{"id":3349,"date":"2016-05-23T11:44:46","date_gmt":"2016-05-23T15:44:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/willistonblogs.com\/archives\/?p=3349"},"modified":"2016-05-24T23:40:07","modified_gmt":"2016-05-25T03:40:07","slug":"musings-on-the-campus-fence-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/willistonblogs.com\/archives\/musings-on-the-campus-fence-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Musings on the Campus Fence"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Campus
\n\"WNS15ALM10_175lWhen I drive to work, I usually come down Brewster Avenue.\u00a0 As I turn onto Park Street, I see the iconic Class Fence, stretching out of sight in both directions, each section with the date of a graduating class.\u00a0 173 of them, so far, going back to 1842.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a powerful metaphor.\u00a0 Every class is represented, plus one enigmatic \u201cL.L.D.\u201d\u00a0 Last Friday night, May 20, at the annual Senior Dinner, Williston’s 174th graduating Class of 2016 received its number plaque.\u00a0 There will be many more.\u00a0 Williston Northampton has a lot of fence left.\u00a0 For seniors, the placing of the plaque is the first traditional end-of-the-year milestone in joining the rest of us alumni represented by that fence.\u00a0 (But of course, it isn\u2019t really the first milestone.\u00a0 Enrolling at Williston is.)<\/p>\n

\"Headmaster
Headmaster Joseph Henry Sawyer.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The fence dates from 100 years ago, 1916, when Headmaster Joseph Sawyer (served 1896-1919), as part of a campaign to celebrate the school\u2019s 75th anniversary, challenged every class to meet certain fundraising targets.\u00a0 Upon achieving them, the class could put its number on the fence.\u00a0 That\u2019s why the dates are not in order; classes met their goals at different times.\u00a0 The campaign was 100% successful.\u00a0 Even those classes which had no surviving members were \u201cadopted\u201d by other alumni groups.\u00a0 At some point mid-century the tradition changed and classes were awarded plaques at the time they graduated.\u00a0 From this point the numbers are consecutive — or were until recently, when “new” sections of the fence were installed near Scott Hall and on Galbraith Field.<\/p>\n

\"L.L.D.And the mysterious \u201cL.L.D.\u201d?\u00a0 They were one of Williston Seminary\u2019s fraternities.\u00a0 We don\u2019t know much about them; they were a secret society that kept its secrets well.\u00a0 The frats were wisely abolished in 1926-28, but not before the L.L.D. alumni achieved a kind of immortality by pledging and contributing to the fund.<\/p>\n

So . . . it is more than just a fence.\u00a0 Welcome to the fold, Class of 2016!<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Adapted from an article originally posted in May, 2012.<\/em><\/p>\n

\"Class
Class of 2016 President Nate Gordon unveils this year’s plaque.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When I drive to work, I usually come down Brewster Avenue.\u00a0 As I turn onto Park Street, I see the iconic Class Fence, stretching out of sight in both directions, each section with the date of a graduating class.\u00a0 173 of them, so far, going back to 1842. It\u2019s a powerful metaphor.\u00a0 Every class is … Continue reading Musings on the Campus Fence<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"_s2mail":"yes","footnotes":""},"categories":[53,43,25],"tags":[417,416,356,312,76],"class_list":["post-3349","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-campus-and-building-history","category-williston-northampton-school","category-williston-seminary","tag-campus-fence","tag-class-of-2016","tag-fraternities","tag-joseph-henry-sawyer","tag-l-l-d"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/willistonblogs.com\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3349"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/willistonblogs.com\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/willistonblogs.com\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/willistonblogs.com\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/willistonblogs.com\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3349"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/willistonblogs.com\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3349\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3355,"href":"https:\/\/willistonblogs.com\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3349\/revisions\/3355"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/willistonblogs.com\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3349"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/willistonblogs.com\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3349"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/willistonblogs.com\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3349"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}