| Alumni Perspective |
"Now Is the Time
to Teach _______?"
E. Bruce Hallett III '67, P'02 President, Time magazine, and PEA trustee
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| Hallett |
Now is the time to teach citizenship. Some 225 years ago,
our brand-new nation was coming into being. As we all know, it didn't arrive full born, but
emerged from a crucible of military, social and ideological conflict. Battles tested wills,
but so did debate. It was a tumultuous time, a revolutionary time in the deepest and most
frightening sense of the word.
While we remember the magnificent results of these confrontations, it is easy to forget
how hard-won they were. The beacon that best reminds me of that is Phillips Exeter. For out
of that testing time came John Phillips, who understood how important a well-educated citizenry
was to our nascent democracy. To nourish the values given voice by the great patriots of
18th-century America, he started a school. He attached to that school a mission to teach
goodness and knowledge, so students could learn-and embrace-citizenship.
Of students and schools, it should be said: Finis origine pendet.
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Non Sibi and September 11
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| Academy fund-raising efforts for the September 11 Fund included a car wash organized by Wheelwright dorm residents for their Residential Life Day project. |
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Like schools all over the country, the PEA community has launched
ongoing efforts to support families of victims of the September 11 attacks.
The Exeter Social Services Organization (ESSO) immediately donated funds remaining from last
year's projects, amounting to just under $2,300, to the United Way-coordinated September 11 Fund.
"We took all the money we had left over and reset our books to zero," says ESSO co-head Michael
Katz '02. This original donation was followed by the efforts of Lindsey Glennon '02, who collected
contributions from faculty and coordinated dormitory proctors to gather funds from dorm residents.
Wheelwright dorm also organized a car wash for its Residential Life Day project. Together these
endeavors raised nearly $6,000 for the September 11 Fund.
In addition, proceeds from the sale of origami paper cranes made by Zoe Brennan-Krohn '03 were
earmarked for psychological counseling for children affected by the disaster, and the Student Council
raised $1,000 for the Afghan Children's Fund.
Through the "Write a Line, Lift a Heart" project, the Exeter community wrote letters to the
officers and firefighters of Engine 207, Ladder 111 and Division 11 of Brooklyn, which lost seven
members in the disaster. Russell Weatherspoon, dean of students for residential life, carried these
expressions of encouragement to the fire station.
"United We Stand" took on a new, local significance on November 4 when students from PEA and
Exeter Area High School students held a joint fund-raising concert-a first for the two schools-to
benefit September 11 relief efforts, and to support a new local soup kitchen. Organizers hope that
this event, the result of equal leadership and involvement from both schools, will be the start of
a strengthened bond between the schools. "We wanted to come together as a world, as a nation and as
a community," says publicity co-chair Lila Ontiveros '02. Future projects include outreach on
diversity issues at local elementary schools. Together, the two schools raised over $1,500.
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| Hamilton |
Jamie Hamilton, Chair, Religion Department: It would be nice to be able to
intellectualize the events of September 11 in the context of history, but because it's so
new and fresh for all of us and we don't have any answers, it's really open to a lot of
raw emotions. These feelings are sometimes hard to deal with in the Harkness setting.
For example, at the end of class today we were discussing a report on NPR about anthrax,
and the theory that it could have been spread by an American. We talked about how easy
it is to call what is "other" evil, but how much harder it is to look within. The
conversation makes us ask critical questions, but it also opens us up to many emotions.
In another class, the discussion broke down; we could not have a conversation about
the war. I kept saying to the students, "Even if you think that going to Afghanistan is
wrong, please try to express that point of view," but we could not get the "other" voice
up on the table. The talk lasted 30 seconds and fell apart. At the very end of class I
said, "Does this help you understand a little about the emotions that were going on
during the Vietnam War and why people couldn't talk to one another?"
In my Junior Studies class we always do a section on war memorials, with particular
emphasis on the Vietnam War Memorial designed by Maya Lin. With September 11 staring us
in the face, I thought it would be avoiding the fact not to talk about a memorial for it.
The suggestion met with some anxiety from a few faculty members who felt we didn't have
enough information yet. But I decided to go ahead with it, and I am glad I did. The
students were able to talk to each other about how they felt about what happened on
September 11. We talked about whether a memorial should be to console or to forgive.
Do you make a political or patriotic statement? And then they drew up plans for a memorial.
Right after we finished it, an article came out in the New York Times about the work
that's being done to create a memorial for September 11, quoting Maya Lin and discussing
the requirements for a memorial. I think the students felt the significance of that-that
they were participating in a national dialogue.
Karen Geary: I have not changed the content of my physics courses. I chose not
to ask my students to solve problems or even discuss the disasters from a physics perspective.
I found the idea abhorrent. I was not willing to even think about the destruction in a way
that did not put the human toll first.
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| Robinson |
Christine Robinson, English: I gave my students an opportunity to write about what
had happened, telling them they could choose whether or not to turn it in. The two senior
classes took me up on it. The 11th graders did not, so we began reading Gatsby. I didn't
change any of the books I was going to teach, though I thought about that. In the end, it
seemed to me there wasn't a reason to because any text can be timely-literature always
brings us to all the big questions. For instance, the first book we read was The Book of
Laughter and Forgetting by Milan Kundera. It takes place in the Czech Republic in the
1960s, and in part it is about reinventing history. My students and I have found much
that resonates with what is going on in the world.
To me the events of September 11 and the war are always on my mind, so they become a
backdrop for everything I read and teach. That's not necessarily true for the students.
Sometimes I'll say, "Hmm, is anyone hearing echoes?" Sometimes they'll say, "Oh, my gosh,
yeah."
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| Michael Packer '73 |
In Memoriam
The Academy was touched directly by the events of September 11 when it was learned that three alumni were lost in the collapse of the World Trade Center: Michael B. Packer '73, Scott H. Saber '82 and Eric R. Thorpe '85.
On September 11, Michael Packer, a managing director in Merrill Lynch's corporate and institutional client group, was scheduled to deliver a keynote address at an e-commerce conference on the 106th floor of the trade center's north tower. Michael, 45, was a widely respected leader in the financial and technology communities; in 1999, Institutional Investor named him one of the country's top online finance leaders. According to Thomas Davis, an executive vice president with Merrill Lynch, "Michael's innovation and leadership brought us to the forefront of the industry."
Michael came to Exeter as a prep in 1969, the year after his older brother, Alex J. Packer, graduated. Michael's later success would come as no surprise to those who knew him as a student at Exeter, where he served as a proctor and was a member of Cum Laude and president of the Scientific Society. He went on to earn his B.A., magna cum laude, from Harvard, where he built several harpsichords and performed in concerts, and his M.S. and Ph.D. in mechanical engineering from MIT.
Married for more than 20 years, he is survived by his wife, Rekha, and their two children, Sarita and Jonathan. On weekends, Michael enjoyed golfing, woodworking and playing piano, and he often conducted scientific experiments for the benefit of his family. Together the family established the JSRM Foundation, a charitable foundation that supports humanitarian causes, including the alleviation of poverty in developing countries. Donations in Michael's honor may be made to JSRM Foundation, c/o William Donnell, Merrill Lynch, 360 Hamilton Avenue, 8th Floor, White Plains, NY 10601.
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| Scott Saber '82 with his neice, Arielle. |
Like Michael Packer, Scott Saber, 36, was a featured speaker at the e-commerce conference on September 11. Executive director of equities with UBS Warburg, Scott had worked in finance since graduating from Lehigh University in 1986, including stints at Merrin Financial, where he was a vice president for sales, and at Morgan Stanley, where he was also a vice president.
At each stage of his life, Scott made deep and lasting friendships. "Scott befriended me on the day I arrived at Exeter," said his Webster Hall dormmate Anthony Malloy, "and he was always kind and generous."Jonathan Garzillo '83 knew Scott at both Exeter and at Lehigh, "years that were so much more enjoyable purely because of Scott's being there." His colleague Kevin Lupowitz described Scott as "one of the toughest friends to have and one of the easiest"-easy because of his ready sense of humor and commitment to helping those around him, and tough because he cared enough to speak up when he thought his friends were doing things against their better interest. "He had an unbelievable knack of pulling me off the sidelines and dragging me headfirst into the game," said Lupowitz.
Scott was also a devoted uncle to his two nieces, Arielle and Rebecca, and his nephew, Richard. To honor his love of children and of sports, his family-including his mother, Elaine Saber, and his two brothers, Bruce Saber, PEA class of '76, and Brian Saber-have established the Scott H. Saber Memorial Fund to maintain in perpetuity the East 76th Street children's playground in Central Park. Donations may be sent to the Scott H. Saber Memorial Fund, Central Park Conservancy, 14 East 60th Street, 8th Floor, New York, NY 10022.
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| Rick Thorpe '85 and his wife, Linda. |
Eric "Rick" Thorpe arrived at Exeter in the fall of 1984 as a post-grad senior, and quickly developed a large circle of friends. "In the dining hall or in class, Rick had a way of making you smile, no matter what kind of day you were having," said his classmate William Bullock, a comment seconded by Ed Colbert '85. "Rick held family and friends very dear," said Ed. "We'll always remember him as a super athlete without an ego, as a friend with a very big heart, a big smile and laugh, and as a caring person who was engaging to everyone he came in contact with, regardless of class or status."
From Exeter, Rick went on to Lafayette College, where he played varsity football and lacrosse, was a member of the Chi Phi fraternity and was a student director of the school's soup kitchen. Within a few years of his graduation from Lafayette, he was working in the equity sales division of Keefe, Bruyette & Woods, eventually rising to vice president. On the morning of September 11, Rick, 35, was at the firm's offices in the south tower of the World Trade Center.
Rick's memorial service was held in Mystic, CT, "on the water that Rick loved so much," said Ed Colbert. Rick is survived by his wife, Linda, and their daughter, Alexis, and by his parents and sister. Donations in Rick's honor may be made to the Thorpe Family Beneficial Trust, c/o The Bank of New York, 241 Route 7, Tuxedo Park, NY 10987.
To honor all of these men, the trustees of the Academy have established a fund that will support scholarships or visiting speakers addressing world issues.
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