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.
Charles Frank ’13 took top honors for the second year in a row at the fifth annual Williston Northampton School Film Festival on May 11.
Frank’s film, Breezeless, swept into first place. The short won praise from the panel of judges—all of whom have made their careers in the film making industry. Steve Porter ’97 is the owner of owner of PorterHouse Media; Patrick Burns ’89 is an editor at the Northern Lights Post; and Loren Feinstein ’01 recently directed the documentary Ciclovida: Lifecycle.
“Something is wrong with this picture,” Sam Abell said to his audience on May 9, during the final Photographers’ Lecture Series of the 2012-11 season.
Projected on the screen in the darkened Dodge Room was a photograph of two coffee cups on a tray and a glass of water. What was wrong? The audience strained to see.
Then the next slide appeared. Abell had turned the handle of a coffee mug, ever so slightly, to create a sliver of space between it and the shadow cast by the water.
Such small details have obsessed Abell throughout his long and illustrious career as a documentary photographer and on in-depth projects for National Geographic. As he noted in his artist’s statement, Abell “explores ways in which places can be purely recorded, with images simultaneously shaped by the photographer’s imagination.”
“I don’t know how to explain how fun it is,” said photographer Gregory Heisler of his career choice. “It’s super duper fun.”
Photo Courtesy of Greg Heisler, Portrait by Maja Jutanda
Clad in a bow tie and round glasses, Heisler, currently the artist-in-residence at the Hallmark Institute of Photography in Turners Falls, MA, addressed the Advanced Photography students as the penultimate lecturer in the 2011-2012 Photographers’ Lecture Series on Tuesday, April 24.
Heisler’s range of work includes advertisements for clients such as American Express and Nike, and privately commissioned portraits of subjects including Bruce Springsteen and New York City Mayor Edward Koch.
A veteran photographer, Heisler gave an animated anatomy of a photo shoot, using as an example a recent shoot with Lebron James, Chris Bosh, and Dwayne Wade he had done for Sports Illustrated.
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.
