News

A new year can be an opportunity to make more sustainable choices and to spend more time immersed in nature. It can also be an opportunity to learn about the long-lasting environmental and societal impacts of choices made in decades past, as participants in the most recent Durham Academy sustainability seminar learned this fall. The seminar was organized as a partnership of two committees of Upper School Student Government: Sustainability and R.A.I.S.E. (Raising Awareness for Inclusion and Social Equity). 

In response to the recent surge in COVID-19 cases around the country and in our area, Durham Academy has postponed the Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Service meal-packaging event to later in the spring. However, Director of Community Service Anne McNamara offers the following suggestions for families looking to keep the holiday as a “day on” of service.

Durham Academy winter athletics teams return to the court and pool this week after a brief hiatus. The boys and girls basketball teams will compete in six games over the course of the next two weeks, beginning with Friday night’s contests on the road at Cary Academy.

Congrats to Zeb Jewell-Alibhai '23 on being recognized by the National YoungArts Foundation as a 2022 YoungArts honoree in the jazz music category.

As we prepare to wave goodbye to 2021, let's take a look back at the 21 moments, people and initiatives that defined the past 12 months at DA.

Cavalier winter sports are on a brief hiatus until after the holidays. But prior to pausing for exams and winter break, the varsity boys and girls basketball and swim teams outlasted their opponents in their final matchups.

Durham Academy Lower School students are enthusiastic readers — they have already checked out close to 17,000 library books this school year, on pace to exceed the 20,000 to 22,000 library books they borrow over the nine months of most school years by far — and the excitement was palpable as they welcomed Erin Entrada Kelly, one of their favorite authors, to campus on Dec. 2.

Durham Academy winter sports begin a busy stretch of the season facing opponents from all corners of the state. The basketball teams will take on both Charlotte Latin and Providence Day this weekend before heading to Charleston, South Carolina, over the holidays to compete in the Carolina Lowcountry Invitational. The Cavs swim teams will head to Raleigh for their last two competitions in 2021.

Since the opening of the Middle School Arts & World Languages Center in March, students and faculty have gotten a big taste of what it’s like to learn and teach in a facility on par with the quality of a Durham Academy education. And now, the next step in a plan to transform the entire Middle School is underway, with the Gateway Center site prepared for construction to begin.

Durham Academy winter sports begin a busy stretch of the season facing opponents from all corners of the state. The basketball teams will take on both Charlotte Latin and Providence Day this weekend before heading to Charleston, South Carolina, over the holidays to compete in the Carolina Lowcountry Invitational. The Cavs swim teams will head to Raleigh for their last two competitions in 2021.

The Durham Academy speech and debate program has had an eventful fall, with Upper Schoolers producing spectacular results over 12 virtual competitions. Through their collective efforts, DA has been named by the National Speech & Debate Association as one of the nation’s top 100 programs for the second straight year.

Upper School history teacher Thomas Phu fled Vietnam in 1979 with his parents and brother and lived in a refugee camp for more than a year, and Director of Strategic Initiatives Victoria Muradi left Afghanistan as a 5-year-old and moved to New York where her family of five lived in a one-bedroom apartment.

Durham Academy swimming kicked off the 2021–2022 season on Monday afternoon at the Orange County Sportsplex in a meet vs. Carolina Friends School, Trinity School of Durham and Chapel Hill, and Trinity Academy of Raleigh. DA’s boys and girls teams each took first place, scoring 562 points and 615 points respectively.

They are three Durham Academy alumni with graduation dates 20 years apart, spread across the country and living far from Durham — yet all three are committed to giving back to DA. While Tom Beischer ’87, Andy Crawford ’97 and Margie Gudaitis Hess ’07 are more than 14 years removed from their time on campus, staying connected to DA is a priority for each of them.

On Nov. 3, the Durham Academy community celebrated four senior student-athletes as they committed to compete in college. Baylor Goldthwaite will play soccer at Wake Forest University; Julianna Hallyburton (who was the state champion in the pole vault in spring 2021) will compete in track and field at Colgate University; Katie Kerman will play soccer at Davidson College; and Kennedy Yon will play soccer at Florida International University.