Phillips Exeter Academy

Founder John Phillips was born in Andover, MassachusettsMassachusettsMassachusetts (officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts) is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States; its capital and largest city is Boston. One of the original 13 states, it ratified the U.S. Constitution on February 6, 1788, the sixth state to do so. Its population in the 2020 census (April 1, 2020) was 7,029,917.Open the full entry, on December 27, 1719. He entered Harvard UniversityHarvard UniversityHarvard University is a private research university in Massachusetts, established by the Massachusetts Bay Colony legislature in 1636 and named in 1639 for early benefactor John Harvard. Its principal campuses are in Cambridge and the Allston and Longwood neighborhoods of Boston. It includes Harvard College, graduate and professional schools, and the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study. Two governing boards share oversight. Alan M. Garber was president as of October 2026, and the endowment stood at $56.9 billion at the end of fiscal 2025.Open the full entry at the age of 11 and graduated in 1735. On August 4, 1743, he married Sarah E. Gilman in Exeter; Sarah died on October 9, 1765. On November 3, 1767, he married Elizabeth (Dennett) Hale.⁠[1][2]

The school describes John Phillips as a successful businessman living in Exeter who was a teacher by trade, gave much of his time to his church, the town and the province, and firmly believed in educating “youth from every quarter.” He was Dartmouth CollegeDartmouth CollegeDartmouth College is a private institution of higher education in Hanover, New Hampshire, and a member of the Ivy League. Founded by Eleazar Wheelock, it received a royal charter on December 13, 1769. The 1819 Supreme Court ruling in Dartmouth College v. Woodward preserved its private status. Alongside undergraduate liberal arts education, Dartmouth includes the Geisel, Thayer, Tuck and Guarini schools. It enrolled 7,273 students in fall 2025 and held a $9 billion endowment at June 30, 2025. Sian Leah Beilock, in office since June 2023, remained president as of October 2026.Open the full entry’s first major benefactor and gave financial support to his nephews’ founding of Phillips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts, before establishing Phillips Exeter Academy three years later. BritannicaEncyclopædia BritannicaEncyclopædia Britannica is a general English-language encyclopedia first published in Edinburgh, Scotland, in 1768; the name also refers to its publisher, Chicago-based Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. (which presents itself as The Britannica Group). The print edition ended in 2012, and the company’s main businesses since then have been the online encyclopedia Britannica.com, digital education products for schools and libraries, and Merriam-Webster dictionaries.Open the full entry calls him a local merchant and the uncle of Samuel Phillips, the founder of Phillips Academy.⁠[3][4]

On April 3, 1781, the New Hampshire General Assembly passed an act incorporating Phillips Exeter Academy, located in Exeter in Rockingham County; under the act, property given to the trustees for the academy was exempt from all taxes.⁠[5][1]

On May 17, 1781, John Phillips and his wife, Elizabeth Phillips, signed the Deed of Gift, which the school’s “Academy History” page calls the charter establishing Phillips Exeter Academy and its chronology calls the “Constitution” of the Academy; in it Elizabeth gave up her dower rights in the property. The school notes that the deed was finalized about five months before the British surrender at Yorktown that ended the Revolutionary War.⁠[3][5][1]

The deed states that the gift was made “for the sole purpose of promoting piety, virtue, and useful literature,” with instruction in grammar, writing, arithmetic and other sciences directed to “the great end and real business of living,” and that “the first and principal design of this institution is the promoting virtue and true piety.” It says that “though goodness without knowledge is weak and feeble, yet knowledge without goodness is dangerous,” and that the two together form the basis of the noblest character.⁠[5]

The deed provides that admission is “equally open to youth of requisite qualifications from every quarter,” and that students must be able to read English well unless the trustees license an exception; only Protestants could take part in the trust or the instruction, principal instructors had to be church members in good standing, and instruction in natural and revealed religion was required. Students were to board with families licensed by the trustees, and instructors were to encourage manual labor such as gardening, whose proceeds could go toward a library. The trustees were to meet annually, elect a president, clerk and treasurer, set instructors’ salaries by contract and remove instructors for misconduct or incapacity.⁠[5]

John Phillips reserved the right to make special rules for the academy during his lifetime and to appoint a successor trustee; a footnote on the deed page states that his appointee, John T. Gilman, later surrendered that right. The deed was acknowledged on January 9, 1782, and recorded in Rockingham County on March 11, 1782, and in Strafford County on March 29, 1782.⁠[5]

As set by the deed, the trustees held their first meeting on December 18, 1781. In 1781 John Phillips gave the academy $60,000.⁠[1][5]

On March 20, 1783, the academy opened to 56 students in the first Academy Building (now on Elliot Street); the formal opening followed on May 1, with William Woodbridge as Preceptor and the dedication of the building. In September of that year enrollment was 56 and there were no tuition fees. The school’s “History & Traditions” page states that the academy formally opened on May 1, 1783, with one teacher and 56 students.⁠[1][2]

Benjamin Abbot was appointed second Preceptor on October 8, 1788, and was appointed Principal on May 20, 1808. On August 23, 1838, the school held the Abbot festival to mark his retirement after 50 years at its head; he died on October 25, 1849, about 10 years after retiring. The school’s list of principals counts William Woodbridge as the first and Benjamin Abbot as the second.⁠[1][1]

On November 13, 1793, the trustees voted to build a second Academy Building on land given by J. T. Gilman; it was erected in 1794, and in 1821 wings were added to both ends of the building.⁠[1]

John Phillips died on April 21, 1795, at the age of 76, leaving two-thirds of his estate (about $60,000) to the academy in his will. Elizabeth Phillips died in September 1797.⁠[1]

Daniel Webster entered the academy at the age of 14 on May 14, 1796. He was elected a trustee on August 20, 1835, and served until his death in 1852.⁠[1]

On March 12, 1797, the trustees voted to award certificates for “good progress.” On September 10, 1798, they banned silk clothing for students and called for less expensive student dress. On December 14, 1799, after the death of George WashingtonGeorge WashingtonGeorge Washington (1732–1799) was the first president of the United States, serving from 1789 to 1797. Earlier he commanded the Continental Army in the American Revolutionary War and presided over the Constitutional Convention of 1787.Open the full entry, a student group called the “Washington Whites” held military exercises in Exeter.⁠[1]

Trustee records first mention annual “Exhibitions,” or Closing Exercises, on July 9, 1801. The first permanent mathematics instructor was appointed on August 23, 1803. In 1809 the academy levied its first tuition fee of $2 a year, with foundationers exempted. On February 26, 1813, a student, Isaac Butler, complained in an oration that “rough-scuffs of the town” had destroyed the students’ snow fort.⁠[1]

On August 14, 1814, Nicholas Gilman left $1,000 to the academy for instruction in sacred music. On June 3, 1818, the trustees voted to add an English Department alongside the Classical Department. The Golden Branch, the oldest surviving academy society, was founded on July 16, 1818; on August 19, 1841, the trustees amended its constitution to prevent secret meetings.⁠[1]

In 1834 Francis E. Parker gave the academy $130,000.⁠[1]

Gideon Lane Soule was appointed third Principal on August 22, 1838. Joseph G. Hoyt became Professor of Mathematics in 1841, and tuition was $14 a year in 1849. On July 31, 1854, following Hoyt’s plan, the school was divided into junior, middle and senior classes, plus Preparatory and Advanced classes; on August 13 of that year the trustees voted that a student using intoxicating liquor must leave the academy. On March 24, 1857, the trustees voted to create a Faculty of the Instructors.⁠[1]

George A. Wentworth was appointed Professor of Mathematics on March 23, 1858, and on July 13 of that year the trustees permitted students to study outside the main recitation building. Bradbury Cilley was appointed Professor of Classics on January 19, 1859; on August 29 the school calendar was set at three equal terms with an 11-week summer vacation, and on October 19 baseball clubs were first organized. Exeter’s new Town Hall, dedicated on January 3, 1856, became the site of early academy dramatic and musical productions, and the Christian Fraternity was founded on April 13, 1856 (it merged with the Student Council in 1954).⁠[1]

Tuition rose to $10 a term on November 24, 1863, and was $15 a term in 1870; boating was first recognized at the academy in 1864; students established an Episcopal Society, later the Episcopal Parish (Christ Church), on September 27, 1865; the New England Alumni Association formed in Boston on January 1, 1866; and on July 2, 1868, the trustees voted to hire the first instructor in modern languages (French). In 1872 the Soule Festival honored Soule’s 50 years of service; he resigned on February 1, 1873, after 35 years as principal and died on May 28, 1879.⁠[1]

In 1870 Soule moved the evening room-return requirement from seven o’clock to eight. The first boat club was formed on November 5, 1872.⁠[1]

On August 24, 1852, a dormitory living experiment began in Williams House, with free rooms and board at $1.42 a week. Abbot Hall, the first permanent dormitory, opened on August 27, 1855, with room rent of $1.00 a year.⁠[1]

Moses Uriah Hall, a Black student from Exeter, entered the academy on September 1, 1858. The school’s Official Register records in 1864 (the chronology gives the date as September 11, with a question mark) that five students from KentuckyKentuckyKentucky is a U.S. state bordered by Illinois, Indiana and Ohio to the north, West Virginia and Virginia to the east, Tennessee to the south and Missouri to the west; its capital is Frankfort and its largest city is Louisville. It entered the Union on June 1, 1792, as the 15th state and the first state west of the Appalachian Mountains, and had a population of 4,505,836 in the 2020 census (April 1, 2020).Open the full entry left because a Black student was in their class, and the entry expresses a wish that they could all have been publicly examined in company with him; the school presumes it was written by Soule, and the student has not been identified. John Percyville Parker, a Black student from Ripley, OhioOhioOhio is a state in the Midwestern United States; its capital is Columbus. It joined the Union in 1803 as the 17th state, the first carved from the Northwest Territory, and its population in the 2020 census (April 1, 2020) was 11,799,448.Open the full entry, entered on September 8, 1870, as a member of the Class of 1871.⁠[1]

On March 3, 1860, Abraham LincolnAbraham LincolnAbraham Lincoln (February 12, 1809 – April 15, 1865) was the 16th president of the United States (1861–1865). Born to a frontier farming family in Kentucky, he had less than a year of formal schooling, taught himself law, and served in the Illinois legislature and the U.S. House of Representatives before winning the presidency as the Republican candidate in 1860. During the Civil War he preserved the Union, issued the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863 and pushed the Thirteenth Amendment abolishing slavery through Congress. He was shot by John Wilkes Booth at Ford’s Theatre in Washington on April 14, 1865, and died the next day.Open the full entry visited his son Robert Todd Lincoln, then a student at the academy, and spoke in Exeter’s Town Hall for the Republican Club.⁠[1]

The first Exeter student left for the Civil War on April 22, 1861. On May 22, 2014, a Civil War memorial plaque listing 38 Exonians who died in the war was dedicated in the Assembly Hall.⁠[1]

In 1862 John L. Sibley, Class of 1819, gave the academy $66,000; on November 25 of that year Jonathan Sibley established a Charity Fund to aid students of little means.⁠[1]

Fire destroyed the second Academy Building on December 18, 1870, and the third Academy Building was dedicated in 1872. On December 17, 1872, the trustees bought the Squamscott House, a hotel, for use as a dormitory; it later became Gorham Hall.⁠[1]

Albert C. Perkins was appointed fourth Principal on May 22, 1873, and resigned on May 8, 1883; Walter Q. Scott was appointed fifth Principal on July 1, 1884, and resigned on April 20, 1889; Charles E. Fish was appointed sixth Principal on June 24, 1890, and resigned on March 30, 1895; and Harlan P. Amen was appointed seventh Principal on June 17, 1895, and died in office on October 8, 1913.⁠[1]

The first academy orchestra was formed in 1875; on June 13 of that year Woodbridge Odlin established the first professorship in English, and the PEA Athletic Association held its first meeting on September 6. James A. Tufts was appointed Instructor in English in 1878, and on June 12, 1878, Ralph Waldo Emerson gave an address on education to the Golden Branch. On March 15, 1879, the school newspaper reviewed the first Glee Club concert, and on May 3 the Dramatics Club gave its first entertainment in the Town Hall. The first PEAN, whose name comes from the Greek word for a song of praise, was published on June 22, 1880; the G. L. Soule Literary Society first met on November 19, 1881; and the first issue of the Literary Monthly appeared on May 29, 1886.⁠[1]

Ground was broken for the first academy gymnasium on August 12, 1885. On May 21, 1887, the trustees awarded the first diplomas to the senior class. Enrollment in 1888–1889 was 206, with tuition of $20 a term plus room and board, and enrollment in 1895 was 123. A chemical laboratory was built in 1891, Soule Hall opened on September 12, 1894, and Peabody Hall on September 15, 1896; from 1897 paid coaches were regularly provided for athletic teams, and tuition was $150 a year in 1899. After Amen lifted the ban on fraternities, the Phi Epsilon Sigma society was organized on January 21, 1896, and the first E-Book was published on September 9 of that year. Phillips Congregational Church was dedicated on September 30, 1899.⁠[1]

When Ralph Waldo Emerson spoke on June 12, 1878, he stayed overnight as the guest of Dr. Gorham, Class of 1837 and a trustee. On December 11, 1894, the academy won a public spelling match against the Robinson Female Seminary. On October 9, 1895, The Exonian wrote that the trustees had arranged pool and billiards rooms for students whose parents gave permission. The first Merrill Prize Speaking Contest took place on June 6, 1897.⁠[1]

The first issue of The Exonian, the student newspaper, appeared on April 6, 1878; the school describes it as the oldest high school newspaper in the country. On May 2 of that year Exeter played its first baseball game against Phillips Academy in Andover and won 12–1, and on November 2 the two schools met for the first time in football, Andover winning 22–0. Contests in other sports followed, including tennis (Exeter won its first match against Andover on November 15, 1884) and track (Andover won the first meet 6–3 on June 12, 1889).⁠[1][2]

On February 4, 1901, Abner Merrill, Class of 1838, gave the Merrill Building on Spring and Water Streets (site of the present Merrill Hall). In 1903 Alumni Hall (now part of the Mayer Art Center) opened on June 16 as the central dining hall, Hoyt Hall and Thompson Gymnasium were built, and the first Exeter–Andover golf match was held. The first issue of the Phillips Exeter Bulletin appeared on March 22, 1905; on June 20 that year the Nathaniel Gilman House was given to the academy and George A. Plimpton, Class of 1873, gave playing fields, adding “the fields beyond” in June 1911.⁠[1]

In the winter of 1905 the academy hired Jessie Ford of Exeter, a trained librarian, to catalog its 2,000-volume library, then housed in two second-floor rooms of the Academy Building. The first Exeter–Andover debate was held in 1906. The old Dunbar Hall burned on April 10, 1907, and the new Dunbar Hall opened on September 16, 1908; a chapter of the Cum Laude Society was established on May 18, 1907, and the Student Council first met on September 25, 1907. Enrollment reached 516 on April 15, 1910, with tuition of $150 a year (room and board extra), and was 572 in 1913. The cornerstone of Davis Library was laid on October 26, 1911, and Webster Hall opened on September 18, 1912.⁠[1]

The Southern Club formed in 1908. On October 8, 1913, the day Amen died, Exeter beat Andover 59–0 in football. From February 12, 1916, students were allowed to attend Friday night shows at the Ioka. On November 11, 1938, the trustees voted that no one may take food out of the dining halls.⁠[1]

Lewis Perry was appointed eighth Principal on June 18, 1914. He announced his retirement on June 11, 1945; a faculty dinner with 250 attending honored him on March 12, 1946, and in June 1946 the school held Perry-Lamont Day, at which Perry and the retiring board president, Thomas W. Lamont, spoke in the Thompson Gymnasium. Perry died on January 26, 1970, at the age of 94.⁠[1]

Fire destroyed the third Academy Building on July 3, 1914; the cornerstone of the fourth was laid on October 5, 1914, and it was dedicated on October 9, 1915. The school states that since 1915 a triple-masted ship weathervane named “Sidney S,” an homage to the Raleigh on the New Hampshire state seal, has topped the building’s bell tower. On October 14, 1914, the Hill Bridge, a gift of George Hill, Class of 1865, was completed, linking the Plimpton Fields with “the fields beyond”; the first Exeter–Andover hockey game was also played in 1914.⁠[1][2]

On May 30, 1916, F. J. Price, Class of 1901, became the first Exonian to die in World War I, at Ypres; 62 Exonians were killed in the war between 1916 and 1918. The student Military Battalion held its first drill in the Town Hall on February 24, 1917. The Spanish flu epidemic struck the academy on October 2, 1918, and the Thompson Gymnasium was dedicated on February 22 of that year. On November 29, 1916, the negative side won the Golden Branch debate “Should Exeter Be Coeducational?”⁠[1]

On July 8, 1919, after the trustees approved the faculty’s proposal, the first summer session opened with 65 students, intended to make better use of the facilities, speed progress and offset learning losses from long summer vacations. The first school service was held in Phillips Church on April 4, 1919, and on January 16, 1919, the Exeter Opera House on Water Street, which had hosted academy dramatic and minstrel shows from 1890 to 1916, burned down.⁠[1]

In 1920 the first Exeter–Andover swimming meet and basketball game were held, the Lantern Club and the Scientific Society were founded, and tuition was $250 a year. In 1922 the Class of 1920 started a “Christmas Fund,” voting that as many members as possible should give $10 apiece each year, later followed by the classes of 1921 and 1922; it became Annual Giving, which the school calls the second-oldest annual fund in the United States after Yale UniversityYale UniversityYale University is a research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Its predecessor, the Collegiate School, received a charter in 1701. Trustees chose New Haven in 1716; the institution became Yale College in 1718 and Yale University in 1887. Yale provides undergraduate, graduate and professional education and has 14 undergraduate residential colleges. As of October 2026, its president was Maurie McInnis, who took office in July 2024. In 2026, Yale expanded aid for incoming undergraduates and celebrated its 325th anniversary.Open the full entry’s, begun in 1811. On September 25, 1922, the trustees bought Phillips Congregational Church from the Second Parish.⁠[1]

The Infirmary, a gift of Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Lamont, opened on June 25, 1923. The General Alumni Association was founded on May 31, 1924; that year Gen. John G. Pershing and his aide Col. George C. MarshallGeorge C. MarshallGeorge C. Marshall (1880–1959) was a five-star U.S. Army general and statesman. He was Army chief of staff during World War II and later served as secretary of state and secretary of defense, and he received the 1953 Nobel Peace Prize for proposing and supervising the plan for Europe’s economic recovery, the Marshall Plan.Open the full entry visited Perry and Pershing’s son at Exeter, and Edward S. Harkness gave $24,000 for new dormitories. Amen, Cilley and Wentworth Halls were dedicated on November 14, 1925. On February 21, 1926, there were twenty known cases of scarlet fever at the academy. A Saturday night film series began in the gymnasium on October 1, 1927; E. S. Wells Kerr became Dean in 1928; and a new stadium and football field were dedicated on November 9, 1929.⁠[1]

On November 17, 1930, Edward S. Harkness gave $5,800,000 to the academy. On November 25 the faculty adopted a resolution on the gift and established the Harkness System of 12 students per class around a conference table, and in 1931 twenty-five additional teachers were hired for it. The school’s Harkness page states that the gift is the equivalent of more than $112 million today. Britannica, for its part, dates Harkness’s generous endowment of the school to 1931.⁠[1][6][4]

The academy celebrated its 150th anniversary on June 6, 1931. Jeremiah Smith Hall and the Thompson Science Building, gifts of Col. William Boyce Thompson, Class of 1890, opened on September 23, 1931, and he also gave the squash building and the baseball and track cage. In 1932 Harkness gave Phillips Hall and Merrill Hall and added wings to the Academy Building; Mrs. William Boyce Thompson and her daughter, Mrs. William Boyce Thompson Schultz, gave the Exeter Inn; and on September 21, 1932, the Lamont Annex (the contagious ward, now Lamont Hall) opened.⁠[1]

In 1933 the first Exeter–Andover wrestling, lacrosse and indoor track contests were held; on September 20 a flat rate of $1,051 covering tuition, room and board was first charged, and on December 12 The Review replaced The Literary Monthly. Wheelwright Hall, a gift of Harkness, opened on September 18, 1934, and Bancroft Hall on September 19, 1935, when all boarding students were housed on campus for the first time. Jeremiah Smith Jr., Class of 1888 and president of the trustees from 1920 to 1935, died on March 12, 1935. The first Exeter–Andover fencing match took place in 1936, and on September 26, 1937, the academy acquired Knight House and added a third story.⁠[1]

The school records that in World War II 141 Exonians were killed and 26 faculty members left for service; in 1950 a chapel service honored 154 academy graduates who died in the war. In June 1942 the faculty voted to close the five remaining fraternities, and on December 1, 1942, it created an Anticipatory Program to help seniors graduate before the draft age of 18; the first Anticipatory graduation took place in February 1944. On October 27, 1943, 620 students helped 22 local farmers harvest apples and potatoes during a wartime labor shortage. In 1945 about $115,000 in scholarship aid was given; James Forrestal spoke at graduation, where his son Michael was among the graduates; and H. Hamilton Bissell was appointed director of Scholarship Boys.⁠[1]

In September 1941 the Grill (seating 125) moved to Alumni Hall after the Exonian Building, which had housed it, was torn down in August. The school states that H. Hamilton Bissell, Class of 1929, led an outreach effort over 14 years to diversify the student body, and the students it brought became known as “Hammy’s boys.”⁠[1][2]

William G. Saltonstall was appointed ninth Principal on June 2, 1946; at his first chapel service on September 18 the academy had 731 boys from 12 foreign countries and 42 states. On November 26, 1946, the faculty dropped the two-year Latin requirement, and from January 18, 1947, diplomas required three years of any language, ancient or modern; the Exonian editor’s protest over dropping Latin drew nationwide comment. The flat rate for 1946–1947 was $1,250 a year, and in September 1947 enrollment was 718 boys from every state but one.⁠[1]

A $5,000,000 campaign opened on April 3, 1947, with a $500,000 gift from Thomas W. Lamont; it concluded in 1948 having raised about $5,600,000. Lamont, Class of 1888 and board president from 1935 to 1946, died on February 2, 1948, leaving $3,500,000 to the academy. In September 1947 the Academy vs. Town tax case was settled, and on October 20 the faculty began an adult education program for the town of Exeter. A Look poll published on January 6, 1948, found students favoring Republicans 3 to 1.⁠[1]

On February 19, 1952, Saltonstall canceled classes for a “Four-S” day of sun, snow, sleep and surprise, which became the annual “St. Gurdon’s Day” (later Principal’s Day); The Exonian said it was prompted by low student morale and health. From August 21 to 28, 1952, the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics and the New England Institute for Teachers of Mathematics held a week-long joint session at the academy, directed by Jackson B. Adkins and attended by more than 500 people. Britannica writes that in 1953 an Exeter Study Commission led by Saltonstall issued a report that prompted a national reexamination of secondary education.⁠[1][4]

On May 13, 1953, E. S. Wells Kerr, the first Dean, retired, and the first academy building on Tan Lane was named “the Dean’s House” in his honor; on May 30 the Lamont Gallery and Art Center (formerly Alumni Hall) was dedicated. On December 8, 1953, seniors were exempted from the 10:30 bed hour and required breakfast, and on April 13, 1954, the faculty voted to mix all four classes in the dormitories. The Pendulum replaced The Review on November 9, 1955. The Exeter Bookstore opened on September 16, 1957, and the first “Daily Bulletin” was issued on September 19. The Lewis Perry Music Building was dedicated on May 28, 1960, and on October 23, 1960, Robert Frost, at 86, gave his last lecture at the academy. The Exeter Social Service Organization (ESSO) was formed on January 28, 1961, and on July 3, 1961, the Summer School became coeducational, with 13 girls among its 187 students.⁠[1]

On October 16, 1962, former President Dwight D. EisenhowerDwight D. EisenhowerDwight D. Eisenhower (1890–1969) was an American army general and politician who served as supreme commander of Allied forces in western Europe during World War II and as the 34th president of the United States, a Republican, from 1953 to 1961.Open the full entry visited his grandson, David D. Eisenhower II, Class of 1966, at the academy. Saltonstall resigned on March 4, 1963, to head the Peace Corps in Nigeria.⁠[1]

On November 15, 1956, the faculty banned students from patronizing Exeter establishments with pinball machines; the senior grill began on January 10, 1957; on April 7, 1959, the faculty voted a new physical education program for ninth graders, known as “Prep Spaz”; the barber shop in the Academy Building basement closed on September 29, 1960; on May 31, 1961, the faculty allowed students to have radios in their rooms; and on September 22, 1961, a cafeteria system was introduced in the dining halls, though students still waited on faculty tables.⁠[1]

Richard W. Day was appointed tenth Principal on June 10, 1963, but because of a prior commitment took office in 1964–1965; W. Ernest Gillespie served as Interim Principal for 1963–1964. McConnell Hall was dedicated on October 12, 1963, and on December 23 enrollment was 771, with tuition exceeding $2,000 for the first time (day-student tuition was $900). On November 13, 1964, the trustees voted to join Andover in sponsoring the School Year Abroad program. On March 13, 1965, Edward C. Simmons left a $7,300,000 bequest that expanded scholarship aid, and on May 29 Burke Marshall, Class of 1940, received the first John Phillips Award.⁠[1][1]

The first group of Washington interns arrived in Washington, D.C., to work in congressional offices on March 31, 1966. The 1967–1971 “Long Step Forward” campaign raised $25,634,521, exceeding its goal. The Wetherell Dining Center opened on September 17, 1967. On May 31, 1968, the trustees dropped required attendance at Sunday church services; on June 9 former Secretary of State Dean Acheson spoke at graduation; on July 1 Bruce Dobler became the first George Bennett Fellow, in a writer-in-residence program created in February 1967 by Elias B. Kulukundis, Class of 1955; on September 5 Anne W. Cunningham became the first woman faculty member, as a mathematics instructor; and on December 3 the faculty voted to switch from three terms to two semesters. Main Street and Ewald Halls opened on September 17, 1969; on October 15 students held a silent march from the Town Hall to Kensington to protest the Vietnam War; and on November 8 the new gymnasium was dedicated (it was rededicated in 1980 as Love Gymnasium). The first mid-year graduation took place on January 28, 1970. Day resigned on May 18, 1973, and died on July 3, 1978.⁠[1]

Dow House, formerly the Exeter Clinic, was purchased on May 6, 1964. The first Coke machines were installed in the dormitories on January 22, 1966; the Dramatics Association first performed in the renovated Harris House (later 3-D Hall) on April 22, 1966; and from September 14, 1966, a bowl of apples was set out daily in the Principal’s office. The Wednesday supper dress code was abandoned on October 25, 1967. The first George Bennett Fellow was announced in April 1968, and on May 4, 1968, the faculty voted to expand the Independent Study Program for seniors; that year Kirtland House was moved from Elm Street to Elliot Street to make room for the new dining center. Gould House was moved across Main Street on July 30, 1969, to make room for new dormitories, and Browning House was purchased on October 5, 1969.⁠[1]

On February 27, 1970, the trustees announced that the academy would become coeducational; when school opened on September 15 it had its first 39 female students, all day students, and on October 21 girls took part in their first interscholastic competition, in field hockey. In September 1971 there were 128 girls, and Bancroft and Hoyt became the first two girls’ dormitories. Mary Patterson McPherson became the first woman on the Board of Trustees in 1973–1974. Ninth-grade girls were first admitted as boarders in September 1977, and the first girls to have boarded for four years graduated on June 5, 1981. Britannica writes that the school was founded as a boys’ school.⁠[1][4]

On December 20, 1973, the ratio of boys to girls was 3:1. On February 15, 1974, the dress code was amended so that boys could wear turtlenecks instead of shirts and ties, and on June 6, 1974, Harriet Sue Schwartz became the first woman to receive the Faculty Excellence Award. On April 11, 1980, William L. Dunfey donated funds to improve the status of women faculty; in 1979–1980 there were 24 women on the faculty.⁠[1]

Ground was broken for the new library and the Elm Street Dining Center on April 1, 1969. On November 16, 1971, classes halted while students and faculty moved 60,000 books into the new library. The library was designed by the architect Louis I. Kahn, whose death The Exonian announced on March 22, 1974. It was dedicated as the Class of 1945 Library, honoring Lewis Perry, on September 28, 1996; in May 1997 the American Institute of Architects gave it its 25-Year Award; and in May 2005 it was one of 12 buildings on U.S. Postal Service commemorative stamps. The school calls it the world’s largest high school library.⁠[1][7]

A computer was installed in the Academy Building on April 17, 1971, and The Mikado was performed on the opening night of the new Fisher Theater on May 12, 1972.⁠[1]

Stephen G. Kurtz was appointed eleventh Principal on March 28, 1974. On May 21, 1976, H. Hamilton Bissell received the first Founder’s Day Award, which Kurtz conceived and the trustees established in 1976. The 1978–1981 Third Century Fund raised $25.8 million, exceeding its $22.6 million goal. In 1980–1981 the academy celebrated ten years of coeducation and its bicentennial with three gala weekends, and the George H. Love Gymnasium was dedicated on October 25, 1980. The Mayer Art Gallery’s first show, on September 23, 1982, featured Picasso’s “Vollard Suite.” A computer science course was added on February 26, 1983; from April 27 to 29, 1983, Jorge Luis Borges read as the first Lamont Poet (the Lamont Poetry Program was established in 1982 by Corliss Lamont, Class of 1920); and Saturday assemblies were abolished on November 12, 1983.⁠[1]

From June 22 to 25, 1983, the academy hosted the national conference “Women Educators in Independent Schools,” featuring Gloria Steinem, Carol Gilligan, Pauli Murray, Eleanor Holmes Norton and others. On March 3, 1984, a candlelight vigil, held alongside a three-day fast, protested academy investments in companies with South African interests. On October 13, 1984, President Ronald ReaganRonald ReaganRonald Reagan (1911–2004) was an American politician and actor who worked as a radio sports announcer and film actor before serving as governor of California from 1967 to 1975 and as the 40th president of the United States from 1981 to 1989.Open the full entry honored the academy as one of 60 “exemplary” schools nationwide. Susan Jorgensen Herney became the first woman Dean of Students on July 1, 1985. A new catalog released on April 5, 1986, moved the school from semesters to trimesters from 1986–1987, and in June 1986 the rules were revised to prohibit tobacco. Kurtz announced on May 17, 1986, that he would retire in June 1987; he died on January 24, 2008.⁠[1]

A Summer Institute on Moral Education was held from June 18 to 30, 1978, and the academy received the Sustained Excellence Award in July 1978, July 1979, on July 7, 1980, and in July 1986. The “Exeter Conference on Secondary School Science Education” was held from June 15 to 22, 1980, and a month-long teachers’ writing project began on September 26, 1980. On January 16, 1981, student dining hall workers began receiving the minimum wage after government intervention. On October 15, 1983, the Student Council bought a jukebox for the Grill, and on October 29 students took part in an anti-nuclear rally and the faculty approved the Milton Mountain Program, a term abroad, for 1984–1985. An education conference on May 11, 1985, drew 18 schools; in June 1985 the faculty approved a “New” curriculum from a report by the Faculty Curriculum Committee chaired by E. Arthur Gilcreast, and from June 23 to 28 the “Computers in Secondary School Mathematics” conference featured Zalman Usiskin, Judah Schwartz, Michal Yerushalmy, John Kemeny and Stephen Mauer; on September 21, 1985, a five-year plan for academy improvement was announced. The Model UN Club attended the National Model UN Conference on March 1, 1986; on May 23 many students boycotted the Founder’s Day Assembly to protest the faculty’s “general disrespect” toward students; and on October 11 the Lovshin Track was dedicated to the former track coach Ralph Lovshin.⁠[1]

Kendra Stearns O’Donnell was appointed twelfth Principal on February 21, 1987, the first woman in the role. The PEA Child Care Center opened for faculty and staff children in January 1988, and that year alumni of color formed the Excellence through Diversity committee. On October 7, 1989, Ku Klux Klan activities in Exeter alarmed the academy and the community, and an assembly addressed student safety; the Grainger Observatory opened on October 28, 1989. The William G. Saltonstall Boathouse was dedicated on October 6, 1990. The first annual celebration of Martin Luther King Jr. Day took place on January 26, 1991; the first Exeter Mathematics Institute was held from July 5 to August 1, 1991; and the renovated WPEA radio station resumed broadcasting at FM 90.5 on September 27, 1991, winning the first annual Marconi College Radio Award for an outstanding high school station on November 14, 1992. In 1992 the boys’ first boat traveled to England to compete in the Henley Royal Regatta.⁠[1]

The library’s computerized catalog, BIBLION, went online in July 1994, and the academy got its own internet address in January 1995. The Forrestal-Bowld Music Center was dedicated on November 8, 1995 (it won the Boston Society of Architects’ Honor Award in Architecture Design in 1996), and the Korean-Vietnam Memorial was dedicated on November 11, 1995. On January 1, 1996, same-sex domestic partners were included in the academy’s medical benefit plan; on April 16 a new Latin inscription honoring 25 years of coeducation was added to the Academy Building facade and the dates 1781–1970 were added to the front-entrance lintel; and Phelps Stadium was dedicated on May 18. O’Donnell announced on May 13, 1996, that she would retire after 1996–1997.⁠[1]

The first President’s Awards were presented on September 22, 1989, and on December 13, 1989, Treasurer Joseph E. Fellows announced that, after a trial from November 1, the dining halls would offer free lunch to full-time and regular part-time staff. “February Thaw” was first observed in February 1990; that year Werner Brandes became the first Day Student coordinator, and a US–USSR exchange program was under way by February 10. A new visitation policy on March 3, 1991, allowed visits every evening rather than only on Tuesdays, Fridays and Saturdays; on May 25, 1991, students became non-voting members of the Discipline Committee; the library celebrated its 20th anniversary on November 16, 1991; and a student assistance program for substance abuse began on December 7, 1991. On April 29–30, 1992, the conference “Learning About Learning,” on learning differences, was held at Exeter with Dartmouth’s Academic Skills Center. The academy received the Circle of Excellence Award on July 13, 1993, July 14, 1997, and July 14, 2000.⁠[1]

In 1995 the principal visited alumni and parents in Hong Kong and Korea; in 1995–1996 the academy marked 25 years of coeducation with a gala ball and concerts; and the first Residential Life Day (later Academy Life Day) was held on October 2, 1995. On April 16, 1996, Dunbar Hall held “Run for your Life,” a two-mile race for women benefiting breast cancer research; telephones were installed in all student rooms on October 15, 1996; and on October 24, 1996, The Exonian wrote of record rainfall and flooding that shut down Exeter. In January 1997 Development Director James M. Theisen won the CASE 1997 Robert Bell Crow Memorial Award; on February 19, 1997, the faculty adopted the M.E.T.I.C. (Mid-Term Effort To Improve Classes) program, proposed by the Student Council, to begin in fall 1997; on February 26 the first universal voice-mail message announced Principal’s Day; and on May 31 the campus celebrated O’Donnell’s ten years as principal.⁠[1]

Tyler C. Tingley was appointed thirteenth Principal on February 7, 1997. “The Hymn of Phillips Exeter,” a new school hymn by Christopher Villar, Class of 1998, and an anonymous classmate, was first performed at Founder’s Day on May 9, 1997. On May 14, 1999, the trustees announced a $15 million gift from Stanford N. Phelps, Class of 1952, for a new science center to be named for him; ground was broken for the Phelps Science Center on October 2, 1999, with the total science project estimated at $52 million, and the center was dedicated on October 26–27, 2001. The new Academy Center opened on March 28, 2006, and was formally dedicated on September 16, 2006, in honor of Elizabeth and Stanford N. Phelps.⁠[1]

On May 20, 2000, the trustees unanimously allowed faculty in committed same-sex relationships to live in academy housing with their partners from fall 2001; on July 1, 2000, Barbara Eggers became the first woman Dean of Faculty; and in October 2000 the academy became the first entity in New Hampshire with a comprehensive radiation-monitoring system. On October 17, 2000, Exeter held its first online event, a conversation with the bestselling author Dan Brown, Class of 1982. After the September 11, 2001, attacks the academy updated its campus evacuation plan in November. The first Access Exeter program began on July 7, 2002, and Phillips Church reopened in January 2003. In March 2006 the National Association of Independent Schools gave Exeter a Leading Edge Award for environmental sustainability, and on June 2, 2007, the academy’s 15-student math team won first place in the ARML competition.⁠[1]

On October 28, 1997, the academy’s Dining Services won the Best Institutional Food Service award; on October 31, 1997, a 75-year ground lease turned the Exeter Inn over to Someplace(s) Different, with ownership reverting to the academy at the end of the term; and in December 1997 the BIBLION library catalog became accessible to internet users outside the campus. In May 1998 Tingley directed the Program Planning Committee for Phillips Church to write a program statement for its renovation; on June 4, 1998, the Class of 1998 became the first to receive Exie-mail accounts; and on November 14 the class presented a tapestry by Edwin Sulca honoring three deceased teachers. In March 1999 the trustees approved a major renovation of Cilley Hall, and that spring a Harkness Discussion Group examined the meaning of the Harkness approach; on June 27, 1999, the Wells Kerr House, the academy’s original four-room schoolhouse, was moved to 12 Elliot Street to make room for the science center; from July 1999 the Exeter Bulletin was available online, except for Class Notes; on September 8 the faculty endorsed Tingley’s Academic Master Planning Process; and on November 13 the first homecoming weekend was held during the Exeter–Andover weekend, Andover winning the football game 19–7.⁠[1]

On June 12, 2000, a major renovation of Cilley Hall began, launching the Harkness Initiative for Academy Life within the Academy Master Plan; from June 25 to 30, 2000, the first Exeter Humanities Institute brought English and history teachers together to study the Harkness method, and the Conference on Secondary School Mathematics and Technology was renamed the Anja S. Greer Conference at its 15th anniversary; a dormitory card access system went into use on October 12, 2000; and H. Hamilton Bissell, Class of 1929, died on November 17, 2000, the admissions building Bell House being renamed Bissell House in his honor by the Class of 1951 on May 19, 2001. The library opened CinemExeter, a video collection, at the Student Council’s request on January 26, 2001; the first College Admissions Weekend for parents of the Class of 2002 took place on February 23–24, 2001; from February 27 to March 3, 2001, ten Tibetan monks from the Drepung Gomang Monastery created a sand mandala in the library; teacher Rex McGuinn organized the first Shakespeare Institute from June 24 to 29, 2001; in October 2001 the trustees approved converting the Thompson Science Building into a new Academy Center; the dedication of the Phelps Science Center included the “Simple Gifts” archway by Jim Sardonis, Class of 1969; and in November 2001 the Student Council had DVD players installed in all dormitories, while on November 2 the first “Exonians In Education” colloquium, organized by Peter Greer, Class of 1958, brought back six alumni educators.⁠[1]

On April 23, 2002, Tyler Goodspeed, Class of 2003, became the first day student elected Student Council president, and in September 2002 day students held both the senior class presidency and the Student Council presidency for the first time; renovation of Amen Hall on the Cilley Hall model began on June 10, 2002, and it reopened that September; the first Access Exeter program, for students entering grades eight and nine, began on July 7, 2002; and Memorial Minutes: Phillips Exeter Academy, 1936–2002 was published in November 2002. Thomas House, a gift of the Class of 1968, was dedicated on November 8, 2003, and the first Lamont Younger Poets Prize was awarded on April 27, 2004. The academy received the 2005 New Hampshire Outstanding Tree Farm Award on February 5, 2005, and began composting food scraps on October 18, 2005; it took part in the first Green Cup Challenge on January 30, 2006, and the Green Cup Challenge that began on January 28, 2008, had 32 participating schools. On March 5, 2006, the swim team won its eighth consecutive New England Interscholastic championship; on July 11 a record hailstorm and heavy rain damaged Love Gym and other areas; the new Harris Family Children’s Center was dedicated on September 8, 2006, and won a DesignShare Award in October 2007; on September 15, 2006, the 75th anniversary of the Harkness gift opened with “A Conversation: Teaching with Harkness”; and on November 16, 2006, Carter Wiseman, Class of 1963, spoke on Louis I. Kahn at the 35th anniversary of “The Moving of the Books.” In April 2008 Community Action Day replaced Clean-up Day.⁠[1]

On November 7, 2007, the trustees voted unanimously to offer a free Exeter education, beginning in 2008–2009, to admitted students whose family income is $75,000 or less.⁠[1]

On October 24, 2008, the trustees announced Thomas E. Hassan as the fourteenth Principal; he served from 2009 to 2015. The Opening Day Assembly was streamed live online for the first time on September 9, 2011; on May 14, 2012, the faculty voted to allow students round-the-clock internet access from that September; and trayless dining began on September 6, 2012, to reduce food waste. On May 6, 2013, the academy created the Phillips Exeter Academy Dissertation Year Fellowships for doctoral candidates. Hassan announced on July 1, 2014, that he would retire after 2014–2015, and the fully renovated Webster Hall and Elm Street Dining Hall reopened on September 3, 2014.⁠[1][1]

On February 27, 2011, students set a record for the “Longest Conga Line on Ice” at the Love Gym arena with 266 participants, breaking the previous record of 252. On October 1, 2011, the Alumni Affairs and Development office became Institutional Advancement; the first Thank-a-Donor Day took place on February 7, 2012, and “ExeterConnect” was launched on November 12, 2012; and on April 25, 2012, Community Action Day projects shifted toward helping the Campus Facilities Department. An entry of March 5, 2013, records that in 2012 RiverWoods was the town’s top taxpayer at $2,844,688 and the academy second at $782,087, with 36 percent of its property taxable.⁠[1]

The academy chronology records under January 1, 2015, that Lisa MacFarlane was announced as the fifteenth Principal. The faculty approved a gender-neutral student dress code on May 11, 2015, and the Downer Family Fitness Center opened that September. The Class of 1959 Music Center, including the 250-seat Bowld Recital Hall, was dedicated in October 2016. In March 2017 all-gender housing options (Williams House and Kirtland House) were announced for that fall, and in May 2017 Christina Palmer became the first Director of Student Well-being. The William Boyce Thompson Field House was dedicated on January 27, 2018. MacFarlane announced her resignation in February 2018, effective July 1.⁠[1]

In June 2016 the Thompson Cage was demolished to make way for a new field house. On February 8, 2017, the academy declared its first snow day, and classes were canceled again on February 13. On June 1, 2017, members of the Afro-Latino Exonian Society and other students staged a sit-in in MacFarlane’s office.⁠[1]

In September 2017 the academy and the Exeter Police Department signed a new memorandum of understanding on reporting sexual assaults on campus: state and/or local authorities are to be notified immediately of any possible assault, faculty and staff receive annual training on their reporting obligations, and the school works with a local nonprofit to provide counseling and support to victims. NHPR links the agreement to an investigation the academy commissioned earlier in 2017, which uncovered a series of on-campus sexual assault allegations dating back decades.⁠[8]

In August 2018 the academy released, in a letter to its community, two reports by outside law firms on allegations of abuse by 11 former faculty and staff members, together with a supplemental report on allegations of misconduct by students. The interim principal and the president of the board of trustees apologized directly to survivors and took responsibility for the academy’s past failings.⁠[9]

In April 2018 Stephanie Bramlett was selected as the academy’s first Director of Equity and Inclusion. On May 21, 2018, William K. (Bill) Rawson, Class of 1971, was announced as interim Principal for a two-year term, and on January 25, 2019, he was announced as the sixteenth Principal. The David E. and Stacey L. Goel Center for Theater and Dance held its grand opening in October 2018.⁠[1]

On February 10, 2025, Rawson announced that 2025–2026 would be his last year as principal, and a search committee led by Trustee Janney Wilson, Class of 1983, began the search for the seventeenth principal. The Exeter Bulletin puts his tenure at eight years.⁠[1][10]

In March 2020 the spring term went virtual because of the coronavirus pandemic, and the campus closed to all but essential workers and resident faculty; in May Rawson addressed students in Exeter’s first virtual assembly, and Sherry Hernández became the first person of Asian heritage to serve as dean of the Office of Multicultural Affairs. In June Rawson and the trustees announced initiatives to institutionalize anti-racism at Exeter. In September a yearlong celebration of 50 years of coeducation began, including, in April 2021, the virtual symposium “From ‘Studying Her Absence’ to Finding Her Voice,” with a keynote by Gloria Steinem.⁠[1]

In June 2021 the academy built the Center for Archives & Special Collections, bringing together archival materials and rare books, and added June 19 (Juneteenth) to its official holiday calendar. In October 2021 admissions became need-blind, starting in the coming academic year; the school’s “History & Traditions” page states that in 2021 the academy announced that admission decisions would be made without regard to a family’s ability to pay.⁠[1][2]

New Hall, the first dormitory built on campus in more than 50 years, opened in September 2022, with 42,000 square feet and four Harkness classrooms for Health and Human Development.⁠[1]

On April 24, 2023, Rawson announced the school’s first climate action plan, “Building from Strength Toward a Zero Carbon Future.” The academy had held its first Climate Action Day in 2015, with classes suspended, a keynote by Bill McKibben and 22 small-group workshops.⁠[1]

Ashley Taylor became dean of students on July 1, 2024, succeeding Russell Weatherspoon, who retired after nearly 40 years.⁠[1]

On July 15, 2025, the Front Street Dorm was renamed George H. Guptill ’57 Hall. On October 23, 2025, the new dining hall, the Hahn Center, which replaces Wetherell Dining Hall and will also be known as The Bonnie McElveen Dining Hall, was dedicated.⁠[1]

On November 10, 2025, the academy announced Jennifer Karlen (Jenny) Elliott as its seventeenth Principal, succeeding Rawson. The school writes that she was chosen after a global search; in December 2025 she was introduced to the community with an assembly address and a campus tour.⁠[1][11][12]

Elliott graduated from Phillips Academy in Andover in 1994, earned a bachelor’s degree in history at Dartmouth College and a master’s degree in elementary education at Lesley (given as Lesley College on the school’s principal page and as Lesley University in The Exeter Bulletin), and is completing a doctorate in education at Vanderbilt University, which the school says is expected in 2027. The Exeter Bulletin writes that she taught at the Stevenson School in CaliforniaCaliforniaCalifornia is a U.S. state on the Pacific coast; its capital is Sacramento and its largest city is Los Angeles. California was admitted to the Union on September 9, 1850, as the 31st state. Its population at the 2020 Census (April 1, 2020) was 39,538,223, the largest of any state.Open the full entry, returned to Andover in 2010 for 12 years as a history and social science instructor, adviser and coach, later serving as assistant head of school for residential life and dean of students, and in 2022 became head of student and academic life at Choate Rosemary Hall, the post from which she came to Exeter.⁠[12][10]

Elliott took office on July 1, 2026; the school calls her the seventeenth head of school in the academy’s 245-year history. She gave her first Opening Assembly address on September 4, 2026, emphasizing courage, integrity and goodness.⁠[12][1]

The “By the numbers” section of the school’s About page gives enrollment for 2026–2027 as 1,096, including 890 boarders and 206 day students; 253 faculty, including teaching instructors and administrators; 23,239 alumni spanning nine decades; $30 million in financial assistance awarded for the current academic year; and a campus of 700 acres with 147 buildings. The school’s Our Campus page states that the campus includes the Academy Woods and has 26 dormitories and two dining halls, in the village of Exeter, a southern New Hampshire town near the seacoast; the main administration building is Jeremiah Smith Hall.⁠[7][13]

A student article, “The Endowment Explained,” published on the school’s website on February 2, 2026, puts the endowment at approximately $1.65 billion, with the annual draw limited to $75 million and a spending rate of about 4.5 percent.⁠[14]

The school’s mission is to “unite goodness and knowledge and inspire youth from every quarter to lead purposeful lives.” The Latin words “Non Sibi” (“Not for Oneself”) appear on the academy seal and, as the school explains, express the idea that knowledge should serve others; the motto “Pia mente Studeatur” (“Let studies find a reverent mind”) was added to the lion bookplate design. The school states that the lion probably comes from the Phillips family crest and from a bookplate designed for John Phillips in 1775, on which the inscription “In usum Academia Phillipsiae Exoniensis” (“for the use of Phillips Exeter Academy”) replaced his name.⁠[7][2]

The school describes a Harkness class as twelve students and one teacher seated around an oval table; the traditional table is 7 feet wide and 11 feet long, following the original 90-year-old copyrighted and patented design developed by Edward Harkness, and every Exeter classroom and many common areas have one. Students explore ideas as a group in a collaborative approach to problem solving that is not about being right or wrong, every voice carries equal weight, and participants act as both student and teacher. The school calls Harkness “more than a way to learn. It’s a way of life,” extending from the classroom to athletics, the arts and common spaces.⁠[6]

The school writes that Edward Harkness’s father was an early investor in Standard OilStandard OilStandard Oil was an oil company founded in 1870 in Cleveland, Ohio, by John D. Rockefeller and others. Through mergers and expansion, and organizational forms including the trust of 1882 and the New Jersey holding company of 1899, it at one time controlled most of the refining capacity in the United States. In 1911 the U.S. Supreme Court ordered the dissolution of its holding company under the Sherman Anti-trust Act, and the companies split off from it later evolved into oil companies including ExxonMobil and Chevron.Open the full entry, and that Harkness, who was not a natural student and struggled with grades and competitive settings at St. Paul’s School and Yale, drew his views on education from that experience. He explained to Principal Lewis Perry that a “conference method” of teaching fostered real learning, as opposed to a teacher lecturing from a platform to a class of 20 or more, and said he would fund whatever scheme Perry developed to put the idea into operation. The school states that Harkness gave away more than $2.4 billion in today’s dollars before his death in 1940. Instructor Henry S. Couse, who observed the first term of Harkness teaching in 1931, said that seating around a table “abolished almost completely the stiff duality” between instructor and class.⁠[6]

Britannica describes the school’s teaching approach as instructor-led group discussion in a Socratic style, and writes that the school has a national reputation for faculty involvement in decision-making and for protecting freedom of speech.⁠[4]

The school describes the rivalry between Exeter and Phillips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts, as one of the oldest in the country, played in fall, winter and spring, with Exeter as “Big Red” and Andover as “Big Blue.”⁠[2]

Franklin PierceFranklin PierceFranklin Pierce (1804–1869) was an American Democratic politician who represented New Hampshire in the U.S. House and Senate and served as the 14th president of the United States from 1853 to 1857.Open the full entry, the 14th president of the United States, prepared for college at Phillips Exeter Academy and then entered Bowdoin College. Jay RockefellerJay RockefellerJay Rockefeller (June 18, 1937 – November 5, 2026) was an American Democratic politician and member of the Rockefeller family. In West Virginia he served successively as a member of the House of Delegates, secretary of state and the state’s 29th governor (1977–1985), and from 1985 to 2015 he represented West Virginia in the U.S. Senate, where he chaired the Select Committee on Intelligence and the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation and helped create the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP).Open the full entry graduated from Phillips Exeter Academy in 1955 before going on to Harvard University.⁠[15][16]

John Knowles, Class of 1945, wrote A Separate Peace, which Paramount Pictures began filming at the academy on February 23, 1971; he died in FloridaFloridaFlorida is a U.S. state occupying mainly the Florida peninsula, with its capital at Tallahassee; its most populous city is Jacksonville. It entered the Union on March 3, 1845, as the 27th state, and had a population of 21,538,187 in the 2020 census (April 1, 2020).Open the full entry on November 29, 2001. The author John Irving, Class of 1961, attended the academy’s production of A Prayer for Owen Meany at the Fisher Theater on March 3, 2006.⁠[1]

Mark ZuckerbergMark ZuckerbergMark Zuckerberg is the founder of Facebook, Chairman and CEO of Meta, and a co-founder of the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative. His work spans social networking, virtual reality, and artificial intelligence.Open the full entry is a member of the Phillips Exeter Academy Class of 2002; after attending the academy he enrolled at Harvard University in 2002 and later dropped out to concentrate on the fledgling Facebook. As students at Phillips Exeter Academy, he and his friend Adam D’AngeloAdam D’AngeloAdam D’Angelo is the co-founder and CEO of Quora, a former chief technology officer of Facebook, and a director of OpenAI. From the question-and-answer and knowledge-sharing business he developed the AI chat platform Poe, and he also invests in technology companies. His career spans programming, internet product management, and artificial intelligence governance.Open the full entry created an MP3 player named Synapse that kept track of the songs a user played and began making playlists as it learned the user’s tastes; it was Zuckerberg’s high school senior project.⁠[17][18][19]

The writer Roxane Gay, Class of 1992, returned to campus in October 2023 to accept the John and Elizabeth Phillips Award, which the school calls its highest honor for alumni.⁠[20]

Brandon WangBrandon WangBrandon Wang is an entrepreneur who co-founded the Artificial Intelligence Underwriting Company (AIUC) with Rune Kvist and Rajiv Dattani, served as its chief technology officer and wrote AIUC-1, its standard for AI agents; before that he was a co-founder and the chief technology officer of the career-training platform Dreambound, and in 2020 he was selected for the Thiel Fellowship.Open the full entry, selected for the Thiel FellowshipThiel FellowshipThe Thiel Fellowship is a two-year grant program started by investor Peter Thiel and run by the Thiel Foundation that funds young people who skip or stop out of college to build new things instead. The program has been criticized by figures in education for encouraging young people to leave college.Open the full entry in 2020, writes on his personal website that he graduated from Phillips Exeter Academy, which he attended on full financial aid.⁠[21]

Phillips Exeter Academy: Official website: https://www.exeter.edu/ (opens in a new window).⁠[22]

X: Public account: https://x.com/PhillipsExeter (opens in a new window).⁠[22]

LinkedInLinkedInLinkedIn is a social networking platform for professionals. It was founded in 2002 by Reid Hoffman and others, launched in 2003, and listed on the New York Stock Exchange in 2011; after Microsoft acquired it for approximately $26.2 billion in 2016, it became a wholly owned Microsoft subsidiary. Its revenue comes from membership subscriptions, advertising, and recruitment solutions.Open the full entry: Public profile: https://www.linkedin.com/school/phillips-exeter-academy/ (opens in a new window).⁠[22]

YouTubeYouTubeYouTube is Google’s video-sharing and creator platform, founded in 2005 by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim and acquired by Google in 2006. Built around video uploading, viewing, and creator earnings, the platform has developed Shorts, YouTube Music, Premium, YouTube TV, and products for children, and is headquartered in San Bruno, California, United States.Open the full entry: Public channel: https://www.youtube.com/PhillipsExeter (opens in a new window).⁠[22]

Instagram: Public account: https://www.instagram.com/phillipsexeter/ (opens in a new window).⁠[22]

Facebook: Public account: https://www.facebook.com/phillipsexeter (opens in a new window).⁠[22]

The Exeter Bulletin: Official website: https://bulletin.exeter.edu/ (opens in a new window).⁠[10]