The 2008 edition of DA's Academic Journal is available on the Upper School web page. Click here to read the following papers, then consider submitting your best final projects to Mrs. McNamara. All disciplines are welcome. This year's contents:
o The Enlightenment: Commentaries on Human Nature and Government by Stephanie Roses
o The Journey by Leslie Ogden
o The Invasive Alien Alga: Caulerpa Taxifolia by Alexis Noel
o Davis Liquid Waste by Nick Drago
o Saving the Tomb of Nefertari by Caitlin Burk
o Piecing Together the Constitution: How History and a Few Good Men Shaped Our Constitution by Jenny Denton
o The Ties That Bind: A Comparison of the Red Scare,the KKK and Communism in the 1920’s by Rachel Hodges
o Social Security…Is It Really Secure? by Lauren Bronec
o Communism’s Effect on The United States: End of WWII to the McCarthy Era by Sam Berchuck
o Never Judge a Book By Its Cover: The False Image of The Black Panther Party by Alli Davidson-Palmer
o “AIM”ing to Make a Difference: The American Indian Movement and Its Success by Ashley Brasier
o The Success of César Chávez: Uniting Farmworkers Under La Causa by Anna Cooperberg
o The Media: The Puppeteer of the American Public by Chase Hickok
May 28, 2008
May 26, 2008
DA Alum wins Durham Amateur Golf Tournament

DURHAM -- Even after he shot a 64 on Saturday to take a four-stroke lead heading into the final round of the 35th Durham Amateur, Bryce Mueller didn't win the tournament until the 16th hole on Sunday.
When the Duke graduate stepped onto the tee of the short par-4 at Hillandale Golf Course, he might have needed a Tums to calm his turbulent stomach. His nearest competitor, Riverside's Jack Garrett, was in the midst of a back-nine 31 and had just pruned Mueller's lead to one with birdies on three of the previous four holes.
Not only that, Garrett had piped his tee shot down the middle.
Not only that, the 3-wood in Mueller's hands felt all wrong.
He'd taken a 2-iron off the tee the day before, but with the pin on the back of green on Sunday, Mueller wanted to get the ball farther down the hill for a better look at the flag. So, despite his misgivings, he hit 3-wood, coming over the top and hooking the ball toward the road on the left.
For a fleeting second, it looked like the ball would sail over the white out-of-bounds stakes and start bouncing off the pavement into someone's front yard.
"It looked like it was going out, but someone said it hit a tree," Garrett said.
Still, Mueller was nervous enough that he walked down the fairway motioning to his left and then to his right, which was his way of asking if the ball had stayed in or not.
It had by about four yards. But it had also come to rest in a crevice not far from a tree. When Mueller inspected his ball, he put his hands on the hips of his white pants and thought of his options.
He had 125 yards to a downhill pin, a tricky number since he normally hits his sand wedge 110-112 yards. But after plucking a blade or two of grass behind the ball, Mueller figured he had a flyer and trusted his sand wedge.
"I knew it was juiced up and tried to put it back in my stance and contort it a little bit and get a little extra out of it," Mueller said.
The final result was an approach to 12 feet, not a bad result considering it looked like he might be hitting 3 off the tee.
Farther down on the right side of the fairway, Garrett watched and waited for the third member of the group, Eric Ardery, to play up. Just about everything about Garrett's game is quick -- his pace on the course, his short backswing and the speed he generates through the ball, just to name a few.
So after Ardery went just over the green, it wasn't out of character that Garrett only took a second or two before thumping his wedge at the ball. The ball never left the flag, coming to rest maybe 10 inches from the cup for a tap-in birdie.
As the pro-Garrett cheering section roared its approval, Garrett began preparing for the final two holes, assuming that he and Mueller would be tied at 6-under.
"That's what you're thinking -- I've got a chance now," said Garrett.
As Mueller sized up his birdie putt, he used Garrett's shot as motivation. Maybe not so much the shot as what happened immediately after. There were maybe 30 people following the final group, but based on the boisterous reaction to Garrett's shot, 25 of them were cheering for Garrett.
"As a Duke fan, I'd rather have people cheering against me than for me, so that got me pretty fired up," Mueller said.
The putt was simple enough: 12 feet, left edge, don't leave it short like Mueller had been doing earlier in the round, which had led to a rash of three-putts and a squandered four-stroke lead.
"It was one of those gut check putts," Mueller said. "You've either got it or you don't. I knew it was in as soon as I hit it."
When the putt tumbled over the front edge, Mueller took a step toward the hole and punched the air straight ahead of him. First he had imitated Tiger Woods by making a clutch birdie from the trees, then he had mimicked the world's greatest player with the emphatic reaction. Alas, Mueller was wearing a blue-striped shirt, not Woods' Sunday red.
The tournament wasn't over at that point.
Mueller still needed to flush a 6-iron on the par-3 17th for a routine par and then get up-and-down for birdie from right of the green on No. 18, making a 3½ footer to hold Garrett at bay. It was only when that putt dropped that Mueller (64-70--134) finished the tournament at 8-under, one ahead of Garrett (68-67--135), four in front of Dalton Rich (69-69--138) and six clear of Caleb Corry (72-68--140).
But when it was finished, there was little debate where the tournament turned.
"That was the tournament for me," Mueller said of No. 16. "He's younger than me and I felt like I had the experience and everything. Coming down the stretch, I was confident in myself that I wasn't going to mishit golf shots, so that putt was huge for me. I felt like when I made that putt -- now I've got two hands on the steering wheel and it's my tournament to lose at that point.
"It was a great feeling."
May 23, 2008
Durham's Male Scholar-Athlete of the Year
From the Durham Herald-Sun, May 22 DURHAM -- The Durham Sport Club Scholarship Foundation honored the top student-athletes in Durham on Wednesday night during its annual Scholar-Athlete Awards night at Croasdaile Country Club.
Taking home the top prize of a $1,000 scholarship were Durham Academy's Sean Sketch and Jordan's Michelle Lutz. Winning a $550 scholarship for second prize were Sarah Marion of Durham School of the Arts and [former DA student] Daniel Kimmel of N.C. School of Science and Mathmatics.
Sketch, son of Beth and Michael Sketch, is a two-sport star in soccer and track. A two-year letterman in soccer, Sketch won the coach's award in 2006. In track, he is a three-time letter winner and was team captain his senior year. Sketch was an all-state performer in 2007 and an all-conference selection in 2006 and 2007. His 3,200 relay team won the state title in 2007 and is the school's record holder.
Sketch has won the physics, French and English awards at Durham Academy. He has been accepted to Princeton, Harvard, MIT, Duke, Dartmouth, Notre Dame, Tufts and Bucknell but remains undecided on his college destination.
Taking home the top prize of a $1,000 scholarship were Durham Academy's Sean Sketch and Jordan's Michelle Lutz. Winning a $550 scholarship for second prize were Sarah Marion of Durham School of the Arts and [former DA student] Daniel Kimmel of N.C. School of Science and Mathmatics.
Sketch, son of Beth and Michael Sketch, is a two-sport star in soccer and track. A two-year letterman in soccer, Sketch won the coach's award in 2006. In track, he is a three-time letter winner and was team captain his senior year. Sketch was an all-state performer in 2007 and an all-conference selection in 2006 and 2007. His 3,200 relay team won the state title in 2007 and is the school's record holder.
Sketch has won the physics, French and English awards at Durham Academy. He has been accepted to Princeton, Harvard, MIT, Duke, Dartmouth, Notre Dame, Tufts and Bucknell but remains undecided on his college destination.
May 21, 2008
Nicaragua Art Auction, Mathelete Mallernee, A Concert in a Can, The Golden Baton, and DA's SuperJocks
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Jim Mallernee was recently selected for the North Carolina Governor's School in mathematics. He joins the following students in the largest-ever DA contingent going to Governor's School. Congratulations!
Ben Freedman (Choral Music)
Eva Stein (French)
Michael Roubey (Drama)
Elise Hartley (Dance)
Bryan Jadot (Natural Science)
Worth Newman (Spanish)
Nick Cariello (Spanish)
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From the News and Observer's BULL'S EYE blog: Got an extra can of tuna? A local teenager, Jonathan Crawford, is organizing a concert to benefit the Food Bank of Central and Eastern North Carolina. The concert will be this Friday, May 23, at 7 p.m. in Kenan Auditorium.
Crawford, A Durham Academy 10th grader, is a drummer, but he'll defer the music to four local bands made up of students at Durham Academy and Chapel Hill High School.The concert is free, but donations of non-perishable canned foods are strongly encouraged.
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The photo above, by DA parent Lori Hey, captures some of the teamwork, focus, and determination of DA's recent track season, capped last weekend by the 2nd (girls) and 4th (boys) place finishes at the State Track Meet. Congratulations in particular to individual State champions Adrianne Soo (1600 and 3200), Fred Ward (3200), and Devin Drewry (400), as well as relay champions Worth Newman, Sean Sketch, Devin Drewry, and Carl Ward (4x800), Francesca Tomasi, Allessandra Tomasi, Claire Burridge, and Elise Hartley (4x400), and Francesca Tomasi, Alessandra Tomasi, Mary Sketch, and Adrianne Soo (4x800).
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Among the many letters and awards handed out at last night's Spring Sports Awards Ceremony were these impressive recognitions for five seniors:
TISAC Sportsmanship Awards to Lauren Bronec and Sean Sketch.
Kurt F. Meyer '77 Senior Athlete Awards to Nicole Tozzi, Nicole Pappas, and Isaac Uhlenberg
Tonight is the Durham Sports Club Scholar Athlete of the Year program. DA's nominees are Sean Sketch and Nicole Pappas.
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May 16, 2008
Creating a Culture of Kindness

Remarks from Michael Ronco (Lead Advisor, Class of 2011)
9th grade class meeting, May 13, 2008
There are a few things I remember from my high school and middle school experiences. The memories I have revolve around joy and sadness. Usually the joys had something to do with sports or girls and the sadness had to do with the way people treated each other.
I was and am an Italian through and through and I went to school were I was called, among other things I can’t say now, "guinea," "WOP," "garlic eater," and "greasy immigrant." On one occasion in 7th grade homeroom – when the teacher wasn’t looking - one of the kids who taunted me the most hit me in the bad of the head with his math text book as he said, “Italian fag." My eyes teared up . . I opened my desk . . . put my head behind it . . .and cried. By the afternoon my head stopped hurting, but my ears still rang with the slur he uttered. I learned early on that in fact sticks and stones can break bones – and names hurt forever.
Those of you who know me understand that I like to be silly, play around, and joke. What I have learned is that it is difficult sometimes to know when to stop joking and playing, and when to start being serious. This is an important lesson for all of us. We all have made mistakes – but there comes a time when we must act respectfully, maturely, honestly, and courageously.
Over the last few months it has become obvious to the community that although we are a class a full of wonderful and productive people, we are also prone to moments of cruelty, meanness, and hatred. Let me be very clear here: I do not think there are people in this room who are mean, cruel and hateful - but we are all prone to acts of meanness, cruelty, and hatred.
These moments can take the form of excluding others, texting, emailing or posting hurtful statements, calling someone a name which causes pain or hurt, or simply not being nice or our peers. Over time, the culture of a group of people can become mean. I do not want to live in or work in a culture of meanness.
For those of you who don’t know Coach Jon Lantzy, our new lacrosse coach (who by the way – is doing wonderful things this season with our team) was once the assistant coach for the number one Duke lacrosse team a few years ago until his entire college coaching career was ruined by the actions of others. His entire future as a college coach disappeared. I spoke to him a few weeks ago about this and told him I was sorry that all happened. He looked at me and pointed to my watch and said, “Which way does your watch run? Mine only goes forward – I can’t get it to go backwards – I can only effect my future with strong character and care.”
I thought of those words a few days ago while I was putting this together and I want to all to remember those words. Our clocks only move forward. Many times we need to forget the past and make carve new directions for ourselves. Although it is much harder to rebuild a reputation, it is very doable.
I would like to challenge everyone in this room today in two ways. First, to rethink your role as a classmate, a friend, an enemy, a teammate. Who is in your group of friends? Who don’t you say hello to intentionally? Whom do you exclude? At whom do you throw verbal barbs? And I would like to just say "stop." Stop. You cannot turn the clock back, but you can be kind, or at least not mean.
The second challenge is to be courageous. Most people in this room neither get bullied or are bullies, but most people in this room have seen it happen to others. I challenge each one of you to be active and help those who are being picked on, excluded, bullied, or harassed. Please do not allow this culture to become one that allows meanness. If you cannot speak to the people who are acting badly, speak to an adult who will help you make a difference.
I would like to read from the hand book the statement about bullying – [Upper School Handbook, page 14.
What we all must do now is change our behavior. Those who are silent bystanders must speak up. Those who are being targeted must speak out to adults for help. And those who are behaving outside of the rules of kindness and decency must stop now. The adults and leaders in the community are committed to nurturing a safe environment, and we will work diligently to end this type of behavior.
Finally, we know this issue is very complicated for some, but we also know that we can all choose to behave with character, decency, kindness, and care. Today – when you leave this room – please act toward everyone with character, decency, kindness, and care.
Karen the Swimming Cav, then Dawg

She was named the recipient of the 2007 Joel Eaves Award as the female student-athlete at Georgia with the highest grade point average. Guilkey, who is a UGA honor society member, also received the Linda Leith Scholar-Athlete Award twice for the highest GPA on the swim team.
Athletically, she was a four-time All-American as she qualified for the NCAA Championship three times in her career. Guilkey ranks fourth in Georgia history in the 100 butterfly and sixth in the 200 butterfly, as well as fourth in the 400 medley relay and 10th in the 200 medley relay.
In the Athens community, she has participated in Relay for Life for four years, helping to raise money for cancer research, and has volunteered with teammates at the Food Bank of Northeast Georgia each year. She has served as a volunteer/intern at the Athens Regional Medical Center outpatient PT clinic.
"Karen is the epitome of what a student-athlete should be," Georgia head swimming coach Jack Bauerle said. "She has worked extremely hard in the pool, the classroom and the community. She's a person who understands what it's all about. She sees the big picture and does whatever it takes to get there."
May 9, 2008
Catch Senior Issac Uhlenberg on tonight's six o'clock news!

Senior baseball player Isaac Uhlenberg will be featured on the 6:00 pm WTVD (Channel 11) news tonight as the scholar/athlete of the week. Isaac had been at DA since 9th grade. He's also TISAC Baseball Player of the Year and the 2005 recipient of DA's prestigious Magnificent Seven Award for "courage to do the right thing."
Click here to see the archived video on WTVD's web site.
May 6, 2008
Debate at Tournament of Champions
This just in from DA Debate Coach Jeff Welty: "Both DA public forum teams posted winning records at this selective and highly competitive event (touted by its hosts as "America's Foremost Debate Competition"). Juniors Grace Wallack and Dede Pless went 4-3, narrowly missing the cutoff for elimination rounds. Josh Zoffer and Robert Kindman were the only sophomore team to advance to the eliminations rounds; they lost in the octafinals, finishing tied for 9th in a very strong field. Both teams showed why they are among the best in the country."
"It really was a great tournament -- the quality of the competition in public forum debate has grown by leaps and bounds over the past several years. The kids prepared well and debated well, but every round was a battle.
Summer Reading for Faculty
Summer reading requirements are not just for students - Again this summer, the Durham Academy faculty will be diving into some good books. Group discussions in August will give readers a chance to compare thoughts and look for ways to apply ideas to life at DA. For those who would like to see what teachers will be reading this summer:
A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini
Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin
A Whole New Mind by Daniel Pink
Magic Time by Doug Marlette
The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch
The Price of Privilege by Madeleine Levine
May Contain Nuts: A Novel of Extreme Parenting by John O' Farrell
Excellence without a Soul: How a Great University Forgot Education by Harry Lewis
Understanding White Privilege: Creating Pathways to Authentic Relationships Across Race by Frances E. Kendall
A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini
Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin
A Whole New Mind by Daniel Pink
Magic Time by Doug Marlette
The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch
The Price of Privilege by Madeleine Levine
May Contain Nuts: A Novel of Extreme Parenting by John O' Farrell
Excellence without a Soul: How a Great University Forgot Education by Harry Lewis
Understanding White Privilege: Creating Pathways to Authentic Relationships Across Race by Frances E. Kendall
May 5, 2008
Seniors Tame Dangerous Books

Lanis Wilson and his English 12 class have unveiled their interactive web site "Dangerous Books." There you can find student summaries and reviews of 38 famous banned or dangerous books and an analysis on why that particular book is considered “dangerous.” Read. Enjoy. Respond. Then congratulate the senior contributors.

Cav Wins Second Biggest Horse Competition in Kentucky last Weekend
May 4, 2008
DJ Nick and Mars Scientists

Dr. Drago (aka Senior Nick Drago) shared the link to his impressive website. Whether you're planning a house party or just want to see one of our enterprising students in action, check out http://dynamicdj.org, which includes a post about his most recent gig at Special Olympics.
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Howard Lineberger's MONS project is featured on the websites of two prominent scientific organizations:
http://www.jhuapl.edu/newscenter/pressreleases/2008/080328.asp
(The front page for Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Lab)
http://www.lpi.usra.edu/features/mesdt/
(The front page of the Lunar and Planetary Institute).
May 1, 2008
Grace Wins Bronfman
Grace Wallack, a Durham Academy junior, has been awarded a Bronfman Fellowship for study in Israel. The five-week fellowship combines classroom discussion led by exceptional rabbis and Jewish educators, with a hands-on experience of Israel and Israeli culture. Bronfman Fellows hear lectures and presentations by influential people, travel throughout Israel and question their Jewish identities and values with other Jewish teenagers from throughout North America.
Twenty-six Bronfman Fellows are selected from across North America with an attempt to create the most diverse group possible. Bronfman alumni include authors Jonathan Safran Foer and Lemony Snicket.
Twenty-six Bronfman Fellows are selected from across North America with an attempt to create the most diverse group possible. Bronfman alumni include authors Jonathan Safran Foer and Lemony Snicket.
Final Exam for Business Office Black Belt's PE Class

Seven students from the Upper School’s Tae Kwon Do P.E. class competed recently in a tournament in Raleigh. Winning awards at the tournament were: first place, Amanda Holt - High Yellow Belt; second place, Victoria Vaughn - High Yellow Belt; and third place, Alexis Noel - Green Belt, Owen Bryant - Green Belt, Lenae Frazier- Green Belt; third place, Ariel Blackshear-Trvdy - High Yellow Belt; and third place, Annie Straumann - Yellow Belt. The P.E. class is taught by DA controller Melody Clark, a 5th degree black belt, includes both Upper School students and US history teacher Owen Bryant.
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