Elaine Loft, Staff Writer
Joshua Davis, a New York Times bestselling author and award-winning journalist, spoke at Derryfield’s weekly Community Meeting on September 24. Davis served as a war correspondent in Iraq, Libya, and Columbia, and co-founded Epic Magazine. Last summer, as part of the “One School, One Book” initiative, the entire Derryfield community read Davis’s book, Spare Parts. The book recounts the tale of four immigrant teenagers who defied the odds to win a national underwater robotics competition.
Davis began his presentation with a short “How I got where I am today” recap. He noted that he didn’t set out to become a journalist; he didn’t know anything about journalism. Of his early life Davis observed, “We don’t do a very good job of showing kids all the jobs in the world–there’s a whole spectrum of opportunity.” He was an economics major, working in a data-entry position, who randomly decided to attend the U.S. Armwrestling Championship. After coming in fourth place (out of four in his weight class), he was chosen to represent the U.S. at the World Armwrestling Championship in Gdynia, Poland, which subsequently landed him an article in Wired Magazine. From this somewhat curious beginning, a journalist was born.
Davis recounted how the story that evolved to become Spare Parts came to him through a random email. This serendipitous story prompt led him to Phoenix, Arizona to meet the four students who had constructed an underwater robot out of scavenged parts. He looped his story back to Manchester, NH, the home of FIRST robotics, founded by inventor Dean Kamen, whom Davis interviewed ten years earlier. Davis talked about the “ripple effect,” pointing out that the little decisions we make are important,” and asking the audience, “What’s the legacy you are going to leave behind at Derryfield?”
At the end of the presentation, Avi Ullal ’25 posed one final question to Davis.
“What do you hope your audience will do with the information you give us in your book?”
Davis responded, “What are YOU going to do with it?”
After a pause, Ullal replied, “I think I will have a different lens, a different perspective when I look at events in the world—how new opportunities may lead to new things.”
Joshua Davis was funded by the Isakovich-Critz Family Fund for Community Enrichment. The purpose of this fund is to “Bring distinguished lecturers, scholars, scientists, mathematicians, writers, and performers to visit Derryfield for all school community meetings and classroom visits to engage the community with a broad range of perspectives, backgrounds, identities, professions, passions, and expertise.” Davis was the inaugural presenter made possible by this fund; there will be more to come throughout the year.
