On Sunday, April 17, The Williston Northampton School will host the Fifth Annual Free Market. All are invited to bring unwanted, reusable items to the Athletic Center for donation and then to shop amongst all the free stuff. It is also possible to drop off items without shopping or to just “shop” without donating. This is a great opportunity to clean out attics, closets, cupboards, and storage areas in time for spring.
In past years, available items have included clothes, luggage, books, toys, game systems, small appliances, dishes, lamps, sports equipment, and more. Market organizer Nola-rae Cronan, Williston’s director of diversity and student activities, says that each year, the free market has gotten bigger. “It is always a joy to see so many items being carried away to new homes and not to the dump,” she says.
Drop off runs from 8 a.m. to 11 a.m., with shopping from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Sunday. If you can carry it, you can bring it or find it at the Free Market.
Williston+ Provides Cultural Experiences
The resources of the Pioneer Valley and the Five Colleges made available to our students through Williston+ are rich. They include not only opportunities for academic collaboration but a variety of cultural events as well. Two series of experiences to which our students were exposed this year were classical chamber music and Chinese New Year festivals.
Williston archivist and assistant librarian Richard Teller ’77 took a group of students to a chamber music series at Smith College. The renowned Chiara String Quartet played Beethoven’s String Quartets as part of a six-concert series, and the Paris Piano Trio played music for violin, cello, and piano by Haydn, Beethoven, and Schumann.
The Williston community experienced a different type of music—along with dance and talent performances—during the Chinese Lunar New Year celebration, or Spring Festival, organized by Chinese teacher Dr. Huihong Bao and the students in her Chinese IV class. The show featured 25 different performances by Williston students, parents, and faculty, along with teachers and students from surrounding communities.
Dr. Bao also brought a group of students to UMass Amherst in order to watch the Spring Festival put on by the Chinese Scholar and Student Association there. Having received her MEd and EdD from UMass, she was a past organizer of the festival at UMass and used her experiences to inform the ambitious and successful evening she put on at Williston.
Writing in the Spring 2009 Bulletin about the long history of interaction between The Williston Northampton School and colleges in the area, Mr. Teller said, “The relationships … are so deeply interwoven that we sometimes take them for granted. It is worth reminding ourselves of the history of these connections, of their importance in the history of education in the Pioneer Valley, and for the bright future that these connections will undoubtedly make possible.”
Don Cheng ’11 Advances to USA Mathematical Olympiad
In the words of his math teacher Alan Lipp: “Our young mathematician has done it again.” Dongyang Cheng ’11 has qualified for the USA Mathematical Olympiad (USAMO) based upon his work in two previous competitions. For the Olympiad, Don will compete on a nine-hour exam at the end of April. This is a very selective competition; approximately 250 students are chosen out of the several hundred thousand who competed in the first round.
According to the Mathematical Society of America, which administers the contest, the USAMO provides a means of identifying and encouraging the most creative secondary mathematics students in the country. It serves to indicate the talent of those who may become leaders in the mathematical sciences of the next generation.
Further adding to his achievements, Don also qualified as a semifinalist for the 2011 U.S. Physics Olympics Team.
College Counseling Road Trip Provides Early Exposure to Options
On a rainy day in March, every member of the junior class boarded a bus and headed off to one of the Five Colleges—Amherst, Hampshire, Mount Holyoke, and Smith Colleges and the University of Massachusetts—for campus tours and information sessions with admissions officers. The purpose of this trip, according to Director of College Counseling Tim Cheney, was “to provide students with early exposure to the variety of options available to them at different schools and colleges.”
The day, Tim says, provided “a primer for students, to heighten their awareness and refine their thinking in advance of going out on their first actual tours with parents.” Many times juniors will take some time during spring break to visit a few colleges that they might be interested in. By visiting college campuses with Williston college counselors, and then meeting admissions officers at those campuses, Williston’s students will better prepared to get the most out of tours they do on their own.
Each junior got to choose which campus he or she would visit on this trip, which was organized by the College Counseling Office, with assistance from Kim Evelti, curriculum specialist for Five College resources. The feedback on the outing has been positive, and plans are underway to make it an annual event.
Leading Law Professor to Speak at Williston
Professor Ken Gormley, dean of Duquesne University Law School and author of The Death of American Virtue, will be on campus for two events Monday, April 11. He will first visit a history class and lead a discussion of his scholarship on the Clinton impeachment trial and the Watergate investigation. At 6:30 p.m. he will give a public presentation in the Dodge Room of the Reed Campus Center. View map.
In his recent book, Gormley presents new information on the tension between President Bill Clinton and special prosecutor Ken Starr, and how it morphed from an investigation of financial dealings into an investigation of personal behavior. According to Steve Weinberg of the Star Tribune, “Gormley comes across as nonpartisan while chronicling one of the most politically partisan messes in American history.”
Gormley has taught at Duquesne since 1994, specializing in Constitutional law, state Constitutional law, the First Amendment, and the American Presidency. He is also the author of Archibald Cox: Conscience of a Nation. He was twice awarded the Bruce K. Gould Book Award for outstanding publication related to the law, in 1999 and in 2010. He has also published dozens of scholarly articles, written features and opinion pieces for newspapers across the nation, testified twice before the United States Senate, appeared on national TV and radio as a legal commentator, and lectured at prestigious venues including Harvard, Stanford, and the John F. Kennedy Library.