Earthquake Shakes Up Community
By KAYLEE GONG, ELLINA KIM, and GRACE YANG
On Monday, Jan. 27, as the clock struck 9:45 a.m. and the weekly department meeting block began, Phillips Exeter Academy campus buzzed with its usual rhythm. Exonians scurried across the paths, heading towards their respective destinations. Faculty members filed into Elizabeth Phillips Academy Center for their meeting, and students poured into Grill to enjoy their break.
Suddenly, during the block at around 10:22 a.m., a sudden tremor rippled throughout campus. It was a 3.8 magnitude earthquake, its epicenter just off of Seacoast.
Lower Max Sahinoglu, who was sitting in Grill during that time, shared his shocking experience. “When we felt the shake, the whole room went silent and I screamed.”
Senior Amy Lin, who was in the same building yet in the basement attending a Pen Pals meeting, had a different reaction. “I heard and felt a rumbling. The table began to shake a little bit, then the ground. Everyone was silent and looking around. At that moment, I realized that we were in the middle of an earthquake. I was so shocked that I laughed.”
As the tremors subsided, confusion and astonishment swept through the campus like an aftershock. Messages poured in from concerned families and students discussing the event. Some students even hoped that classes might be cancelled.
Prep Berrak Karapinar, who was in the mailroom during the quake, recalled the initial bewilderment, “At first, we thought something slammed into the building. Then we realized it was an earthquake. Honestly, I was kind of excited – never witnessed one before.”
Even faculty members found themselves grappling with the unknown. Instructor in Math Tim Whittemore, was in the middle of a department meeting when the quake struck. Whittemore said, “My initial fear was that something had blown up, or maybe there’d been a car accident. Then I thought it might be snow sliding off the roof. We didn’t know what was going on, so we ended the meeting early.”
Despite the collective sense of unease, at 10:31 A.M., Ashley Taylor, the Dean of Students, sent out an email providing clarity and reassurance: the tremor was an earthquake, but “we are safe to go about normal activities as scheduled.”
Sahinoglu added, “Once everybody got the email, they started laughing at how I screamed. But honestly, I think my reaction was reasonable.”
Prep June Koh also expressed a similar misconception, “I was in my dorm finishing up some of my last-minute homework when the ground shook. However, instead of knowing it was an earthquake, I thought it was someone stomping above or down the hall.”
Screams, pauses, and laughs were just a few of the reactions heard across the broad spectrum of Exonian reactions. Many experienced their first earthquake, and many didn’t even notice. After a few minutes of shock, however, students returned to finishing their homework due the next period and faculty went back to their classrooms to prepare for the next class. Life continued, yet the quake was a reminder of earth’s untamed power – a rare and humbling pause in the whirlwind of Exeter life.