Alexandra Starzyk had no idea why Athletic Director Mark Conroy was calling her name during assembly. The varsity ice hockey player knew that she had done well over the course of her senior season, but had no idea that in the course of the season she’d also set new school records.
So, when Mr. Conroy announced that Ms. Starzyk had reached a career 100 goals—something only three girls had done before—and, at 119 points, was the new all-time leading scorer, she was amazed.
“I had no idea I was on my way to reaching 100 goals,” Ms. Starzyk explained later via email. “Until they called my name in assembly, I was unaware I held the record for most points by merely one.”
Each time Physical Plant wants to use a new decal with the Williston Northampton School seal—for a sign, a building, or on the side of a van—Barb Shepard, the administrative assistant, must first sit down and peel tiny pieces of sticker from around every tiny, wavy line.
For five years, the athletic department has worked hard to make uniforms, coaching wear, and travel suits consistent, but Mark Conroy, director of athletics, has noticed that teams still purchase shirts and other gear in odd colors, with designs entirely their own.
When Matt Spearing, director of student activities, ordered rally towels recently, he asked the supplier to come up with ideas for what a print of the school’s mascot might look like. He didn’t have any other image to base it on, he said.
“There was no consistency of font or format,” Spearing said. “It was just what we thought looked good.”
No matter where you looked on campus, one thing was clear, the Williston logo was in need of a makeover.
While the school has always had graphic identity—the visual way Williston is represented on everything from minibuses to business cards—there was little consensus around how that image was used. The seal, designed 25 years ago to imitate the wavy lines of a woodcut, was sometimes used together with the school name, but more often without. In digital form, the seal appeared blurry or too condensed.
Kevin Martin pushed back the lid on the giant blue dumpster and stepped aside, letting a handful of students peer at a small mound of lemon rinds, lettuce leaves, broken eggshells, and brown paper bags.
“All of this is generated from the dining hall. It doesn’t come from anywhere else on campus,” said Martin, The Williston Northampton School’s director of dining services.
“Wow! That’s great!” exclaimed one of the students.
The students, members of the school’s Sustainable Life Club, were touring the school’s new compost system, which included the dumpster—a large example of the reduce, reuse, recycle motto they try to embody.
Although school officials have considered composting the waste from the dining hall for several years, it took a final push from these students to make the effort a reality. The new compost bin was installed in early January; on a cold Monday, club members admired the squishy results of their hard work.
The idea of collecting compost on a larger scale first occurred to Nick Pattison ’14 while he was working with the school’s community garden last year. The garden has two compost bins, which garden club members fill with prep scraps from the dining hall.
There’s nothing like the experience of a live audition—part improvisation, part performance, and all nerves. And when the auditions are for places in district ensembles, competing against music students from four counties, the stakes are even higher.
Five students from The Williston Northampton School took on the challenge of such auditions earlier this year when they went to the Western Massachusetts District Festivals, held at Westfield State University and sponsored by the Massachusetts Music Educators Association.
As they stroll around the park, taking in the sights and sounds of the holiday season, visitors to Fenway Park on November 30 might also perk their ears at renditions of Williston Northampton favorites, “O Williston” and “Sammy.”
As part of the Fenway Park Holiday Bash, a winter wonderland-themed event on Friday night, 14 Widdigers and Caterwaulers will perform Christmas carols and group favorites.