Role Models

H6797414419 0970e94d76 oow fitting that, as we celebrate 40 years of coeducation at Williston Northampton, this year’s Cum Laude speaker was Professor Sheila Fisher ’72, valedictorian of the school’s first co-ed class.
 
Standing before a packed Stephens Chapel, Professor Fisher, associate academic dean and member of the English faculty at Trinity College in Hartford, extolled the talent and accomplishments of this year’s Cum Laude Society inductees.
 
Then she threw in a twist.  A “relationship with work,” she said—referring to academic prowess, rather than the effort that produces a particular result—is essential for one to have a fulfilled life.
 
What a strong message for our students to hear—no matter where their passions take them.  A scholar in her field and one who holds three advanced degrees from Yale University, Professor Fisher now stands as one of the “giants” she remembered from her own school days. Our students clearly understood the significance of her scholarship and accomplishments.
 
Indeed, Professor Fisher embodies, as a living testimony, the enduring impact that great teachers have on generations of students—not to mention individuals whose lives they steer by the magnetic pull of emulation.

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