2024 Homecoming | Alumni Spotlights: Molly Prentis Richey ’99, Julie D’Amico ’14, Spencer Hallyburton ’14 & Michiko Haynie ’19
by Dylan Howlett
3,239 words | 12-minute read
Homecoming at Durham Academy is upon us, and multiple generations of Cavaliers will reconnect in the coming days with Durham, the DA campus and each other. Amid the festivities, the classes that end in 4s and 9s will celebrate their reunions Saturday afternoon with a social at Tobacco Road Cafe.
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. Hear from:
- A dual language program manager who discovered her love for the Spanish language in eighth grade.
- A psychotherapist who started her own mental health practice thanks, in part, to her positive experience with the Upper School peer education program.
- A Ph.D. candidate who specializes in autonomous vehicles and cybersecurity — and who owes a piece of his enduring perseverance to a late DA classmate.
- And a technology consulting associate whose passion for problem-solving began in an Upper School math class.
They are grateful, as you will read, that their singular journeys began at DA.
The following conversations have been lightly edited for clarity and brevity.
Q&A with Molly
DA: You’ve previously said that your eighth grade Spanish teacher sparked your lifelong love for the Spanish language. Who was that teacher?
Richey ’99: “It was Señora [Michelle] Graham-Freeman. It was such a full-circle moment to have her teach my daughter [Ellie ’33] in kindergarten and first grade. My class in seventh grade was her first class at DA. [Graham-Freeman went on to teach Spanish in the Preschool and Lower School and retired in spring 2024 after 31 years at DA.] I just loved her. I think because she was really young and fun, she just really ignited that passion for language learning. When we were in eighth grade, she took a group of us to Spain for 10 days. It was just incredible, and it kind of set me on that path. I ended up majoring in Spanish literature at the University of Colorado with a minor in ethnic studies — not really knowing what I was going to do with it at the time.” (Laughs)
DA: What does your day-to-day look like as a dual language program manager?
Richey ’99: “My job is to go in and help school districts set up and manage that programming. Traditionally, if it’s a new program, it would be one grade level at a time. We would start in kindergarten and first grade and then add a grade level every single year until they’re matriculated through fifth grade for elementary. I help to set up that programming, train the administrators and the district employees in best practices for those programs: literacy, what those programs need in order to be successful, help with curriculum, all of those aspects. The majority of my schools are fully matriculated through fifth grade already. I usually meet with them twice a year, although I’m meeting with principals monthly if needed. I go into classrooms. I observe teachers. I give feedback to them. I provide professional development on a variety of different topics, whether that is classroom management or linguistic connections.
“Aside from managing programs, my company also sponsors J-1 visas. We bring international teachers over to teach in the States on a cultural exchange visa for up to five years. That’s the other aspect of my job — supporting those teachers. And it’s whatever they need, whether that’s getting acclimated to their new community, giving them instructional resources, helping them in the classroom with different things that they may struggle with.”
DA: What is the one part of your job that gives you the most joy?
Richey ’99: “There are lots of parts that give me joy. But the coolest part is being able to go into a rural school — literally in the middle of almost nowhere — and see the impact of bringing that cultural awareness into a community that would otherwise probably not have that kind of exposure. A lot of the kids have never even left their little town. Being able to support and see the impact of teachers from Spain and Argentina and Honduras and Guatemala and Mexico. They can have an impact and a reach in connecting with kids and parents and communities that otherwise would never have that exposure.”
DA: How does your experience at DA as a student continue to inform the work that you now do every day with Participate Learning?
Richey ’99: “I am so thankful to DA for the opportunities that I was given and the exposure that they provided of the world around us — not only through Señora Graham-Freeman’s classroom, but also through AFS Intercultural Programs. I was an AFS cultural exchange student during my junior year, and we hosted a student from France who came to Durham Academy for a year. Just having the opportunity to go to a school that values differences and values cultures from all over the world and teaches you to respect and look at those differences as such a positive thing has really impacted my desire to do the same thing.”
Julie D’Amico ’14
Owner & Psychotherapist
Free to Be PLLC
Raleigh, NC
Q&A with Julie
DA: Did you have any sense when you were a student at DA that you would end up in the therapy and mental health space?
D’Amico ’14: “Not directly. I think participating in DA’s Peer Educators program was probably one of the first moments for me when I was like, ‘This is something that I am really fulfilled with doing.’ Just being able to be a support for people younger than me, but also just people in general and providing that safe space for them — I think that really fostered that interest. Other than that, taking AP Psychology and getting the general foundation, I was like, ‘OK, this is actually something I’m interested in.’ I had no idea what careers could come from that.”
DA: What memories stand out to you from the Peer Educators program?
D’Amico ’14: “Getting to know the freshmen. At that point in high school, four years feels like such a big age difference. It feels like such a cool thing as a senior to be like, ‘What are the cool things or the stressors that you’re going through?’ and remembering my own experiences at that age. I see kids and teens and adults in my practice now. I feel older and older as I learn the new lingo. (Laughs) But it is pretty reminiscent of that time of feeling really connected with my classmates.”
DA: When you took undergraduate psychology classes and went through your coursework, what end goal did you have in mind in terms of the position, practice or environment you eventually wanted to work in?
D’Amico ’14: “I think community engagement has always been something that I’ve wanted to do. Either working in mental health at a community center, which is where I did my field work in New York [through the Northern Manhattan Improvement Corporation], or now that I’m established, I’m realizing that I really love my private practice, but wanting to have that balance with local nonprofits or any type of community engagement. That was something that was helpful to kind of drive me forward and give me a direction to pursue. I also think that’s linked to DA. They did such a great job of incorporating community engagement, both with curriculum as well as outings and field trips. I think that was stoked there as well.”
DA: How did your practice come to be?
D’Amico ’14: “I still work at Riverstone Wellness Collaborative [a Raleigh-based consortium of mental health counselors and clinicians], but I used to be an employee under them. They were my supervisors and very supportive. But I think they got to the point in being established in their careers where they wanted to not have employees anymore and just have private practice professionals rent space. In a very short period of time, I was faced with the decision to either find another place of employment or pursue my longer-term goal of establishing my own private practice within about a three-week period. It was a pretty fast-paced learning process that I’m still kind of sorting through now. But I’m grateful for that push because I don’t know if it would have been something that I ever would have felt fully ready.”
DA: What have you learned in the 18 months since you started your practice?
D’Amico ’14: “A lot. A lot about myself, mostly that I can do it. I’ve always had a little bit of imposter syndrome, and that’s why I appreciate my teachers at DA who encouraged me unconditionally. It was there that I was first really held to high standards and told that I could meet them. That really helped me in this last year and a half of being scared. There’s so much uncertainty, but also that underlying sense of security that it’s all figure-out-able and it’s something I can do and it’s something that I’m really energized by. It’s satisfying.”
Spencer Hallyburton ’14
Ph.D. Candidate
Duke University Pratt School of Engineering
Durham, NC
Q&A with Spencer
DA: You have a particular interest in autonomous vehicles and cybersecurity. What has inspired your passion in both of those areas?
Hallyburton ’14: “I’m finishing up my Ph.D. right now at the Cyber-Physical Systems Lab at Duke. Through this research, I’ve been able to dive really deep into autonomous vehicles, which is I think one of the most exciting, real-world problems of the day. How do we make these fully autonomous machines that not only function well, but also that people trust? Giving up control on the road is a very large barrier, I think, to these systems being adopted in the real world. What has been kind of shaping my research throughout the past four and a half years has been the question of what happens if one of these vehicles is compromised? It’s not a matter of ‘if’: It’s a matter of ‘when’ for various reasons that I could wax poetic on for hours.”
DA: What specific experiences did you have at DA that ultimately informed your current path?
Hallyburton ’14: “I will be the first to say that the robotics presence at DA when I was there was not nearly as sophisticated and as just cool as it is now. I went back to campus in 2023–2024 to spend time with students in DARC SIDE (Durham Academy Robotics Club: Students in Design and Engineering). My co-Ph.D., our advisor and I did a presentation on what Duke robotics is up to, and we had a couple of students do an internship with us over the summer. But the chance to go back and see the projects that they worked on? My eyes were popping out of my head to see how cool that was. When I was at DA, I took one semester of a computer science class, and I think I made a game — I think it was blackjack. It was something ridiculously basic. And now these students are making robots that can traverse different terrains, pick up balls, throw them in hoops. That’s awesome. It’s inspiring.”
DA: Do you recall the superlative that you won as part of the Class of 2014?
Hallyburton ’14: (Laughs) “I do. ‘Best To Take Home to Mom.’ I was happy about that one.”
DA: You also wrote a moving message on your yearbook senior page about Justin Straus, your DA classmate who died of a rare form of blood cancer when he was 13 years old. You wrote of Justin: ‘You’ve inspired me to live with purpose, and you have instilled a lasting sense of brotherhood in our community. I will never forget the impact you have had on my life. Your legacy lives on through the word, ‘Perseverance.’’ In Justin’s honor, how do you continue to persevere in your life?
Hallyburton ’14: (Pauses) “I would say there are three things that bring me the most joy, fulfillment and sense of purpose. My family, unquestionably. Having these past four and a half years back in Durham has been really special, to be able to connect with my parents on a different level as an adult and to appreciate the sacrifices they make for my family, for me, so that I could pursue my passions. It’s really inspiring, and it keeps me going.
“The second thing is one of my favorite things in the world: physical activity. I love pushing my body to the limit. I was doing triathlons for a few years, and those were grueling. I got up to a half-Ironman, and eventually would love to do an Ironman one day. But that in and of itself is another beast. Even in the half-Ironman, the amount of training and discipline and dedication it requires is hard. It’s hard to keep going. Just something about that grind and having to persevere through those tough moments, having to push my body to its physical limits, having to dial in my sleep and my nutrition just makes me feel more connected to the world and helps me to persevere through tough times.
“And then the third thing that I love is gardening. I love gardening because to me it’s just magic. It’s just hocus pocus, incredible, unbelievable magic that I plop a seed in the ground, I give it some water and then three months later, I have 20 butternut squash that I can eat. I cannot believe it. But that also helps me in being grounded by thinking about life in alternate forms and thinking about the beauty and the magic of nature. I think about that sometimes. I think about that squash seed, and that helps me persevere through tough times, through times when I’m stressed in my work or times when I feel like I have a decision to make that’s going to alter the course of my life in one way or the other. I think back to that squash seed and I tell myself, ‘I can do this.’”
Michiko Haynie ’19
Microsoft 365 Technology Consulting Associate
RSM US LLP
Chicago, IL
Q&A with Michiko
DA: You visited DA in September. What was it like returning to campus?
Haynie ’19: “My mom [Preschool/Lower School library assistant Letizia Haynie] still stays in contact with my old teachers. She really just wanted me to go and say hi to everyone, and I’m so, so glad I did. It felt amazing. I was at DA for 14 years, and even though it’s been so long since I’ve been in the Lower School, every time I walked around, I saw familiar things.
“I went around and visited every single teacher at the Lower School who is still there from when I was a student. It was funny: I got to Ms. [Libby] Lang’s class. She saw me, she waved, and then she ran to this random spot on the wall. It turned out there was this picture of me in second grade that she still has up on her wall to this day.
“I ran into Ms. Elizabeth [Cornejo], the Lower School day porter. I reintroduced myself and she was so happy. She remembered me. She talked about how much I had changed. And I found that really special. It’s not just the core teachers: It’s really everyone that builds that sense of community there.”
DA: You also had a memorable experience at the Upper School with Mr. [Ashu] Saxena. What did his math class mean to you?
Haynie ’19: “It meant so much taking his AB Calculus class during my senior year. What really stood out to me about Mr. Saxena is it didn’t matter if I wasn’t getting perfect grades. He really saw that I was trying, and he made me feel like I could do it. It was just the continuous support and encouragement that he kept giving me. I felt like I could finally do it. I did end up getting an A, and that’s absolutely something that I would have never imagined had he not been there to support me, to say, ‘Oh, you know what? You can do it if you try.’ What mattered was you showed up, you did your best and it wasn’t about the number on the paper: It was the level of effort. That’s what really stood out to me and made me feel like, ‘You know what? Maybe I can do this.’ I would have never been able to do biomedical engineering because there’s so much of a math component, and I wouldn’t have had that confidence going into college had I not taken that class.”
DA: You mentioned biomedical engineering, which was your major at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland. What initially made you interested in the field?
Haynie ’19: “I think going through school at Durham Academy, science was always my favorite class — starting in Middle School with seventh and eighth grade projects. That definitely turned me on to science, and I continued that through Upper School. But what really got me into engineering was Ms. Starling’s class and then joining the robotics club. [Leyf Peirce Starling ’99 taught Upper School physics and science from 2016 to 2023.] I was really involved in that. We ended up going to Houston for the world championships one year, and that was a super cool experience. I don’t think I would have actually pursued engineering had I not had that math confidence. But that’s why I picked Case Western: They essentially had an open enrollment policy, so you could get into the university and then you could choose to take classes in the school of engineering or in the school of arts and sciences. I didn’t commit to doing biomedical engineering until I took my first year of classes, and then I was like, ‘I totally love this.’”
DA: You earned a biomedical engineering degree, worked in multiple research labs — and now you’re doing something completely different. What is your day-to-day routine in your current position as a technology consulting associate?
Haynie ’19: “I help companies implement Microsoft ERP — Enterprise Resource Planning — systems, or the whole computer system that runs a business. It houses all of their accounting, all of their transactions. A lot of companies are still on very antiquated systems, sometimes from 20-something years ago. I kind of think of myself as a translator. I go to the client and I work with them to understand their business needs. I kind of translate that into a technical document, and then I hand the document over to the coders. They code it, they give the development back to me and I do all of the testing and log any issues. Then I go back to the client and say, ‘Here’s what we developed. Here’s how to use it. How does this look?’ It’s kind of an iterative process like that.
DA: What else have you reflected on about your experiences at DA?
Haynie ’19: “When I was at Durham Academy, I was the quiet person. When I was back a couple of weeks ago, my teachers were like, ‘Oh, my gosh: This is the most I’ve ever heard you talk.’ Even if that change doesn’t happen for students while they’re at DA, I feel like I’m a very outgoing person now, you know what I mean? Everything happens on its own time.”