the exeter bulletin, winter 2011

WINTER 2011

FarFoodthat’s

not

A Greener Recipefor the Dining Halls

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Exeter ReunionsConnect the past, the present and the possible.

Reunions 2011REUNION DATE YEAR CLASS

April 29-May 1, 2011 35th 197630th 198115th 199610th 2001

May 6-8, 2011 60th 195155th 1956*45th 196640th 1971

May 13-15, 2011 25th 198620th 1991

May 19-22, 2011 50th 1961

May 20-22, 2011 5th 2006

May 24-26, 2011 70th 194165th 1946Super 1950Seniors and

older

• See old friends—and make some new ones, too

• Discover how Exeter has changed and grown

• Argue a point with passion at the Harkness table

• Show your kids your favorite spots on campus

• Reconnect with your teachers and meet today’s students

For more information, please visit your online class page atwww.exeter.edu/alumni or call the Alumni/ae Affairs Office at800-828-4325 ext. 3454.

Exeter. It stays with you.

*starts May 5

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1WINTER 2011 The Exeter Bulletin

Around theTable

FeaturesPrincipalThomasE.Hassan’56,’66,’70,’06(Hon.);P’11

Director of CommunicationsJulie Quinn

EditorKaren Ingraham

Staff WritersMike Catano,Alice Gray, NicolePellaton, FamebridgeWitherspoon

Class Notes EditorJanice M.Reiter

Editorial AssistantSusan Goraczkowski

Creative Director/DesignDavid Nelson,Nelson Design

Contributing EditorEdouard L.Desrochers ’45, ’62 (Hon.)

CommunicationsAdvisory CommitteeDaniel G. Brown ’82, Robert C.Burtman ’74, Dorinda Elliott ’76,Alison Freeland ’72,Keith Johnson ’52,Yvonne M. Lopez ’93

TRUSTEESPresidentG.Thompson Hutton ’73

Vice PresidentEunice Johnson Panetta ’84

David O. Beim ’58, Flobelle BurdenDavis ’87,Marc C. de La Bruyère ’77,Walter C.Donovan ’81, JonathanW.Galassi ’67,Thomas E.Hassan ’56, ’66,’70, ’06 (Hon.); P’11,Robert A.Ho ’73,David R.Horn ’85,Alan R. Jones ’72,Sally Jutabha Michaels ’82,William K.Rawson ’71,Dr.Nina D.Russell ’82,Robert S. Silberman ’76, J.DouglasSmith ’83,RemyWhiteTrafelet ’88,Morrison DeSotoWebb ’65

The Exeter Bulletin (ISSN No. 0195-0207) is published four times each year:fall, winter, spring, and summer, by PhillipsExeter Academy, 20 Main Street, ExeterNH 03833-2460, 603-772-4311.Periodicals postage paid at Exeter, NH,and at additional mailing offices. Printedin the USA byThe Lane Press.The Exeter Bulletin is printed on recycledpaper and sent free of charge to alumni/ae,parents, grandparents, friends, andeducational institutions by Phillips ExeterAcademy, Exeter,NH.Communicationsmay be addressed to the editor; [email protected].

Copyright 2011 by theTrustees ofPhillips Exeter Academy.ISSN-0195-0207

Postmasters: Send address changes to:Phillips ExeterAcademy,Records Office,20 Main Street,Exeter, NH 03833-2460.

Contents

26

20 | PEA’S GREEN EGGSAND HAMHow Dining Services is serving up sustainability

By Karen Ingraham

26 | INNOVATIVE EXONIANSSix alumni/ae and their game-changing inventions

By KatherineTowler

2 Around theTable:Poetry set to music, Exeter’s social media sites,Assem-bly speaker roundup, and more.

12 TableTalk with Jennie Niles ’84

14 Exoniana

16 Exonians in Review:The ADHD Effect on Marriageby Melissa Orlov ’77. Reviewed by E. Bruce Hallett III ’67

The GreenThumb Curriculum by Rachel KathleenPringle ’97 and Arden Bucklin-Sporer. Reviewed by JenniferWilhelm

32 Sports: PEA Water Polo HasTeams Seeing Double byMike Catano. Plus, fall sports roundup.

36 Connections: News and Notes from the Alumni/aeCommunity

39 Profiles: Henry “Buzz” Merritt ’44,Alan Metcalfe ’74and Ellen Massey ’04

104 Finis Origine Pendet:OneVisit, 30Years’ Encouragementby Marty Kounitz ’77

20

V O L U M E C V I , N O. 2 W I N T E R 2 0 1 1

Departments

THE EXETER BULLETIN IS PRINTED ON PAPER WITH 10%POST-CONSUMER CONTENT, USING SOY-BASED INKS.

12

Visit Exeter onthe web at www.exeter.edu / Emailus at [email protected]

COVER PHOTO BY ARTHUR DURITY

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Big Red Spirit

A sea of Exeter Red swept the stadium stands at Andover duringHomecoming on November 13. Exonian cheers were rewardedwhen the varsity football team scored a three-peat, beatingAndover for the third consecutive year.The final score was 56-33.

—Photo by KirkWilliamson

The Exeter Bulletin WINTER 20112


WINTER 2011 The Exeter Bulletin

TheView from Here

3


4 The Exeter Bulletin WINTER 2011

The ability to innovate is one ofthe hallmarks of an Exeter educa-tion, and this issue of the Bulletin

highlights Exonians who exemplify thataptitude.The inventors featured on pages26-31 are classic examples of originalthinkers whose vision and determinationhave transformed their respective fields.Similarly, the article about Exeter’s sustain-ability efforts (pages 20-25) in our dininghalls illustrates the creativity and resolvenecessary for the success of any pioneer-ing endeavor.

Phillips Exeter Academy was incorpo-rated close to two centuries before thebeginning of the modern environmentalmovement.You won’t find words like“sus-tainability” in our 1781 Deed of Gift. Butyou will find PEA founder John Phillips’vision of a school that prepares its studentsfor “the great end and real business of liv-ing” and encourages the pursuit of good-ness as well as knowledge,which“united form the noblest character,and lay the surest foundation of usefulness to mankind.”His wordsimpel us to not only study sustainability but also explore new waysto practice it.

One of the most satisfying experiences of my 21 years at Exeterhas been my association with theAcademy’s sustainability program.Begun by just a few committed faculty and staff members,our pro-gram has blossomed over the years to a point where sustainabili-ty is now a shared schoolwide endeavor.Our approach is neithertop-down nor strictly grass-roots.The key to our success has beenthe combination of the two.

Although the feature“PEA’s Green Eggs and Ham”focuses onefforts in our dining halls, Exeter has been committed to address-ing sustainability in all aspects of school life for the past decade.Student environmental proctors—known as e-proctors—oversee recycling and conservation in dorms and classrooms.Stu-dents, faculty and staff also volunteer on several committees to furtherour sustainability efforts, including the Carbon Committee,Envi-ronmentalAction Committee and the Farm and Garden Club. In

2004, the Trustees passed an environmen-tal mission statement that stated, in part,“Wemust foster a culture of environmentalawareness,which should be integral to ourcommunity in all venues of daily life,on andoff campus—where we learn, where wework, where we live and where we play.”

Within the sustainability article,you willread about the letters I received last springfrom students in BIO342: Human Popula-tions and Resource Consumption: Implicationsfor Sustainability, taught by Science Instruc-tor Anne Rankin ’92. You will learn howsome of the students’ requests for food thathas been grown“ethically, safely and local-ly” have been implemented by DiningServices.

These letters reminded me of anotherstudent’s quest to support sustainability.Hillary “Hill” Ryan Jr. ’11 came to me atthe beginning of his prep year with a planto generate all the energy necessary for his

own dorm room,and he asked that his room be taken off the school’smain power grid.After much consultation,we found that it wouldnot be possible to isolate Hill’s room.

Undaunted, Hill put his inventive mind to other projects andfounded MECexeter, a club that gives students hands-on experi-ence using physics and mathematics in real-world applications.Oneof the club’s recent projects was to build a concrete canoe.Thesebudding engineers worked for more than a year in a shop theydesigned and built within a Phelps Science Center classroom.Ona crisp, sunny day this fall, club members experienced the culmi-nation of their work as they paddled their concrete canoe downthe Exeter River.To see the launch and hear their enthusiasm,youcan watch a video taken by Science Instructor John Blackwell atwww.exeter.edu/webextraswinter2011.

As I read the stories of Exeter’s inventors in the pages of thisBulletin, I imagine that some future magazine will contain a pieceon the ingenious feats of Hill and some of his fellow MECexetermembers. I suspect that the concrete canoe was just the beginningof a lifetime of pioneering innovation.

ART

DU

RIT

Y

Ingenuity On Campus and OffBy Principal Thomas E. Hassan ’56, ’66, ’70, ’06 (Hon.); P’11

Around theTableWhat’s new and notable at the Academy


WINTER 2011 The Exeter Bulletin 5

Winners of regional and national Scholastic Art Awards last spring, lower Alexandria Bryan andEmma Glennon ’10 were among only 50 high school Scholastic artists in the U.S. to have theirartworks—selected last fall by the U.S. Department of Education—displayed in a national, year-

long exhibit that opened on October 8.Bryan began dabbling in painting and drawing early in her childhood and found she enjoyed the craft, par-

ticularly after enrolling in her first art class during her prep year. But she never dreamed that one year later shewould be at a ribbon-cutting ceremony inWashington, D.C., to honor her artwork.

“I did not know about the Scholastic Awards until last year, when mystudio art teacher,Ms. Komando, helped me enter my work in the com-petition.” The painting, Shadow Play, won a Gold Key at the regionallevel and a Gold Medal at the national competition. Remarkably, thepiece was Bryan’s first attempt at painting on canvas and it was the onlypainting she entered into the contest.

Glennon, who also won gold at the regional and national levels forher painting entitled Arnold’s Candies, says,“The thought that everyonewho passes through the Department of Education will see my paintingis pretty amazing. I’m glad to be a part of [this] group.”

Glennon says she always liked art but didn’t get serious about it untilher lower year,when she took Painting I.“I didn’t take another art courseuntil spring of my senior year, but I painted at least a few hours eachweek for those three years.” Now a student at Princeton, Glennon con-tinues to paint on her own but has little room in her schedule for an art class. She hopes, however, to find artcompetitions similar to Scholastic’s on a local or national level.

Bryan’s award has prompted her to seriously consider becoming a full-time artist. She is currently work-ing on a piece that she might enter into the next Scholastic competition, and she intends to pursue artthrough college and beyond.“I plan on studying and practicing to improve and hopefully make a career formyself in the arts,” Bryan says. —FamebridgeWitherspoon

TAR

AM

ISEN

HEI

MER

ExonianArtistsWin National HonorU.S. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATIONSHOWCASES STUDENTS ’ ARTWORKS

Emma Glennon ’10

(left) andAlexandria

Bryan ’13 attended

a ceremony in

Washington,D.C. ,

that celebrated

their paintings.

Remarkably, thepiece was Bryan’sfirst attempt atpainting on canvas ...



Around theTable

Trustee Dr.Nina Russell ’82 got the opportunity to experience what it’slike to be an Exeter faculty member one day in late October.As a prel-ude to the Fall Trustees Meeting, she accompanied Science Instructor

Townley Chisholm P’10, P’11, P’14 on his daily activities.The Faculty Day in the Life Program started last year when Principal Tom

Hassan suggested it as a way to give the Trustees firsthand knowledge of thediverse responsibilities of faculty members—who teach, coach, run clubs andserve as live-in or affiliate dorm advisers.Trustee Alan Jones ’72 was the first to“shadow”History Instructor Kwasi Boadi, a day Jones called “as rewarding andchallenging as you couldever imagine.”

The program gives theTrustees a chance “to seethe school in action, as itis,” explains Chisholm.“Seeing students workingwith teachers in classes is

both inspirational, I hope, and fundamental.There is a lotof good work being done in our classes, on our playingfields, in our rehearsals and in our dorms.”

For students, having a trustee join the Harkness con-versation can be eye-opening, and just plain fun. “Thestudents in my Bio 200 classes were glad to meet Dr.Russell and to hear a little bit about how she turned aphilosophy degree from Yale into a career working tocoordinate research on HIV vaccines for the Gates Foun-dation,” says Chisholm. “Then we got to work makingsense of mitosis and meiosis.The class felt quite natural, asif Dr. Russell had been with us all year.”

“Trustees and faculty work together continuously tomake Exeter an exciting, challenging and supportiveplace of learning,” says Hassan.“The Faculty Day in theLife Program is a simple and very effective way to giveTrustees extra insight into some of the daily realities oflife at PEA today. By shadowing a faculty member, theTrustees get to see a bit of everything.”

Chisholm concurs:“Trustees already have an excellentunderstanding of how the school works.These visits justgive them a little more immediacy and depth of under-standing . . . and a chance to get one faculty member’sviewpoint on questions that the trustee may be thinkingabout.” He adds,“The more connected to the life of theschool they feel, the better.” —Nicole Pellaton

Back in the ClassroomNEW TRUSTEE VIEWS HARKNESS WITH A FACULTY LENS

NIC

OLE

PELLAT

ON

Trustee Dr.Nina

Russell ’82 (right)

joins a biology class

and participates in

a discussion about

cellular division.

Social ExeterLike, follow or bookmark theseonline sites to stay plugged in toall things Exeter:

PEA main websitewww.exeter.edu

Alumni/aefacebook.com/exeteralumstwitter.com/exeteralums

Parentsfacebook.com/exeterparents

The Exonianfacebook.com/theexoniantwitter.com/theexoniannews

Admissionsfacebook.com/exeteradmissions

College Counselingfacebook.com/PEACCOtwitter.com/PEACCO

Exeter Social Service Organizationfacebook.com/exetersocialservice

organization

Summer Schoolfacebook.com/exetersummerschool

Grainger Observatorytwitter.com/PEA_obs


Around theTable

The Trustees of the Academy met on campusWednesday, October 27 through Friday, October29.OnWednesday, the three new trustees—Walter

Donovan ’81,David Horn ’85 andTobyWebb ’65; P’02—spent time with adults and students on campus for a day oforientation. In addition, Trustee Nina Russell ’82 shad-owed Science Instructor Townley Chisholm, as part of thetrustee immersion program,“A Day in the Life.”The Trustees began their official meetings Thursday

morning with a report from Principal Tom Hassan, whoprovided an overview of the fall term and talked about theimportance of communication and connections on campusand the progress we are making in those important areas.Following that,Trustees heard reports from members of theAlumni/ae Affairs and Development staff and were pleasedto learn that the Annual Fund had surpassed its goal lastyear, ending with a record $7.8 million. It was noted thatcurrent parents were particularly supportive of our AnnualFund in 2009–10, contributing the highest amount parentshave ever given in one year.The Trustees also received anupdate regarding Hassan’s outreach efforts to parents,whichincludes spending time with them while on the road andbeginning a parent fan page on Facebook (www.face-book.com/exeterparents).The meeting then turned to discussions about our facil-

ities. Director of Facilities Management Roger WakemanP’09, P’11 updated the Trustees on various projects,including the ongoing steam distribution system renewaland the completion of the central plant modernizationproject. (Later in the day,Trustees toured the newly reno-vated central heating plant.) Wakeman also discussed theplanning process to renovate Phillips Hall, a project thathad been put on hold in 2008.We are now moving aheadto reconstitute the program committee in order to contin-ue with the design stage. It is anticipated that we will ren-ovate Phillips Hall over the course of the next twosummers, with the major portion of the renovation occur-ring in 2012. In addition,we are in the very initial stages oflooking into a new performing arts center, which was oneof the major recommendations of the last New EnglandAssociation of Schools and Colleges’ accreditation report.We will begin with the preliminary step of developing aprogram statement that will serve as the foundation forultimately defining the vision and requirements for a newfacility.This process will be supported by a specialized pro-gramming consultant, selected through an interviewprocess that will include department heads from the per-forming arts.The majority of time on Thursday was devoted to dis-

cussing the Academy’s capital renewal needs, which wereoutlined to faculty and staff in early October.Trustees had

discussed capital renewal of our aging facilities in earlieryears, but the issue was tabled during the economic down-turn. Current Trustees are particularly concerned aboutthe high risk of future problems and escalating costs if theurgent need for building renovations is not addressed. In avery thorough and thoughtful discussion, the Trusteesmade the decision to move ahead in attending to theschool’s capital renewal requirements.To do so, theTrusteeswill continue to use any surplus in the annual operatingbudgets; increase the endowment draw from its current 4.5percent to 5 percent, which is in line with the draw takenby our peer institutions; and increase tuition to bring usmore in line with peer schools.TheTrustees will return tothe matter of setting a precise tuition amount for the nextacademic year at their winter meeting, during whichtuition is traditionally determined. After this significantdecision, the Trustees were given the opportunity to relaxwith faculty colleagues over dinner and friendly conversa-tion in Grainger Auditorium that evening.Members of the Education and Appointments Com-

mittee began their day on Friday by meeting with StudentCouncil leaders, whose topics of discussion ranged fromSaturday classes to technology. Later that morning, ChiefFinancial Officer ChrisWejchert reviewed the budget withtheTrustees. Increased revenues fromAnnual Giving, Sum-mer School, and higher-than-anticipated enrollment in theregular session positively influenced the operating budget.Also credited were the budget reductions made by the staffand faculty during the past year.TheTrustees noted that in2009–10, as in past years, the capital budget had beenunderfunded, and they consequently voted that the operat-ing budget surplus realized for 2009–10 will be applied toour facilities’ needs; such actions will continue in futureyears, should there be surpluses in our operating budget.Later that Friday morning, the Trustees heard reports

about admissions, college counseling, Summer School andfaculty recruitment. Russell Weatherspoon ’01, ’03, ’08(Hon.); P’92, P’95, P’97, P’01 also spoke about his decadeof service as the dean of residential life and received a verywarm round of applause in appreciation for his dedicatedefforts on behalf of our students.Dean of Faculty KathleenCurwen P’99, P’03 informed the Trustees of a decline inthe recruitment and retention of faculty of color and out-lined a plan that included a multicultural assessment to beinstituted in the near future.TheTrustees and Hassan discussed the ongoing strategic

planning necessary to move the Academy forward. Moretime will be devoted to this important topic at futuremeetings. —Julie Quinn

Trustee Roundup

WINTER 2011 The Exeter Bulletin 7


8

Around theTable

M.Kamal Ahmad getsJohn Phillips Award

M.Kamal Ahmad’s lifelong efforts to improve the lives of poor andmarginalized groups were honored in October when the 1983 grad-uate received the 2010 John Phillips Award at an assembly attended

byTrustees, faculty, staff andstudents.In his acceptance re-

marks, the founder of theAsian University forWomen—the first interna-tional, residential universityfor underprivileged womenin Asia, which opened in2009—cited the importanceof empowerment as a meansto effect lasting change. Heexplained,“The greatest im-pediment to economic andsocial change in the regionis the lack of effective lead-ership.We look at this uni-versity above all as an incu-bator of a new generation ofwomen leaders. . . .”At the age of 13,Ahmad

opened a school in his fam-ily’s garage for scores ofyoung Bangladeshi domes-tic workers who had no means of receiving an education.Three years later,Ah-mad’s efforts culminated in the establishment of the Juvenile Literacy Pro-gramme—a group of four primary schools and a day care attended by 400working children in Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh.After entering Exeter as a lower,Ahmad founded theThirdWorld Society

to raise awareness about socioeconomic issues in developing countries.As a stu-dent at Harvard, he and his older brother started the Overseas DevelopmentNetwork (ODN), an international microfinance loan program comprised of 70college organizations that aids entrepreneurs in de-veloping countries. For his ingenuity and hard work,Time magazine named Ahmad “one of the 20 out-standing undergraduates in the nation.”After college,Ahmad continued his efforts in in-

ternational development,working at theWorld Bank,the Rockefeller Foundation and UNICEF.Two yearsafter graduating from the University of Michigan LawSchool in 1996, he created and co-directed theWorld Bank/UNESCOTaskForce on Higher Education and Society. In 2002,Ahmad initiated a fundrais-ing campaign for the Asian University for Women; in 2009, the universityopened with 300 students from 12 Asian and Middle Eastern countries.“When all is done,”Ahmad noted in his acceptance remarks,“some 3,000

women from all acrossAsia, unconstrained by their race, creed, language or pos-

Canada Concerts MarkChoir and OrchestraTour

OnMarch 5, Exeter’s Concert Choir and

Chamber Orchestra will travel to Cana-

da for a week’s worth of public and private per-

formances, as part of the groups’ third

collaborative spring tour.

The choir and orchestra, led by Music

Instructor RyanTurner and Music Department

Chair Rohan Smith, respectively, will stop first

in Montreal.The 60 student singers and musi-

cians will perform an outreach concert at the

Lester B. Pearson High School, as well as a pub-

lic concert at the St. James United Church.

They will also act as concertgoers when they

attend a performance by the Montreal Sym-

phony Orchestra.

L’isle-aux-Coudres in the Charlevoix region

of Quebec is the tour’s second stop,where the

students will give a public concert before trav-

eling to Quebec City.The final concert will take

place in the chapel of the Museum of French

America (Musée de l’Amérique française) and

will be followed by a reception for choir and

orchestra members at the U.S.Consulate Gen-

eral’s residence.

Public ConcertsSunday,March 6, 7 p.m.

St. James United Church

463, rue Ste-Catherine ouest,

Montreal

Tuesday,March 8, 6:30 p.m.

L’isle-aux-Coudres

LocationTBD

Wednesday,March 9, 3 p.m.

Musée de l’Amérique française

2, côte de la Fabrique,

Quebec City

DA

NC

OU

RTER

Read more aboutAhmad’s work atwww.exeter.edu/2010johnphillips.




Around theTable

FromAndrew Sullivan,The Daily Dish creator, to JestinaMukoko, a Zimbabwean human rights activist, globally recog-nized pundits and advocates engaged with students during lastfall’s assemblies.The guest speakers demonstrated the com-plexities behind issues concerning morality, bigotry and thepolitical process.What follows is a sampling of who spoke oncampus, in chronological order.

P.J. O’RourkePolitical satirist P.J.O’Rourke spoketo Exonians at an assembly spon-sored by Exeter’s Republican andDemocratic clubs.O’Rourke focusedon political power, its pitfalls, andthe realities of government deci-sion-making, which he called “com-mittee-brain.” He kept the students

laughing, from his opening salvo—“Politics is necessary. Butnecessary is not the same as pleasant”—to the end.A regular panelist on National Public Radio’s “Wait,Wait ...

Don’tTell Me” and author of 20 books,O’Rourke’s latest bookis Don’t Vote—It Just Encourages the Bastard.

Andrew SullivanEditor, political blogger and colum-nistAndrew Sullivan, creator ofTheDaily Dish, an award-winning blog ofThe Atlanticmagazine, opened theassembly with this:“I want to talkabout conservatism and why I thinkit has gone completely off the rails.“I want to come out in a way,” he

added.“I am proud to say I am Christian, conservative, homo-sexual.”The complexity, as he presented it at assembly, lies inhis perception that “in our culture, those things are supposedto be at war with each other.” During his talk, Sullivan touchedon many intertwining topics—faith, politics, government, thepower of words, and what it means to be human.

A. Stephens Clay ’60AttorneyA. Stephens Clay ’60spoke to assembly about his probono representation of a Guantá-namo Bay detainee. He recountedhow he got involved in this work,explained in detail the conditions inwhich prisoners are held, anddescribed the complexities of the

relationship between these prisoners and their legal advisers.

Focusing on the theme of constitutional rights, he explained,“If government power is expanded, individual rights are con-stricted.” He added,“This will be a big issue for your genera-tion, larger than for mine.”

The Reverend JimWallis“This economic crisis suggests thatwe’ve lost our moral balance,” saidRev. JimWallis, theologian, author,president and CEO of Sojourners.Wallis’ assembly talk focused on thedeterioration of values in a complexworld.“Wealth does not trickledown anymore in this country, but

bad values do.” He encouraged Exonians to help the worlddevelop “new habits of the heart … It’s up to your generationto create a new normal.”Wallis’ latest book is RediscoveringValues:OnWall Street,Main Street, andYour Street.

Sara HendersonDuring her assembly, Sara Hender-son GP’12 simply said:“One personcan make a difference—that’s themessage I want to impart … Don’ttell me you can’t do it. One personcan definitely make a difference.”Her own story is a testament tothat statement.After a 25-year

career in investment banking, Henderson founded a nonprofitorganization, Building Bridges to the Future (BBF), to assistpeople in Aceh, Indonesia—the area devastated by the 2004tsunami. She talked about her efforts to build housing inand around Aceh and how BBF is working to provide literacyand education programs and support for agribusiness tothat region.

Jestina MukokoIn December 2008, Jestina Mukokowas abducted, beaten, tortured andimprisoned by Zimbabwean statesecurity agents. She spent threemonths in jail before being releasedon bail.The executive director of theNGO Zimbabwe Peace Project andformer broadcaster for the Zimbab-

we Broadcasting Corp., spoke to students about her intern-ment and her ceaseless efforts to monitor human rights abusesin Zimbabwe.Mukoko is a recipient of the U.S.Department ofState’s 2010 InternationalWomen of CourageAward.

PEA Hosts Political Pundits and Human RightsAdvocates

sessions or lack thereof, will come to the Asian Uni-versity forWomen for an education that is aimed at de-fying an almost endless series of preconceptions thatmight have at one point limited their life’s options.”

In her assembly introduction of Ahmad, PEATrustee and General Alumni/ae Association PresidentSally Jutabha Michaels ’82;P’12,P’14 said,“While oth-ers might be tempted to despair at the seemingly in-

surmountable challenges of this work, you show thatcontinued commitment—the simple refusal to yield—can result in meaningful change.”

The John Phillips Award annually recognizes an Ex-onian whose life exemplifies the nobility of characterand usefulness to humanity that John Phillips soughtto promote in establishing the Academy.

—FamebridgeWitherspoon



Around theTable

The fall performance of “Three Horizons,” amusical premiere commissioned by Exeter’sConcert Choir, was an evening of superla-

tives, by all accounts. Based on a collaboration of theConcert Choir; PEA English Instructors Todd

Hearon, Matt Miller and Ralph Sneeden;and Dover, NH-based choral composerKevin Siegfried, the approximately six-minute piece brought together “anamazing cross-pollination of artistic tal-ents,” says Miller.“I was grateful to havebeen included, and humbled by theartistry of everyone else involved.”“I’d been wanting to work with a living

composer and have a piece commissioned for Con-cert Choir,” explains Ryan Turner, music instructorand Concert Choir director since 2006.When Turn-er’s wife, Adjunct Music Instructor Susan ConsoliTurner, suggested using the work of PEA poets forlyrics, he recognized the tremendous potential.Turn-er immediately turned to Hearon, Miller and Snee-den, all pr ize-winning poets whose work he

describes as having “a lyricism thatlends itself to music.”

Finding the Right ComposerTurner, who believes that “music maybe the ultimate Harkness conversa-tion,” wanted to focus on the collabo-rative aspects of the project, frombeginning to end. “I knew that Kevinwould be very hands-on in theprocess,” he explains. When Siegfriedasked early on about “the strengths andweaknesses of the ensemble,” Turnerknew he had found a composer whoseinstinct to engage with students wouldgive them a role in the creation, andwould result in a musical piece appro-priate to the choir’s capabilities.

“The unique feature of this commis-sion was the fact that I would be settingthe poetry of three different contempo-rary poets,” explains Siegfried, who

teaches at The Boston Conservatory and is knowninternationally for his choral compositions. “ ‘ThreeHorizons’ is essentially a study in contrast and juxtapo-sition. The distinct musical voice of each movementcreates an environment through which to listen andexperience the poetry. . . .The resulting musical work islike an art gallery wall that displays three different artobjects by the same artist: a watercolor, a sculpturemade of glass and metal, and a video installation.”

Selecting the PoemsThe poems that make up the composition are verydifferent in structure, tone and mood. Siegfried wasfirst drawn to Miller’s “Club Icarus,” which describesa father watching his young daughter as she falls froma plane crash, to be saved at the last second by uplift-ing wings.“I was intrigued by the rhythms of the textand by the way it breathlessly moves across the page. Iended up changing meter nearly every measure torealize the spoken rhythms of the text, and graduallymodulating the choir upward throughout the pieceto create a sense of falling through the sky.”

Musical Collaboration Creates‘A Heaven of Song’THREE ACADEMY POETS HAVE THEIR WORDS SET TO MUSIC

NIC

OLE

PELLAT

ON

Listen to theperformance atwww.exeter.edu/webextraswinter2011.

Music Instructor

RyanTurner and the

Concert Choir

rehearse “Three

Horizons.”



Around theTable

“Surfer’s Eulogy”by Sneeden appealed to Siegfriedfor its form,“lulling and musical in its repetitions.Eachline ends with one of three word endings: ‘return,’‘horizon’ and ‘goodbye.’ I wrote three melodies foreach of these line endings, which mirrored the formof the poem.”

Excerpts from Hearon’s “Strange Land” roundedout the trio because it, like the others, was “suggestiveof a kind of landscape or horizon . . . with its evoca-tive and lyrical imagery.”

“It Felt Like It Somehow ‘Belonged’ to Us”Concert Choir met with the poets during an earlyrehearsal so that members could ask about theauthors’ intentions, and get a more complete under-standing of the poems. At this rehearsal, the poetsheard the music performed for the first time, mar-veling at how it enriched their work. For Turner, thisrehearsal was a Harkness high point: “I was mostimpressed with how the students interacted with thepoets. Their level of understanding and desire toengage with the lyric was inspiring.”

A week later, Siegfried came to rehearsal to hearthe evolving sound, answer questions and providedirection. Conversation was broad—including sungpronunciation of words and tempo. Experienced as ateacher and clearly comfortable with the Harknessmodel, Siegfried suggested that the students decidehow to resolve the last piece—whether to finish onan a cappella note or close with piano.Working withTurner, the students experimented, choosing an acappella ending initially, and after rehearsing a bitmore, returning to the composer’s original composi-tion, which called for a piano ending.

For Concert Choir member Tiffany Tuedor ’13,alto, the highlight of the project was being able to“ask the teachers and composer questions about thepoems and music. I had a deeper understanding of thepieces after hearing from the artists directly. Theproduct felt much more believable after the critique.I was very grateful to be a part of the performanceand I hope that Mr. Siegfried and the poets wereproud.” Tuedor’s favorite movement was “Surfer’sEulogy” because of the “three very different pieces ofmusic that intertwined together. The warm, richtones of the humming choir and the crisp, articulateaspect of the chanting choir worked together to com-plement the piano.”

“ ‘Three Horizons’ was a new experience,” saysTheo Motzkin ’11, baritone. “It demonstrated howfluid music can be. Usually, you’re presented with ascore, and you have to sing what’s written—but whenyou’re working on a piece that’s been specially com-missioned for you, the execution is a little more flex-ible. . . .We didn’t really change anything in the end,

but the possibility was always there. Specially com-missioned works allow for a different sort of relation-ship with the music; it felt like it somehow ‘belonged’to us.”

Although none of the poets had ever imaginedtheir poetry set to music before the project, they weredelighted with the results.

“I was chilled and amazed by what Kevin did withthe poem and the way the kids performed it,” saysMiller. “Kevin really nailed the feelings I was goingfor.The sense of falling and yetsome angelic uplifting ranunderneath it. He and thesingers raised a little poemscratched in a notebook tosomething bigger than I everenvisioned it could be.”Miller adds,“Kevin’s compo-sition and the work of Ryanand the choir helped to raisemy poem a little bit out of itsprimordial muck to get clos-er to a heaven of song.”

Sneeden—whose poem is in villanelle form andbuilds on the image of a surfer, now dead, paddlingtoward the horizon—felt a similar growth in hispoem’s dimensions.“As a writer, I’m always workingto dampen the stiffness of formality, to mute themechanics. When the poem was sung, all of thatseemed to break down; the poem’s essence becamemore mysterious, worked against all of that formality,the ‘rules’ I was obeying. I’ve always thought thatmusic amplifies form (especially rhyming), but it wasjust the opposite. . . . For me, Kevin’s and Ryan’s workseemed to capture, literally and synaesthetically, theway that ocean waves fold into each other, overlap.”

“Three Horizons” is PEA’s first commissionedoriginal work of music to use lyrics by faculty poets.Jackie Thomas, who retired as Academy librarian in2010, sponsored the project through funds from theFriends of the Academy Library.

“Three Horizons” premiered on November 21,2010 in Phillips Church. Turner conducted Exeter’sConcert Choir, with piano accompaniment by Rad-mila Repczynski. —Nicole Pellaton

“Strange Land” byTodd Hearon is the title poem of his collection

Strange Land, published in spring 2010.“Club Icarus” by

Matt Miller will be published in the Harvard Review.“Surfer’s

Eulogy” by Ralph Sneeden was published in Sneeden’s collection

Evidence of the Journey, published in 2007.

“The resultingmusical work islike an art gallerywall ... ”


Washington, D.C.’s public school system—notori-ous for being the lowest-performing in the coun-try—still has trouble shaking its reputation three

years after reforms have begun to enhance its status and num-bers. Stories of high dropout rates, altercations betweenteachers and students, poor resources, run-down buildingsand abysmal test scores persist, and wide achievementgaps dividing white and minoritystudents and poor and affluent stu-dents remain.In such an atmosphere, the suc-

cesses of D.C. public charterschool E.L.Haynes stand in starkrelief. According to founder andHead of School Jennie Niles ’84,since the urban school opened in2004, the pioneer class of stu-dents, who first scored 30 per-cent proficient in the DC-CAS(comprehensive assessmentsystem) tests in reading andmath, is now at 76 percentproficiency in reading and 86percent in math, with 43 per-cent scoring at the advancedlevel.The overall statistics for theschool reflect the same trends.“All kids are capable of high

academic achievement, and to datewe [adults] have dramatically underserved kids—poor kidsand kids of color in particular. . . . It’s us grown-ups whoneed to get ourselves organized around getting kids the rightresources, at the right time, in the right way,” says Niles.She has been instrumental in helping students attain such

resources.As one of the authors of D.C.’s winning application forfunds from President Obama’s Race to the Top program, shehelped the district gain $75 million. Nationwide, Obama hasslotted $4.35 billion for states and districts planning significanteducational reform.Requirements for the funds include improv-ing staff recruitment and development, adopting rigorous stan-dards and assessments, creating data systems that effectivelymeasure student progress, and turning around failing schools.TheD.C. team was one of only 12 winners last year.Niles’ school currently serves 600 students in grades pre-K

through eighth but will soon expand to include high schoolers,

eventually serving 1,200 students.With 21 percent of the studentbody English Language Learners, 62 percent qualifying for freeor reduced lunch, and 85 percent students of color, E.L. Haynes

is composed of students many might expect tounderperform.

“At E.L. Haynes we have a really diversecommunity of students—we strive to bewhat every public school in Americashould and could be,” says Niles.“We wantto break down stereotypes of what urbanschools are.”Niles doesn’t undercut the obstacles herstudents face due to the racial discrimi-

nation, poverty and tensions intheir inner-city neighborhoods:“The resilience that our kids haveis just remarkable.How they havethe patience to come to schooland try their hardest in the face ofall sorts of things . . . .” But asformidable as these obstaclesare,“none are determining fac-tors in what they’re able to do,”she asserts.“We [at E.L. Haynes]have to counterbalance the realchallenges kids have in life.”The arsenal she’s built to

help combat these challenges—and tailor education to meetindividual needs—includes astrong mental health team to

assist students with traumas in their lives, inclusion teachers forthose with disabilities and English Language Learner specialists.“You’re going to get there,” Niles tells her students, even if theyrequire “training wheels, a temporary crutch, new glasses or justa different path altogether.”Niles considers encouragement from adults crucial. She

believes too many students can sense adults’ skepticism abouttheir abilities, often based on the mistaken philosophy that a stu-dent is born capable of achievement or isn’t.“I see every day thatthat’s not the case,” she says. Sensing an adult’s lack of faith can be“devastating to a little person,” she adds.“Kids respond to expec-tations.”Expecting students to act responsibly enables them to become

“masters of their own destiny,” according to Niles, which


Around theTable

FRED

CA

RLSO

N

Where Kids Run the ShowTABLE TALK WITH JENNIE NILES ’ 8 4 , FOUNDER OFAN URBAN D.C. PUBLIC CHARTER SCHOOLBy Leah Williams


includes not only facing the consequences of bad behavior “butalso giving them voice in what’s not going right for them.” Herschool uses a “guided discovery process,” slowly introducing stu-dents to different resources in the classroom—a set of crayons, forexample—and agreeing to the limitations of their use. “Forinstance,” Niles says, “crayons don’t fly.” When students actresponsibly, they are free to use the materials in the classroom attheir own will.A welcoming atmosphere, another feature Niles thinks essen-

tial to student growth, is often absent from public schools thatlack even basic resources.When the doors of E.L. Haynes openeach morning, the principal is there to greet every student byname.Within the next few minutes, several teachers and staffmembers will do the same. “The teachers know the studentsindividually . . . so they don’t feel like ‘I’m just another kid,’ ” saysNiles. “For students’ development to take off, they need a senseof belonging and connection. . . . If something has upset thembefore they get to school, we need to know within five minutesso we can fix it and get them back on track.”Often what’s wrongis that a student hasn’t eaten, which is instantly remedied. Butsometimes the problems are more troubling, in which case themental health team is there to assist.Those first moments of greeting help build a strong commu-

nity for students: “The more connections to the teacher and tothe school, the better state they’re in . . . to learn,” says Niles.“There’s an intertwining of their lives with [the] adults’ here.”The importance of forming connections with those in need

was the most influential lesson Niles took from her time at PEA.“Exeter’s non sibi is central to who I am,” she says.After graduat-ing from PEA,Niles received her bachelor’s degree from BrownUniversity. Confident that scientific literacy and non sibi werepart of the ideal society she wanted to help forge, Niles beganteaching science and directing service-learning programs in mid-dle and high school. Moving into school administration andreform, Niles headed the Charter School Office for the Con-necticut State Department of Education and then directed Edu-cation Initiatives at The Ball Foundation of Glen Ellyn, IL. Sheearned master’s degrees in Public and Private Management fromYale University and in Public Administration with a focus onEducational Administration fromTrinity University.Then a yearlong fellowship with New Leaders for New

Schools, a training program for educators to become urban prin-cipals, gave Niles the opportunity she had been waiting for: tobuild her own school from the ground up.A simple educationalphilosophy determined her plan of action. “What we need todo,” she explains, “is use whatever works.” Niles knew one stepwas fundamental: “We needed a group of very smart, capablepeople with a number of skill sets,” she says.After hiring a teamof educators based on their instructional expertise and determi-nation to do whatever it took to help all students achieve, thenew founder gave them the directive “to beg, borrow and stealwhenever we see what works.”Just six years later, E.L. Haynes has been the recipient of

numerous accolades in addition to the Race to theTop funds its

founder helped win. The school earned D.C.’s first Fight forChildren’s Quality Schools InitiativeAward and has been a three-time recipient of the Silver-Gain Award from New Leaders forNew Schools’ Effective Practice Incentive Community grantprogram, an award ranking the school among the top 10 in aconsortium of 144 charter schools nationwide.

Everyday incidents constantly confirm Niles’ faith in her stu-dents’ initiative and potential. At the U.S.A. Science and Engi-neering Festival Expo on the National Mall in October, forinstance, a group of her students had a booth showing how tomake decorative paper from the recycling bin alongside exhibitsby NASA and Harvard.Or when a teacher informed her that theschool needed to change its curriculum because her studentswere ready for algebra a year ahead of schedule.And the observa-tion by a seventh-grader on a University ofVirginia visit:“This isa beautiful campus,but I can see myself better at a small liberal artscollege.”Then there’s Elijah.As Niles was trying to remember an inspi-

rational Aristotle quote she thought he might appreciate for theback of their school uniforms, the eighth-grader assured her,“Oh,Ms.Niles, I’m cool with Aristotle.”“Developing the life of the mind is not often talked about in

educational reform . . . mostly because . . . we’re making sure allthe basic academic pieces are in place,” Niles says. Reflecting onPEA’s methods of empower ing studentthought, she observes,“That’s what I want forall E.L. Haynes’ students. I can already seehow the Harkness method can shape our highschool program. I’ve even asked [PEA Histo-ry Instructor] Rick Schubart how we can getthe tables.”For many urban high schools, reaching 75

percent proficiency would be an impressive achievement, butNiles is setting her sights much higher: “We want our highschool to be one of the best in D.C. or even the nation. I wantour kids to be as well-prepared as Exeter [students] when they sitnext to each other at college.”Her next goal: “Sending our first group of kids to college in

2015 and having them successfully complete it.”Ultimately,Nileswants to “have our graduates come back and teach for us, or theycould just start helping to run the world.We know the kids cando it.We’re not shooting small.”


Around theTable

Learn moreabout the E.L.Haynes schoolat elhaynes.org.

“ ... we strive to be what everypublic school inAmericashould and could be.”


Answers to theFall 2010 Issue:

Nowinners this time as Exonianswere off the beaten path and noone identified the Amos Alonzo

Stagg stone monument located next tothe baseball diamond. Stagg, a star baseballplayer at the Academy, graduated from theschool in 1885 and went on to become alegendary college football coach. In 1962,as part of a national celebration to honorStagg’s 100th birthday, the Academynamed the baseball diamond after him.

At the ceremony, the summer 1962 Ex-eter Bulletin article noted, “….Mr. Salton-stall made a brief address and remindedalumni and guests that Mr. Stagg had beencaptain of the 1884 baseball team; had

pitched against Andover; and had estab-lished a wide reputation as a baseball playerbefore he was to gain international renownas a football coach.”

Plain-withs Are Peanut BetweensIn Exoniana, pages 16 and 17 of the fallBulletin,Russell Hunter ’43 refers to eating“plain-withs” in the old Grill, and the ed-itor gives us a postscript telling us that aplain-with is a peanut butter sandwichwith mayonnaise.Ten years later, when Iwas there, it was known as a “peanut be-tween,” as noted on the following page, inthe letter from Peter Aldrich ’62. I hopethis clarification of nomenclature will alle-viate the bewilderment of your readers.

Darby Bannard ’52Miami, FL


Around theTable

ExonianaDO YOU REMEMBER?

Marble steps lead to this mystery room, locatedin one of theAcademy’s signature buildings.Ren-ovated last year, the room retains a classic lookbut now features a state-of-the-art projectionscreen system hidden behind wood paneling anda projector that drops down from decorativeceiling molding. Can you identify the room andshare memories from your time in it?

A:The room in the mid-1950s.Trustees and fac-ulty members often met here.

B:The room in 2008.Now,an oversized Harknesstable serves as the room’s centerpiece. Under-neath it lies a Persian rug atop new hardwoodflooring. Above it, a chandelier modeled afterone depicted in an old photograph.

C: Last September, Phillip Buzzard, manager ofcustodial services, showed PrincipalTom Hassanthe new wood paneling, designed to mirror theroom’s original woodwork.

Email your responses to [email protected], send them to Exoniana,c/o The Exeter Bulletin,Phillips ExeterAcademy,Communications Office,20 Main Street, Exeter, NH 03833-2460. Entriesmay be edited for length and clarity.

TheAmosAlonzo Stagg

stone monument sits near

the baseball diamond.

A

B

C



Around theTable

LettersMiff Mole AddendumI enjoyed Ketch Secor’s articleabout Ben Tench ’71. Ben isindeed an inspiration.I wanted to add an addendum

to the Miff [not Myth] MoleBand’s personnel.The heart, souland blues“mind”of the bandwasMike “Mudcat”Ward ’72, whocontinues to be a very well-known and respected blues musi-cian. I believe there was a greatpicture or two of Mike playingbass in the ’71 yearbook.(Also, credit goes to Chuck

Loeb ’71, our harmonica play-er for naming our band afterIrving Milfred Mole, trombon-ist and bandleader.)To music!

Doug Brown ’71(drummer for the band)LakeViewTerrace, CA

A Groupie’s-Eye ViewI read the article on BenTench’71 with some interest, havingbeen a negligible and undoubt-edly rather annoying road-ie/groupie/something whilst atPEA, and I noted a few notinsignificant errors. First andforemost, it verges on heresy tospeak of the Myth Mole BluesBand, which was actually MiffMole,consisting ofTench (I sel-dom heard his first name); aremarkably hirsute fellow namedMike on bass; a head-shavenmaniac named Chuck on har-monica; and, presumably, someguitarist or other. I first heardthem outside the old stadium inthe fields beyond,on a foul grayday in 1969–70, and a lifelongaddiction to [the] blues was born[with] the words, “I got a six-pack of Schlitz . . . and the oth-er kind shits . . . but I ain’t gotyou,”a send-up of theYardbirds.The next year—Ben’s senior

and my upper—heralded OirolfP. Florio, with Tench on prettymuch everything; a musicallyprecocious prep named PeterHolsapple ’74 on the love ofmy life, a Gibson LP Jr.; [Will]“Balloon”Magoon ’71 on bass;with, at least part of the time,Bob“Masher”Williams ’72 pro-viding“grease” in black leather

and what Ican only hope was Brylcreem orsomething of the sort. Theirrendition of MC5’s “MotorCity” lodged itself in my brain-pan, to torment me withoutrespite through today, while“Smoke Gets inYour Eyes”pro-vided cognitive dissonance.The photograph of Tench

and Magoon is misleading in atleast two ways. First, I remem-ber it from that year’s PEAN asthe only known sighting ofTench with (a) no beard,and (b)no vest or sport coat. Secondly,the third Exie in there is notGary Humphrey ’71,who nev-er had anything like that muchhair. I was in Kirtland Housewith“the Hump”(he was proc-tor that year), and he eschewedall outward signs of rebellion

while maintaining an Olympiancalm that unfortunately didnothing to assuage my adoles-cent turmoil or keep me fromgetting my ass tossed [out] forpot three days before the end ofthe year.The name“Kip”wan-ders in and out of mymind’s earsas I look at the photo, but mymemory serves not.All that said, I thank Ketch

for a delightful glimpseof those years, and to Ben, Iecho his inscription in my year-book:“Cows and horses,Tench,cows and horses.”

Alan Fahnestock ’72Winthrop,WA

More Coveragefor Math VictoryWith due allowance made forthis writer’s years and for thelikelihood that he is an anti-quated curmudgeon survivingfrom Exeter’s StoneAge, it nev-ertheless was a little disap-pointing to find two full pagesof your fall 2010 issue devot-ed to Exeter’s athletic teams,but only a slender column tothe two seniors who, as mem-bers of an academic team rep-

resenting America, won goldand bronze medals in an inter-national math competition heldhalfway around the world.In this context,“finding new

pathways toward a global edu-cation,” to quote your cover,seems vaguely ironic.

CliffWeber ’61Portland, OR

Ketch Secor’s article on

BenmontTench spurred memo-

ries, and corrections, regarding

Tench’s musical roots at PEA.



Exonians in Review

English majors like me are drawn to novels.We like to take the protagonist’s jour-ney, experiencing the suffering, the self-discovery and the redemption,which areat the center of fiction.We like to speculate about what part of the journey is the

author’s own.It is unlikely then that so many of the virtues of a fine novel are present in Melissa

Orlov’s practical guide to anADHD-stricken marriage.There is not much that is catchyabout the title,The ADHD Effect on Marriage. Even the subtitle,Understand and Rebuild

Your Relationship in Six Steps,makes the book sound painful-ly formulaic. But, dear reader, beneath this impenetrableveneer is a textured story of Melissa’s 20-year marriage toGeorge Orlov, her brilliant,ADHD-afflicted husband.Froma spectacular courtship to anger and dysfunction and final-ly to being“ridiculously happy,”Melissa ’77;P’09 shares herrelationship with George in a story worthy of a novel buttold in the language and frame of “how to.”The turning point in this book is its starting point—the

discovery that George has ADHD, which is more widelyknown as attention deficit disorder (ADD). He loves hiswife, but he’s so easily distracted away from his responsibil-ities in their marriage that Melissa’s confidence in his loveerodes. Resentment and anger follow, and notwithstand-ing the presence of two children whom they both adore,the couple find themselves on the verge of divorce.Some-what serendipitously,Melissa’s work as a marketing exec-utive for Dr. Ned Hallowell ’68 leads her to theconclusion that it is not George, but George’s ADHD

that has so injured their marriage. In a manner familiar to Exonians of somany stripes, she undertakes an intensive intellectual quest to learn aboutADHD.What Melissa finds is that the impact of the condition in adults on a mar-

riage is not especially well understood. For that reason alone, the publicationof her book stirred a sensation of public attention.Melissa made appearancesin places like the “Today” show and CNN’s “American Morning” and wasinterviewed by The NewYorkTimes and The Boston Globe, among others.Although she is not a trained psychologist, she brings enormous intellec-

tual rigor to her inquiry. She parses the symptoms of ADHD in a marriageinto a dozen patterns of behavior that she has found in her own marriage andin those of couples she has counseled. In different chapters, she considers, forexample, the patterns: The Hyperfocus Courtship, The Parent-Child

Dynamic,The ChoreWars, and Losing Faith inYour Spouse andYourself.The behaviorsshe describes are not confined to ADHD-afflicted marriages, but the sum of the symp-toms creates a picture of a dismal marriage, understandably at the brink of collapse.But like a good novelist, Melissa navigates out of the dilemma. It is no easy trail she

marks.Her path, the “Six Steps to a Better Relationship,” pushes her to the limits of herintelligence, her patience and, indeed, her love for George. She describes for the reader

Self-Help in Novel FormTHE ADHD EFFECT ON MARRIAGE: UNDERSTAND AND REBUILDYOUR RELATIONSHIP IN S IX STEPS, BY MELISSA ORLOV ’77A review by E. Bruce Hallett III ’67

Melissa Orlov ’77

offers a roadmap on

how to recognize

and address ADHD

in a marriage.

Wi11_EIR_12_31_10.qxp:Layout 1 1/5/11 3:32 PM Page 16

how to “cultivate empathy for your spouse.” She bravely confronts the breakdown andrehabilitation of their intimate relationship. She describes the tricky navigation throughthe emotional obstacles that make putting a bad relationship back together difficult.Thework, she cautions, is hard and cannot be done by one partner withoutequal effort from the other.

At one level, The ADHD Effect on Marriage is about exactly that. Itis a good and useful tool for unraveling the symptoms and the impactof this challenging condition on a committed relationship.At anoth-er level, it is a good and useful tool for maintaining or regaining thevitality of any enduring friendship or love. One cannot help but feelthat Melissa’s six steps are just what’s required to keep any marriagehappy and satisfying. It is the hard work of two people.

She puts her hard work, and George’s, on display in this book. It’shard not to root for them as the book progresses, and to cheer forthem at its end, when they describe themselves as happier and morecomplete as a couple than they have ever been. And it’s hard not tofinish the book without the same sense of satisfaction that comes withcompleting a good novel.

E. Bruce Hallett III ’67; P’02, P’06, P’11 is a former PEA trustee and served as president of Time and

Sports Illustrated magazines.


Exonians in Review

The GreenThumb CurriculumHOW TO GROW A SCHOOL GARDEN: A COMPLETE GUIDEFOR PARENTS AND TEACHERS, BY RACHEL KATHLEENPRINGLE ’ 9 7 AND ARDEN BUCKLIN-SPORERA review by Jennifer Wilhelm, PEA sustainability education coordinator

She parses the symptomsofADHD in a marriageinto a dozen patternsof behavior . . .

As a graduate student, my thesis research focused on how school garden pro-grams can be used as a means of connecting students to the natural world.Thebook How to Grow a School Garden:A Complete Guide for Parents andTeachers, by

Rachel Kathleen Pringle ’97 and Arden Bucklin-Sporer, would have been a greatresource to have for that research.The authors begin by shaping the rationale for start-ing a school garden program, showing that gardens have been a part of the curriculumin many educational institutions since the 1700s, and they continue to offer studentsdirect hands-on experiences through a “trial-and-error approach” to learning. Schoolgardens are not only outdoor classrooms but also another means for public schools tomeet state-mandated curriculum standards.


What makes this book especially useful forteachers is the inclusion of lesson plans, exampleprogram evaluation forms, recipes, and the basicsfor how to grow, maintain and harvest crops.Alongside bright, colorful pictures are sidebarsfilled with helpful lists such as,“garden rules forsafety and courtesy,” “class management tips,”“seed-saving” ideas, “a yearly garden budget,”“quick steps to prepare for a cooking day,” andother easily overlooked aspects of managing aschool garden program.

Adding another project to a teacher’s plate can seem overwhelming, but Pringle andBucklin-Sporer make it clear that it’s not necessarily more work but a shift in lessonplanning.With a garden, students see firsthand how food is grown and harvested, andthen learn how to cook healthy meals with fresh, unprocessed vegetables—which canfulfill health education requirements. Oftentimes, students gain a sense of place frombeing in a garden, which can expand their interest in the natural world and help them

to think critically on a global scale, accord-ing to the authors. Measuring rainfall, forexample, leads to a long-term study ofweather patterns, which leads to a broaderdiscussion about the difference betweenweather and climate.

While teachers will utilize a gardenduring the school year, what happens inthe summer during peak harvest times? Itshould not be forgotten that this bookserves as a guide for both teachers and par-ents, as parent volunteers often help over-see the garden year-round. In fact, parentscan be involved with most aspects of aschool garden, from initiating the cre-ation of one at their child’s school toplanting,harvesting and cooking the pro-duce.The authors also point to a school’s

residential neighbors, as well as after-school groups, localgarden clubs and community garden organizations as resources forgarden management.

The authors thoroughly take readers from research, planningand working with community members to designing the garden,breaking ground and troubleshooting the typical challenges teach-ers and parents might encounter during the process. If you want towork with your child’s school to build a few raised beds or start asmall farm with chickens, this book can help. Given Pringle’sexperience growing up on a rural farm in Maine, teaching envi-ronmental education for almost a decade, and working as the pro-grams manager for the San Francisco Green Schoolyard Alliance,she knows what it takes to work with a variety of different stake-holders to make a school garden successful.

How to Grow a School Garden is an excellent blueprint that deftly demonstrates boththe challenges and rewards of bringing students and gardening together.

JenniferWilhelm is the Academy’s sustainability education coordinator and also manages the school garden

and the on-campus secondhand store. She holds a Master of Science degree in natural resources, environmen-

tal conservation from the University of New Hampshire.


Co-author and environ-

mental educator Rachel

Kathleen Pringle ’97

grew up on a farm in

rural Maine.

With a garden, students seefirsthand how food is grown andharvested, and then learn how

to cook healthy meals . . .



Exonians in Review

ALUMNI/AE

1952—CharlesW. Pratt.From the Box MarkedSome Are Missing: New &Selected Poems. (Hobble-bush Books, 2010)

1953—Peter M.Wolf.Land Use and Abuse inAmerica:A Call to Action.(Xlibris, 2010)

1954—Rennie Mc-Quilkin. TheWeathering.[poems]. (Antrim House,2009)

1958—Winslow Myerswith foreword by BrianSwimme. Living BeyondWar:A Citizen’s Guide.(Orbis Books, 2009)

1962—Sa Pereira, Ed-ward. The Grave Gourmet,by Alexander Campion(pseud). (KensingtonBooks, 2010)

1966—D.David Eisen-hower II with Julie NixonEisenhower.Going Hometo Glory:A Memoir of a Lifewith Dwight D. Eisenhower,1961-1969. (Simon &Schuster, 2010)

1966—PeterThompson,translator, and others. APassenger from theWest byNabile Farès. (UNO Press,2010)

1966—Carl E.Walterand Fraser J.T. Howie.Red Capitalism:The FragileFinancial Foundation ofChina’s Extraordinary Rise.(Wiley, 2010)

1967—Jonathan Galassi,translator. Canti: Poems byGiacomo Leopardi. (Farrar,Straus and Giroux, 2010)

1971—Joyce Maynard.The Good Daughters:ANovel. (William Morrow,2010)

1971—Mark Sisson.ThePrimal Blueprint: ReprogramYour Genes for EffortlessWeight Loss,Vibrant Health,and Boundless Energy. (Pri-mal Nutrition, Inc., 2009)

1977—Melanie Bone.Cancer:What Next?(Healthy Learning, 2010)

1978—Dean Erickson.ChooseYour Story, ChooseYour Life. (CreateSpace,2010)

1983—Corey S.Shdaimah. NegotiatingJustice: Progressive Lawyer-ing, Low-Income Clients, andthe Quest for Social Change.(NYU Press, 2009)

1984—Raymond Farrin.Abundance from theDesert: Classical ArabicPoetry. (Syracuse Univer-sity Press, 2010)

1994—Abigail RobertsandWilfred E. Major. Plato:ATransitional Reader.(Bolchazy-CarducciPublishers, 2010)

BRIEFLY NOTED

1984—Randall Studstill.“A student’s right to re-ceive information in thepublic school library:An exploration of theSupreme Court’s Pico

decision.” IN LibraryStudent Journal. (October2010)

FORMER BENNETTFELLOW

Kate Bernheimer. Horse,Flower, Bird: Stories. (CoffeeHouse Press, 2010)

—, editor. My Mother SheKilled Me, My Father HeAte Me: Forty New FairyTales. (Penguin Books,2010)

Alumni/ae are urged to advise the Exonians in Review editor of their own publications, recordings, films, etc.,in any field, and those of classmates.Whenever possible, authors and composers are encouraged to send onecopy of their books and original copies of articles to Edouard Desrochers ’45, ’62 (Hon.), the editor of Exoni-ans in Review, Phillips ExeterAcademy, 20 Main Street, Exeter,NH 03833.

Calling all reviewers!If you are a book,music orfilm buff interested in thelatest works by fellowExonians, then considerbecoming a reviewer forthe Bulletin.You can pickthe genre and medium toreview. Email [email protected] for moreinformation.



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n a letter to Principal Tom Hassanlast March, Kara Lessin ’11 opened withwhat she had for lunch that day: a grilledchicken breast taken from ElmStreet Dining Hall’s hot food

line. What she wanted to know, shetold Hassan, was where thatchicken had come from.

She wanted to imagine the animal had lived “amildly happy life in a coop with sunny windowsand enough exercise and nutritious food [so] its legscould support its body.” She also wanted to believe themileage between farm (or slaughterhouse) and Exeter hadbeen minimal and, thus, the carbon footprint small.


PEA’sGreenEggs and HamHow Dining Services is serving up sustainability

By Karen Ingraham

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What Lessin ultimately wanted, she explained,was for DiningServices to purchase more locally produced or grown foods inorder to provide menu options for people like her who wishedto lead a “locavore” lifestyle on campus.Five months later, a new fixture was added to the Sunday

Brunch lineup at Elm Street: the Sustainable Omelet Station.Thewhisked organic eggs come from certified, humanely raised hensthat roost in a cage-free barn 146 miles north of Exeter. Thecheese, born from a cooperative of 1,200Vermont dairy farmers,originates 169 miles away in Cabot,VT; and the bacon is smokedin Claremont, NH, 98 miles north of the Academy.

The chicken that students might add to their omelets comesfrom a NewYork poultry distributor,which partners with fam-ily farms in Lancaster County, PA. The chickens on thosefarms are fed an all-natural, all-vegetable diet with no antibi-otics and roam freely in their barns.The Sustainable Omelet Station is, in part, an outcome of

Lessin’s letter, and the letters written by her fellow classmatesfor their final project in the biology class Human Populations andResource Consumption: Implications for Sustainability. After dis-cussing issues related to the world’s food resources with ScienceInstructor Anne Rankin ’92, Lessin and her cohorts decided totake a closer look at the food on campus, particularly where it


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Students often have access to

food purchased from any of the

50 local food suppliers and farm-

ers who sell to PEA.


comes from.Their efforts yielded a spring meeting organized byHassan, which the students attended along with the Academy’snutritionist and dietician, Pam Stuppy, and Director of DiningServicesWard Ganger. Since that roundtable discussion, Gangercontinues to keep sustainability at the fore as he works with hisDining Services team to purchase,make and serve a minimumof 16,000 meals every week.

Farm to ForkLike “green” or “eco-friendly,” the words “sustainable” or “sus-tainability” have become “blockbuster words that are often mis-used,” according to PEA Sustainability Education CoordinatorJenniferWilhelm. She cites the Brundtland Commission, a bodyconvened by the United Nations in 1983 to address global envi-ronmental concerns, in defining a thing or action as sustainable ifit “supports the needs of current generations without compro-

mising the needs of future generations.”In terms of food purchasing, that has translated to a national

“buy local” or “farm to fork” grass-roots movement in recentyears, with the number of farmers’ markets in the U.S. nearlydoubling between 1998 and 2009, from 2,756 to 5,274, accord-ing to USDA’s Agricultural Marketing Service. Buying localfoods not only strengthens local economies and helps protectsmall farms from development, it also leads to fresher, better-tast-ing food grown under conditions that are more transparent thancommercially produced food.Public and independent schools alike have increasingly

become part of the “buy local” trend. The National Farm toSchool Network reports that individual farm to school programs,

where schools purchase from and build rela-tionships with local farmers, has grownfrom two schools in 1996–97 to 2,095schools nationwide in 2009.PEA is committed to purchasing from

local farmers when feasible. Gangerworks with the school’s wholesale fruitand produce supplier, M. Saunders Inc. inSomersworth, NH, to buy local, in-season


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See which localfood suppliersPEA partnerswith at www.exeter.edu/sustainablevendors.

What Lessin ultimately wanted,she explained, was for Dining Servicesto purchase more locally producedor grown foods . . . .

23


produce from nine New Hampshire farms. “[But] we have tobuffer that with latitude and longitude,”Ganger notes.The shortgrowing season is limiting; so too is the fact that the school is notin session during some of the peak harvest times. A third chal-lenge is the sheer volume of produce needed on a daily basis.“Ifwe need, say, 200 pounds of broccoli, maybe we are able to get160 pounds from local farmers,” Ganger says. “The other 40pounds will then come from other areas of the country.”Dining sustainably at PEA, therefore,must go far beyond pur-

chasing local produce.“We have to look at other agribusiness thatis more year-round, like dairy, meat and grains,” Ganger says.“When we start looking at expanding the farm to fork model,we [also] start looking at the food processing.” This includesfoods that are shipped raw but milled locally.It’s important to consider for a moment what “local” really

means. An oft-quoted statistic, which originated from a 2001study at Iowa State University’s Leopold Center for SustainableAgriculture, is that,on average, a typical food item in the U.S.willtravel 1,500 to 2,400 miles from farm to plate. It’s safe to con-clude that a head of lettuce grown in Arizona or California—where 98 percent of commercial lettuce originates—and trucked

nearly 3,000 miles to New Hampshire is not local.A 2010 studyby the USDA, however, concluded that “there is no con-

sensus on a definition in terms of distance betweenproduction and consumption” and that “defini-tions related to geographic distance betweenproduction and sales vary by regions, compa-nies, consumers, and local food markets.”

The U.S. Congress does, however, providesome guidelines in the 2008 Food,Conserva-tion, and EnergyAct,which defines the term“locally or regionally produced agriculturalfood product” as anything grown and thentransported less than 400 miles from its origin,or anything sold within the state where it isproduced.The flour used in the Academy BakeShop’s made-from-scratch sandwich breads, rolls,pastries and desserts is a case in point. Milled inNorwich,VT (108 miles from PEA), or Westport,NY (226 miles), the flours, many of which areorganic, are used in foods that appear on nearly

every breakfast, lunch and dinner menu.The biggest challenge, Ganger says, is “finding these little


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“When possible, we will alwaysbuy a healthier product that issustainable in either its origins

or in its proximity . . . .”

Cold-Weather GardeningLast fall,whenmost New England vegetablegardens lay fallow, Hannah Ziff ’13 wasplanting spinach,mesclun and yukina savoyseeds in PEA’s organic community garden.The Farm and Garden Club co-head washoping that she and other club memberswould have fresh salad greens long afterthe first hard frost blanketed the ground.

Two cold frames built last winter bymembers of MECexeter, theAcademy’s en-gineering club, enabled the longer growingseason, which is a first-time experiment.The wood and Plexiglas structures—thinkminiature greenhouses—sit atop the soiland provide plants with insulation and frostprotection.

“Our climate presents some challengesfor growing food,” JenniferWilhelm, PEA’ssustainability education coordinator andthe club’s adviser, says.“Using cold frames inthe school garden helps to educate thecommunity about a means for extendingthe growing season. In terms of eating lo-cally produced foods, it’s important to re-member that to some extent, we need toeat with the seasons.”

For Ziff, the 4-year-old garden—origi-nally the brainchild of JY Lee ’08—is ahands-on teaching aid. After becoming amember of the Farm and Garden Club,Ziff“began to see that people had no idea howto plant a seed or how to react to the gar-den, but after about an hour, theywere completely at home in theirenvironment and with what theywere doing.

“Being in the garden opensup conversations abouthow our food is pro-duced,where it comesfrom and how differ-entprocessesof foodproductionhappen,”she adds.The club,according to Ziff,will continue to in-corporateagriculturaltechniques like thecold frames to expandyields and growing sea-sons, and she is hopefulthat the garden will eventu-ally be large enough toprovide,on a small scale,someproduce forthe dining halls.


gems”—food products not only produced locally but also com-petitively priced. Oftentimes, he says, a local source can be lessexpensive or on par with the larger commercial brands.Take youraverage hot dog. PEA had been purchasing a well-known brand’shot dogs,which have nitrates and nitrites and ship from Chicago(1,037 miles from PEA). Ganger discovered a smaller brand, inBridgewater,NJ (308 miles), that sells uncured, humanely-raised,antibiotic-free, all-beef hot dogs at a comparable price. Theswitch was made.

Ganger also found the Cheddar cheese from Cabot,VT, cost 3cents less per pound than the cheese being supplied by a largerdistributor. And what about the chicken at the SustainableOmelet Station? The 10-ounce airline breast portions Gangerregularly buys for the dining halls and uses exclusively at cateringfunctions can cost 10 to 15 cents less per pound than the propri-etary-labeled chicken from a national food distributor.

“Food purchasing at PEA must be done on a case-by-casebasis,” says Ganger, who partners with more than 50 local foodsuppliers and farmers. “When possible, we will always buy ahealthier product that is sustainable in either its origins or in itsproximity to PEA.We will, however, continue to be limited bysourcing, pricing and the degree

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Six alumni/aeand their

game-changinginventions

By KatherineTowler

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Thomas Edison said that to invent, you need “agood imagination and a pile of junk.”The Exeter graduates assembled here have all been gifted with imagina-tion. If there’s a common theme in their life stories, it can be found in a refusal to accept things as they are andan ability to ask,“What if?”As for the piles of junk, though some of the inventors and innovators we have cho-sen to profile do not literally work with stuff that happens to be lying around, all of them demonstrate anadmirable ability to mine their passions—whether it’s power sources for motors or neurosurgery—and takethem in uncharted directions.These visionaries bring together disparate strands in surprising ways and are notfixed in their thinking, about their work or their lives.What makes them inventors, first and foremost, is theiropenness to change.

The inventions represented by this group of Exeter alumni/ae range from ones that enhance our enjoymentof common pastimes (better sound quality in FM stereo systems) to ones that save lives (image-guided sur-gery). They include the ubiquitous (cell phone technology) and the academic (new approaches to algebraicgeometry).They point to the future (innovative solar panels) and offer solutions to old problems (optics thatprotect soldiers in battle).They span more than a half-century of innovation, from electrical motors to thecomplex application of computer technology.We salute these Exeter graduates for their accomplishments andcontributions toward making our lives better.

David Mumford ’53 was presented with the National Medal of Science, the nation’shighest honor in science, by President Obama in a ceremony at theWhite House thisfall.Though he knew he had been nominated, he forgot all about the award until hereceived a background check request from the FBI.Official word followed, and he wentin search of a tuxedo that is “not frequent attire” for him.“Often the award goes to ayounger person who has done something spectacular,” he says.“Mathematicians tend tohave more cumulative accomplishments.”

Mumford’s “cumulative accomplishments” are many. He is best known for inventinggeometric invariant theory, a key tool in the study of geometric structures.This innova-

tion fundamentally changed algebraic geometry and garneredhim the prestigious Fields Medal, the equivalent of a NobelPrize in mathematics, and a MacArthur Foundation Fellowship.

As a student at Exeter,Mumford was focused on physics and astronomy, and builta computer in the attic of the old Thompson Science Building using relays fromWorldWar II.“I screwed the relays into plywood and hooked them up,”he recalls.“Itwas very primitive, but it could add basic numbers.”The results of the computationswere recorded on paper tape. Mumford submitted the project to theWestinghouseScienceTalent Search contest and was a finalist. He was unable to get the computerto work at the exhibit inWashington and,while on display back at Exeter, the devicecaught fire when a spark hit the paper tape.“I felt my future lay in theoretical scienceat that point,”Mumford says with a laugh.

A course in quantum field theory at Harvard convinced him that he was not aphysicist, and he turned to mathematics. Mumford completed his undergraduatedegree and Ph.D. at Harvard, and joined the Harvard faculty.After 20 years of workin pure mathematics, he left Harvard to teach at Brown,where he embarked on proj-


There are likelyother noteworthyExonian inventorswho also deservemention. If you arean inventor, or knowof one, please [email protected] a brief descrip-tion.We will run alist of these Exoniansand their creationsin the spring issue ofthe Bulletin.

David Mumford ’53,

inventor of geomet-

ric invariant theory,

is currently working

on the history of

mathematics.

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ects in neurobiology and pattern theory.His encounters with the late, renowned mathematician Benoît Man-delbrot and his work with fractals spurred Mumford to explore new directions. He taught himself computerprogramming languages and in his words,“got into the game.”

Mumford helped found an interdisciplinary program in Brain Science at Brown and worked on computervision. His interest in pattern theory came into play here, as it is through pattern recognition that computerscan be trained to “see.”“Computers still haven’t mastered the capabilities of human vision, though we’re get-ting closer,” he explains.“Computers can pick faces out of an image, but a face recognition system that couldbe used to identify individuals hasn’t been perfected yet.” Mumford predicts wide applications for computervision in the next 10 years.

Now a professor emeritus at Brown,Mumford is working on the history of mathematics, in particular thecontributions of mathematicians in India and China.The author of numerous articles and books,Mumford has

most recently co-authored Indra’s Pearls:The Vision of Felix Klein and Pat-ternTheory:The Stochastic Analysis of Real-World Signals.

Whether his focus is pure math or applied, or the history of the field, aclear thread runs through Mumford’s work. “It’s the beautiful, elegantstructures in math that appeal to me, the patterns. Some are connected tothe real world, some not, but they are all very real to mathematicians.”

Abbott Lahti ’48 got his start as an inventor taking a generator off a trac-tor to see how it worked and making his own fireworks inWolfeboro,NH.At Exeter, he blew a hole through the window ledge of his Dunbar dormroom and was dubbedAbbott “NitrogenTriiodide”Lahti by his chemistryteacher, John Hogg.But Lahti was just as interested in building things as he

was in seeing them explode. He constructed a replica of a Boston & Maine steam engine while he was atExeter and a racing sports car when he was an undergraduate at Harvard. For many years, he held the hill-climbing record at Ascutney Mountain,which he established in that car.“I just kept going from there,” he says.“Inventing is like a disease.”

After majoring in engineering science and applied physics at Harvard, Lahti served in the Navy as an atom-ic weapons delivery officer.“I reached my pinnacle with explosives there,” he notes dryly.He wenton to a career in engineering, inventing and business that focused on projects closer to home: per-fecting hi-fi systems and electronics for the hobby industry. He is co-holder of one of the originalpatents on FM stereo demodulation using phase lock loop (PLL) techniques, issued in 1965. Heworked as the chief engineer for a couple of hi-fi companies and with research and developmentfirms doing military work.With the latter, he was part of the team under contract to Raytheon todevelop a communications system for the Apollo missions.

In 1971, Lahti established his own company, Power Systems Inc. (PSI), whose signature productwas Dynatrol, a command-and-control system for simultaneously and independently controlling anumber of electric motors from dispersed stations. Used with model train sets, the control systemallows more than one engine at a time to operate on a single piece of track and can control 18locomotives at a time.Now such systems are operated digitally, but a number of model train enthu-

siasts and collectors still use Lahti’s.Two patents were issued to Lahti in the 1970s and ’80s for his motor powersource and control systems.

Lahti holds a few other patents, including one for moisture control of dry-cleaning systems and one for afuel contamination sensor used to monitor jet fuel in airplanes. In 2000, he sold PSI, though at the age of 80he can hardly be described as retired.He still has a workshop above his three-bay garage and continues to tin-ker with various projects, including the construction of an electric-powered, radio-controlled model airplane.He and his wife are avid hikers and skiers who take to the trails whenever the weather is right.They becameski instructors in their 60s and only gave up giving ski lessons a few years ago.

“Today everything is on the computer,” Lahti says about his lifelong passion for inventing.“I like the old-fashioned approach.You glue things together and solder them. If you make a mistake, you see smoke.Now youjust get an error message on the computer screen.”

Peter Jones ’65was out bird-watching when he noticed that birds hidden in thick brush leapt into relief whenhe raised the binoculars to his eyes.This got him thinking about similar situations where more might be atstake, such as soldiers looking for enemy combatants. If the soldiers used military optics to do so, though,potential reflections could give away their position.There must be a way, he speculated, to hide those reflec-tions.The result of this train of thought was a patent for an anti-reflection device that fits over binoculars andgun sights—and the start of his company,Tenebraex Corp.


Abbott Lahti ’48

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on method of

inventing, rather

than relying upon

computers.

“It’s the beautiful,elegant structures inmath that appeal tome, the patterns.”

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“Life offers a lot of opportunities to be creative,” Jones says.“That’swhat motivates me, whether it’s photography or inventing or cooking.”Jones discovered the first of many creative pursuits at Exeter, where acourse in architecture and a charismatic teacher, Steve Demos, con-vinced him he wanted to be an architect.He was pursuing this career atWesleyan when he took up photography as part of a project document-ing streetscapes.The recession in the early 1970s made him rethink hischoice of architecture. Instead, he became a professional photographerworking for corporate clients that included Polaroid and travelingaround the world on photo shoots for annual reports.

Jones and a collaborator received a patent for an architectural modelcamera that could shoot architectural models and make them look likereal structures. The camera used Polaroid film and was marketed byPolaroid. Jones enjoyed this inventing challenge, but he saw that pho-tography was headed for major changes with the advent of digital tech-nology and embarked on a new career with the establishment of hiscompany.

Founded in 1993,Tenebraex has developed and marketed a range ofproducts that make use of optical technology. Jones has sold close to 2million of his anti-reflection devices to branches of the U.S. and NATOmilitary.He has invented a color night-vision system that allows medicsin particular to function in the dark, when combat often occurs, andeyePilot, a software tool for colorblind computer users. Altogether heholds 13 patents. His research includes reading four newspapers a day.

“We’re aggressive generalists in this company,” Jones notes. “We’resuccessful by casting a wide net for knowledge.”The company employs60 people, many of whom may be called into a brainstorming session.Its newest product, released a year ago, is a surveillance camera that sees 180 degrees without distortion.Thecamera has received numerous awards, is in use at the Museum of Modern Art in NewYork, and has attractedinterest from big retailers and defense and national security agencies.

“I’ve got a lot of hats to wear,” Jones says of his work.“I spend 40 to 50 percent of my time on engineer-ing and innovation, the rest on management, but I look forward to coming to work every day.You need tolearn as much as you can about lots of weird bits of stuff because that’s what will allow you to solve a problemthat needs to be solved.”

Lindsay “Butch” Weaver Jr. ’71 says it was his work as a graduate student in bioengineering at Mass GeneralHospital, looking at new ways to measure cardiac output in the operating room, that prepared him to revolu-tionize cell phone technology.“When you’re putting a person to sleep for surgery, you need to monitor all the

parts of the body,” he explains. “Measuring the temperature variations ofblood in the arteries coming from the heart requires the same kind of mathas figuring out electricalnoise in digital communi-cation. It was a direct jumpfrom one to the other.”

Weaver grew up inMetropolis, IL (population:6,500), and spent summerson his uncle’s farm in Vir-ginia, where he learned tograb a couple of pieces ofsteel in the barn and putthem together to make farm implements.As a child, he says, he was “alwaysmaking things.” His enrollment at Exeter gave him a wider view of the

world and a head start in math and science (he took five physics courses).“MIT was easy compared to Exeter,”he remembers.“I was able to take a five-course load instead of four as an undergraduate because of my back-ground at Exeter.This really made a difference when I moved into industry.”

Weaver completed his B.A. and M.A. degrees at MIT in electrical engineering and computer science.In 1986, he was one of the early employees to join Qualcomm, a communications startup whose technology


Peter Jones ’65

holds a Digital

Window 180° video

camera.

Lindsay Weaver ’71 helped revo-

lutionize cell phone technology.

“Understanding thebig picture of how thingswork is what you need tobe an inventor.”

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made the widespread adoption of the cell phone possible.Analog cell phones the size of bricks were being usedat the time.Weaver and the engineering team at Qualcomm developed Code Division Multiple Access(CDMA),which was adopted as the standard for wireless communication.He became executive vice presidentof engineering at Qualcomm and oversaw research projects at its engineering design center in Boulder, CO.

Today, Qualcomm holds more than 13,000 patents forwireless technologies, with more than 180 telecommu-nications equipment manufacturers licensing themworldwide.Weaver’s name is on 59 of those patents, thehighest total of any Qualcomm employee.“We knew that the cell phone would be a common

device,”Weaver says. “But we were surprised at how itpenetrated the market.The fact that middle school stu-dents would have cell phones and be distracted by tex-ting in class—we didn’t see that extent of saturation.”Weaver confesses that one of his joys these days is to getto places where there is no cell phone service.

Weaver left Qualcomm a few years ago to devote time to the Oreg Foundation, which he established. Hedescribes his foundation work as small-scale philanthropy focused on environmental issues and serving Jewishcommunities. Oreg’s projects include establishing a community campus for the Boulder Jewish communityand education projects in Israel that bring together Israeli and Palestinian youths.Though he’s no longer part of an engineering team,Weaver continues to think like an inventor.“Under-

standing the big picture of how things work is what you need to be an inventor,” he says.“I like figuring outhow to put a puzzle together to solve a problem and maybe discovering a few pieces of the puzzle that makea difference.”

Teresita Cochran ’93 remembers a childhood full of conversations about how things worked. Her father, anarchitect, purchased old buildings in St. Louis and renovated them himself.Her mother, a native of India, could

fix just about anything.“My brother and I were always challengingeach other to come up with inventions,” she recalls.“He would askme,‘What if you had a car that was a boat too?’ ”Now their inven-tions are no longer theoretical. Cochran and her brother, Samuel,have their own startup company producing miniature solar panelsthat look and behave like natural ivy on a building’s walls.Cochran started out thinking she would become a photographer

after taking a course with Steve Lewis in her prep year at Exeter.Atthe Rhode Island School of Design, she intended to focus primari-ly on photography, but her studies took her in other directions,incorporating web design and video and interactive media.After college, Cochran returned to St. Louis to work as an

AmeriCorps volunteer on affordable housing initiatives.As part ofher efforts in one downtown neighborhood, she helped create awildlife habitat near the Mississippi River.“I did research on solarlighting and wind turbines to light the area at night and pumpwater for our plantings,” she says.“I realized there were simple waysto access wind and solar power that didn’t require working withmunicipalities.”For graduate school, Cochran chose the Interactive Telecom-

munications Program at New York University, which broughttogether her interests in art, design, technology and the environ-ment. She founded a listserv called SMIT (Sustainably MindedInteractive Technology) to explore ways to develop alternativeenergy sources in urban landscapes. For her thesis, she put togeth-er a plan to create a business out of SMIT.At the same time, herbrother was completing a degree in industrial design at Pratt. Histhesis involved creating prototypes of solar panels that would func-tion like ivy.“Even though we lived six blocks apart in Brooklyn, we didn’t

realize we were dabbling in the same field until we both made our

Teresita

Cochran ’93 and

her brother,

Samuel Cabot

Cochran, in front

of their display

at MoMA.

“I’ve always looked throughthe lens of art and design.Applying it to alternativeenergy just made sense.”

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thesis presentations. It was serendipitous,” Cochran says.The brother-and-sister team received a grant from the National Collegiate Inventors andInnovatorsAlliance (NCIIA), and made a model of the solar panels that wasfeatured in a 2008 show at the Museum of Modern Art.The piece is nowpart of MoMA’s permanent collection. In 2009,“solar ivy,” as they call theinvention, was featured in The NewYork Times as an “Idea of theYear.”After serving as CEO of SMIT for three years,Cochran is staying closer

to home to care for her two young children. She continues to manage pub-lic relations while her brother and two employees work on bringing theproduct to market. In the next few years, Cochran anticipates perfectingsolar ivy so that the cost is lowered and wind power capabilities are incor-porated as well.“I’ve always looked at the world through the lens of art anddesign,” Cochran says. “Applying it to alternative energy just made sense.”

In 1967, the first teletype computer terminal was installed at Exeter.Richard Bucholz,M.D. ’70 remembers signing up to work at the station inPhillips Hall in 15-minute segments and recording his programs, writtenin BASIC, on tape.“This was my first introduction to digital computers,and it had a transformative effect on my outlook and thinking,” he says.“Ibecame aware of the true power of these computational devices.”Bucholz, a professor of neurosurgery at the Saint Louis University

School of Medicine, is recognized internationally for his pioneering workin developing and implementing image-guided surgery using computertechnology. His systems allow neurosurgeons to operate more accuratelyand effectively. He holds 28 patents and has seen his inventions becomethe standard for brain surgery worldwide.Bucholz, who took every science course offered at Exeter except

astronomy, enteredYale with an interest in atomic physics, but in a requiredcourse in biology, he discovered that he enjoyed doing a frontal lobotomyon a snail.“I found that I was quite dexterous,” he recalls.“And I was fasterthan anyone else in the class.”He switched to molecular biochemistry and biophysics, finished his undergradu-ate work in three years, and enrolled in medical school atYale. For his graduate thesis, he connected a cat’s brainto a computer and demonstrated a direct connection between impacting a site in the cerebellum and a reactionin the spinal cord.“This was a basic science experiment. I never expected it to become clinically relevant, but Ido a similar clinical procedure now to help Parkinson’s patients.”As a neurosurgery resident performing his first operations on epilepsy patients, Bucholz was frustrated by

the primitive nature of the tools he had for recording seizures in the brain before proceeding with interven-tion. “We were using a frame that looks like a medieval torture device.The surgeries were long and tedious. Ithought there had to be a better way.”In 1983, Bucholz moved to St. Louis and, in a workshop in his home, began perfecting a computer system

for use in the operating room that would track the position of aprobe within a patient’s brain. It was not until 1987 that he hadenough computer power to pull images into the operating room“without bringing in a computer the size of two washing machines.”He conducted his first image-guided surgery in 1990, and the systemwas approved by the Food and Drug Administration in 1996.TodayMedtronic sees $100 million in annual sales of the system.Bucholz is currently part of a team of 80 investigators at the start

of a five-year project to create a wiring diagram of the human brainin its normal state, an achievement that would be similar to the mapping of the human genome.At a cost of$30 million, it is the largest neuroscience project ever funded by the National Institutes of Health.“The wiring of the human brain is the seat of the soul,” Bucholz says.“If we know how a normal brain is

wired and can determine how an abnormal brain differs, we can correct the problem through surgical inter-vention.” Bucholz adds that he has always seen himself as a problem solver.“When I see a problem, I think ofhow technology can solve it.”

KatherineTowler is a former Bennett Fellow and frequent contributor to the Bulletin. Her third novel, Island Light, was published in 2010.


Richard Bucholz ’70

began developing a

computer system in

his home workshop

that could track a

probe in a patient’s

brain.

... he discovered heenjoyed doing a frontallobotomy on a snail.

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Sports

We can excuse opposing varsity water poloteams for thinking they saw double whentaking on Exeter’s team during the fall

term—thanks to the 6-foot-5-inch Reavill twins inExeter’s starting lineup. Strangely enough, despite beingidentical twins, Brooks and Avery, uppers who hail fromWindsor, CT, shoot with opposite hands. Brooksremarked that this seemed destined as one area of differ-ence that began as early as the twins’ birth.

“I was born with a broken left arm and Avery wasborn with a broken right arm,” he says.“We were tangledup, and the doctors had to break our arms during thedelivery to get us apart.”He added,“A doctor told me thatI wasn’t supposed to be a lefty. I probably just started usingsomething like a crayon with my left hand and thingswent from there, even though I’m right-eye dominant.”

Whatever the cause, polo Coach Don Mills appreciatesthe boys’ versatility.“Having lefty and righty shooters is anenormous advantage because you can put each one onopposite sides [of the pool] and they’re both shootingfrom their strong side.” Ideally, players want to shoot theball using the hand toward the midline of the poolbecause it gives a better angle on the goal.

The Reavills’ size and athleticism were instrumental inshaping this year’s team. Avery, named to the 2009 All-New England Tournament water polo team as a goalie,

was pleased when Mills pulled him from goaltending at the start of the season, lettinghim play opposite from Brooks.“I think field is a lot more fun because you’re movingmore and you no longer are a target for the shooting balls,”Avery says.The positionalshift was made possible by the rapid development of 6-foot-6-inch Max Drach ’13,whoemerged as a strong goalie.

Avery typically plays the hole defense, defending against the opposingplayer closest to Exeter’s goal,who is usually the most prolific scorer.Brooksplays the outside point defense, pressuring the ball farthest from the goal.When the team switches to offense, Brooks will sprint ahead on the coun-terattack and frequently assumes the offensive hole position, while Averyassumes the outside point position.“Brooks and I have great communica-tion and we can anticipate what each of us is going to do and where we’regoing to be in the water,” says Avery.

Such innate teamwork certainly has an impact. “They are a big part ofthe team and definitely part of our attack,”Mills says.“They are big and talland really good shooters. No question that they’ve produced the mostoffense for us.”

PEAWater PoloHasTeams Seeing DoubleBy Mike Catano

“In a way, you are playingagainst yourself, and it

makes you push yourselfas hard as you can.”

MIK

EC

ATA

NO

(3)

Avery (left) and

Brooks Reavill will be

co-captains of the

2011 varsity water

polo team.

Wi11_SPO_1_13_11.qxp:Layout 1 1/13/11 2:03 PM Page 32

In spite of the obviousadvantages of playing withhis brother, Brooks admitsto some hurdles duringpractice. “Coach usuallypairs us up on oppositeteams,which is really frus-trating because you can’tget away with anything,”he says. “You go againstthis person who is exactlyas good as you.This meansyou can’t pull any trickson him because he knowswhat you are going to do.”He does, however, see abenefit: “In a way, you are playing against yourself, and it makes you push yourself ashard as you can.”Avery agrees, adding,“I think that we may have a little bit of a rivalry,but it definitely strengthens the team because we try and push each other in practice.”

The twins’ athleticism makes them important contributors to the swim team,wherethey are among the fastest freestyle swimmers in the prep league, and to varsity crew,where they have consecutive seats on the first boat of eight.

You might think that with all the shared activities, the twins would enjoy some timeapart.This doesn’t seem to be the case.Although they now have separate rooms in thesame dorm, they were roommates during their prep year.Brooks thinks this worked outwell.“We’d basically been roommates for our entire life,” he explains.“As roommates inPeabody Hall, we’d be tired from the same sports; we had the same amount of home-work; and we both needed to take care of the same things. There were no conflictsbecause we didn’t have to worry about offending each other.There wasn’t any transi-tion period adjusting to dorm living.We justhad to get used to the work here.”

Their closeness has benefited their teams aswell as themselves during what can be a seriesof demanding athletic seasons. “You alwayshave someone who knows what’s going on,”says Avery. “In polo, you know someone isthinking the same thing as you in a given situ-ation. In crew, it’s a really grueling sport and it’sgood to know that you’re sharing the experi-ence with somebody no matter how hard it is.”

As uppers, the twins know the collegeapplication process is not too far ahead.Theyfeel comfortable making that transition eithertogether or apart, although both hope to playwater polo in college.“It’s not a priority to goto the same school,” Brooks says, “but if theschool wants both of us, I could certainly seethat happening…but it’s not set in stone.”

The varsity water polo team ended its sea-son with a 13-8 record. It placed fourth atInterschols, where Brooks was named to theAll-New England Tournament team. He wasalso named team MVP during the fall sportsawards assembly on campus. Brooks and Averywill be co-captains of the 2011-12 team.


Big Red Scores aThree-peat!

Under clear blue skies on hostile BigBlue turf, Exeter dominated the 130th

meeting of the two varsity football teams,securing a 56-33 victory—the third consec-utive Exeter-Andover win for Big Red.“This game was called ‘a season in itself ’

by the coaching staff,” captain, receiver anddefensive back Justin Norris ’11 said head-ing into the game. “Most of the new guysdon’t fully understand the magnitude of thisgame. It was up to the returning players tomake clear the size of it.”A message evidently well delivered on

November 13 as Big Red accrued 430 offen-sive yards, including a scoring 52-yard drivein under three minutes during the start ofthe third quarter. It was the first of threeconsecutive scoring drives during the sec-ond half, which gave Exeter a lead thatAndover ultimately couldn’t topple.

KIR

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Running backAndreas

Robinson ’13 had 31 car-

ries, running a total of

288 yards and scoring

four touchdowns.

Avery (left) and

Brooks can antici-

pate each other's

moves, a key advan-

tage for the team.



Sports

FallSports

A

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F

D

C

B



(A) Boys Cross-CountryRecord: 4-23rd place at InterscholsHead Coach: Nick Unger ’90Assistant Coaches: Bill Jordan,Brandon NewbouldCaptains: Drew Glicker ’11,John Holliman ’11,Arjun Nukal ’11MVP:Arjun Nukal

(B) Girls Cross-CountryRecord: 5-37th place at InterscholsHead Coach:Gwyn Coogan ’83Assistant Coach: Dale BraileCaptains: Sarah Burke ’11,Christine Kong ’11MVP:Christine Kong

(C) Field HockeyRecord: 11-4-2Qualified for NEPSACsemifinalsHead Coach:Mercy CarbonellAssistant Coaches: ChristineRobinson, Kristie BaldwinCaptains: Elizabeth Dethy’11, Caroline Hayes ’11,Kristina Krull ’11,Hannah Najar ’11MVPs:Team Moxie 2010,led by its captains

(D) FootballRecord: 6-1Head Coach: Bill GlennonAssistant Coaches:Ted Davis,Dick Eustis ’57, IdrisMcClain ’03,Matt Miller,DeJuan PayneCaptains:Anthony Baker ’11,Ayodele Ekhator ’11,Nicholas McHugh ’11,Justin Norris ’11MVP:Nicholas McHugh

(E) Boys SoccerRecord: 13-4-1Qualified for NEPSACsemifinalsHead Coach:A.J. CosgroveAssistant Coach: Bruce ShangCaptain:TylerWilliams ’11MVP: Brian Hart ’12

(F) Girls SoccerRecord: 10-4-5Qualified for NEPSACsemifinalsHead Coach: Hilary CoderAssistant Coach: Bill DennehyCaptain: Katrina Coogan ’11MVP: Katrina Coogan

(G)VolleyballRecord: 9-7Qualified for NEPSACsemifinalsHead Coach: Scott SaltmanAssistant Coach: Joanna RoCaptains: Caroline Goessling’11, Hannah Hebl ’11MVPs: Helen Brumley ’11,Lauren Lee ’12

(H)Water PoloRecord: 13-84th place at InterscholsHead Coach: Don MillsAssistant Coach: KellyWidmanCaptain:Marc Gazda ’11MVP: Brooks Reavill ’12

G

H

ALL PHOTOS BY MIKE CATANO EXCEPT (D), WHICH IS BY KIRK WILLIAMSON



Reunited: Every five years,

classmates travel to campus

from around the world for

a weekend of high spirits,

intellectual engagement

and connection with friends

old and new.

Wi11_AAD_12_31_10:Layout 1 1/5/11 7:28 PM Page 36


The term “high school reunion” evokes varying emotionsfrom people. Some dread the perceived possibility of havingto relive the angst of adolescent dilemmas, if only for a

weekend.At the other extreme is the “look at me” reveler, eager forthe opportunity to demonstrate that he has made “a killing” profes-sionally, or has attracted an exquisite mate, or is raising a family thatmakes the children of LakeWobegon seem,well, average.

Between these disparate outlooks, there are many good reasonsto attend a reunion, especially at Exeter. Of course, there is thechance to spend time at a place that—though it can never again beas you experienced it as a student—still sets high standards, respectsand challenges its students, and continually strengthens its programsin academics, the arts, athletics and residential life.An Exeter reunionalso offers the opportunity to visit classes, meet students and teach-ers, revisit the history-making sites of your youth or tour the mostmodern of Academy facilities.

The curiosity factor can also lead you back. Is teacherTweed still there? How many ofyour dorm-mates will be there, and what are they all up to now, and how many of themwill revert to calling you “Twig”? Do you still hold the prep record for the long jump?

Most of all, there is the prospect of spending a spring weekend in a beautiful, peace-ful setting with a very interesting group of people, some of whom you may really getto know for the first time.The track record of Exeter reunions is that the attendeeshead for home invigorated about their school, the old friends they’ve caught up withand the new ones they’ve made—and vowing not to miss the next class get-together.Are you ready for your next Exeter reunion?

Rick Mahoney is a program co-chair for the class of ’61’s upcoming 50th reunion. For 42 years he served

as an Exeter faculty member and administrator. He retired in 2009.

ConnectionsGood Reasons to ReuniteCELEBRATING FRIENDSHIPS ANDA SINGULAR EDUCATIONAL EXPERIENCEBy Paul “Rick” Mahoney ’61; ’74, ’95 (Hon.); P’88, P’92

News & Notes from the Alumni/ae Community

Are you ready foryour next Exeterreunion?

37



On March 1, Jim Theisen ’40, ’45, ’52, ’66(Hon.); P’97 will retire as Exeter’s direc-tor of alumni/ae affairs and develop-

ment (AA&D). His 35-year tenure has spannedfour principals and two major capital campaigns,includingThe Exeter Initiatives (2004-2009),whichraised $352 million, making it the most successfulfundraising effort in secondary school history. Inannouncing Jim’s retirement last September, Prin-cipalTom Hassan praised his achievement in build-ing“what is regarded to be one of the finest AA&Doffices at any independent school—or for thatmatter any college or university—in the nation.”

Recently Jim reflected on his time at theAcademy and changesin the fields of alumni/ae relations and philanthropy.

Q:Take us back to 1976.What drew you to theAcademy?A: Exeter’s reputation as a superb educational institution wasof course well known.The ethos of the school also appealed tomy values.When he interviewed me, [former Principal] SteveKurtz explained it.He said,“Exeter is a place that respects andvalues the contributions of each individual,whether around theHarkness table, on the playing fields or in the workplace—solong as you are giving it your all. It is a place where you can-not rest on your past success,but must look to do it better eachsuccessive day.”

Q: In view of your longevity—35 years—maybe the more rele-vant question is why, year after year, you chose to stay.A:That’s easy.The school lives itsmission to seek youth from everyquarter and embraces non sibi. If I had attended Exeter, I wouldhave required financial aid,so the work of theOffice ofAlumni/aeAffairs and Development to secure support for “students whoare long on brains and short on cash,” as Hammy Bissell put it,resonated withme. I saw firsthand how bringing talented teach-ers together with students from every social,geographic and eco-nomic background made the Harkness experience special.Students learned how to present their ideas and listen to and learnfrom others,and that became their educational foundation.Thishas been reinforced by thousands of conversations I’ve had withalumni/ae, who attribute their ability to relate to many differ-ent people to their time at the Harkness table.

Q:When you arrived, there was no email and no web.Facebookwas something on your bookshelf. How did interaction withalumni/ae change as a result of the digital revolution—and howdid it stay the same?

A:Thanks to technology, ourcommunicationwith alumni/aetoday is richer,more frequentand more interactive. Exoni-ans as a result are moreinformed andmore connectedwith the school and each oth-er. However,this doesn’t dimin-ish the need to develop bondsin person.Without face-to-faceengagement, one can’t buildthe trust and respect neededfor a long-lasting relationship.

Q:Is there a difference in the way donors engage with the school?A:Years ago,people would often say,“I can’t give youmoney,butI can give you time” and become class or regional volunteers.Today people are more apt to offer a financial contribution tosubstitute for their time.They’re alsomore likely to support spe-cific areas of interest within the school.People like to know thattheir gifts are making a difference.

Q:When you think of the impact ofAA&D’s work, is there a sto-ry that stands out?A:I’ll never forget watching the graduation,with honors,of a stu-dent who had benefited from ourmiddle-income scholarship ini-tiative. Four years earlier his father, an alumnus, almost didn’tlet him apply to Exeter because he believed the school would nev-er provide financial aid to a family at their income level.

Q: Looking back,what are you most proud of?A:My staff.Without their support,understanding,dedication andfriendship, none of the successes we have had would have beenpossible.

Q:What will you miss the most?A:The people—faculty friends; the students who keep us youngandmotivate us towork harder;the alumni/ae friends I havemadeover 35 years; and my staff whose talents, creativity, tirelessenergy, goodwill and humor sustained me and made theAA&Dprogram what it is today.

Q:What does life look like after you leave Gilman House inMarch?A:My wife,Pat,and I plan to travel, spend time with our childrenand grandchildren,and enjoy a less structured schedule. I’m alsolooking forward to taking courses in history and photography andexploring interests outside of my comfort zone.

DISTINGUISHED SERVICE

Questions forJimTheisen

Connections



EXONIAN PROFILE

HENRY F. “BUZZ” MERRITT ’44 :

TheValue of Friends

Henry “Buzz” Merritt ’44 talks aboutothers more than himself.Though Mer-ritt built a 50-year career in oil explo-

ration, wrote a novel, and became accomplishedin singing, yacht racing, skiing, and flying, hefocuses not on his achievements, but on the peo-ple who led him from one adventure to another.

One example is Merritt’s introduction tosinging. Before a game of touch football at theAcademy, Merritt accompanied CharlieGoodrich ’44,to a Phillips Church Choir audition.“Charlie went through his fa la las and the choirdirector turns tome and says,‘What about you?’ ”That question by Music Director Alfred A. Finchled Merritt to join the Choir,Glee Club and laterbe a “chorus girl” in a Princeton University Tri-angle Club show, travel to Europe with the Uni-versity Glee Club of NewYork City, place secondin a NewYork City barbershop quartet champi-onship as a member of the Manhatters, and singwith a mixed choral group in Connecticut wherehe lives with wife, Jane, and son, Schuyler (Deer-field ’04).“I have had a great time with music andowe it all to ‘Alfie,’ as we surreptitiously called him.”

Merritt also credits others for his oil exploration ven-tures. In 1949,after serving in the Navy and graduating fromPrinceton, Merritt was offered a job at Central HanoverBank,now JPMorgan Chase,by the father of a Princeton var-sity baseball teammate.The bank encouraged Merritt totake courses at NewYork University.“I didn’t want to, but Ididn’t want to get in trouble with Personnel,” Merrittadmits.While an MBA student, Merritt wrote a thesis onfinancing small oil exploration companies.His adviser urgedhim to turn the work into a doctoral thesis, which Merrittdid after much resistance. His bank published and sharedthe thesis with clients, one of whom later offered Merritt ajob.The thesis he did not want to write at the school he didnot want to attend altered the trajectory of his life.

Merritt spent a decade managing an oil and gas tax shel-ter operation for a family and an investment banking firm. Inthe 1970s,a Norwegian ship operator friend askedMerritt tohelp manage two floating drilling rigs being built for NorthSea exploration.“That was at the time that oil and gas hadjust been discovered in the North Sea,” Merritt recalls.“Allof Norway was excited about building ships—floating drillingrigs,pipe layers and service vessels. It was a whole new phaseof marine activity.” Merritt next worked for a Dutch familyand devised a financial structure for foreigners to participatein onshore Gulf Coast oil exploration.After that sold,he con-

sulted in petroleum exploration until retiring in 1995.Merritt appreciates his less traditional profession and

values the “colorful characters” he encountered. Merrittdocumented those characters and his North Sea experi-ences, eventually turning his writings into the self-pub-lished novel Deep Driller (Xlibris, 2009). In the book’sdedication, Merritt credits his wife, a journalist and two-time Nobel Peace Prize nominee, as this accomplishment’scatalyst because she “urged [him] to undertake this ven-ture into her literary world.”

People also have impacted Merritt’s other interests. Hebegan skiing at Princeton and Mad River Glen and later,with friends, started Sugarbush Valley, a Vermont resortwhere he joined the National Ski Patrol. Through skiing,Merritt made another friend who invited him to Martha’sVineyard,where an air taxi service operator convinced himto fly. A licensed commercial pilot, Merritt has flown landand seaplanes and gliders and owns a 1958 Cessna 182.

Merritt even attended theAcademy because some mid-dle school friends decided to enter together. That child-hood decision made Merritt part of a World War II classthat remains close.

“I’ve always been interested in a lot of things and peo-ple. If I’d been more introspective or shy, things may nothave developed one into another.”

—Taline Manassian ’92

Connections



Connections

EXONIAN PROFILE

ALAN METCALFE ’ 7 4 :

Architect Up aTree

What is it about the idea of living in a tree thatis so compelling? From the Swiss FamilyRobinson to the Magic Tree House chil-

dren’s books toTarzan—and what kid hasn’t dreamed ofhis own treetop aerie?—it seems that trees have alwaysheld a leafy allure to us ground dwellers.

Philadelphia architect Alan Metcalfe ’74 has spent afair amount of time pondering that question.His insightspropelled his firm, Metcalfe Architecture & Design, todesign the award-winning “Out on a Limb” exhibit, a450-foot walkway poised five stories in the air, for Mor-ris Arboretum of the University of Pennsylvania.“It’s amuseum in the trees; the trees are the exhibit,” Met-calfe says. “Being high up in the air is so much morevaluable than a board that tells you about it.”

The walkway tiptoes through the tops of a hardwoodforest so that visitors can experience the trees from agiraffe’s-eye point of view. “It surrounds the trees butdoesn’t touch any of them—it’s really bad form to kill theexhibit,” he laughs. “We built a boardwalk that little bylittle becomes steel grating, and the railings disappear—they become a black, stainless steel mesh.We wanted tomake it scary and exciting, even though it’s not actuallydangerous. I’m not above entertaining in the service ofeducation, but we’re talking about the University ofPennsylvania, and they don’t do danger well.”

For those of us who haven’t scaled amighty oak lately, Metcalfe explains thatbeing up in a tree is not quite the same as,say, standing on a balcony. “The world feelsdifferent in the trees,” he says.“The cicadasare really loud, you experience wind, it’scooler,and the trees are moving a lot,maybea foot in either direction.When I’m out-doors in the trees, it’s really peaceful to bethere. It’s consistently enjoyable for me.”

As to what makes tree houses so com-pelling to humans, Metcalfe says it all goesback to our, well, roots. “We’re cerebralcreatures, but that’s such a small part of ourevolution,” he says. “We are hunters, andwhen you’re in a tree and looking down, youfeel comfortable and protected, and you cansee all the prey that’s coming.We like to bein small, tight spaces looking beyond tospaces that are brightly lit.”

When it came to designing a treetopexhibit, Metcalfe wasn’t a complete novice.He has constructed three tree houses in hislife—but the first one he ever built was atExeter, in the woods near the crater over-

looking the Squamscott River, with a merry band of co-conspirators: classmates Alexander “Banner” Moffat,Steve Carmichael and Peter Hayes.“There was this standof pine trees about a hundred yards into the woods, andwe decided to build a triangular platform strung betweenthree trees,” he recalls.“It was an adolescent fantasy, butit was a seminal experience for me. I slept in it one nightwhen I came back in the fall after I graduated.There wassomething so seductive about being up in the trees.”Thetree house was eventually discovered and torn down.

Metcalfe’s first tree house wasn’t enough, however, tocause him to devote his life to architecture quite yet.“Nick [Dawson] was teaching the architecture class, andone of the guys I built the tree house with took it. I sawwhat he had to do for the class and I thought,‘That’s real-ly interesting, but that takes way too much time.’ ”Nonetheless, he says his time at Exeter did help to wakehim up to what would eventually become his profession,and he places the Class of 1945 Library at the center ofthat experience.“I would credit the library building withhelping me to understand architecture,” he declares.“It’sso powerful and so successful. So I was obliquely intro-duced to architecture at Exeter... . It was by the buildings,and by building things.”

—Susannah Clark ’84

Go“Out ona Limb” atwww.metarchdesign.com/projects/Morris.



Connections

EXONIAN PROFILE

ELLEN MASSEY ’04 :

Globetrotting by BoatIf sailors could earn frequent flier miles for boat trav-

el, Ellen Massey ’04 would have easy access to anyelite airline traveler’s club. On June 28, 2010, Massey

and her partner, Seth Leonard, completed a 32,000-milejourney around the world on their 38 1/2-foot sailboatcalled Heretic.Their adventure, which began in Bar Har-bor, ME, in September 2006, took three years and 10months. Massey was along for all but 2,000 miles of thetrip, taking time off to finish her classics degree atYale.

A sailor since she was 7, Massey, originally from SanFrancisco, dreamed of sailing across the Pacific Ocean.She taught sailing in Maine during summer breaks fromExeter, and met Leonard the summer after her sopho-more year atYale.The two hit it off, and when Leonardannounced his intent to sail around the world, Masseyjumped at the chance to be part of the four-person crew.

Massey and Leonard knew that just the act of sailingand maintaining the Heretic would strengthen their con-fidence. The places they chose to explore helped them,in turn, identify their personal priorities. Fascinated bythe underwater world beneath them, the duo exploredthe waters off the Great Barrier Reef, the GalapagosIslands, Fiji, New Zealand, Barbados, and other islands.They visited a giant tortoise reserve in Port Mathurin,onRodrigues Island, took walking safaris in South Africa,and hiked anywhere they could (once, leaving a grocerystore in French Polynesia, they witnessed a traditionaldance, the only visitors to do so). The more activitiesthey enjoyed, the more conscious their decisions wereabout where to travel.

“We realized how simple it can be to mold one’s lifearound one’s priorities and values if you’re aware ofthem,” Massey says.“It seems obvious but actually doingit can sometimes be difficult.” She adds, “The experi-ences reminded us how rich and diverse the world is.”

Despite such obstacles as food poisoning, losing ananchor, ongoing boat maintenance, rough seas, and dayswithout wind, another challenge was living in a smallspace.The boat’s main cabin served as bedroom,kitchen,and living room for the four original crew members.(After the first 4,000 nautical miles,Massey and Leonardsailed Heretic alone.) “We got to know each other verywell living in such a small space,” Massey says.

Massey finally realized her childhood dream of sailingacross the Pacific when she and Leonard sailed from theGalapagos Islands to the Marquesas Islands in FrenchPolynesia.The longest ocean crossing of the trip, Masseyand Leonard didn’t see land for 27 days. Speaking only toeach other, they became very aware of the natural envi-ronment: dolphins playing alongside the boat, brilliantsunsets, birds hovering in the sky.“It’s wonderful to be soattuned to your world,” says Massey. “Whenever we

came into port,we were bowled over with stimuli—cars,artificial light, so many people, so much noise, so muchcolor and so much movement.”

Massey and Leonard interrupted their journey twice sothat Massey could return to the U.S. to finish her classicsdegree.After being away from family and friends for a year

and a half, she and Leonard sailed into Bar Harbor.Masseywas standing watch when she sighted the islands off MountDesert Island that morning.“I had such a sense of accom-plishment in having circumnavigated the planet, but theislands meant the end of an experience I cherished.”

Massey is confident she made the right choice to fol-low her childhood dream, and she attributes that deci-sion to her experience at Exeter.

“Our boat’s name is Heretic—it’s a jump away fromthe normal course of people’s lives,” she says.“This wasan unusual adventure but it was a good decision. One ofthe things I learned at Exeter was how to think formyself and gain self-confidence. I now know that I canaccomplish something once I set my mind to it.”

—Debbie Kane

Read theonline diary atwww.hereticsailing.com.


by which a food producer can provide thequantities or volumes that we need.”

Erasing WasteAnna Lynn ’12 knows a thing or twoabout waste. She can quote, for instance,the EPA statistic that 26 percent of munic-ipal solid waste in this country comes fromyard trimmings and food residuals. She willalso tell you, “Composting is importantbecause it provides an alternative to send-ing our refuse to a landfill, where it notonly takes up space but also producesmethane gas and acid leachate, [both]highly dangerous substances.”

Lynn—one of 60 student environmen-tal proctors, or e-proctors, who help pro-mote sustainability efforts aroundcampus—has advocated for PEA to imple-ment a large-scale composting program.The 16,000 meals served weekly at ElmStreet and Wetherell dining halls produceabout 4,000 pounds of pre- and post-con-sumer food waste,which equates to rough-ly 4 ounces of waste per person, per meal.

The solution, according to Lynn, is theinstallation of an in-vessel composting sys-tem: a closed-system apparatus whereenvironmental conditions, like moistureand air circulation, are controlled to facil-itate rapid breakdown of organic materialinto compost.The vessel, which could sitat Elm Street and be “fed” a daily mixtureof cardboard and food scraps, doesn’tcome cheaply. Systems can cost $30,000or more, which is why several studentenvironmental leaders drafted a proposalin November to use money from theNiebling Fund—a fund dedicated to sup-porting student-initiated sustainabilityefforts at PEA—to purchase an in-vesselsystem.As this Bulletin was going to press,the Academy’s Sustainability AdvisoryCommittee was evaluating the students’proposal.

Small-scale composting is, however,already in place on campus. In 2005, adorm and faculty program began, wherebins of food waste are placed outsidedorms and residences each week to becollected by the grounds crew and addedto a compost pile for future use in flowerand garden beds around campus.

Dining Services hasn’t waited for alarge-scale composter to implement solu-

tions that reduce both organic and inor-ganic waste.All the school’s used cookingoil, for instance, is sent to a rendering com-pany to be recycled into lubricants, soapproducts and biofuels. “We’ve been doingthis long before ‘green’ became ‘green,’ ”Ganger says. During the 2009–10 schoolyear, the department alsobegan phasing in a menumanagement programthat helps reduce pre-consumer food wastethrough more accuratemeal forecasting andpurchasing.

Ganger cites othersustainability efforts likebulk purchasing toreduce excess packag-ing; the return of plasticjuice concentrate con-tainers to the manufacturer; and the recy-cling of cardboard and commingled itemsat Elm Street and the Grill as additionalmeans to reduce Dining Services’ ecolog-ical footprint.

Even GreenerHorizonsSustainability,Wilhelm points out, is an all-or-nothing approach.“Something is eithersustainable or it’s not,” she says.“There is noin-between,no such thing as ‘more sustain-able.’ ”What Dining Services has accom-plished to date is significant, but Gangeracknowledges there is more to do, as muchas resources and budgets will allow.

At the start of the 2011–12 school year,for instance, Elm Street Dining Hall willhave a new trayless system in the dish-return area, thanks to a cooperative effortby Dining Services and Facilities Manage-ment. Eliminating the use of a tray can sig-nificantly reduce a person’s foodwaste—by as much as 25 to 30 percent,reported by some colleges and universities.Fewer trays to wash also contributes toenergy and water savings. As a result, 75percent of colleges and universities withthe 300 largest endowments in the U.S.and Canada have already chosen to forgotrays in some or all of their dining facilities.

The trayless option at Elm Street is partof a remodeling effort to create a “green”dishroom in that building, which wasdesigned by Louis Kahn and built in tan-dem with the Class of 1945 Library. Bothbuildings opened in 1971. Forty years

later, the remodeling will include thereplacement of outdated, inefficient dish-washing devices with smaller Energy Star-compliant models that “will capture hugeeconomies” in water and electr icity,Ganger says. Wetherell Dining Hall hasstructural impediments that currently

make going 100-percent trayless thereimpossible.

Last year, Facilities Management hireda consultant to evaluate the energy con-sumption on campus. In Dining Services,equipment like the walk-in refrigeratorsand devices like water spray valves wereidentified as energy-saving areas. Inresponse, Ganger and Rudy Cartier Jr.,associate director for energy and environ-mental management, have been evaluat-ing devices like heat- and smoke-sensitiveexhaust hoods for the kitchens, whichidle at 10 percent of their normal energyusage when not needed.“If they producea return on investment,” Ganger says,“it’sworth doing.”

Changing habits is a cost-free means ofreducing utilities consumption and is eas-ier to implement than structural change.Simple policies, like turning off storeroomlights when the room is not in use orturning off commercial toasters afterbreakfast, have been enacted in DiningServices this year.

Meanwhile, students like Lessin willcontinue to ask for change, such as the100-percent recycled paper napkins or theGreen Seal-certified cleaning productsalready in use . . . and for hamburgersmade from grass-fed beef or grilled chick-en breasts from “happy chickens.”

“Sustainability is a never-ending goalfor us,” Ganger says. “When somethingmakes good environmental and economicsense—and fits our budget parameters—it is an easy decision.”


“Sustainability . . .is an all-or-nothingapproach.”

PEA’s Green Eggs and Ham(continued from page 25)



Finis Origine Pendet

Friends have asked me why at 46, after 20 years in finance, I went backto graduate school to become a psychotherapist.While the truth is thatI still have to work in finance to put two kids through college,with my

master’s degree done, I now see patients on Fridays and Saturdays at a clinicon Manhattan’s UpperWest Side.I usually try to make a joke of such questions, saying something like,“Well,

the last thing you need is an empathetic bond analyst.”But the real reasons go back to the spring of 1977, when I was a senior at

Exeter in theWashington Intern Program.I was miserable.My getting into good colleges brewed envy from the con-

gressman’s office staff.They were jealous, I think, even that I had been privi-leged to have an Exeter education. There was little to do in the well-runoffice; I remember once rearranging the filing cabinets.Having little money was a problem too.As a result, I spent a lot of time at

the dormitory and college where we were housed—a women’s Catholicschool, where the undergrads were even unhappier than I was. WhenCatholic University across the street had gone coed, the college had lost itsreason for being.About 50 percent of the women transferred.My Exeter classmates,most from well-to-do backgrounds, adapted well to

life inWashington: eating at trendy restaurants or bars, shopping, and cruisingin their parents’ cars. But never friends with most of them at school, I usual-ly fended for myself and rode the bus.Slogging home on a coldWashington spring afternoon, I decided I need-

ed counseling. I remembered that the father of classmate Leslie Weisbergpracticed psychiatry in town and specialized in adolescents.I met with Dr. PaulWeisberg ’48 only once. His office had the comfort-

able, run-down feeling a kid needed to open up and explain what was goingon.For the patient, there was a deep upholstered chair facing him. The officehad a large sofa and a warm rug. Settled into the chair, I told him about myloneliness, concern for my brother facing his own depression, and worriesabout college.We talked and I felt better.On the way out, I stopped at his receptionist’s desk and opened my check-

book to pay.As I wrote the check, I felt the doctor’s hand on my shoulder ashe said to his receptionist,“There’s no charge. He’s an Exeter man.”At challenging moments, I’ve felt Dr.Weisberg’s warm hand. Once, I had

to make a presentation to 75 bankers at Rockefeller Center.The amphithe-ater was full; I was on stage.The marketing director,who had the truthfulnessof a used-car salesman, said,“Don’t worry, last year no one asked questions.”Before I spoke, I watched as two colleagues ahead of me were mercilesslygrilled by the audience and became a commonWall Street entrée,Analyst forLunch. I closed my eyes and felt Dr.Weisberg’s hand, heard his voice.“He’s anExeter man.”My humble ambition is to provide to some young man or woman Dr.

Weisberg’s simple kindness.

OneVisit, 30Years’ EncouragementBy Marty Kounitz ’77

At challengingmoments, I’ve felt

Dr.Weisberg’swarm hand.

Marty Kounitz ’77

FRED

CA

RLSO

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