Alumnus Nick Gray ’12 Runs For Town Board of Selectmen

Alumnus Nicholas Gray ’12 announced his campaign for one of Exeter’s five town selectmen, walking through town despite freezing temperatures to knock on more than 3,000 doors, connecting with Exeter residents and allowing them to voice concerns about the town. After the end of current board member Dan Chartrand’s term, Gray will run against candidates Darius Thompson and Molly Cowan.

Having experience on the town Budget Recommendations Committee, Gray identifies budget-consciousness as a focal point of his campaign. “Exeter is becoming an inordinately expensive place to live,” he said. “Not just for young people, but also seniors living on fixed income.”

Although he voted against the library expansion, Gray did vote for the $7 million Parks and Recreation development on Hampton Road, which he felt was more beneficial for a wider demographic of town inhabitants. Gray plans to maintain a neutral budget for the town, saying “on more optional items like the recently proposed five million dollar library expansion, I think we have to consider postponing [those projects] to a time when we can invest in them with a lesser impact on the taxpayer.” Gray emphasized, however, that he is not advocating for “draconian spending cuts.”

“Everyone across the community, young people as well as more senior members, have been encouraged to see a young voice be heard.”

Currently serving as the youngest member of Exeter town government, he has received overwhelming support for his campaign because of his representation of the younger generation. “Everyone across the community, young people as well as more senior members, have been encouraged to see a young voice be heard,” Gray said.

Gray grew up in Exeter, and after earning his degrees from Cornell University in 2015 and Stanford University in 2016, decided to return to his hometown. “I determined long before I went off to school that I was going to come back here to Exeter and try to get involved in the Exeter community. I felt an obligation to come back and give back,” Gray said. He is now working as an aerospace engineer at Pratt & Whitney, where he designs turbine blades for commercial and military jet engines.

Eric Bergofsky, Gray’s former adviser and the Chair of the Department of Mathematics, described Gray as a competent student at PEA. “I have always found him to be a straight shooter, very sincere and honest and a good listener,” Bergofsky said. “He is also a very good problem solver and someone who would take the job very seriously. He knows how to get things done and accomplish goals.”

Gray credits his teachers and the Harkness method for his success in discussing issues in the town hall. “Listening is key,” he said. “I think the best way to establish trust with someone is to be a good listener and show that you care. [...] If you go and watch Exeter select board meetings, it’s unfortunate at how most people are not able to feel respect for divergent people and points.”

Gray believes that canvassing by knocking on doors is the best way to interact with voters and ensure that voters of all socioeconomic backgrounds are heard. “If you only spend time at town hall with fellow members of the board you will tend to get only one opinion,” he said. Pointing to the 20 percent voter turnout in the town of Exeter, Gray said that his primary goal was to establish trust with more people and show that he cared. “Candidates typically rely on their old social network,” Gray said. “I’m trying to create new voters.”

He hopes to promote town government involvement from Exonians, proposing to merge the gap between students at PEA and students at Exeter High School. “The best way to break down barriers is to show that the two student bodies are not that different from each other,” he said. In addition, Gray expressed interest in holding a forum on campus to have faculty and students express their opinions on what the town leadership could do better.

Gray’s competitor Molly Cowan is also appealing to Exeter’s young demographic, but she does not believe in tax cuts at the expense of town services and disagrees with the library renewal project. In her view, making Exeter more affordable means adding services which will attract more people to the town, thus raising the property value without increasing property tax.“I think the things [Nicholas Gray] is proposing would be devastating for the town, and I can’t stand by what he’s trying to do,” Cowan said. She criticized him for having “a lot of great academic experience but not real world experience.”

Another opponent, Darius Thompson, who is the current head of the Exeter Holiday Parade committee, has been in town for the past 16 years and represents the more traditional age group of Exeter selectmen. His previous experiences range from working in education to volunteering for nonprofits such as the Red Cross. “I’m looking at policies that are made by the select board, especially those regarding investment and infrastructure,” he said. Thompson acknowledged how unique the three campaigns are from each other. “We’re all very different, but we’ve talked to each other and have great respect for what [the others] are doing,” Thompson said.

With the upcoming election, Gray hopes that PEA students and faculty take more interest in the bigger community. “The decisions that get made here at the local level oftentimes can have just as much impact on their personal lives.  It’s important that PEA staff and students all take an interest in this,” he said.