspired by rather than running away from it.”  Similarly, Dr. Bruder remarked, “I feel like that conversation could have gone on for five hours, and we still wouldn’t have gotten to the depths of the matter… As long as we can remain excited instead of terrified, we are going to be in a better place.”

Starting Feb 10  (time of last issue): February 21 – Vladimir Putin announces that Russia is suspending its participation in New START, a nuclear arms reduction treaty with the US. Russia is not going to allow US and NATO inspectors into Russia, but says it will still adhere to the previous agreements. (via The Brookings Institution) February 25 – Bola Tinubu is elected as Nigeria’s president, defeating former vice president Atiku Abubakar and Peter Obi. The election is the most contested since Nigeria’s first election in 1999. Its result is challenged by the other candidates. (via The United Nations Press Releases) March 10 – The National People’s Congress unanimously re-elects Xi Jinping as the President of the People’s Republic of China to an unparalleled third term. The Congress previously suspended presidential term limits in 2018. (via the National Public Radio) March 10 – After severing their relations in 2016, Iran and Saudi Arabia agree to resume diplomatic relations at talks mediated by China. (via United States Institute of Peace) March 10 – Silicon Valley Bank, the 16th largest bank in the United States, fails from a bank run, when too many clients withdraw their money from a bank for the bank to pay out all of them.  Because of the higher interest rates and customer withdrawals, the bank was forced to sell a large portion of its bond portfolio at a heavy loss. This failure is the largest bank failure since the 2008 financial crisis and the second largest in US history. (via the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation)  March 17 – The International Criminal Court issuesW an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin for his role in the unlawful deportation and transfer of children to Russia during its invasion of Ukraine. (via the International Criminal Court) March 30 – Former President Donald Trump is formally accused by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg of not disclosing payments to actress Stormy Daniels during his election in 2016.  April 4 – Former President Donald Trump is arraigned and notified of the 34 charges against him. (via the Manhattan District Attorney) April 4 – Finland becomes the 31st member of NATO. (via the North Atlantic Treaty Organization) April 11 – Myanmar’s armed forces, who led a coup in 2021 against the democratically-elected Aung San Suu Kyi, massacred at least 165 civilians celebrating the opening of an opposition camp. (via CNN) April 13 – Jack Teixeira, an airman for Massachusetts with top security clearance for the Pentagon, is arrested by the FBI for allegedly distributing hundreds of classified U.S. military documents primarily concerning foreign spying and the war in Ukraine. The documents had been circulating since March 2023. (via the United States Department of Justice) April 15 – Rival factions and paramilitary groups take over key sites and fight against Sudanese government forces in multiple cities in Sudan, leaving at least 185 killed. (via Reuters) April 18 – Fox News pays $787.5 million to Dominion Voting Systems in the defamation lawsuit Dominion Voting Systems v Fox News Network to settle out of court. Dominion is a company that supplies voting machines in the United States. After the election, Fox News alleged that Dominion machines were rigged. Dominion sued, seeking 1.6 billion dollars in damage, alleging that Fox has knowingly spread false information, thus eroding Dominion’s reputation.  This is the largest media settlement of a defamation lawsuit in the history of the country. (via Fox News) Other ongoing events: Since August 2022, the Russian invasion of Ukraine has been focused on Bakhmut. As one of the bloodiest battles of 21st century Europe, it has killed around 50000 civilians and soldiers with comparatively little ground gained. The Russian assault forces mostly consist of Wagner Group forces, a private army of mercenaries. Currently, Russia has taken over the east side of the city, along with parts of the city center. After Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s new government was elected and formed in late 2022, the coalition announced plans in early January to limit the power of the Supreme Court and allow the ruling coalition to have a majority in the committee for appointing new judges. As a result, large protests occurred, continuing up to the present. Hundreds of thousands of protesters demonstrated every Saturday. France has had one of Europe’s most beneficial pension programs. After being re-elected in 2022, French President Emmanuel Macron and his government submitted a bill in January 2023 that proposed gradually expanding the retirement age from 62 to 65 in 2031, advancing 3 months per year. This resulted in initial protests. Moreover, on March 16, the government invoked an article in the constitution that allowed forcing bills without a vote in its National Assembly. This move was highly unpopular and led to further widespread protests. Trash collectors have stopped collecting trash, leaving it piled up in the streets. Flights were also disrupted this time. French police have also been accused of using disproportionate force against the protestors and members of the press.

On Wednesday, April 5, Ashley Award winners Maya and Dana “Denley” Delaney ’13 presented their trailblazing work in ocean conservation and sustainability to the Deerfield community. Each year, the Executive Committee of Deerfield’s Alumni Association selects an alumnus to honor with the Ashley Award, named after Tom Ashley Class of 1911, who demonstrated “exemplary character and extraordinary devotion to a people, cause, or place through service.” Director of Alumni Relations Jennifer Hammond said, “The committee hoped that uniting the concepts of service and young alums will result in honoring these deserving Deerfield graduates, who could then serve as guideposts for current students.”  The selection process begins with a preliminary list of seven candidates, which student Advancement Ambassadors and the Nominating Committee of the Alumni Association Executive Committee vote on through many rounds. In years past, the Executive Committee has convened to decide on one final award winner. This year, however, they selected two winners. The Delaney sisters are leaders in the crucial fields of ocean conservation and sustainability. After graduating from Deerfield in 2013, they both attended Stanford University. Denley Delaney received her Bachelor’s degree in marine science and then a Master’s in environmental communication. Maya Delaney received her Bachelor’s degree in International Relations and a Master’s degree in sustainability and is now working towards her Master of Business Administration degree at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Sloan School of Management. Before her time at MIT, Maya Delaney worked at the Albright Stonebridge Group, a geopolitical consulting firm, advising companies on proactive climate finance projects. She served as one of the Bahamas’ Ambassadors for Youth Climate Action, where she spoke at the UN’s COP26 about ocean finance. Denley Delaney is currently a Senior Manager on the Exploration Technology team at National Geographic. She utilizes underwater technology to communicate the necessity of preserving and protecting the ocean to the general public. Both sisters credit their upbringing in the Bahamas as a primary inspiration for their work on climate change.  Maya Delaney said, “As someone who hasn’t lived full time in the Bahamas since I was thirteen because I came to boarding school and [have] lived in the States ever since, it’s been an active decision to focus on the country that I’m from. It’s driven by a passion for wanting to see the Caribbean, small islands across Southeast Asia, and across East Africa have a viable future.”  Despite how much they have accomplished over the last decade, the Delaney sisters also experience occasional discouragement working in sustainability. However, they choose to remain hopeful about the future. Denley Delaney said, “I mean, we would sort of be kidding ourselves if we said it wasn’t a reality, but we are also at a unique point in time where if we act now, we have the ability to change the trajectory and come up with innovative solutions.”  She added, explaining how more and more people worldwide are coming to understand the necessity of our oceans in global climate: “We are currently in the United Nations Decade of Ocean Science, and so a lot of countries are rallying around this right now. There’s lots of collaboration as well in this space, so while it can sometimes be a little bit disheartening looking at the reality, we are so uniquely positioned to change the way things are for the better.”  Maya Delaney explained the frustration she experiences working in climate finance, where she often witnesses large corporations make empty promises, using phrases such as “net zero by 2030.” She uses this frustration to motivate her further: “For me, a way that I find optimism is by placing myself in the seat of someone who helps to make those promises a reality.” This strategy is what she calls “being on the side of the implementer.” Although 10 years may not seem long when considering Deerfield’s history, the Delaney sisters observed significant changes to  the campus culture of sustainability upon revisiting. After visiting Science Teacher Rich Calhoun’s Research in Sustainability class, Maya Delaney reflected on incorporating climate into curriculums: “Ten years ago, generally speaking, climate change wasn’t a topic that was woven into the classroom. To see the fact that it’s not seen as a ‘specialized’ area of study is already a massive change in itself.” Though the problems being considered within the classroom may be different than ten years ago, the Delaney sisters recognized the lessons they learned at Deerfield and how they employ them constantly in their careers. “Certainly independence, critical thinking, and forward thinking. If there’s an issue at hand, I’m not just gonna say, ‘Oh, we have this issue.’ I want to come with a solution,” Denley Delaney said.  The Delaney sisters also offered invaluable advice for the Deerfield student considering a future career in sustainability. “Know that there are so many different pathways, and they all require a different set of skills. You can be on the science side of things. You can be on the policymaking side of things. You can be doing climate scenario analysis. You might wanna be on the finance side of things. There’s room for literally everybody who is interested in this topic,” said Maya Delaney.

If you look around campus, you will find one historic piece of nature wherever you go: trees. Trees at Deerfield Academy come in all different types of species, ages, and sizes. The Plant Administration, part of the Physical Plant Department, depicts the upkeep of trees and some of the riddling diseases Deerfield had encountered over the years that have put many lives of trees at risk.  Director of Facilities Operations David Purington explained the process behind maintaining trees, saying, “There are really two reasons you would cut a tree down. The primary reason is if it’s dying or failing, such as the big tree we took down around [Pocumtuck] … when we cut down the tree and looked at the stump, most of it was rotten. This year we decided the danger was greater than the value.” Although students may have found removing this tree upsetting, keeping up the trees would have been dangerous. Mr. Purington added, “We are not afraid to cut down a tree that needs to come down, and that’s important [so] we don’t hold on to them too long.” Deerfield has only one surviving elm tree that it works hard to preserve. In the 1970s, Dutch elm disease swept across the northeastern United States, wiping out entire tree-lined streets. Mr. Purington commented, “Historic Deerfield used to be lined with elm trees until they all died, and they had to start over and replant.” As a result, the grounds team and a specialty team vendor annually inject nutrients into the elm tree, located to the left of the Rosenwald dormitory, to strengthen and preserve it.  Mr. Purington further pointed out that climate change has impacted trees on campus. Mr. Purington commented, “Winters are warmer, the summers are hotter [and] longer, and we are taking down several large and medium-sized maple trees every year because they reach the point of too much dead wood.” Not only did Mr. Purington display the hardships of Maple Tree upkeep, but he also highlighted how it affects the Academy’sAcademy’s beloved Williams Farm Sugarhouse.  The tree history map, which outlines the history of numerous trees on the Deerfield campus, was confirmed to be simply a rumor. Mrs. Perry dismissed the map’s existence: “It is very difficult; you can plant a tree that is completely healthy and does everything right, and you don’t know that it is going to succeed in that spot.” Furthermore, a map of tree history would be very hard to keep year after year because of how much the landscape is changing.  The trees around Deerfield’s campus remain staples of the Academy’s historical culture. Mr. Purington feels that trees are important as “throughout the history of the school, there have always been a lot of trees on campus, and most of the trees in the oldest photos have died, but what we have out here today is a campus rich with trees of all shapes and sizes.”  Throughout Deerfield Academy’s history, trees remain a staple of the historical culture. The Plant Administration is doing all it can to keep the tradition and upkeep of trees that impact “how they make you feel when you are walking around campus.”

Deerfield’s ability to uphold its sustainability goals is one of the many sacrifices that have been made in bringing students back to campus.  “Think 80/20 as a concept really took a hard shot,” said Environmental Management Coordinator David Purington when referring to COVID-19 restrictions this year. Think 80/20, one of Deerfield’s main sustainability initiatives, is a program dedicated to keeping the school’s landfill waste below or at 20% of its total refuse. The school has been able to achieve this goal in the past by employing a combination of reusing, recycling, and composting.  The first aspect of Think 80/20 is reusing. Deerfield has partnered with the Institutional Recycling Network (IRN) for years to send gently used equipment to other countries in order to reduce the school’s amount of waste. This can include anything from classroom technology equipment to toilets, sinks, and faucets. Deerfield made its most recent shipment in partnership with the IRN in the fall of 2019, when they donated furniture and equipment from the Dewey Health Center to an organization based in Tanzania. Mr. Purington said, “Ultimately, we sent more than 160 items – from trash cans and bulletin boards to exam tables and hospital beds.” The second strategy the Academy implemented for Think 80/20 is recycling. The school has been able reduce its waste in the past by making it a priority to constantly expand the recycling program. In prior years, the school used a company called Amherst Trucking for waste management. They had a specific truck to pick up paper and cardboard, and a separate one for bottles and cans, which was how Deerfield sorted its recyclables. Amherst Trucking was recently sold to a larger company, however, called U.S.A. Waste. Since COVID-19, “U.S.A. Waste has adopted what they call ‘Single Stream’ as their model,” Mr. Purington said. “So even if we continued with all the toters outside, they were still going to show up with one truck.” Because of this, paper, cardboard, bottles, and cans are no longer being separated, though the dorm containers have not changed. In addition, the school has stopped collecting plastic bags and styrofoam. These materials require extra people to pick up in the dorms. “We recognized that one of our important goals was to have as few people as possible in the dormitories,” explained Mr. Purington. Finally, the school has focused on strengthening its composting program in the past few years to commit to Think 80/20. This included implementing dorm-wide composting last year, stocking the Koch and Greer Cafes with compostable napkins, cutlery, containers, and cups, and developing a thorough composting system in the Dining Hall.  Deerfield has put on hold composting during meal times and in dorms due to COVID-19. According to Michael McCarthy, Director of Food Services, “The biggest two things are the bottled water and the takeout containers” when it comes to the dining hall’s increase in waste. Another downside, he said, is that “we haven’t been able to compost the take out containers, even though they are compostable.”WW Despite the lack of composting available for students, the dining hall kitchen is still trying to stay as green as possible. Mr. McCarthy said, “We’ve been sourcing mainly compostable items: forks, knives, spoons, the pasta cups and lids.” He added, “We’re still [composting] food scraps from prep food, egg shells, vegetable and meat scraps” and “buying a lot of our food locally, like our produce and grass fed beef.” Deerfield faculty are also stepping up and making sure they are doing their best to contribute to the school’s composting goals. “I’ve had a lot of faculty ask me what to do with trash from their kitchens and houses and we’ve been able to create a place for them to participate again,” Mr. Purington recounted. Although Think 80/20 has had to be put partially on hold, the school can still commit to sustainability in other ways. Mr. Purington mentioned, “I am looking at a solar project as part of the facilities team, and we are also doing some long term planning on how we might be able to change the way we provide heat and electricity for the school over the next 20 years.” “I have a lot of confidence in the school’s ability to get back to those programs as soon as it’s allowed,” Mr. McCarthy said. He stressed to the community that “this is painful for a lot of us to do” and that “we’re all super committed to sustainability not only in the dining hall but all around campus.”

On April 19, 2023, environmentalist Prince Hussain Aga Khan ’92 returned to Deerfield to share his experiences working in wildlife conservation. Specifically. Mr. Aga Khan found a passion for photographing marine animals. Some of these works were showcased on posters across campus, including a life-sized whale poster hung up in the Koch Center and various posters of other sea creatures hung in the Greer Cafe and Hess Auditorium Lobby. Born on April 10, 1974, in Geneva, Switzerland, Mr. Aga Khan is the third of four children to Mawlana Hazar Imam, the current Imam of the Nizari Ismaili branch of Shia Islam, who claims direct lineal descent from Muhammad. Much of Mr. Aga Khan’s work captures the fragility of nature and urges people to take action against environmental issues such as climate change and ocean pollution. He listed Sardinia, the Philippines, Niger, the Galapagos, Egypt, and Indonesia as notable places where he has seen plastic in the ocean.  Mr. Aga Khan stated, “I now see plastic everywhere … It’s in Sardinia now, one of the beaches I grew up going to every summer…[Sardinia] was my favorite beach with the most octopus I’ve ever seen and the nicest fish.” He adds that, “in 2020 [Sardinia] has gone from this beautiful pristine place with the most different species of fish I’ve ever seen in the Mediterranean to a place full of plastic.” Mr. Aga Khan worries about the growing plastic pollution he witnesses on his diving trips. “It’s like an absolute tragedy and what’s even worse, I think there’s no reliable alternative to plastic right now. … And also microplastics are a bigger problem than the bigger [plastic material that] you [can] see.” Mr. Aga Khan said, “Microplastics overwhelm every marine organism and in a study over microplastics 100% of turtles were assessed [to have been affected by microplastics].” Plastic waste is not the only form of pollution and habitat destruction that Mr. Aga Khan encounters on his diving trips. “I see fish hooks in shark mouths in a lot of places,” he noted. Although it is illegal to fish for sharks in the Bahamas and elsewhere, Mr. Aga Khan described how “one out of five of the sharks I see have a hook in their mouth or a scar from fishing or line trailing them.”  Mr. Aga Khan also illustrated his concern for widespread coral bleaching from French Polynesia to the Bahamas. He remarked, “I’ve seen [coral bleaching] in Maria in Polynesia where if you look at the forests 15 years ago, the coral was unbelievably beautiful and colorful and alive, and now it’s mostly dead and much less colorful.” Wildlife has fascinated Mr. Aga Khan from a young age. When asked about his journey to becoming a wildlife conservation photographer, Mr. Aga Khan said, “I asked my mom for a fish tank when I was three. She literally gave me one when I was four or five. I watched David Attenborough all the time and I’ve been in love with animals since.”  Mr. Aga Khan added, “Most of what I’ve been into, and most of what I’ve done for photography, diving, and wildlife, has been outside of school. I got interested in [wildlife] when I was five and dived when I was fourteen.”  As a Deerfield student, Mr. Aga Khan met some of his best friends and mentors, whom he would later work with on photographic expeditions. Mr. Aga Khan remarked, “The education here [notably biology] and some teachers were huge influences [that] helped me realize what I wanted to do.” After Deerfield, Mr. Aga Khan graduated from Williams College with a dual degree in theater and French literature and went on to obtain a Master of International Affairs degree from Columbia’s School of International and Public Affairs in 2004. At Columbia, he focused on Economic and Political Development with a regional focus on the Middle East and North Africa.  Mr. Aga Khan’s education allowed him to realize that he did not want to pursue a career in math or biology, but instead wanted to work in conservation and efforts to limit wildlife extinction. Through the camera lens, he captured the beauty of wildlife on frequent trips to the Bahamas, Egypt, and the Brazilian Amazon.  Mr. Aga Khan displayed his first wildlife exhibition at Columbia University in 2004  and focused on rainforests. He began his path on conservation photography to raise awareness about the fragile nature of the environment and the need to protect ecosystems.  Mr. Aga Khan’s passion led him to found and direct Focused on Nature (FON), a non-profit organization raising awareness for species conservation and habitat loss. FON educates the public about environmental issues and donates to wildlife charities around the world. FON receives funding through direct gifts as well as by selling photography, books, and scarves featuring plants and animals. Mr. Aga Khan has published four books showcasing his photography: Animal Voyage, Diving into Wildlife, Fragile Beauty, and The Living Sea. Through FON, the sales from these books are donated to charitable organizations that are dedicated to shark, cetacean, and sea turtle conservation. FON’s expert advisors and contacts identify and select wildlife projects to fund. FON donates to organizations such as the Shark Conservation Fund, the Oceana, and Sheldrick Wildlife Trust, which protect and raise awareness for sharks, cetaceans, turtles, great apes, and many other animals. Currently, FON has granted over 3.9 million dollars.  In addition, Mr. Aga Khan contributes to the work of the Ismaili Immamat, serving as the Board Chair of the Aga Khan Agency of Habitat, which works with communities to prepare for natural disasters and climate change. The agency operates in Afghanistan, Tajikistan, Syria, Pakistan, and India, and hopes to reach other communities in Central Asia and East Africa. Mr. Aga Khan is also a Board Member of the Aga Khan Trust for Culture. Both agencies belong to the Aga Khan Development Network (AKDN), which works to promote self-reliance within communities. Mr. Aga Khan joined AKDN’s Environment and Climate Committee and remains a member of the Jane Goodall Legacy Foundation Council for Hope, a council that includes individuals from many different fields, including conservation, science, business, government, media, and the arts. Mr. Aga Khan said that although there are various ways to help environmental issues, many people remain oblivious to these solutions; he hopes to fight against problems such as wildlife and habitat destruction by increasing public awareness. He explained, “I’m trying to fight the problems and educate and … really try and improve the world because paralysis and depression and apathy won’t do anything.”  By spreading awareness about species conservation and pollution, Mr. Aga Khan urges others to take action. He said, “Over the five decades of my own life, I have been heartbroken to see how our oceans have become so clogged up by plastic and other forms of pollution and waste. … Coastal areas I visited as a child are unrecognizable today — the wildlife is suffocating and the coastal economies are stagnating. It is clear to me that we have to act now before it is too late.”  In the wake of Earth Week, whether it’s through his evoking pictures of habitat destruction that inspire students to take action or simply sharing his heartwarming spinner dolphin photography, Mr. Aga Khan’s visit to Deerfield leaves a lasting mark on the community’s awareness of marine conservation.

Recently, climate movements, often led by activists such as Greta Thunberg, have warned people about the dangers of global warming. In Deerfield Academy’s backyard, the First Church of Deerfield is spreading awareness about this problem by using its church bells, a symbol of gathering and warning.  On December 11, 2022, the First Church of Deerfield started to ring its bells for eleven minutes at 11 am on the eleventh day of every month. The consistent representation of eleven portrays how we are in the eleventh hour, right before climate change effects begin to heighten and become irreversible. Reverend Liza Knapp, the pastor at the First Church of Deerfield since January 2017, has noticed how threatening climate change is to the current generation and the future ones to come. Rev. Knapp expressed how everyone must do their part, large or small, to help raise awareness about this prevalent matter; even an action as simple as ringing bells at a seemingly random time of day to call attention to climate change makes a difference.

On April 16, 2023, Director at the Sierra Club, Aaron Mair spoke about climate action and diversity at the Episcopal Church of Saints James and Andrew in Greenfield, Massachusetts. Aaron Mair is a former leader and current board member of the Sierra Club, a non profit organization that advocates for environmental and climate justice. He is also an activist for environmental justice and the director of the Forever Adirondacks Campaign, a campaign that raises awareness for clean water and protection of the wilderness in the Adirondack Parks. Mr. Mair began his activism in the 1980s by working to shut down a solid waste incinerator, which burns waste to remove garbage from landfills, but also pollutes and emits toxins into the air. Mr. Mair continues to advocate for environmental justice today. Through Deerfield’s EcoReps program, the Academy sent  three students to Greenfield to listen to Mr. Mair speak. Jade Zimmerman ’25 reflected on the talk, stating, “Aaron Mair was really informative and talked about taking action against environmental injustices. I was amazed he shut down a solid waste incinerator that was causing illness in his family and community.”  Finally, the students who attended the speaking event were able to ask Mr. Mair some questions, gather his advice, and learn more about his work with environmental activism. Mr. Mair stated, describing how teenagers can best advocate for their passions, “The right to petition is the most fundamental and foundational right for every American. Now, you don’t need to be old enough to vote, but the right to petition is guaranteed to every student. Right now your generation is leading that fight. And the more youth that engage in direct action protests and resistance, that is the most important thing that you can do. It’s that foundational step in building your knowledge and understanding of your right as a citizen of the United States. Exercise that right.”