Spring Term Report Card - 2021

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.

In other news John Mills was the principal author of a brief submitted by the New York City Bar Association in connection with a case to be heard later this year before the Supreme Court on the "doctrine of assignor estoppel" which prevents sellers of patents from later challenging their own patents.

Best wishes to all for the summer.

DWS

Winter Term Report Card - 2021

To the Grand Class of 1969:

News of the Academy

In a year full of changes, one thing that has remained constant in the academic calendar is the traditional two week Spring Break which began when classes let out earlier today.

The start of the Winter Term was delayed until January this year for the first time. Instead, two weeks in December were filled with "D-Term", a virtual learning experience focused on "community building" and "engaged citizenship". In another change to the calendar bound to disappoint some, the upcoming academic year will begin before Labor Day for the first time.

The school retrofitted various buildings (including Hitchcock which had functioned as the bookstore since 2001 and Ephraim Williams which had housed the Office of Advancement since 1999) in order to accommodate the day students for the Winter Term and has made the decision to extend the boarding requirement for the Spring Term. About 12% of the student body chose remote learning over spending the winter in Deerfield, up from 5% during the Fall Term. The school administered 14,769 COVID tests, with only 29 individuals testing positive.  In a sign of progress, all K-12 employees of public and private schools in Massachusetts became eligible for vaccinations today although it remains unclear just how much this will affect the the way the school operates from day to day during the Spring Term.

Another change this year has been the admissions process which has been predicated forever on a belief in the importance of in-person interviews. Years ago I was told that the school dispensed with the interview requirement one year and, in retrospect, regretted the decision. Like so many things in the past year, it's hard to know how many of the pandemic induced changes are transitory and how many are permanent. Presumably in-person interviews, standardized tests and revisit days will be reinstituted as soon as it is safe again. For those who pinned their hopes on attending Deerfield, demand for the limited number of spaces was up this year as expected. Decisions were communicated on March 10th.

Given the long lead time it takes to plan a reunion and the uncertain course of the virus, the school chose to replace in-person reunions with a series of virtual meetings this June for the classes whose reunions were scheduled for June 2020 and 2021. Those classes will be invited to campus in June 2022 for a "cluster reunion" with adjacent classes. In another first, the 50th Reunion for the classes of 1970 and 1971 is going to take place this Fall. Those alumni who had been hoping to relive dormitory life in June will need to find other housing options during the peak foliage season in New England. 

News of the Class

I've mentioned Neil Jacobs' after-school program in the Boston area several times since learning about 3Point Foundation at our Reunion. You will be interested to read an interview Neil gave last Fall to Boston Speaks Up which includes information on his foundation as well as the backstory on how he wound up at Deerfield.

You may recall that Camp Timanous (which was owned by the Suitor family for more than 80 years) made the painful decision last year that it couldn't re-open safely. David Suitor confirmed recently that the camp has adapted to all contingencies and will be open again this summer with a full complement of campers. Another business hard hit by the pandemic has been live concerts. After having had to abbreviate the calendar 2021 concert schedule, Rusty Young has been busy rescheduling performers (one of whom is Chubby Checker whose 50th anniversary of "The Twist" is this year) as well as venues and has 70 shows lined up for the 2022 season.

In more dated news, Margarita Curtis H '57 '69 was appointed Interim President of Ursuline Academy in New Orleans for the 2020-2021 academic year. Margarita was a four year student at Ursuline, the first all-girls' Catholic school in the country, and graduated in 1969. Since her retirement from Deerfield, she and her husband have been living in New Orleans.

Best wishes to all.

DWS

Fall Term Report Card - 2020

To the Grand Class of 1969:

I had no doubt that the reopening of the Academy during a pandemic would be newsworthy, but I initially hesitated to write because I thought that there would be little of interest about the Class to report. When I looked back at my emails and texts, however, I realized that there was more than I thought, including some news about Classmates who continue to make their mark. 

News of the Academy

For those who may not have attended the Town Hall, here is what I noted:

• Since July 30, the Academy administered nearly 16,000 tests and succeeded in containing positive cases to a handful
• Before school re-opened the Academy reconfigured dorms so that every boarding student lives in a single and made other physical alterations in order to enforce social distancing
• Class sizes were reduced, and eight teachers were added to handle the additional sections
• The school has incurred approximately $8 million in incremental costs as a result of the pandemic but contributions have been robust, and the endowment now totals over $1 million per student
• In order to further insulate the campus, the day students will have the option of learning remotely or living on campus for the Winter Term
• The annex of The Deerfield Inn has been sublet for COVID space, and Ephraim Williams, which housed the alumni office, is being repurposed temporarily to serve as as a dorm
• A new "dining pavilion" is being constructed adjacent to the Dining Hall so that sit-down lunches in two shifts can be re-instituted
• A skating rink is being constructed behind the MSB where the Great Tent had been set up for outdoor learning
• While school is out until the first week of January, a so-called "D-Term" will run from December 7 - 18. The D-Term is being billed as a remote-learning and community-building experience that will include virtual School Meetings, virtual "sit-down meals" and other events
• Applications remain strong, albeit without campus visits

Also of note this term is that the Academy's architecture is now the subject of an excellent 200-page guide published by Princeton Architectural Press. The Academy is one of only three secondary schools in the series. Advancement sponsored a webinar last month which featured presentations by the author and another architect, both of whom are alumni. What I found most interesting was the explanation of the way in which today's buildings relate to each other without there ever having been a central plan and how the more recent construction makes architectural allusions not only to existing buildings but also to antecedents - such as Dickinson High School and Plunkett - that are long gone. Parenthetically, the Civil War Memorial and our role in its restoration is noted in a walking tour of Deerfield and the broader community.

News of the Class

For the historians in the Class, AC Starkey has maintained his laser-like focus on the good life as I first pointed out in my 2015 Fall Term Report Card. This fall he treated himself to a low mileage Maserati ragtop for trips to the local McDonalds' in Vero, once again proving that "living well is the best revenge". His fellow Veronian, Rusty Young, has lined up performing artists and venues for the upcoming concert season, but hasn't yet released tickets for sale. 

Neil Jacobs is now spending half of his time managing 3Point Foundation which he founded ten years ago and which he described to us at the 50th Reunion. If you are thinking of what you might support on Giving Tuesday, I encourage you to consider 3Point which is committed to remedying the inequities in opportunities to learn and develop that affect life outcomes of economically disadvantaged urban youth. 

The new technology we adopted this year has enabled Dick Prokesch - who is based in Georgia - to cover for another infectious disease specialist in Nebraska from time to time. Robert Clough, when he wasn't at his summer cabin in Maine culling the fish from Moosehead Lake, assisted the Millennial surgeons in the Bangor ME and did some performance reviews. He and Jo are scheduled to arrive in the Florida Keys on December 1 where the tarpon await them.

Happy Thanksgiving to all. 

DWS