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It’s no secret that most of the community values excellence in academics and athletics but what about personally, emotionally, and physically? “Wellness” has become a topic of interest across the country and especially at DA but the idea is often taken to the extreme on campus, leading to an unrealistic body image.  The term “eating disorder” is often associated with the image of an overly thin teenage girl obsessed with their weight. I’d like to change the verbiage to discuss “disordered eating” which includes a spectrum of behaviors that affects the majority of the population at one time or another. The Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics defines disordered eating as a way to describe a range of irregular eating behaviors that may warrant a diagnosis of a specific eating disorder. These can include many normalized behaviors such as dieting (cleanse, anyone?), intentional or unintentional meal skipping, food rituals, and preoccupation with exercise in addition to the classic psychological symptoms of a diagnosed eating disorder.  Health Center staff agree that there has been an influx of both disordered eating and eating disorder diagnoses on campus in the past year. I have personally had students comment on the pressure to be “Deerfield thin,” struggling to maintain a certain fitness level, or eat “cleanly.” This term has always bothered me as it infers that “dirty eating,” exists which only gives power to unhealthy notions of food. Due to the influx of social media and availability of non-evidence-based nutrition information, these ideas are more widespread. In the media, foods are often labeled as “good” or “bad,” whereas a more healthful approach would be to consider food on a spectrum of nutritional value.  Many eating and fitness standards on campus have become normalized and are often only recognizable outside of the Deerfield bubble. In the real world, “regular exercise” does not have to constitute 3 hours a day, 6 days a week and a “healthy weight” does not necessarily translate to a clothing size. Moderate activity for an hour 3-5 times a week and eating (mostly) healthy will help your body find the weight you run most efficiently at and avoid health risks.  This brings me to eating disorders on campus. On one end of the spectrum is orthorexia, a relatively new term that describes an unhealthy obsession with eating “cleanly” causing severe restriction of intake and variety, fear of certain foods, and malnutrition. On the other end is the most common eating disorder in the country: binge eating disorder (BED).  Within the last year, I have seen an increase in cases of students or faculty reporting regular binge eating. Binging is characterized by excessive eating in one sitting, often followed by feelings of guilt, shame, and isolation. There’s a difference between conscious overeating on occasion (holidays, birthdays, parties), and feeling an uncontrollable physical and emotional urge to overeat on a regular basis. The cycle of BED often begins with negative emotions associated with food. Chronic underfueling then causes the body to respond by increasing hunger hormones. These more intensified appetite signals lead to overeating, characteristically of highly palatable food choices such as high sugar, high calorie options like ice cream, baked good, chips, etc. Now, prompt the associated negative emotions triggering the cycle to repeat. The cure to avoiding the restrict/binge cycle is to minimize unhealthy food and eating “rules” and conquer emotional triggers (easier said than done). With the variety and availability of “unhealthy” food, it can be more of a struggle to manage BED on campus. To this end, I’d like to discuss how to navigate eating on campus. Desserts and baked goods are offered daily. There are also hearty options such as alfredo, pizza, and french fries regularly. These options are not meant to encourage unhealthy eating habits but instead to help teach moderation and flexibility with eating. A study published in the 2019 Journal of Experimental Psychology: Applied showed that people consistently chose healthier meals and consumed fewer calories when they were allowed to add a dessert to their meal. The sole selection of a dessert was enough to trigger a change in the foods and portions of their meals. Furthermore, newer dietetic practices suggest that serving dessert at the same time as a meal, particularly with children, can encourage balance. Ultimately, children of these studies were found to have less occasions of overeating sweets when offered outside the home. This idea of normalizing dessert is meant to minimize overeating. In my experience, I’ve found that this theory can be difficult to practice if you weren’t raised in this manner and adjusting to it can take time. The hope for students is that by learning these skills now, college and adult life will be easier to navigate as it can bring even more availability of food and emotional triggers. So, I think it’s imperative to look at our definition of “healthy” based on individual needs. In addition to having distinct metabolic rates, medication use, food allergies, medical dietary needs, unhealthy body image or body dysmorphia, depression, anxiety and/or other mental illnesses can alter needs. Each of these factors are not only significant, but are not outwardly visible which is why having a blanket idea of acceptable eating habits is dangerous.   It also seems the root of many problems with our eating culture is judgement. When it comes to eating and exercise I encourage everyone I see to stay in their own lane and to focus on what being healthy means to them. Healthy eating should be individual and ever-changing. With this thought, the hope going forward is not only to be more accepting of the choices of others but recognize that everyone starts from a different place and has to navigate their own health journey.

Lukas Trelease ‘20 has always been interested in the art of story-telling. From a young age, Trelease began exploring his interest in writing and theater, whether through writing novels about adventures his cat would go on or creating plays with his stuffed animals.  At Deerfield, Trelease participates in the arts as a member of Albany Road and the theater program. His interest in theater first cemented when he participated in the annual theater production for freshman in Bement and went on the explore theater at a summer camp in Maine. Trelease has acted in a total of nine productions at Deerfield, with the most recent children’s musical How I Became a Pirate written by Janet Yates Vogt and Mark Friedman marking as his tenth production.  For Trelease, theater brings to life the power of story-telling, which is especially apparent in How I Became a Pirate , which was written and will be mainly performed for children.  “One of the reasons I do theater is to show other people stories, especially children, because it’s a really formative time for them. Seeing the magic that theater provides is powerful,” Trelease said. Trelease also relates story-telling to the power of empathizing with others, a skill that remains constantly relevant and significant in society. “Theater really hones the skill of empathy. Being able to empathize with different characters being put in different situations that I otherwise could not relate to is really fulfilling and important,” Trelease said. Following the importance of empathy, Trelease first approaches a new work of theater by thoroughly and diligently studying its background and his character. “When approaching something new, Lukas leaves no stone unturned when finding nuance in characters. He’s methodical, professional, and really smart, voracious in his appetite to gain as many details in the work of the play,” described Visual and Performing Arts Teacher and Theater Director Catriona Hynds, Trelease’s teacher and theater director.  Even in the face of challenges, Trelease approaches a character in the same diligent manner, digging deep to be able to empathize with them. When asked about his greatest achievement and his greatest challenge, he describes playing an old German man last year and the process he took to study his character’s history and mannerisms for the fall performance of Twelve Angry Jurors .  “I’ve never played an old person, but then I started looking at my older teacher and tried to imitate their actions, such as if they moved their arm a specific way or if they put emphasis on a certain body part, like a slightly bad hip or the way their back arched. I also watched speeches of the chancellor of Germany to imitate the accent,” said Trelease. In theater, Trelease has worked on building the set in addition to acting. In his sophomore year, he was the assistant set designer for the fall production You Can’t Take it With You . “It’s really valuable to not just act, but to also build it and appreciate the intricacies and hard work that goes into a production,”explained Trelease. According to Mrs. Hynds, Trelease also has an eye to directing due to his wide insight in theater. “He has a director’s vision; he sees a production in the big picture as well as on a granular level,” said Mrs. Hynds. In the future, Trelease hopes to continue exploring his passion for story-telling though he doesn’t plan to pursue a professional career in acting. “Art is seeing the magic in daily life, to be able to dream. I want to be able to provide that through the arts for the rest of my life,” said Trelease.

The Student Life Office has launched an anti-gossip campaign that has ironically produced a murmur amongst the student body. For the past two weeks, signs have been placed all around campus discouraging students from spreading rumors and gossiping. Such actions have long presented an issue both in our community and beyond, which has led many students to ponder the timing of this new movement. The posters’ messages have a similar theme: “Don’t Gossip”, “If it’s not your story to tell, don’t tell it”, “Rumors hurt.” The SLO is working towards fostering a more inclusive atmosphere at Deerfield by addressing the problem that has become a part student life.     The gossip culture at Deerfield is prevalent. Drew Garzone ‘23 and Brian Grant ‘23 recounted their impressions as freshmen, saying, “From the first week, gossip seemed to be embedded into the freshman experience. However, we had both previouslyiorly encountered similar behavior at our old schools.” This sentiment echoes throughout the student body; we have all participated in spreading rumors, despite not necessarily having bad intentions. This raises a problem specifically at Deerfield because we live in such a small community which could fuel the propagation of rumors.  Even though rumors are indeed a problem at Deerfield, many have difficulty finding a method of prevention. Chijioke Achebe ’21 said, “I don’t think there’s such a thing as a ‘cure’ for gossiping; on some level, it is an inevitable aspect of high school, although it shouldn’t be.” He strongly believes that the responsibility for making change falls primarily on our shoulders, both as students and as members of this community. In order to follow the SLO’s initiative, we should contemplate the steps we can take as individuals to improve this aspect of Deerfield. When faced with this problem, Hanna Deringer ’20, said, “Take a second before saying something that holds the potential to be harmful and consider the impact it may have on the people around you.” It is imperative for us to hold ourselves accountable for our words and not let this initiative die with the posters.   The SLO’s posters show the evident fact that words have the power to harm; they are a reminder that we have a choice every day to change our community for the better in a significant way.

On Feb. 1, 2020, Luke Therrien ’15 unexpectedly passed away in Toronto. Therrien was born in Oakville, Ontario, but considered Jamaica his home. At Deerfield, Therrien was a standout tennis player and served as captain of the boys’ varsity tennis team as a senior. After graduating from the Academy in 2015, he continued his education at the University of Virginia, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in Economics and Statistics and was a member of the St. Elmo fraternity (Delta Phi). In the fall of 2019, he began working for the Uber Eats Corporate office in Toronto as an Account Representative. In 2011, Therrien and his family founded a charity called Cleats and Stuff Jamaica, which collects and distributes soccer equipment to children across Jamaica. He volunteered extensively for this foundation, creating and maintaining its website and hosting soccer camps. Associate Dean of Students and History Teacher Rebecca Melvoin recalled, “I first got to know Luke through his friends. Though I didn’t teach Luke until his senior spring, he and his friends would come to hang out and talk about life, which is how I got to know him well.”  Reflecting upon Therrien’s bright personality, Ms. Melvoin said, “He always had a mischievous smile. He loved to goof around and spend time with his friends.” Photography and Videography Teacher Timothy Trelease, who also taught Therrien, said, “Luke was engaged with the course content of Videography, he worked well with a team of fellow filmmakers, and he produced quality work in my class.”  Mr. Trelease also remembered Therrien for his funny personality, saying, “Luke took his work seriously, but he also had a great sense of humor. We shared many laughs together, as a class.”  Recalling a funny memory of Therrien, Ms. Melvoin said, “One of the girls on my hall was making a video for a class project and he and Ryan Collins volunteered to be in it.” In the video, Therrien and Collins sang along to Promiscuous Girl while students in the background laughed hysterically. “It took multiple takes for them to shoot the video without laughing.” Ms. Melvoin remembered. “That was a snapshot of who Luke was.” The Deerfield Community extends its deepest condolences to the Therrien Family during this time. The community will always remember him for his bright personality. As Mr. Trelease said, “Luke had an engaging smile, and he had a charismatic presence in the classroom and around campus.”  Ms. Melvoin emphasized, “Luke was always smiling.”

Former Deerfield squash captains Ashley Manning ’19 and Teddy Durfee ’19 are each off to a great start playing collegiately at Penn and Virginia, respectively.  Manning played at #1 for all three of her years at DA and was recruited to play at Penn, while Durfee, the #2 Deerfield player last winter, walked onto the UVA team. Both have already proved themselves as integral members of their teams, which are ranked in the nation’s top 10. Manning is currently playing #4 on a nine-woman-ladder, and her squad has team nationals the weekend of February 21st. Manning recently clinched Penn a 5-4 win against then 6th-ranked Columbia with her victory in the final match of the day. Durfee is playing #7 on a team of sixteen players––most of whom are recruits––and has nationals the weekend after Manning. Durfee, who has been contributing regularly to the team’s wins, believes his program is on an upward trajectory. The Penn women’s team has also been improving, as they are ranked three spots higher than they were last year. We wish the two of them best of luck in nationals! Deerfield prepares athletes to play just about every sport in college, but squash is a particular strength of the Academy’s. Durfee and Manning could not better represent the class, character, and skill that make our squash program one of the best in the country. They each expressed their gratitude when asked to reflect on their time playing Deerfield squash. MANNING: “Ms. Heise (former coach) fostered an open, welcome, and competitive environment. She definitely emphasized the fact that she wanted our team to be supportive of one another and look after one another more as a family than just a group of girls. In college, the matches and the competition are just that much more stressful, and creating close relationships with the girls on your team is so important. When you’re playing on a sports team on top of making the transition to college, the stress levels are high, but since I’m used to seeing my team as my family at school, I have been able to adjust to college more easily than if I hadn’t gone to Deerfield.  We lost to the 2nd ranked team only 6-3, and so many matches this season could have gone either way. Really, whichever team wants it most this weekend [at nationals] can win.” DURFEE: “Whereas most kids accept day-to-day advice on their game from their coach, which works to an extent––we lost to some teams–– what Coach Silipo taught us is stuff that will stay with you forever. It was more like life coaching, and that’s helped me in the long run. The stuff he’s taught me is so applicable outside of the game. A lot of kids forget their high school coaches, but the stuff that Coach Silipo taught us about hard work, how to treat other people, and how to deal with hardship made being on his team really special. Coach Silipo placed a lot of trust in me, as a captain, and on the team to better themselves. Having experience with that kind of responsibility has been really good because I’ve sort of emerged as a self-driven guy on the team, whereas some other kids on the team need someone on their back at all times.  By the time I’m a senior, hopefully we’ll have a shot of being the top team in the country. I think my recruiting class is one of the best in our grade, so I’m excited for the future for sure.”

In George Orwell’s 1984 , constant surveillance and an oppressive government led to what Orwell criticized as a blend of totalitarianism and socialism. The society in the novel resembles many elements of panopticism, in which the fear of constant monitoring creates a restricted and pressured way of living. With the new implementation of dorm checks, I believe Deerfield is nearing these similar Orwellian characteristics.  Although a constant awareness of surveillance can make students more accountable for their actions and create a safer environment overall, where do we draw the line between safety and an infringement on dorm privacy?  Before discussing the negatives of Deerfield’s increased surveillance, it is important to acknowledge its potential positive impacts. The increased surveillance from faculty members allows Deerfield to create a safer environment for its students. It also prevents students from placing themselves within dangerous situations and allows students to be more honest about what they may be doing in the dorms.  Of course, some faults fall on the students. Students should be representing the core values and policies of the Academy, regardless of the time or the place. Faculty and residents should not have to worry extensively about our safety in the dorms. However, it is also important to acknowledge where this new surveillance may infringe on students’ privacy.  During the usual hours of random dorm patrols, students are typically relaxing from a stressful week or hanging out with friends in the dorms. They should not have to worry about adults listening to students’ private conversations. It is important that students maintain the privacy to talk freely with their friends without feeling the overbearing eyes of a faculty member.  It is essential that students and faculty members maintain a certain amount of trust, and this new dorm surveillance reduces the trust between the two community bodies. Ask any graduate, alumni, or faculty member: your Deerfield experience is centered around the relationships you make, particularly with faculty members. Such relationships are founded upon trust. To be effective, this foundation of truthfulness and reliability requires an honest and open environment. In the presence of random dorm check-ins, trust is a blatantly missing element. In order for dorm surveillances to yield the most effective results, it is necessary to implement training for faculty members to deal with situations in the dorms. This training would allow teachers to understand where the boundary lies between students’ privacy and being a responsible guardian. Rather than students feeling as though they are constantly being observed, they can relieve themselves in knowing that faculty members are solely there for their safety and not to get students in trouble.  The purpose of this article is not to criticize faculty nor safety on campus. Rather, it should prompt our community to reconsider how student life is affected by intrusive policies. We need to remind ourselves that these policies detract from valuable student-faculty relationships and the cherished boarding life at Deerfield.

When we hear the term “tour guide,” our minds immediately resort to the idea of a chipper student showing a prospective student around the campus that  many of us know like the back of our hands. Yet, we tend to forget about the other tour guides on campus, such as the dedicated students who voluntarily showcase the von Auersperg Gallery upon visitor request during each of the year’s three openings. These gallery student tour guides experience a long preparation period, ensuring that they are well-versed before giving any tours. Coordinator of Educational Programs in the Von Auersperg Gallery Mercedes Taylor starts by gathering any students who are interested in the position.  First, these students are required to attend the gallery’s opening. Lily Lin ’23 said, “It’s incredibly important to talk face to face with the artist themselves, to hear about their own raw perspective on the pieces, before we can even add our own thoughts.” Shortly after a gallery opening, Mrs. Taylor hosts a meeting to share basic preliminary information about each piece. This meeting also gives the students an opportunity to discuss what they learned from the opening, as well as the main points of each piece. After an approximately week long process, Mrs. Taylor and the tour guides create a shared Google Doc with pre-prepared information about the gallery’s main pieces, adding personal student perspectives throughout. The students are then faced with the biggest task at hand,  individually practicing memorization and analysis of each piece. Later in the week, Mrs. Taylor assigns pairings within the tour guides to facilitate practice tours to exchange feedback. When the tour guides feel that they are ready, a Bulletin post and emails are sent out to notify the community that these students are ready to give tours.  “The art gallery is a place where we can form connections with new people with similar interest, whether it be students, teachers, or artists,” Charlotte Halpin ’23 said, “and being a tour guide strengthens that connection.” Understanding the incredibly amount of effort our current gallery tour guides Maddie Lee ’20, Helen Mak ’20, Piper Day ’21, Talia Rajasekar ’21, Lily Lin ’23, and Charlotte Halpin ’23 have put in, we can appreciate their dedication towards their interest in art and ensuring that all visitors of the von Auersperg Galley can see, as Jennifer Niven said in her novel All the Bright Places , “…all the colors at once in full brightness.”

Behind every great performance lies weeks of hard work and practice. Though the workings behind the scenes are often overlooked, immense effort is required to produce a flawless, crowd-pleasing performance. Most recently, student music groups on campus worked on pieces for Deerfield’s new Battle of the Bands concert. From groups big and small, new and old, the process to prepare for a performance requires lots of time and dedication.  Nine musicians, unofficially known, at times, as Holden and the Woodwards and other times as AHC DC, are among the numerous contestants who worked for weeks to secure the top spot at the BOTB on February 21st, 2020. Among them, Sam Thiel ’22 playing the baritone saxophone; Holden Woodward ’22 on the trumpet; Giles Gordon ’22 on the piano; Josh Oduro ’20 on the bass; Jerry Zhou ’22 on the drums; Will Yang ’22 on the electric guitar; Malcolm Rich ’20 on the violin; Philips He ’21 on the alto saxophone.   Holden and the Woodwards found their beginning as a music service band in the beginning of Winter 2019.  Director of the Orchestra—and the music cocurricular—Thomas Bergeron, encouraged the group of students to start a band and rehearse together. The group hit it off, initially simply enjoying the creative process that goes into composing music. In preparation for the BOTB, the group worked on composing and practicing arrangements. Thiel described composing arrangements as a process that “tends to be mostly adapting multiple other arrangements into one arrangement, then making it unique to the band.”  Specifically, Thiel uses “MuseScore”, a music composition and notation software, to get down their arrangements, which stem from a mix of the melodic elements of prewritten scores by other people put together. Yang also helps to arrange some music by ear, adding drum fill and flourish for horns, to make different parts of every piece harmoniously satisfying . In the competition, due to indecision about which song the group prefered, the band performed two medleys. A medley is a piece composed of two or more pre-existing songs. The band’s first medley was a mix of “Lone Digger” by Caravan Palace and the “Dummy” theme song from the video game Undertale. The second was an ear-catching medley of “Smooth” by Santana and “Havana” by Camila Cabello.  The “Lone”/”Dummy” medley takes the melody of “Dummy” and laces it with the melody of “Lone Digger.” Because of the intricacies involved in combining these two musical pieces with pre-existing harmonies and tones, composing a medley is a complex process. However, Thiel revealed that the atmosphere when composing is actually very relaxed.  According to Thiel, the process typically includes “chilling in the studio, doodling on the computer, separating the piece into parts, and hitting export.” The next step to creating a successful band is frequent, focused, and efficient rehearsals. A typical afternoon for the band consists of a 4:30 p.m. music service rehearsal. Each member is expected to practice on their own beforehand. Afterwards, the group begins to bring the arrangements to life, playing and editing them as needed.  Especially in the beginning stages of a new arrangement, a lot of time is spent on each person practicing their individual parts in the arrangement, before putting all instruments together. The band works through every aspect of the arrangement to smooth out any kinks in the music before bringing it to the stage. The band’s goal in the BOTB was primarily to win. However, they were just as eager to share the product of their hard work with the school, and were ecstatic about the opportunity to record their music in a professional recording studio. The band won the “Best Arrangement” award for the “Lone”/ “Dummy” medley, with Oduro ’20 winning the “MVP” award. Looking towards the future, Thiel describes that “We hope to wind down following the competition by focusing on easier musical competitions, and meme music.”

Dear Deerfield,  It’s safe to say that we can all recall a time when we should have held our peers accountable for instances of insensitivity but remained silent instead. At Deerfield, silence is the price we pay for the universal desire to belong. Too often, when we recognize faults we are afraid of being mistaken for criticizing our peers and our community, when in truth, in order to grow we must confront the unknown, embrace discomfort, and work to better ourselves by learning from our past mistakes.  We must continue to reflect upon the graffiti and other acts of racism and homophobia, such as micro-aggressions, and find it in ourselves to eradicate the root of the problem. It should not take a vulgar display of hatred to finally comprehend the shared responsibility we all have to each other. We boast of our strong character, of our integrity, and of our cohesive school spirit, but these values are being neglected. How can we as a community promote these principles, and then not abide by them? When one looks behind the curtain of the Deerfield community, there are stratified layers beyond the stickers of acceptance in our classrooms and the promise of inclusion on our website. We have failed to fully divulge and accept how our own individual positions impact the wider community. We have become comfortable in the ignorance that our various privileges provide us, oftentimes blinded by the joys of our own unique experiences at Deerfield. To truly encompass the values that we treasure on this campus, we need to embrace the discomfort of confronting our problems in order to achieve true unity. We must all take initiative as individuals to act with kindness and understanding towards every member of our community.  It’s time to break down the unspoken barriers we feel here at Deerfield and stand with our classmates rather than for them. It’s time for all of us to value and respect the sanctity of human dignity. Sincerely, Ms. Dickey’s Junior English Class

While many students at the end of high school are more than ready for college, some opt, for academic or athletic reasons, to take another year of school. Each year, Deerfield students excitedly await the new post-graduates. Since they attend DA for just one year, they make up a special part of the community. The perspective of a one-year Deerfield student is unique, so it is crucial that post-graduates share their stories and make their mark on the community in the short amount of time they have at Deerfield; as the halfway mark of the year flies by, the ever-ticking clock of graduation looms over these students.  Day student post-graduate Carsten Carey ’20 articulated the prominent differences between his previous school and Deerfield. Carey pointed to the campus, saying, “The facilities are outstanding.” But to Carey, Deerfield is not all about the glamour. In addition to speaking about the excellent opportunities Deerfield provides, he noted the kindness of DA students. Carey said, “Everyone’s really nice. The community is really supportive…Nobody is openly arrogant and pretentious. That surprised me.” International post-graduate Atang Peloewetse ’20 also believes that the closeness between community members has made his experience much more inclusive and exciting than his last school, saying, “We’re all trying to get good grades; we’re all trying to go to college. We’re all in this together.” In addition, he argued that within such a diverse community, Deerfield students are more similar than they may think.  Carey agrees, citing Deerfield’s diversity and closeness as among his favorite things about the school. Carey explained that he is fascinated by the people he has encountered and the cultures he has learned about. “My favorite experiences at Deerfield so far have been probably getting to know people from different parts of the country and even different parts of the world, people I would have never come into contact with before,” he said. Coming from a small-town school, Carey values his interactions with other individuals as the most impactful aspect of his Deerfield career. “Now, I’m meeting people from California, from Europe, from Africa, and Central America…Whenever there’s an event that exposes me to another person’s passion, or another way of life, that’s been really cool.” Marveled by the willingness across campus for intellectual conversation, Peleowetse said, “…there are 650 people on this campus. With every single one you have a different connection, you speak about different topics. You go from talking about Fifa games with a bunch of freshmen to an engaging conversation about contemporary issues such as immigration with juniors and seniors. It’s absolutely crazy.” While Carey particularly values the cultural diversity on campus, Peleowetse holds diversity of intellect as a key marker of the Deerfield community. With the amount of time they have left, both Carey and Peleowetse have similar hopes for the following months. They wish to experience everything Deerfield has to offer and make life-long connections with peers before they walk across that graduation stage. Carey said, “I’d like to, in these next few months, do anything I wished to do in the previous months.” Peleowetse added, “I hope to make more friends, enjoy my time inside and outside of the classroom, and wait to see what the next chapter of my life holds.” Although they reside on campus for merely a year, post-graduate students strive to leave lasting impacts and impressions on the Deerfield community before they collect their second diploma.

Monday: 12:00a.m.  – set an alarm for 8:00 a.m. Tell yourself you’re going to wake up early and study for your exam. 8:00a.m. – 11:55a.m. – Wake up. Look at the time. Run. 12:00p.m.-12:35p.m. – Go to sit-down lunch. Spend 35 minutes complaining about how you shouldn’t be here and should be studying for your period 5 exam.  12:40p.m. – Tell yourself you’re going to spend an hour studying for your period 5 exam, because you woke up late. Open up your book and start working. 12:45p.m. – Your friend asks you to play a round of Super Smash Bros. You say yes. 1:55p.m. – You play your “last” game of Smash. 2:00p.m.-4:00p.m – Take the period 5 exam.  4:02p.m.-5:30p.m. – Play Super Smash Bros.  5:30p.m.-7:00p.m. – Eat dinner. Finish eating at 5:45p.m. Stay for another hour because you don’t want to study for your seventh period exam. 7:00p.m. – You take your bag and start heading to the library. Your friend asks you to stop by the dorm first. You agree, but only just for a minute. 7:01p.m.-8:45p.m. – Play Super Smash Bros. 8:45p.m.-9:45p.m. – Go to Bewkes for extra help. Play Super Smash Bros in Bewkes. 9:45p.m. – Have a panic attack because you haven’t studied for any of your exams. 9:50p.m.-10:15p.m. – Study for your period 7 exam. 10:15p.m. – Tell yourself you’ll perform better if you get sleep. Set your alarm for 5:00a.m. so you can study tomorrow morning Tuesday: 5:00a.m. – Your alarm goes off, waking up your entire dorm. You remain asleep. 8:00a.m. – Wake up feeling well rested. You open your door to find a dozen pairs of angry, tired eyes staring at you with dead, blank faces. 8:15a.m. – Take a cold shower because showering cold is better for your body, mind, and life. You can’t change my mind and stop calling me a psychopath because it’s true. 8:30a.m. – Go to breakfast feeling well rested because you slept in, and awake and alert because you took a cold shower. Spend the next hour studying the flashcards you threw together in 10 minutes last night.  9:30a.m.-11:30a.m. – Take period 7 exam.  11:30a.m. – Go to lunch. Eat 7,000 calories because your exam drained all your energy. 1:00p.m. – You’re tired. Take a nap. You deserve this. 2:00p.m.-4:00p.m. – Take period 6 exam.  4:30p.m.-6p.m. – Go to your “optional” practice.  6:45p.m. – lie down. Try not to cry. Cry a lot. 8:45p.m.-9:45p.m. – Head over to the dining hall to quickly grab some pancakes before immediately going back to work. Spend the rest of the night in the dining hall. 10:15p.m. – Your scheme snaps you out of nowhere because they don’t have a second period exam. Dejectedly leave them on delivered because you don’t have time for that. Wednesday: 2:00a.m. – Go to sleep!! It’s 2:00a.m!! You have an exam in seven hours! 8:00a.m. – wake up. Look at the time. Go back to sleep. 9:50a.m. – wake up. 10:00a.m.-11:30a.m. – Take period 2 exam.  12:00p.m.-12:35p.m. – Go to advisory lunch. Drop the dessert as you’re carrying it to the table. The whole dining hall starts clapping. 1:00p.m.-4:00p.m. – your friend invites you to the library for a group study. Three hours later you realize you haven’t even gotten through a quarter of the material. 5:30p.m.-6:30p.m. – go to dinner. Pick at your food for an hour because you’re not hungry. 6:45p.m.-8:30p.m. – Study for your period 1 and 3 exams. What did you think I was going to say? You have two exams tomorrow. Why wouldn’t you be studying? 8:45p.m.-9:45p.m. –  Eat three plates of quesadillas and two bowls of ice cream because you didn’t eat anything at dinner. Thursday: 7:00a.m. – These two exams are the toughest ones so you get up early to study. 9:30a.m.-11:30a.m. – Take period 3 exam.  2:00p.m.-4:00p.m. – Take period 1 exam.  4:30p.m.-8:30p.m. – you only have one exam tomorrow. And you haven’t played Super Smash Bros since Monday. Take some time off. Play a couple rounds. Maybe some COD and 2k as well. 8:45p.m.-9:45p.m. – Tendi boiiisss….LETS GOOOOO!!!! Friday: 9:30a.m.-11:30a.m. – Take period 4 exam.  12:00p.m. – Sleep for 96 hours.

The 2020 Presidential Election cycle is officially underway. While the incumbent President Donald Trump is strongly favored to secure the Republican Party’s nomination, consensus on a Democratic front-runner remains elusive. Harry Niles ‘21, Vice President of the Deerfield Young Democrats, spoke about the division within the Democratic Party, saying, “I think currently [the Democratic Party] is pretty divided as we can’t get behind one candidate, although there is a common goal to get rid of Trump.” In order to better understand Deerfield students’ views on the presidential candidates, the Deerfield Scroll conducted a student body survey that asked questions regarding political alignment, possible candidates that respondents would consider voting for, and which candidate they would ultimately vote for. The survey yielded 144 results, about 22% of the student body, 70 of which came from students eligible to vote in November 2020. Out of those students who responded to the survey, the results show that Democrats compose the largest political identification amongst them, with about 40% of the 144 survey respondents identifying as Democrats. 31% of respondents identified as Republican and 28% identified as Independent.  However, a Scroll survey last year with 541 participants found 28.73% of the 541 respondents that identified as conervative, 17.91% as independent, 20.52% as liberal, 2.61% as libertarian, and 30.22% as other/unsure. President Trump received the most “votes” from survey respondents; if they were forced to choose now, 27% of all respondents indicated that they would vote for him. 18% of respondents said they would vote for Mayor Michael Bloomberg, placing him in second place amongst Deerfield students. Senator Bernie Sanders was third with 14%, Mayor Pete Buttigieg was in fourth with 10%, and Vice President Joe Biden was fifth with 8%. These results showed that no presidential candidate is close to gaining a majority amongst Deerfield students. Another question on the survey asked respondents to indicate all the candidates they would consider voting for. Of all surveyed students, 39% stated that they would consider Mayor Bloomberg, the highest for any presidential candidate. President Trump was a close second place, with 37% of surveyed students indicating they would consider voting for him. Mayor Buttigieg was third with 33%; Senator Sanders was fourth with 26%, and Vice President Biden trailed closely with just under 26%. Amongst the 59 Democrat respondents, Senator Sanders earned the most votes, with 29% of Democrats indicating they would vote for him if they had to choose now. Mayor Buttigieg was second within the Democratic voter base, earning 17% of votes. Mayor Bloomberg was third with 14%, while Senator Warren and Vice President Biden tied for fourth with 10% each. An overwhelming majority of Democrats, 81%, stated that they would not consider voting for a Republican candidate. Among the 45 Republican respondents, President Trump received 73% of all votes, which suggests that he remains strong in his Republican base. Mayor Bloomberg and Mayor Buttigieg were the only Democratic candidates to receive votes from Republicans, earning 9% and 4% respectively. While President Trump is by far the Republican favorite, 47% of Republican respondents indicated they would consider voting for a Democratic candidate, which suggests the Deerfield Republicans are not as vehemently opposed to a Democratic executive as Democrats are opposed to a Republican president.  This survey found that President Trump and Senator Sanders were the most polarizing candidates. Only one respondent of the 59 who identified as Democrat said that he or she would consider voting for President Trump. No Democrats said they would vote for President Trump if forced to pick just one candidate. Conversely, no Republicans stated that they would vote for Senator Sanders. Mayor Bloomberg was the most popular among students who identified as independents. 32% of independents stated that their vote would go to Mayor Bloomberg if forced to pick right now. President Trump was the second most popular amongst independents, 16% of whom named him as their most preferred candidate.  The the 70 responses received from Deerfield students who will be eligible to vote on Nov. 3, 2020, 41% identified as Democrats, 37% identified as Republicans and 21% identified as independents. While the percent of respondents who identified as Democrats remained similar amongst eligible voters and the whole student body, the percent of Republicans increased and the percent of independents decreased. President Trump reamined the favourite amongst eligible voters, with 31% indicating that they would vote for him. Mayor Bloomberg was second again with 20% while Mayor Buttigieg took third place with 11%. If Democrats want to beat President Trump Trump, they will have to decide whether their interests are safer in the hands of progressives such as Sanders and Warren, or moderates such as Biden, Bloomberg, Buttigieg and Klobuchar.  On one hand, they are more likely to win Republicn and Independent support with a moderate candidate. Teddy McCarthy ‘20, the leader of the Deerfield Young Republicans, warned, “The Democratic Party has to stop their mass exodus to the left if they want any chance at the presidency in the next twenty years.” On the other hand, progressives are more likely to consolidate the Democratic voter base. One respondent wrote, “I full-heartedly support Bernie Sanders for president, as he is the only candidate who has the Green New Deal for his plan on climate.” In summary, President Trump and Mayor Bloomberg are the frontrunners amongst Deerfield students. The results are ambivalent in terms of predicting a democratic nominee. While Senator Sanders was the most popular candidate amongst Democrats, Mayor Bloomberg received strong support from independents and some support from Republicans. The Democratic nominee will be officially decided at the Democratic National Convention from July 13 to July 16 this year, although it is likely that a clear frontrunner will emerge before then. Much will likely happen between now and then that could influence how Deerfield students’ views as well as the rest of America’s views. It is important to note that most respondents to this survey filled it out before the Nevada primaries and the student body’s perceptions, particularly towards Bloomberg, may have changed since then. The race remains in its early stages and much debate remains to be had.