On Campus
Summer 2001

Phelps Science Center: A Progress Report

Visitors to the construction site of the new Phelps Science Center can now recognize several unique elements of the building taking shape. The structure for the grand stairway in the atrium is in place and workers are installing the glass and stainless-steel railings and terrazzo flooring. Installation of cherry paneling and other millwork began early in June. Classrooms and labs are nearly complete. Casework has been installed and all other finishing touches are underway. Ceiling grids and edge tiles are in place throughout the building; once mechanical testing is complete, the full ceiling will be put in place. Best of all, the Academy's facilities management department reports that the project is on track for both the start of classes in September and for the October 27 dedication ceremony.

 

'A True Scholar, and a True Friend': Robert Shapiro '68 Receives Founder's Day Award

Eight members of the class of 1968 were on hand to congratulate Robert Shapiro '68 (third from left) when he received the Founder's Day Award for service to the Academy in May. Shown here are (left to right) Lincoln Caplan, trustee Paul Goldenheim, Rob Shapiro, Gordon Whitman, Peter Blum, Paul Johnson, Bill Robinson and trustee Claude Hoopes.

"See Exeter as the beginning of a splendid journey," Robert N. Shapiro '68 told his student audience on May 18 as he accepted the Founder's Day Award. Given annually by the General Alumni/ae Association "in recognition of devoted service to the Academy," the award was presented to Shapiro by Alan R. Jones '72, president of the GAA.

Shapiro's own journey took him from Exeter to Harvard, Trinity College at Cambridge and Harvard Law School. Today, he is partner and leader at the law firm of Ropes & Gray. His service to the Academy--including a 10-year tenure as a trustee-- has been marked, noted Jones, by a "combination of intellectual depth, moral purpose, and luminous humanity. No area of the Academy remains untouched by the power of your observations and insights, by your insistence on measuring the impact of momentous choices on a human scale. The number of principals and administrators, trustees and teachers, and, most important, students who have relied on and trusted you as a counselor is remarkable."

Jones also cited Shapiro for his work as head of the Friends of the Library. "For over 20 years, you have led the Friends of the Library with the voice of a true scholar and gleeful book-lover. Over the years, the Friends have provided enormous support for what is the most extensive library collection of any secondary school in the country."

New Department Chairs Named

Nita Pettigrew

Katherine Fair

The Academy has announced new leadership in two of the larger academic departments, naming Nita Pettigrew chair of the department of English and Katherine Fair chair of the department of modern languages.

Nita Pettigrew was first appointed to the faculty in 1986 and reappointed in 1996. During her nine years at the Academy, she has been active on school committees, including the executive, dorm and curriculum review committees. Currently, she is in her second year as a member of the Academy Master Plan steering committee and the curriculum committee. She succeeds Douglas Rogers, chair of the English department for the past five years.

Katherine Fair has taught French at the Academy since 1984. She is currently a member of the curriculum committee. She also serves on the development committee for the SAT-II French examination and is an AP French literature reader, both for the College Board. Fair has been resident dorm faculty in Lamont and Bancroft halls and a JV cross-county coach. In April, she ran her second consecutive Boston Marathon. She takes over from Aldo Baggia, who retired in June.

Ethan Shapiro Named New Dean of Students
Russell Weatherspoon and Denis Brochu to oversee Residential Life
and Academic Affairs

Ethan Shapiro

Russell Weatherspoon

Denis Brochu

On July 1, three newly appointed deans began work in the dean of student's office, representing a new approach to responding to student life, both in and out of the classroom.

Ethan Shapiro, associate dean of students for the past five years, is the new dean of students, taking over from Kathleen Brownback, whose five-year term ended on June 30. Shapiro joined the faculty as an instructor in Russian in 1988. He has served as resident dorm faculty in Wentworth and Soule halls and Browning House South, where he currently resides. He has coached wrestling throughout his career. Last winter, as head coach, his team was undefeated against prep school competition and won the All New England Tournament. As an associate dean, his primary charge was to administer the disciplinary system. In 1991, Shapiro was the inaugural recipient of the Harlan Ellis Instructorship, a position he held until 1997. He was awarded a Class of 1964 Fund Prize in 1997.

Instructor in religion Russell Weatherspoon is dean of students for residential life, a new deanship that combines oversight of the disciplinary system with residential life responsibilities that will be determined by the work of the residential life task force. Weatherspoon first joined the faculty in 1987, and has chaired the religion department and served as head of Cilley Hall for the past 13 years. He and his wife, Jacquelyne, have recently moved to Three Main Street House. Weatherspoon held the Charles Lynn and Mary Chase Stone Professor of Humanities from 1996 to 2001, and was honored with a Brown Family Fund Award for excellence in teaching in 1997.

Denis Brochu, associate dean of students for academic affairs since 1993, is the new dean of students for academic affairs, responsible for oversight of the academic program of all Academy students. Appointed to the faculty in 1983, he is an instructor of French and the Academy's School Year Abroad coordinator. Brochu was head of Browning House South from 1988 to 1998 and previously had lived in Amen Hall. He was honored with a Brown Family Fund Award in 1990.

As a chaplain to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) in the Eastern Cape region of South Africa, the Reverend Dr. M. Gideon Khabela played an important role in helping his nation bridge the gap between the oppression of apartheid and the new democratic order. For three years, Khabela and other members of the clergy prepared individuals for their hearings before the TRC--the agency formed to investigate apartheid-era abuses--and offered trauma counseling when the hearings were completed. It was a charged period in South African history, creating an unprecedented opportunity for forgiveness and a new beginning.

As the Academy's first Thurgood Marshall Fellow, Khabela, a Presbyterian minister, teacher and author, will be in residence through the end of next year offering students the rare opportunity to learn firsthand about the TRC, apartheid and the political and religious struggles of South Africa. In addition to his classroom duties, which began during the spring term, Khabela is also working on his fourth book, Unrepentant Perpetrators and Unreconciled Victims: The Theology and Politics of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of South Africa. He is joined at Exeter by his wife, Nomsa, and one of their four children, Nkonzo, who is attending summer school and will enroll as a post graduate this fall.

"As a black person who grew up in apartheid, I suffered as all black people in South Africa did," says Khabela. "I did not suffer in the same way as those who were detained, thrown into prison, beaten or killed, but in a more general way. For me, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission was a journey of learning about what had happened to people, the pain and suffering that they went through. It was also a journey of healing."

Khabela still has many unanswered questions about the TRC and its long-term implications for South Africa. Was the commission an act of restorative justice or humiliation? What do "forgiveness," "justice" and "reconciliation" mean in terms of theology and religious teachings? Does forgiveness serve justice?

These difficult questions form the basis of both Khabela's current writing and his religion class at Exeter. "It is a great opportunity to teach a class dealing with the same material that I am writing about," says Khabela. "I throw out critical topics from my writing and open them up for discussion with my class. I learn a great deal from the students because they are looking at these issues objectively. My understanding is very biased."

Khabela grew up on a modest Zulu tribal reserve in the town of Bulwer in the KwaZulu/Natal midlands. A third-generation Christian, he was the only person in his village to attend high school. "Education was not intended to be easily available to a black person," says Khabela. "My father was an elder in the tribe, and was a big influence on my going to school. He was not an educated man himself, but he used the church as his model, and he spoke very highly of education."

The Thurgood Marshall Fellowship Like the John and Elizabeth Phillips Fellowship, the Thurgood Marshall Fellowship has been established to enrich the diversity of the Academy's faculty, curriculum and community. The fellowship will bring senior-level scholars of history or English with a background in the study of African-American culture to the Academy for periods of one to three years. To strengthen faculty recruiting efforts, the Academy hopes to secure an additional $6 million to endow this fellowship in perpetuity. Meanwhile, recruiting efforts are already underway for future fellows. Inquiries should be addressed to Stephanie Neal-Johnson, Director of Faculty Recruitment, Phillips Exeter Academy, 20 Main Street, Exeter, NH 03833, (603) 777-3774; or email sneal@exeter.edu. If you would like to discuss potential support for the Thurgood Marshall Fellowship, please contact Will Davison, director of major gifts, at the same address, (603) 777-3379; or email wdavison@exeter.edu.

After attending a seminary school in South Africa, Khabela went on to the University of Aberdeen in Scotland, and then to Union Theological Seminary in New York, where he earned his Ph.D. in 1992. It was at Union Theological that Khabela met PEA faculty member Jamie Hamilton and her husband, Eric Markman, and they have maintained a friendship ever since. With Markman's encouragement, Khabela returned to the United States in 1999 while on sabbatical leave from his teaching position at Fort Hare University on the Eastern Cape. During that six-month period, he served as a resident scholar in the Presbytery of Northern New England, visiting churches throughout the region and working on his just published book, A Seamless Garment: Church and Politics in the Ministry of Desmond Tutu, 1976-1989 (Juta Publishing, 2001); he also spent some time at PEA and spoke at assembly. When candidates were being discussed for the Thurgood Marshall Fellowship, Khabela's name was at the top of the list.

"I have a lot of appreciation for my heritage as an African, a Zulu and a Christian," says Khabela. If you have had opportunity as I have had, you plow it back into the community so more people can rise. I believe our children and the coming generations will enjoy a better South Africa."

Stephanie Ngyen '01: A Good Scout

Stephanie Nguyen '01 received a national award from the Girl Scouts for her commitment to community service.

Mention Girl Scouts, and most of us non-scouts think of merit badges and Girl Scout cookies. And sure enough, Stephanie Nguyen '01 of Bradford, MA, has earned close to a hundred badges and sold thousands of Thin Mints during her 12 years as a Girl Scout.

But scouting has offered Nguyen something else as well: namely, a first-rate education in the how's and why's of community service. During the past two years alone, she has performed more than 1,000 hours of volunteer work. And as a leader of the Exeter Social Service Organization (ESSO) during her senior year, she oversaw another two dozen student service projects. The Girl Scouts recently recognized her efforts by naming her a Young Woman of Distinction, one of only 10 scouts from around the country to be selected for the award. In June, Nguyen and the other winners were honored at a White House reception.

She says her experience has taught her that "the best volunteers are those who've found what they care about and can act on their concerns." Nguyen, whose parents emigrated to the United States from Vietnam, found her calling close to home, helping newly arrived immigrants. In 1999, she was asked by a local ESL teacher to work with two Exeter elementary school students whose families had recently emigrated to the area, one from Vietnam, the other from Korea.

Nguyen soon realized that the two boys "not only had to adjust to the culture of the school, but the school had to adjust to them," something that would be much easier if their third-grade classmates knew more about Asian countries and customs. So together with the teachers, Nguyen decided to organize a cultural awareness day. "I wanted to open the world to them," she says.

The teachers assigned books on holidays celebrated around the world, and Nguyen recruited four of her Asian and Asian-American classmates to help her present a Chinese Moon Festival. The PEA students prepared a feast of traditional foods and came dressed in formal ethnic attire, much to the delight of the third graders. They taught the children how to make Chinese lanterns and how to use chopsticks. They also taught them how to count to 10 in Cantonese, Mandarin, Vietnamese, Korean and Japanese (and, for good measure, in French, Spanish and Russian). And to ensure that the learning didn't end that day, Nguyen set up a pen-pal exchange between the third graders and a larger group of PEA students.

This fall, Nguyen heads to the honors college at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst, where she plans to study engineering and public policy. And probably do a little volunteering. "I've been an activist in my hometown and here in Exeter," she says with a smile. "I don't think I can stop now."

 

Leaving Their Mark
Senior Bookmarks are a Spring Tradition

"Part of a library's responsibility is to get people excited about books and reading," says Jackie Thomas, the James H. Ottaway Jr. '55 Professor and Academy Librarian. "Which is how the senior bookmark idea initially came about. Many libraries offer formal reading lists--we decided to create something more personalized in the form of bookmarks." Each spring for the past seven years, members of the senior class have been invited by Thomas to submit a list of six to eight of their favorite books. These lists are then transformed into colorful bookmarks that are distributed by the library and admissions office as a means of stimulating the community's already well-developed literary interests. Twenty-two seniors submitted book lists this year, displaying tastes that run the gamut from major literary works to sci-fi thrillers; from contemporary poetry to children's favorites. As always, the classics are well represented, with William Shakespeare, Jane Austen, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Ernest Hemingway and Virginia Woolf appearing on many lists. More contemporary fiction also looms large in the form of Kurt Vonnegut, Toni Morrison, Joseph Heller and Barbara Kingsolver. The Harry Potter series has started to turn up in recent years, as well as children's books by Dr. Seuss, Tomie dePaola and E.B. White. "When they find the time to read is beyond me," says Thomas. "But they are a very well-read group of students."

Let Them Entertain You

When director Hal Lynch describes Gypsy as "probably the most complex production we've done in 20 years," he isn't kidding. The winter musical drew on the talents of 32 performers, 25 crew members, eight musicians--not to mention two live animals. Throw in a hundred costumes, 17 set changes and more than a dozen production numbers, and yes, audiences had "a real good time." Starring were Allison Ferrier '01 as the indomitable Mama Rose (bottom photo), with Pat Sheehan '01 as the long-suffering Herbie) and Elena Stewart '03 as Louise, aka burlesque queen Gypsy Rose Lee (top photo, center), with showgirls Rachel James '02, Shelly Bhowmik '03, Meg Murphy '02, Helen Johnston '03, Hazel Cipolle '04, Rachel Caylor '04 and Jessica Torossian '03). Musical direction was by Jim Howe, with choreography by Linda Luca.

Matt Singer '94 (standing) and his collaborator Tim Janis (seated right) recruited artists like Paul McCartney (seated left) for their CD Music of Hope, which benefits the American Cancer Society.

"Music has the power to uplift the spirit and provide emotional strength during difficult times," says Matt Singer '94, a producer, musician and music industry entrepreneur. It was the healing power of music that inspired Singer and his collaborator, composer Tim Janis, to produce Music of Hope, a benefit recording for the American Cancer Society.

The CD features 10 world-premiere recordings by a range of pop and classical artists, including Paul McCartney, Ray Charles and the New York Philharmonic. Released earlier this year, Music of Hope has received substantial national airplay and press coverage, and was the first independently released classical recording to hit the No. 1 spot on Billboard magazine's classical album chart in over 15 years.

"My role was to recruit the artists, supervise the recording and oversee the commercial release," says Singer. "I wanted to combine the best of the classical and pop worlds to give the CD a wide appeal." Singer says that one of the highlights of the project was working with McCartney. "I was at Abbey Road Studios working with him on his orchestral piece with the London Symphony Orchestra. When one of the Beatles starts reminiscing about the 'Hey Jude' recording sessions, it's a jaw-dropping experience."

Singer himself is an accomplished violinist and blues guitarist, and he pursued both at Exeter and then at Yale, where he graduated summa cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa with a degree in classical music composition in 1998. "At Exeter," Singer recalls, "I played in chamber groups, the PEA Orchestra, sang with the Exceteras and played coffeehouses. I tried to play with as many different musicians as possible."

After graduating from Yale, Singer migrated to New York City, where he founded Dawn Treader Productions, a music production company that utilizes the power of music to advance philanthropic causes. This summer, Singer is working on a PBS special featuring Tim Janis performing at Lincoln Center and producing the accompanying CD. In his spare time, Singer also fronts Master Flat, a blues-funk band that performs regularly around Manhattan. "I always want to maintain a strong relationship to the music itself," says Singer. "For me, that's essential."

Novelist Chang-Rae Lee '83
During his May 7 assembly sponsored by the Asian Society, Chang-rae Lee '83 described writing as "discovering, word by word, the ineffable shape of what you haven't yet imagined or understood." The author of two highly acclaimed novels, Native Speaker (1995) and Gesture Life (1999), who was recently named one of the top 20 American authors under the age of 40 by the New Yorker magazine, Lee spoke eloquently of how he became entranced by language while a student at Exeter, and the important role the faculty, students and visiting authors played in his development as a writer. "[At Exeter] I encountered beauty, not with a big 'B' but rather my own private version of it," said Lee. "I'm still looking for that beauty at the end of every sentence that I try and write--a humbling search whose object is necessarily and exceedingly rare."

Lamont Poet Carolyn Forché
Carolyn Forché--who has, by turns, written, edited and translated six different books of poetry, including Gathering the Tribes, which won the Yale Series of Younger Poets Award--offered students a simple formula for writing poetry during her April visit to campus: "Basically," she said with a laugh, "first it's spill, spill, spill, and then chisel, chisel, chisel." All writers, she said, struggle to balance these two impulses: to harvest as many words, images and ideas as possible, and then to winnow out all but the best, the least expected, the most complex. "You can't think your way to a good poem," said Forché. "The one thing you want to forget about is the thing you meant to write. You want the thing that's underneath." Forché, who is also well known for her human rights work in countries like El Salvador and South Africa, came to the Academy as part of the Lamont Poetry Series, endowed in 1982 by the late Corliss Lamont '20 to bring distinguished poets to Exeter.

The May 17 to 20 meeting of the Academy's trustees began with a dramatic announcement from President Byron Rose '59: Exeter will receive a generous gift in the next year to be used toward the renovation of Phillips Church, improvements to the stock of faculty housing and implementation of the first phase of the landscape master plan. Each of these projects had been identified as a priority by the Academy Master Plan (AMP). The exact size of the gift is still confidential, and the donor wishes to remain anonymous at this time. The trustees heard a presentation from Michael Van Valkenberg, the landscape architect, on the final draft of the landscape master plan. The project is phased so that it may be implemented over time, as resources become available. The trustees accepted the plan, which will now guide the Academy's efforts to reinvigorate the campus landscape.Work began in June on phase I, the Abbot Circle project, with a projected completion date of spring 2002. The Alumni/ae Affairs and Development Committee discussed responses from alumni/ae at the dialogue dinners the Academy has been conducting around the country. The priorities of alumni/ae as expressed at these dinners align very closely with the priorities the AMP task forces have been advancing. Much of the meeting was devoted to discussions by the various task forces of the AMP goals and priorities. A theme that emerged was that the shortage of faculty housing and the variability of its attractiveness were major impediments to many of the priorities the AMP seeks to achieve. The Housing Task Force recommended a rapid plan to build new housing units with the stretch goal of having the units ready by September 2002. The trustees endorsed this plan and unanimously passed a resolution stating they were "committed to expanding Exeter's supply of faculty housing and improving its quality." At the meeting, the trustees also: Approved a project to make Fisher Theater handicapped-accessible this summer; Approved going forward with planning for a major renovation of Amen Hall in the summer of 2002; Reviewed renovation plans for Phillips Church; Discussed in depth the planning for renovation of the Thompson Building into an Academy Center. Three members of the Academy community received special recognition in the form of resolutions read into the record and presented by the trustees: Dave Arnold, instructor of mathematics, was honored for his five years as clerk of the trustees: Jim Theisen, director of alumni/ae affairs and development, was recognized for his 25 years of service to the Academy; and Kathy Brownback was honored for her five years as dean of students.

Tom Ritchie '90 Says 'Yes' to Temptation

Tom Ritchie proved a big hit with female fans of the reality TV show "Temptation Island."

Most of the time, Tom Ritchie '90 is a mild-mannered law and business student at the University of Virginia. But for a couple of months last winter, Ritchie led a second, not-so-secret life: as a TV heartthrob. Ritchie was one of a couple dozen attractive, twentysomething "singles" brought in to test the commitment of four long-term couples on the FOX-TV reality show "Temptation Island"--sort of a cross between "Gilligan's Island" and "The Dating Game," with a dash of "Melrose Place" thrown in for good measure. Ritchie proved a big hit with several of the show's female contestants--and, judging by the mash notes posted on the FOX website, with much of the female audience as well.

The show was a little less popular with critics, who questioned the taste (not to mention the ethical implications) of encouraging real people to carry on like soap-opera stars. But Ritchie himself remains engagingly uncynical about the whole experience, from his fairy-tale "discovery" by the show's casting director (while on a visit to L.A.'s Universal Studios) to his resulting 15 minutes of fame. He signed on for the show, he cheerfully admits, mostly for the chance to spend a couple of weeks in the Caribbean "and to do something completely different."

Different is exactly what he got: once the contestants arrived on Temptation Island (actually Belize), they were plied with temptations--boisterous Jacuzzi parties! late-night strolls on the beach!--while the cameras rolled, pretty much continuously. "It was very surreal," says Ritchie with a laugh. "Ironically, although the show was designed as 'reality TV,' we lost touch with reality very quickly." But, he adds, "we were never given instructions to break anyone up." In fact, Ritchie became good friends with many of the cast members, and not just in "The Young and the Restless" sense of phrase.

Because he had seen only a small portion of what was happening during the filming, Ritchie says he tuned in eagerly last January and February when "Temptation Island" first aired on FOX-TV. There was, he later told a FOX reporter, something strangely familiar about the show: "It's a little like watching the videotape from your high school graduation party that you never had a chance to see until after the fact--plus a few tribal drums and shots of the full moon."

Tied to be Fit: Academy Dress Code Amended

The Academy's amended dress code went into effect this spring--the culmination of months of research and discussion by a faculty committee, meetings with the student council and a survey of students. The faculty approved the code in February. The Academy's dress code has evolved considerably since it was first articulated in 1798. At that time the wearing of silk and gowns was barred. One hundred and fifty years later, in the 1950s, the faculty voted to allow "Bermuda shorts with knee socks to be worn to required appointments," providing, of course, that said shorts were hemmed and "reach[ed] almost to the knee." Now as then, the revised dress code seeks to reflect current times while affirming the seriousness that students bring to their academic pursuits. It also reflects the community's desire for more equality between the rules for boys and those for girls, a matter of ongoing concern to both faculty and students. So while boys are no longer be required to wear jackets or blazers, they continue to wear neckties--interestingly, the overwhelming preference among students who responded to a survey done by the student council. Girls wear dresses, skirts or nice slacks with blouses, sweaters or colored shirts. Both boys and girls may wear blue jeans, as well as ethnic attire. As for shorts? Some things don't change. While shorts can be worn a bit shorter than 50 years ago, they still must be hemmed.

Getting with the Program
Tim Williamson '00 takes a year off to teach Computer Science

Tim Williamson '00 proved a natural when he served as a volunteer teaching assistant in AP Computer Science.

Like the majority of his classmates in PEA's class of 2000, Tim Williamson spent the past year in school. But unlike them, he didn't head directly to college; what's more, he wasn't even a student. Instead, several mornings a week, Williamson could be found in Room 5 of the Academy Building, serving as a volunteer teaching assistant in faculty member Christian Day's AP computer science classes.

Williamson, whose father is an English teacher, says he had always been curious about teaching and decided to defer admission to Dartmouth for a year for the chance to satisfy that curiosity. According to Day, the department chair, Williamson has proved a natural: "He's really excited about what goes on in the classroom. He'll spend hours with students to help them find a small hitch in their programs--he has that kind of enthusiasm, and patience. And he's the most brilliant computer person I've ever met."

Williamson's first introduction to computers came in third grade, when he began noodling around on his family's MacIntosh Classic. By the time he arrived at the Academy in 1996, he was an experienced programmer. He likens learning computer programming to studying a foreign language, a comparison that seems more than apt as he and a group of students cover the Room 5 whiteboard with a sea of (largely indecipherable) programming concepts. "Programming is a completely different way of thinking," he says, "and it can be really hard to get into that mentality. At first, it can seem very rigid. It's almost like you're fighting the language, trying to force it to do what you want." While most of the AP compsci students arrive "knowing the rules," he says, "they still have to 'think before they speak.' But by the end of the course, they're able to plunge right in."

And though students work individually at computers, Harkness moments abound. "The excitement comes," Williamson says, "in seeing that everyone has a different take on a problem. Together, you realize there are so many more ways to approach a problem, to make a program run faster."

What has his "year off" taught him? As it turns out, a lesson common to many first-time instructors: in the process of teaching his subject, Williamson says, "I think I learned even more than when I was a student."

A sand mandala created by Tibetan Monks of the Drepung Gomang Monastery brightened the long Exeter winter and offered a glimpse of the Buddhist world of enlightenment. Using a funnel-like tool called a chakpur, the 10 Tibetan monks painstakingly sifted grains of colored sand to form a mandala (Sanskrit for the word "circle") in Rockefeller Hall of the Class of 1945 Library. Throughout the monks' four-day visit, the library become a stopping-off point for students, faculty, staff and area residents, many of whom came in the afternoon to hear the monks pray and to watch the metamorphosis of the mandala.

Exoniana: Do You Remember?

Let's set the record straight: Is the Academy Mascot a lion or a griffin? What is the difference? Do you have any photos or stories of our mascot that you would like to share? The first person to send (via U.S. mail only) the correct answer will win a sensational prize. Answers and reminiscences will be published in the next issue. Mail to: Exoniana, c/o The Bulletin, Phillips Exeter Academy, Communications Office, 20 Main Street, Exeter, NH 03833. Answer to the Last Issue: The original bell in the Academy Building was a gift of the class of 1870 and was placed in the bell tower in 1915 by the Meneely Bell Company of Troy, NY. With the passage of time and the evolution of technology, the methods of bell ringing have changed. Originally, the bell was rung by hand; later, a machine took over the job, using chains, weights and gears with plastic "fingers." Nowadays, custodian Jonathan Bogan programs a Siemens simplex digital time recorder (installed in 1989) to ring the bell. And as curriculum, class schedules, faculty meetings and chapel times have changed, so have the bell times. So we have two winners this time--one from the past, and one from the present--who knew when the bells toll at Phillips Exeter Academy: a) every hour on the hour b) breakfast bell c) first warning bell for first class d) second and final warning bell for first class of day e) class-ending bell f) last class of the day g) start of Assembly h) end of Assembly i) lower warning check-in j) upper and senior warning k) end of faculty meeting l) all of the above Correct Answer (1939-1942): Every hour on the hour; at the end of each class; at the end of each school day; at the start of Assembly; and at 8 p.m. check-in. Correct Answer (Present): (l) All of the above. And the Winners are: Sterling S. Bushnell '43 of Muskegon, MI, received an engraved Phillips Exeter Academy stainless steel travel mug for being the first person to mail in the most accurate answer from the past--and for having a great memory. "I rang the bell from the fall of 1939 to the fall of 1942 and believe that I much preferred that to waiting on tables for my scholarship. I had a gold pocket watch attached to my left lapel by a leather cord (we all wore jackets and ties then). Classmates made sure that I kept track of the time. I don't recall any problem with having to be available for every ringing, although a time or two I had to bike back from Hampton Beach a little early. "The janitor rang the bell leading up to morning chapel and, of course, everyone rang the bell after a big football win. On Tuesdays, there were programs in chapel that ran a little long, but the first few classes [that followed] were still an hour long [which made ringing the bell precisely on the hour a challenge]. The bell rope was in the loan library across from Mr. Hatch's classroom. If he disagreed with my interpretation of an hour after the Tuesday chapel, he would pound on the door and yell and generally be nothing but nasty. He gave up after the first year or so, I recall." Cameron Lane '99 of Saratoga Springs, NY, who missed only the end of faculty meeting bell, also received a prize for submitting the closest present-day answer. Hill Bridge Memories are Still Flowing in: A Literary Response You might be interested in a literary reference to the bridge featured in your winter issue. I believe it figures prominently in a sad and masterful short story by PEA graduate John Knowles'45. You'll find it in "A Turn With the Sun." Joseph C. Merriam '41 Brookline, MA Editor's Note: Indeed, the picturesque Hill Bridge that crosses the Exeter River makes an appearance in John Knowles' short story "A Turn With the Sun," which can be found in the book Phineas. "He crossed over the bridge with Bead, and his heart stopped for an instant as it always did on this bridge . . . he crossed over the little arching bridge, observed the water where his heroic reflection had shown, and stepped onto the turf on the other side, the varsity field." A Bit of Nostalgia I think that the bridge is the old cement bridge across the Exeter River down by the playing fields, leading to the football stadium. Just east, the Little River joined the Exeter River as it flowed through town into the Squamscott River. As a boy, I used to fish off the bridge--with cherry bombs. We never went swimming in this part of the river because it was below a large dump on the Little River. I used to shoot rats (the only animal I was allowed to kill and not eat) in the dump with my father's old Montgomery Ward, octagonal-barrel, .22 pump-action rifle. What a gun! We would go swimming upstream in the murky waters, swinging off a rope on an overhanging tree; afterwards we would burn leeches off our bodies with a cigarette. Right or wrong, first or not, the picture and question posed inspired a bit of nostalgia. - John Funkhouser '52 Okemos, MI Early Morning Walk I crossed the Hill Bridge many times early in the morning during my senior year. I would walk from the Kappa Delta Pi house (which Miss Harriet Tilton, the fraternity housemother, had use of until she died) to Webster Hall for breakfast, then at 7:45 a.m. on to chapel, six days a week. - Henry L. Miller '30 Hagerstown, MD Man Overboard In the spring of 1934 I took a canoe (rented, I think) out on the river near the bridge. Previously, at summer camp, I had learned to stand on the gunwales near the stern and, by alternately crouching and standing, propel the boat while producing fine splashes and waves. I must have been out of practice, for I fell overboard and lost my glasses, which still lie at the bottom of the Exeter River. - Frank Whitmore Jr. '34 Silver Spring, MD Thank you for taking time to share your memories. - Alice Ann Gray

 

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