During a special ceremony in Williston’s Athletic Center on Saturday, April 16, The Williston Northampton School’s Alexis Speliotis signed a National Letter of Intent to join the Division 1 rowing team at the University of Louisville.

Joined by her family along with Athletic Director Mark Conroy, Alexis agreed to attend University of Louisville as part of the class of 2015. In return, the university agreed to provide her with a full scholarship. Signing the letter also gives notice to other schools that she may no longer be recruited.

Alexis, who is from Westford, Massachusetts, has rowed on Williston’s crew team thanks to the school’s involvement in Northampton Youth and Community Rowing. Daphne Burt, Williston’s director of Community Life and one of Alexis’s coaches, says, “Alexis loves crew and has been focused on rowing crew in college for as long as I’ve known her. She takes it seriously and works hard at it, and I am very proud of her.”

Alexis has been co-captain of the team for two years and was picked to row in the Head of the Charles this past fall. She is the fourth Williston student in the last five years (and the third this year) to sign a National Letter of Intent for a NCAA Division 1 scholarship.

University of Louisville is located in Louisville, Kentucky. The women’s rowing team has finished in the top half overall of the Big East Rowing Championship every year since 2006.

The Williston Northampton School’s Hannah Oleksak signed a National Letter of Intent to compete on the Division 2 swimming and diving team of Pace University during a special ceremony in Williston’s Plimpton Hall on Friday, April 15.

Surrounded by her parents and joined by Associate Athletic Director Jay Grant and Director of College Counseling Tim Cheney, Hannah agreed to attend Pace University as part of the class of 2015. In return, the university agreed to provide her with a full scholarship. Signing the letter also gives notice to other schools that she may no longer be recruited.

Hannah, who is from Blandford, Massachusetts, is described by her coach, David Koritkoski, as an outstanding leader and a gifted athlete.  “She will bring a great deal to the Pace University program next year as she balances a strong work ethic with an incredible desire for team unity and success,” says Coach K. “Hannah was consistently one of our most versatile swimmers and was an All-New England performer in her senior year. She is a role model and an example of the best Williston has to offer.”

Hannah is the third Williston student in the last five years (and the second this year) to sign a National Letter of Intent.

Pace University is located in New York, with campuses in New York City and Pleasantville. In the 2008-09 season, the women’s swimming and diving team reached the top of the Northeast-10 Conference with many team members earning special recognition. In 2009-10 the upward trend continued and the team posted its best dual meet season yet, with seven wins and only two losses.

Williston’s Academic Dean Gregory Tuleja is also a published poet whose latest accomplishment, a poem entitled “I Saw,” has been included on page 119 of The Poetry Ark Anthology, an e-book of poetry. The Poetry Ark, an online community where readers vote for their favorite poems, organized the competition in which poems were selected for the anthology.

Poetry Ark editors William Keens and Brian Lemond designed the competition “to gauge the vitality of English-language poetry in an increasingly digital milieu and to test the environment for new models for participation and evaluation.” With the completion of the competition and the publication of their anthology, they declare that “English-language poetry is alive and well.”

From more than 3,000 poems submitted to the contest, the Poetry Ark presented 358 poems online to readers through a series of “rounds.” The online community of 9,800 people from 96 countries reviewed and ranked the poems to determine the 100 poems featured in the digital anthology, of which Mr. Tuleja’s poem was one.

Mr. Tuleja has also been published in The Best of Travel Writing from the Lonely Planet Press, The California State Poetry Society, The Maryland Review, Romantics Quarterly, and Mathematics Magazine. His poem “Schoenberg Started It” was featured in the Fall 2011 Bulletin after its original publication in Thema Literary Journal.

After the recent earthquake, tsunami, and subsequent devastation in Japan, many students and faculty at Williston felt the need to respond in a large-scale manner. So the recent all-school assembly was given over to learning about Japanese culture and showing support for Japanese people in tangible ways. These tangible ways were both large and small, single and numerous, in the form of tiny paper cranes and a huge, football-field-sized heart.

During the assembly, students listened to the music of a Koto, a traditional Japanese stringed instrument, played by guest speaker Dr. Ann Prescott, director of East Asian Studies for the Five Colleges. Following her presentation, students learned how to fold paper cranes, and along with their teachers and advisors, created a grand total of 832 paper cranes. The goal is to create 1,000 cranes, and with the additional efforts of individual dorms, teams, and advisory groups, we are very close that number.

The cranes symbolize hope and well-wishes for the children of Japan. They will be sent to Cranes for Kids, an effort by the children’s clothing company OshKosh B’gosh, which will donate one article of clothing to a child affected by the recent tsunami for every crane received.

As Head of School Bob Hill described in a recent blog post, this school-wide effort followed the example of the children of two Williston faculty families, who have already folded their own 1,000 cranes, which are for sale at businesses throughout Easthampton. The kids have sold almost all of the 1,000 cranes so far and have raised more than $1,200 for the Red Cross in Japan.

On Sunday, April 17, The Williston Northampton School will host the Fifth Annual Free Market. All are invited to bring unwanted, reusable items to the Athletic Center for donation and then to shop amongst all the free stuff. It is also possible to drop off items without shopping or to just “shop” without donating. This is a great opportunity to clean out attics, closets, cupboards, and storage areas in time for spring.
 
In past years, available items have included clothes, luggage, books, toys, game systems, small appliances, dishes, lamps, sports equipment, and more. Market organizer Nola-rae Cronan, Williston’s director of diversity and student activities, says that each year, the free market has gotten bigger. “It is always a joy to see so many items being carried away to new homes and not to the dump,” she says.
 
Drop off runs from 8 a.m. to 11 a.m., with shopping from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Sunday. If you can carry it, you can bring it or find it at the Free Market.