Teens, even impeccably dressed ones, will be teens.
Some students keep it simple. "I catch flights, not feelings," Charlotte Sununu, said.
Fellow senior Erica Hogan writes for the school newspaper, The Exonian. "It lets me interact with people I otherwise would never talk to," Hogan told the Exeter Issue.
Sophia Oguri, a senior, shared a commitment to reaching outside of her social circle. "I have never been in a community that is this loving, even amidst everything going on in the world today, and I want to be sure to take full advantage of it," Oguri said.
The Exeter Issue gives students a chance to be vulnerable. "I'm kind of scared for the future — college and getting a job and whatnot," said Chris Agard, who graduated in 2017. "But I've learned that it's okay to be scared and even though I am I can still enjoy the ride."
"I look for [outfits] that are a little more special, a little more outstanding," she said.
"You see a lot of Timberlands in the winter and a whole bunch of Vineyard Vines come spring," Luo said. The Exeter Issue only features those "ordinary" looks occasionally.
The Exeter Issue aims to celebrate those differences.
Still, the school's commitment to diversity and its $1 billion endowment, which helps cover costs for students from low-income families, brings in teenagers from all walks of life.
Source: Philips Exeter Academy and Financial Report 2016
Founded in 1781, Phillips Exeter Academy has a reputation for exclusivity. Only 19% of applicants are admitted, and tuition costs a whopping $50,888 a year.
Source: Private School Review and Phillips Exeter Academy
The board member or photographer asks the student their name, year, and a little bit about themselves, and uses the most pithy quote in the caption for Facebook and Instagram.
"The usually say yes," Luo said. "I've gotten a couple, 'Oh, I think I could do better.'"
Today, when a board member spots a particularly dapper student walking across campus or sitting in class, they text the group's photographer, who arranges an impromptu shoot.
She recruited a handful of fashionable peers to form The Board, which helps identify students and later votes on whose threads make it to Facebook and Instagram.
In fall 2014, the Houston native set out to create a fashion blog at her school. She wanted to give the portraits, which she mostly shot, more depth by adding quotes from her subjects.
"People often tell me that their goal before they graduate is to be featured on The Exeter Issue," Rachel Luo told Business Insider before graduating from Philips Exeter Academy.
Source: Business Insider India