A chair may just seem like a nice place to rest for a moment, but on Friday, September 14, it meant a great deal more to an esteemed member of The Williston Northampton School community.
The Richard C. Gregory Faculty chair was established and funded by Arthur “Chuck” Tauck ’72, Jack G. Tatelman ’73, as well as other generous donors. The chair was presented to Mr. Gregory at a reception at Head of School Bob Hill’s home just prior to the 172nd Convocation, where it would be awarded for the first time. The inscription on the back of the chair reads, “Presented to Richard C. Gregory in recognition of the first awarding of The Richard C. Gregory Faculty Chair, September 14, 2012.”
The Williston Northampton School will open its 172nd academic year with a Convocation ceremony on Friday, September 14, 2012 at 5:00 p.m. Our distinguished speaker this year is the President of the Board of Trustees, Elizabeth Manning D’Amour P’00, ’03, ’04, ’07.
Convocation, which marks the official opening of school, will begin with a procession of Williston faculty and special guests. During the ceremony, which will take place on the quad in front of the Reed Campus Center, Ms. D’Amour will address the gathered students, alumni, faculty and staff, honored guests, community members, and friends of the school.
Thirteen women from the Northampton School for Girls Class of 1962 were heading down a back staircase when one looked around with sudden recognition.
“Miss Whittaker and Miss Bement used to walk down these for prayers!” she said.
“Oh my God! Yes!” said a classmate.
The women paused for a moment, glancing around, and then continued on their way down the stairs, swapping stories of French fieldtrips, old pranks, and favorite teachers.
The tour of the former Northampton School for Girls buildings and grounds was just one of many activities that celebrated school history and alumni during Reunion Weekend, June 8-10. Special reunion exhibits and slideshows celebrated the past, while jazz on the quad, summer barbecues, and class dinners recognized the spirit of the present.
During the class-sponsored seminars, faculty and alumni offered lectures on everything from playwriting and mite infestations to the upcoming Presidential election.
In a popular talk on Afghanistan, Lieutenant Colonel Richard H. Brown ’72 and Colonel Stephen P. White ’77, P’11 discussed the country’s drug trade and the development of, and setbacks with, major infrastructure.
“I can’t emphasize enough how very difficult this stuff is because of the terrain,” Lt. Col. Brown said, showing slides of rugged mountains and arid desert land. Still, he said that the development of infrastructure, in a long-term and sustainable way, was critical to getting Afghanistan back on solid economic footing.
“The silk road is the balancing act,” he said. “That’s what could tilt the economy positively.”
A balancing act of the academic kind was the focus of another talk—“Williston Northampton Today,” presented by Head of School Robert W. Hill III P’15.
Speaking to alumni in the Williston Theatre, Hill talked about how boarding schools have changed over the past decade and how The Williston Northampton School, in particular, had become “a more diverse campus in every sense.”
“We are schools of the world,” he said. “What happens in our classrooms, on our fields, in our dorms provides a foundation for everything that follows. That almost 350 alumni and former faculty are on this campus this weekend is a testament to the strength of this experience.”
Both the pre-merger institutions of the Northampton School for Girls and Williston Academy were recognized in archival images and slideshows over the weekend. There was also a special dedication of the NSFG Angelus bell in its new home on the lawn of 194 Main Street.
But it was a tour of the old NSFG campus on June 9—through buildings now part of the Cutchins Programs for Children and Families—that proved to be a highlight of the weekend.
In celebration of their 50th Renunion, members of the Class of 1962, their spouses, and a few fellow alumna walked through the old buildings, reminiscing about school life. The rooms brought back memories of favorite teachers, awards ceremonies, English papers, and science labs.
“I dissected a frog in here!” said an alumna, through a doorway.
“Are the worms still in here that we cut up?” joked another. “Do you see any worms?”
It was not a walk down memory lane, perhaps, but a stroll through memory’s classrooms and corridors. Which made it all the more fitting that, as the tour was drawing to a close, the NSFG alumna lined a front staircase and together sang the Alma Mater.
Be courageous, speakers told the Class of 2012 during The Williston Northampton School’s 171st Commencement on June 2. As rain fell outside the Athletic Center, and the graduates prepared to open a new chapter in their lives, commencement speakers reminded them to always have the courage to do the right thing, the courage to persist, and the courage to stand up for their ideals.
“You will scatter across the globe, to new and unfamiliar pathways,” said Head of School Robert W. Hill during his opening remarks. “It’s going to take courage for you to maintain the kind of spirit you have shown here.”
Hill reminded seniors about what they had learned at Williston—to welcome a diversity of ideas, to be self-reflective, to be good people. He urged students to continue to express their passions and their integrity even beyond the sanctuary of the school.
“Courage motivates you to step in others’ shoes, to do the right thing when no one is looking or to cut a new pathway,” he said.
