The Williston Northampton School will host its semiannual blood drive for the American Red Cross on Friday, May 27. The drive will take place from 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. in the Reed Campus Center at 40 Park Street. All are welcome to attend, particularly parents who might wish to take part with their children in what has become a tradition at Williston.

During last year’s spring blood drive, 112 donors gave 97 pints, enough blood to save over 291 lives. About 30 student, faculty, and parent volunteers to organized and worked the drive. Williston placed second in Massachusetts for the Bob’s Discount Furniture High School Heroes $100,000 Scholarship Program with an 89% participation rate, and we are hoping for similar success this year.

In order to donate blood, individuals must be generally healthy and at least 16 years old, weigh at least 110 pounds, and not have donated in the last eight weeks. The entire donation process takes 50 to 60 minutes. The staff takes care to make sure that donors feel “good to go” before they leave. To help ensure a successful blood draw, donors are encouraged to “pump up” before the big day with iron-rich foods like raisins and apricots, spinach, almonds, beans, fortified cereals, tuna, or turkey.

For more information, including tips for a good donation experience and more reasons to give blood, visit www.givelife.org.

Williston seniors who have completed a senior project or directed study in photography will show their work in the Grubbs Gallery and the nearby hallway of the Reed Campus Center from Tuesday, May 17 through Sunday, May 22. An opening reception will be held on Tuesday from 6:30 p.m. to 8:00 p.m.

The projects include landscapes, portraits, narrative, and still-life photography. Seniors exhibiting work are: Lindsey Dirats of Easthampton; Jill Grant of Southampton; Elizabeth Howard of East Chatham, NY; Ryan McGinnis of Southington, CT; and Susan Whitman of Greenwich, CT.

Lindsey Dirats presents a photographic narrative of what happened to the dish and the spoon after they ran away together in the rhyme “The Cat and the Fiddle.”

Jill Grant emphasizes portraiture in her work. She presents three types of portraits: autobiographical and environmental portraits of influential adults, portraits of brothers and sisters, and portraits of people looking into mirrors.

Elizabeth Howard photographs people’s eyes as an investigation of how personalities view and present themselves.

Ryan McGinnis photographs various Massachusetts landscapes that have a “typical New England feel,” highlighting the elements in winter and spring.

Susan Whitman creates photographic representations of modern day fairy-tale “princesses” Taylor Swift, Ke$ha, Katy Perry, and Nicki Minaj, combining their song lyrics with her photographs.

Also exhibiting work is senior Sydney Mortara of Tewksbury, MA, whose photographic exploration of various peoples’ identities will be on view at the East Village Café, 39 Union Street, beginning May 20.

Everyone knows of the horrific tsunami and earthquake that hit Japan recently. Thousands died, tens of thousands were injured, and even more were displaced from their homes. The damage has devastated the region and many people have lost hope in the recovery of their homeland.

People have sent money to Japan in the millions, and that will help the region recover, but there is only so much that money can do. A dollar can keep you warm or fed, but it can’t restore hope in the same way a gesture of caring can. Both are necessary. You can’t fix a problem with a hug, but you also can’t wipe a tear with a dollar bill (it’s not just a metaphor. That stuff really isn’t absorbent enough). We at Williston are giving a message of hope with our 1,000 crane project, as well as giving real tangible help to the displaced children of Japan.

We at Williston folded cranes last month in honor of the Japanese people who died from this natural disaster, and we sent them to Cranes for Kids by Oshkosh B’gosh. The children’s clothing company has promised to donate one article of clothing to the children of Japan for every crane they receive, up to a maximum of 50,000 pieces of clothing. The cranes represent health and best wishes to the people of Japan, while the clothes will provide comfort and warmth to the children who lost everything due to the tsunami and earthquake. Essentially, we’re providing the best of both worlds by providing hope, and backing that promise of better times to come with monetary, tangible help.

In addition to the crane-making extravaganza, we all met outdoors afterwards for a photo of us all standing in the shape of a heart. This part I didn’t really understand the use of, but the pictures turned out really cool and that’s the important thing. We were asked to all wear red so that the heart would be the typical red Valentine’s Day style, but only about half of us got the memo in time. A lot of people showed up in white, following Pastor Burt’s original instructions, and some came in any and every color of the spectrum, as not everyone has perfect memory when it comes to assigned fashion choices. However, when we actually were all standing together, this didn’t really matter for the picture. Those who remembered formed the outline, and those who didn’t provided the fill, and all in all the photo turned out really well.

Text and photos by Brendan Hellweg ’14

On Friday, May 13, young filmmakers from 10 independent schools in Massachusetts, Connecticut, and New York will have their work shown in the Fourth Annual Williston Film Festival at The Williston Northampton School. The screening will take place at 6:30 p.m. in the Williston Theatre at 18 Park Street. It is free and open to the public.

The Williston Northampton School’s Film Club has organized the event. Every year they recruit a panel of judges from the community and the film industry. This year’s judges are alumni Patrick Burns ’89 (a film editor at Elevation Talent in New York City) and Loren Feinstein ’01 (filmmaker of Ciclovida: Lifecycle), along with Williston family member Marty Chang P’14 (a systems analyst at Northeastern University).

This year’s filmmakers represent the following schools: Berkshire School, The Governor’s Academy, The Hotchkiss School, Kingswood Oxford, Millbrook School, Pingree School, Pomfret School, Suffield Academy, Thayer Academy, and The Williston Northampton School.

Winners of the past three Williston Film Festivals can be viewed at www.williston.com/filmfestival.

The Williston Northampton School is pleased to announce that Alan Alda, grandfather to a member of the Class of 2011, will give the Commencement address to the school’s 121 graduating seniors and the Williston community on Saturday, June 4, at 9:30 a.m. The ceremony will take place on the Williston quadrangle in front of the Reed Campus Center, weather permitting. This celebration will mark the 170th Commencement in Williston’s history. For those unable to attend the ceremony, it will be broadcast via live webcast. A baccalaureate ceremony will take place in the Phillips Stevens Chapel the previous night at 8:00 p.m.

Alan Alda has earned international recognition as an actor, writer, and director. He played Hawkeye Pierce on the classic television series M*A*S*H, and wrote and directed many of the episodes. His 33 Emmy nominations include performances for 30 Rock, The West Wing, ER, and Kill Me If You Can. He was inducted into the Television Hall of Fame in 1994. He hosted the award-winning series Scientific American Frontiers and was presented with the National Science Board’s Public Service Award for his efforts to broaden the public’s understanding of science.

For his role in The Aviator, Alda was nominated for an Academy Award; his other films include Crimes and Misdemeanors, Everyone Says I Love You, and Manhattan Murder Mystery. He also wrote and directed The Four Seasons, Sweet Liberty, A New Life, and Betsy’s Wedding. On Broadway, Alda acted in many plays and received Tony Award nominations for his roles in Glengarry Glen Ross, Jake’s Women, and The Apple Tree. His first memoir, Never Have Your Dog Stuffed, and Other Things I’ve Learned, became a New York Times bestseller, as did his second, Things I Overheard While Talking to Myself.