Meredith (“Mimi”) Garcia had the unique challenge of teaching “Apocalyptic Lit” amidst the COVID-19 hybrid year. Still, the central questions of the course remained, “Will the apocalypse bring total annihilation, transcendence, bloodthirsty zombies, or all of the above? Will it bring people together or tear them apart?” As a medium, fiction allows for distance from both the material and reality, enough to critically engage with the text. Despite the fantastical, sci-fi qualities to apocalyptic literature, Mimi stresses that each text, from The Walking Dead to Kazuo Ishiguro’s Never Let Me Go, speak to questions of human nature and of hope.
Mimi’s new course offering, “Globalization, Literature, & Film”, investigates how globalization and media have come to shape each other and our everyday lives. The course utilizes films like Akira Kurosawa’s Rashomon (1950) and Walter Salles’ Motorcycle Diaries (2004) to discuss how politics, history, and cross-cultural encounters come to manifest in film. Mimi notes that the entire film industry and how we have come to watch film also plays a role in how we analyze and reflect on the relationship between literature and media—to be both critical of the past and the present.
Performing Arts Spotlight: Bringing Passions to Life on Stage
“The arts are much more than simply memorizing lines or playing a song… They are representative of who we are as people, as a community, as a world,” said Mr. Adam Slee, Dean of the Performing Arts. “It helps them find their true selves that helps them find their...
Making Cross-Curricular Connections in Grade 8
Knockout excellence! In an innovative cross-curricular partnership, Ms. Burnett, Grade 8 English Teacher, and Mr. Akula, Grade 8 English/History Teacher, whose students are reading “The Berlin Boxing Club” by Robert Sharenow, teamed up with the Health & Wellness...
Reunion 2025: Weekend in Review
D-E was thrilled to recently welcome alumni from the Dwight School, Englewood School for Boys (ESB), and Dwight-Englewood School for Reunion Weekend 2025, with special events for class years ending with 0 and 5. On Friday evening, October 24, 2025, there was a joyful...
Art and Design Students From Australia Visit D-E
D-E’s Art & Design Department hosted 11th- and 12th-grade students today from St. Mary’s Anglican Girls’ School in Perth, Australia, as part of a 12-day trip to the United States the school offers every two years. The St. Mary’s students, 18 in all, joined the...
Sixth Grade Food & Identity Unit Kicks Off
Today officially kicked off the Food and Identity Unit for this year’s sixth graders! The cross-curricular program is a D-E tradition for our youngest Middle School students within their MESH (Math, English, Science, and History) classes. “This unit is about building...
Calliope Earns Top CSPA Honors
Congrats are in order for the editors and contributors of the Upper School (US) English-language literary-arts magazine, CALLIOPE! Last spring’s issue was named a 2026 Crown Finalist by the Columbia Scholastic Press Association (CSPA). Being a Finalist means CALLIOPE...
Jazz “Rocks” D-E!
Way to Rock, D-E Jazz Rock! The Upper School’s annual Jazz Rock Winter Concert was performed earlier today to a packed, enthusiastic audience in Schenck Auditorium. Scheduled on the final day of classes immediately prior to winter break, this year’s concert held up...
MS Paper RollerCoaster Expo Recap
The annual 8th Grade Paper Rollercoaster Expo rolled into D-E’s Middle School (MS) Building earlier today! This showcase event was the culmination of students’ hands-on study of (and appreciation for) the laws of physics and Newton’s Laws of Motion. Visiting fellow...
LS Holiday SingAlong Assembly Highlights
D-E’s annual Lower School (LS) Holiday SingAlong Assembly yesterday held up to tradition! With festive lights and hundreds of happy smiling families, the LS Gym was transformed into a lively, lovely holiday-esque scene. Students and LS faculty/staff sang seasonal...
TREP$ 2025 Was a Success!
The TREP$ program, which kicked off in September, culminated in the TREP$ 2025 Marketplace, where our sixth-grade entrepreneurs set up shop in the Wharton Lessin Dining Hall to sell the wares they’d planned, received feedback on, prepped, and learned how to promote....