Hello friends,

As the academic year winds down, The Minuteman welcomes fresh faces and new perspectives.  Late spring has always been a time of change at Newark Academy. As with the end of any school year, we bid farewell to certain members of our community – faculty and seniors alike. We cannot begin our campaign without thanking the outgoing Editors-in-Chief, seniors Cody Reid-Dodick and Rachel DeChiara.  Their leadership and dedication over the past year will be tough to follow.
Rachel and Cody are two shining examples of a multi-talented senior class.  Having spent the most time at the Academy, the seniors should certainly be reflections of the school’s ideals.  At The Minuteman, we certainly feel that they have lived up to the community’s lofty standards, and the class of 2013 is thus the focus of this edition’s feature.

As we admire their accomplishments, it is easy to congratulate ourselves as an institution.  Our latest ranking in the Washington Post as the fifth toughest independent school in the nation seems to many a validation of the efforts we give on a daily basis.  The Minuteman had to pose the question: is the Academy truly so great?  An investigation of the ranking by the News staff reveals certain weaknesses in the Post’s methodology, but confirms that Newark Academy is to a high extent deserving of honor.  We hope that, in line with the standards of successful journalism, this will encourage the community to look at accomplishments in context.  Students and faculty alike should always look for opportunities to evaluate our practices as a community, as this edition of The Minuteman does with grading, security, inclusion, or somewhat humorously, our dining policies.

This is not to say Newark Academy should not take pride in how far it has come; we are of course lucky to attend such a global academy – look at our dialogues on faith and the successful Global Speaker series.  We have the opportunity for experiential learning in the second year of June Term.  Our arts program never ceases to see amazing accomplishments; one should admire the work of Greta Skagerlind ’14, the sold-out Evening of Jazz for Newtown, the brilliant dance concert, or the wealth of talented IB artists.

Our generation is living through history, and at The Minuteman, we do not forget to address the out of school issues that are important to our readers.  Today is a day of turbulence – scandal seems rampant in the world of athletics, and the issue of gun control has a firm grip on America’s political discourse.  These tragic issues are only supplemented by the awful events in Boston.  The bombings may have shaken the nation’s foundation, but in the end offered an opportunity for citizens to verify American resilience.

We hope to have covered those issues that are relevant to the Newark Academy community.  The staff of The Minuteman is hoping to create conversation – we are, after all, a school of intellectuals.  In this spirit, we encourage you to take advantage of our online format and comment on articles, share them on Facebook, and to use them as a starting point for discussion around the lunch table.  Additionally, we would love followers for The Minuteman on twitter @NAMinutemanNews.

Happy reading!

The Editors and staff of The Minuteman