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Senior Dinner Speech by Paul Rutherford

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First off, let me say thank you to everyone in attendance for being here tonight and thank you to the Class of 2014 for selecting me as your speaker. It is an honor and I offer my sincere thanks for this opportunity. Here is your first lesson for your journey through life, say thank you. It is the most important thing you can do.

Well, that and not eating yellow snow; that is your second piece of advice, do not eat yellow snow. If I was an English teacher I might make some metaphor for the yellow snow representing the harmful pollution ruining the innocent beauty of the natural world and by “eating” it you are engaging in the mass production of carbon fuels adding to the slow demise of our delicate planet. But I am a science teacher, so I honestly mean, do not each snow that is yellow. I can’t tell you how often this piece of advice has come in handy.

Enough with the direct advice, I do not want this to be a speech where I tell you everything you will need to know for the rest of your life. Because it doesn’t matter what I say tonight; you won’t remember any of it. If there is one thing I learned from teaching physics to seniors, it’s that it takes more than one lecture for things to sink in. I do have a lot of advice to share, but I find a big audience is not the best way to share it. Even though adults (am I an adult yet?) love telling you how to live your life, I will try to refrain. Therefore this will not be a speech to motivate or inspire you to achieve your goals, do what you love, or to enjoy the small things in life (like the salt and pepper shakers). I just hope to entertain you for the time being, make you laugh, and try to hide advice in the stories I tell.

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Posted in: Faculty Speaker

Brenna Quirk ’15 on Her Installation Piece for [SHOWCASE]

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Editor’s note: Williston’s Brenna Quirk ’15 created a new installation piece for [SHOWCASE], a group art show in Eastworks on May 10-17, 2014. [SHOWCASE], which features the work of 23 Williston students, is being held in Suite 136 and is curated by Gabriel Jacobson ’15. Below, Ms. Quirk explains the concept behind her piece.

IMG_0119The piece I’ve created is a pretty big piece (almost 6.5 by 4.5 foot), which is actually made up of nine smaller pieces. I created silhouettes of the profiles of the faces of myself and eight other people who are important to me. I then filled the silhouettes with an abstract black and white design using pen and ink which varies slightly from piece to piece.

The silhouettes also each have thicker black lines extending to the edge of the page. Once these were all hung up, I used yarn on the wall running between the pieces to connect these lines, and each connection represents a connection between the people featured in the silhouettes.

I came up with my idea while thinking of the theme “human relationships.” Originally I planned only to create three pieces, but once I got going I was inspired to go further and create a much larger, more complicated piece.

I mainly wanted to include my art in the show because it was a new opportunity to show my art in a new place. I haven’t had a chance to display my artwork anywhere besides the Grubbs Gallery at the end of a trimester of Arts Intensive, so when this opportunity presented itself, I took it. I am excited to reach a larger audience with my work. I also created something different than what I usually create, so the whole experience was new and inspiring.

I hope that my piece makes the audience think more about relationships in their life. I’d love for them to ponder who they might include on their own abstract map of relationships. I want to evoke thought about the complexity and variation in relationships and in people, which I tried to get across through the varying design and the tangled web that the yarn creates.

Posted in: Student Essay

Rich Monopoli ’89 Assembly Speech

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2014 04 Rutherford Rich Monopoli 1Editor’s Note: Richard Monopoli ’89 presented the following speech during an Upper School assembly on April 30, 2014. Read the article about the talk here.

I want to thank Bob Hill, Eric Yates, Sharon Davenport for letting me join you guys today. I really appreciate it. As Bob noted, I graduated 25 years ago this spring and my 25th Reunion is really special because my niece, Miss Alexandra Lewis, is a six-year senior this year.  Williston has played a big part in my family’s life, and we are really attached to this school, we love this place, but I’ll get back to that in a minute.

So when I found out that I could to come speak to you all, I asked myself what would I have liked to know when I was a senior. If I could go back in time and talk to myself as senior what would I say?  Particularly if I only had 10 minutes. That’s a really tough question…but I’ll give it a shot.

I NEED A VOLUNTEER…I need a guy to play me in 1989….

You will experience great success over the next 25 years and you will experience great challenge. Success is easy, enjoy it. How we respond to life’s challenges though, is what distinguishes us.

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Posted in: 2013-14 Assemblies, Alumni Speaker, Visiting Speaker

Honoring Brian Crockett

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The following was presented at a special assembly at the Williston Northampton School on Tuesday March 25th, 2014 by Head of School Bob Hill as part of a remembrance of faculty member and coach Brian Crockett.

Good Morning Williston:

Whenever our community comes together following a holiday there is always a sense of renewal and hope infused by the joy of seeing old friends.  This spring, however, Williston reconvenes having suffered a terrible loss on the Tuesday when we departed for break.  Brian Crockett’s untimely and unexpected death has left a hole in our midst even bigger than his NFL lineman’s frame.  For students and adults, March 4th was a horrible day, and in my many years in boarding schools it was certainly one of the toughest I have ever had.

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Posted in: 2013-14 Assemblies, Faculty Speaker

In Honor of My Man Brian Crockett

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The following was presented at a special assembly at the Williston Northampton School on Tuesday March 25th, 2014 by Donnie McKillop as part of a remembrance of faculty member and coach Brian Crockett.

0072-_3A_1303It is an honor and a privilege to stand before you today to honor our dear friend Brian Crockett. Describing all that was great about Brian Crockett is impossible. As we stand here today as a community we know that he had a HUGE impact on all those he interacted with. Brian was a great friend to me and I am blessed to have known him. It is important as we remember Brian, not to compare who was closest to him, but instead remember all the positive relationships he easily created with all those around him. I am going to try and convey some of the things he was in my life and some of the lessons I learned from him. Please bear with me as I might get emotional.

“Larger Than Life”

When I attended Brian’s funeral it was easy to see how many people loved the big man. The service couldn’t be held in his own church because it was too small for the expected audience. Although it was moved to a larger Baptist church, there still was not enough space for the busloads of people that adored Brian. As I stood in the audience and listened to the tribute to Brian I heard so many amazing stories about his life. Regardless of your religion, you could feel the amount of faith and love in that church. It was an uplifting celebration of who Brian was. From the first standing ovation for Brian to the moment the hearse pulled away, it was a room full of singing praise and joy for a life well lived.

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Posted in: 2013-14 Assemblies, Faculty Speaker