Charis Edwards
Whether she’s on stage performing “Macbeth,” at the podium debating in Democratic Club, or helping out as a proctor in Hoyt Hall, senior Charis Edwards is strong, passionate and dedicated. As the one of the co-heads of Dem Club, a head tour guide for admissions and a leading soprano in four different singing groups, she is clearly engaged with Exeter beyond academics.
Edwards has been involved in politics since a very young age. At eight years old, when Barack Obama and Joe Biden won the election, a picture of her holding an Obama/Biden sign was published in the newspaper. Edwards likes to think of the moment as her introduction to politics. However, she describes Exeter as the place where she truly blossomed, taking and challenging her parents’ ideas and discovering her own views as she became involved in Democratic Club.
“The thing I really love about Exeter politics is that you get people on all sides of an issue who know their stuff and who take debate and discussion really seriously,” Edwards said.
“Charis is overwhelmingly kind and warm as a person, shrugging off the dour and weary spirit that can often descend into our days.”
Edwards is also an active member of Ethics Forum. Fellow member, senior Arjun Rajan, became close friends with Edwards through the club when they went to North Carolina together for Ethics Nationals last year. He noted that she had a very strong voice in discussion, constantly ready to bring up other viewpoints that had not been considered yet. “Charis’ greatest quality is her ability to defend her views,” Rajan said. “She is a vital asset to [Ethics Forum] and our friend group, as she forces us to view issues differently and she never lets us finish a discussion before we have considered the other side of an argument.”
Religion instructor Thomas Ramsey is an adviser to Ethics Forum, as well as a dorm faculty in Hoyt Hall and has known Edwards throughout her four years at Exeter. He described her as “smart as a whip,” and that she also “has a big heart and strong principles, and she shares those principles gladly and openly.”
As Rajan said, Edwards is especially known for her strong voice on campus, not only in Dem Club and Ethics Forum, but also as a singer and actress. She participates as a soprano in four choral groups on campus, In Essence, concert choir, Escalator and Gli Scalatori. She has also performed in multiple mainstage productions. Edwards has been singing for most of her life.
“Both my parents are pastors, so I grew up singing a lot in church. However, I realized I wanted to take it a lot more seriously than that, and I’ve always had a ready made group of people to perform for, which is the odd but wonderful thing about being at church,” Edwards said.
She became more serious about singing in middle school, when she joined a local, private youth choir. When Edwards arrived at Exeter for prep year, she auditioned for the concert choir and signed up for voice lessons, both of which she has been doing ever since. For fun, she performs on campus at Evening Prayer and other solo concerts.
Music instructor Kristofer Johnson pointed out Edwards’ vocalism and leadership as two of her greatest qualities and said, “Charis is overwhelmingly kind and warm as a person, shrugging off the dour and weary spirit that can often descend into our days. When she sings, you can sense that she is utterly transported by making music, her expression beatific and unselfconscious.” Johnson has grown to know Edwards as a friend, peer and pupil through the music that they make together. Edwards spends much of her time inside the entrance to the music building, “where she and her friends are eager to engage passersby in conversation—sometimes deep, sometimes hilarious,” Johnson said.
Upper Emily Green, a soprano who stands alongside Edwards in the concert choir, said, “From a choir perspective, her voice just gets better every year, and it was already insanely beautiful when I first met her.” Green also revered Edwards highly as a friend. “She is an amazing person—definitely one of the kindest, smartest, most talented and overall most amazing people I’ve had the privilege to know here at Exeter.”
Edwards was recently and unanimously appointed one of the eight head tour guides on campus. Admissions Visit Facilitator Deborah Waleryszak said, “She, from the beginning, has possessed the unique qualities we look for in our Head Tour Guides.” Edwards now represents the 400-plus tour guides who help out during the application season. When asked what Edwards’ best attributes are, Waleryszak said, “Oh my, that’s like asking, ‘What is the best thing about a sunrise or a smile’… Charis is joyful, energetic, intelligent, creative and above all, kind.”
Edwards’ involvement in diverse clubs gives her a huge presence on campus, which will be greatly missed when she goes off to college. Green said, “I don't think Exeter will be quite the same once she graduates. I love Charis and look up to her in every way.”