Winter Term Report Card - 2014

To the Great Class of 1969:

It was a winter to forget (or one to live in infamy). The Academy let out for Spring Break none too soon on Friday with an Alberta clipper expected on Monday.

News of the Academy

The Academy's website has been thoroughly overhauled this year which has made summarizing events more challenging. Articles in The Scroll featured stories on the use of prescription drugs to gain a competitive edge academically and the widespread use of SAT tutors to create an unlevel playing field, both topical this term with college applications top of mind for the Class of 2014.

Squash has become the dominant winter sport on campus ever since the new squash facility was built. Once again, the Girls Varsity team was undefeated in on-on-one match ups with peer schools. The Girls finished second in the national championships for the second time in the last three years. The Boys did similarly well, finishing undefeated in head to head competitions. This year's team finished fifth in the national championships and second in the New England's.

Imagine Deerfield, the title of the current capital campaign, continues to move forward with $174 million committed, up $7 million during the winter term. The official goal of the campaign is $200 million, although more is better. The renovation of the Memorial Building, the most important bricks and mortar element of the current campaign, is scheduled to be completed in August, too late for us to fully appreciate it at the Reunion.

News of the Class

Hank Louis, one of only two members of the Class still paying tuition at Deerfield, was noted in an article in The New York Times in connection with a house which eight of his students built largely out of recycled materials for a Native American living on the Navajo reservation in Utah. The project was a joint venture between Hank's nonprofit firm DesignBuildBLUFF and the University of Colorado.

Hank Wetzel was back in Houston last fall for the annual Livestock Show and Rodeo Wine Auction. Although Hank was unable to repeat his success from a year ago when his 2008 CYRUS Cabernet broke all records, the 2009 vintage has its advocates, judging from the local press. I'm hoping Hank may have saved a few bottles for our table on Saturday night under the tent if it hasn't already sold out.

Rick Swig, the managing partner of Not Another Winery, sold the Harvest Inn in the Napa Valley in January. Rick still owns the Napa Winery Inn which he bought two years ago.

Rusty Young has been active on the Florida circuit again this winter where he promoted concerts for Fab Faux and Early Elton, two tribute bands, in February. The Fab Faux concert was timed to coincide with the 50th anniversary of the Beatles' first US release.

John Mills has hung out his law shingle in New York. He recently co-authored a brief filed with the Supreme Court in re Alice Corporation v. CLS Bank addressing the issue of whether an algorithm is patent-eligible. The case is expected to be heard this spring.

Reunion

If the online records are to be believed, my wife and I are the only ones to have signed up for the 45th Reunion which runs this year from June 6-8. By way of comparison, there were 30th of us in 2009, and we are hoping to match that this year. Lacey is our unofficial head of participation again. For the budget minded among you, the early bird savings of $50 per head expires on March 18. There's no downside to signing up now because you can get a full refund if plans change as long as you cancel by May 13. In addition to the official program, I expect that we will have a break-out session on Saturday afternoon as we did in 2009 and that Frank and Neil will talk with us about teaching at Deerfield today.

I look forward to seeing you in June.

Best wishes to all.

DWS