Day 154: 7:00 a.m. I arrived at the construction site an hour late just like my fellow co-workers. We idle around the site kicking around a soccer ball while we send Steve to stand around the roof pretending to work on the tiling. In reality, Steve’s just drinking soda and drilling holes in random shingles. To the students, it seems as if we are hard at work with machinery but it’s just Steve drilling holes. Or Dave who’s still trying to get forklift certified.

On Oct. 5, instead of listening to an assembly speaker, students watched as the Academy’s music students took the assembly stage and performed a variety of a capella pieces, classical music, and self-composed songs.

This year marks the five year anniversary since Exeter students were forced to migrate into an online learning program, learning Harkness through online classes in their dorm or several thousand miles from New Hampshire. The discipline of collaboration, engagement, and enlightenment evaporated as Exonians locked their doors and weathered the invisible hurricane of the pandemic sweeping across the world. Thus, the participation in both the school curriculum and extracurriculars plummeted. But now, in the 2024-25 school year, Exonians seem to have fully transitioned back to the Harkness table and recovered from the plight of the virus. The paths and dining halls are bubbling with excitement, and the halls of the Academy echoes with the same cheer. The same resurgence in activity on campus soon extended into Exeter’s student led clubs. With more than 180 clubs and more than 1000 students, Club Night on Sept. xsx was an extravaganza. Clubs ranged from competitive quiz bowls, to intense runs and relaxing tea-times, highlighting the diverse Exeter Experience. In many of these clubs, coheads have reported an increase in participation. Upper Abi Sagna, cohead of Academy Belly Dancing Society noted, “I think we had a lot of new kids come to our tryouts this year, which is surprising so we’re really excited for this new year. We weren’t expecting that.”