Journalism Club

…standout runners on those teams and with their graduation, the team looked different. For example, Ben Mattern ‘24 had TA’s best cross country time of 15 minutes and 58 seconds in his senior year. Brady Sloop, who graduated in the spring of 2025, was the second fastest runner in TA’s cross country history with a time of 16 minutes and 24.2 seconds. Ava Hayden, the former girls captain and part of the TA class of 2025, had the best girls cross country time with a PR of 18 minutes and 41.4 seconds. 

In an interview, TA’s cross country coaches shared their perspective on the loss of these athletes and whether or not TA was in a “rebuilding year.” Their answers were surprising. Although they agreed that TA lost fast athletes, the coaches didn’t really agree that this was a rebuilding season. 

Mr. Deffner said, “Even last year, we expected that maybe the girls would finish fourth. And we were super thrilled and delighted when they finished second. And on the boys side, you know – Brady was the leader last year on the boy side and is hard to replace – but I think the boys team is going to be very competitive, actually.” 

Ms. Silver’s response was more focused on the team’s depth of running experience. She admitted that with so many new runners this season, it was probably going to be a bit more challenging than in previous years. But, she thought, that with the right strategy and training, it would still be a good year.  “I’m trying to make a point of remembering that this whole process of running and training is new for a lot of people,” she said. 

Students on the team, including junior Kit Payson, had a third perspective. When asked about losing last year’s power house runners, Kit shared his feeling that since we lost fast runners this spring, everyone would want to step up and push themselves harder. He was also confident that the team would do a lot better this season than previous years. “I think if we put in more work we will be able to do just as well, if not better than last year. We can step up. We can do better.”

Both Mr. Deffner and Ms. Silver wanted every runner to do well in this season, and agreed that the right training would be important to compete really well. When asked about the strategies they would employ to build the team’s strength, they said basically the same thing, though Mr. Deffner talked more about the actual fitness work the team needs to do to improve their strength, while Ms. Silver talked more about the mileage she assigns to runners. 

Both strategies are really important – a runner needs the strength to run well, but they also need the fitness to run efficiently. New runners have less mileage to start, but still have to work hard during the workouts. Experienced runners are assigned more running, but can’t cop out on the workouts. 

In the end, the 2025 boys cross country team didn’t get first, but they also didn’t come in third. They finished off the season with second place, which is pretty impressive for the competition they faced. The girls on the other hand earned fourth, another good result. Overall, Thetford’s cross country athletes did pretty well this season – rebuilding or not.

…stem from the need for greater equity and security in computer use in school. But as the program has been scaled back, some students argue that it hampers their ability to get work done in their out-of-school activities and jobs. “Being forced into using Chromebooks slows me down academically and prevents me from accessing my work email,” says student Anna Ferrier, referencing her off-campus job.

Other students miss the unrestricted internet access that BYOD provided. But, admitted junior Paul Kidd, “It’s still a little bit useful to limit the outside distractions such as social media and messages.”

In an interview with the TA Times, staff members Marisa Cotilletta and Kate Owen shared that BYOD was initiated during the Covid years, following the sudden need for all students to have their own computer. Prior to Covid, TA had a computer lab (now the Learning Lab), where computers were brought to classrooms only when needed for in-class work.

But once Covid hit, and students were stuck learning from home, TA needed to provide devices to those who did not have their own. There were two glaring problems during this time: computers were expensive, and there was a massive shortage in supply. According to Cotilletta: “…the demand was so high, from so many schools, that there was a shortage.” This shortage of Chromebooks ultimately made them quite pricey, some upwards of $500.

After the Covid shutdown, Owen said, almost everyone at TA was using some sort of online classroom, most commonly Google Classroom. So despite the return to campus, students still needed their own computers. As a result, BYOD continued on, but with a catch. Over time, the school planned to purchase enough Chromebooks to supply grades 7-12 with their own school-issued computers. And once they had enough for each grade, BYOD would be phased out of that grade.

Beside the fact that the plan to phase BYOD had been the plan since the beginning, there were two other big concerns with the policy: equity and security. According to Owen, there was simply no reason for students whose families had the money to buy their own computer to have an edge over those who couldn’t.

She also stated that it was a lot easier for those with their own computers to break rules – like playing video games in class – and that she felt it was blatantly unfair. The other reason behind grandfathering out BYOD was security. Cotilletta and Owen went in-depth on how students having school-issued devices is much safer than personal ones: “Every bring your own device on our network is a potential security problem…It just ups the kind of stuff that we have to pay attention to,” said Owen. They go on to list some security specifics, including both the higher potential for pop-up and browser viruses on non-school-issued devices.

In contrast to the rumor of BYOD being repealed altogether, the two reassured us in both the TAT interview and in an email sent out to this year’s junior class that BYOD will stay in place for seniors indefinitely. The administration ultimately decided that the benefit of these students learning to work with a device that they will eventually bring to work, college, or the office, will outweigh the cost of potential downsides.

While wrapping up the interview, Owen made sure to convey her understanding of the situation to students who oppose this policy: “Yes, it’s unfortunate, but it’s gonna have to be some class, and it happens to be this one. And that’s a bummer for them. Like, we get it, people have a right to be upset. I would be upset if it were me…but it had to happen sometime.”

Overall, some students, especially in the 11th grade, are not happy with the grandfathering out of this policy. It takes away a privilege that they had thought for a while they would receive once reaching the upperclassmen ranks. But the combination of the issue with equity, the concerns for online security, and the fact that BYOD was planned to be phased out from the beginning, has culminated in a situation where its demise is inevitable – for juniors, anyway.