NO!

When I first proposed the concept of this article, editor-in-chief Daniel Xu ’25 rebuked me defiantly. “It’s simply too dangerous,” he said, “I won’t allow it, for the sake of your safety or that of the publication.” But I saw that under the tenacious front that Daniel put up, a seedling of curiosity had taken root—it had been many years, after all, that any of us had heard from David Cristescu ’25. Indeed, it didn’t take much convincing for Daniel to allow me to pursue my subject far into the Appalachians of North Carolina (figuratively, of course, in the sense of our journalistic depth. Actually, I really just asked Quincy Adams ’25 for his number).

How many of us have names that will survive past our departure? How many of us can leave behind an indestructible legacy? David Cristescu certainly did when he abruptly left Concord Academy in the spring of his freshman year, for the reasons of __________________.

However, his short tenure at CA created disproportionately large impacts on the community, which can still be felt today. When asked about what he knows about David, Ryan Zhao ’26 told me, “I’ve never met the guy, but I’ve heard really scary stories about him. You’re gonna keep this anonymous right?” Whatever negative attention he had garnered, the David today is far from the David of yesterday. He has become an impressive student and athlete in his own right, he told me as he recounted his journey since CA, “[After] returning to North Carolina I’ve been able to become an athlete again and get back into tennis as well as figure out what I’m passionate about and what I love doing, and even get into university at UT Austin, where I’ll most likely be attending next year.” As the former roommate of David, I had always heard him speak of his commitment to tennis. Unfortunately, his tennis career at CA was cut short, as he left before the season even began.

Like any student attending this school, David had also thought about his would-be chapel. He told me, “If I had to give a chapel right now I’d probably thank Tairou and Harris for being friends with me, I’d probably ask my roommates why they felt the need to keep snitching on my FaceTime calls to Sterling Hoyte ’22... I’d also like to ask Bradford House staff why they felt the need to report me for calling a video game character hot (it’s Zelda it’s not that serious).” David’s words are, as ever, poignant and thought-provoking. But his grievances did not end there: “I'd like to say that the school was lowkey on my [case] all year for no reason, I got in trouble for literally everything. I got in trouble for throwing Quincy’s shoe on the roof, I got in trouble for bringing these scary men named Angelo and his brother whose name I forgot on campus without asking, I got in trouble for riding in a shopping cart (and pushing one off of the local CVS’ roof), and I got in trouble for cutting Harris’s hair on the [quad]. I also got in trouble for calling a video game character hot which is ridiculous because she is, I also wanna say Jeff was lowkey cool but maybe he was just faking it to be nice.”

For all the trolling and complaints he has for CA, though, David also seems genuinely appreciative of his time here. When asked about how CA has impacted him, David said, “CA made me a resilient student.” He mentioned specifically, a CA history class from 2021: Gender in Medieval History, taught by former faculty Ruth Watterson. “Regular school seemed pretty easy afterward,” he told me jokingly, “compared to Ruth’s mind-wrenching history classes.” As a close witness to his chaotic adventures at CA, I found it oddly comforting to recognize David’s path to self-discovery.

Perhaps fulfilling his version of “Senior Advice,” David offered his own two cents, “One setback doesn’t define you, and it’s never too late to be who you know you can be.”

As ever, poignant and thought-provoking.