Category Archives: Visiting Speakers

Heather Schultz to Speak at 12th Annual Diversity Conference

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HeatherSchultz_croppedNoted author, public speaker, and philanthropist Heather Schultz ’72, P’14 will present the keynote at Williston Northampton School’s 12th annual Diversity Conference on Friday, February 14, 2014 at 8:45 a.m. in the Athletic Center.

Ms. Schultz is vice president of Senn Delaney, a culture-consulting firm with headquarters in California and London, England. She has previously worked as an executive at Save the Children, president of the Tom Peters Company, and as global head of marketing for Andersen Consulting, now Accenture.

Her books include Online Learning Today: Strategies That Work, with John Fogarty, and Dance Lessons: Six Steps to Great Partnerships in Business and Life, with Dr. Chip Bell. She attended Northampton School for Girls and was in the first graduating class of the combined Williston Northampton School. Her daughter, Bianca Schultz, is a senior at the school.

Ms. Schultz will speak on the conference theme of “Empowering MEdia” by exploring how those in the Williston community can be at their best more and make valuable contributions to their families, the school, and the world.

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Posted in: Special Programs, Visiting Speakers

Shabana Basij-Rasikh and the Crime of Educating Girls

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Photography by Chattman Photography

In celebration of Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, Williston Northampton welcomed Shabana Basij-Rasikh, an Afghan education activist and co-founder and president of the School of Leadership Afghanistan (SOLA) to campus on Monday, January 20.

Ms. Basij-Rasikh spoke to the student body about growing up in Afghanistan under Taliban rule, when girls were forbidden to attend school. “I have extremely amazing parents,” she said. “They could not stand the idea of us, especially the four sisters in my family, growing up uneducated.”

Rather than flee, her family decided to stay in Afghanistan and educate their four daughters secretly, illegally. For the next five years, Ms. Basij-Rasikh dressed in boy’s clothing and took her older sister to a secret school in the home of one of their neighbors. More than 100 young girls attended classes in this tiny makeshift school. Ms. Basij-Rasikh remembers constantly fearing that the Taliban would discover the school and kill everyone inside.

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Posted in: Academics, Events, Visiting Speakers, Williston Northampton News

Afghan Activist Shabana Basij-Rasikh to Keynote MLK Day Assembly

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Blog Shabana Basij-Rasikh, an Afghan female education activist, believes the best future for Afghans lies with educating the younger generations, both boys and girls.

Ms. Basij-Rasikh will be the keynote speaker at the Williston Northampton School’s Martin Luther King, Jr. Day assembly on Monday, January 20.

In a 2012 TED talk Ms. Basij-Rasikh recalled the morning she was told she could openly attend school as a girl. Under Taliban rule she was forced to attend school in secret, putting her family in great danger. For five years she would dress in boy’s clothes and escort her older sister to a secret school where more than 100 students were packed into a living room.

“I was very lucky to grow up in a family where education was prized and daughters were treasured,” she said. “To [my father] there was a greater risk in not educating his children.”

Ms. Basij-Rasikh graduated magna cum laude from Middlebury College and was the first woman to attend college in her family. When she returned to Afghanistan she co-founded the School of Leadership Afghanistan, SOLA, a boarding school for girls in Afghanistan.

“To me, Afghanistan is a country of hope and boundless possibilities,” said Ms. Basij- Rasikh, “and every single day the girls of SOLA remind me of that. Like me, they are dreaming big.”

Posted in: Events, Middle School, Upper School, Visiting Speakers

A Boy, a Textbook, and his Drought-Stricken Country

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Photo by Paul Schnaittacher
Photo by Paul Schnaittacher

Currently a senior at Dartmouth College in Hanover, NH, William Kamkwamba, the co-author of The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind: Creating Currents of Electricity and Hope, took time between his final exams to speak at Williston Northampton as the fourth annual speaker in the Sara Wattles Perry ’77 lecture series.

Mr. Kamkwamba is a native of Malawi, a small African country bordered by Mozambique, Tanzania, Zambia, and Zimbabwe, where electricity and running water are a luxury enjoyed by only two percent of the population. Mr. Kamkwamba’s family members make their living as farmers in a rural part of the country. As chronicled in The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind, in 2001, a record drought led Mr. Kamkwamba to drop out of school and, using textbooks as his guide, build an electricity-generating windmill out of scrap metal.

Watch Mr. Kamkwamba’s TEDTalk about building the windmill.

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Posted in: Events, Middle School, Special Programs, Upper School, Visiting Speakers, Williston Northampton News

Dr. Judge to Offer Advice on Navigating Social Media

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Photo courtesy of www.abigailjudge.com

An expert in psychology will talk to Williston Northampton students and parents about social media use during special sessions on December 12 and 13.

Abigail Judge is an instructor of psychology at Harvard Medical School and practices clinical and child forensic psychology in Cambridge. Her work at Harvard examines adolescent sexual behavior and how it relates to social media, digital technologies, and the law. She has published articles on topics such as “sexting” and is the editor of a forthcoming book on the issue, Adolescent Sexual Behavior in the Digital Age: Considerations for Clinicians, Legal Professionals and Educators.

Dr. Judge said her approach was developed in response to “scared straight” stories she heard on the news. The reports were alarmist, she explained in a statement about her work, and caused anxiety among families rather than helping parents and teenagers talk about the issues.

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Posted in: Events, Special Programs, Visiting Speakers