Annie Ning
Two-year senior Annie Ning represents the artist in all of us. Despite the incredible skills in visual arts, drawing and singing that can be heard or seen on campus, Ning has still found a way, through her passions in both theater and writing, to stand out and make an impact on the Exeter community while simultaneously discovering herself.
Ning first heard of Exeter though the countless stories of international students at her small private school in Suzhou, China. Having been captivated by the works and performances of poets at her local book store, she felt stifled by the lack of opportunity given to her at her previous high school. However, she was baffled by the different opportunities in poetry, spoken word and theater in larger American boarding schools. In March of 2014, she took advantage of her opportunity to attend the Academy, seeking a change of pace in her educational and social life.
Looking to meet more people who shared her interests, Ning found Exeter to be a place that gave her closer proximity to artists that she admires. “If I hear about a poetry or theater event in the states that are near me, I’ll probably have the chance to go to it, whereas in China, it just wouldn’t be possible,” Ning said.
“She reminds me that I’m not only here for grades or college, but also for the whole Exeter experience and to ultimately do what I love.”
At the Academy, Ning first turned to the theater program and auditioned for last year’s fall term mainstage production,“Twelfth Night.” However, Ning was not selected for the play, and instead—still interested in being part of the performance and its community—found work in the backstage production crew. There, she met one of her mentors, technical director Cary Wendell, who encouraged her to bring her passion for theater to DRAMAT and other performance-related clubs around campus.
Before Exeter, Ning also remembers watching English instructor William Perdomo’s slam poetry and spoken word performances on the television show, “Def Poetry Jam.” When she arrived on campus, she was lucky enough to be a student in his fall term English class. “It was a pretty surreal experience being in someone’s class of who you’ve seen their work and watched YouTube videos on them,” Ning said. “And besides that, he was also just a really great teacher and poet who inspired me to keep writing.”
Current seniors Alex Zhang and Jeff Mellen were in the same class with Ning, and would both go on to become co-heads with her in Word and Democracy of Sound [DoS], respectively. Throughout their time in the class, Mellen convinced Ning to join DoS and she immediately fell in love with its concept of creatively combining and transforming sounds.
Despite her former lack of experience with music and visual arts, Ning found her home in DoS, a club that she believes does more than create art for its members. “I really found my love for installation art [through the club],” Ning said. “A lot of DoS is about changing the environment around you and giving everyone a new perspective on the things and places that they’ve become so accustomed to.”
This year in DoS, Ning felt that she and Mellen took the club in a new direction, incorporating many off-campus trips to art exhibits and installations around the Boston area. “The two of us, as a team, have the right balance of artistic ability,” she said. “My favorite [task], so far, has been trying to convince people that DoS can really do something awe-inspiring, and working with Jeff just makes that so much more enjoyable.”
Mellen agreed with Ning, explaining how the two of them work effectivly as a team, keeping each other in check. “I try to plan everything out very rigidly, and I expect things to go exactly according to the plan,” Mellen said. “Often, this is not the reality of things, and while I get disappointed at things that don’t work out as planned, Annie embraces it, and allows for the spontaneity to become part of the art that we produce.”
Zhang could also tell that he would become friends with Ning during their time in Perdomo’s class. Over the course of the year, they became co-heads of Word, the spoken word club on campus. While the club struggled to attract members its first year, Ning has recently seen a massive growth in attendance, giving more student poets a chance to be recognized on campus. “We really have a great community of poets on this campus who are so talented in spoken word, and it’s incredible working with them and seeing them have more opportunities to perform on campus,” Ning said.
Ning finds comfort in clubs such as Dramat and Word due to the atmosphere they create—they are places were people can relax and take each other less seriously. While Ning said that the clubs might be smaller than others on campus, she feels that their lack of pressure allows her to appreciate art more. “Everyone that you’re surrounded by just really loves the creative process and doing what they do,” she said.
As co-head of DoS and Word, Ning has met some of her closest friends while pursuing the passions that she holds closest to her. While according to Zhang, she sometimes gets caught up on some of the smaller details of the art she is creating, she has taught him, and many others, to fully appreciate Exeter and what it has to offer.
“Annie’s passion for the arts and her caring nature remind me to be a better Exonian. She reminds me that I’m not only here for grades or college, but also for the whole Exeter experience and to ultimately do what I love,” Zhang said.