Big Changes on the Horizon!

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As long as Jill and I have been parents of Willistonians, the Parents’ Association has been structured much like a corporation or a government. The senior officers (President, VPs for Day, Boarding, and Middle School, Treasurer, and Secretary) are elected to two-year terms. The committee heads (By-laws, Volunteers, Social Media, and Team Parent) are appointed.

This model, however, is a little old-fashioned, and doesn’t really serve the parent population in the most inclusive way. For the 2013-2014 year, there will be a Parent Coordinator and a group of Parent Volunteers to direct responsibilities for events such as the Staff Appreciation Lunch, blood drives, and the Library Donation Program, as well as, potentially, some new programming.

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Three Questions (and a Surprise!) for Sarah Sawyer, Director of the Writing Center

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Despite the prominence of writing in our culture, good writing is hard to find. Teaching styles change, the medium that delivers the writing changes, but we all know the satisfaction of reading a juicy novel, a thoughtful newspaper article, or a spot-on essay. It’s hard to write well. Luckily, the students at Williston have a helpful tool in their pockets:  The Writing Center.

Founded in 2005 by English teacher Sarah Sawyer, the Writing Center gives students one-on-one attention from faculty and peer tutors in the craft of the written word. We sat down on a beautiful spring day with Sarah to chat.

Sarah at work, coffee nearby

Sarah came to Williston via Amherst College, where she was first a student, and then  a Writing Fellow. While at Amherst, she noticed a disparity in writing skills: some students didn’t have the facility—the muscle for writing—that her high school had instilled in their students.

When she started teaching English at Williston in 2000, there was the same lack of cohesion in writing across the student population. Some kids were well-prepared to write well; others had never written papers at all. In all disciplines, there seemed to be a wide range of ability to conceive ideas and execute them on paper.

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You Know Spring Is Here When…

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When it’s Spring Family Weekend!

038_Parents Weekend_ 04282012Although Jill won’t be able to be on campus, I will be nosing around, spying on my children, and attending the Parents Association reception at Head of School Robert Hill’s casa. There is a meeting of the Parents Association on Saturday in the Cox Family Room of the Dining Commons, to which you are all invited. So much is going on! Make sure to check your schedules to get all the deets–and make sure to see The Laramie Project, a thought-provoking theatrical presentation, on Friday evening.

Now that our Seasonal-Affective Disorder hiatus is over, look for upcoming interviews with Sarah Sawyer, founder and director of The Writing Center, as well as a talk with Bill Berghoff, head of the Science department, and driving force behind the curriculum re-design of that department. As always, please let us know what you’d like to hear about in the comments section. See you at school!

Three(ish) Questions for Tim Cheney, Director of College Counseling

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Wall of Colleges

I think we can be honest about the fact that the decision to send our students to Williston is that it is a college-preparatory school. The reason it has challenging academics, a vibrant and visible arts community, and a focus on athletics, is because those things count in the college search. However, that search, especially in recent years, has become a source of major anxiety for high school students and their parents. Colleges that used to be selective are now highly selective. Students from New England have a really tough time standing out especially to New England colleges. But Williston students have an (cue the superhero music) advantage in navigating the college admission experience, and that is our College Counseling department, led by the (cue louder superhero music) estimable Tim Cheney. We met with Tim in his comfy-cozy office during the height of his busiest time of year to talk about the ins and outs of what students and parents need to know. It was incredibly reassuring.

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Three Questions for Matt Spearing, Director of Student Activities (and Renaissance Man)

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Matt Spearing, Director of Student Activities

Matt Spearing has a movie-theater popcorn machine in his office, and to us, that signals a man who is serious about making sure students have a much-needed outlet for their inner child.

As Director of Student Activities, Matt organizes several student activities every weekend, as well as bigger productions that include WillyGras. He finds the DJ for Prom, and helps to coordinate the lock-in afterward. He also teaches AP Environmental Science, is a dorm parent, and coaches JV football in the fall. He’s the class adviser for the Class of 2015, along with Christa Talbot.

Some judicious Google-ing revealed that he is a world traveler as well, having taught in Cairo and Abu Dhabi. That’s more than either of us have done, ever, and we are both old enough to be his…ahem…older sisters. We asked him Three Questions, but we found out way more than we asked.

The Mighty Popcorn Machine of Merriment in Matt's office

1. What the heck is it that you do?

Matt plans all weekend activities for all the boarding students—and day students are welcome to do any of those activities as well. That might include a trip to the mall (very popular), a movie night in the StuBop, Open Gym activities in the Athletic Center, or trips to New York or Boston. There will be a Super Bowl viewing party on the big screen, and dances. By the way, parents can find the weekly activity schedule on WillyNet, on the “On The Quad” link.

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Starting the New Year With Confidence

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Catherine Sanderson at Williston 2012

Catherine Sanderson, speaking to the Parents Association and meeting attendees.

Last Wednesday, the Parent’s Association held our first meeting of 2013, and hosted Catherine Sanderson, Associate Professor of Psychology at Amherst College, who presented a talk called “Five Strategies for Parenting a More Confident Teenager: What the Most Current Research Shows.”

We think we speak for everyone who was in the room when we say this was completely fascinating. Professor Sanderson is a gifted speaker, despite a post-cold touch of laryngitis, and captivated a crowd of concerned parents and faculty/staff.  We will get personal for a moment, and put it right out there that being a parent of a preteen or adolescent involves tremendous effort–with no reciprocal encouragement about 90 per cent of the time. Hearing Professor Sanderson identify our anxiety provoking and confusing  parenting moments as the norm was very comforting.

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Just A Tiny Bit of Information Hidden in a “Happy Holidays” Post

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Well, first of all…Happy Holidays to you! By now, we hope you’ve settled into “vacation mode” and are enjoying the season. But as we all know, vacations end, and we wanted to make sure to give you some information about the January 2, 2013 (wow, first time we’ve written that year!) Parent Association meeting. Please join us at 5:30PM in the Cox Room at the Birch Dining Hall for our first meeting of the year. These meetings are brief, but packed with great information for all parents.

We hope you’ll stay to hear a talk by noted researcher Catherine Sanderson, Ph.D, on “Five Strategies For Raising A More Confident Teenager: What The Research Shows.” Dr. Sanderson is a Professor of Psychology at Amherst College, and received her Masters and doctoral degrees from Princeton University. Her research is funded by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute of Health, and her focus is on personality and social variables in adolescents and how they influence health-related behavior, including safer sex and disordered eating.

Start the new year off with a better understanding of not only what our kids deal with in their social lives, but how to help them steer a more confident course.

We both hope to see you there–we will be giving a VERY brief update on the blog, and you may even see a little extra treat in the form of a “Three Questions with Dr. Sanderson,” if we get ourselves out of vacation mode.

It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year…

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The first half of this school year has flown by! As your students are finishing up before the Winter Break, your humble scribes would like to wish all of our readers (and soon-to-be-readers!) a happy and healthy New Year. In the coming months we will continue to feature topics of interest to all of you, including some new faces for our Three Questions series. We’ll also feature our athletes and coaches, and give some love to Team Parents. Wouldn’t you like to meet the person who organizes that vital link in the Williston sports chain? You will, via Parents Point of View.

Once again, we’d love to get your feedback. How have you liked our first posts? Are they helpful or useful? Is there anyone you’d like to get to know better through this blog? Any topics you have questions about? Please comment below. We answer all posts, so don’t think you’ll never hear from us.

 

Three Questions for Ann Pickrell, Assistant Head of School

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Ann Pickrell, Assistant Head of School

When we were casting about for people that you, as parents, would like to meet and learn about, Ann Pickrell immediately came to mind.

You probably met her as you and your child were deciding on schools; in her role of Director of Admission at Williston she no doubt interviewed you or your student at some point in that process.  When we were doing our preliminary research on Ann, we discovered that she had added another hat to the many she already has worn: starting July 1, Ann was named Assistant Head of School.

This changed the tenor of our interview, but in a fascinating way. Rather than a fact-finding mission about the Admission process, we instead got a glimpse into the skillful outreach and strategic planning that goes into making a school like Williston a thriving community.

First of all, tell us about yourself…

Ann first arrived at Williston in 1981 from a post at Cushing Academy where she taught history, worked in Admission, and coached three varsity teams. She started at Williston as a classroom teacher, and quickly transitioned into an administrative role. Going to work at an independent boarding school, and with parents who were educators, Ann knew that a faculty member at a school such as ours needs to be versatile. She has spent all of her years here as a coach, in addition to the work she does in administration.  In fact, this is the first year that she HASN’T coached a Fall sport, due to her new responsibilities.

Ann broke new ground when she started Williston’s women’s golf team, and last year, that team had their best record ever (11-1-2). Ann knew that women’s golf would explode globally, and wanted not only to give students a chance to pursue their passion and continue to play at a college level, but to put them on an equal footing with men—both in school and in the business world.

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The Family Weekend Primer

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Family Weekend is coming! On October 26, the entire Williston community will be on display—students, faculty, administration and staff, and, most importantly to our readers (I assume we have readers): PARENTS. We’re going to give you the lowdown on some new stuff, some fun stuff, and some stuff you need to know so you’re not sprinting from the Athletic Center to the School House 10 minutes late for a conference. We won’t give you the full schedule here because, well, it’s already here.

Williston on Family Weekend

Here’s an aside: It’s easy to get cynical about Family Weekend and maybe even to think you won’t have any fun or learn anything. Believe me, we are the queens of snark. However, we both completely enjoy every part of the experience–meeting our kids’ teachers, watching them in class, seeing their environment and how they spend their days, and bonding with other families who are very similar to ours. And Williston’s staff and administration have made it incredibly easy and seamless, which is not an easy thing.

New Stuff

This year, there will be a mandatory Upper School student assembly to which parents are invited (perhaps “invited” is not a strong enough verb. “Expected” would be more correct). Middle School parents are also encouraged to attend. But wait! This one is out of the ordinary–and comes with a special treat just for parents.

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