To the Grand Class of 1969:
News of the Academy
In another Deerfield first, the 222nd Commencement took place under the cover of the Jay and Mimi Morsman Tennis Pavilion on a cold and rainy day. Given the decision to hold a virtual reunion in June, few might have imagined that an in-person Commencement with no limitations on the number of guests would have been possible. The event was streamed live, and you can see it here. If you prefer to listen to highlights, you can fast forward to hear the head of the Board of Trustees (0:18:00), the Head of School (0:31:00), the student body president and the student council chair (0:57:35) and the keynote speaker (1:24:47). Underclassmen left a day later, shaving off four days of academic instruction. The four days that were eliminated have been added to the Fall Term, and the academic year will begin before Labor Day for the first time ever to the disappointment of more than a few.
With the departure of the students, construction crews will be busy restoring buildings that had been retrofitted for the pandemic. Dewey (which we knew as the Heath Center and which served this past year as the primary quarantine facility) will be demolished as originally planned to make way for a new dormitory.
Applications set a record, and enrollment for next year will be the highest ever even though only 12% were admitted. Students began getting vaccinated as they became eligible by age group during the Spring Term. Although more than 8,100 tests were administered during the Spring Term, only six students tested positive. Students will need to be vaccinated before returning to campus in the Fall, and remote learning will not be a choice. As it was, by the end of the Spring Term less than ten students were learning remotely.
A truncated schedule of interscholastic athletics began in April, the highlight of which was Boys Varsity Lacrosse which finished 12-0 and earned the #1 national ranking.
News of the Class
An Italian at heart, AC Starkey put the top down and the pedal to the metal of his 2003 Maserati and set what may have been a land speed record from Vero to Palm Beach where he hosted me for an outdoor lunch at one of his favorite trattorias. This was undoubtedly a dry run for his upcoming trip to Sicily and the Amalfi Coast this summer where he plans a month-long stay, capped off with two nights in Paris on the return.
I received several photos in transit of the motley crew on the left who you may recognize from the 50th Reunion, if not from Pocumtuck. Together with their wives, this group shipped off earlier this month aboard the riverboat American Jazz for an eight-day cruise up the Mississippi from New Orleans to Memphis.
