Category Archives: Middle School

15th Annual Writers’ Workshop

From October 16 to November 8, The Williston Northampton School is hosting the 15th year of the Writers’ Workshop Series. This event brings some of today’s most accomplished and honored writers to campus where they give public lectures and teach private classes for Williston students.

On Tuesday, October 16, Williston hosted Jen duBois ’02, the first alumna to participate as both a student and as an author. Anita Shreve, a Williston parent and award-winning author of The Pilot’s Wife and other novels, spoke on Monday, October 22. Renowned author of the Knuffle Bunny children’s series, Mo Willems, will speak on Thursday, November 1.  Mount Holyoke Mellon Professor of English, Christopher Benfey, will conclude the program on Thursday, November 8.

All lectures are held at 7 p.m. in the Dodge Room, Reed Campus Center. The lectures are free and open to the public.

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Struggle as Motivation at 172nd Convocation

Whether it was one of time or distance, speakers at The Williston Northampton School’s 172nd Convocation spoke of various journeys, and the bumps they had encountered along the way.

© Matthew Cavanaugh

“For me, being successful means getting from point A to point B no matter what obstacles may be ahead of you,” Class President Matthew Freire ’13 told the assembled Williston community.

“In my opinion, no one can be a success without first encountering obstacles preventing one from achieving his or her success in the first place,” he said.

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Fanfare for the New Middle School Program

When 7th and 8th graders at The Williston Northampton School settle into their seats for one of the fall assemblies, they may spot their head of school standing in the aisle, playing a joyful tune on the trumpet.

Jen Fulcher can’t think of a much better way to announce a new program that will have every student in the Middle School involved in music.

“I played the trumpet all through middle school, all through high school,” Fulcher said recently. “So this was an easy sell for me of the importance of music in young people’s lives, because it was a huge part of my life and my education.”

Under the new year-long program, students will join either the string ensemble, wind ensemble, or Middle School Chorus. The groups will meet three times every two weeks, and students will receive school credit for their participation.

Fulcher said the program was the culmination of several years of discussions, coupled with a recent change to Williston’s school day that added a seventh period. While Middle School students had been able to join the orchestra or band in the past, their practice times were limited to one 45-minute period, once a week.

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Williston Welcomes 12 New Faculty Members

New Faculty 2012-13A major in crafts and fiber arts; a French teacher who has studied in France, Mexico, and Guatemala; a veteran of the Bread Loaf School; and a neuroscience and chemistry scholar are just some of the highlights from the resumes of The Williston Northampton School’s newest faculty members.

Peter Valine, the dean of faculty, is “very excited to welcome this distinguished group of new faculty to Williston.”

“While some of these new teachers are launching their teaching careers and others are seasoned veterans, they share a passion for their respective disciplines and eagerness to work with young people,” he said.

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Setting Campus Aglow: LED Project Lights Up Williston

Jeff Tannatt was waiting for dusk to fall. Behind the Homestead, a new type of light—an induction florescent, to be specific—was shining across the parking lot. If the light proved bright enough, and Tannatt liked what he saw, then the director of the Physical Plant and his staff planned to install some 66 of the lights across campus.

Earlier this spring, a family at The Williston Northampton School made an anonymous donation of $60,000 to improve lighting across campus and renovate the school’s entrance way.

As a result, some 54 existing campus lights will be retrofitted with LEDs and another 12 around Middle School will be replaced. The gift also covered landscaping at the entrance way, repairs to the brick and stone gate, and the addition of a missing section of ornamental iron fence.

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