We caught up with four alumni from three of this year’s reunion classes to learn about their moral, happy and productive lives — all of which have unmistakable roots at DA.

A look at the summer adventures of William Brown '24, Ben Hodges '24 and Julia Phu '20. 

Among those celebrating: JacQuetta Foushee ’03, Spencer Woody ’17, Andrew Lovett, Michael Kontos ’12, Jeanne Jung ’18, Thomas Owens ’18, Luke Hoffman, Matt Earp ’97, Elizabeth McLeod, Evelyn Soletro and Elizabeth South-Miller.

Alumni spanning the generations are making their mark in moral, happy, productive ways.

These eight Cavaliers — representing alumni student-athletes, coaches and administrators — will be inducted into the DA Athletic Hall of Fame on Dec. 13, 2024, in Kirby Gym.

Khari Williams ’14 thought he would return to Durham. Eventually. After he graduated from Durham Academy, he majored in Marketing, Management and Advertising & Digital Media at the University of Virginia, and he subsequently spent time working in both Washington, D.C., and Nashville. But when his fiancee, Hannah Maclellan, was admitted to the Duke University School of Medicine, Williams decided to come home — to Durham, and to DA.

Summer 2024 marks the completion of my time as Durham Academy Alumni Board president. The past two years have been a joy, marked with various highlights spawned from the nature of a school and an alumni body that exuded positive and constructive growth.

Andy Crawford ’97, a global growth equity firm executive, will receive the Distinguished Alumni Award, which has been given every year since 1983; Jordan Adair, an Upper School English teacher, will accept the Faculty and Staff Legacy Award, which has been granted annually since 2012; and Derek Rhodes ’11, the founder of a Durham nonprofit dedicated to uplifting young Black men, will take home the Alumni Service Award, which the board has bestowed at its discretion since 2014.

Rothwell — who scored more than 1,000 points for the girls basketball team and won five individual state titles with the track and field team — went on to a standout college athletics career at Dartmouth and Duke and competed in the U.S. Olympic Track and Field Trials.

When she completed her undergraduate degree and earned a two-year deferral to law school, Ava Pacchiana ’18 knew she wanted to spend her extended break doing something different. She did, indeed: expanding childhood education for Ukrainian refugees in Poland, walking 600 miles across France and Spain, and joining an organization dedicated to overturning wrongful convictions.

This weekend, Durham Academy graduating classes ending in 3s and 8s will reconnect in the Bull City. Among the moral, happy and productive alums comprising those classes are Braxton Lloyd ’13, Lee Huskins ’88, and Jeb and Anna Hall Quarles ’98, who took some time to chat with us about their memories of DA and where their lives have taken them since.

A former Cavaliers track star, Dr. Krishinda Lee ’04 has come full circle — now bringing her generous spirit and perspective as a physical therapist to her work as an Upper School physical education teacher, coach and class advisor.

As an open space specialist with Durham County Engineering and Environmental Services, Bradley is doing his part to solve the planet’s biodiversity crisis — and he’s had some help from hardworking DA 11th-graders. 

We held in-person reunions and inducted another fabulous class of alumni at our Athletic Hall of Fame ceremony in December. At April’s Spring Alumni Reception, we honored Kathleen Myers Gibson ’82 with the Distinguished Alumni Award, retired French teacher Wanda Moore with the Faculty & Staff Legacy Award, and Chris White ’92 with the Alumni Service Award. Having alumni and friends back on campus made these events even more special.