All posts by jpilgrim

Williston Northampton in Mexico City

Editor’s note: From February 19-22, 2015, Director of Alumni Relations Jeff Pilgrim was in Mexcio City to visit with alumni and prospective families in the area. The following is his description of the trip.

Photo by Jeff Pilgrim
Photo by Jeff Pilgrim


The American School Foundation (ASF)

I had a nice long meeting with Ricca McGowan, the eighth grade counselor and counseling coordinator. Ricca has been at the school for four years. ASF is widely considered the top school in all of Mexico City with over 3,000 kids in Grades K-12. Williston’s strong athletic, arts, and academic program and location make this a good opportunity to collaborate on a study abroad program.

After my meeting with Ricca, I met with Ellie Molyneux ’04, who is teaching fourth grade at ASF. This is Ellie’s third year here. Prior to that, she taught at Indian Mountain.

Ellie is the daughter of Penny Dods Molyneux ’74 and one of my former soccer players. Ellie was as fast as could be and had a bulldog attitude, which I just loved. She would go charging down the field, limbs flying in all directions, bouncing off players…and the ground…with no fear at all. I used to call her “Gumby” for some of the positions she would end up in.

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New Orleans Alumni Dinner Recap

On Tuesday, January 27, I had dinner with Sebastien Bonnot ’08, Shamanth D’Souza ’10, Christine McBride ’92, Hudson Coley ’08, and his girlfriend Emma at Capdeville, a fabulous little restaurant that was recommended by Christine.

IMG_0131This was a lot of fun and the food was simply outstanding.  I had duck and strawberry wontons along with mac and cheese with truffle oil!

The funniest part of the evening was when Christine and Sebastian both realized that they worked for the same events company, Solomon Group.  They spent a while talking shop and who they worked with.

Sebastian came to Williston Northampton as result of Hurricane Katrina.  When the storm displaced all the kids here, Williston Northampton took Sebastian in.  After his sophomore year, he left to return to New Orleans, but quickly realized his school wasn’t being rebuilt quickly, so he came back as a midyear boarder and ended up graduating from Williston Northampton  He now does events management.

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New Orleans Event Recap

IMG_0087We had a nice gathering at the home of Ben ’80 and Mary Maynard, overlooking the Mississippi River. Ben served a Sazurac, which is a New Orleans drink made with rye whiskey, simple syrup, bitters, and absinthe.

At Williston Northampton, Ben was a big lacrosse player and the 1980 boys lacrosse team were the “unofficial” New England champs, having beaten the Longmeadow High School team, the reigning Massachusetts State Champs.  They had six players go off to play college lacrosse, including Ben.

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Alumni Ice Hockey Rousing Success

Game Debuts New Format

DSCN8992On Saturday, December 13th, our annual alumni ice hockey game was played but under a new and exciting format.  Not only did we have enough alumni come back for an alumni versus alumni game, but we also had our female ice hockey alumni join us for the first time.  It was a rousing success—25 alumni were in attendance along with 20 guests.

Team Waidlich (expertly coached by TJ Waidlich ’05) squeaked out a last second 7-6 victory over Team Bowden (coached by the injured Bobby Bowden ’10) behind four goals from Alex Paolo ’12. For his efforts, Alex was awarded the game MVP.  Down 3-5 late in the game, Mr. Bowden’s team made a spirited comeback to tie the score at six goals apiece.  Freshman goalie Gabriella Decomitis ’18 played stellar throughout the first half, making a number of spectacular saves to hold Team Bowden to one goal.

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Alumni Fight Valiently, Fall to Varsity Boys Basketball

DSC_0635Fifteen intrepid alumni took on a very tall…and long…boys varsity basketball team in our annual alumni boys’ basketball game before a crowd of 50 or so spectators.

Coach Pilgrim ’81 employed a Kentucky platoon system, hoping to stay with the younger opponents. The alumni dashed out to a quick 6-5 lead behind two 3-pointers by Pat McKinnon ’05. (As it is after you hit a beautiful golf shot, we should have just walked away right then!)

B3DtK-bCMAEtXCG.jpg_largeMembers of the varsity squad, under the guidance of first-year coach Michael Shelton, are very talented and quickly distanced themselves from the alumni, utilizing some deadly outside shooting and their superior height.

The alumni put up a valiant fight in the second half, led by Malcolm Brown ’89 and Andrew Hurd ’09, whose outside shooting earned him the Tiger Craig Alumni Boys’ Basketball Game MVP Award. Despite the lopsided score, the alumni had a lot of fun. Stephen Hoyt ’95 and Kirk Minihane ’95, along with Brown, did an admirable job of representing the “more experienced” alumni, while the Class of 2005 had a great showing with five players back, including Darrell Harrison who flew in from Atlanta, GA and Owen Tuleja, fresh in from Sao Paulo, Brazil.

Afterwards, the alumni retired to Amy’s Place for some adult beverages and appetizers to soothe the muscles.

Next up is the Alumni Ice Hockey game on December 13, 2014.B3D9A1FIIAA5Fke.jpg_large