An Homage to Upperclassmen

By: Nhan Phan ‘24

Perhaps, it is somewhat bittersweet to write this opinion piece at the end of what felt like another quick year. After all, just this time last year, I thought about the prospect of becoming a lower. This time, I’m thinking about the prospect of becoming an upper. Therefore, I find it compelling to reflect upon the year, as well as express some personal sentiments more suitable in writing than in actual expression— paper is befitting of such emotions. 

I wrote from a place of emotion. I found it best that I write this article when I can feel at peace with myself. A typical Thursday night. Check-in at 8 p.m. LED lights in my room are set to just the perfect shade of brown-orange. My mini speaker on my desktop is playing One For My Baby (And One For The Road) by Frank Sinatra at just the right volume so that the slow jazz doesn’t seep through the sound-proofless walls of Wentworth’s fourth floor. At this point, I already finished next week’s Tuesday homework; but I knew I still had a 333 section to write. My paper was about the Truman Doctrine and the escalation of the Cold War; not that it’s anything important to the narrative anyways. Yet, instead, I’m writing this opinion to you, whoever’s reading this article that I am the author of.

I’m surprised you got this far.

I recently received a postcard from Kilin Tang ‘21 in my P.O. box. Even after knowing him for about half a year before he left, I had never truly come to realize how much the upperclassmen meant to me. I arrived at campus on a cold February night after meeting Rex Bedwick ‘24 on a flight to Boston (per his request, I am obliged to say that he’s awesome). It is hard to imagine we set foot into Wentworth that night faced with the reality that we are now on the cusp of becoming upperclassmen. I lived on the same floor as Kilin; in fact, I was his neighbor. Kevin Treehan ‘24 and I were roommates back then— we were placed in a small emergency double for the latter half of the year but we made it work, somehow, with the space we got. 

I got to know Kilin during the latter half of the winter term since he was the debate captain of Kevin’s Forensics team. The more time I spent with Kilin, the more I realized his undying love for Domino’s and Criminal Minds; I remembered buying him two months’ worth of Paramount+ subscriptions so that he could finish the thirteenth season of the show. It’s not often that I reflect back on small moments like these, but it’s these moments that defined my prep year. As I am writing this, I realized how important the small moments I spend with my upperclassmen friends (or, frankly, brothers) are. 

I met Alex Luque ‘22 during the latter half of the winter of my prep year while helping out Mr. Campbell (our dorm faculty) to assemble a ping pong table. I think, at that point in time, his hair wasn’t as grown out as it is today but, in all fairness, I liked it better when he grew it out anyways. I didn’t recognize him until I remembered that he was part of my dais for the PEAMUN committee that I was a part of that September. I was on my laptop from 9 p.m. to 5 a.m. the next day (Vietnamese time zone); he was vice-chair and Janessa Vargas ‘22 was the chair of the committee on the Latin American Spring specialized committee. 

This year, I got to know him better through an unlikely hobby: Monopoly. Through playing Monopoly with Alex, I met Nick Chiu ‘22. Admittedly, I was a pretty bad player because I played more with my heart than with my head. Hence, Alex fooled me into making “amnesty” deals most of the time, which carried him through to the end of the game; that should give you enough of an indication of the type of player Alex is. Nick was more of a conservative player; he preferred to give out cash like how Oprah gave out cars on her talk show. By the time the game ended (which usually is at 2 a.m.), Nick would only have a brown or light blue property at best and a thimble of cash at hand. The Monopoly “group” started with Alex, Nick, and myself. Kevin, my former roommate at that point, jumped in a couple of times. But as we played on, we found ourselves joined by Charlie Holtz ‘23 and Dax Knoll ‘23. 

Charlie and Dax were adamant about winning. Dax was the proclaimed Californian Monopoly champion, whereas Charlie was the proclaimed “business strategist” of the dorm seemingly because he always had something to say. Whether it was a deal, a move, a roll, or a chance card, he jumped at the chance. It was always a fight between Dax, Charlie, and Alex; Nick and I were just there to be a part of the fun but we occasionally would be used by either of the three of them as pawns on a chessboard (sorry, rather, tokens on a Monopoly board). Approaching the winter term of the lower year, our group found a new calling: poker. Poker was always the game to test the wits of the greatest minds in the dorm. If you have a particularly observant eye for poker, you would find that Alex doesn’t bluff. Dax is an immensely statistical player with an indispensable poker face, Charlie is arguably one of the riskiest players of them all but at the same time, one of the most successful players of the group, and I, like Monopoly, used to play with my heart. The thing about playing with your heart is that in some cases where emotions are high, the others found it difficult to bluff because I would call them out for it. By the time this opinion gets published, we would be planning a tuxed-out game to end the year; I sure look forward to it.

Dax and Charlie were good friends with Patrick McCann ‘23, who I have gotten to know better since my prep spring. Patrick is an upper whom I can safely say I admire. This fall he was one of the captains of Boys Varsity Water Polo. I, an avid Olympic water polo viewer, decided to give watching Exeter water polo a try and ultimately found joy in supporting the team. The excitement during a game is palpable. Using this as a segue, I recall one of the memorable moments for me at a water polo game was meeting Anna Kim ’24’s dad during Family Weekend. In that game, the team aced St. John’s Prep by a score of 18-0. It was also during that game that Anna and Rohan Radhakeesoon ‘24 recorded upwards of 381 of my screams in a single game; Anna’s dad now knows me as an avid supporter of any sports game that I go to.

I would often write Exonian articles on the team for their victories, and I had the chance to write an Athlete of the Week article for the water polo team captains, Patrick and Hayden Giles ‘22. Outside of the pool, Patrick is one of the most tenacious, no-nonsense people I’ve ever met. He approaches everything he does with discipline, and commitment, as well as an ever-so-slightly hint of stoicism (which is not a bad thing by any means). He would usually kick me out of his room when he was concentrating on his major assignments; I respected that. He would essentially simplify my ramble down into a few words; I also respected that. Patrick also has a relentless relationship with good food, and I appreciated that too. Earlier this Spring, Patrick, Charlie, and I spent a Saturday night at Cornicello. The table was booked a month in advance. By the end of the meal, we called ourselves the Bolognese boys simply because all three of us ordered the exact same pasta dish; we also planned a dinner for a table for 6 p.m. on the day this opinion piece will be published. It only takes a couple of spontaneous moments to learn a lot about someone.

I would be remiss not to talk about another senior that defined my Exeter experience: Jack Archer ‘22. You may know him as the 143rd Exonian Board Humor Editor, and I can assure you he is just what you would expect of him in real life: just like last year’s Humor section, it’s funny because the editor himself thinks it’s funny. All jokes aside, I was with Jack earlier this year to host the International Student Orientation (ISO) Program. To me, Jack was more than a leader, he aged well like not-so-fine wine. He is the peak embodiment of Exeter-ness and Wentworth-ness, for he carries traditions set forth by previous generations of the dorm and always pays an homage to them. Within ISO, the Name Game was his particular favorite. The group was split into two, and they had to guess a random name of a random person from the other team. Jack always betted on either “Nicholas” or its variations as his favorite name, but rest assured, he was wrong. 

It’s hard to believe that I am on the cusp of being an upperclassman. On one hand, it’s exciting, on the other, it means some very tough goodbyes. Dax, Charlie, and Patrick will be seniors next year while Nick and Alex graduate in a week or two. Hence, this piece is an homage to my moments spent with them, as well as a testament to how much the moments spent with upperclassmen can define one’s year. The lessons learned from them— poker skills from Dax and Charlie, to Patrick’s commitment and stoicism, or Alex’s mental resilience, Nick’s virtue of kindness and empathy, and Jack’s embodiment of Wentworth— will define my upperclassmen years and, perhaps, the time I spend with the next set of lowerclassmen stepping on Exeter’s campus.