Alan Xie

Senior Alan Xie brings a dose of joy to every interaction. “Ever since I was young, I’ve always been a very social kid,” Xie said. In his time at Phillips Exeter Academy, he has brightened the community with this joviality, whether it be in the dorm or at school-wide events.Xie entered the Academy in the pursuit of a rigorous, but not soul-sucking, education. “I wanted, in my high school experience, to be around people who really cared about their education while also having a good time and being able to let loose and have fun,” he said.Now, his love for the school runs deep, and Xie is willing to show it. “Coming in, I thought [Exeter] was an amazing place,” he said. “The way I show that is through my spirit. Especially at events such as E/A, I like to be loud, a presence … I just think that I found a way to translate my love for Exeter through spirit.” Due to his love for the Academy, Xie served as a Red Bandit and emceed several events, always to great success. “Alan emceed Spring Fling for [Student Council],” Assistant Director of Student Activities Kelly McGahie recalled. “The last act was G Yamazawa. In between poems, [Yamazawa] said, ‘You should tour with me. You could be my hype man.’ He certainly came across during Spring Fling as being very excited, keeping the energy level high.” McGahie felt that Xie’s character came across on stage, and he engaged with the student body well.Similarly, friends described his energy as infectious. “Alan is the embodiment of high school—he lives with a childlike happiness that inevitably infects those around him,” senior Sumit Chandra said. “He has an undying energy, and he will go through anything to cook for people, go to the gym and become a Chubbies model. I wouldn’t want to go to another mediocre school dance without him being there.” Chandra noted that his friendship with Xie has bettered both their Exeter experiences.Friends also consider Xie to be among the most caring of Exonians. “One of my favorite memories with Alan is when we got together a group of our friends and made pizza in the church basement for his birthday,” senior Victoria Lacombe said. “Alan made the dough at lunch, and we all prepared the pizzas at night, blasting music and joking around.” Lacombe noted that Xie is simply a “people’s person.” Xie is an equally positive presence within his affiliated dorm, Webster Hall. In fact, he was the first student to serve as a Day Student Proctor for Webster. “I admire that he was able to stay so involved in the dorm community even though he lives outside of it,” History Instructor Alexa Caldwell said. “And I admire that he pretty much created the position that he now holds, just from advocating for himself and ambition.”From his first year at the Academy, Xie brought his enthusiasm to Big Red athletics. He has participated in lacrosse, wrestling and football. “When I started playing lacrosse and football, I really loved the team aspect of it,” he said. “The coaches and the team drove me to be better.”With the support of the team, Xie underwent a physical transformation. “I used to be overweight. I didn’t care about my physical self. After [sports], I worked super hard to lose weight, gain muscle, grow stronger, faster and quicker,” he said. “The sports that I’ve done at Exeter have transformed my habit.” Now, Xie is more mindful of his physical health, and he exercises almost daily. He attributes his successes to mental discipline, which he learned from team sports.Xie applies his steadfast nature to all that he does. McGahie noted that, in her working relationship with him, he never failed to work to his best ability. “When I asked him to meet with me, he was on time, he was prepared and I got the sense that he would take it seriously,” she said. “I got the sense that this was how he approached most things he was invested in. The way you do one thing is the way you do everything.”Academically, Xie enjoys interdisciplinary courses, particularly ones related to ethics. He recalls Bioethics, Silicon Valley Ethics and Ethics of the Marketplace as memorable courses. “I really liked those courses because the main points of discussion were case studies,” he said. “They were just very applicable courses, and the discussions were always great. They brought to my attention real-life issues and issues that I might not have thought about in the lens of ethics.”While he values his academics, Xie sees life as more than that. “I remember Alan working on his meditation, and we had an extremely thought-provoking conversation,” Health Instructor Brandon Thomas said. “[He told me] about how he wanted to make sure that he never took life too seriously. Right then, I understood he was operating with a different mindset.”Though he has not lost his unique energy, Xie has learned to temper his enthusiasm over this time at Exeter. “Exeter has taught me to listen,” he said. “In lower fall, I was a Harkness Warrior. I talked a lot, didn’t listen—I thought that my points were all incredible … As a result of Harkness, I learned not to be the center of attention.” With the help of his peers, then, Xie has found himself amongst this community.