“I was walking down the street and…” You would probably expect a story, but if Mr. Whittemore is your math teacher, you know that he likes to frame his classes in the form of a narrative. If you hear his iconic sentence, you know he is moving on to the next homework problem. Surrounded by chattering students in EPAC 319, Instructor in Mathematics Tim Whittemore is seated at the head of the table.

The lyrics, “Don’t you worry about a thing,” rang through the Bowld as voices blended in rich harmony, setting the tone for an evening of rhythm, humor, and tightly woven sound. On the night of Saturday, Jan. 31, the Yale Spizzwinks brought their music to Phillips Exeter Academy. From the very first chord, the group’s warmth, precision, and playful stage presence drew the audience into an evening of dynamic a cappella performance.

In the corner of the common room, late at night, senior Andy Song sits surrounded by a group of fellow Ewaldians. Although he has two majors due the next day, Song is immersed in a dormmate’s genetics homework, carefully guiding him through DNA isolation, while cracking jokes with his friends. After the problem is completed, they all take a break and play a round of poker until Song checks the time and realizes he really has to go to bed.

On Feb. 6, 2026, upper Ari Benenson was elected Student Council President for the 2026-2027 academic year. His victory followed weeks of campaigning and two public appearances, the last of which took place in the presidential debate on Friday. Benenson’s administration will commence by the time students return to campus in the spring, where he will be accompanied by Vice President and upper Oluj Okeremi as well as Co-Secretaries Richard Byun and Faye Yang, both of whom are lowers.

On the night of Feb. 6, lowers Richard Byun and Faye Yang were announced as the newest Student Council Co-Secretaries. Both candidates ran on platforms centered around improving student-administration communication and making concrete improvements to the student body’s daily life.

Lunar New Year is around the corner, but the sense of familiarity is drifting away from our hearts. Our world is missing that stroke of “red”: the red couplets, red lanterns, red packaging, red clothing, and red fireworks. While our families drift from house to house, trading gifts and red envelopes, we spend the night on the other side of the world, studying for tests, buried under reading and practice problems.

I am not a chef by any means. Hand me a common kitchen appliance and I’ll fiddle with it in all the incorrect ways imaginable. My culinary skills are, quite literally, limited to the occasional ramen I whip up in my dorm kitchen where, even after twenty-plus repetitions of the same-old practice, I still tend to misjudge the heat of the water or the readiness of the noodles. It is safe to say I am by nature not meant for the kitchen and, in turn, the kitchen has never quite welcomed me either.

In a recent meme, a penguin walks away from its group. It heads in an opposite direction towards icy mountains in the distance alone towards certain death. A resurfaced clip of the two-decade-old “Encounters at the End of the World” by Werner Herzog displays the “Lonely Penguin,” as coined by the Internet, straying from its colony and instead waddling away towards a mountain range in the distance.

What is the appeal of the Super Bowl even to people who are not particularly interested in football? This year will be the 60th Super Bowl — Super Bowl LX in the San Francisco Bay Area between the New England Patriots and the Seattle Seahawks. The first Super Bowl occurred on Jan. 15, 1967, and since then, it has become a cornerstone of American culture. Super Bowl LVIII had a record number of views with an average of 123.4 million people watching the game at any given time via television.

On Feb. 4, Big Red girls’ varsity squash faced Milton Academy in the Fisher Squash Center immediately following the boys varsity match against Andover. Despite not securing a win, the team fought hard and finished the day with a 3–4 result.

How much time do you spend on your phone? I’m sure many of us can’t (or don’t want to) name a specific amount, but I think generally, too much is an adequate answer — if it makes you feel any better, I have spent over five hours on Instagram today.Whether it’s studying, texting, or most likely just passive scrolling on social media, our lives are contained on our phones. They have become our center point; who are we without our digital lives?

There isn’t much standing around in Bob Lietz’s practice. As the Exeter boys’ JV basketball head coach, Lietz makes sure players stay in motion on the court, competing through drills that prevent unforced errors like careless passes. According to Lietz, the quickest way to improve in a sport is to play through it.

On Saturday, Jan. 24, the varsity wrestling team competed against Phillips Andover Academy, Brooks School, and Belmont Hill, securing a win for Brooks School but ultimately losing to Belmont and Andover. The team first competed against Andover, but rather than letting that loss beat them down, they came back stronger.

Dear Dr. Bilyk, I am so sorry, but I am not going to be in English class today. PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE, don’t mark me absent. I’ve already used three fatigues and three dickeys, and CANNOT go on stricts under any circumstances.

The snow day we’d been dreaming about for nine years finally arrived — and ended just as fast. There’s still a foot of snow on the meadows and slush on the paths, but everyone’s back in class, pretending we didn’t just spend 24 hours living in a different universe.