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THIJS WITTINK/DEERFIELD SCROLL August 1914: Sir Ernest Shackleton departed Plymouth, England, for the frozen unknown of the Antarctic. April 2026: A shivering huddle of students at Deerfield Academy departed the Horse’s Head for the banks of the Riv. To the untrained eye, the historical significance of these two voyages is indistinguishable. The sole point of divergence? Shackleton’s me n were equipped with sturdy lifeboats, while we were left to navigate the sub-arctic abyss with nothing but a communal towel. Both expeditions sought to overcome insurmountable odds; both fought the encroaching frost; and both, presumably, had many wet socks. Yet, while historians tirelessly laud the “Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition” for its bravery, they consistently overlook the sheer grit required for a Deerfield student to traverse the frozen tundra of the Lower Fields. Shackleton famously sailed roughly 800 miles across the Southern Ocean; we traveled roughly 800 yards. But to a teenager emerging from four hours of sleep and a caffeine-induced haze, those distances are identical. The endurance required to survive a Friday dip at 7 am at Deerfield, known as “Shriv,” is, to many, unimaginable. This spring’s first Shriv was delayed two weeks due to river conditions, only heightening the anticipation for the first dip, which finally took place on April 10. Four-year veteran and Shriv Captain Cole Rorick ’26 noted that “The excitement was on another level, and everyone was exuding all the energy they’d been saving up.” The river, however, was not particularly sympathetic to the built-up enthusiasm. Shriv Captain Zander Auth ’26 reported that it clocked in at a brisk 41 degrees, colder than the air itself, due to what Jack Webb ‘27, a regular at the riverbanks, identified as “a lot of snow runoff.” Rorick described the experience as “electric,” right before announcing that he had lost sensation in his toes. He offered a philosophical defense of this ordeal, “The river is cold, but because the community is so rich, it seems warmer.” A heartwarming sentiment. Medically speaking, however, community is not a recognized treatment for hypothermia. Webb, meanwhile, processed the experience more poetically and poignantly: “The cold bit my toes and then bit my nose, but it wasn’t as bad because I ran in with my bros.” While most poets would have stopped there, he continued: “The cold made me feel awake. Waking up in the morning, it’s never fake. It’s so good to be back in the water for goodness sake, right after being on break.” For some, the river appears to be a source of inspiration. Newly selected Spring Shriv Captain Sophie Kamil ’26 concurred, noting that the adrenaline of a collective leap effectively “diminishes the cold,” which may also be called “collective delusion.” When asked whether the warmer air makes spring dips easier, Rorick said it made it “less painful to leave the river.” Webb, on the other hand, was less satisfied, explaining that the lack of a thermal shock “didn’t make [him] feel good about himself,” to which Kamil simply replied: “Oh. I felt pretty good about myself.” Some have more demanding responsibilities, like Shriv Captain Cece Cramer ’26, who is entrusted with the speaker. Explaining why senior-year Shrivs feel extra cold, Cramer said, “Having to carry the speaker in the cold months, the metal handle, my hands are freezing.” She takes the curation extremely seriously. “Every night before Shriv, I spend like half an hour in bed choosing the cue of songs.” There are, of course, costs to devote to this immense. Cramer described developing a cold allergy of uncertain origin during the fall of her sophomore year, which she suspects may have been caused by her weekly dips. For several months, following each Shriv, she went to the health center covered in hives. Eventually, it went away, but in the meantime, she had to “wear like three pairs of socks to Shriv and crocs or boots over top,” along with socks on her hands. And yet, Cramer insists that “it's definitely worth it.” When discussing student turnout, Rorick credited female participants with reshaping Shriv’s atmosphere, transforming what was once an all-boys tradition. “We’ve seen a decline in male attendance, and girls make it a very powerful place to be and a powerful thing to be a part of. The bigger the better; we have a lot more people because of all the girls showing up,” he explains. Every great exhibition has its adversaries. For Shackleton, it was the crushing ice. For Shriv, it was the Student Bulletin. The administration officially forbade entry into the glacial waters, but students, rebellious by nature, emerged from the depths regardless. The authorities arrived. “Security pulled up and I thought I was done for,” Rorick recalled, but fortunately, they “just walked away.” Whether this is an institutional endorsement or capitulation remains unclear. What is clear is that Shriv is thriving. As Webb eloquently yet not too logically put it: “The river’s cold, but the waters warm, and all the people make me wanna swarm.”

JOANNA CHANG/DEERFIELD SCROLL On Tuesday, May 6, 2025, the Deerfield Film Club listened to guest speaker Howard Gordon share life experiences and advice. Gordon’s involvement in the film industry includes work on The X Files, Homeland, and 24, the latter two for which he has received Emmy Awards. Gordon is the Deerfield Film Club’s first-ever guest of the inaugural year for the club. Harry Holtz ’26, a founding member of the club, described the goal as “the purpose to happen here was to see what it was truly like to be in the film industry. And given that he has a lot of experience in that field, it was really great to hear about his time.” Holtz also further elaborated on Gordon’s advice and said, “He gave us a few memorable pieces of advice. One, of course, is to stay humble, and the next is he referred to being like a cell in biology, where you let some things in, but also prevent other things from entering. So you have to be mindful of the advice you take. Obviously, take feedback, but don't, and this is a pretty big thing, don't completely change your film just based on what you predict the audience will see as or how the audience will react.” Humility was not the only component of Gordon’s advice, Harry said, “He also mentioned the the idea, kind of like thinking on your feet and being able to problem solve, and how you have to get to really be into problem solving, you know there are always gonna be things kind of going wrong, and so you got to make sure that you're actively trying to fix it” Gordon’s words will leave the group something to ponder as the year comes to an end. Holtz summarized Film Club’s journey, “filmmaking club, me and several other people have started it earlier this year, and it's been a really great way for students to express their filmmaking interests outside of a normal class or in film cocurricular. And over the course of the year, we've kind of been in groups, and we've each worked on various films.” These very films were showcased in this year’s Film Festival, Holtz commented, “Our film is a comedy about a student who was played by Tyler Christopher Long skipping class, and the moments that follow are both dramatic and hilarious, and the audience is kind of taking through A journey between Tyler and Mr. Perry, his class teacher, through a bunch of different events and funny places. And there's just a lot of interesting aspects, like warping time, it was a really fun project.” After Film Club’s debut on the big stage, Holtz ended by saying, “We hope to continue to build off of what we have right now and really encourage people to join the club, even if they have no experience in filmmaking or the arts. In fact, just so you know, people have the chance to, like I was saying earlier, experiment with filmmaking.”

When he was 15 years old, former Deer!eld Art Teacher David Dickinson planned to become a professional musician. Instead, he and his wife, former French Teacher Claudia Lyons, ended up founding the Koch Friday Concert at the beginning of an almost four-decades-long career at the Academy. Inspired by talk shows like David Letterman’s, Mr. Dickinson and Ms. Lyons brought in Josh Binswanger ’80, who worked in comedy at the time, to MC the event. The concert began as a once-a-year event but soon expanded into a twice-yearly tradition. Now, it’s held every term. After introducing the concert in 2004 and taking a brief sabbatical, Ms. Lyons and Mr. Dickinson came back to resume KFC three years later. “I had no clue there would be such a groundswell of interest from students,” Mr. Dickinson said, adding, “I guess it got out there that everyone is supportive, and you don’t have to be professional … everyone was applauding [the] people who just gave it a try.” As Spanish Teacher and KFC organizer Cheri Karbon described, the couple truly dedicated themselves to the Deer!eld community. “They married but never had kids, deciding the students of Deer!eld would be their kids,” she said. In addition to founding KFC, Ms. Lyons and Mr. Dickinson began the DeNunzio Disco. Mr. Dickinson remembered that students would come into his apartment in Mather to practice their performances for him before the concert. At the time, KFC would start at 7:30 p.m. and often last until nearly midnight, and the class deans would extend curfew hours. When the concert !rst started, the majority of performers were part of the Academy’s music program. “We would get singers and musicians … [but] little by little—this is the best thing about it—it started opening up. And little by little, the novices started showing up,” Mr. Dickinson said. In 2010, he and Ms. Lyons chose a small group of the top KFC performers to perform at a New York City dinner for Deer!eld trustees and donors. Today, KFC enters its 25th year. Ms. Karbon, who came to the Academy in 1999, said the concert has stayed quite true to the original vision of Ms. Lyons and Mr. Dickinson. She and student co-hosts Will Wichern ’27 and Reagan Warren ’27 have experienced firsthand the challenge the event demands; Warren joked that each concert takes "five tons of manpower and three hours of coordination each week.” The organization of this year’s concerts began last spring, as Ms. Karbon and the student hosts slotted the three concerts for 2025-2026 into the calendar. Yet despite the hours of planning poured into the event, the concert is always a little bit different. The team has learned to predict last-minute act changes, tech malfunctions, and other unpredictable disasters. “There’s just so much that can go wrong—and so much that will,” Warren admitted. The organizers, and especially the student MCs up on stage have know how to handle all sorts of issues—Ms. Karbon described the process as “knowing something’s going to not go as planned, counting on that. And then we have such a kind audience.” Now, the spirit behind the concert never fades, she said, and for her, this is one of the most special aspects. “Even if a group gets up and doesn’t do very well, the community is still going to support them,” she said. As Mr. Dickinson put it, KFC “never would have happened without students being willing to get up there and try,

Dear Reader, As 80-degree weather and river days return, Deerfield springs back to life from a dreary winter. The Scroll room is likewise bustling with energy; our writers and editors are working frantically to finish our April issue. It is the last issue in Volume C. The first hundred years are done. Let me address the elephant in the room. You are not reading this article in printed media. In an increasingly online world, we in the Scroll room also felt the pressure to move toward expanding new platforms to stay connected with today’s readers. Our website, podcasts, Youtube channel, and Instagram account also serve this function. We dedicate ourselves to being a newspaper that evolves with time. You might ask: why go online when Deerfield preaches face-to-face connections? The Academy emphasizes tradition in every sense of the word, so why change to an option that breaks with our values? The answer, I would argue, is that our website serves to complete the full Scroll experience, instead of taking away from any aspect. We will still have print issues once a month. Publishing online every two weeks allows us to expand the range of our articles. Every print issue requires days to trim down words to fit the page and layout in a computer software, and we are often limited in terms of article length and the number of articles that make up each issue. Associate Editors spend nights meticulously editing articles to make them more concise. Although we believe in our editors’ ability to maintain journalistic integrity, some information will inevitably be lost through this process. We hope to preserve the original voice of our student journalism through online issues. Another rather unfortunate reason, I think, that drove this decision is the decline in print journalism. In 2025, The New York Times gained 1.4 million online subscribers but continued the trend from previous years to lose its print readers. Other mainstream news sources reported similar trends. Audiences are more accustomed to consuming timely information online—we are working toward publishing rapid response articles that deliver news of campus events within a few days of them taking place. To serve shifting reader interest, we chose to follow other newspapers’ footsteps by more consistently publishing online, but with a Deerfield touch in the preservation of our journalistic standards, along with the continuance of our monthly paper issues. We seek to embody the Academy’s dedication to tradition while keeping up to date with trends beyond the bubble. I am quite optimistic about where the Scroll is going, despite the uncertainties the journalism industry faces. I think our online, prompt coverage of campus news will better connect families, alumni, and prospective students with Deerfield. The website is an accessible platform for anyone who wants a glance of campus life. Meanwhile, we also have new ways to connect students on campus. Recently, I have been discussing the idea of adding word games onto our website with Yong, one of our head website editors, and we agreed that these games could engage faculties and students alike. Be sure to visit the website and check out our Crossword. Through the website, the Scroll could function as more than just a communications piece with the external world. It also brings our community closer together, hence our original intentions as a school newspaper. I also ask you, the readers, to take a leap of faith. We have never done an issue completely online before, and we are still figuring out things as we go down this path. I ask you to trust us and continue reading, for readership motivates us to write. Please visit our website more and spread the word to your friends or family. Starting from this issue, we want to cultivate an online community of engaged readers. And that begins with you, reading. Yours in truth, Andrew Li

COURTESY OF DEERFIELD COMMUNICATIONS On March 28, Deerfield Academy gathered students, faculty, staff, and alumni for a commemoration dinner celebrating the newly renovated Brick Dining Hall. The dinner, which was held on a weekend night separate from the regular sit-down meal schedules, was a formal recognition of the dining hall’s new transformation. It began with remarks from key speakers, and ended with the long-lasting Deerfield tradition of singing the Evensong. For students, faculty, and alumni, this moment extended far beyond the meal: tradition, hope, and Deerfield spirit. Speakers at the dinner included: Head of School John Austin, President of Board of Trustees Leila Govi ’93, and Ambassador Woody Johnson, all of whom played a critical role in bringing the renovations of the Brick to life. Chief Financial Officer Matt Sheehy observed that these speakers shared a common line in their addresses: “Each of the speakers echo[ed] their commitment to sit-down meals in an era without in-person connection.” He emphasized the role of Deerfield in this endeavor, saying, “Deerfield continues to do an excellent job at this, through its current programs and new advancements like the dining hall.” The underlying message across each speech was their commitment to keeping human connections alive in an age increasingly defined by the lack of interpersonal exchanges. This evening also left a strong impression for students seated at their sit-downs: “When the speakers talked about what Deerfield meant to them years after their graduation, it made me appreciate the traditions of Deerfield and cherish every small moment of my time here,” said Gabby Kilroy ’29. Miriam Toshik, ’29 further expanded off of Kilroy’s idea when explaining: “The evening was structured to remember tradition and create new memories. Speakers reflected on their career at Deerfield but also expanded on how that impacted their current roles – it was a short moment but it inspired me to carry the Deerfield spirit further.” Head of Deerfield’s Advancement Office Chuck Ramsay ’88 spoke further on the importance of including a sit-down meal in the program for the Brick dedication. He said, “The tradition of sit down meals at Deerfield goes back to the early 20th Century. We could not think of a better way to celebrate our community and dedicate the Brick than to have it occur during a sit-down meal with students and faculty at Deerfield.” Mr. Ramsay emphasized the building process and outlayed the philanthropic donations supporting the project. “The project cost was 58 million dollars, and all of it was covered by gifts and pledges to Deerfield from generous donors.” He underscored why he orchestrated the dedication by “including starting the ringing of the chimes and the Deerfield Blessing, having student waiters, and finishing with the Evensong.” “We end many Deerfield alumni events with the singing of the Evensong – it is a cherished tradition,” he said. Ellora Devitre ’26 echoes the importance of tradition while emphasizing the benefits of recent changes as well. “Walking into the dining hall felt different,” said Devitre, “You could actually hear the person across from you – this might seem like a small change, but it makes a big difference in terms of how you connect with your table.” The Brick’s renovations were made according to concerns by the student and faculty bodies including the Brick’s acoustics. Mr. Sheehy spoke on this, saying that he and his team were able to “keep the familiarity and warmth of the dining hall,” while tackling infrastructural issues during the renovation. For many, the hope of this evening lingers as the Brick Dining Hall becomes more than a place to eat, but, underscoring Mr. Sheehy’s expectations: to “make friends and meet new people”.

THIJS WITTINK/DEERFIELD SCROLL Deerfield’s Student Life Office Senior Associate Kevin Kelly published his memoir Both Sides of the Line with the help of Bancroft Press in 2016. The book covers Mr. Kelly’s experience with Jack Clyde Dempsey, his high school football coach, who led the team to a championship season. While Dempsey acted as a mentor and leader for many high school students, including Mr. Kelly himself, his hidden identity as a mob enforcer forced him to flee the country, becoming one of America’s most wanted fugitives. Decades after graduation, Mr. Kelly came across a Boston Globe article featuring his Catholic high school, where he played under Dempsey. He remembered initially that his 1974 football team won their Catholic conference championship, the first time his school had ever won. Dempsey, a longtime role model and teacher, “preached God, family, and country.” At the same time, Mr. Kelly explained, Dempsey worked for a mob, ended up killing someone, and was mentioned on the TV show America’s Most Wanted—a strange and unnerving character tension. Mr. Kelly felt like the story was worth sharing with others and decided to write about it. Throughout the writing process, Mr. Kelly faced a big challenge: writing consistently. He shared, “For multiple years, I put the book down for a couple of months then picked it back up again, being inconsistent with the plan.” It was his publisher and close friend for the past ten years who advised him to “stop pretending to be a writer, [and] tell the story.” Mr. Kelly felt that this piece of advice “really opened the doors to continue the memoir after years of work piling up.” The book ended up taking him 18 years to write. Mr. Kelly had never seen himself as a writer, he said: “Writing has always been and continues to be my weakest area,” he explained. Through his experience of writing Both Sides of the Line, Mr. Kelly learned to put himself into the reader’s shoes by coming up with questions when developing the storyline. “Not being a writer,” he said, “I had to look at something and say to myself: Is this worthwhile? Is there anything of value here, and who would want to read this story?” During the process of crafting his book, Mr. Kelly found it “daunting at first,” but halfway through, he felt a burst of motivation. “I felt the runner's high kick in and felt driven to continue finishing the book,” he said. Back in Deerfield, he spoke about his book following its release. For one class period, Scroll Faculty Advisor English Teacher Justin Romick invited Mr. Kelly to speak in his Creative Non-Fiction Workshop, where Mr. Kelly shared a synopsis of his book. Julie Yan ’26, a student in Mr. Romick’s class shared her insight about the memoir: “The book is really compelling because it shows the dual perspective of the football coach. On one hand, the coach was a father figure to the team, changing the lives of so many young people, but on the other hand, he killed someone and was in the mafia,” she said. Yan emphasized how the book is not only a one-dimensional story, but it also explores the multifaceted identity of a person. As Mr. Kelly began to discover the other side of his football coach he had never seen, he decided to separate the coach’s admirable side from his criminal side. “I noted down the positive traits of being a role model, providing life lessons, and giving good coaching advice,” he said. As the main takeaway, Mr. Kelly noted how he hopes for readers to decide if Jack Clyde Dempsey was a hero or a villain by creating a book with an open-ended conclusion.

THIJS WITTINK/DEERFIELD SCROLL Ryan Bai ’26’s artistic career began in second grade, when, under his mother's encouragement, he first picked up a paintbrush and took up the canvas. However, what initially captured him was not only the art but also the material of oil paint. “I would scoop them up and just spread them all over my hands and face,” Bai recalled, noting in particular his enjoyment of the texture of paint, and the therapeutic quality it brought to him. “I think that’s why I fell in love with art,” he said, “because it’s something fun, that I can enjoy, that can help me relax.” At Deerfield, Bai continued to develop his passion for visual art, enrolling in AP Drawing and Painting and Honors Studio Art, participating in the Drawing and Painting co-curricular, and serving as the Editor-in-Chief of Albany Road, Deerfield’s Literary and Arts Magazine. He spoke on how the Academy’s programs enabled him to treat art as a persistent commitment, particularly referencing the “Sustained Investigation” portfolio in the AP Drawing and Painting course. “It’s an amazing program because no one knows what they’re going to end up with,” he said, “but as they explore and create pieces one by one, eventually they will understand what they will develop, their own style, and their own thinking from that process.” For Bai, this structure helped him to expand his vision beyond individual works and consider how different pieces can “make a whole argument” and “speak to each other.” Despite his appreciation for AP Drawing and Painting, Bai noted that his relationship with art had shifted as he moved into his senior year. “Tenth grade and eleventh grade, what I was thinking more about was how I could stretch what I do,” he said. “I always tried to do something I’d never done before, so I expanded on my vocabulary.” Now, in his senior spring, Bai said that he had returned to painting more for pleasure than for technical experimentation. Speaking on his current Honors Studio Art class, he explained that “the spring term is pretty much just free time, personal projects.” He is now focused less on creating “revolutionary” art and dedicates more of his time to painting to “make [himself] happy and make people around [him] happy.” Bai is currently working on a painting of his advisory, modeled after Da Vinci’s Last Supper, which he views as a way to exercise “the vocabulary that [he] currently [has].” Bai’s current perspective on art emerged in part from an earlier challenge, when he had to decide whether to pursue a specialized art school program or remain on a conventional academic path. After thorough consideration, he ultimately chose not to attend art school, a decision he momentarily regretted. Looking back, however, Bai explained that the choice helped him realize that art and academics did not have to be separate. “A great brain for the arts should also be a great brain for math and science,” he said, referencing moments when academics helped inform his art. In particular, he pointed to Altomorphism, a painting influenced by mathematical concepts, and to his recent sculpture, The Looook, inspired by the philosophy of Jean-Paul Sartre. For Bai, the sculpture stands out as his favorite piece for its reflexive yet humorous nature. “If I do an art of you, but you’re also looking at me, then are you also doing an art of me, or am I doing an art of you?” he asked. In Bai’s view, his passion for drawing never waned throughout his artistic career, as he continually sought out ways to continue painting. He recalled his time in middle school, when he pretended to sweep the floor in the art classrooms to listen to lectures. “The thing is, opportunities are all free if you’re just shameless enough,” he commented on the experience. At Deerfield, Bai received more direct support that allowed his passion to develop further. He credited Art Teachers Mercedes Taylor and Ellie Bicknell for “supporting me a lot along the journey…and guiding me along my entire Deerfield art career,” as well as former philosophy teacher Angel Abreu ’92, who influenced his thinking on the philosophy of art. Still, Bai stressed that guidance alone is not enough without commitment backed by enthusiasm. “I honestly think passion is the number one thing,” he said, referencing a motto he takes from his favorite artist, the Chinese oil painter Chen Danqing: “He said, ‘[censored]! I just love painting, you can’t stop me!’ and that’s the kind of spirit I bear in mind as I continue with art.” Though Bai said that he does not plan to pursue art professionally after Deerfield, he emphasized that painting will remain an important part of his “vision” and “mode of thinking”. Returning to the idea of enjoyment, Bai described art less as a profession, but rather, an ordinary yet meaningful part of his life. “For me, [creating art] is the same as playing video games,” he said. “It's the same as dancing around, the same as just eating food. It's pleasing to do, and that's why I do it.”

Six senior leaders plan to leave Deerfield this year—among a series of other faculty and staff members—mirroring a national trend of increasing faculty turnovers since the 1990s. According to the Learning Policy Institute, faculty turnover rates today in the United States are about 27% higher than two decades ago, and nearly three in four teachers who decide to leave a position choose for reasons other than retirement. At the Academy, faculty turnovers and the process of welcoming new members to the team are bringing the Student Life Office this spring to reflect upon the Academy and education more broadly. This tendency of multiple faculty members choosing another path and aiming to continue their professional growth beyond the Academy has been observed in other boarding schools as well over the past decade. Dean of Faculty Patrick Andren, who worked at three other boarding schools before coming to Deerfield, said, “These are just natural absences in the lives of school.” But by the end of this year, close to 30 faculty members will leave the Academy, almost double faculty turnovers last year. Instead of narrowing perspectives on the losses solely, Associate Head of School for Student Life Amie Creagh looked at the phenomenon as an opportunity for staying colleagues to improve and move into the vacant positions. “You're bringing up the next kind of homegrown set of leaders,” she said. While Dean of Residential Life, 12th Grade Dean Becca Melvoin and Dean of Students Samuel Bicknell are leaving and moving to their next tier of leadership, current 9th Grade Dean Heather Brown will move up as the new Dean of Students, and International Student Advisor Lina Al Samawi as the new Dean of Residential Life. "[This is a] unique opportunity for the school to continue to bring in colleagues and leaders who have a clear understanding of what Deerfield can offer us as employees and what Deerfield can then offer students,” said Mr. Andren. During the process of hiring new employees, the SLO carried out orientations and in-person conversations on campus to help make their transition smoother. Ms. Creagh said, “Each year we go through a hiring cycle, we are forced to articulate to prospective colleagues who we are and what we offer as a school.” A week-long orientation program is dedicated to integrating new hires into life at the Academy. Keeping all the information in mind, Mr. Andren noted one point that is especially crucial for new colleagues to recall. “To make sure that you know the people, and to know that these people are invested in your success, is the number one thing you can do is to ask for help when you need it.” Oral introductions to the school bridge prospective faculty to the new environment well, but it’s usually the community that leads new members to the final decision of coming to the Academy. Mr. Andren said, “The people who get closer and closer to Deerfield are struck more and more by just how powerful that community is, how much energy you all bring every day to everything you do.” New members bring fresh viewpoints and questions that prompt innovations in education at the Academy. According to Mr. Andren, new folks ask questions about the purpose of each school decision as they are not familiar with how everything works at the Academy yet. Ms. Creagh said, “New colleagues are really good at asking the question: Why do you do it that way? And we have to be really clear with an answer when someone asks that question.” Answering these inquiries allows the SLO team to understand their mission with more depths. Mr. Andren said, “ [They] really explore how we think to create the best for students. This influx of folks helps us do that.” Besides entering a different educational environment, new members are also choosing a new lifestyle. Ms. Creagh said, “When one makes the lifestyle decision to work in a boarding school, you're bringing one, two, three, four, other people into that decision.” To support the faculty families, the Academy created the Early Learning Center that nurtures kids from infancy to preschool regarding their basic education, critical thinking, and independence. Along this cycle of faculty coming and leaving, members of the SLO experienced emotions of loss and welcome. As Mr. Andren said, “Everybody who's part of this process wants to make sure that you all have a faculty who look at the best for you.”

As physics teacher David Hallwood said, teachers at Deerfield Academy actively strive to find the “best way of teaching.” Throughout the past decade, administrators and educators asked themselves if they should continue with Advanced Placement-labeled courses. The Advanced Placement (AP) program was officially launched for high schoolers in the 1955-56 school year after the government-funded “Kenyon Plan” from Kenyon College in Ohio had conducted studies and trials runs with high schools and colleges like the Lawrenceville School, the two Phillips Academies, St. Paul’s School, Harvard University, Princeton University, and Yale University. From the start, the College Board took over the AP program. The purpose of AP courses and exams were to allow high school students to take college-level courses in high school for college credit. Now, AP classes have become more present in the world of education and applying to colleges, taking up a significant portion of students’ attention in their academic career. Currently, the only classes that are designated as AP classes at the Academy are various visual arts courses, AP Calculus AB and BC, AP Statistics, and AP Seminar: H20 & Food Systems. Common AP-labeled courses that have transitioned from that system are the core science courses and some history courses. English was never offered as an AP class and history classes were not offered as AP classes earlier on as well. One of the classes that shifted away from the AP curriculum was the Art History class. Lydia Hemphill, Dean of Academic Affairs, taught this class from when she started teaching at Deerfield in 1995 until four years ago, when John Leistler took over. Previously, Art History was a three-term course and Ms. Hemphill had taught three full sections. The start of the shift away from the AP was caused by a change in the official College Board Art History AP exam and curriculum. In the 2015-2016 school year, the AP went from covering only Western art to global art. Ms. Hemphill said that these changes in the course were “good changes, but just not changes that made sense for us here, given the length of our school [year].” Her students were less interested in studying for AP, and she made the decision on her own to redesign the course. Her suggestion was taken well by the department and a relatively quick shift was made. The current Art History course is now two terms instead of three and serves as a history elective course. In this case, this course became one that truly was not an AP-preparatory course, unlike some current honors science classes that provide a proficient education in the AP topics for students to fill in with individual study. In the 2010s, the science department also saw a shift away from AP courses and removed the AP-label from Honors Biology and Honors Chemistry courses courses. Science Teacher Heidi Valk, who previously served as the head of the science department, said, “We felt like we could teach a better class, and that by taking away the AP structure, we gave our teachers the opportunity to imagine what they think is the best class.” At the same time, the Academy’s advanced physics curriculum also began a restructuring period. Before the pandemic, students took every class daily, giving classes twice the time and almost twice the amount of homework time than they currently have. The AP science courses were also given double periods, which gave them even more time to cover AP topics in depth. But after it no longer became feasible to teach Advanced Physics 2 in one year due to the schedule changes, the department attempted to teach the class in four terms, creating unnecessary and overwhelming complications. At this point, Head of School John Austin told the Advanced Physics 2 teachers of the time Ben Bakker and Mark Acton to change the course completely. “Dr. Austin said you can do a better course that's not an AP course. Let's move not just a little far away. We didn't want to be close to having a lot of students thinking, ‘I'll do this, and then I'll supplement on this side,’” Mr. Bakker said. Dr. Hallwood expressed his gratitude for the opportunity, saying, “It’s a brilliant opportunity because a lot of headmasters would not give you that opportunity [to remake the course].” Without the label, Mr. Bakker and Dr. Hallwood were in a position with immense freedom to decide the future of the course at Deerfield. Dr. Hallwood said he enjoyed designing this course free from the need to prepare for the Advanced level (A-level) exams in the UK that mirror the American AP system, which he worked with before coming to teach in the United States. “This course has given me a chance to really think about what these students actually need. How can we make them the best physics students that we can? How can we provide them with the skills and the knowledge they need for when they go on to college?” he said. This summer, Mr. Bakker and Dr. Hallwood are going to the American Association of Physics Teachers conference in California to present their course to other physics teachers around America. “I would I've never done [the conference], but we think this course is unique and interesting enough that other physics teachers would like to hear about it,” Mr. Bakker said. Dr. Hallwood added that the two wanted to give back to the community by sharing their course. “I want other teachers to realize they can do this, that there is a way of teaching students these skills that are just not possible in a traditionally taught course.” The AP label that courses received was removed for many reasons at the Academy: schedule changes after COVID-19, AP curriculum redesigns, and a hope for the best classes, outside of college-driven programming. These changes allowed for teachers to explore and improve curriculums, across disciplines and departments. “It was great to see Deerfield students learn to step up and push themselves and become curious and become collaborative and become people who have high-level conversations with me that even I had no idea what the answer was,” Mr. Bakker said, reflecting on the deep growth of his students.

COURTESY OF DEERFIELD COMMUNICATIONS On April 7 and 8, Robert R. Slaughter Professor of Law and Counselor to the Dean at Yale Law School Justin Driver visited and addressed the Deerfield community about the constitutional rights of students in the United States. His talks were part of a series of speakers meant to “reinforce [Head of School John Austin’s] Framework” and “cultivate constitutional education,” said History & Social Science Department Chair and incoming Dean of Academic Affairs Brian Hamilton, who organized the event. Driver hosted a Q&A on April 7 after sit-down dinner and addressed the Deerfield student body at School Meeting the following day. Driver earned his Bachelor of Arts degree with honors in Public Policy from Brown University in 1997 and later earned a Master of Arts in Teaching from Duke University in 1998. He initially planned to use this degree to teach in public schools. However, he obtained a Marshal Scholarship and obtained his Master of Studies in Modern History from Magdalen College, Oxford, in 2000, and then a Juris Doctor from Harvard Law School in 2004. Since then, he has taught at the University of Texas School of Law, the University of Chicago, and is currently the Robert J. Slaughter Professor of Law at Yale Law School. He has also served as a law clerk to Judge Merrick Garland on the United States Court of Appeals and for Justice Sandra Day O-Conner and Justice Stephen Breyer on the Supreme Court of the United States. On April 9, 2021, Former President Joe Biden named him to the Presidential Commission on the Supreme Court. Before taking questions at the Q&A, Driver spoke about his childhood and career path. He explained how he had grown up in Southeast Washington, D.C., a predominantly black neighborhood. His father, realizing the inequality between their local public school system and that of the consistently high-performing Cleveland Park schools, slept outside one school in Cleveland so he would be first in line to register his son at one such school. Driver ended up attending Alice Deal Middle School in Tenleytown, which primarily served residents of Cleveland Park. He described the commute to school as one requiring a bus and two subway lines each day. Driver said that his early experiences within the public school system influenced his career path. He joked about how, when asked how long it took him to write his book, The Schoolhouse Gate: Public Education, the Supreme Court, and the Battle for the American Mind, he said that it either took him four years or four decades: “Sometimes academics find projects, sometimes projects find us.” At his school meeting talk, Driver spoke about three constitutional issues in terms of their corresponding Supreme Court cases. First, he spoke about the 1st Amendment’s promise of freedom of speech by describing Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School District (1969), commonly known as the Tinker case, and Morse v. Frederick (2007), popularly known as “Bong Hits 4 Jesus.” The Tinker case deliberated whether students wearing black armbands in protest of the Vietnam War were constitutional. The Supreme Court, in the words of Justice Abe Fortas’s opinion, eventually decided that students should not “shed their constitutional rights to freedom of speech or expression at the schoolhouse gate.” Fortas’s use of the phrase “schoolhouse gate” became the inspiration for the book’s title, Driver explained. Secondly, Driver addressed the 4th Amendment’s protection of citizens against unreasonable searches and seizures and its application in schools. He described Board of Education v. Earls (2002), which ultimately decided that schools are allowed to enforce drug testing for students involved in extracurricular activities. Driver expressed his hope that the court would revisit this decision. Lastly, Driver spoke about the 8th Amendment’s prohibition on cruel and unusual punishment by referencing Ingraham vs. Wright (1977), where 14-year-old James Ingraham was severely paddled by his teacher, leading to medical treatment. The Supreme Court eventually declared that corporal punishment in schools was not against the 8th Amendment. Driver added that in 1976, only two states had declared corporal punishment illegal, and now in 2016, 17 states still permit corporal punishment. Leelah Vijapur ’29, who previously attended public school in Texas, one of the states that still permits corporal punishment, said that she “really appreciated how, even though people were at times uncomfortable…he spoke about issues like corporal punishment which are still used in public schools in Texas and are often overlooked or forgotten about.” Vijapur ’29 also added that it is unfair “for a school to have the kind of authority and power over you in a way that it makes students feel unsafe in ways that they should never have to feel at school.” Previous public school students, such as Anthony Ortega ’27 and Natalia Northover ’28 took the talk as a chance to reflect upon their experience with the American public school system through the lens of constitutional rights. “I didn't really realize that I had those rights until I lost them,” Ortega said. Northover commented on the inequality within the public school system, saying that it “is really extreme…[that] being in a different neighborhood [can] influence your education.” Both agreed that speaking about public school in a private school environment was very impactful because “at large, we are not privately educated as a society,” Ortega said. Northover commented that she believed the Deerfield population would benefit from the talk because “it’s really important to expand your horizons because these are all of the future lawmakers, world leaders, and without people who are running the future are keeping those people in mind, there will never be class balance, there will never be equality across America.” Mr. Hamilton echoed similar remarks, providing the example that even if “you're not in a hospital…we’d still want to talk about healthcare.” Mr. Hamilton, being publicly educated himself, believed that public schools are “one of the greatest expressions of the Democratic ideals of the United States,” and that it’s “both fitting and unfortunate that we find (American inequalities) at the heart of our public education as well.” Mr. Hamilton also highlighted that “if students didn’t show up in the way they engage, [bringing in speakers] wouldn’t be worth our time and resources in that way.” Driver, following his speech at Deerfield, has been named a 2026 Guggenheim Fellow as of April 14, 2026. He ended his school meeting address with a call to action: “Our nation is incredibly polarized. I want us to find common ground where we can, without disregarding nuance.”

THIJS WITTINK/DEERFIELD SCROLL For Deerfield Yoga Instructor Lesley Crosby, yoga is more than a set of postures. With over 25 years of teaching experience, including six years at the Academy, she uses her classes to help students and faculty develop awareness of their bodies, manage stress, and build focus while finding calm. The yoga sessions, offered both as a cocurricular and three times a week for students, faculty, and staff, have become a consistent presence in the school’s schedule. “I have a plan [for each class], but the plan goes out the window when I see who's in front of me,” Ms. Crosby said. Rather than following a fixed class schedule, she adjusts each session based on the specific stretching needs of the group that shows up. Participants come with different levels of experience. “If you come to class and you've never done anything before, I'll teach you the basics, whereas if someone next to you knows more, I'll just add on to what they know,” she explained. Sometimes, the class uses equipment such as resistance bands and small balls to address areas of tension and improve mobility, especially for athletes, who frequently need to “loosen their body up a bit” after practice. Thijs Wittink ’27, a regular student participant, first began yoga during his freshman winter while enrolled in the Conditioning For Athletes cocurricular. He described the dual benefits of the class, acknowledging both its physical and mental impact. “I have taken lots of specific stretches and exercises from this class. Most notably, I can now do a handstand,” he said, adding, “I also think it has really helped me maintain a higher volume of exercise without getting injured, while also providing a time to decompress.” The class includes dynamic practice and also incorporates static practice that entails elements of focus and breathing. Participants are often asked to fix their gaze on a single spot or concentrate on steady breathing. “Exhaling in my classes is huge,” said Ms. Crosby. She emphasized the importance of turning inward and entering one’s space, just like turning on a “light switch,” a skill developed through deliberate focus and consistent practice. For many participants, the class serves multiple purposes. Deerfield History and Social Science Teacher Julia Rivellino-Lyons is a regular attendee of the class, typically on Sundays and once during the weekdays. She described yoga as both a physical and communal experience. “[As a cross country coach], I really love having dedicated time to stretch, but I also really appreciate the community angle of it,” she said. The community yoga sessions often include not only students and teachers but also staff and family members. “It’s really nice to be in [the yoga studio] with people who you don’t always know from other pieces of life on campus, but now, you are all here doing something together in an organized fashion,” said Ms. Rivellino-Lyons. She also noted the variability within each session. Even after years of practicing yoga, she continues to encounter new approaches in Ms. Crosby’s class. “There's something different, something new to me almost every time I go, and these changes can shift the emphasis significantly,” she said. “For example, for a long time I was doing Warrior One in an upright posture, but recently, she came over and positioned me with a slight shift to being forward reaching,” she added. At the end of each session, the class returns to breathing. “Inhale love, exhale peace,” Ms. Crosby tells her participants after each class. “I hope that they leave thinking that, ‘yoga really helped me with anxiety, finding my center, and grounding myself down,’” she said. Ms. Crosby also hoped the practice grants participants the ability to return to the state of mindfulness independently. “Yoga always has them. It’s a place where they can always go no matter where they are or what’s happening [around them],” she said, “they can always go into their own little space.”

In the past few years, faculty participation in DA Chorus has started to decline, according to Choral Director Mike Pfitzer. DA Chorus is Deerfield’s largest choral ensemble, consisting of both student and faculty members, a place where students see their teachers outside of the classroom doing the same thing they love—to sing. This weekly gathering on Monday nights promotes closer student-faculty relationships, especially among those who may not be in the same department or cross paths on a daily basis, singers described. “I think [chorus is] a valuable pursuit, and I like being involved because it brings that multi-generational moment,” Dr. Pfitzer said. To other schools, programs that include both student and faculty may feel unusual, but it is a significant part of Deerfield where the gap of authority is bridged by a common passion, he explained. Harmoni Dobbins ’26, a regular member of the chorus, said, “We know that they are our teachers, but they are also part of the DA Chorus, like anyone else would be, like a student would be.” During rehearsals, Dobbins ’26 views her teachers as members of the chorus, not someone who teaches on a daily basis. Ella Waag ’26 remembered being a part of the chorus since her freshman year. In her mind, singing in a community chorus is a deep outlet for expression.“You are being vulnerable with singing,” she said. For faculty, they have the opportunity to extend their connection with students across grade-levels. History Teacher Julia Rivellino-Lyons said, “It’s also really fun to get to know kids through the DA Chorus that I see in musicals, theater productions, or up on stage.” She finds enjoyment in meeting new members of the community and fostering these relationships is something she cherishes about joining the DA Chorus. Ms. Rivellino-Lyons also acknowledged the fast-paced schedule that often limits her—and fellow faculty members—from committing to every rehearsal. “With sitdown meals, I have fewer evenings to myself. So the winter term is a really great term to be involved in, while in the spring term, there are different incentives that, this year, have meant that I am not involved,” she said. Dr. Pfitzer expressed a similar sentiment.“I think in general people who commit to doing anything over long stretches of time have decreased over the last number of years, because we have so many demands on our time,” he said. But an ability to participate creates a sense of engaged participation that student singers want to see from their teachers. Dr. Pfitzer encourages more faculty to participate going forward. “It’s a really important part of the groups,” he said, adding that to participate, “you don’t need to have a ton of skills or be the best singer that anybody’s ever seen.” To him, DA Chorus is a place for community members at different life stages with different life experiences to connect. Through singing, they can connect “despite the difference,” he said.