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Stories and updates from around campus

Who Needs Feminism?

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Editor’s note: The following guest post by Sylvia Skerry ’14 is based on her senior directed study. Ms. Skerry also presented the following video on May 21 during an Upper School assembly. 

By Sylvia Skerry ’14

This fall, when I took Women and Gender Studies, our class worked on a project called “Who needs feminism?” I first saw this project on Facebook and realized it was present in many communities across the country. Our Women and Gender Studies class decided we wanted to bring it to Williston to help our community create and understand a modern definition of feminism.

This spring I wanted to do a directed study and decided to finish the project that my class had started. In the most basic sense, the project is supposed to make people realize that the answer to the question “Who needs feminism?” is everyone.  Usually the project is simply pictures of people holding up signs that say “I need feminism because…” and then writing a reason they need feminism. For my project, I decided to do a variation of that. In addition to pictures, I took videos of faculty and staff in our community answering questions like “Why is feminism important for you?”, “Why is feminism important in the Williston community?” and “What is your definition of feminism?”

Enjoy!

Posted in: Guest Post

The Next Big Thing for Clubs at Williston

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Editor’s note: The following guest post was written by Christian Knapp ’14, president and co-founder of the The Williston Political Awareness Club, one of the most successful student-run clubs on campus this year. The club regularly had more than 30 students in attendance and hosted debates on such topics as welfare reform, fracking, and inequality in public education. On Monday, May 19, Mr. Knapp presented his senior project, “​The Next Big Thing for Clubs at Williston: The Unveiling of a New Resource that will Help Clubs for Decades to Come.”

By Christian Knapp ’14

According to political scientist Robert D. Putnam, the participation of American adults in civic organizations has been declining for decades. I believe civil society in high schools has faced a similar decline over the past few decades. We have no shortage of capable leaders and capable participants for student organizations. However, we do have a shortage of information to help students form and operate clubs. I have been unable to find a single book in the eight million volume Five College library system that provides thorough guidance for students who wish to run a student organization. To help fill this information gap, I completed a senior project over this past trimester that included a series of workshops on running student organizations at Williston. Additionally, I wrote a handbook titled How to Run a Successful Club.

For my workshops and my handbook, I drew upon my experience as the freshman class president, political club president, and founder and editor-in-chief of the school newspaper at my previous high school. As many Williston students will recognize when they read the handbook, I included many of the methods I used to make The Williston Political Awareness Club successful. I made countless mistakes in each of these organizations. It is my hope that this document will help student leaders avoid making the same mistakes that I made. In addition to my leadership experience, I conducted 17 interviews of students, faculty, and administration about their involvement with student organizations. Finally, I completed research in 22 books and scholarly articles, on topics ranging from leadership to marketing.

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Posted in: Academics, Guest Post

Artist and Author Barry Moser to Speak at Commencement

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A former faculty member whose wood engravings have been used in such classics as Moby-Dick, Alice in Wonderland, and The Pennyroyal Caxton Bible, will give the keynote speech at Williston Northampton’s 173rd Commencement on Sunday, May 25, 2014.

Barry Moser, who taught art at Williston Academy and the Williston Northampton School from 1967 to 1982, has been described in Newsweek as “the foremost wood engraver in America.”

Mr. Moser has illustrated some of the 20th century’s most beautiful private press books, including the Arion Press edition of Herman Melville’s Moby-Dick and the Pennyroyal Press edition of Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, for which he received the American Book Award for typographic design. In 1999, The Pennyroyal Caxton Bible, the first design and illustration of the Bible by a single artist since 1865, was published. A native of Tennessee, Mr. Moser is also nationally recognized for his work as painter, designer, publisher, and author.

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Posted in: Visiting Speakers, Williston Northampton News

How Did You Get Here? An Audio Exploration of the Williston Community

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Editor’s note: The following was presented during the Senior Project Showcase on Wednesday, May 21 from 5-6:30 p.m. in the Dodge Room and the Grubbs Gallery.

Guest post by Maggie Fitzgerald ’14

My senior project, based on Middlebury College’s “How Did You Get Here?” is a collection of interviews with a Williston teacher, student, parent, and alumna. My goal for this project was to create a forum which students and teachers of the community could listen to the stories of their peers.  I’d like to express my gratitude and my belief that every person in the Williston community has been essential to the experience I’ve had during my three years at Williston. Hopefully, by viewing my project, students will gain a sense of appreciation and pride for their school. Although the sample size of the community seen in this project is small, the enthusiasm that gleams from the interviews gives an insight to the greater unity of the Williston Northampton School Community.

Listen to the full interview below.

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Posted in: Academics, Special Programs

Translating Roman Slavery: A Visit to the Middle School

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2014 Teresa Ramsby 1When it came to Roman slaves, Emily Vezina’s Middle School class wanted to know all the details: Did a freed slave have a better life? Were slaves ever paid? What was the reason why a master might free a slave, anyway?

“Boy, you guys have good questions,” said Teresa Ramsby, who was visiting from the University of Massachusetts Amherst last week. “These are tougher than my college students.”

Ms. Ramsby, an associate professor in University’s Classics Department, spent a period with Latin I class, talking about manumission in the Roman world.

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Posted in: Middle School, Visiting Speakers

Stories and updates from around campus