Four Years In Review

PREP YEAR

Spaz

Fond memories of the Junior Physical Education Program, affectionately given the name “prep spaz,” still remain four years later. Preps who did not play a JV or varsity sport entered the spaz program, faced with the reality of early morning dodgeball and swimming. Friendships were forged and hidden athletic talents were discovered through the course of prep spaz; some students who played squash for the first time during spaz or who rowed prep crew in the spring went on to join interscholastic teams their lower year, carrying the skills learned that first year with them. Some dedicated spaz athletes who took the class all three terms earned the title of having been a part of “varsity spaz.” If only there was a boathouse or varsity letter to go with it.

Sleep Salvation

After a fall term at the Academy filled with early morning 8 a.m. A format classes (or for some lucky ones who had health then, the occasional sleep-in), winter term brought some drastic changes to the school’s daily schedule. Known informally as the “sleep schedule” because it had been designed to promote sleep, the experimental schedule cut each class by five minutes in order to start and end the day earlier. The sleep-ins meant sacrifices for some—uppers and seniors had to check in half an hour earlier than usual, but preps were happily unaffected. Nevertheless, in a poll of 404 students, 82 percent thought it was a success and 79 percent hoped to see the schedule continued. Although the high level of student support was not heeded, an extra half-hour of sleep may have made all the difference, at least for the first winter term that students endured.

E/A at Andover

One of many firsts that year, fall E/A was a particularly important one. Held at Andover that year, Exonians filed onto buses, cramming together in a whirlwind of red clothing, a bookstore’s worth of gear emblazoned with “Exeter.” Students covered their faces with crimson paint and repped school colors in the form of bandannas and vuvuzelas onto Big Blue territory. Students and faculty packed the bleachers in Andover’s stadium and watched Big Red triumph, the players cementing a three-year winning streak. The pigskin hurtled around the field as the sun set. The sky glowed with red and oranges, and the air vibrated with shouts of “WE ARE E-X-E-T-ER!” The buzzer blared, and Exeter rushed the field, surrounding the victorious athletes in a swarm of school pride.

LOWER YEAR

Slashed Saturday Classes

Finally, TGIF applied to Exonians. Friday nights were no longer identical to Tuesdays, and there was a free minutes before sports games to bask in the joy of relaxation, if only for a few hours more. Principal Tom Hassan, still only two years on the job, left a mark on Exeter with this revolutionary change, and gave Student Council candidates something to talk about in every speech. But listening to another politician-in-training promise a dance every weekend night was certainly worth ten o’clock check in on Fridays and the chance to feel like a regular kid again.

First Thank-A-Donor Day

Spearheaded by ESSO’s Giving Thanks club, the Academy held its first Thank-a-Donor day on February 7, 2012. Students had the opportunity to write letters to volunteers and donors as well as participate in a phone-a-thon.

Community Action Day

“Clean-Up Day” (which was once Environmental Day) was replaced by Community Action Day, on April 25, 2012. Students participated in a variety of service activities, most of them on campus including cleaning dorms and surrounding areas and supplying needed support to a number of projects on campus. 

UPPER YEAR

24-Hour Internet

In contrast to previous years, when the internet would shut down at 11 pm, this year, Facebook messaging, paper-writing and Netflix watching continued into the late hours of the night, and sometimes into the next day. As a result, ITS reported that there was an overall surge in internet usage, perhaps from uppers working on US history papers late into the night.

Reporter At Large

After two years of studying the personal narrative, it was time for writing in English class to begin moving in a different direction. A shift to the personal essay and the winter term RAL gave the uppers a chance to explore a different type of writing and also hone their reporting skills. Uppers interviewed people over winter break, or sometimes faculty and staff on campus and wrote a paper that moved away from the self, instead focusing on someone else’s story.

The (in)Famous 333

The RAL would be just the first in a number or papers that would be rights-of-passage for uppers. In the spring, uppers worked for a little over a month on the 333, a cumulative research paper on a topic of their choosing. Long hours were spent in the library or late into the night researching and reading. Skills developed in the previous two terms were critical to research and writing. After all of the hype surrounding the paper, it ultimately boiled down to lots of hard work and time commitment, and finally—it was done. In some ways, it was the clear end to upper year and a sign of how far students had come since those 500 word essays prep year.

Testing, Testing, and more Testing

As students entered upper year, the reality of the college process loomed closer and closer, starting with the formal start to the college counseling process, and the extensive upper questionnaire. Perhaps the clearest reminder of what still lay ahead were the many standardized tests that had to be taken in preparation for the applications that would follow. Students typically took the SAT I for the first time in March, crossing their fingers that the score would be good enough so that they wouldn’t have to take it again. That was just the tip of the iceberg, though: SAT Subject Tests, APs and ACTs also dominated much of students’ test prep, and college application writing hadn’t even started yet.

SENIOR YEAR

Meditation

A chance to sit back and reflect after constantly moving forward for three years. Seniors gathered their thoughts on their families, religions, beliefs, friends, feelings and lives in their senior meditations. Winter term was full of contemplative, brooding seniors, using every opportunity to get inspired for their biggest English assignment yet. The final pages were submitted to teachers and read to classes, dorms and, for the selected few, an audience of faculty and students in Phillips Church. Learning about writing, speaking, thinking and themselves, the seniors worked hard to do this project justice.

Prom

Every teen magazine, movie and television show prepared the seniors for this long-awaited day. The tuxes were rented, the lip gloss applied, the frantic emails from Student Activities about ticket deadlines received. Dramatic asks—those four little letters spelled out in anything from tennis balls to glo sticks—and plenty of primp time culminated in a photographic frenzy. The pictures will be immortalized in photo albums and on the interweb, lasting as long, if not longer, than the memories themselves. All the seniors (and a few very lucky underclassmen) enjoyed their last hoorah in style, merriment and sentimentality combining to make for an unforgettable night.

College and into the Future

The apps are over. The decisions are out. The fateful letters have flooded email inboxes and P.O.s. Rejections have been despaired. Acceptances have been celebrated. The goodbyes have been said, and the buses have been boarded. Now attention is turned to the fall—seniors will become freshmen, starting over at their new schools. New mascots will be cheered for, and new school songs will be learned. Everyone waits with baited breath, ready to see what the future will bring.