By Eric Widmer ’57, H’54,’06

(What follows is a considerably abridged version of the almost hour-long talk I gave to Deerfield on the occasion of the Heritage Award presentation last month. The references to “Ms. Vis” are to the affectionate nickname students gave to my wife, Meera Viswanathan.)

As I look back on the events that led to my enrollment at Deerfield as a thirteen-year-old freshman in 1953, it is hard not to imagine that somehow the hand of destiny was busy tweaking what would otherwise be explained as entirely fortuitous. All I know is that in the spring of that year my mother was concerned about my prospective high schooling, Continue reading →

By Julie Alexandre, P’06,’08,’11,’13; Haverford, PA

On Saturday evening, December 3, a twelve-piece band will fill the Deerfield Dining Hall with the sounds of the 1920s.  Under the lights from the Christmas tree, students will dance to jazz and Broadway classics like “Honeysuckle Rose,” and “The Man I Love.” They will hear lyrics that may have shaped their great grandparents’ romances, such as the opening lines from “Stardust”:

“Sometimes I wonder why I spend
The lonely nights dreaming of a song
The melody haunts my reverie
And I am once again with you.”

When not on the dance floor, students − boys in coat and tie, girls in cocktail dresses − will graze on holiday treats from a chocolate fountain as well as pound cake, pretzels, and other favorite snacks. Continue reading →

Reported by Suzanne Huebsch P’11,’12; Darien, CT, in collaboration with Jim Alexandre P’06,’08,’11,’13; Haverford, PA, and Penny Ashford P’14; Wilmington, DE

With a child “away” for school, parents do not have the same opportunities to interact with each other that they might have with a child attending school in their home community. With that in mind, the DPN hosted a new event this past parents weekend: a Parent-to-Parent Panel. The event was well attended and participation in the Q&A lively. For those of you who could not attend, here is what happened:  Continue reading →

By Ralph Earle ’75, P’10,’12; Concord, MA

“Why am I here?” sobbed our daughter over the phone.  It was seven a.m. and we were three weeks into our first child’s tenure at Deerfield. The same phone call had taken place every day since we had dropped her off. She was homesick, alone, and we were on the brink of calling it a day and going to pick her up.

Six months earlier, when asked by her social studies teacher whether she was applying to Deerfield because she wanted to go or because her parents were forcing her to, our daughter said, “I’ve wanted to go to Deerfield since I was three!” She had talked about it for years and in the run-up to the commencement of school, she seemed increasingly excited. However, upon arrival, her face kind of fell apart and by the time we left on drop-off day, we knew we had a problem. Continue reading →

By the DPN Executive Steering Committee

Newton’s First Law: “a body at rest will remain at rest…, and a body in motion … will remain in motion …”

kinetic energy, n., the energy of a body or a system with respect to the motion of the body or of the particles in the system.

So too, with organizations.  Continue reading →

By Deborah Norville P’09,’13; New York, NY

The Parents Fall Weekend found some parents doing more than rushing to teacher conferences and co-curriculars. Close to a hundred people participated in the planting project on Saturday morning, October 22.  They donned garden gloves, armed themselves with trowels, and set about planting spring flowering bulbs in the perennial beds on the main campus grounds. In homage to the school’s founding, a total of 1797 daffodils and tulips, which were donated by an anonymous parent, were planted outside the Academy Building, Ephraim Williams, Arms, and along the walkways leading to Memorial and Reed.  Continue reading →

By Marc Johnson ’74, P’08,’11,’14; Greenwich, CT, and Scott Vallar ’78, P’12,’14; Bedford, NY

Have you heard of “the gap?” The gap is the difference between the real cost of a Deerfield education, which is approximately $78,000 per student per year, and the actual tuition charged for each student, which is approximately $45,000. Deerfield Academy’s endowment provides a significant portion of the difference between this cost and tuition, but not all of it.  This is why we ask parents, and alumni, to help support the school as generously as they are able. Continue reading →

By Margarita Curtis H’57

You may have heard about the “10,000-hour rule?” It is simply the most recent interpretation of our grandmother’s maxim, “practice makes perfect” put forth by Malcolm Gladwell in his book Outliers.  Gladwell states that “the closer psychologists look at the careers of the gifted, the smaller the role innate talent seems to play and the bigger the role preparation seems to play.” It seems that the magical number to reach excellence in any endeavor hovers around 10,000 hours, but I am less interested in the specific number than in the general concept. How much effort does it take to build strong, honorable character? What if in addition to grades in math, biology, or music Deerfield gave out grades in respect, generosity, resilience, and so on? Continue reading →