National Merit Scholarship finalists. Sixty-four percent of faculty members hold advanced degrees, and they average 19 years of teaching experience. Lower School science teacher Lyn Streck was named the 2008 NC Conservation Education Teacher of the Year for involving students, faculty and parents in a variety of environmental efforts. Meanwhile, Upper School history teacher Mike Spatola was recognized by the Stanford Teacher Tribute Initiative in 2011 and received a 2012 Outstanding Educator Award from the University of Chicago Athletics Durham academy's athletic offerings include field hockey, volleyball, cross-country, tennis, soccer, swimming, basketball, lacrosse, softball, track and field, baseball and golf. Durham Academy had the first high school boys lacrosse program in Durham County. Seventy-five percent of the students in grades seven through twelve participate in athletics, with 44 athletic teams in 20 different sports. Since 2010, Durham Academy has won 2 NCISAA state championships and had 10 NCISAA championship runner-up finishes. In 2015–16, the school had 51 TISAC All-Conference athletes, 14 NCISAA All-State athletes and 4 All-American athletes. The girls cross country team won the 2018 NCISAA state championship. The boys cross country team won the TISAC conference championship title in 2018 and placed second at the NCISAA state championship. The varsity girls field hockey team won the 2012 North Carolina Independent Schools Athletic Association championship. The cross country and track programs at Durham Academy are particularly notable, with 39 team state championships and 196 individual titles during the tenure of former head coach Dennis Cullen. Several Durham Academy athletes have gone on to Division I programs, including Duke University, University of Vermont, U.S. Naval Academy, Wake Forest University, Harvard University and the University of North Carolina. Among those athletes are Mollie Pathman, the 2009-2010 Gatorade National Girls Soccer Player, who played on the U.S. women's Under-20 national team at the 2012 World Cup, Evan Fjeld, a McDonald's All-American nominee who graduated from the University of Vermont and has played professionally in the NBA D-League as well as in Malta and Switzerland, and Lauren Blazing, Duke's field hockey goalkeeper, who was one of three nominees for 2016 NCAA Woman of the Year, played with the USWNT in the 2016 Rio Olympics, was a three-time All-American, a two-time Capital One first team Academic All-American athlete and won ACC Field Hockey Scholar-Athlete of the Year twice. Arts Durham Academy's arts classes include chorus, band, photography, filmmaking, ceramics, mixed media arts, acting studio,