The Exeter cycling team opened the season with an outstanding performance at the New Hampshire Motor Speedway on Apr. 16th. Contrary to regular cycling races that are usually a longer distance, this race was an individual time trial with staggered starts. Racing is now an 8-mile time trial. Exeter placed first overall as a team, beating teams like Portsmouth and Andover.

Breathe in. She bows low, longer than usual, gripping the edge of her oldest friend, the grand piano. The applause folds around her as she pauses to listen to the claps. She smiles to herself because she knows the crowd. She recognizes every laugh, every cheer, every face — knows them by the space they’ve taken up in her life.

On Friday, Feb. 7, following the Student Council’s presidential debate, Phillips Exeter Academy’s 16th principal, Bill K. Rawson, walked onto the stage. The lingering chatter of faculty and students dissecting the heated moments of the debate faltered into uneasy silence. As shoulders stiffened and eyes tracked his every step, the school was held in anticipation — no one knew it yet, but everything was about to change.

“Gentlemen, what are the four pillars?” “Tradition, Honor, Discipline, Excellence.” — Dead Poets Society.

Amidst a spring night behind Hoyt Hall, a circle of girls leaned in around the cackling fire pit, balancing marshmallows on crooked branches, laughing when one caught fire or sagged into the flames.