The smallest library in Easthampton began its first day with a 27-book selection; Barbara Kingsolver’s The Bean Trees was there, plus Malcolm Gladwell’s Outliers, and The Foot Book by Dr. Seuss.
Library builder Bruce Simonds of Easthampton put a finishing touch on the floor, then closed the door and stepped back. To one side, bicyclists looked over their shoulders as they passed on the Manhan Rail Trail. To the other, bees buzzed around a small garden.
“This is very, very wonderful, Bruce,” said Gina Tirrell, administrative assistant to the CFO at The Williston Northampton School. “I think it’s the perfect location for it.”
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.
The following are the senior recipients of Williston Northampton’s top awards, including three awards presented in ceremonies earlier in the week, the senior awards that are presented each year during Commencement (and voted on by the full faculty), and Williston Northampton’s top three awards: Galbraith prize, the White Blazer award, and the Valedictory prize.
The Senior Athletic Awards, presented during the May 29 assembly, are given to outstanding young men and women for “General participation in athletics, with a special emphasis being placed upon faithful training, good sportsmanship, helpful spirit, and loyal devotion to the best interests of the school”
The smallest library in Easthampton began its first day with a 27-book selection; Barbara Kingsolver’s The Bean Trees was there, plus Malcolm Gladwell’s Outliers, and The Foot Book by Dr. Seuss.
