Williston Northampton School Bulletin, Spring 2023

CHANGING THE FACE OF BROADWAY PRODUCER MIRANDA GOHH ’13 IS OPENING DOORS IN THE THEATER WORLD SPRING 2023

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AROUND THE QUAD

8 | CAMPUS NEWS Visiting artists, all-gender housing, favorite campus spots, and a day in the life of Ms. Brousseau

16 | CAMPAIGN UPDATES Who’s involved with the Williston Builds campaign—and why

22 | THE NEXT CROP OF SCHOLARS The Williston Scholars program is booming. Meet five of 50+ Scholars this year.

PHOTOGRAPHS BY JAMI SAUNDERS, CHATTMAN PHOTOGRAPHY, AND KAYANA SZYMCZAK

In her new role at the The New York Times, audio producer Christina Djossa ’10 is applying her storytelling skills to a new subject: tales of modern love

CONTENTS | VOLUME 109, NUMBER 1

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“People think the internet transformed society.

That is nothing in comparison to what will happen over the next few decades with AI.”

ALUMNI NEWS

26 | WILDCAT ROUNDUP Alums are achieving great things.

Here’s a roundup of the latest news.

32 | A LOVE FOR STORIES Audio producer Christina Djossa ’10 is telling tales of modern love

Exploring deep acadmic passions is all in a day’s work for Williston Scholars

38 | STAGING NEW STORIES

50 | THE ART OF THE PHOTO

Broadway producer Miranda Gohh ’13 is opening doors for theater professionals of color

For 50 years, Mitch Epstein ’70 has exposed the American psyche in pictures

40 | BOYS OF SUMMER

54 | COMMISSIONER OF CANNABIS

At his summer camp, Seth Kassels ’97 creates amazing experiences

42 | AI AND US

34 | BANKING ON FINE ART

Learn why cauri jaye ’90 is optimistic about artificial intelligence

What’s a piece of art worth? Jamie LaFleur ’94 is helping collectors know the true value.

46 | SHE’S HERE TO HELP Migdalia Gonzalez ’85 connects the federal government with the communities it hopes to serve

Shannon O’Brien ’77 takes over as head of Massachusetts’ complicated legal marijuana industry

56 | CIVIL RIGHTS TRAILBLAZER The remarkable life of Tuskegee Airman and civil rights activist Richard Harris Jr. ’37

IN EVERY ISSUE

3 | HEAD’S LETTER 6 | 5 THINGS 59 | CLASS NOTES 91 | IN MEMORY

Head of School ROBERT W. HILL III P’15, ’19 Chief Advancement Officer ERIC YATES P’17, ’21 Director of Alumni Engagement STEVE HOYT ’95, P’25, ’25 Director of Communications ANN HALLOCK P’20, ’22 Design Director ARUNA GOLDSTEIN Assistant Director of Communications DENNIS CROMMETT Manager of Story and Content Development GEOFF SMITH ’07

Please send letters to the editor, class notes, obituaries, and changes of address to: The Williston Northampton School Advancement Office 19 Payson Avenue Easthampton, MA 01027 email: info@williston.com online: williston.com/ alumni/connect

Nondiscrimination Statement: Williston admits qualified students of any race, color, national or ethnic origin, ancestry, gender, religion, gender identity, gender expression, sexual orientation, or mental or physical disability, and extends to them all the rights, privileges, programs, and activities generally accorded or made available to students at the school. The school does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national or ethnic origin, ancestry, gender, religion, gender identity, gender expression, sexual orientation, or mental or physical disability, or any other status protected by applicable law in the administration of its admissions, scholarships, and loans, and its educational, athletic, and other policies and programs.

“The final plan of Our People, Our Purpose was approved by the full Board of Trustees in May, giving Williston a new blueprint to guide our decisions through the end of the decade.”

PLAN PRIORITIES

Head’s Letter

Introducing Williston’s Next Strategic Plan

PHOTOGRAPHS BY LEIGH CHODOS AND MELANIE ZACEK

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here’s a quip that goes around boardrooms when talk turns to strategic planning: “If you want to make God laugh, tell him your plans.” Said to originally derive from a Yiddish proverb, the saying captures what some feel is the inherent paradox of planning ahead—who really knows the future, so why spend a lot of time establishing goals for an ephemeral horizon? Boardroom humor aside, our experience at Williston has been fundamentally different. The successful implementation of the school’s 2014 strategic plan, Innovation and Purpose, has been the North Star guiding the school for the last decade, with so much accomplished as a result. The clearest manifestation of the plan’s success is the new Residential Quad, home to Wold House, John Hazen White House, and Emily McFadon Vincent House. Look further and you discover completely renovated science labs, new tennis courts, safety measures such as card access in all of our dormitories, the expansion of our Williston Scholars program—the list is long.

And so when the time came to think about Williston’s next strategic plan, our past success was prologue. Under the leadership of Trustee John Booth Jr. ’83, in consultation with John Green, former Head of the Peddie School, we embarked on a new, highly

collaborative process in spring of 2022. Mr. Booth and Mr. Green conducted interviews, in-person focus groups, and virtual meetings, as well as surveying alumni, parents, students, faculty, and staff to gather key quantitative and qualitative feedback.

We also established an ad hoc steering committee (see members at right)—led by Academic Dean Kim Polin—which honed the list of priorities and goals.

After further refinement by the Board’s Strategic Issues Committee, the final plan of Our People, Our Purpose was approved by the full Board of Trustees in May, giving Williston a new blueprint to guide our decisions through the end of the decade.

As you’ll see, this plan has people at its core. We are committed to ensuring a vibrant and balanced student experience; supporting our faculty and staff; transforming academic spaces; enhancing programs; fostering diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging; and advancing our financial future. These priorities reflect our ongoing dedication to creating a school where everyone can live meaningful lives guided by our enduring values of purpose, passion, and integrity.

As we move forward with this plan, we remain deeply committed to our school’s history and traditions. Our 182-year past provides us with a strong foundation on which to build a bright and exciting next chapter for Williston Northampton School. I invite you to review the strategic plan at williston. com/strategic-plan, and to share your feedback with us as we work together to shape Williston’s future.

Williston’s next strategic plan centers on people and purpose.

Below are its five main goals.

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Ensure a Vibrant and Balanced Student Experience

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Support Our Faculty and Staff

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Transform Our Academic Spaces and Enhance Our Programs

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Foster Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging

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Advance Our Financial Future Read more at williston.com/ strategic-plan

Strategic Plan Steering Committee Members Kimberly Polin (Head Facilitator), Bill Berghoff, Nikki Chambers, Mark Conroy, Chris Dietrich, Corinne Fogg ’99, Jen Fulcher, Ann Hallock, Natania Hume, Sarah Klumpp, David Koritkoski, Sarah Levine, Chuck McCullagh, Eric Yates, Robert W. Hill III Board of Trustees Mary E. Alcock ’84, Fred Allardyce ’59, GP’19, ’20, ’22, ’24, John P. Booth Jr. ’83, Jeff Bruce P’22, Mary Ellen F. Bull ’83, Jaidip Chanda ’88, Daniel C. Decelles ’89, Jesse N. Eaton ’90, William V. Fogg P’15, Bradley Foster P’14, ’16, ’20, Claire Kelley Hardon ’79, Clayton T. Hardon Jr. ’78, Kevin R. Hoben ’65, Cherie Holmes ’75, Jondelle Jenkins ’71, Ellen Rosenberg Livingston ’86, P’18, Bryant McBride ’84, Paula A. Monopoli ’76, Richard T. Monopoli ’89, Angela Perry P’21, Kristin J. Prigmore ’88, Stewart B. Reed ’66, Joseph Rigali ’70, John T. Risley P’93, Mijanou Malise Spurdle ’86, Richard Wagman P’14, John Hazen White Jr. ’76

williston.com/strategic-plan

WHERE’S WILLISTON? Everywhere! Follow us online for more ways to connect with your Wildcat pride.

SEE WHO’S COMING TO REUNION

The alumni office hosts dozens of in-person and virtual events each year. Learn more and register at williston.com/alumni/events.

WATCH THE WILDCATS LIVE

BULLETIN ONLINE

Feeling nostalgic for your old team or curious to see how today’s Wildcats are performing? We livestream a majority of our varsity contests and many of our arts events, too! Head on over to williston. com/livestream to keep up with the latest.

Enjoying the magazine? Did you know you can also view it online?

We revamped our alumni news section online to include all stories in the current Bulletin issue, plus past articles and editions. Check it out at williston.com/bulletin.

You can find grads in just about any career, just about anywhere in the world. Check out our Williston Northampton Alumni LinkedIn page, as well as our specialty LinkedIn pages for alumni of color and Women of Williston.

TWITTER @WILLISTONNS

FACEBOOK.COM/ WILLISTONNORTHAMPTON

INSTAGRAM @WILLISTONNS

FLICKR.COM/ WILLISTONNORTHAMPTON

YOUTUBE.COM/ WILLISTONNORTHAMPTON

WORTH REPEATING “This project has a message of hope for the future. The hope is that down the line, thinking about 1,000 years from now, that the institution will still exist—but what will it become?”

“We obviously graduated a lot of great talent last year, and we knew many people doubted us coming into this season. Instead of letting this intimidate us, our team put our heads down and worked like crazy.”

—Ekow Nimako, on the Lego project he brought to campus as a visiting artist (read more on page 7)

—Emily Hamann ’24, after the girls varsity team won the NEPSAC hockey title for the second year in a row

“I hope, going forward, that you’ll approach others with curiosity and joy, and you’ll look for the common bridges instead of the divisive cracks.”

“It’s a shining example of how powerful it can be to listen to students.

For a student to have a cool idea, and you take it seriously and see where it goes, that’s the best.”

PHOTOGRAPHS BY CHATTMAN PHOTOGRAPHY, LAURIE CORMIER, AND MELANIE ZACEK

—Transgender speaker Taylor Tucker during the keynote address on Why Not Speak Day

“It’s important for theater students and aspiring theater-makers to hear from industry professionals about their journey—what kind of work they had to do before they landed big gigs, what their creative process is, how they continually train themselves, the work etiquette they must exhibit to continue getting work.”

—Theater Director Dr. Jorge Rodriguez, on the visit of famed makeup designer Joe Dulude II to theater classes

— Dean of DEIB Nikki Chambers, on collaborating with Siga Pouye ’23 to bring artist Massamba Diop to campus (see more on page 8)

Winter Athletics Ceremony “These ceremonies provide our community with an opportunity to recognize our senior student-athletes.

At Williston, we expect that the class of 2023 will have well over 35 percent of its graduates headed off to play in college next year. This is a reflection of the quality of our athletic program. For me this quality is especially reflected in the people who make up Williston—our outstanding coaches and exceptional kids!”

“I told the kids today, they’ve never listened to the tama face-to-face.

Today, they listened, they watched me play it.

I gave them good luck, gave them more pride— the heart is open.”

—Musician Massamba Diop on playing his tama in assembly for Martin Luther King Jr. Day

—Mark Conroy, Athletic Director

SPRING 2023

BULLETIN 5

1.

ADMITTED STUDENT DAYS ARE BACK

For the first time since 2019, Admitted Students Days returned to campus and boy, was it fun. Accepted students also got special “you’re in!” boxes featuring T-shirts, pennants, and other fun swag.

3.

CLASS BANNER TURNS 10

The class of 2023 will be the 10th to hoist a student-designed banner at Commencement. MJ Charles ’23 designed this year’s Wildcat-themed centerpiece. Nice work, MJ!

5 Things We’re Talking About!

2.

CAMP WILDCAT

After hosting outside summer camps for years, Williston is starting its own. Alum and head happy camper Kevin Burke ’00 is launching the program this summer. Learn more at williston.com/summer-camp.

4.

SHOUT OUT TO MS. SAWYER

After teaching legions of Wildcats to write well, longtime English teacher Sarah Sawyer just sold a book of her own. Her novel, The Undercurrent, will be published by Zibby Books in summer 2024. We can’t wait to read it.

5.

WHAT DID WILLISTON BUILD IN YOU?

Last fall, we asked members of Williston’s Head’s Visiting Council that question, and filmed their answers.

Check out the videos—and let us know what Williston built in you—at williston.com/build

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PHOTOGRAPH BY MELANIE ZACEK

AROUND THE QUAD

Williston’s various visiting artists series brought an impressive list of creators to campus this year. A group of professionals in fields ranging from theater to ceramics spoke to and worked hands-on with students. Ekow Nimako, pictured here, came to Williston in January (thanks to the alumna-funded Grum Project) to collaborate on building Williston 3023 —a futuristic, utopian envisioning of campus 1,000 years from now made entirely of white Lego pieces. The final design is slated for display in the Reed Campus Center. Turn the page to learn more about other visiting artists.

SPRING 2023 BULLETIN 7

CAMPUS NEWS

ARTISTS ON CAMPUS

The arts were alive and well on campus this year! Whether through the Writers’ Workshop, The Grum Project visiting artists series, or the Photographers’ Lecture Series, there were ample opportunities for students to learn from professionals at the top of their fields. Take a look at seven visiting artists who inspired us on campus during the 202223 school year.

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A. MASSAMBA DIOP

One of the standout moments of the entire school year came on Martin Luther King Jr. Day, when awardwinning Senegalese artist Massamba Diop, backed by two musicians, performed during assembly. Showcasing his tama—or talking drum—Diop brought the house down with amazing rhythms and a message of crosscultural understanding.

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B. GABRIEL CHIU

As part of the Photographers’ Lecture Series, the school welcomed Gabriel Chiu (at left, in photo) to campus for a hands-on demonstration in December 2022. Chiu, a photographer and art director living in New York City, talked with students about his work capturing portraits of Asian American youth. As part of Chiu’s visit, he toured campus with students and talked about shot composition.

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C. MIGUEL BREGANTE

D. IQUAIL SHAHEED

Bregante and his theater company La Mona Ilustre visited multiple parts of campus on their visit. During their stay, they hosted workshops in the theater, attended Spanish classes for discussions, and put on a riveting performance of their play, Juan Salvador Tramoya.

Shaheed, the founder and director of Dance Iquail (danceiquail.org), brought his creative talents to the Dance Studio in September. Using the art of dance as a conduit for combating issues of social injustice, Shaheed shared his creative process with Williston dancers by hosting a master

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class. Afterward, the dance company put on a performance for the whole campus to enjoy.

E. EKOW NIMAKO

Visiting artists challenge students to look into their futures when discuss-

PHOTOGRAPHS BY PAULETTE GRISWOLD, MELANIE ZACEK, DANCE IQUAIL, CHATTMAN PHTOGRAPHY, AND DENNIS CROMMETT

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Teachers Develop New Techniques

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F. ELIZABETH DUFFY F

ing their works and inspirations. Nimako took that idea and brought it further forward than anyone usually thinks about—1,000 years into the future. Nimako challenged students and faculty members to think deeply about what they want Williston to look like for their descendant’s descendants. Then, using thousands of white Lego blocks, the community built Williston’s campus of the future.

See more of Nimako’s amazing work at ekownimako.com.

In January, Duffy, a multidisciplinary artist, worked with students on creating masks that shrouded their visual perception, but highlighted the depth and details of the creator’s personalities.

G. JOE DULUDE II

For the Winter Musical, the Performing Arts Department staged a showing of SpongeBob: The Musical. In advance of opening night, the school welcomed Joe Dulude II, a famed makeup designer who created the original makeup design for the Broadway showing of SpongeBob, to campus for a makeup demonstration.

hat inspires you? It’s a question that’s often posed to students at Williston, but it’s just as important for faculty as they navigate planning coursework and lessons for each academic year. This past winter, three members of the Visual Arts Department got a dose of inspiration on a professional development trip to Art Basel, one of the world’s premier arts events, in Miami Beach, Florida.

“In our discipline, it’s important not to be stagnant,” says Visual Arts Teacher Wendy Staples, who first broached the idea of taking the trip with her colleagues. “We don’t want to teach the same things. To inspire our kids, we have to be fresh and excited about what we are doing on our own and bring that to the classroom.”

Department Head Natania Hume and Visual Arts Teacher Ed Hing ’77 also went on the trip to Florida with Staples. Together, the three teach visual arts, AP Studio, and Williston Scholars classes and actively collaborate on other art projects. “It’s super exciting to look at more contemporary art and see what’s going on in the art world right now,” says Hume. “It’s nice to have your finger on the pulse, or at least see where the pulse is as opposed to just virtually trying to keep up with stuff.”

Hume notes one of the highlights for the trio was when they started looking for one piece of art that “matched” with what each specific student in AP Studio was currently working on. By the end of the trip, they collected a piece of art to show each student and inspire them to take their work further.

Williston faculty members have over 30 different professional development funds to draw from for trips like Art Basel. For the administration, opening access to these funds is critical for the overall health of the school.

“There’s value in individual learning for our adult community, and there is even more, in my opinion, value in sending multiple folks to learn in the same space,” says Dean of Faculty Corie Fogg ’99. “It’s fertile ground for returning to campus with new ideas to employ and serve the needs of our students well.”

SPRING 2023 BULLETIN 9

A Great First Year

Williston’s new all-gender housing option is already forming its own strong identity—BY GEOFF SMITH ’07

A REPEAT, REPEAT PERFORMANCE

Before winter break could start for the Girls Varsity Hockey and Boys Swimming & Diving teams, they had to take care of some business— repeating as NEPSAC champions in their divisions. The swim team put together a championship meet for the ages to pull out a third consecutive NEPSAC Division II championship, while the hockey program capped off an undefeated, 27-0-1 season with a second consecutive NEPSAC Chuck Vernon Elite Girls’ Hockey championship—the only two NEPSAC titles in the program’s history.

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ucked into the southwest corner of Williston’s new Residential Quad is a small house that’s making a big difference. Logan House, which has long been a housing option for students, took on a new role last fall as an all-gender house.

All Williston students are eligible to live in Logan, but its primary purpose is to meet the needs of the LGBTQIA+ community and its allies. For students who called Logan home this year, the building provided them an opportunity to be uniquely themselves.

“I went in with high expectations and came out with an even better experience than expected,” said Elsa Frankel ’23. “Especially as an only child, it really felt like a family more than a dorm, because we were all friends.”

A large part of the welcoming atmosphere comes from its dorm parents: head dorm parent and science teacher Allison Tucker, her husband, Taylor, English teacher Maggie Haas, math teacher Josh SeamonIngalls, and theater facilities manager Charles Raffetto. For the Tuckers, the need for the dorm was apparent from the moment they heard about it. Allison identifies as queer, and Taylor is a transgender man.

“We felt it was a really important role that we could fill,” Tucker said. “I really was excited to begin this journey for Williston for all-gender housing.” For the students living in Logan, the care dorm parents give is apparent. “I think all of the Logan dorm parents are really engaged in the dorm life,” Frankel said.

Forming this new dorm identity has come in many ways, from puzzle nights to a book club. Logan residents even came up with their own nickname—the Logan Lobsters—as they were preparing for the allschool lip synch contest last fall. Six students lived in the dorm this year—two seniors, four sophomores.

Allison Tucker notes that returning students have a unique opportunity to shape Logan’s future and traditions. “I was really proud of the students who took that leap of faith at the beginning of the year to do this,” Tucker said. “It has been a great first year.”

BY THE NUMBERS

5,010

Dollars raised by the Girls Varsity Hockey team during its annual Pink in the Rink event to fight breast cancer—the largest amount raised by the team yet

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Student-athletes honored during our winter college commitment ceremony in January. Approximately 1/3 of the 2023 graduating class will play collegiate athletics

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PHOTOGRAPHS BY PAULETTE GRISWOLD AND DENNIS CROMMETT

Competitors who took part in the fourth annual Whitaker-Bement Girls in Mathematics Competition, Williston’s student-run mathematics competition for girls and nonbinary students ages 15 and under

3.7M

Views garnered on TikTok for a viral video made by Elsa Frankel ’23 during the Head’s Holiday in January.

Frankel’s video about a filter she made for the app highlights her love of the unit circle, a mathematics tool.

See more of her work on the app @trigonometrykid.

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Different workshops offered during our eighth Why Not Speak Day, ranging from “The Evolution of Hip-Hop” to “The Art of Inner Peace and Solitude”

UP AND SPINNING Trial and error is a key part of the scientific process, and in physics classes this spring, students designed, modeled, and tested multiple windmills in the quest to build one that could draw water out of a well.

MEETING A RISING TIDE

For the upcoming school year, Williston is offering a unique class that’s meeting a surging request from students—the Science and History of Climate Change. While studying climate change at the school is not unique—Pond Project, anyone?—what makes this course different is that it is both a history and a science class, together. That means that both Allison Tucker, a science teacher, and Dr. Pamela Maddock, a history teacher, will co-teach the class to students, approaching the topic from two very distinct angles. Academic Dean Kim Polin noted that offering a class featuring two departments halves the number of students who could take the course, as students fulfill requirements, but hopes “that we serve the number of students twice as well because we’ll be giving them both perspectives.” What will be covered in the class? As the course description puts it: “The course challenges students to consider future as well as historical changes in patterns of production and consumption. Course materials include a variety of primary and secondary sources plus laboratory activities to study how people have interacted with and altered the environment over time.”

Want to see what other courses are being offered this coming academic year? Head to williston.com/academics/course-of-studies/.

SPRING 2023 BULLETIN 11

SNAPSHOTS

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PHOTOGRAPH BY MELANIE ZACEK

Most pictures of Williston show off the beautiful, sprawling campus on a sunny day. But for anyone who knows, part of the beauty of boarding school in New England is taking in a good snowstorm or two.

On a stormy Sunday night in December, Williston hosted its Holiday Concert in the Phillips Stevens Chapel as snow fell all around. Inside, the warm sound of music from four student musical groups filled the chapel as we shared in holiday camaraderie. See more photos on Williston’s Flickr or come visit campus at Reunion to see it for yourself!

SPRING 2023 BULLETIN 13

For this year’s winter musical, the Williston Theater staged a production of SpongeBob: The Musical. Bringing the Nickelodeon classic to life involved a bounty of color— and a bevy of talented artists, actors, and producers. Here are some behind-the-scenes looks at what went into the performance this year.

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“I was really happy with how well received the production was,” Theater Director Dr. Jorge Rodriguez said. “We were trying to communicate the joy, innocence, and inclusivity of SpongeBob. Those values seemed to be very well embraced—the audience responded with warmth and laughter.”

The creative freedom with this production was exciting for costume designers.

Reimagining cartoon characters as real people allowed for designers to use color bounding—a cosplay technique—to create unique, yet distinctive costumes including Squidward’s prosthetic “legs” and Plankton’s green velvet jacket.

With multiple, quickfire costume, character, and musical style changes, this production required the cast and stage crew to be especially nimble.

The stage crew utilized a bit of everything to bring the underwater world of Bikini Bottom topside. Pool noodles served as plankton in the background, and rock climbing handles were installed on the set walls to act as colorful barnacles.

The use of a platform on stage allowed for multiple uses, including “caves” created underneath to facilitate actor and prop movement, and the verticality above to create scenes within one distinct set.

PHOTOGRAPH BY MELANIE ZACEK

Soleil Richardson ’24 wasn’t just following dance steps in her performance as SpongeBob—she was also the assistant choreographer and put together two dance numbers performed during the show, “B.F.F.” and “Chopped to the Top.”

SPRING 2023 BULLETIN 15

CAMPAIGN UPDATES

With less than one year to go in the Williston Builds campaign, we are poised to surpass our $70 million goal— the largest in school history.

As campaign co-chairs, we have been thrilled—but not at all surprised—to see thousands of alumni, parents, and friends come together to propel us toward this historic finish line. That sense of community and purpose is what distinguishes Williston Northampton, and unites us all across the decades. Williston Builds: The Campaign for Our Community has already had an outsize impact on the school: a new Residential Quad; dramatic improvements in faculty housing; the strengthening of academic programs and faculty support; and an investment in the many types of diversity that add depth and vitality to our community. In this concluding phase of the campaign, we are especially focused on seeking endowment in support of financial aid and sustaining the growth of the Williston Northampton Fund, so essential to the school’s bright financial future. On the following pages, you’ll meet a few of the exceptional people whose contributions have already fueled great change at our alma mater. We encourage you to join us. Your support and involvement will have an immediate impact on students now and for generations to come.

—John Booth ’83; Kevin Hoben ’65; Ellen (Rosenberg) Livingston ’86, P’18 Williston Builds Campaign Co-Chairs

$23M 20% 1,268

Total dollar amount of new documented planned gifts during the campaign

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Increase in in-person events during the past year—great to see so many of you!

The number of $100 (or less) gifts last year, which totaled $72,350 (or the equivalent of one full financial aid package)

W I L L I S T O N B U I L D S T H E C A M PA I G N F O R O U R C O M M U N I T Y

ALL IN THE FAMILY

PHOTOGRAPHS BY LEIGH CHODOS AND CHATTMAN PHOTOGRAPHY

Richard Shields ’61 started a multigenerational Williston tradition

Dick Shields ’61 and his wife, Lise

Dick Shields ’61 is not one to abandon the tried and true. He still prefers a phone call to an email. He still plays golf, skis, and swims—all sports from his Williston days. And at 79, when many of his peers have retired, he still rises at 4:30 a.m. to manage his family’s buildingsupply company, Dresser Hull Lumber and Building Supplies, in Lee, Massachusetts. It’s a routine that has served him well for 53 years.

Shields may be a model of consistency, but he notes that there was one period in his life when he was truly transformed: his time at Williston. “I wasn’t a very good student, but that’s where my life changed,” he says. It began with a summer school math class taught

by Dan Carpenter, who, in addition to explaining algebra, passed along a memory technique that Shields still employs today. “You use association,” Shields explains. “You remember one little thing about somebody or something that will trigger your memory. It really helped me a lot in my life.”

Nowhere has Shields been more consistent than as an ambassador for Williston. His family is living proof. His daughter, Lisa Shields Ciejek ’90, was the first to follow his path to Easthampton, where she met her husband, Alex Ciejek ’90. Then came Shields’ nephew Greg Knight ’93, his son Chris Shields ’94, his niece Sarah Madden ’01, and his grandchildren Liam Shields ’20, Lily Shields ’21, Matthew Shields ’21, and Daniel Ciejek ’23. Daniel’s younger sister, Hanne, has not officially made the decision to apply, but her grandfather is feeling optimistic. “She’s been down to Williston several times to see Daniel,” he notes. “I think she’s in the fold.”

Shields’ personal and financial support for the school has been similarly unwavering. He served twice on the school’s Board of Trustees, between 1992 and 1995 and again between 2004 and 2014. During his tenure, he served as chair of the board’s Buildings and Grounds Committee, and a member of its Facilities Task Force and Finance Committee. Today, he continues to serve as a nontrustee member of the board’s Facilities Committee. Dresser Hull provided building materials for the new dorms on the Residential Quad, saving the school hundreds of thousands of dollars.

This year, the Shields family has established a financial-aid scholarship fund. “After all that’s been given to me and my family, it’s time to give back,” Shields explains. “We hope that someone gets a chance to go to Williston and is able to have what all of us have had. We all have experienced that positive impact.”

SPRING 2023 BULLETIN 17

W I L L I S T O N B U I L D S T H E C A M PA I G N F O R O U R C O M M U N I T Y

FOUNDERS DAY 2023

From near and far, Williston Northampton School alumni, parents, and friends came together on our eighth annual day of giving to further our mission to inspire students to live with purpose, passion, and integrity. Thanks to the collective generosity of our community, we raised more than $525,000. Thank you to the 1,293 supporters who made the day a success!

The three classes below led the day with the greatest number of gifts. Thank you!

Donors made a gift on Founders Day

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GIFTS FROM THE CLASS OF 2023

Incredible alumni volunteers helped raise awareness and dollars

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Donors gave gifts for the first time on Founders Day

The winnning class of 1983 won its year painted on the lion (see page 82 for a photo!)

Leaderboard Winners The action was fast and furious, as donors supported favorite teams and programs.

Girls Hockey was victorious, with strong contention from football, lax, and the arts.

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GIRLS HOCKEY

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FOOTBALL

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BOYS LACROSSE

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ARTS & MUSIC

IN SUPPORT OF BELONGING For Joe Rigali ’70, being a founding donor of the Equity Fund is key to making an impact for students today

As one of the founding donors to Williston’s Equity Fund, Joe Rigali ’70 is helping to create a sense of belonging for current students. Now in its third year, this donor-supported fund helps underwrite the true expense of the Williston experience for students from families with very high financial need, covering the cost of such items as team gear, calculators, college application fees, and pizza with friends on the weekends. Rigali, who is a Williston Trustee and an active member of the school’s DEIB committee, has been encouraged by the school’s commitment to its 2021 strategic plan for DEIB (see the full plan at williston.com/diversity), which aims to make the school a more welcoming community for all students from all backgrounds. “I believe in the plan’s long term goals, but I also wanted to find immediate and concrete ways to make a difference in the daily lives of students now,” he says.

“The Equity Fund’s purpose aligns perfectly with my intent, and I hope it is affecting the lives of students today.”

PHOTOGRAPHS BY CHATTMAN PHOTOGRAPHY AND DOUG LEVY

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Top Alumni Classes

WHY I GIVE What motivates someone to support Williston? Here are just a few of the wonderful reasons we’ve heard this year.

“I loved the education and connections I made while at Northampton School for Girls.”

—Sue Everets ’62 “Williston gave me an incredibly solid foundation that carried me through college and a 38-year career. Thank you seems so insignificant, but I am truly appreciative—THANK YOU, Williston!”—David Fasser ’58 “I continue to see small signs every day of what Williston did for me at a critical point in my life. I’m forever grateful for my lifelong friends, families, coaches, and faculty, especially my dorm parents. They helped me become the woman I am today, and I like that version of myself.”—Lauren (Helm) Bowman ’16

“Williston has been an amazing environment for our daughter to flourish academically and socially.

She loves it, so we love it!”

—Marcia and Mike Mallett P’26 “It’s always a great day to be a Wildcat! Love this community and everything it provides!”

—Olivia Moses Clough ’09 “Keep on paving the way in creating leaders!”—Migdalia Gonzalez ’85 “Loved Williston Northampton as a student! Had a lot of fun while preparing for my future. Excellent school!”—Chris Benedict ’91 “Williston was one of my best life experiences!”—Michael Wills ’72 “Our granddaughter is a junior and is receiving an outstanding education.”

—Betty and Russell Gaudreau GP ’24

1,767

Number of first time donors since the start of the Williston Builds campaign

IT’S SHOWTIME!

As part of the Williston Builds campaign, Catharine Porter P’97 is helping shine a spotlight on the Williston Theater program—by funding dramatic new signs outside of Scott Hall.

“Williston has an amazing reputation for its theater program,” notes Porter, a former Trustee and current member of the Facilities Committee, “but the old signs don’t reflect that.” Designed by Tony Spagnola ’72, the new signs will illuminate the current show’s artwork, with an extra-special glow on opening nights. “I want to give the theater the great first impression it deserves,” says Porter.

Last summer, I went to Reunion to celebrate one of my closest friends, Pierce Freelon ’02, who got an award.

Our friends group was like family—we were all Black, young male students, taking advantage of the opportunities we had. Being on campus, I realized that I’d never donated before. My mom taught me to always be good to others, so now that I’ve advanced professionally and have some disposable income, I wanted to pay it forward. Williston is my foundation.”

—Sadiki Francis ’02 SPRING 2023 BULLETIN 19

THE BIG QUESTION

Q. What is your favorite spot on the Williston campus and why?

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My favorite spot on the Williston campus is at the end of Sawyer Field by the pond. Very few people go there, but you can see most of campus. You can sometimes hear the music people are playing over the pond, which is always really relaxing and cool because the practice rooms are all the way across the pond. There is a little bench and a small green area where you can hang out with friends. It’s best in the spring because there are ducks and geese and baby geese out on the pond all swimming.

Honestly the baby geese are one of the highlights of campus—they are just so cute. — Shea Huntley ’24

My favorite spot on campus is definitely Grubbs Gallery in the Reed Campus Center. I have sung in performances there and I just love its unique architecture and great acoustics! I’ll also often go there in my free time to practice one of the songs that I’m learning in Honors Chamber Singers.

—Sako Lively ’25

AROUND THE QUAD

My favorite spot on campus is the Adirondack chairs in front of Memorial Hall. This area is perfect to be with friends or alone in any season. In the fall and spring, it is a beautiful area to play cards with friends, eat Dunkin’ on the weekend, or sit and read a book. In the winter, the fire pit provides warmth so we can still enjoy each other’s company without having to be indoors. The chairs are easy to move so that a group of friends of any size can join in and the circle of chairs can be made bigger. The location is also perfect since it is almost in the center of campus, so anyone can pass by and take a seat. — Alyssa Matricciani ’25

My favorite spot on the Williston campus is the Birch Dining Commons. Especially at dinner, the dining hall is always full of life.

There is never a dull moment in there, as people from all different friend groups, teams, and dorms sit together and crack jokes. My friends and I can spend hours sitting at a table, and some of my best memories come from time spent here together. It’s also just such a lively and bustling environment, with faculty kids and people of all grades running around, that you are bound to find some sort of innocent and wholesome chaos here.

— Katherine Kang ’23

My favorite spot on campus is the Reed Campus Center. I love it because it’s comfortable and fun. I love the Stu-Bop because the cooks are always so nice and make my day better! I love the dance room because it’s so full of light. I love the art rooms because they are fun and full of cool art supplies. I love the hallways and how they echo when you and your friends are laughing a lot. I love the Dodge Room because it’s like a portal back in time of how Williston used to be. I love the building architecture itself because of how many windows there are and how the gallery can be observed from two floors. — Hadley Smith ’28

The art studio in room 105 is my favorite spot on the Williston campus. It is a space where everyone can enjoy arts—drawing, painting, and making. Artists are provided with everything they need: all sorts of paints, fancy brushes, textiles, spray prints, 3D printers, and more.

I believe many of us like to visit the art studio on a regular basis whenever we feel like it, for it is such an inspirational and immersive place that sparked and cultivated my interest in arts. — Shirley Shi ’23

Outside of Ford because that’s where a bunch of people gather, talk, and have a good time just relaxing—sometimes by a fire.

—Hudson Fulcher-Melendy ’24

My favorite spot on campus is the Sabina Cain Family Athletic Center! I’ve made so many friends during afternoon activities and made so many memories. The athletic center has brought me closer to so many faculty members and students. I continue to make more memories as my friends and I go down during free blocks and play squash! — Livia Locke ’26

The library—it’s the perfect place to hang out with friends or have an intense study session.

After a long day, there’s nothing better than sinking into a squishy armchair to grind out your homework. Being able to ask teachers for help in the writing, math, or science resource centers has been a tremendous help to me over the years. — Elle Christakos ’24

My favorite spot at Williston is Galbraith Fields, because I have made so many memories there with my friends throughout my five years of athletics. It also has the best view on campus.

— Calvin Klumpp ’24

SPRING 2023 BULLETIN 21

THE NEXT CROP OF SCHOLARS Now in its eighth year, the Williston Scholars program is a trimester-long class that allows students to deeply explore an academic passion—whether that’s using artificial intelligence to create a new application, studying the effects of sleep on the human body, or comparing the legacy of representation in Disney films. Under the close mentorship of a Williston faculty member, students and classmates are guided through the steps of scholarly project development, research, implementation, and, ultimately, presentation—skills they will need to succeed at the college level. At the end of each trimester, students present their final work—typically compiled in a slideshow or paper—to their peers and teacher for a grade.

This year’s Scholars program featured 53 unique projects spread across seven different subjects. In addition to the presentations at the end of each trimester, the entire program was celebrated at the end of the academic year, when the Scholars showed off their works during a gallery walk showcase in Reed Campus Center. —By Geoff Smith ’07

JENNA GUGLIELMI ’23 From Saludos Amigos to Encanto: Disney’s Slow Inclusion of Latinos in Film

With her curiosity sparked by a conversation about the movie Encanto in an AP Spanish class, Guglielmi dove into Latin American representation in Disney films. Guglielmi’s project highlighted the stereotyping of Latino characters in early Disney movies, and how over time the depictions of Latin Americans changed to where they are the main characters and not just a plot device.

JUNSEOK “JUN” HWANG ’23 Reestablishing the Diffie-Hellman Algorithm

Hwang first learned about the Diffie-Hellman algorithm during a computer science class as a junior. The lesson stuck with Hwang, but he found himself asking if there was still room for improvement—so he tried. Hwang coded the algorithm and tried to find any weak parts in it by fixing the code with a newer version.

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JORDAN ATTYS ’23 Emotional Analysis with AI

PHOTOGRAPHS BY MELANIE ZACEK

Ever found yourself in a mood and wanted a song to match it?

Attys has an app for you. Using his trimester to study human emotion and AI recognition, Attys devised an app that detects the motions of human faces and recommends music based on your mood. His research showed off how powerful AI recognition tools can be—and how difficult they can be to train and program.

MAX GRAFF ’23 The Ultimate Guide to Maximizing Sleep

After having trouble sleeping during the COVID-19 pandemic, Graff focused his studies on how to optimize your sleep. Studying both the science of sleep and the mechanisms that help us fall asleep more quickly and sleep longer, Graff looked at circadian rhythms, adenosine buildup, melatonin use—just about everything there was to study.

CATIE SPENCE ’24 Vitamin C: A Controversial Cancer Treatment

Spence looked at vitamin C and its efficacy as a cancer treatment. Comparing oral and intravenous treatments, Spence wanted to investigate how much vitamin C a person would need for there to be an actual effect. Her studies brought her through high-level research projects and papers, and helped her formulate a final project that showed intravenous treatments can be beneficial.

SPRING 2023 BULLETIN 23

A DAY IN THE LIFE Now in her 26th year at Williston, Associate Director of Athletics Melissa Brousseau—aka Ms. B— is always on the go as a class dean, advisor, and expert on all things athletic. Knowing this, we asked her to take us through an average day in her life—and learned there’s nothing average about it.

8:00 AM My dogs, Ripley and Erving, love their campus walks in the mornings. A highlight of any walk is running into students and faculty friends—especially fellow dog-lover Allison Marsland.

10:00 AM The Winter Athletic Awards assembly was a great recap of a memorable season— especially after the historic championships won by the Boys Varsity Swimming and Diving and Girls Varsity Hockey teams.

1:00 PM One “home” for me on campus is the training room. Preparing athletes for practice or competition is a standard part of my days. Trust me, I’ve taped more than a few ankles in my job.

3:00 PM Look sharp, play sharp! Unboxing and sorting new uniforms is part of an AD’s job. I think the new Varsity Girls Lacrosse uniforms look great this year.

4:30 PM Being on the sidelines at Sawyer Field in the spring requires being ready for rain, sleet, and snow. Athletes and ADs have to be tough in New England!

6:30 PM It’s Friday night, and time for a Residential Life Dinner. I love the feeling of family as we laugh and talk about life. It’s the best way to end the week, and you can’t beat the bread rolls!

24 WILLISTON NORTHAMPTON SCHOOL

PHOTOGRAPH BY PAULETTE GRISWOLD

ALUMNI NEWS Design roots run deep for Phoebe Stephens ’93. She and her sister Annette started their jewelry company, Anndra Neen, in part to celebrate their grandmother Annette Nancarrow, who herself was a renowned artist and jewelry designer in Mexico City. Since 2009, their bold, hand-crafted pieces have been featured in Vogue, The New York Times, and Harper’s Bazaar and worn

by Michelle Obama, Amal Clooney, Cameron Diaz, and others. In December, Phoebe returned to campus as part of the Grum Project, Williston’s visiting artist program, where she provided valuable insight to Performing & Visual Arts students with classroom visits. In addition, Phoebe also addressed a schoolwide assembly, telling her story of going from a Phillips Stevens Chapel pew to the forefront of the jewelry design world.

View Phoebe Stephens’ unique creations at anndraneen.com.

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WILDCAT ROUNDUP

CLIMATE CHAMPION

Kevin Zongzhe Li ’16 organizes and advocates for solutions to climate crisis—BY GEOFF SMITH ’07

evin Zongzhe Li ’16 first began thinking about the environment as a kid in Shanghai, China, but it was his experience in AP Environmental Science at Williston that helped him connect the dots about the factors that affect our world. “That course helped me understand from a bird’s-eye view which areas work together to form the environment we live in,” Li says.

Li’s steps since his Williston days have only solidified his interest in combating climate change, with a specific focus on how better collaboration between China and the U.S. could lead to environmental improvements. Having earned a degree in environmental and sustainability sciences from Cornell University, he is currently a candidate for a master’s in public policy at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government. Among his many other accomplishments: co-founding the U.S.China Climate Forum—a community for thoughtful engagement and constructive dialogues—as well as GreenClub, a nonprofit that helped deliver emission offsets for the Cornell community. He has worked for the Coalition for Private Investment in Conservation; was a climate financing consultant for the government of Tonga; worked in Deloitte’s climate and sustainability practice; and, this winter, was the programming lead for climate change for Harvard’s Social Enterprise Conference. Busy is an understatement for Li, but it’s motion with a purpose.

“I want to figure out how to scale solutions,” Li says, “in a way that works for different stakeholders.” At the Social Enterprise Conference, Li put together and moderated a panel on climate financing that brought together experts from different sectors. “Having a strong

“I really want to help mobilize more private capital toward investing in climate, and longterm, I see myself operating somewhere between China and the U.S. to bridge the divide.”

26 WILLISTON NORTHAMPTON SCHOOL

climate voice at the social enterprise conference was important,” Li said, “because there are a lot of social challenges society is going through, but one that’s going to affect us the most is obviously climate change.” Next up for Li? “I really want to help mobilize more private capital toward investing in climate,” Li says, “and long-term, I see myself operating somewhere between China and the U.S. to bridge the divide in some way. Hopefully, that work can contribute meaningfully as part of the solution toward addressing climate change.”

A BRUSH WITH THE PAST

Maggie Hodges ’79.

At right, her painting Walk in the Snow.

PHOTOGRAPHS BY MELANIE ZACEK AND KATHERINE ANNE PHOTOGRAPHY

Works by Valley landscape painter Maggie Hodges ’79 now hang in the school where she first discovered her love of art—BY GEOFF SMITH ’07 When Maggie Hodges ’79 attended Williston, she took art classes in the building that now houses Tandem Bagel Company. Fast forward to 2023: She’s a working artist and hanging a show of her own paintings in the Reed Campus Center’s Grubbs Gallery.

“What a role Williston played in this evolution for me,” Hodges says.

Hodges recalls fondly her time in art classes at Williston, including drawing, printmaking, and especially calligraphy classes with art teacher Barry Moser. “For our exams, he would give us a blank piece of paper, and we had to write the alphabet as fast as we could, perfectly spaced. It was a great way of learning.”

Her love of art ultimately led to a B.F.A. from Syracuse University and a career in graphic design at Hasbro and Spaulding.

Then, about a decade ago, she decided to dabble in painting. She tried portraits first, before

diving into landscape paintings. Hooked on the idea of landscape art and getting all of the details in a painting just right, Hodges continued painting prolifically, finally finding her niche with oil paints.

Since she picked up a brush, Hodges has seen her work’s popularity take off. In 2022, she was thrilled that the trustees of Forbes Library, in Northampton, voted to purchase her painting Northampton’s Lights, a 40-by-24inch oil painting on birch panel, after Hodges had her works on display in the library for a show. And this spring, at her Grubbs Gallery show, Hodges displayed the largest pieces of her work yet, more than 35 in all, depicting landscapes in the Pioneer Valley. “I find it a huge honor to have had an exhibit of my paintings at Williston, which was so influential in my life,” she says. Learn more about Hodges’ art and view her paintings at maggiehodgesart.com.

26.2

Distance, in miles, of the 3rd annual 26.TRUE marathon in Boston this April. Founded by runner and entrepreneur Sidney Baptista ’05 the event goes through Dorchester, Roxbury, and other areas not included in the city’s other marathon. Baptista’s goal is to amplify Boston’s diversity and normalize running in Black and Brown communities. See more on Instagram @pioneersrc.

NEWSMAN IN THE NEWS

In March, journalist and NBC10 Boston anchor Glenn Jones ’95 was honored as one of Boston’s Most Influential Men of Color by Get Konnected, a crosscultural business group.

Kudos, Glenn!

SPRING 2023!BULLETIN 27

“I love living in another culture, and I’ve realized that I’m not quite ready to give up playing hockey yet.”

Sports Shorts A STANDOUT SEASON Amherst College first-years Natalie Stott ’22 and Maeve Reynolds ’22 won a NESCAC Tournament title and took the Mammoths to the NCAA Division III championship game—a 2-1 loss that was the longest D-III final ever. Stott was also named the NESCAC Rookie of the Year and an ACHA first team AllAmerican. Meanwhile in Division I, Kate Holmes ’19 and Jules Constantinople ’22 won the Hockey East championship with Northeastern and helped their team to the NCAA Frozen Four.

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SIBLING STARS Brothers Xavier Thibault ’18 and Thomas Thibault ’19 got to play football together at Williston Northampton and at Columbia University, and in January 2023 the brothers suited up for a third team together—the Ivy League All-Stars.

The duo played on the all-star team in Tokyo, Japan, against an all-star team from Japan’s National Football Association.

GOING THE DISTANCE Alexis Ryan ’17 finds success playing professional women’s hockey in Budapest—BY GEOFF SMITH ’07

I

PHOTOGRAPH BY ALWIN ZWIBEL

Alexis Ryan ’17 (4) and her teammates celebrate after winning the European Union Super Cup

HOOP HIGHLIGHTS Filip Rebraca ’18 and his University of Iowa team qualified for the NCAA Division I tournament. Rebraca also earned thirdteam All-Big Ten honors this past season. Tyler Thomas ’19 and his Hofstra University team made the NIT tournament, where Thomas hit a clutch buzzer-beater as the Pride knocked off No. 1 Rutgers. In Division III, Badou Ba ’21, a Macalester College sophomore, earned the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference’s Defensive Player of the Year award.

t’s not every day that you get offered the opportunity to play professional sports in Europe. So, last year, when Alexis Ryan ’17 got the chance to continue her hockey career in Budapest, Hungary, she jumped at it. For the Arizona native who has been drawn farther and farther east in her hockey career, the hop across the pond was a natural next step.

A standout three-season athlete at Williston—winning the coveted Alumnae Bowl in her senior year—Ryan went to Middlebury College and continued finding success on the ice. When COVID-19 hit, Ryan returned home to Arizona—working for Amazon for a year—then hopped back on a plane to use her final year of eligibility at Middlebury. The end of her hockey career on the horizon, Ryan, along with teammate Madie Leidt, started sending out her tape to professional teams in Europe. Nothing was working out, though, until a hockey coach from the University of Vermont stepped in and put Ryan and Leidt in touch with the coach at KMH Budapest, Levente Szilagyi—or more simply, Coach Leve. “Budapest kind of fell into our laps, which was amazing,” Ryan says.

Ryan and Leidt inked their one-year contracts in July 2022 and, in September, they were on the plane to Budapest. So what is it like playing in Europe? “The hockey is very fast-paced, very physical, it’s a lot more chippy, which is a style of hockey that I love because I played against boys growing up,” she says. It helped that Ryan joined a perennial powerhouse. KMH Budapest won the European Women’s Hockey League championship the two years prior to Ryan’s arrival—then won again in Ryan’s first year. During the middle of the season, KMH Budapest competed in the European Union Super Cup in Germany, an experience that drove home to Ryan that she wasn’t in the U.S. anymore. “I had never seen that many people at a game in Europe,” Ryan recalls. “There was chanting, there were drums. It was just very high energy.”

Ryan’s goals going to Europe were simple—to play professionally and get in some sightseeing—but with the end of the season looming in the distance, her goals are growing again. “Once you get a little taste of European travel and just a different way of living, it’s hard to let go,” she says. “So I am planning on playing again next year.”

Where is still to be determined; Ryan would take a spot again for KMH Budapest, or perhaps in another country—Germany, Spain, Sweden, Norway. Regardless of where she ends up, she wants to keep the dream alive. “I love living in a different culture,” she says, “and I realized that I’m not quite ready to give up hockey yet.”

HOCKEY HUMANITARIAN Mike D’Ambrosio ‘17 (Assumption University) was honored for his all-around commitment to society when he was named one of 15 nominees for the Hockey Humanitarian Award. The award, in its 28th year, is presented annually to a collegiate studentathlete who makes significant contributions through leadership in volunteerism.

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BEYOND REALITY

BREAKING NEWS

Hard-hitting journalism is still a calling for former Willistonian editor Ellie Wolfe ’19—BY MATTHEW LIEBOWITZ

F

or Ellie Wolfe ’19, asking questions and following leads (or being “really nosy and listening to people,” as she jokes) can have a huge impact. A two-year Editor-in-Chief of The Willistonian, Wolfe is now a senior and the Editor-in-Chief of The Bates Student at Bates College, where she is a history major. This summer, she is interning at the Boston Globe as a metro desk reporter, then headed to graduate school for journalism at Northwestern University.

As a journalist, Wolfe wants to be on the front lines of education journalism, covering issues like race and class equity in public schools. She already has a track record with this. A 2021 story she wrote—about alleged abuse at the hands of a Bates campus officer—led to the officer being placed on leave, as well as a new no-baton policy for campus safety officers. The story, born of Wolfe’s care and persistence, ended up on the nightly news in Maine.

Wolfe’s determination has resulted in other stories picked up by major news sources, including The Chronicle of Higher Education, which ran her piece reporting on an exodus of staff and faculty, as well as one about a Bates football coach who left suddenly and then sued for racial 30 WILLISTON NORTHAMPTON SCHOOL

discrimination. Wolfe sees her work at Bates as part of a larger responsibility. “The more stories we publish that are bringing things to light on campus, the more students trust us,” she says.

Now in charge of a staff of 25, Wolfe does less writing (“mostly editing and being stressed out”), and has fond memories of her formative years at Williston. She especially credits former Willistonian advisor Adrienne (Stolarz) Mantegna ’94 for sparking her love of journalism.

“She was the greatest, life-changing-est, most amazing teacher ever that I could’ve had at that time,” Wolfe says. “She said I should consider signing up for journalism. I said, ‘Yeah, maybe.’”

In a meeting on the first day of tenth grade with former Academic Dean Greg Tuleja, Wolfe realized Mantegna had signed her up for journalism “without my really realizing it.” She then proceeded to take the class for the next nine trimesters, becoming Co-Editor-in-Chief her junior year and Editor-in-Chief senior year.

While Wolfe acknowledges the difficulty of making a career in the newspaper field, she is undeterred. “I just know I’d be really unsatisfied with anything else,” she says. “I love to write and read and talk to people. It’s not worth it to spend my life doing something boring.”

Once upon a time, sports fans tuned into sporting events and watched…sports. Today, though, fans have more and more ways to interact with the contest they’re viewing— whether in the stadium or on the couch—and Adam Berger ’08 is at the forefront of helping make that connection. Berger is a Mixed Reality Producer for The Famous Group, a multimedia marketing company that’s focused on creating immersive viewer experiences for sports leagues, networks, and advertisers.

If you’ve watched a major sporting event in the last few years, you’ve undoubtedly seen some of their augmented reality work. Take the 2022 Stanley Cup Playoffs: The Famous Group teamed up with Chipotle for an ad during a game. In it, a Chipotle-branded Zamboni brought out a giant burrito bowl, and a glove “smashed” through the ice to grab the bowl and bring it back under the ice. It was the NHL’s first-ever mixed reality hit, and it earned The Famous Group advertising awards.

In his role, Berger has his boots on the ground for on-site production. Shortly before talking to the Bulletin, Berger was in Daytona Beach, Florida, for NASCAR’s Daytona 500 race. The Famous Group created a mixed reality “The Greatest Lap” before the race, a digital recreation of famous NASCAR drivers and their rides—including every small detail about the cars. Berger was there to make sure everything was set up right for the broadcast.

It was, as he described it, an “awesome” day for the company.

Berger also works on the fan interaction platform for in-person events, which he finds exciting. “Everyone still just wants to be on the jumbotron when they go to a game,” he laughs. In terms of what sports fans are likely to see next? Berger assures us it will be groundbreaking. “We are going to keep innovating and trying new things.”

PHOTOGRAPHS BY KATHERINE MERISOTIS, THE FAMOUS GROUP, AND PAULETTE GRISWOLD

Adam Berger ’08 brings high-tech visual innovations to sports TV —BY GEOFF SMITH ’07

ALUMNI NEWS

VISITING VOICES

“Today courage is needed more than ever. The world is polarized over so many issues, from politics to religion to health. It almost makes you want to live your life vicariously through the internet! And some people are.

And that breeds intolerance and extremism. I urge you, get out there!

It takes courage, but it’s worth it.”

The Famous Group’s augmented reality productions include a 2022 Stanley Cup Playoff intermission commercial for Chipotle that featured a hockey-gloved hand breaking through the ice to grab a burrito bowl (top) and a come-to-life statue of a Carolina Panther (above).

“We are going to keep innovating,” says Famous Group producer Adam Berger ’08.

—Samantha (Healy) Vardaman ’89, from her address in January to the 12 newest members of the Cum Laude Society. Read the full address at williston.com.

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A LOVE FOR STORIES New York Times audio producer Christina Djossa ’10 is applying her storytelling skil s to a new subject —tales of modern love—BY ANN HALLOCK Christina Djossa ’10 has a knack for bringing stories to life. As an award-winning writer and audio producer, she has covered an incredible array of topics, including gay referees in Brazil, inclusivity in national parks, and beached whale dissection, just to name a few. A member of the New York Times Opinion Audio team since 2020, Djossa is known for her expertise in developing and piloting new shows.

This year, though, she made the switch to a more established format—the hugely popular Modern Love podcast, which contends with one of the most complex topics there is: love. We recently caught up with her about this new role.

What has been the biggest surprise in moving to Modern Love?

I’ve worked on a lot of shows that come from an opinon or analysis point of view—people share their opinion and support it with facts. Modern Love is about emotion, so you have to interview people in a different way: “How did you feel about that? What do the memories bring up for you?” That comes with special challenges. Many writers are comfortable telling their story on the page, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that they can be vulnerable in audio.

As our senior producer often says, “Vulnerability is a privilege.” We have to work to make people comfortable. And when we’re directing authors to read their essays aloud for the podcast—often for the first time in their lives—you have to say, “Let’s breathe. Let’s stand up and shake it out.”

What’s your favorite episode so far?

It’s a three-way tie between “How to Learn My Love Language,” “I Promised God It Was the Last Time,” and “How to Feel Yourself.” I adore them so much for the wells of vulnerability each guest brings, but I will choose “How to Learn My Love Language,” which is about a gay, deaf man who has been let down by previous lovers, and hopes his latest will break the pattern. We hired a deaf actor to read the essay. It was important for people to listen carefully to understand Ross’ lived experience. Even for me, the episode made me reflect on how I show up for myself and for others. It also made me think of how I represent and translate myself differently in speech, in writing, and in other modes of communication.

What else does an audio producer do?

Producers are truly jacks of all trades. On any given day, we could be a reporter, an engineer, a booker for a show, a coach, an editor, and a million other behind-the-scenes things. So when you listen to your favorite podcast, know it’s not just the host.

There is a whole team making it happen.

What led you to work on Modern Love?

For the past few years, I’ve been part of the New York Times Opinion Audio team, which produces like The Ezra Klein Show and First Person. That has been great, but I wanted to take advantage of the company’s “embed” program, which allows you to move across different departments at the Times to gain new skills. With new shows, which I have specialized in, you’re sometimes building the airplane while you’re taking off, but a more established show like Modern Love forces you to be creative within established constraints. You have more time to think about how to structure episodes differently and innovate within the format.

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I love coming up with ideas. I’m someone who can find an idea from a throwaway line in an article, like, so-and-so was the creator of the first laundromat in Tennessee. I’m like, “Oh, that’s interesting. I want to know more about that.” I’ve also discovered that I’m drawn to creating community. When Opinion Audio started in 2020, our managers wanted to be thoughtful about creating a culture. It was a startup division, during a pandemic, and at the height of the George Floyd and Breonna Taylor protests. It was hard to connect when we were all dealing with so much stuff, but I tried to embrace the opportunity to create our own DNA. I’m trying to lean into that more.

Since 2004, the The New York Times has published the popular weekly column Modern Love, which chronicles love in all its joyous, sorrowful, complex, and peculiar forms. The podcast version, hosted

by Anna Martin, draws on these colums, enhancing them with interviews, conversations, and more.

Tune in wherever you get podcasts, or at NYTimes.com.

PHOTOGRAPH BY JAMI SAUNDERS

What is your superpower as a producer?

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PHOTOGRAPH BY DOUG LEVY

“The value of art is a separate thing from its quality. The market is its own entity and functions according to its own dynamics. What ARTBnk does is track and provide analysis of the market.” —JAMIE LAFLEUR ’94

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BANKING ON FINE ART The market for paintings is confusing, and the stakes for collectors are high. Jamie LaFleur ’94 has the answers.

—BY KEVIN MARKEY

J

amie LaFleur ’94 can’t stop thinking about art. In fact, he remembers every painting he’s ever seen during his 25 years in the art world as painter, dealer, gallery owner, and collector. “I have an eidetic memory for art,” says the New Hampshire native. “It’s just something a little different about how my brain works.” Founder and CEO of ARTBnk, an AI-driven financial technology company specializing in art valuation, LaFleur applies his unique expertise to the $65 billion-a-year global art market, where pricing traditionally has been as opaque as it is high. Launched in 2017, ARTBnk uses sophisticated data analytics to create transparency for individuals and institutions that collect, finance, and insure art. “If all the information about a market is held by those who are selling the assets, you might have to be a little concerned about what information they’re sharing with you,” he says. By creating a first-of-its kind standard benchmark for the art world, his company is removing the guesswork one van Gogh at a time.

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“Art appreciation is famously subjective—beauty is in the eye of the beholder. But at those prices it would seem important to have some hard data about value. Art is not just a cultural asset. It is a financial asset.”

When did you begin to see art as a possible profession?

Art has always been a focus of my life.

When I was at Williston, my advisor, Jeff Pilgrim ’81, helped me get an internship at Mirage Studios in Northampton. This was the company that produced Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. I went on to Pratt Institute with the intention of becoming a painter and professional illustrator.

But even back in the mid-nineties in New York, I could see that it would be hard for me to support myself as an artist. I ended up moving to Rhode Island, taking classes at URI, and working as a textile designer. In one of those strange nonlinear turns that life takes, I showed up for work one day and there were chains on the doors. The company had been shut down and moved to China. I answered an ad in The Providence Journal for a sales position at an art gallery in Newport.

I believe they hired me because I was tall enough to reach the top shelves.

But I loved it! I loved meeting people

ART KEY

JOHN SINGLETON COPLEY High auction record: $3,376,000 for Mrs. Theodore Atkinson, Jr. (1765) in 2005

36 WILLISTON NORTHAMPTON SCHOOL

from around the world and working with art and artists. It really clicked for me. Eventually, I decided that it was time to do my own thing and I came back to my home state, New Hampshire, and opened The Banks Gallery in Portsmouth. I ran it for about 14 years.

Did The Banks Gallery specialize in a certain type of art?

I focused on 19th and early 20th century painting, primarily American.

New England has such a rich history, going back all the way to Copley right up through artists like Helen Frankenthaler, who went to Bennington College. We opened satellites around the state of New Hampshire, and we worked with other galleries around the United States and did exhibitions in Florida, in New York, and out on Nantucket. I loved connecting with collectors and I built up a great group of clients. Eventually, I was acting as much as a private art advisor as a retail gallery owner. And one issue for my

Below are paintings LaFleur references (indicated above in yellow), and their high auction values

HELEN FRANKENTHALER High auction record: $7,895,000 for Royal Fireworks (1975) in 2020

ALUMNI NEWS

clients, and for me as I built my personal collection, is being able to track the value of all the art on an ongoing basis. Understanding what to sell, what to buy and at what price, maintaining insurance, all this becomes a real challenge as collections grow. We were handling paintings that are tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands, millions of dollars. And that’s what started the journey of ARTBnk. Art appreciation is famously subjective—beauty is in the eye of the beholder. But at those prices it would seem important to have some hard data about value.

Art is not just a cultural asset. It is a financial asset. Even people spending millions of dollars can struggle with this concept. They might feel that thinking of art as a financial asset somehow diminishes it, which is just not true. I like to point to a wonderful artist named Lynne Mapp Drexler, who lived most of her adult life on Monhegan Island off the coast of Maine. When I first started acquiring

LYNNE MAPP DREXLER High auction record: $1,500,000 for Herbert’s Garden (1960) in 2022

her paintings for clients about 15 years ago, I would get them for thousands of dollars, then tens of thousands. Now paintings that sold for forty or sixty thousand dollars go for a million. It’s not that the quality of her work all of a sudden is better. The value of art is a separate thing from its quality. The market is its own entity and functions according to its own dynamics. What ARTBnk does is track and provide analysis of the market. We show performance movements in how artists are valued.

years is for artists who are living today.

There are other factors than annualized return that influence a person’s decision to own art, of course. One is that you want to live with the object, a Picasso or Damien Hirst, and enjoy it every day. You get to say to friends, come over to my house and see my Bridget Riley. We refer to that as joy utility, and it might drive you to overpay. But being informed about the financial elements of the marketplace doesn’t detract from joy utility. It only helps people make decisions that are more effective for them.

How do you do that?

You may have heard of the Case-Shiller price index. What they do is track the repeat sales of homes and then determine an annualized return based upon those multiple sales events. We apply the same methodology to art. By tracking sales, we generate a picture of what an individual artist is able to provide as a compound annual growth rate. Interestingly, the biggest growth rate in the market over the last 20

PABLO PICASSO High auction record: $179,400,000 for Les femmes d’Alger (Version O) (1955) in 2015

Your company did an analysis of the sale last fall of Microsoft cofounder Paul Allen’s art collection at Christie’s, the famous auction house. The collection fetched more than $1.5 billion dollars, shattering auction records. Where do you see the art market going?

I think it’s going to expand rapidly. The universe of art includes millions of artists, but the world of investible art

DAMIEN HIRST High auction record: $19,300,000 for Lullaby Spring (2002) in 2007

is very small. You’re talking thousands of artists that trade on a regular basis at public auction around the world.

And out of those thousands, you’re talking really a few hundred that you could consider as being able to provide investment-quality returns.

I think the values of their works will rise substantially as efficiencies are brought into the marketplace. At the same time, the marketplace is growing. China has become a big, big player in global art, India has started to collect in a major way. You’re going to keep seeing this occur, and so, yes, I think art as a market and as a financial asset is going to grow tremendously.

If it ever came up at auction and money were no object, what piece of art would you go all in for?

Any one of Goya’s Black Paintings. I visited the Prado Museum in Madrid a few years back and I was just completely floored by them.

BRIDGET RILEY High auction record: $5,783,812 for Gala (1974) in 2022

FRANCISCO GOYA High auction record: $16,420,000 for Portrait of Doña Maria Vicenta Barruso Valdés (1805) in 2023

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STAGING NEW STORIES

Broadway producer Miranda Gohh ’13 is opening doors for fellow theater professionals of color—BY KATE LAWLESS

Miranda Gohh ’13 outside the Broadhurst Theatre, venue for A Beautiful Noise: The Neil Diamond Musical, which she helped bring to the stage

PHOTOGRAPHS BY JAMI SAUNDERS

M

iranda Gohh ’13 was a senior at Williston and decidedly focused on surfing, ice hockey, cross country, and softball—not theater—when the groundbreaking musical Here Lies Love premiered in 2013. The immersive musical was based on a concept album (by Talking Heads frontman David Byrne and Fatboy Slim) about former Philippines First Lady Imelda Marcos. The unique staging, at the Public Theater in New York City’s Greenwich Village, saw audience members mingling with actors on a rotating stage in a nightclub-like environment, complete with pulsing beats and strobe lighting.

Fast forward 10 years, and a much-anticipated revival production of Here Lies Love heads to Broadway this summer, with rows of seats already being removed from the

MIRANDA’S PICKS

iconic Broadway Theatre to match the original staging downtown.

Gohh, now an emerging leader in the New York theater world, is a coproducer. The revival brings together two lead producers, both taking that role for the first time, who have ties to the original musical: Clint Ramos, a Tony Award-winning costume designer, and Jose Antonio Vargas, a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist.

They plan to have an all Filipino and Filipino American cast—an important key to telling the story responsibly.

“As soon as I heard their vision for it and intention to get authentic Filipino and Filipino American actors on stage, I knew that this was the right team to be telling this story,” says Gohh, whose parents are from the Philippines. Gohh’s responsibilities for the production include marketing, advertising, outreach, and community engagement, but the job is about more than these parts. “A producer is the champion of a story and is in charge of making sure that all of the elements are brought together to make that possible,” she said.

It takes years and tens of millions of dollars to stage a Broadway play.

Producers pitch shows to investors, but also can read scripts, sit in on auditions, meet with managers to go over budgets, and negotiate deals with agents. “Just making sure that all of the pieces are coming together to move the production forward,” she says.

In addition to this musical, Gohh has been busy with other productions. Pent-up demand for live theater has surged after the industry shut down during the height of

the pandemic. In the past year she worked to bring six plays to the New York stage, including another musical that centered voices from the Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) community, KPOP. “Unfortunately it had a very short run, but I was very proud to be a part of that show because it was one of the first musicals in Broadway history to be written from an AAPI perspective,” Gohh says. The show’s composer, Helen Park, was the first female Asian American composer in Broadway history.

Gohh’s passion for telling stories that have long been overlooked on the Great White Way led her in 2020 to found the organization Theatre Producers of Color, which mentors and trains aspiring BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, People of Color) producers. The group works with 25 students over the course of 11 weeks, and the program is tuition free.

Courses cover traditional production elements such as budgeting, author agreements, and marketing and advertising. “But there’s also an effort to tailor it to the BIPOC experience,” Gohh says, noting it includes sessions such as “How to Lead With Your Values” and “How to Introduce Anti-racist Practices into Your Process.”

Those interested need only submit an application. “Traditionally there have been barriers to entry, where you can only get your foot in the door if you know the right person or if you have access to capital,” Gohh says.

“And we know that that excludes a lot of people and fails to offer them a seat at the table.” Four graduates of the program have already made their Broadway debuts as associate pro-

As a young theater-goer, Gohh was transfixed by three productions that gave voice to authentic characters not traditionally depicted on stage.

Fun Home 2013, Music: Jeanine Tesori; Lyrics: Lisa Kron The first Broadway play with a lesbian protagonist, Fun Home was based on a 2006 graphic novel by Alison Bechdel and explores Bechdel’s own sexuality, her relationship with her closeted gay father, and her attempts to unlock the mysteries surrounding his life. “I saw that play six times within the same summer,” Gohh says.

The Wolves 2016, Sarah DeLappe The Wolves depicts an all-girls soccer team warming up for a Saturday game. “That was the first time I ever saw myself on stage,” says Gohh. “It’s like how it was at Galbraith Fields, no coaches around, no boys around, just girls being themselves as teenagers and exploring the awkwardness and anxieties of growing up.”

Usual Girls 2018, Ming Peiffer The story of the life of a biracial Korean and white woman, from girlhood in 1980s Ohio and into adulthood, Usual Girls takes on topics of race, sexuality, and sexual violence. “I had never seen myself, as an Asian American woman, portrayed in such a realistic and honest way.”

ducers, and 11 worked on Kinky Boots off-Broadway. A group of alumni formed their own production company and staged The Piano Lesson by August Wilson on Broadway—exciting success stories in a traditionally white-dominated field. “In a very short amount of time, it has opened the doors for people to run away with the information and to get after what they’ve been wanting to do,” Gohh says. “It’s definitely something I’m proud of, and I’m excited to see it continue to grow.”

Creating interesting projects is nothing new to Gohh, who, while a student at Williston, had dreams of becoming a professional surfer. At her desk in Conant House, she coded a website and started a company called The Shaka Show, the shaka sign being a surfer hand wave with thumb and pinkie outstretched, said to have originated in Hawaii. As a junior in high school, she was on the phone interviewing professional surfers around the world, including Australia and South Africa.

“Williston was a place to really nurture your passions and to surround yourself with like-minded people,” she says. “It did prepare me to develop the work ethic that I would need and the communication skills that I needed to do what I’m doing now.” A native of Providence, Rhode Island, Gohh’s passion for theater emerged after seeing several plays as a student at Wesleyan College (see her three favorites, at left).

“I fell in love with theater because it’s a tool for connection. When else do we all get together in a room and experience a story from start to finish and have our minds and hearts changed?”

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BOYS OF SUMMER W

hat would boyhood be like without the distraction of screens, if summer days were instead spent in nature, among friends and positive male role models, sharing meals and working together, with time to play, explore, create—or to do nothing at all? For Seth Kassels ’97, the question isn’t hypothetical. As director of Camp Belknap, an overnight YMCA camp that has served as a tech-free oasis for boys on the shores of New Hampshire’s

Lake Winnipesaukee for more than a century, that’s precisely the experience he and his staff provide. And what he sees are transformations that have deep implications for today’s society.

“It’s so sad what’s happening with boys in America right now,” observes Kassels, who with his wife, Stephanie, was hired to lead Belknap 10 years ago, just the sixth directors in the camp’s long history. “All these social challenges—the ability to launch and get jobs. There is a continued decrease in boys’ engagement. They are now the

40 WILLISTON NORTHAMPTON SCHOOL

minority gender attending college, with campuses averaging 40 percent male. Too many boys are stuck in parents’ basements playing video games.”

Though it was founded in 1903, well before terms such as toxic masculinity and failure to launch syndrome entered our vocabulary, Belknap— where campers acquire what Kassels calls “the skill of leadership and the value of stewardship”—remains a model for how to develop the character of today’s young men. Set on a half-mile of pristine lakefront, surrounded by 300 acres of fields and pine groves, the nondenominational camp offers swimming and boating, islands to explore, athletic fields and facilities, and a structured program of shared responsibilities, supportive mentorship, and group activities. With no formal advertising, Belknap has a

Seth Kassels and his wife Stephanie (lower right) share words at a Belknap closing ceremony

multiyear waiting list: Once in, campers tend to return year after year (for one, two, or four weeks), then later send their own sons.

“We talk a lot about grounding the boys in the present to prepare them for the future,” explains Kassels, who grew up in Amherst, Massachusetts, with three siblings, all of whom attended Williston. “When you are present without distraction, face to face with somebody, and you’re 8 to 16, you will have growth, because that doesn’t happen that much anymore. No phone, no TV, no computer screen—it’s you and a couple of guys playing cards or sitting on a bench talking. It’s almost

PHOTOGRAPHS BY EVAN SAYLES

As director of New Hampshire’s Camp Belknap, Seth Kassels ’97 offers an oldfashioned summer experience to help boys navigate our modern age—BY JONATHAN ADOLPH

impossible not to have some personal growth through that moment.”

Kassels is himself an example of just how impactful the Belknap experience can be, having attended the camp during his years at Williston and served on the staff as a college student.

“I had a lot of leadership success at Williston—president of my class and captain of three sports,” he says. “But I owe most of my leadership growth to Belknap. It taught me a lot at a very young age.”

A physics major at Colorado College, Kassels spent a summer teaching in Ecuador, where he also volunteered with a nonprofit building a solar power system in the Galapagos Islands. He then worked with other nonprofits bringing solar, hydro, and wind power to Latin America and around the world. After earning his master’s in engineering, with a focus on sustainable building design and renewable energy, he founded his own successful solar company, based in Boulder, Colorado, in 2009.

By then, he and Stephanie, a nurse Belknap encourages boys to work together as a means to self-confidence, friendship, and joy

The entire Belknap community comes together weekly to enjoy songs, stories, skits, and moments of reflection

practitioner, were married with two young boys, and Kassels was soon traveling some 100,000 miles a year for work. He was in the airport, in fact, when he received a call from a Belknap recruiter asking if he was interested in the director’s position. “I remember Steph saying, ‘After family, what’s been most important to you?’” he recalls. “That draw, of being able to give back for the experience I had, is what brought me here. I love the

mission of this institution. I love what it did to me, the impact it had on me.

And I love what it provides for the 1,200 boys we see every summer.”

Those who have experienced Belknap say the camp’s characterbuilding impact has only increased under Kassels’ leadership. “All of the guys would say it was the most formative part of their lives,” maintains former camper, staff member, and now Yale junior Robby Hill ’19. “I felt like I was constantly surrounded by older guys who cared about mentoring me, cared about my going through my teenage years right. It’s just a really immersive environment that is trying to shape you into a different and better version of yourself. And that’s been a pillar of Seth’s tenure there, too.”

Like Kassels and all the young men who are selected to work at the camp, Hill came up through the ranks of campers, a process that helps preserve the camp’s distinctive culture. One tradition that made a particular impression on him: the evening gatherings in the pine grove, where the college-age staff members give short talks about what they find meaningful in life.

“Belknap was the first place where

I’d seen older men be vulnerable with one another,” Hill recalls. “There was a sense that young men should embrace those feelings and emotions, and that you should do so in communion with one another.”

Hill sees a strong connection between Williston and Belknap in that both strive for a culture of kindness and mutual respect. Kassels also sees similarities in the administration of the two institutions—both require alumni fundraising and networking, navigating through challenges such as COVID (which closed the camp in 2020), and working to create socioeconomic diversity (the camp awards both scholarships and subsidized tuition). But perhaps the strongest connection between camp and school is the shared emphasis on community, a value that Kassels recognized as a Williston student and works to encourage among the boys of Belknap today.

“At the end of the day, we’re all in a larger boat we row together,” he says.

“Williston taught me there’s value in engaging, in taking those healthy risks.

There is value in putting in the extra effort, in engaging in your community.

It has compounding positive effects.”

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AI and Us an A

F

uturist, entrepreneur, and technology translator cauri jaye ’90 lives for solving intractable problems. “I like the challenge,” he insists. “That’s been a theme throughout everything that I’ve done.” And, to be sure, jaye has done a lot.

42 WILLISTON NORTHAMPTON SCHOOL

Over the past three decades, he’s held leadership positions in an astoundingly diverse range of professions: movie producer for Tritan Northstar Entertainment in Los Angeles; various roles leading and training digital media teams in the United Kingdom; two years as CEO of his own start-up accelerator, Rhubarb Studios, in Los Angeles; in-

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structor for the online technology educator General Assembly; developer of the first augmented-reality experience and virtual-reality apps for National Geographic; and, for the last four years, founder, chief technology officer, and chief science officer at Sesh, “a neuroscience-based lifelong learning company” attempting to solve arguably the world’s

PHOTOGRAPH BY NATALIA ŁĄCZYŃSKA

caur abou i jaye ’9 seei t ar tifi 0 is op for hng it as cial int timisti uma gam ellige c n pr e - ch nce, a o g re s n g i n — By Jo n a s g too th

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ALUMNI NEWS

44 WILLISTON NORTHAMPTON SCHOOL

Did Sesh use generative artificial intelligence like ChatGPT? No, our AI was more narrow. One of the confusions in the market now is that everybody thinks that the only way to make an artificial intelligence is through deep learning, which is where you use masses and masses of data. But that’s what you do if you have access to that data. And if you’re a massive company.

However, there are a lot of ways to train AI. If you have small amounts of data that’s really high quality, you can actually train an AI to be super intelligent.

We were leaning on some generative software.

We had a digitized version of me, Coach Cauri, that we were working on, which was using generative AI, but it was using my knowledge to create a more conversational interface for what we’re doing.

What do you see as the future impact of AI for society?

It’s impossible for us to comprehend how much things will change. People think that between the 1990s and the 2010s, society transformed because of the internet. That is absolutely nothing in comparison to what will happen over the next few decades.

This is a foundational technology. AI allows us to revolutionize quantum computing, nanotechnology, genetics, biology, and energy technologies. There’s so much, it’s going to change every other industry because these things compound. You have an AI that helps you solve quantum computing. Now you have a quantum computer running an AI, which helps you solve material science challenges, which helps you solve protein folding…Each one builds upon the other. You have exponential growth. And that’s what we’re facing right now.

Many people are less sanguine, seeing AI as introducing all sorts of new social problems.

How do you stay optimistic about where we are headed?

Look, in large part, human beings suck. We’re simplistic. We’re easily led. We equivocate and change our minds about things that are supposedly solidly held principles. There was a study that looked at autonomous vehicles 20 years ago or so, and everybody was like, “Absolutely not. I would never drive an autonomous car.” They did the same survey 15, 20 years later and had the exact opposite response.

“I want an autonomous vehicle.” What changed is

broadband internet and social media and streaming movies. Suddenly all the principles about not trusting computers, all that went out the window because we can now watch videos and browse social media instead of driving. As humans, we tend to very easily lose our principles over convenience. The technology will only amplify the things that we are. It’s not a negative or a positive in and of itself.

So you don’t see AI as a threat to society?

It can be used as a threat. But that’s not the AI, it’s the people. On the other side, true AI is going to be a collaboration with human beings. It’s going to be chips in our brain that are tied to AI, like our phone is, essentially—an extension of ourselves. It’s that companionship. We can do things that it can’t, and it can do things that we can’t. There’ll be a symbiotic relationship, and that’ll just get closer and closer over time. As long as that continues, neither one is taking over the other, it’s growth together. And I think what we’re going to want it to do is to make us more productive, make us have more ability to control more of our environment, whether that’s on this planet or extraplanetary. That’s what AI will be used for, if we survive this phase.

That’s a big “if.” If AI can amplify our worst tendencies as well as our best, it’s understandable why people might be afraid…

That fear is why I wanted to do Sesh. I believe the educational system in the U.S. and a number of countries has failed hugely. From the time that Reagan defunded teachers, that was the end. And we’re now three generations into people being taught by people who are more ignorant than the people who came before. We’re just passing on ignorance from generation to generation. Not across the board, but enough that it’s significant. And it’s not the teachers’ fault. They’re trying their hardest, but you are the product of the environment you grow up in. And so I thought about the things that drive me, and that I’m most emphatic about: creativity, critical thought, and empathy. Those three things are pillars. And they’re three things that are not taught anymore.

Sesh was designed because those are the skills that you need to be better at business and better at life.

And we found they were also the skills needed with parenting.

PHOTOGRAPH BY NATALIA ŁĄCZYŃSKA

most intractable problem: toddler temper tantrums.

The Sesh app employs an artificial intelligence (AI) system to help train and educate new parents, personalizing its suggestions based on the specifics of the parents’ background and parenting style, explains jaye, who does not capitalize his name. “You’d say, ‘Hey, my 3-year-old is having a lot of tantrums.

What do I do?’ And it would say, ‘Well, tell us a little bit about this and that.’ And then it would recommend, ‘Try this out.’ It might ask you a couple other questions that give it more insight, and it would just gradually get smarter and smarter.” Just as the app was about to debut, however, a private buyer offered to purchase the technology. Despite being “a really hard decision,” jaye says, “it was worth it for us.”

A precocious child growing up in his father’s native Trinidad, jaye followed his older sister to Williston, arriving for his junior year at just 15 years old. His age and the new culture made for a hard adjustment, he says, but jaye eventually found his place in the classroom and the theater program. His senior year, however, the fallout after the death of a classmate disrupted his college application process and his plan to study nuclear physics and robotics at a premier university. After receiving a scholarship to Israel’s Technion University at age 17, he was thwarted again by a bureaucratic requirement over a language certificate. Fed up, he bought a ruck sack, traveled the world, and became an autodidact, teaching himself quantum physics, neuroscience, and the technology skills he would need as he built his wide-ranging career.

Now living in Portugal with his 17-year-old daughter and 12-year-old son, whom he homeschools, jaye is moving on from Sesh, continuing his work helping teams of creative, technical, and business people align around a common goal. He consulted for the maternal health start-up Mahmee, and is working with Wildseed Games, a video game company started by a former colleague, using AI to help the team create more efficiently. Most recently, he accepted a role as fractional CXO at the software company Artium, where he specializes in AI across many domains.

Knowing his expertise, we asked him for his thoughts on the recent release of ChatGPT, a largelanguage-model AI product that has proven both wondrous and chilling.

y t e i c o s t a h t k e n h i t h f t o e l e “Peop rmed becaus ng t ra n s f o t . Th a t i s n o t h i w i l l interne arison to what ew in comp over the next f happen .” decades How did you discover that you had that problem?

Let’s go back to what you’re saying about the failure of schools. As somebody who’s looked at neuroscience and how we actually learn, how do you assess Williston’s approach when you were there?

Williston has changed since then, and its approach has changed. When I was there, it was very traditional. You’d go to the classroom, the teacher would talk to you, then you’d go do homework, and then you’d get tested on it to see what you’d learned. What we have learned about educational neuroscience is that that’s actually not the best way to learn. The best way is to give somebody a challenge. Give them the homework first and let them try to figure it out, do the reading and the research to answer a real question or solve a real problem. The effort ensures they write what they learn more deeply into their neural pathways. And then wait before asking them about it again. That enforces recall, and recall is way more powerful than repetition. So just flipping the class-

room has a massive effect. And Williston didn’t do any of that kind of stuff.

However, what Williston did do really well is offer shorter courses, like a quarter course in Eastern philosophy. There’s a concept called interleaving in educational psychology, which is where you learn one thing in one context, and then you learn something similar in a different context. By doing that, you are creating deeper connections, and that’s how we retain information.

I have a personal angle on that, which is that I’m aphantasic. I can’t see any images in my brain. Up until two years ago, I thought that’s what everybody was like. And since I learned otherwise, I’ve realized that the way I remember things is only in reference to other things. So I’ve been a lot more explicit about that in my own mind, whereas a lot of people can just picture the thing and so they don’t have to think about it in a context.

I was reading about it. People started talking about it in the late 1800s, but it was only in the 1980s and early 1990s that somebody started looking into it, gave it a name, and realized that we actually exist on a spectrum. On one end you have somebody who sees total blackness, and at the other end you have somebody who can literally imagine a tree sitting in front of them and see every aspect of it. And we’re all somewhere on there.

I’ve also found in the last few years that I’m autistic…

Really? How did that come about?

Actually, through Sesh. When I was doing neuroscience, I was learning about autism and how it presents. I started digging deeper and I did a bunch of casual tests, and then I did one or two real tests based on behavior. And it was really clear. And then I partnered with an expert in ADHD and autism to write content with us, and I had conversations with her about it, and she’s like, yeah, it’s clear.

And what that did is, in reflecting on my life, it suddenly put a lot of things into context. And I thought, oh, that’s why I can get up on a stage in front of 25,000 people and feel completely comfortable, but walking into a dinner party with six people, I’ll feel like the world is closing in on me. There are so many things that I have found easy that other people find hard, and vice versa. And so, suddenly, that all makes sense. And that has brought me a lot of calm.

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She’s Here to Help MIGDALIA GONZALEZ ’85 SPECIALIZES IN CONNECTING THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT WITH THE COMMUNITIES IT HOPES TO SERVE

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igdalia Gonzalez ’85 has a resume that’s as varied as it is impressive: She’s worked as a journalist, in political communications, in real estate, as a bank vice president, and, for the last 15 years, as an outreach specialist and program manager for the federal government, beginning with Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and, most recently, for the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). On the side, she gives motivational talks on leadership, a topic that’s also the subject of her new book.

As wide-ranging as her career path may seem, all of her work shares a guiding insight, one borne of Gon46 WILLISTON NORTHAMPTON SCHOOL

zalez’s own life experience overcoming economic and cultural barriers, dating back to her days at Williston: To connect with people in today’s diverse society, an organization needs to understand how people actually live.

And that’s where she can help.

Consider the government’s response to Maria, the Category 5 hurricane that devastated Puerto Rico in 2017. As it happened, Gonzalez knew the island and its culture well; her grandmother had been born there.

HUD tasked Gonzalez with coordinating relief efforts, and she suspected right away that the government’s usual approach—requiring local residents to seek aid at various far-flung offices—was destined for failure.

PHOTOGRAPH BY ALLYSE PULLIAM

BY JONATHAN ADOLPH

ALUMNI NEWS

“All I kept thinking is, you know that these people don’t have cars, right?” she recalls.

“You do know that the public transportation system is down. You do know that most businesses are down. So how do you want them to do this?”

As an alternative, Gonzalez set up the Disaster Recovery Fairs, a one-stop shop where government and nonprofit partners could offer health care, legal and banking services, assistance with government paperwork, and other resources. “I brought in a satellite dish so we could process applications right on the spot. I brought copy machines, scanners, and printers so we could process and give them copies of everything that they needed. I brought in FEMA representatives, Small Business Administration, Army Corps of Engineers, Red Cross, local government entities, and members of the non-profit community. I brought in the banks because I used to be in the banking industry and I know how the banks work.

They were writing checks on the spot.”

As successful as Disaster Recovery Fairs have become, Gonzalez’s experience is more broadly instructive: It demonstrates the value that diverse perspectives can bring to an organization. “It’s about finding out how the real world works,” she explains.

“You sit in a tower in Washington, DC, you’re not boots on the ground. You think this is going to work because it’s your idea, but you didn’t do your due diligence to find out if it’s really going to work.”

Over her 30 years in the private and public sectors, Gonzalez has brought her boots-on-the-ground approach to a host of social problems: from food-stamp abuse, to mortgage red-lining, to disaster response.

Her work often requires her to be an ambassador for diversity, a task she embraces even if it can be exhausting. “I know that many of my positions, if we’re going to be honest,

SPRING 2023!BULLETIN 47

I received because they needed to fill a quota,” she says. “They needed to show ‘We hire Hispanics,’ that type of thing.

But at the end of the day, you still have to do the job. And that is where the opportunity lies to make a change, because you’re showing people that you are more than qualified to be at the table.”

In January 2022, Gonzalez was hired by the FAA to her current position as Hispanic Employee Program Manager, a role, she notes with a laugh, that has “nothing to do with aviation.” Instead, she works to recruit Hispanic college students and others for careers in the federal government, an organization that “is one of the worst in hiring and creating a diverse workplace,” she says. Fortunately, she loves to meet a challenge. “That’s my reputation in the federal government.

I’m the one they would call in whenever they had to do a special project, something that had to do with outreach. ‘Oh, contact Migdalia. She can help us.’”

The world of federal agencies is a long way from the Yonkers, New York, of Gonzalez’s childhood, where she

was raised by a single mother with support from her grandmother, a first-generation migrant and family matriarch who impressed upon young Migdalia the importance of education and giving back to your community.

When a middle school friend told Gonzalez about a scholarship program to Williston, Gonzalez sought out the vice principal and asked, “Why can’t I do that?” With that question, she began steering her own destiny, a strategy she has drawn on throughout her career.

“I use my story about Williston all the time,” says Gonzalez, whose leadership talks and forthcoming book are titled Dancing Into Opportunity. “They didn’t even consider me at first. I asked a question. I said, ‘Why not me?’ and that was when the opportunity came.”

Arriving in Easthampton on a scholarship, Gonzalez was one of just a handful of Hispanic students in her grade, navigating a culture with strange sports like field hockey and lacrosse and curious bands like the Grateful Dead. “Not even the Spanish teacher was Spanish,” she recalls. Her adjustment was not easy—there were

48 WILLISTON NORTHAMPTON SCHOOL

dismissive comments at school, then envy and resentment from her friends and relatives when she returned to Yonkers. Like the character of Nina in the musical In the Heights, she says, “I didn’t belong here and I didn’t belong there.”

But with the support of teachers (and a stern warning from her grandmother), she stayed on. A pivotal moment came in ninth grade English class with Al Shaler, she recalls, who singled her out by noting that she could speak two languages while the rest of the class “can’t even get through one.” Later, he pulled her aside. “He said, ‘Listen. I know people make comments. I’ve heard them. Never give people power over your emotions and how you react.’ And it was a powerful lesson. Even today, when I teach and I train and do collegiate outreach, that’s one of my things: Never give someone power over you, because when you feed into them, they win.”

Other faculty—Ann Pickrell, Phil and Sarah Stevens, Marsha Reed Hendricks, Barry Moser—also welcomed and encouraged her, and she soon found her community, helping form the school’s Cultural Alliance club, serving as proctor, discovering her talents at art and dance, and meeting people who have stayed lifelong friends. “I believe that my time at Williston was even more important than my time in college,” says Gonzalez, who earned her degree at City University of New York. “I learned more about leadership. It opened up my eyes to a world that I only could have imagined. I always knew that there was something more. I just didn’t know what that was.”

Her time at Williston, she says, also helped prepare her for later adversity.

And she has certainly encountered her share, both in her professional life—harassment, ignorance, racist comments—but also, more tragically,

in her personal life. In 2017, her son, Jean-Marc Norat, who aspired to be a civil rights lawyer, died of cancer at age 24. In his honor, she has started the JMN Rise Foundation, whose mission is to support families or individuals facing catastrophic events. She also launched a scholarship to help lowincome students cover educational expenses that are often unmet.

More recently, she has joined Williston’s Head’s Visiting Council, and hopes to bring her boots-on-theground insights to the school community, in particular, to help ease the transition for students from lowincome communities. “If there’s a way that I can help, in saying, ‘Hey, listen, I did it. I left. I came from the inner city,’” says Gonzalez, who now lives in Wappingers Falls, New York, with her husband, her daughter, and her young grandson. “Look at what I’ve been able to do because of what I learned, because of that experience. You’re going to school. You’re doing well right here.

But this is just the beginning of what is out there.”

Building on life experience is also a focus of her leadership talk, “Dancing Into Opportunity,” which she recently presented at the national conference of the League of United Latin American Citizens in Puerto Rico.

Her central theme, that navigating relationships in our diverse society is like learning a dance, links back to her time with the Williston Dance Ensemble. “I love music and I love dance,” she explains. “It’s something that helped me through Williston. I use it as a metaphor: You have to know who you are dancing with. How do you build effective relationships? You need to learn about them; you need to practice; you need to take time. And if it’s negative, how do you do a two-step out of the situation?”

After a career on life’s dance floor, Gonzalez still has some moves.

PHOTOGRAPHS BY PHILLIP CARUSO AND PEACOCK

“That’s my reputation in the federal government. I’m the one they would call in whenever they had to do a special project, something that had to do with outreach.

‘Oh, contact Migdalia. She can help us.’”

ALUMNI NEWS

Making the Scene

Designing sets for the series Poker Face is a great creative challenge for Nick Nocera ’07—and that’s no lie—BY ANN HALLOCK

Last winter, fans of whodunnits devoured the new Peacock series Poker Face, created by director Rian Johnson (Knives Out) and starring Natasha Lyonne of Orange Is the New Black fame. Lyonne’s character, Charlie Cale, has an uncanny ability to tell if people are lying, enabling her to suss out the culprit in each episode. She’s also on the lam, so each episode is shot in a different location with all new characters.

For Nick Nocera ’07, who is part of the show’s set-design and art-direction team, this makes for a unique and creative challenge. “On a normal show, you have one or two big sets that you use for the whole season—think of a classic show where most of the action takes place in a police precinct or a bar, for example,” he says. “But for this show, we

build a different set for each episode.”

For season one, Nocera and team created sets as varied as a roadside Texas BBQ, a retirement home, a dinner theater in the Finger Lakes, a punk-rock club, and a go-kart complex. The process for each episode begins with studying the script, researching what the environment for the characters might be, then bringing it to life. “Episode five, for example, is about two 1960s militant hippie protesters who are now in a rest home, so we have to imagine what Irene and Joyce would surround themselves with—décor, furniture, playlists, and all that. It’s totally different every time.” Nocera’s favorite episode so far? “Definitely episode eight,” he laughs. “But I can’t tell you anything about it yet.”

Nocera, whose love of set design

was first sparked back in eighth grade doing tech theater at Williston, has created sets for The Daily Show with Trevor Noah, Any Given Wednesday with Bill Simmons, the HBO miniseries I Know This Much is True, and the sci-fi movie The Adam Project (read a previous Bulletin story about him on Williston.com).

Currently based in Auckland, New Zealand, he has been returning stateside for a few months at a time during filming projects. Now that he and wife, Ellie, are the parents of two-month-old Rosalie, though, they are working on their own change of scenery: moving to a 10-acre farm in the Catskills. Conveniently, that’s not far from Newburgh, New York—filming home base for Poker Face—where shooting for season two begins soon.

SPRING 2023!BULLETIN 49

For 50 years, photographer Mitch Epstein ’70 has exposed the American psyche in pictures. Here, he tells the story behind three shots from his newly reissued book, Recreation, and how it all began with the Williston Log.—BY JONATHAN ADOLPH 50 WILLISTON NORTHAMPTON SCHOOL

PHOTOS COURTESY OF STEIDL VERLAG

T HO FET HAE PRH OTT O

M

WEST SIDE HIGHWAY, NEW YORK, 1977

As a young photographer in New York, Epstein would take long walks through the city, looking to “draw some semblance of order from the ongoing chaos.” On one such outing near the World Trade Center, Epstein came across this scene. “I was a little bit cautious because the man looked like he was a character out of ‘The Godfather,’ with that emerald green Cadillac,” he recalls. “But in a way that actually served my purpose, because I backed up a little bit, and in backing up, I was able to juxtapose that man with the larger scenario of the towers. So you see the city in transition, on the cusp of the future.” And now, of course, it’s meaning has only deepened. “When you look at that picture of the World Trade Center, you see it with a very different set of eyes because of what came between now and then.”

itch Epstein’s 17 acclaimed books have established him as one of the country’s premier fine-art photographers, renowned for images that challenge our assumptions. But the first book Epstein edited may have been his most overtly radical: the 1970 Williston Academy yearbook, The Log. Growing up in Holyoke, Massachusetts, Epstein arrived at Williston as a sophomore in 1968, discovering a boarding-school culture that seemed at odds with the idealism sweeping the country. “The times we were living in were about asking questions,” explains Epstein, now a New Yorker whose photographs can be found in the city’s Museum of Modern Art, Metropolitan Museum of Art, and Whitney Museum of American Art, and dozens of other collections around the world. “I was interested in doing something with the yearbook that would step away from the traditional.”

Epstein sought out English teacher and amateur photographer Stephen Seybolt ’58 as a mentor for an independent study in photography, took art classes with noted illustrator Barry Moser, and then brought his new thinking to The Log. The result was a dramatic departure from what had been done in years past, both visually and editorially, replacing the customary staid headshots with environmental portraits, gritty uncaptioned street photography, and freespirited images of campus life. “I rocked a lot of boats,” says Epstein, who recalls being sent to Headmaster Phillips Stevens to explain his work. “Maybe it was my way of responding to what I felt needed to be broken down and re-created about the school.”

Epstein would continue to push barriers after Williston. After attending Union College and the Rhode Island School of Design, he moved to New York to study at Cooper Union with innovative street photographer Garry Winogrand.

“He turned my head around in terms of what photography could be,” Epstein recalls. For the next five decades, Epstein would shoot throughout the U.S., as well as in Vietnam and India, where he collaborated with his first wife, the director Mira Nair, on her 1988 film Salaam Bombay! One of the first art photographers to use color film, he collected his pictures in widely themed books, including Family Business (2003), which documents the demise of his father’s Holyoke furniture store; New York Arbor (2013), a celebration of the city’s trees through luminous black-and-white portraits; and American Power (2009), an exploration of the U.S. energy system. His work has received numerous prizes and awards, and in 2020 Epstein was inducted into the National Academy of Design. More recently, he has revised and reissued collections of photographs from early in his career, Recreation (originally published in 2005) and Silver & Chrome (2022).

Today, Epstein sees his time at Williston as launching his development as an artist. “The education was very valuable,” he says, in particular the opportunity to be mentored by Barry Moser. But the experience was also formative for what it forced him to confront, both as an outsider in a culture where he did not always fit in, and as a young man living in the changing times of the sixties.

“It gave me a way to focus some of my own rebellion,” he says. “And that was useful in the long run. I wanted to break away from that conformity. I didn’t even know what that meant, or where it would take me.”

As it turned out, quite far indeed.

At the Chalmette Battlefield, site of the Battle of New Orleans in 1815, Epstein came across this family crossing an elevated embankment. The geography created what struck Epstein as a natural stage, with the traditional plantation-style house serving as a symbolic backdrop. “There’s something very poignant to me about this family,” he says. “They’re looking out, but we don’t know what they’re looking at exactly. If you know the site, you know that they’re likely looking out toward the Mississippi River.

But there’s something about that searching, that looking, in that place, with that very southern sky, that spoke to me. Is it fully reducible to some kind of explanation? No, that’s what’s poetic about it.

That’s what excites me about it. It’s about them looking, but it’s also about me looking.”

52 WILLISTON NORTHAMPTON SCHOOL

PHOTOS COURTESY OF STEIDL VERLAG

CHALMETTE BATTLEFIELD, LOUISIANA, 1976

TOPANGA CANYON, CALIFORNIA, 1974

Just four years after graduating from Williston, Epstein took off a semester from Cooper Union to pursue photography on his own. To challenge himself, he headed to a place he knew nothing about: Los Angeles. “I had some instinct that it was going to be valuable to step past the mentorship of my teachers.” he says. At a fall festival in Topanga Canyon, around the time of the Manson murders, he came across this scene. “You have these girls that looked like they could have been part of the Charles Manson tribe. They’re engaged with this snake, and one of them had a baby that was lying on this pink blanket in the back. I saw that immediately, but I didn’t have a ladder or anything with me. I used a bale of hay to get a higher vantage.” Bizarre as the scene is, Epstein says appreciating the picture doesn’t require that we know more. “The thing about still photography is that it suggests a narrative, but it certainly doesn’t tell a full story.”

SPRING 2023!BULLETIN 53

Commissioner of Cannabis Shannon O’Brien ’77 takes over as head regulator of the state’s complicated legal marijuana industry —BY JONATHAN ADOLPH

SHANNON O’BRIEN ’77 WAS A FOURTH

grader at Easthampton’s Immaculate Conception School when her teacher Louise Meisner predicted that someday she would be “the first lady governor of Massachusetts.” Given that young Shannon’s father, grandfather, and great-grandfather had all been successful in state politics, it wasn’t implausible—and indeed, in 2002, O’Brien, then serving as state Treasurer and Receiver General, became the Democratic nominee for governor, eventually losing in the general election to Mitt Romney.

But even Ms. Meisner might be surprised to see where O’Brien has ended up today. As the new Chair of the state’s Cannabis Control Commission (CCC), she runs the agency regulating the state’s five-year-old legal 54 WILLISTON NORTHAMPTON SCHOOL

MASS. CANNABIS

BY THE NUMBERS

5 years

Age of the industry

500+

Dispensaries

$1B

Revenue in 2021

PHOTOGRAPH BY DOUG LEVY

marijuana industry, whose 500-plus dispensaries now bring in some $1 billion a year selling a substance that the federal government still views as a dangerous drug. Some might say it’s a job that makes governor look easy.

“It’s a lot,” acknowledges O’Brien, whose commission not only administers the complex licensing process for growers, distributors, manufacturers, testing labs, dispensaries, and others, but also manages the medical marijuana program, disseminates the latest cannabis research, educates the public on cannabis health and safety issues, and works to repair the social inequities of past cannabis laws. “Massachusetts is considered to be a model for many other states, but there’s a lot to learn.”

Toward that goal, O’Brien says one of her top priorities as commissioner is to encourage more research into cannabis, in particular promoting research into medical treatments. Making Massachusetts a leader in cannabis research would involve drawing on the state’s many resources and institutions to help patients and consumers navigate what can be a new and confusing landscape. She notes that cannabis’s current federal classification as a Schedule 1 controlled substance has hindered research, but the need is clear. “You know how many drinks you can have. We have certain benchmarks—one ounce per hour, your body can metabolize it,” she notes.

“We don’t really know what that is with cannabis.” Another issue for consumers is having confidence in a product’s labeled percentage of THC, cannabis’s principal mood-altering chemical. “It’s a consumer protection issue. If you think you’re getting 35 percent but you’re only getting 28 percent, you’re paying for something you’re not getting. But also, it’s managing how it impacts your ability to

“I’ve run the lottery—the largest gambling business in Massachusetts. I used to run the Girl Scouts—lots of calories during the spring.

And now I’m regulating cannabis. So, basically, all the vices,” she says with a laugh. function or your ability to end pain.”

O’Brien’s appointment in September 2022 adds another bullet point to an already impressive resume of political and business achievements. Her success dates back to Williston, where she was a three-sport varsity athlete (soccer, basketball, and softball), editor of The Willistonian, member of a student government advisory committee, and recipient of the prestigious White Blazer Award. Like her father, longtime Governor’s Council member and congressional candidate Edward O’Brien ’50, she went from Williston to Yale, where she earned her B.A. in American studies and captained the soccer team.

Though she was immersed in politics from a young age (her great-grandfather was the first Democrat elected to represent the 2nd Hampshire District and her grandfather founded the Hampshire County Democratic Committee), she says she did not feel the call to service until her last semester of law school at Boston University, when she worked with indigent clients in the city’s public defender’s office.

“That was where it really hit me, the lessons that I’d learned from my father and my grandfather,” she remembers.

But she was also struck by another truth: “You can use the law to help people, but changing the laws to help people is far more impactful.”

Less than a year after graduating from BU, at the age of 26, she was running to represent her great-grand-

father’s former district. “Knocking on doors, talking to people—that really inspired me.” She would serve as a state representative for six years and state senator for another two before being elected Treasurer in 1998, the first woman to independently win a statewide general election. After her loss to Romney, O’Brien pivoted to the private sector, working as an investigative journalist with Boston’s WB56, as the CEO of the Boston area Girl Scouts, as Chair of the New York Comptroller’s Pension Reform Commission, as Director of First Commons Bank, and as co-founder and President of a cloud computing company in Canada, as well as serving on numerous corporate boards. In 2009, she launched her own business consultancy, O’Brien Advisory Group.

Prior to joining the CCC, O’Brien— who lives in Whitman with her husband, former state representative Emmet Hayes, and has a 23-year-old daughter, an older step-daughter, and an 8-year-old grandson—helped two local cannabis businesses with the state licensing process, serving as co-owner and CEO of a Greenfield venture. “It wasn’t really something I wanted to do, and I had to be convinced to do it,” she explains. “Back then, there was the stigma, why do I want to get involved with cannabis?

But I had the right set of skills and experience to help with that particular business idea.”

O’Brien credits her time at Williston

with helping her develop as a leader, in particular, working on The Willistonian under Cathleen Robinson. “It was a great experience for me,” she says.

“It helped my writing, and it helped me in terms of leadership, managing a team, how to delegate responsibilities to people and make sure you keep everyone on track. Learning that at a young age was very helpful.”

And those are skills she’ll be drawing upon in her newest position.

Among the potentially nettlesome issues that lie ahead for the commission are establishing rules for on-site consumption and furthering the state’s efforts to support cannabis entrepreneurs from communities disproportionately impacted by the war on drugs But, as Ms. Meisner observed way back in fourth grade, O’Brien is ready to take on big responsibilities. “Someone once joked that I’ve run the lottery—the largest gambling business in Massachusetts. I used to run the Girl Scouts—lots of calories during the spring. And now I’m regulating cannabis. So, basically, all the vices,” she says with a laugh. “This is now a billion dollar a year industry in Massachusetts. My biggest goal that I hope I can accomplish as the Chair of the Cannabis Control Commission is to work to bring together different groups, to make sure Massachusetts is at the forefront of research. I’m trying to find a true home for it here, so we can lead the country.”

SPRING 2023!BULLETIN 55

Civil Rights Trailblazer

The remarkable life of Tuskegee Airman and activist Richard Harris Jr. ’37 —BY JONATHAN ADOLPH

isitors to Montgomery, Alabama, touring the collection of sites known as the Civil Rights Trail, are sure to stop at the First Baptist Church, where Ralph Abernathy and other activists planned the city’s history-changing bus boycott, as well as Dexter Parsonage, home to a young Martin Luther King Jr. and his family. Just three doors down from the parsonage, at 333 South Jackson Street, sits another historic landmark. The plaque outside announces this as the home of Dr. Richard Harris Jr. (1918-1976), grandson of an Alabama state senator, proprietor of the city’s oldest Black drug store, and a member of the famed Tuskegee Airmen during World War II. But Harris is perhaps most revered for his contributions during three seminal events of the civil rights movement: helping direct the 1955-56 bus boycott from his Dean Drug Store command post, opening this house as a safe haven in 1961 for the segregation-challenging Freedom Riders (including future Congressman John Lewis, who, in a famous photo, sits bandaged in the playroom), and providing medical care to beaten activists at St. Jude’s Hospital after the infamous 1965 voting rights march from Selma.

And yet there is one more facet to this remarkable story: Before Richard Harris became a civil rights icon, he was a student at Williston Academy.

“His father and mother were both very much into education,” explains Harris’s daughter Valda Harris Montgomery, who two years ago, with her sister, opened 56 WILLISTON NORTHAMPTON SCHOOL

her family’s house to the public as the Dr. Richard Harris House Museum. Harris’s father—a graduate of Tuskegee and one of the first Black board members of what was then the Tuskegee Institute—“wanted his son to be groomed to go to a Big Ten college,” Montgomery says, but why his parents chose to send him from Alabama to Easthampton in the fall of 1935 remains a mystery. “My sister and I were trying to figure that out. Coming from the Deep South, with all of the struggles and strife that were going on here in the thirties, and yet they send you there? Why there?”

Archival records from Williston Academy note that Harris was enrolled at the school for the 1935-36 and 1936-37 school years, after previously attending the Tuskegee Military Academy for Boys. Though he did not graduate from Williston, students at the time often attended Williston as preparation for college, and the school lists Harris as a member of the class of 1937. He ran track and played football, acquiring the nickname Alabama from his teammates. But aside from a faded clipping from The Willistonian and photos in his yearbook, his family has little other information about his school days. “He never talked about Williston or his days in college or the Tuskegee Airmen,” Montgomery acknowledges.

“He was just matter of fact, because that was the way his life was. I don’t think he thought of that as anything special.”

Harris’ academic journey after Williston is considerably less mysterious, as it has become family lore. His parents had been considering sending him to Colby College in Maine, but when he returned home on break from Williston, he met a recruiter who had another suggestion. “He told him, ‘No, you don’t want to go up there. Let me show you where you want to go,’” recalls Montgomery. “And he took him to Fisk University, an HBCU [historically Black college or university], in Nashville, Tennessee. And he fell in love with it.” Harris graduated with a degree in mathematics in 1941, and would later send his daughters to Fisk as well. “He would joke, ‘I’m not paying the application fee for you to go anywhere else,’” recalls Montgomery. A number of the Freedom Riders were also Fisk

1935-37

1965

Harris attends Williston Academy, running track, playing football, and acquiring the nickname Alabama

After voting-rights marchers from Selma were beaten, Harris tended to the wounded at St. Jude’s Hospital

Harris’ Highlights

1942

Harris joins the Tuskegee Airmen Pilot Training Program, and later serves with the 99th Fighter Squadron

1955-56

The Montgomery Bus Boycott, made famous by Rosa Parks (next to Harris, at left) is coordinated in part from Harris’ Dean Drug Store

students, she notes.

In 1942, amid the outbreak of World War II, Harris entered the Tuskegee Airmen Pilot Training Program and served through 1946 with the 99th Fighter Squadron, the country’s first Black aviators in what was then the racially segregated armed forces. After the war, married to Vera McGill, he returned to Montgomery and began working with his mother at the downtown pharmacy started in 1907 by his father, who had died suddenly at age 54. Observing the importance—and the expense—of the store’s hired pharmacist, Harris returned to school to earn his pharmacy degree in 1953. He eventually took over the store’s operation from his mother and continued to run the business, with his two sons, until his own untimely death in 1976, at age 57.

For his daughter Montgomery, now a retired professor of physical therapy and the author of the Civil Rights-era memoir Just A Neighbor, the process of opening the Dr. Richard Harris House Museum has provided a chance to better under-

1961

Challenging segregation, the Freedom Riders find safe haven at Harris’ South Jackson Street home

stand her father, as well as the pivotal role he played in the history of Montgomery and the broader civil rights movement. What factor Williston played in shaping his development and values may never be known, but, looking back, Montgomery suggests his experience as a young man far from home may have helped prepare him for the many challenges he would face in later life. “When we think about him, with Fisk University and then going into the Tuskegee Airmen, having to go through all of the racial rigors to become a pilot, I think that his exposure with Williston was one that helped him adapt well in any situation,” she says. “Which made it very easy, with civil rights, to just stand ground.”

One thing Montgomery does know is that her father valued education, recognizing it as a means to opportunity. “He was very strong about education,” she says, noting that he sent all of his children to private or parochial schools. “And if anybody needed tuition money for Alabama State, he’d pay their tuition. He was all about moving forward, because he knew education was the key.”

SPRING 2023!BULLETIN 57

The Director’s Cut

In his critically acclaimed film, Charles Frank ’13 returns to Martha’s Vineyard to explore how a community deals with loss—BY KEVIN MARKEY In his feature documentary debut, Somewhere With No Bridges, streaming on Apple TV+, Amazon, and Vimeo, director Charles Frank ’13 explores the lasting impact of one charismatic man’s life and sudden death on a closeknit New England island community.

Fisherman and shellfish constable Richie Madeiras went missing from his boat off Martha’s Vineyard, the title’s place with no bridges, while alone at sea in 1999. Divers recovered his body three days later. Some 20 years later, Frank—Madeiras’ distant cousin—returned to Martha’s Vineyard, where his family has deep roots, to try to understand the character he’d grown up hearing stories about.

“I was a very young child when he died,” Frank says. “I wanted to know who this almost mythic figure was who touched all these people so that their faces and their eyes lit up when they talked about him.”

Praised as a “universal reflection

Charles Frank ’13 DIRECTOR AND CO-FOUNDER OF VOYAGER PORTLAND, OREGON

on grief, memory, and time” by Film Librarian and “a celebration of life like you’ve never seen” by Screentology, Somewhere With No Bridges won the audience choice award at the 2020 Salem Film Festival. To make the movie, Frank spent weeks roaming the island with a camera, probing beyond the transient glamorous summer scene to get to know the people and places that

58 WILLISTON NORTHAMPTON SCHOOL

defined Madeiras’ life. What begins to emerge from the film’s sensitive use of original interviews with surviving family and friends, archival material, and mesmerizing shots of the Vineyard’s transcendent natural beauty is a portrait not only of the missing man but of the place he loved and the yearrounders who, in the face of seismic economic shifts, proudly call it home.

“There is definitely a magical feeling on the island,” Frank says. “There are moments that happen in nature there that feel like a glimpse through the veil, a connection to something bigger. Making the film, I realized, ‘OK, I get why the people who live here, have lived here for generations, don’t want to ever leave.’ Even as it becomes increasingly difficult, they are fighting to stay on this island.”

A founding partner of Brooklynbased production company Voyager, where he does branded work for clients such as McDonald’s, Facebook,

and Jack Daniel’s in addition to making independent movies, Frank broke into the industry through an internship he landed while at Williston.

“A production company gave a presentation on campus, and the school connected me with them,” he explains. “The company ended up offering me a summer internship. Williston was so incredibly supportive of my interest in film and gave me so much space to explore it, making short films in Arts Intensive for the Williston Film Festival, working with Mr. Hing on an independent study of the director David Fincher my senior year. I’m forever grateful.”

Before turning to feature-length documentary with Somewhere With No Bridges, Frank achieved critical success with several short works. Among his Vimeo-steaming fan favorites are Junk Mail, the story of a spirited 98-year-old woman who refuses to succumb to the loneliness of aging, and The Ultimate Running Machine, about a New Yorker who takes up marathoning after suffering a debilitating brain injury in a mugging.

“I’m inspired by the stories of real people,” Frank says. “There is so much that is compelling and interesting and meaningful. As a filmmaker, I try to tell people’s stories in an ethical way that honors them.”

PHOTOGRAPHS BY CHARLES FRANK AND LEO MACO

Charles Frank ’13 spent weeks filming on Martha’s Vineyard for his new documentary

CLASS NOTES

The arrival of the 2022 holiday season saw the return of our annual holiday parties, and with it the chance to catch up with our sprawling network of Williston Northampton alumni.

Michael Dereus ’16, pictured here, was one of the many attendees at the Boston-area party, which was held at the Hampshire House. Dereus spent 2022 playing for the Birmingham Stallions of the United States Football League, and is back with the Alabama outfit for the 2023 season that kicked off in April. Flip through the next few pages to see more faces from our 2022 holiday party season.

Events

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Greetings from the Alumni Office Steve Hoyt ’95 reflects on his return to Williston and all the amazing alumni events in recent months

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Returning to campus as the Director of Alumni Engagement last fall sparked all the emotions you might expect: the nostalgia of a crisp fall day, the energy from a riveting theatrical or musical performance, or the pagentry of a big game. Coming back to campus has given me a fresh perspective on a question you all may be asking: What are things really like at Williston today?

Well, let me fill you in—the school is thriving, and you should be proud to call yourselves alums.

On campus we’ve created opportunities to come back and engage. The alumni tailgate in the fall was a huge success. In the winter, alumni hockey and basketball games drew a host of you back to campus to relive the glory days—including me, as I tried to hang with the elite skaters on the ice and the dedicated hoopers on the hardwood.

When not on campus I’ve had the ability to meet alums from so many different decades. My travels have had me up and down the East Coast, and even out to Los Angeles.

One thing is abundantly clear. No matter what decade an alum is from, there is a deep appreciation for their Williston Northampton experience, not to mention a personality and spirit unique to those who spent time on Payson Avenue or at NSFG. The Alumni office is here for you and we want to hear your ideas on unique ways to bring classmates in your area together. Call, email, hit us up on social media—we want to talk with you. Come to campus and say hello and check the events page to see where we will be next. Go Wildcats! —Steve Hoyt ’95

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HOLIDAY PARTIES The holiday season always serves as a great time to gather and reminisce about life at Williston Northampton. This year’s parties were held here in Western Massachusetts (Garden House at Look Park), in Boston (Hampshire House), and in New York City (New York Yacht Club).

DECEMBER 2022: NYC HOLIDAY CELEBRATION

(All photos L to R) A: Lan Jiang, David Cochran ’81, Rob Perry ’81; B: Hannah Cannizzo ’21, Daniel McGrath, Walter Solzak ’22; C: David Connolly ’83, Susan Midgley Komosa ’83, Hank Baer ’83, Jodi (Eisenberg) Rubenstein ’83; D: Sam Bennett, Vivien Shao ’16, Natalie Richard ’17, Dalia Rubinstein, Neha Nascimento ’17; E: Marilyn Dikkers, David Killebrew ’61; 60 WILLISTON NORTHAMPTON SCHOOL

P H OTOGRAP H S BY C H AT T MAN P H OTOGRAP H Y AND JAMI SAUN D ERS

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F: Sebi Herrera ’17, Julien Nicolas ’17; G: Carol Childs ’85, Terry Martin ’85, Christina Schwerin ’85, Adam Cohn ‘85, Diana Chaplin ’85, Stephen Tedesco ’85, Kimberly (Kaye) Fried ‘85, Cordelia DietrichZanger ‘85; H: Helen Richards GP’25, ’27, Mahesan Richards GP’25, ’27; I: Jayla Osorio, Kim Williams-Osorio P’26.

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DECEMBER 2022: WESTERN MASS. HOLIDAY CELEBRATION

(All photos L to R) A: Margot Cleary GP’25, Jocelyn Cleary; B: Roberta Steingart GP’28, Molly Hoyt P’25, ’25, Janet Hanford P’97, GP’28, Angela Callahan P’28; C: Kate Nocera ’01, Megahan Sullivan ’01, Kelli Punska ’01, Oceana Shawanda, Aaron Punska ’98, Mitch Lopes ’01, Paul McNeil ’01, Caroline Dubinski, Loren Feinstein ’01; D: Lennie Appelquist, Beth Appelquist ’80; E: Melissa Alvarado P’22, Robin Jensen P’23, Miki Negron P’22, ’22, Mililani Hall GP’22, ’22.

WOMEN OF WILLISTON DINNERS Continuing the momentum of our celebration of 50 Years of Co-education, the “Women of Williston” initiative kicked off with small dinners in Boston, New York, and Washington, D.C. Alumnae gathered for thoughtful conversations on what matters most in an educational experience for young women today and ways to support current and future students and faculty.

NOVEMBER 17: NYC DINNER

NOVEMBER 29: WASHINGTON, D.C., DINNER

From left: Sarah Markey ’22, Kimberly Lindsey Gordon ’03, Tolu Onafowokan ’05, Haoshu Xu ’13, Laura Bowman ’13, Ellen Rosenberg Livingston ’86, Kristi Prigmore ’88

From left: Paige Brinkley ’04, Olivia Foster ’14, Paula Monopoli ’76, Emma Sakson ’09, Ava McElhone Yates ’17, Samantha Healy Vardaman ’89, Alene Singewald Sprano ’85

62 WILLISTON NORTHAMPTON SCHOOL

ALUMNI EVENTS C

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DECEMBER 2022: BOSTON HOLIDAY CELEBRATION

(All photos L to R) A: Steve Hoyt ’95 P’25, ’25, Camille Jones; B: Sydni Landman ’22, Jerry Landman ’22; C: Bryant McBride ’84, Mark Conroy, Joe Wold ’06, Chelsey C. Wold ’07, D: Kate Holmes ’19, Kassandra Orcutt ’19, Insoo Kang ’19, Kohmei Kadoya ’19, Ziwei Zhang ’19, Brandon Chin ’19, Minh Hoang Le ’19, Sabrina Shao ’19, Walter Kissane ’19, Chris Denham ’19, Aidan McCreary ’19; E: Barbara Bunger GP’23, Annelise Atamian P’23, Fredrick Bunger GP’23.

JANUARY 12: BOSTON DINNER

JANUARY 25: BOSTON DINNER

From left: Brittany Glenn ’07, Shannon O’Brien ’77, Sarah Griggs ’93, Mary Alcock ’84, Ellen Rosenberg Livingston ’86, Sarah Williams Carlan ’92, Esther Ayuk ’09

From left: Ellen Rosenberg Livingston ’86, Molly Matthews Conner ’88, Diana Chaplin ’85, Ruby McElhone Yates ’21, Laura Aptowitz ’13, Sarah Wilkie ’12, Carol Head ’86, Kelly Williamson Polanco ’90 SPRING 2023 BULLETIN 63

ALUMNI EVENTS

OCTOBER 2022: BOSTON YOUNG ALUMNI RECEPTION AT THE CHEEKY MONKEY The first meetup of the 2022-23 academic year fittingly saw a large group of our young alumni—many in their collegiate years—connect in Boston.

Front row, from left: Becca Macdonald ’11, Kassandra Orcutt ’19, Emily O’Brien ’21, Sonia Whitman ’21, Sydni Landman ’22, Anna Jofre ’22, Savannah Kazemipour, Nick Kioussis ’13, Avery Kioussis, Stacy Tomlinson; Back row, from left: Jacob Roscoe ’10, Brendan Hellweg ’14, Walter Kissane ’19, Sam Goldsmith ’12, Chris Denham ’19, Nick Heafey ’20, Jerry Landman ’22, Walter McLaughlin ’12, Sumner Kissane ’21, Matthew Shields ’21, Liam Shields ’20, Connor Adams ’12, Mikey Lloyd ’16 At right, from left: Walter Kissane ’19, Chris Denham ’19, Kassandra Orcutt ’19, Liam Shields ’20, Matthew Shields ’21, Sumner Kissane ’21

NOVEMBER 2022: WILLISTON ALUMNI FOOTBALL TAILGATE NEPSAC postseason play for the football and boys varsity soccer programs led to an impromptu “tailgate” on campus.

Front row, from left: Jameson Bayuk ’22, Zach Walker ’22, Steve Hoyt ’95; Back row, from left: Joe Conroy ’74, Michael Wieneke ’03, Cal Messina ’20, Will McLaughlin ’05, Cam Huntley ’21, Henri Bourque ’20, Bob Couch ’50, Adam Thistlethwaite ’21, Geordie Dunnington ’86, Alex Massengill ’14, Dallas Elliott ’22, Dave Newton ’74

64 WILLISTON NORTHAMPTON SCHOOL

DECEMBER 2022: A BEAUTIFUL NOISE: THE NEIL DIAMOND MUSICAL A small group of young alumni gathered on Broadway to cheer on one of our own, associated producer Miranda Gohh ’13, for a show.

From left: Esther Kim ‘14, Felicia Dixon ‘13, Isabelle Tegtmeyer ‘16, Nichole Palmero ‘12, Miranda Gohh ‘13, Henry Lombino ‘14, Lyra Sior ‘14, Kelly O’Donnell ‘13

ALUMNI EVENTS

JANUARY 2023: WILLISTON VARSITY ICE HOCKEY GAMES & ALUMNI HOCKEY GAME This year’s game went the full three periods and was as competitive as ever. Meghann Treacy ’11 earned MVP honors.

Front row, from left: Felix Antoin-Bouchard ’23, Cameron Ziomek ’18, Nick Day ’17, Joe Carbone ’17, Nick Day ’17, Francis Maguire ’07, Matthew Pimental ’20, Jacob Sacratini ’20, Bria Szymanski ’09 Back row, from left: Molly Conner ’88, Gus Cunha, Derek Cunha, Olivier Lapoint ’25, Bianca Schulz Shea ’14, Bobby Bowden ’10, Adam Berger ’08, Justin Alejandro ’09, Scott Cook ’09, Jesse Belcher-Timme, Phil Bronner ’08, Robert Van Benschoten ’75, Jean Pierre Crevier ’93, Vincent Batista ’10, Meghann Treacy ’11, TJ Sullivan ’23, Alexandre Pellerin ’24, Steve Hoyt ’95

FEBRUARY 2023: ALUMNI BASKETBALL GAME This year’s alumni game featured a competitive—but fun!— afternoon of hoops. Adey Adams ’14 was named MVP.

Front row, from left: Steve Hoyt ’95, Jerry Landman ’22, Quinn McDonald ’23, Jack Morrison ’23, Paris Lenon ’23, Noah Fox ’23, Adey Adams ’14; Back row, from left: Anthony Min ’22, Mike Jackson ’90, Chris Luedeke ’22, Reid Sterrett ’91, Junior Poyser ’23, Paul McNeil ’01, Ben Farmer, Jayson Leigh, Dave Mederrick ’91

MARCH 2023: RED SOX SPRING TRAINING GAME IN FORT MYERS, FLORIDA JetBlue Park served as a great meeting place for an eclectic group to enjoy a Red Sox spring training game. There was even a Wally sighting!

Front row, from left: William Vosloo, Olivia Vosloo, Sofia Grossman Lugo, Kelli MacDonald, Mike MacDonald ’07, Michael MacDonald Jr., Mary Hofstetter Nicotra ’85, Lidia Barnett, Rich Wagman P’14, Matt Wagman ’14, Linda Deckard P’87; Back row, from left: Louis Vosloo, Lynn Vosloo, Suzanne Cote-Croce ’82, Susan Antico, Mariann Mucci, Javier Lugo, Jen Grossman Lugo ’85, Liz Bloch ’79, Jeff Barnett ’82

MARCH 2023: WEST PALM BEACH ALUMNI RECEPTION The Palm Beach Yacht Club provided an intimate setting for an event hosted by the two Williston trustees.

From left: Board Chair John Hazen White ’76, Vice Chair Kevin Hoben ’65

SPRING 2023 BULLETIN 65

CLASS NOTES

1951 WA Tex Heavens writes, “On March 14, 2023, a Zoom event was had.

In attendance we had Wes Durant assisted by his daughter, Jennifer Summers; Ted Hollingworth, Erik Nicolaysen, Doug Ramsdell, assisted by his wife, Lacy; and myself. The event was coordinated and administered by Corinne Briggs, Assistant Director of Alumni Giving & Engagement. She worked with me to make the event a success. The event lasted a little over an hour with all kinds of subjects and reminiscing over years gone by. Wes Durant has a bit of dementia, but he was at no loss for words in discussing his world today, both real and imagined.

He went into great detail and was easy to follow. Ted Hollingworth is the most versatile person I’m in contact with. He has a wealth of information about today and has been exposed to many aspects, especially communications, that he taught at Emerson college, Harvard University, and other agencies in the state of Massachusetts. This was all in evidence at the event and there was no topic that came up that he was not able to discuss in detail. Erik Nicolaysen suffered a debilitating stroke last November. It has not been easy for him. He led a very active life, especially when you consider his age.

The thing of it was you never knew there was a thing wrong seeing him at his computer. It’s great that he can still be involved in our Zooms. He hasn’t missed one yet. Doug Ramsdell is another guy who has been involved in all our Zooms. He was assisted by his wife, Lacy. She got him all set up for the Zoom, and he was not at a loss in describing how helpful she is, praising her on end for making

each day the best. He’s another guy who has something to contribute on most all subjects. He also is a guy that is never at a loss for words on most things we discuss. What we discussed was mostly about our experiences in the past, especially those that happened when we were students at the school. The fact that most of us were involved in all the Zooms made it easier to communicate. There were a few times when one would have trouble getting a word in edgewise.

We also spoke of current events and this all lasted over an hour. As master of ceremony, I had to intervene to get a word in edgewise to bring it to a close. We all thanked Corinne Briggs in the Alumni office for all the help she gave in making this a reality and that brought the event to a close. These Zooms are great to bring class members together, face to face, in a way that was impossible until recently. It’s also great that Williston Northampton is happy to sponsor such events. And I’m proud to be a part in making our Zoom of March 14, 2023, a reality. You guys that missed it should think hard and be ready to join the next one.”

1953 70TH REUNION

1954 WA Bill Judge shares, “I am still kicking and still living in Williamstown, Massachusetts. I also went through TAVR and have had an aortic valve to replace a faulty valve two years ago. So far so good. Ain’t science wonderful?

Had brain surgery five years ago to correct an NPH problem. Finally the fact that I had a brain was verified.

I’m still married after 57 years to the same woman. I am fortunate that my children and grandchildren are close by and we get to see them often and watch the grandchildren compete in various sports and school events. I stopped playing golf about five years ago and really miss it. I have a group of geezers with whom I have coffee at 11 a.m. every weekday. I’m able to attend Williams College athletic events. That is the extent of my social life. Best wishes and good heath to all of my surviving classmates.”

Joel Katz shares, “The list of maladies is daunting but somehow I’m still here. July and August of 2022 were back and forth to hospital for gastric and cardiac problems. I had a Watchman device implanted to prevent stokes by preventing clots to develop and travel to the brain.

I have an upcoming appointment to determine if the implantation was successful. In the meantime, I feel pretty good and am functioning normally. I’m still running my business with a surprising degree of success. It’s my therapy. The pandemic was good to me in that no one was making sales calls. I’m still not making calls and don’t intend to—we’ll see how that flies—all I can say is so far, so good. It’s been 20 years since I lost my wife, but my significant other (not a very endearing moniker) reminds me that we’ve been together for 15 years and that makes life bearable and often even enjoyable. And so it goes…”

Alan Lazarus shares that he is recovering from a broken hip and compliments his doctor and his OT and PT nurses who assisted in his rehabilitation exercises. He writes,

“In the past six months, I have had two 911 rides plus TAVR surgery (new incredible aortic valve). Bored silly…just had my 38th wedding anniversary with my second of two wives. Married 22 years to the first.

See! I couldn’t have been that bad a roommate. Maybe way back with you then, I wasn’t that easy. I have more self-esteem now.”

1956 WA Skip Berlin writes, “Yeah, I am the last of the ’fabulous six’—Robert Coyle, James Hill, Stephen Oberbeck, Francis Britton, and Milo Robinson ’57, they be gone.

After Williston, I joined the Army for good reasons; some real growing up and assuming responsibility as an MP in Nuremburg. Then, onto Colgate University, aiming to be a high school English teacher and coach baseball and football. I ran a few on-campus businesses, was married to a French national, had one super son, and was a vet…perfect for Colgate Palmolive International. Set off to marketing management adventures in Europe and Central/South America; a business career it is. After 12 years I returned to good old USA. Son stuck in English school and needed a home and a good dog! Could have gone the NYC work/Darien, Connecticut, home route, but I got a wild business offer in Oregon…hey, why not! The dream opportunity, of course, was not doable, but Oregon was! Son had a firm, loving home. I helped develop the world’s largest wall poster outfit from the 70s and 80s, drawing off brilliant San Francisco talent. Yes, posters were legal tender…incredible fun and, yes, we did Farrah Fawcett! Now looking

68 WILLISTON NORTHAMPTON SCHOOL SUBMIT YOUR CLASS NOTES TO WWW.WILLISTON.COM/ALUMNI/CLASSNOTES

CLASS NOTES

at 86…there’s no winter house in Boca Raton but got a little one in Yachats, Oregon, looking at the wild Pacific. Years of enjoying and really getting into the beauty of Oregon... the special place, folks. Son retired, I have a good woman, excellent grub, reasonable health and am grateful for every hour/day. Stay busy with OLLI (ongoing ed. for professional seniors)...PLEASE GOOGLE. I try to swim a few times a week and above all follow this credo: ‘Don’t worry; be happy!’ Sending strong, positive vibes to all of you. Favorite Williston story: Stevens’ dinner talk…he is absolutely fed up with the ‘smut’ on campus, classrooms, halls, everywhere…cut it out!!! After dinner, 300-plus guys madly run to their rooms and dictionaries to look up the evil word. What the heck is ‘smut’? Sounds cool to us!!”

Foster de Jesus shares, “I graduated Yale 1960 followed by attending Yale School of Architecture. Been living in New York City since 1963. Married to Jane Alpert, born and raised in NYC. We have been living in our SoHo loft in lower Manhattan since 1993. I continued to practice architecture as a licensed architect. Jane was a writer for nonprofits. We are now both retired. However, we manage to keep busy with various projects and regularly attend New York theaters and museums. Early 2000 we built a country house in the Adirondacks, upstate New York, where we frequently spend long weekends year-round. We spend most of summer there because, once the ice melts in the lakes, we can swim every day. While in graduate school, I was assistant coach to the Yale swim team for a year. For two summers

I coached age group teams. After moving to New York I met a disabled swimmer who competed in the littleknown National Wheelchair Games.

Naturally that piqued my interest, and, as a volunteer, I coached disabled swimmers for two years, traveling to South America and Europe for international competitions. This nascent organization was the precursor of what later became known around the world as the Paralympic Games. Thinking that gig was the final lap in coaching, I then met a swimmer at a local “Y” who introduced me to masters swimming in the city. One thing led to another, and my wife (a recreational swimmer turned competitor) and I organized and coached a masters team and competed for 12 years. All this while holding full-time jobs. I have two sons, one daughter. One son, Chris, lives in San Diego; the other, Tony, in Chaing Mai, Thailand. Daughter Julie is married living in Ho-HoKus, New Jersey. with husband Steve and their two children, Nina, a sophomore at The New School in NYC, and Griffin, a junior in high school. I have four brothers and one sister living in various parts of the country. Brother Prentiss ’57, you may remember, graduated Williston a year after me. We’ve traveled a lot: Europe, France and Italy—a favorite is Venice—to Thailand, Laos, and Cambodia; to the Caribbean; to ancient Greek ruins in Greece and Turkey. Because Jane was a Greek major in college, and continues to study Greek, our trips centered on Greek antiquity. Last year we drove through the Peloponnesus, which included a visit to Olympia, the site of the first Olympic Games in 776 B.C. The original marble starting

blocks are still in place on which tourists take their marks and run the 200-meter straightaway course. As to the amphitheaters, they are amazingly preserved, acoustically perfect, and hold sellout performances—14,000 in Epidaurus.

October 2023 off to Sicily and more Greek ruins. My Williston senior year roommate, Mac Ottaway, passed away some years ago. Bob Coyle, my junior year roommate, apparently worked in New York as a lawyer, but we never had contact.

Williston grad Wayne Jostrand, one of my college roommates, suffered from Alzheimer’s, passed away last year. Lost touch with two other roommates. I have stayed in contact with Roger Lockwood by an occasional email but without fail through annual holiday greeting cards. Once a year, Rachel, a member of the Williston Advancement office, reaches out to me for a lunch or breakfast when she’s in NYC. I am reasonably healthy for age 87.

A slightly arthritic knee keeps me from running. Though I don’t swim as much anymore, I regularly do workouts and weight training at a local gym.”

Jack Fenny writes, “I live in Venice, Florida, for about seven months; then escape to Plymouth, Massachusetts, in the summer.

Been doing that for 32 years now.

Still married after 52 years and still working as a consulting engineer.

Sold my engineering company to my two longtime employees a few years ago, but they won’t let me retire.

That’s fine with me.”

Roger Kallock shares, “As with many of the survivors, I have had life experiences based on opportunities

with Williston roots. Educationally, I spent five years at the University of Michigan, resulting in a bachelor’s degree in industrial engineering and a master’s in business administration.

Following a number of campus jobs and a year running the kitchen in my Chi Psi fraternity house, I married Gail, a great lady from Westfield, Massachusetts. Gail was also my first passenger between Ann Arbor, Michigan, and western Massachusetts. I spent much effort trying to collect the gas money for her share of the gas for multiple trips. Fortunately, her dad always smiled and found a few dollars for my gas while Gail flew and I drove with my sister as a passenger. Life together began in Cincinnati, where I joined Procter & Gamble’s new supply chain practice and Gail joined the University of Cincinnati working on blood-related projects.

We had a wonderful 58-year marriage resulting in two children, five more grandchildren, and one great-grandchild. Sadly, cancer got the best of Gail a year and a half ago, shortly after we moved from our lifelong, lakeside home in suburban Cleveland to this excellent retirement community where I now live. After P&G I spent many years as the co-founder of a supply chain consulting practice which developed a worldwide reputation.

After retirement I was surprised to be invited to the Pentagon for lunch to discuss candidates for the top supply chain logistics leadership of the U.S. military. That lunch lasted three years as I became a Senate candidate myself, developed support from both political parties, paid visits to about 70 U.S. military locations ,and eventually was confirmed by SPRING 2023 BULLETIN 69

CLASS NOTES

the U.S. Senate. Yes—from Williston Academy to Senate confirmation with the title ‘Honorable’ for life.”

Roger Lockwood writes, “I guess I’m one of the lucky 39 ones still standing from the Williston Class of ’56. It must have been my stint as headwaiter that gave me the motivation to stay alive as long as possible: The need to serve others was born at our table, inspired

by George Black! I married Carol Ailes (1938–2002) in 1961 and we begot four children, who have since begotten nine, two of whom recently begot two of their own; married Sheila Aborn in 2004 (Carol’s best friend). My marriage to Sheila added her two children to my four, and in short order her kids married and each couple now has two children. If you’re keeping score that means six kids, all married, 13 grandchildren, and two great-grandchildren. My career as sportswriter at Williston morphed into more of the same at Ohio Wesleyan University (thanks to Williston roommate Jim Jeffrey), then on to the Akron Beacon Journal sports for a couple of years, then out of journalism and into movie theatre ownership and operation for 25 years, then a 35-year and 33-store finishing kick as a Taco Bell franchisee in southeastern Massachusetts and Rhode Island…

Outreach: trustee/director DanaFarber Cancer Institute, League School of Greater Boston for autistic children, and First Congregational Church Norwood. Williston meant a lot to me and influenced my life enormously. Today, I am in touch with Ray Brown ’55 and Foster de Jesus a lot and I treasure their friendship of nearly 70 years.”

John Maulbetsch writes, “I went to

MIT and stayed for five years of grad school and a brief stint on the faculty of the mechanical engineering department. A career of research and consulting included five years at a small Cambridge outfit, 25 years at the Electric Power Research Institute in Palo Alto, California, and 20 years with my own small consulting practice. When I moved to California in 1975, I married Rosemary Kelley, and we had two kids, Erik and Kelley. Erik is now a political journalist and consultant in Denver; Kelley is a professional cellist, who spent a couple of years touring with Hamilton. She also provided me with a now three-yearold grandson. Rosemary died about six years ago, so life is sad as well as good.”

Fred Olsen shares, “Thanks to Williston’s head start, I got an electrical engineering degree from Rensselaer and later a master’s in computer science at George Washington University. I worked at the National Security Agency for my entire career of 33+ years. It was there I met my wife, Dee. We both retired on the same day in 1994. Dee and I have enjoyed hiking, tennis, sailing, building stuff, and traveling.

We are married 60 years and have one daughter and granddaughter.

After flying my twin Cessna 310 for 30 years, I realized at age 82 that the plane was flying faster than my mind. The time had come to sell the plane. I truly miss it. We have spent our retirement years in Hawaii, Maine, and Maryland with lots of camper sightseeing trips in the west.

I recently went to the williston. com/yearbooks page and checked out the class of ’56. It brought back some great memories. I know that

Left to right: Susan Fisher, John Harper ’59, Phil Fisher ’59, John Curtiss ’59, Bill Harmon ’57, Charlie Fairbrother ’63, Sue Ellen Curtis, Dick “Red” White ’59, Sydney Williams ’59, Mary Ellen Van Rees, Alan Case ’59, Marilyn Case, Caroline Williams, Doug Van Rees ’59, Judy Harper. Not shown: Ruth White (Dick White ’59) and John Isenburg ’63. In absentia: Peter Hewes ’58.

Herr Putnam, my Williston German instructor, gave me an undeserved pass in German. Later my job took me to Germany many times; wish I had been a better student.”

Tom Sullivan writes, “I spent nearly 11 years in the USCG; discharged as lieutenant from the ice breaker Glacier (WAGB-4) after Antarctica Ops Deep Freeze 1967; then 32 years in the investment brokerage business. I retired in early 2004 and foolishly thought I could succeed growing and harvesting avocados and cherimoyas. I guess that I did not read the fine print. California has drought concerns as well as competition in the labor market. Much of the work planting and irrigating falls to the owner, since the acreage is too small to be self-sustaining. Been at it for 30 years. Will see what the next 30 has to offer short of a good workout.

And the beat goes on. Living in Carpinteria, California, in Santa Barbara County.”

1958 65TH REUNION

1959 WA Alan Case shares a group photo [see above] of the annual Wildcat Weekend in Connecticut, which includes alumni from class years 1957 to 1963. A great time was had by all!

1960 WA Linda and Jim Aldrich continue to enjoy independent living at their El Castillo retirement home (see photo) just two blocks from Santa Fe’s plaza.

They are glad to be in a place with an on-site medical clinic, assisted living, nursing care, and dementia facility— making El Castillo their “last stop”— where their two daughters don’t have to get on a plane and come to help mom or dad when they have a medical emergency. Jim said: “We like being within walking distance of many cultural events, several museums, shops, grocery store, and even the place where we vote. I led two day-long geologic field trips for El Castillo residents to Valles Caldera, the Southwest’s super volcano, and got up to speed on the geology of the Dead Sea valley to present a talk entitled ‘What Really Happened at Sodom and Gomorrah.’ I began the talk by telling the residents that I didn’t want to disappoint them but the talk would have nothing to do with sex. Last summer we enjoyed visits with Linda’s sister and her husband in the Finger Lakes region of New York, a long-time friend on Cape Cod, and my niece and her wife at their Martha’s Vineyard home.

We then went south to Emerald Isle, North Carolina, where we have been going most years since the mid1970s, and had a grand week at the beach with our daughters and their families. The two grandchildren, who are 11 and 16, have said they

70 WILLISTON NORTHAMPTON SCHOOL SUBMIT YOUR CLASS NOTES TO WWW.WILLISTON.COM/ALUMNI/CLASSNOTES

Merritt Carlton ’60 and his wife, Chris, in Portugal

El Castillo, home of Jim Aldrich ’60 and wife Linda.

are already looking forward to being at the beach next summer. As your class representative I spent a great deal of time emailing each of our 46 classmates, who apparently aren’t in a nursing home and are still vertical, requesting a Class Notes submittal or, at a minimum, a reply acknowledging my messages were received. If you know someone is no longer able to respond to email messages, please send me his name.

That will help make my job easier, reducing the number of messages I need to prepare. Many thanks! Last and regretfully, I need to let you know that Diana, Dave Hawley’s wife, informed me that Dave died on August 11, 2022. He was a warm and friendly guy. I will miss him.”

Jim Andrews writes, “It’s three o’clock in the morning. I don’t sleep very well anyways, not that I ever did.

Looking back, I’ve been doing shift work for the better part of 60 years now, between pulling all-nighters at Brown, six years of active duty in the Navy, and my subsequent profession as a 24/7 ER physician. Now I have Parkinson’s (PD) on top of that, and PD is notorious for causing insomnia and wild dreams. I’m getting by well on four hours of sleep and a nap when I get drowsy. I was diagnosed about five years ago, but in retrospect, I’ve probably been symptomatic for a decade or more. The VA workup ultimately attributed my PD to Agent

Orange exposure during my Mekong Delta years back in the 1960s. I am getting excellent care within the VA system. Uncle Sam takes good care of the vets. He should. PD is kind of a background disease—mostly in old people. One can recognize the characteristic resting tremor from across the street. I have no tremor.

I suffer mostly from stiffness, pain, fatigue, and weakness in my legs. For a while there in the beginning I wasn’t doing very well. I wasn’t depressed, but I had become quite passive and lost interest in those activities I used to enjoy. It gets difficult to ‘get going.’

I was spending a lot of time sitting around and reading and napping.

I knew I wasn’t ‘right’ but couldn’t figure out how to fix things, and I didn’t have the energy anyways. That all seems to have changed for the better since I signed up with Rock Steady Boxing. RSB is a mental and physical exercise program developed specifically for people with PD. I attend three times a week for an hour and a half. We start with stretching and simple brain and physical exercises. Then there’s 45 minutes of shadow boxing and work with the heavy bag...no physical contact with others but we’re all more or less doing the same thing and dodging around one another. This is followed by half an hour of yoga and cooling down.

I’ve never been one for gym work or formal exercise, but I’m finding this RSB is thoroughly enjoyable and

very, very helpful to my well-being in general. Furthermore, it’s done wonders for my attitude. I’m enjoying it all so much I’m thinking of going down to the local boxing club to see if someone will take on an old geezer as a sparring partner or a rank-amateur student. Deb says I’m a different person, and that’s probably good!

Meanwhile we just celebrated our 39th wedding anniversary—another miracle. If I’m not mistaken, I believe a couple of classmates have PD. To them and to anyone who might have the misfortune to come down with PD, I cannot recommend Rock Steady Boxing enough. For me it has been a life-changing experience— like Parkinson’s itself and marriage!”

Ed Bertozzi shares, “I really don’t have anything significant to report other than I’m still here. Happy 2023!”

Dick Cadwgan notes he made it through ’22 with no COVID and good health for both Louise and him. They spent a week in Denver at their grandson’s wedding. Dick commented that he missed taking in the geology of the Front Range when he was there. Dick has kept himself busy volunteering on a startup CSA farm doing a lot of big project carpentry, including making large sliding barn doors with windows, 24 big greenhouse tables, six large swinging gates, and now that winter is here, 18 insulating window inserts for the 1790 farmhouse. At his own place, he’s procuring the components for a solar array of 16 panels with eight units on each of two steel pipes with the expectation of starting construction in April and putting the new 10,000 kWh/year system into service about mid-May. There’s

CLASS NOTES

clearly no grass growing under his feet!

Charlie Callahan writes, “I am particularly saddened by the loss of our classmates during the past year.

Once again, I have spent the past year mostly working at the office. I have not done anything exciting for the main reason—COVID-19 and variants. My main activity has been attendance daily at the gym and some golf. From all of the reports which I receive, it seems that Williston is doing very well. I am certain that we are all quite pleased with the school’s development. I may very well try to attend the alumni hockey game later this month as a spectator only since my playing days have come to an end.”

Merritt Carlton said he and Chris (see photo) are still able to enjoy their lives and were leaving for a threemonth trip to Málaga, Spain. He said, “It is one of the few European countries we have not spent much time in and are looking forward to our adventure. We continue to see Carlton Winslow and Kitty each summer in Maine and often get out on the water with Bud Woodworth on his new express cruiser Brilliant.

Not to end on a sad note, but I was able to visit with my good friend Bert Abbey shortly before his death this fall.”

Bob Cartelli and his son decided to expand their automobile collision centers business and add another dealership! They sold the house in Florida and are actively looking in North Carolina for a beach house since one of Bob’s daughters is relocating her medical practice to the Wilmington area. More importantly SPRING 2023 BULLETIN 71

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for him, she and her husband are expecting a baby boy in June.

Commenting on this he said, “I enjoy the ACTION.” Your class representative appreciated Peter Ewing sending a reply to his email acknowledging he had received it—in spite of the fact that he didn’t “really have anything to report.” His reply, at least, provides an indication that he’s probably OK. Thank you, Peter!

Tom Gordon and Jane took another Viking River Cruise in August. He said, “Although the Danube was really great, it didn’t quite live up to our trip from Paris to Normandy. Jane and I are going to Israel on January 5 and are looking forward to visiting many of the historical locations where Jesus walked. I guess those stories will have to wait for next year’s Bulletin. I have been in touch with Bob Varnum, who survived the brunt of the past hurricane without severe consequences. We do plan to get together with Bob and Mary when we travel to Florida for March and April. Age has finally caught up to my golf game, but we’ll give it the old Williston try if Bob is willing.

My family and I have been blessed with good health and successful new business ventures this past year. We are truly grateful and our hearts go out to those less fortunate. Especially the people who have been devestated by the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

May God bring them peace in the New Year.”

Skip Gwiazda and Suzanne continue to enjoy living in The Forum at Rancho San Antonio retirement community in Cupertino, California.

Although Skip’s family hopes he lives a long time, he wanted to make arrangements for their “last chapter” before unexpected, serious, and negative health developments limited the retirement communities that would accept them. So they moved west 3,000 miles to be closer to family and to an area where Suzanne wanted to live. They are both very pleased with the time it has freed up for them from cooking, house cleaning, maintenance, house, yard, and gardens—time that they now use to take advantage of the many programs and trips offered by The Forum. Skip is grateful he now has more quality time to read and write. Suzanne, with her newfound time, has taken up art and crafts— painting, play writing, book club.

They are very happy to be where they are.

Phil Haskell and his significant other, Rosine, enjoyed a 16-day cruise from Sydney, Australia, to Auckland, New Zealand. They and his family are healthy and happy. Son Craig, who is Director of Engineering for Galvion Corp., and his wife, Susan, live in Durham, New Hampshire.

Their daughter, Charlie (Charlotte), majoring in biochemistry/premed at Clemson, will graduate in May. She is looking at schools for PA programs. Their son Sam, a freshman at Highpoint University, is in a fraternity, plays basketball, and does “some academics too.”

Phil’s son Steve and his wife, Kathy, live in Waitsfield, Vermont. Their daughter Tela, a high school senior, has played varsity soccer for four years and is a competition skier. She is assessing acceptances at several colleges. Daughter Sadie, a high

school sophomore, is a runner and competitive skier at Mad River Glen.

Zach, their eighth grade son, is an extreme mountain biker and also, like his sisters, a competitive skier.

Bill Hastings writes, “Not much to report. Still working full time in the summer on tobacco. The crop of 2021 was a total disaster and the whole thing went to the dump. This year, 2022, was the best crop we ever had. Go figure.” Bill went to Florida for the winter and plans to be back in Connecticut in the spring to start all over. He hopes everyone is doing well.

Lee Hawkes writes, “It’s kind of sad for me to have to admit that nothing of any note happened in 2022. Gale and I did attend a three-day golf school in Myrtle Beach. Neither one of us learned very much, but it was a fun trip getting home bouncing from one gas station to another.

Fortunately we had an app for finding stations with gas. I’m still mystified by how these apps work. My latest violin has been a disappointment and it’s likely I won’t finish it. The wood was worm-eaten, a problem that didn’t reveal itself until I was nearly through the carving. It was very frustrating. Gale managed a trip to Petra combined with a Nile cruise, a trip she has wanted to make her whole life. I had a Watchman stuck in my heart in September, and it’s been a slow fall recovering. We’re both looking forward to a trip to Israel next November with our rabbi.”

Lans Hays commented, “I don’t think I have anything to report on for Williston alumni. A friend of ours is taking a job at Williston for

a semester to coach field hockey— Williston keeps cropping up in unexpected ways.” Lans and his wife, Monica, were hunkered down in Buckingham for the winter, having spent too much on traveling and holiday gift giving. They spent rainy/ snowy days reading in front of their fireplace and are planning to be “in Santa Fe one way or another next summer.”

Hall Healy wrote, “My sister encouraged me to think of the ‘aging process,’ instead of ‘getting old.’ I do prefer that way of looking at the inevitable, and not as a destination.

Even the two-year-old is ‘aging.’ At any rate, the aging process brought with it last year some cancer for my wife, Anne, with which, very happily, she is dealing successfully.

Our daughter, Katherine, her husband, and their three kids came for Christmas. Thankfully, and all of them ‘pitched in!’ We had a delightful time in the few days of subzero weather, which did eventually warm up. Last year I was honored to be asked to serve as Board Chair of the National Audubon Great Lakes Region’s Advisory Board. We added five new board members, each representing a diverse background, including equity, diversity, inclusion, and belonging, allowing us to be much more holistic and inclusive in our quest to protect dwindling bird species in this hemisphere.

Very rewarding work! I continue to be involved in sustainability within our town, Glencoe, and with the International Crane Foundation, working with emeritus directors (like me) and with ICF’s South Korea project, as well as being in a French book group (thank you, Professor

72 WILLISTON NORTHAMPTON SCHOOL SUBMIT YOUR CLASS NOTES TO WWW.WILLISTON.COM/ALUMNI/CLASSNOTES

CLASS NOTES

Richie Kagan ’60

Howard Boardman). Best wishes to all our classmates for a healthy new year.”

2022 was a much more active year for Steve Herbits than he had hoped or anticipated. He writes, “I wrote a long paper for a personal list of mine developed over the years of commenting on elections. In 2022, there was only one issue on the ballot, and that was saving democracy.

In addition to that, I donated to candidates, PACs and nonprofits which focused on overcoming Republican efforts to prevent some (selected) people from registering and voting. I raised money for one particular candidate and volunteered my time in assisting the policy director of one U.S. Senate campaign, particularly with issues from my background in national security and foreign policy. I nearly drowned in taking advantage of this thing called the internet, with subscriptions to dozens of organizations working for the same goal as above. Spent much of the time after 11/8 unsubscribing to reduce the input. My move to western North Carolina has proven to be one of my best decisions ever.

I am consciously aware every day of how happy I am in my ex-urban home, with the people I know or just

Skip Gwiazda ’60 and his wife, Suzanne.

meeting in commercial exchanges or otherwise. Seems the happiness is also great for my health. All scores are right where they should be.”

Larry Hyman maintains that he’s “95% retired.” He and Lois, who continue to be well and enjoying life, are currently spending four months in their beach condo at Siesta Key, Florida, where they play tennis, see friends, and enjoy the sun and sand walking and running with their dog Gidget, a mediumlarge goldendoodle. Larry works out with free weights in a local gym several times a week. In April they will go back to Maryland, where they have completed the development process of their land and are setting up a conservation easement with the Howard County Conservancy.

With their kids all grown, he and Lois are thinking of becoming Florida residents soon.

Richie Kagan was on a champion bocce team at a tournament hosted by the Wycliffe Country Club in Wellington, Florida. He commented, “Our team was next-to-last with four weeks remaining. We came on strong and won seven of our last eight matches. In the playoffs, we defeated the top two teams to win

Phil Haskell ’60 and his significant other, Rosine, in Dunedin, New Zealand

the championship (see photo). The last game took almost two hours to play. Every point requiring numerous measurements. It was fun. The players were all friendly. It was a best-of-seven game match. The final score was 4 to 2.”

Gary Kleinerman wrote, “My wife, Christine, and I had COVID over the holidays but only a mild case for both. Watched a lot of TV and read.

I am still head of the lake committee that inspects for invasives coming in on boats. Last year we had over 6,000 launches to watch. Myself and a friend take care of a 60-acre plot of land which our lake association owns. Get to do a lot of chainsaw work and wood splitting as well as trail grooming and getting rid of invasives, of which there are an overwhelming abundance. Between the woods and the boat ramp we get to meet a lot of people and have a lot to do, which helps fill the time not having a full-time job. Hope everyone is in good health and enjoying it all.”

Tom Lasalle wrote, “Although I personally suffered no setbacks of any consequence in 2022, it was a sad year, beginning with the death of Dave DeLuca. I emailed him on January 27 saying my sons and

their mother were having lunch in Boca Raton that day with a friend of Dave’s from the Rochester area.

Usually Dave is a prompt responder but not this time. Then I received word he had passed away on the 26th. Quite a shock. Our class also lost Bert Abbey. Then at the end of the year two of my college fraternity brothers died. I guess this is what we have to accept if we are blessed to live long enough. On a happier note, I am active, playing tennis five mornings a week, sometimes more.

Just trying to hold the pieces together with worn parts for another month, year, or whatever. Always thought I’d hate retirement. Best years of my life...so far.”

Chip Mead continues to crank out conservative political commentary to dozens of hapless recipients nationwide. He attended several Tampa Bay Young Republican meetings where the cutoff age to join is about half Chip’s age!

Last spring Reggie, Chip’s wife, chaired the Ruskin Women’s Club Scholarship Committee, concluding with awards to high school students and a woman “restarting” her career at a community college. The effort was strenuous and politically tiring for her, so she retired from the club SPRING 2023 BULLETIN 73

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to focus on her patient advocate work at Moffitt Cancer Center. Chip and Reggie (see photo) spent time at their cabin in Fitzwilliam, New Hampshire, where Reggie attempted to remove a stump in front of the cabin with the Lexus. The stump won, leaving the vehicle badly damaged! They stayed busy with various constructive projects that included papering and finishing the inside of their “Bath House” with wallpaper and installing three large planter boxes outside and enjoyed a trip to Vero Beach, Florida, where they visited friends and had a “ringside seat” to watch the Navy’s Blue Angels perform. Their son,\ Len, of the Connecticut “Mead 5,” started media work for a subsidiary of DraftKings called ViSN, which broadcasts sports information nationwide and keeps him on the road about half of the time. His wife, Dr. Amanda, continues her work as a science teaching dean at Green Farms Academy, where all the grandkids go—Piper, Cleo, and Max. Son Jon continues his financial management work remotely in Buellton, California, at Puma Biotechnology in Los Angeles while Carla is doing wine promotional work.

Nils Mikkelsen drove through Santa Fe a couple of months ago. He also visited Mesa Verde National Park, which was on his bucket list, as was Santa Fe/Taos, and used his schoolkid French to help some tourists.

They apparently did not understand a word he said, but politely nodded their heads and smiled. The lady asked him if he spoke Spanish, making the conversation more fruitful. Nils said he was not impressed with Taos,

perhaps due to all the construction, so he didn’t spend any time there.

Fortunately, Nils’ pipes didn’t freeze this year and he occupied some of his time with a do-it-yourself fence project. He said: “My oldest sister and dog died as well, so 2022 was not a happy year; but it was OK. Still dancing even though there’s no lady in my life anymore, but we are still friends. I am fortunate that my youngest daughter and family moved to Dallas a few years ago, which was really nice.” He spends a lot of time reading and gardening and hopes to make one last trip abroad before he ends up “in a box or toasted.” He commented: “Health could be better but not all that bad. Every once in a while I build a new computer to stay technologically current and write a tennis blog for my friends. Some of them actually read it.”

On January 30 David Milne courteously acknowledged receiving my email requesting a Class Notes submittal. He replied: “We returned recently from a family funeral to discover an amazing number of emails awaiting our attention. I was sorry to discover that I had missed your deadline. We were pleased to learn that all is well in Santa Fe. It was a city we greatly enjoyed visiting during our years in Colorado Springs.”

Ulrich Schneider shares, “We are still OK, Petra (60), my ‘almost wife’ of 15 years, and I (81). Sailing around the Balearic Islands on my Americanbuilt boat (Island Packet, IP 38) is still a very much liked challenge for me. From mid-August until the end of September 2022 we traveled with the Norwegian cruising line Hurtigruten

(specialists for ice passages) from Nome in Alaska to Boston via the Northwest Passage from west to east.

Remarkable experience with lots of historic and nature information.

In Boston, we met Charlie Benoit, stayed for some days in Ron Gwiazda ’62’s house, took Charlie with us to Germany and from there to Mallorca.

So we had more than three wonderful weeks with him. Ron Gwiazda will visit us with his wife, Connie, in September and October 2023 in Europe. Politically, the Ukrainian war ‘next door’ depresses us. Also, the fact that most people in Germany and Europe seem to only think of more and stronger weapons. We hardly hear publicly of any ideas for peace in the region. Therefore, we are deeply impressed by former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, already 99, to make his idea of a possibility for peace public just recently. Family still the same: one ‘almost wife,’ two ex-wives. We all get along in a very friendly manner. One son, three daughters, five grandsons, and three granddaughters (20, 14, 13).”

Dick Stewart and Janet (see photo) are glad to be back in WinstonSalem, North Carolina, where they volunteer with Meals on Wheels two days a week. Dick enjoys docent work several times each month at Reynolda House Museum of American Art and being a member of the Winston-Salem Symphony Chorus. Janet stopped the organist work in September because the church hired someone to fill the position and is now occupying her time tutoring in the YMCA literacy program. Last year they traveled to Tucson to attend their youngest daughter’s wedding, went on a tour

Woody Woodward ’60 and his dog, Casey

of the Pacific Northwest in June, and visited St. Augustine at Thanksgiving.

Kingsley Sullivan said, “I really have nothing of interest to submit. I just returned from Rocky Point, Long Island, where one of my sons lives.

He is now the executive director of corporate relations for Stony Brook University. I was there to see Dr. Jonathan Weinstein, a heart doctor, who I have seen the last couple of years. We thought he would perform a TAVR, a specialty of his, but an angio showed that I can wait a few years most likely. My heart and all the veins and arteries nearby are all clean and healthy, which surprised me as well as thrilled me. My time out on the north shore of Suffolk County also gave me a chance to visit my son and his family. When he was at UMass he was only 20 minutes away. Zeynep, my significant other, will be joining me again in February now that she has taken care of family affairs caused by the death of her mother. We forget sometimes how much different life can be, the rules and regulations experienced in different cultures from our own.

Come spring, I imagine I will be headed back to Turkey until the fall. I do see Hank Heaphy on occasion and keep up pretty good correspondence with Tom LaSalle, but other than that what I know about Williston, even though it is just six miles away, is through the Bulletin or from various nieces and nephews who have graduated from

74 WILLISTON NORTHAMPTON SCHOOL SUBMIT YOUR CLASS NOTES TO WWW.WILLISTON.COM/ALUMNI/CLASSNOTES

Chip Mead ’60 and his wife, Reggie

Dick Stewart ’60 and his wife, Janet

Williston in the last few years. My fault, I know.”

Paul Tamburello got COVID-19 despite being vaxed and triple boosted but fully recovered. He can now personally attest to vaccination and boosters keeping one from getting really sick. Before COVID shut down travel, he made two grand trips to Rome, several to Chile, and the Dominican Republic to visit friends.

Paul (see photo) loves to dance and enjoys going to local dive bars and dance festivals like Gator By The Bay in San Diego; Festivals Acadiens et Créoles in Lafayette, Louisiana; and Rhythm and Roots festival in Charlestown, Rhode Island. He keeps himself fit working out at a local gym three days each week. Paul’s blog is ptatlarge.typepad.com.

In 2022 Dave Torrey and Barbara added two more visits to their presidential libraries list. During the summer, they traveled to Staunton, Virginia, to tour the Woodrow Wilson Library. In October they made the annual visit to Easthampton to meet friends and relatives and fit in a trip to Northampton to see the Calvin Coolidge Room at Forbes Library

and two of the homes in the town where he lived. Dave said, “In all the years of growing up in Easthampton, I had never visited the Coolidge Room at Forbes or driven past the homes where he had resided. I believe that both of these places are not considered official presidential libraries; however, it was good to learn more about Woodrow and ‘Cal.’ In August Dave celebrated his 80th birthday by “soaring to new heights (2,500 feet) in a glider” during a family birthday weekend for him near Corning, New York, where there is a soaring center a few miles from his son’s home. He liked the ride with great views of southern New York state. Let’s hope 2023 is healthy, happy, and peaceful for all.”

Bob Varnum writes, “Living in a retirement community, as Mary and I do, one is exposed to all-toomany permanent departures from our midst. While this could be disheartening for some, we have made many friends—and learned so much from them—because so many around us have led remarkably accomplished and fulfilling lives.

Even today so many of them continue learning, sharing, volunteering, and reaching out to others with optimism and support to the community. Mary and I spend a fair amount of time

volunteering and lending a hand wherever we can. We are upbeat, and yes, we do find time for golf, gardening, reading, bridge, and (for Mary) quilting and pickleball. And, yes, we do still take vacations (even though some younger folks think retirees are always on vacation).

This coming summer, for example, we are heading to the Canadian Maritimes and then on to Greenland and Iceland. (No hurricanes there.)

Speaking of hurricanes, Ian hit our Fort Myers retirement community of about 2,500 people with all its power and fury on Sept. 28, 2022. It did tens of millions of dollars in damage here.

Although the county in which we reside has reported over 150 deaths caused by the hurricane, we had no deaths here because of timely evacuations (including Mary and me), and two large on-site shelters.

Our community, which employs hundreds of people, also went right to work raising millions of dollars to help our employees, whose losses were also severe, to get back on their feet. There are many natural disasters like tornadoes, earthquakes, and flash floods where one seldom has much advance warning. Not so today with hurricanes. If one is coming your way, respect it, and get out of the way on a timely basis. Once well formed, a hurricane has a mind of its

own, including its right to alter its path. Give it a wide berth.”

Frank Williams writes, “I’m alive, in good health, and still working, but I’ve nothing of particular interest to report.”

Carlton Winslow and Kitty are still in midcoast Maine in Rockland and see Merritt Carlton and Chris, who live in Camden. He would love to see any old friends who visit his touristfriendly area.

Woody Woodward sent a picture of himself with his “best friend Casey, the Wonder Dog” (see photo), taken on their place north of the bustling burg of Buffalo, Wyoming. He writes, “Sweet Paula and I have lived here for just 30 years—in a small house on several acres, overlooking a cattle ranch, an elk refuge, and the Bighorn Mountains. Some years back a rancher friend died and left me his membership in a driven pheasant shoot. I ran the shoot for 20 years— and still travel north each Saturday in the fall to hunt with Casey, now in semi-retirement at age 12. When I was invited to my first branding by the rodeo cowboys who ran the club, I realized I would never catch up with these guys in western skills—so I opted to wear an oxford shirt and a SPRING 2023 BULLETIN 75

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school tie. Best move I ever made.

It established me as a guy with no plan to imitate a cowboy. Paula and I have ventured forth from this lovely, isolated spot, several times, to Africa on safari. Buffalo is one of the rare remaining places where you are as excited about coming home as you are about traveling to the Kalahari or the Zambezi. Each summer evening we sit on the front lawn watching the sun set over the Bighorns, thankful for the good fortune that brought us here, together.”

Bud Woodworth said, “2022 has been a busy year for me as I have been raising $5.6 million to begin renovating and expanding the Owls Head Transportation Museum facility. We have almost completed a 10,000-square-foot hanger for storage of antique airplanes and cars.

Will complete a 23,000-square-foot new facility which will repair and service all the operating airplanes and cars. I am still looking to raise another $5 million to build a STEM teaching and entrance facility. Kat just had her shoulder replaced, which necessitated staying in Maine through January but heading to Florida shortly for the rest of the winter. Kat and I (see photo) were able to get a lot of use of our boat this last summer exploring the unique coastline of Maine. When I am not busy, I am still maintaining my collection of antique cars. I see Chris and Merritt Carlton a lot during the summer. If anyone is visiting Maine this summer, we have room to accommodate you.”

1962 WA For the second straight season, the

Williston girls varsity hockey team won the Chuck Vernon Elite 8 Championship. And, for the second straight season, Chuck Vernon was in attendance to hand the Williston captains the trophy named after him.

1962 NSFG Susan Hendrickson Harrington writes, “Still alive and kicking.

I’m working at my residential appraisal business. I’m working out daily and am one of those senior pickleball players! Four children and grandchildren also leading busy lives. I was widowed many years ago but I’m dating a great guy and we’re enjoying local activities and travel together. Always happy to reconnect with friends from my four boarding school years.”

1963 60TH REUNION

1965 WA Teak Kelley writes, “The Guys of ’65 continue to stay connected more than 55 years after our graduation— thank goodness for email! Many of our classmates supported Founders Day, and our Class of ’65 Memorial Scholarship continues to grow with contributions earmarked for that fund. Our fund made a substantial distribution to a deserving WNS student in our name. My golf game is relatively steady, a lot of practice and rounds this winter in southwest Florida. Classmate and longtime friend Bill Burkhardt joined me for a guest tourney and we planned to play again before the winter season ends (see picture and note the Williston

sticker on my cart!) The following classmates have ‘reported in.’ David ‘D.A.’ Stevens is enjoying his recent retirement from his law practice; he noted that weather in the early winter in San Diego was unseasonably cool and wet but nothing like the East Coast, where he heard reports of school closings due to snow. Charlie Hayes advised of his recent move from Maryland to Ashburn, Virginia, and he is happy there, tooling around in his 2011 Mustang. This year marks the 100th anniversary of the graduation of Charlie’s father from Williston Seminary! Harvey Kaltsas continues in his active practice as an acupuncture physician in Florida, teaching acupuncture classes online and occasionally in person, and on the weekends he is out on the Gulf of Mexico, treasure hunting. He looks forward to scuba dives on the main body of a French slave ship which sank in 1792 off the coast of Florida. Harvey also notes that he is looking forward to our 60th Reunion in a couple of years. After a summer fishing off Cape Cod, Hank Mitchell is back in Alaska—fishing.

His daughter, Caitlin ’98, is a fashion photographer in New York, and his son, Colin, lives in Anchorage. Hank sends his best from the Yukon!”

Jack Robinson, an accomplished business and estate planning lawyer, is working part time in his Lancaster, Pennsylvania, law firm. Jack is excited that post-COVID travel has resumed. He is taking each of his sons on a trip: one to New Zealand and the South Pacific in spring 2023, and the other son to Tanzania for a safari in July. After a short rest, Jack and his wife and some friends are off to London and Copenhagen in

September. Jack’s plans for travel in 2024 include Antarctica and Uruguay in January, and Switzerland, Lisbon, and the Basque Country in June. Longstanding Trustee of Williston, classmate Kevin Hoben, is on the east coast of Florida during the winter and he hosted a Williston Northampton reception in West Palm Beach.

1966 NSFG Liz Miller Grasty checks in with a photo from the past. She says, “Here’s a picture of me posing with NSFG Headmaster Alan McMillen the day I received the White Blazer and a sports letter. I had mono in May and was out of bed only for Baccalaureate and graduation.” In other news, Liz shares that she’s preparing her home to be sold and is planning on moving back to Southampton, Massachusetts, sharing the home she grew up in with Judith Miller Conlin ’72. Their sister Kate Miller Carl ’64 will be close by, along with her children and grandchildren. She and Judith went on a Viking River Cruise on the Rhine and she and her sister enjoyed two weeks in Culebra, Puerto Rico, enjoying beautiful beaches and snorkeling.

1968 55TH REUNION

1969 WA

76 WILLISTON NORTHAMPTON SCHOOL SUBMIT YOUR CLASS NOTES TO WWW.WILLISTON.COM/ALUMNI/CLASSNOTES

Gordon Sullivan shares news of the publication of his new wine trivia book entitled Wine Q&A. He writes,

Bud Woodworth ’60 and his wife, Kat.

Teak Kelley ’65 and Bill Burkhardt ’65

Liz Miller Grasty ’66 with NSFG Headmaster Alan McMillen.

“My goal is to revolutionize how people absorb wine data and recall information. I refer to this concept as ‘concise wine learning.’ Each question is a single sentence at the top of the page and the brief answer at the bottom of that same page, followed by an educational explanation in parentheses.” The book is available online by Board and Bench publishing. Read more about Gordon’s new book here: williston. com/news/the-wide-world-of-wine.

“Five of us got together for an impromptu reunion on Anna Maria Island in March. Aggie McNamara Hart, Nancy Lockwood Whitcomb, myself, Margaret Campbell Lacoste, and Karen Hansen shared old stories, memories, and cake to celebrate our upcoming 70th birthdays! Thanks to Nancy for hosting and Karen for corralling us all!”

1971 NSFG

Nils Berg shares a great story of how two graduates of Williston, almost 50 years apart, met up halfway around

Joan Higgins Campbell shares,

1972

From left: Emily Crovo ’23, Chuck Vernon ’62, Katherine Kang ’23, Ava DeCoste ’23

From left: Enjoying a mini ’71 reunion on Anna Maria Island: Aggie McNamara Hart, Nancy Lockwood Whitcomb, Joan Higgins Campbell, Margaret Campbell Lacoste, and Karen Hansen.

the world! In 2018, Nils Berg was having a conversation with Amman Alagil ’18’s mother in Dubai about a school in Massachusetts her son was graduating from that year.

Lo and behold, it was Williston Northampton School. Four years later, Nils and Amman met up in Dubai and snapped a photo!

Judith Miller Conlin writes, “My one-lane road will win the prize for the most WNS people per mile once my sister joins me at the family homestead this spring! Liz Miller Grasty ’66 will be moving up from her home in Virginia in March to

From left: Amman Alagil ’18 and Nils Berg ’72 posing together in Dubai.

live with me. Eldest sister Kate Miller Carl ’64 lives at the start of the road, while my daughter Flannery Conlin Wiemer ’95 and her husband Kris Wiemer (former WNS faculty) live just up the hill. If you came to the post-50th Reunion brunch you will remember Liz, who was a wonderful help with putting it all together.

Welcome home!”

Sheila Fisher writes, “I really enjoyed seeing everyone at our 50th reunion, and just thinking about it, some months out, makes me happy.

Hope everyone is well! Although I am ‘officially’ retired from the English SPRING 2023 BULLETIN 77

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department at Trinity College as of June 30, 2022, it’s turning out to be a busy academic year. In the fall I team taught a course in the Human Rights Studies program on social justice initiatives and the arts, as well as my English department course on prison literature. In relation to that course, the department provided generous funding for a daylong symposium that two colleagues and I organized, called ‘Unmuting: Voice in Justice Impacted Art.’ It was a boatload of work to organize, but our presenters and performers, many of them returning citizens, were just extraordinary. Next term, I’m teaching Medieval Women Writers.

And then I will try to practice refining my retirement skills!”

Mark Sena writes, “In September 2022, President Biden appointed me to the Presidential Advisory Committee on the Arts.”

Michael Wills shares, “Last summer, the 1972 Caterwaulers held a small 50th Reunion gathering on Mr. Richard Gregory’s front porch. We hadn’t been there long before Mr. Gregory asked us to sing. After all those years, we were still pretty good. The event brought back some wonderful memories: rehearsing every day after sports practice, selling hot dogs every night to raise money for our trip to Bermuda, and concerts everywhere! We were fortunate to end the year with a concert in the Stevens Chapel, all of us dressed in tuxedos. What a time we had! And the same can be said for our little gathering on the front porch.”

1973 50TH REUNION

Arthur Thum writes, “I currently live in Florida with my wife, Joni. I am stepdad to her six boys, all grown men and a great crew. I have worked for many years as a senior corporate IT consultant, working with over 60 different corporations in various capacities but always focused on enterprise resource systems. I can trace that interest back to the DEC PDP 8 computer Williston acquired in our senior year that was installed in a small room on the third floor of the then admin building near where the railroad tracks used to be.

That experience took root and laid a foundation of computer background which carries my work to this day. I acquired two black belts in Korean Karate—Soo Bahk Do, and Tang Soo Do—studying with martial arts masters in Alabama and Texas. Lots of interests over the years including meteorology, which started in high school as a National Weather Service storm spotter, and spiritual studies, which includes the mystical paths of the world’s religions. This led to several years of spiritual sabbaticals and deep dives into core Christian, Jewish, Hindu, and Taoist mysticism ,which are at the roots of the major religions and the true meaning of life.

I was involved in politics for several years as an Iowa caucus delegate and continue to do podcasts on political and spiritual topics. Joni and I have lots of U. S. travel adventures and share interests in gardening. I hope at this time all of my classmates have found their true callings and I look back on those foundational years with much fondness. I really do hope all are doing well!”

As of September 1, Rob Tullis has retired after a 40-year career in architecture and real estate development. He plans on consulting for his previous employer, helping friends and neighbors with house renovation plans, traveling more frequently, and driving a Zamboni this winter for local hockey rinks (really). In addition, he will be working on a book about his architectural specialty: placemaking.

1976 Dana Richdale writes, “Hello fellow alums. I’ve been dragging my feet recently with class notes.

Not by design. I’m scratching my head as to how best to get a hold of fellow classmates. Phone calls and landlines have been relegated to oldschool communication. As mobile phones have become ubiquitous, the reluctance to pick up has grown even more. The reality, though, is social media keeps us informed and up to date with the comings and goings of many. Taking a look at a number of classmates that I am connected with via Facebook, I thought it would be interesting to see who went where after WNS. I’ll let you connect the dots: Marietta College, Old Dominion University, Roger Williams University, Boston University, College of Wooster, Northwestern University, Yale University, Hartwick College, Performance Training Institute, Dartmouth College, Clark University, University of Massachusetts, University of New Hampshire, University of California, University of Colorado, Community College of Baltimore County, Boston College, Kenyon College,

Ithaca College, Bowdoin College, Emory University, and New England College. The above is in no specific order and not a complete list but interesting to see who matriculated where and really the bigger question is whether (and/or how) that higher education propelled each person further in their life. Alas, I am starting to see people retire. TED Talks had an interesting presentation on retirement. Myself, still knocking out the hours. My dear friend Vince Cohee I know is one that has hung up his hat, as I believe perhaps Jim Nagle, too, and by the amount of travel I see, Robert Blanchard is another one enjoying the free time that comes with retirement. Call me anytime (OK, not in the middle of the night), text me, email me, reach out via Facebook. Be well as we all grow a year older and hopefully a year wiser. We were all very fortunate to have gone to Williston and shared the time together. My mobile: (832) 451-5298, drichdale@sbcglobal.net.”

1978 45TH REUNION

1979 Maggie Hodges shares, “The trustees of the Forbes Library in Northampton voted to acquire my painting Northampton’s Lights. I have shared with them my connection to Williston and how I find it a huge honor to have my painting hanging where my art teacher from my days at Williston, Barry Moser, has his paintings hanging. The painting can be seen hanging in the first floor’s reading room. Northampton holds a special place in my heart. I grew

78 WILLISTON NORTHAMPTON SCHOOL SUBMIT YOUR CLASS NOTES TO WWW.WILLISTON.COM/ALUMNI/CLASSNOTES

up in Philadelphia and went to Williston for three years. One of the reasons I chose to attend Williston was because of the famous illustrator and art teacher Barry Moser, whom I took numerous classes with. I then went on to get my B.F.A at Syracuse University and was a graphic designer. In 1984–85 I moved to Northampton and then moved to Amherst, where I have lived since.

This past September I exhibited 35 of my paintings at the Hosmer Gallery in Forbes Library, where my painting of Northampton caught the attention of Forbes Library’s director and the head of arts and music. They then brought the painting before the trustees to consider its purchase.

Besides the exciting news about Forbes Library, Natania Hume, Head of Williston’s Visual and Performing Arts Department, saw a showing of my paintings at Hope and Feather’s gallery in Amherst and reached out to me to see if I would exhibit my paintings at Williston. She has scheduled me to exhibit in Grubbs Gallery Feb 27–April 16, 2023.” (See page 27 for more.)

1980 Katherine Arms shares, “After a year in Rome our family relocated to just outside Bath in the U.K. The intent when we left Kenya in 2021 was to be closer to the U.K. After a year we felt it was time to just up stakes and finally settle down. We bought a house at the top of the property craze in one of the most expensive areas in the U.K. It isn’t one of the smartest ideas we have had, but we are happy and our kids feel at home.

Our daughter, Elizabeth, almost 14, is at Monkton Combe School in Year

Arthur Thum ’73 From left: Steve August ’72, Gil Timm ’72, Mr. Gregory, Michael Wills ’72, Kim Gagné ’72, Bill “Arli” Wagner ’72, and Korty Church ’72.

Kneeling in the foreground is John Grossman ’87. Photographed by Judith Miller Conlin ’72.

Maggie Hodges ’79, posing with her painting entitled Northampton’s Lights, while it hangs at Forbes Library in Northampton

9 and our son, Charlie, is finishing at Exeter University and ready to start a master’s program in Arabic and Middle Eastern studies at Exeter as well. My husband, Peter Smerdon, is currently with the United Nations World Food Program and will retire in May after a few decades in journalism and then the U.N. While he relaxes a bit, I will continue writing and editing for U.N. agencies and hope to get some reporting in as well. After a few years out of the loop I have to do some pretty steep learning on the current editing systems. I know I

Goren Dillard ’80 with family, Pamelia, Heather, and Grayson; Goren Dillard ’80’s daughter, Opal and granddaughter, Indigo; Goren Dillard ’80 and family at his wedding

have a lot of homework coming up.

If any Willies are in the area, please shout; I would love to touch base.

Email: katherinearms@gmail.com.”

Goren Dillard writes, “My check-in comes with an attitude of gratitude.

I am humbly grateful for all trials and tribulations, victories and celebrations. So many moments, lessons, and experiences from Williston. I now value those friends who have become family and I will forever embrace foundational relationships that have made me into

my best self today. I think about the dads who adopted and nurtured me after I lost my own father at age 12.

I also fondly recall the excitement from my first kiss, all those teenage crushes, and when I fell deeply in love for the first time. What a ride!

At times my ride was challenging, particularly when dealing with racial bias and cultural differences.

However, the good, the bad, and the ugly were a springboard to adult life and made me take the road less traveled to make a difference. I’m grateful for the scholarship funds SPRING 2023 BULLETIN 79

CLASS NOTES

and tuition assistance while my mom worked three jobs to provide me with a prep school education experience.

The investment Williston made on my behalf to diversify the student body in 1976 had a positive impact on our community at large. I believe it had a domino effect, changing lives and communities across the nation. In short, this journey has led to passionate work commitments and self-care routines. I must acknowledge this class community and authentic friends who became family. Here are my milestones.

Transitioned from private industry sales and business development to public sector economic development and community building. I lead the workforce development for an Urban League affiliate in Cleveland.

During COVID I buckled down to complete a two-year business school program at Case Western Reserve University. I am now a bonafied social scientist and certified practitioner for organization development and change management. Became a grandfather in 2021. This was a lot to process given the ages of my children. After a 10-year engagement with two kids and house in the ’burbs, I married a cotillion girl from Cleveland. I have two daughters from a previous marriage that lasted 11 years, and my children are age 34, 32, 10, and 5! Don’t say a word!”

Helen Gaillard writes, “Chip and I have been living the retired life down here in Port St. Lucie, Florida, and loving it. Four years ago we got a very large and hairy goldendoodle named Rex, who is Chip’s service dog. Our respective kids, Justin and Amanda, are doing great with their lives in Florida and Colorado. Amanda is a

ranger for the Forestry Service in the Vail and Breckenridge areas. I think mom might need a ski trip in her future! Our 45th Reunion is coming up in TWO years!!!!! Start making plans to come to it!”

Ted Hoffman writes, “It is hard to believe our family has now been in Seattle for 30 years; time does fly.

My wife, Candice, and I run our fabric design and manufacturing business, clothworks.com, out of our warehouse by the Port of Seattle. If there are any quilters out there, feel free to hit me up for some fabric at ted@clothworks.com. Navigating the COVID years was quite trying, but when everyone needed fabric to make masks, we were there seemingly working around the clock to keep up with worldwide demand.

Our two kids are doing really well.

Victoria is a special education teacher nearby with two wonderful kids of her own, Auron, 6, and Damien, 5.

Our son, Roman, graduated from a technical college with a degree in welding during COVID and managed to get work in a variety of rather shortterm jobs. Eventually he got a great full-time position in an automotive and metal recycling company and is loving it. He’s close by in Tacoma.

We were all able to get together over Christmas and had a great time. I’m looking forward to seeing all the 1980 Willies at our 45th in 2025.”

Suzanne Snyder writes, “Hi everyone, I am finally returning back to my maiden name (at least my last name) Snyder—keeping Suzanne but you can call me Sue or Snydes. I am living part time in Annapolis, Maryland, and part time Shelburne, Vermont, and running

Sail Beyond Cancer USA. There are three locations: Sail Beyond Cancer, Vermont; Sail Beyond Cancer Annapolis; and Sail Beyond Cancer, North Shore Massachusetts. SBC is a nonprofit I started in 2014 after surviving cancer, and we bring out anyone who is being challenged by cancer on their own private three-hour respite sail (no cost).

SailBeyondCancer.org. I just skied with Kris Mamulski Potasky ’81 and Sue White Clifford ’81 at Snowbird, Utah, in February! My oldest daughter, Jessie, is getting married in June 2023 in Vermont. My son, Alec Johnson ’14, is getting married in 2024, and my youngest, Caroline, is at Curry College at the age of 21.

Anytime any of you find yourself near Annapolis or Burlington, please let me know and I would love to take you all out sailing! Best way to reach me is by email or cell: suzanne@ sailbeyondcancer.org or (802) 2339777.”

Stacey Marien shares, “I’ve been living in Washington, D.C., for almost 24 years. In May 2022, I retired from American University after working there as an academic librarian for 23 years. I took a couple of months off and then got a part-time job, working as the parish administrator for a small Lutheran church in Georgetown. I have been divorced for many years and have been with my partner Sean for over 16 years. We aren’t married but we are domesticated partners in D.C.! All because of health insurance.

My daughter, Emma, is 26 and works for the European Parliament in Luxembourg. Unfortunately, she says she has no inside information on the scandal currently going on there. My son, Brian, is 24 and currently lives

in Dublin. He finished his graduate degree in Irish history in August and decided to stay and work for a while in Dublin before he goes on to his next adventure. I just helped my mother move from her home in Maine to Connecticut. The rest of my time in D.C. is devoted to volunteering for several groups, gardening in my yard and community garden plot, visiting my kids in Europe, and generally enjoying my retired self. I’m happy to meet up with anyone who is passing through.”

Curt McLeod shares, “My first grandson turned 1 on February 28!”

Holly Phillips writes, “I think this is my first submission, so I’ll summarize 40+ years. After six years at several different universities, I finally graduated with a degree in geology.

What can I say, I liked rocks and hanging out with friends. By 1986 the petroleum industry had crashed, so I went into environmental consulting and moved to San Francisco. The 1990s consisted of field work and fun. My job had lots of travel, but hazardous waste sites are not fourstar resorts, so I spent time in places like Kellogg, Idaho; Douglas, Arizona; and San Bernardino, Needles, and Blythe, California. In the 2000s I became the lead geologist on a site in Hinkley, California; most people know it from the movie Erin Brockovich. Sadly, I did not get a cameo. Also in the ’00s I married someone whom I had met at one of the many universities I had attended in the ’80s. In 2018 she informed me that in 2019 we were going to quit our jobs, rent our house out, buy a pickup and trailer and tour the U.S. and Canada for a year. Since I was at

80 WILLISTON NORTHAMPTON SCHOOL SUBMIT YOUR CLASS NOTES TO WWW.WILLISTON.COM/ALUMNI/CLASSNOTES

the peak of my career and putting the max into my 401(k) I said, ‘No way.’ So, in 2019 we quit our jobs and traveled the U.S. and Canada.

Best trip ever. She’s currently a NP in hospice care and I tend to the dog, hike, and bike. Sometimes I help out at the local pet store, which on slow days entails playing yacht rock and dancing with the parrots (I’m not good but they don’t seem to mind). We just got back from a trip to Antarctica; the landscape and wildlife were unbelievable. I have to say the class of ’80 is not so good at the correspondence section of The Bulletin (or raising $$), I’ll try to be better on both counts.”

Holly Steuart Richardson writes, “Congratulations to all of the grandparents in our class—what an amazing joy! Allen and I still have teen boys in college, thankfully at Colorado University in Boulder, just 40 minutes from home...when we are home. We became snowbirds this past year and have returned to Florida for Colorado’s coldest months. We didn’t expect to have Hurricane Ian as our first houseguest, but thankfully our place stood solid, allowing us to support and house friends and neighbors.”

Julie Strasenburgh Waterman writes, “Hi! I am very happy! I’m living in Rochester, New York, with my partner, Dan. We spend our days caring for my beautiful granddaughter Charlotte or working on the plans for a new home we are building—a geodesic dome home on five acres surrounded by federal wetland and woods! We are so excited. Life is pretty sweet!”

From left: Sue White Clifford ’81, Suzanne Snyder ’80, Kris Mamulski Potasky ’81; Sue White Clifford ’81, Suzanne Snyder ’80, Kris Mamulski Potasky ’81

Curt McLeod ’80 holding his grandson

Stacey Marien ’80 and her significant other, Sean

Julie Strasenburgh Waterman ’80 and her partner, Dan

Holly Steuart Richardson ’80 and family

SPRING 2023 BULLETIN 81

CLASS NOTES

1983 30TH REUNION

For having the greatest number of Founders Day donors, the class of 1983 won the honor of a 1983-themed lion!

1984 Amy Brown shares, “Hi! I’ve been in touch recently with Jim Sarris, Rob Squire, Todd Pilgrim, Neil Maki, Lisa Lake, John Rockett ’79, Connie Wilson ’86, and Ellen Rosenberg Livingston ’86. I’m sure I missed a few amazing Wildcats, so a shout out to each of you that I am missing here.

Love that our Williston connection runs deep and true! My daughter, Isabel, is 14 now and will be in high school next year. She is all about gymnastics and violin these days— two things I know exactly nothing about. We see my parents, Ray Brown ’55 and Cathleen Robinson, on a regular basis. Cathleen’s novel, My Beard Is White Now, was published last fall. Grab a copy on Amazon if you are interested. Claire Stifler Frierson did a lovingly wonderful job editing Cathleen’s novel and helped bring it to print along with my dad.

Dad is doing great and is on campus every Friday having coffee with Mr. Couch at the Stu-Bop or Tandem.

Shout out to Anne O’Connor, Willston’s Director of Campus Safety, for always welcoming Dad and Mr. Couch on Fridays. Laura Couch Towles ’81 and I were able to join our dads for coffee hour in the fall. So lovely to see Laura! Dad can be seen at Williston soccer and basketball games regularly and plays in a golf league at the Northampton Country Club with John Rockett ’79. My sister, Karen Brown Golding ’81, is doing awesome and lives a couple towns away in eastern Massachusetts with her husband. Their son is a freshman at College of Wooster and we are so proud of him and how wonderfully he is doing. As my daughter reminds me frequently, Facebook is for old people, but it is always a joy to see Williston friends and alums on Facebook. I love seeing your posts.”

Luz Flaneuse (Elizabeth Shaler) writes, “I’ve been going to the alumni holiday party in NYC for the last few years and I think the last time I saw one of our classmates, Mary Alcock, was a few years ago. There are lots of nice people from ’85 as well as from my middle brother’s class of ’81 in attendance. I left my job with the government today… woohoo! I created a sound healing business called Flaneuse Sound: I teach people singing for self-healing and meditation, using mantras, breathwork, and therapeutic yoga. I have students from all over the U.S. and Canada. I live in the Hudson Valley in New York. I’m going to see Shannon Shaw in Hamp this weekend.”

Chris Kelley is the Service Chief of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine and the Medical Director

of the Intensive Care Unit at Alaska Native Medical Center in Anchorage, Alaska. He and his wife of 30 years love life up in “The Last Frontier.”

Previously, he was a physician in Bend, Oregon. From 2000–2010, he served with the Air Force as a Critical Care Air Transport Team (CCATT) physician and was deployed to Afghanistan twice. Prior to medical school and his time with the service, he was a Peace Corps volunteer in Honduras from 1989-1991. He has two children. Jude graduated from York University in 2022 and Cameron graduates from Carleton College in 2023. In his free time, he teaches pickleball and scuba dives.

Doug Shank shares, “So 39 years later I am happily living in central Ohio on six acres that I am trying to figure out what to do with. Does anyone know anything about growing apples and making cider? I had this brilliant idea that it is important for us to be closer to our food supply and live off the grid. The result is that my favorite Trader Joe’s is now further away, my tractor is complaining to HR that it needs more meaningful work, and the floors are always too cold in my geothermal home. Procreated contributions to humanity are showing early evidence of being my most important and currently include three beautiful daughters.

Olivia, 23, will graduate from School of Visual Arts NYC this May and shortly thereafter her creations will bring joy to the world. Tatum, 21, is an aspiring restaurateur who you will all soon know as the founder of Tatum’s Sandwich Shops, and Cecilia is still withholding critical data as to what she will be all about even after intense interrogation during her first

two years in the family. Regarding a question about a classmate we would like to see? Could we all just resume our spluttering in the Grove to see if the outcome is any different? At least one difference is that three decades will not pass again before I speak from my heart and say life is better because of our short time shared together in Easthampton.”

Peter Marczyk writes, “I went back to Willy to celebrate McBride’s trustee appointment and the dedication of the Wold House—the Wolds have become friends of ours in Denver. Our business celebrated 20 years last summer—still working with my brother Paul ’89. Our kiddo, Kaz, is a junior at Regis University studying music and instructing skiing at Winter Park. We are working on a Marczyk deli location on concourse C at Denver International Airport— expected to open late ’23—so, if you fly Southwest through Denver come look for us. We are also working on a third retail location in Westminster, Colorado. We have become good ski friends with Kate Hicks Gulick ’93 and her husband, Ryan.”

Mike “Newmie” Newman (aka “Frog”) shares the news of three published books available on Amazon. He writes, “Below are two (out of four) of my self-published novels and one (out of two) of my self-help books. More info and brief bio on my website MWNLegacy.com.

Blessings to you and yours in 2023!

Most important Willy info in my

82 WILLISTON NORTHAMPTON SCHOOL SUBMIT YOUR CLASS NOTES TO WWW.WILLISTON.COM/ALUMNI/CLASSNOTES

Zoë Neal François ’85 on the cover of MplsStPaul Magazine.

Melissa Dore ’86

life? Reconnecting not long ago with ‘Big Al’ Altug Uyguner. He’s still in Istanbul, Turkey, his hometown.

Tesekkur ederim, kardesim!”

up NOTHING? I’ve asked Mark Gonnella but he never responds.

Todd Pilgrim shares, “I still reside in North Kingstown, Rhode Island, but am constantly looking at other possible options. Both boys are out of the house. Kile graduated from UVM and is currently working as a software engineer for General Dynamics.

Jack is graduating from RISD in May with a degree in industrial design.

So proud of both of them. I keep in constant contact with Todd Harvey, Brett Stoddard, and Neil Maki. I have been retired for six years now and fill the time with golf, fishing and more part-time jobs than I can count.

Just spent two months in Florida spending time with my folks, both 85, and doing well.”

Zoë Neal François was recently featured in MplsStPaul Magazine for their Local Taste Makers and Food Slayers issue.

Rick Williams writes, I am in Chicago as you know (25 years now!) but still consider myself an east coaster hahaha...the older I get, the fonder the memories of the one year I spent at Williston get.

Seriously considering coming back to visit Easthampton next summer after, gulp, FORTY YEARS! But my big question is always: WHERE IS MY ROOMMATE BIG JOE MACOMBER? I have scoured the interwebs and have turned

1985

1986 Melissa Dore (Ed.D.) is serving as the Director of Academic Support and Administration of Halmos College of Arts and Sciences at Nova Southeastern University and the Guy Harvey Oceanographic Research Center (HCAS) and has been elected to be the Education Chair of the Academic Resilience Consortium (ARC) for the next two years. A member of the steering committee, Melissa will work closely with the leadership council and working groups to promote a collaborative and consensus-oriented process and culture, providing members educational opportunities to help college students learn, grow, and reach their goals. The ARC is an association of faculty, staff, and students in higher education who are dedicated to understanding and promoting student resilience.

Members represent many functions in higher education, such as learning

Ryan Callahan ’95, Carrie Schuller Callahan ’96, TJ Leenders ’95, Darcie Kauffman Robertson ’96

services, counseling services, advising programs, academic departments, and bridge programs.

The consortium currently includes 600+ members from 360+ schools in 45 U.S. states and 17 countries.

1988 35TH REUNION

1993 30TH REUNION

Jean Pierre Crevier writes, “Happy to report not only is this my 30-year Reunion, it’s also the 100th anniversary of my electrical contracting company, M.L. Schmitt Electric.”

1996

Jenna Plunkett ’01

speed. Who knew?! I got to speak with Heidi Kim recently, who was in California for a business trip—only a three-hour time difference for once!

It is always wonderful to hear her voice. She seems to be very busy with work, but doing well.”

Liz Zieminski writes, “I gathered together briefly with Sheree Shu ’98 and Maura Corbeil Beaudreault last fall in Palm Springs for our own R&R mini-Willy reunion. And thinking ahead, wondering if any Willy alumni from ’96–’99 who participated in the 1996 Williston Theater production of Sweeney Todd see that it’s on Broadway and are thinking the same thing as me? Possible Willy reunion NYC outing to attend the tale? Hope everyone is well!”

Darcie Kauffman Robertson shares a photo from a wonderful meetup with some other Williston alums!

1998

1997

2001

Alexis Greer Heidenberg shares, “My husband, Mike, and I moved to Albany, New York, in July of 2022.

We love it here so far. There’s plenty to do, without the fast pace and horrible traffic we were used to in the NYC suburbs (where we both grew up!). The New York Capital Region is turning out to be much more our

Nick Annino shares the happy news of his marriage this past December to his wife, Cheryl. Some Williston alums were in attendance at the celebration.

25TH REUNION

2002 This past January Pierce Freelon SPRING 2023 BULLETIN 83

CLASS NOTES

At the wedding of Nick Annino ’01 and his wife, Cheryl, in December.

From left: Nick Annino ’01, Cheryl Annino, Larissa Bates ’99, David Bartlett Bates ’02

Pat Haverty ’07, Alex Neilson Haverty ’08, and son Jackson

Felix Rodriguez ’07 and Lindsay Bridge Rodriguez ’07 welcomed Theo Bridge Rodriguez on October 10, 2022.

His big sister Milli is so excited!

Chad Bradley ’04 posing near his home in Aspen

had the honor of delivering the 2023 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. North Carolina State Campus Commemoration keynote address entitled “You Won’t Break My Soul: King Jr., Queen Bey and a Legacy of Renaissance in the South.” The address explored the living legacies of Black southern renaissance movements.

Jenna Plunkett shares, “After teaching English at the high school level for the past 10 years in Boston, I left the classroom and have

been co-authoring a ‘choose your own adventure’ style book with a former student from my first year of teaching, incorporating socialemotional learning in an engaging and exciting way. Our goal is to get the book into high school classrooms nationwide in an effort to bridge the gap between teachers and students and provide strategies to help with personal challenges and those that have arisen since COVID, and keep all students in the classroom feeling safe, supported, and seen.”

2003 20TH REUNION

2004 Chad Bradley hosted Laurie Cormier, Williston’s Director of Advancement, in Aspen, Colorado, where he lives with his wife and two kids.

2007

as Product Sales Specialist at ThousandEyes, a division of Cisco.

Nick Nocera is part of the set design and art direction team for the Peacock original television series Poker Face. (See page 49 for more.)

Lindsay Bridge Rodriguez and Felix Rodriguez shared some exciting news with the school about the birth of their son, Theo. The family is doing well!

Michael Galligan announces that he recently started a new position

84 WILLISTON NORTHAMPTON SCHOOL SUBMIT YOUR CLASS NOTES TO WWW.WILLISTON.COM/ALUMNI/CLASSNOTES

From left: Hannah Oleksak Haugh ’11, Courtney Aquadro Goldsmith ’11, and Paul Goldsmith ’10

Hannah Oleksak Haugh ’11 and her husband, Michael From left: Mark Conroy, Tommy Reed ’10, Monique Conroy, and coach Derek Cunha

Geoff Smith is enjoying his new role working at Williston as the Manager of Story and Content Development, after spending a decade working in newsrooms around New England.

Outside of work, Geoff spends time with his young daughter, Nancy, and wife, Cassie. Say hi at gsmith@ williston.com.

2008 15TH REUNION

Alex Neilson Haverty and Pat Haverty ’07 took a recent trip to the most magical place on earth and posed in front of the castle with their son, Jackson.

2010 In late February, Tommy Reed made a quick trip up to campus

from Washington, D.C., where he’s working at the White House, to talk to the boys varsity hockey team before their game against Albany Academy—they skated to a 5–2 victory! Tommy had a chance to catch up with Mark and Monique Conroy and Coach Derek Cunha post-game.

Tommy is a member of the Head’s Visiting Council and a Williston Northampton Fund/Wildcat Club Chair for young alumni.

Marisa Roth ’11 and her wife, Ashley

Jackie Beauregard Naughton ’11 and her husband, Jack

Lindsay McDonough Dargusch has returned to the U.S. Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources as Chief Clerk.

2011 Jackie Beauregard Naughton married her husband, Jack, on October 24, 2022, in Grenada.

Luca Palmieri ’11 and his wife, Angela, posing with friends

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CLASS NOTES

Williston alumni showing support for Miranda Gohh ’13 at the opening of her Broadway show “A Beautiful Noise: The Neil Diamond Musical,” which she produced. From left:Felicia Dixon ’13, Esther Kim ’14, Nichole Palmero ’12, Lyra Sior ’14, Henry Lombino ’14, Kelly O’Donnell ’13, Isabelle Tegtmeyer ’16, Merideth Morgan ’03, Tammy Neils-Walker, Miranda Gohh ’13.

Eleanor Padilla Henson ’14

At left: Maddy Scott ’16 and wife, Jenna. Below, from left: Patrick McCarthy ’27, Rosemary Watroba, Ellie Scott ’18, Jenna Scott, Maddy Scott ’16, Maddy McCarthy ’25, Natalie Aquadro ’17, Caroline Borden ’16

Postnuptial scene at the wedding of Lauren Helm Bowman ’16 and Ian Bowman ’16

86 WILLISTON NORTHAMPTON SCHOOL SUBMIT YOUR CLASS NOTES TO WWW.WILLISTON.COM/ALUMNI/CLASSNOTES

From left: Mike D’Ambrosio ’17, JoJo Carbone ’17, Billy Smith ’18

Shana Hecht ’18 playing goalie for Temple University. Photo courtesy of Temple Athletics.

Hannah Oleksak Haugh married her husband, Michael, on December 30, 2022. The wedding was attended

by Courtney Aquadro Goldsmith and Paul Goldsmith ’10.

pop” stage musical with a score

by David Byrne and Fatboy Slim, dramatizing Imelda Marcos’ rise to prominence and downfall in the Philippines. (See page 38 for more.)

Luca Palmieri married his wife, Angela, on August 20, 2022. The wedding was attended by Tarek Dahdul and Stephan Grant.

2014

Marisa Roth married her wife, Ashley, on September 30, 2022.

2013 10TH REUNION

Jack Shumway started a new position as Real Estate Manager at Blueground. He thanks those who have supported his development and the great team members in Boston and around the globe who have made the work so enjoyable.

Miranda Gohh produced A Beautiful Noise: The Neil Diamond Musical and it hit Broadway December 2022.

Several Williston alumni showed up to the event in support of their classmate. Miranda is currently working on three more Broadway musicals, one of which is entitled Here Lies Love, a celebrated “disco

Brittany Collins announced that she’s embarking on a new adventure supporting K–12 school and parenting programs through the Making Caring Common Project at Harvard’s School of Graduate Education. She will be focusing on antibullying, antibias, and relationship building curricula.

Eleanor Padilla Henson writes, “I am currently stationed in Beaufort, South Carolina, and am a staff sergeant in the United States Marine Corps, having served 8.5 years so far! I am now working with the F35B aircraft as an Aviation Data Specialist and Squadron Analyst.

This role involves monitoring the database and analyzing maintenance documentation practices, ensuring the safety of our jets to meet full capability. This job I have is like no other and on top of that I am a mom, wife, and going to school for computer science. Semper Fidelis!”

Vasilios Fokas ’17 poses with his family in London.

In January, Will Sawyer ’22 and Coach Matt Sawyer saw Erik Ostberg present at the World Baseball Coaches’ Convention at Mohegan Sun in Connecticut. The convention offered curriculum that addressed all levels of play, while participants shared both their knowledge and passion for the game. Erik catches for the Tampa Bay Rays’ Double-A affiliate, the Montgomery Biscuits.

2016 Lauren Helm Bowman and Ian Bowman tied the knot in McKinney, Texas, on October 28, 2022.

Justin Frometa has been named a development coach with the Red Sox Double-A affiliate, the Portland Sea Dogs.

Maddy Scott married her wife, Jenna, on June 30, 2022, at The Publick House in Sturbridge, Massachusetts. The celebration saw a number of familiar Williston alumni faces including Rosemary Watroba, who is Maddy’s aunt and who worked at Williston from 1978-2013!

Vivien Shao recently started a new position as Pricing Analyst at Paddle.

2017 Mike D’Ambrosio, JoJo Carbone, and Billy Smith ’18 posed for a picture after an ice hockey game this past season. D’Ambrosio and Smith play for Assumption College, while Carbone is at Westfield State University.

Vasilios Fokas shares, “I have finished my master’s in management and moved to London.”

Alexis Ryan, who had an incredible hockey career at Middlebury College, is now playing professional hockey in Budapest, Hungary. Recently her team, HKB Budapest, won the European Union Super Cup!

2018 5TH REUNION

Mason Balch returned to campus this past January to run hour-long lacrosse training sessions for five weeks. Mason played collegiately at Bryant University for three years before finishing his career at Merrimack last year.

Shana Hecht, who is a senior goalie at Temple University, has published an article with USA Lacrosse Magazine SPRING 2023 BULLETIN 87

CLASS NOTES

entitled “Behind the Whistle: My Leadership Journey,” where she discusses diversity in the sport.

Sam Milnes of the Wentworth Institute of Technology ice hockey team has been named the 2023 Commonwealth Coast Conference Scholar-Athlete.

2019 Ellie Wolfe, who will be graduating from Bates College in May, has officially signed paperwork accepting an offer from Boston Globe Media.

This summer she will serve as a Metro Reporting Intern for the newspaper. (See page 30 for more.)

Chelsea Clark, who is currently a student at Lehigh University, was recently elected to be the new Vice President of Administration for the Panhellenic Council at Lehigh University.

2020

Riley Roche announces that she will be joining the Nashua Silver Knights baseball team as their on-field host for this upcoming summer.

raised over $700 and presented the proceeds to Chelsea Sunday Kline, Executive Director of the Cancer Connection.

2021

On January 8, Williston hosted a Young Alumni College Panel with

Molly Kinstle shares the news that she recently started a new position as Undergraduate Research Assistant for Dr. Alison Barth at Carnegie Mellon University, Mellon College of Science.

Emily O’Brien (Northeastern) and Praghya Athavan Raja ’22 (Drexel) crossed paths at the 2023 CSA National Collegiate Team Squash Championship in Philadelphia!

2022 Past and present Wildcats meet up at Colby College! Mrs. Sawyer, Anna Sawyer ’24, Abby Booth, and Zac Landon spent some time together on a sunny afternoon walking the Colby campus.

Casey Feins recently accepted an offer from Shure Incorporated as Media Relations Intern in Chicago for the summer of 2023. She is looking forward to the opportunity and everything she will learn from it.

Williston represents at the Amherst women’s hockey home opener versus Hamilton, where Natalie Stott got her first collegiate shutout with a 4-0 victory and Maeve Reynolds got an assist! (See more on page 28.)

Gabe Liu checked in with exciting news, saying, “We won the Cotton Bowl with the Tulane football team and completed the largest singleseason turnaround in college football history, going from 2–10 to 12–2.”

While home for winter break, members of the band, The After Party, rocked the stage to a packed house at New City Brewery on January 7 to raise money for the Cancer Connection. The band’s members, Zach Walker of Amherst College on guitar, Tucker Motyka of The University of Miami’s Frost School of Music on lead vocals, keyboard, and guitar, and Jackson Frechette of Springfield College on drums,

Jack Long will be joining Palantir Technologies as a Software Engineer Intern in their Seattle office in the summer of 2023.

12 alumni returning to campus to deliver some sage advice to juniors and seniors about what to expect in college. Among the alums that took part in the panel were Natalie Stott, Zach Walker, Tucker Motyka, and Avi Falk.

Gabe Liu ’20, right, pictured with his Tulane University football teammates.

Mrs. Sawyer, Anna Sawyer ’24, Abby Booth ’22, and Zac Landon Emily O’Brien ’21 and Praghya Athavan Raja ’22

88 WILLISTON NORTHAMPTON SCHOOL SUBMIT YOUR CLASS NOTES TO WWW.WILLISTON.COM/ALUMNI/CLASSNOTES

From left: Max Edwards ’22, Quinn McDonald ’23, Zach Walker ’22, Luke Ballard ’23, Emily Crovo ’23, Natalie Stott ’22 and Maeve Reynolds ’22 (both playing for Amherst), Maura Holden ’19 (senior captain for Hamilton), Christa Talbot Syfu ’98.

Zach Walker ’22 and Tucker Motyka ’22, present a check to Chelsea Sunday Kline, Executive Director of the Cancer Connection

From left: Natalie Stott ’22, Zach Walker ’22, Tucker Motyka ’22, Avi Falk ’22 at the Young Alumni College Panel

Join the Fun!

For the latest updates, visit the alumni events web page: williston. com/alumni/events 2023 IN-PERSON EVENTS • June 20: NYC Young Alumni Donor Appreciation Evening • November 28: New York City Holiday Celebration • November 30: Western MA Holiday Celebration • December 5: Boston Holiday Celebration ONLINE NETWORKING • Find career and professional networking at willistonconnects.com

Local band of Williston alums, The Afterparty.

From left: Tucker Motyka ’22, Jackson Frechette ’22, and Zach Walker ’22

• Williston Northampton Alumni LinkedIn Group • Williston Northampton Alumni of Color LinkedIn Group • Women of Williston LinkedIn Group

WHAT DID WILLISTON BUILD IN YOU?

See videos of these alums and others at williston.com/build

A deep academic passion, the grit learned on a team, the confidence gained trying something new. What did Williston build in you?

Tell us—and build it forward when you make your gift to the Williston Northampton Fund. Make an impact today and choose to support what matters to you: academics, arts, athletics, DEIB, financial aid, or where it’s needed most.

Make your gift and share what Williston built in you. WILLISTON.COM/GIVE

CLASS NOTES

IN MEMORY This listing contains the names of alumni whose deaths were reported to the school between October 12, 2022 and March 20, 2023, although their passing may have occurred outside those dates.

1942 Philip E. Shumway of Amherst, Massachusetts, died November 4, 2022. He is survived by his sons, Alan, Philip, and Spencer. Two sons, Scott and Geoffrey, predeceased him.

He is also survived by his daughters, Jayne, Jennifer, and Clarissa, 13 greatgrandchildren, and three great-greatgrandchildren.

1946 Charles Kenneth “Ken” Burke of Springfield, Massachusetts, died February 12, 2023. He is survived by his sons, Charles, Robert, Michael, James, and Joseph; eight grandchildren; and five greatgrandchildren.

1948 David H. Beach of Dover, New Hampshire, died October 31, 2022. He is survived by his sons, James and Jeffery; his daughter, Lauren; his stepdaughter, Nancy; his stepson, Jim; his sister, Leona; nine grandchildren; and five greatgrandchildren.

Dalton F. McClelland, Jr. of Tucson, Arizona, died December 3, 2022. He is survived by his daughters, Jody, Karen, Margaret, Deborah, and Lee; and his son, Andrew. A daughter, Amy, predeceased him. He is also survived by nine grandchildren.

1949

1954

Albert Richard “Dick” Malkin of Topsham, Maine, died February 16, 2023. He is survived by his wife, Marjorie; his sons, Mark ’81 and Andrew; his daughter, Laura; and four grandchildren.

Beverly A. Butterworth McEntee of Lynn, Massachusetts, died November 4, 2022. She is survived by her daughters, Pamela and Elaine; and her sisters, Barbara, Betty, and Martha.

1950

1955

Duncan S. Cook of Lakewood, Washington, died October 4, 2022.

He is survived by his wife, Joan; his daughters, Elizabeth and Meredith; his son, Peter; and two grandchildren.

John S. Kemper of Northfield, Illinois, died March 10, 2023. He is survived by his wife, Margaret; his daughter, Katherine; his son, Scott; his sister, Mary; and three grandchildren.

1951 Harrison “Harry” B. Bennett of Intervale, New Hampshire, died January 5, 2023. He is survived by his sons, Steven and Kevin; and three grandchildren.

Jill Shortlidge Drabek of Seattle, Washington, died December 22, 2022. She is survived by her daughters, Jan, Amy, and Christine; and three grandchildren.

Ronald S. Prentice of Westford, Massachusetts, died July 27, 2022.

He is survived by his wife, Madeleine; his son, Glen; his daughter, Sandra; six grandchildren; and six greatgrandchildren.

1952 Kathleen A. “Kate” Horton of Haverhill, Massachusetts, died December 11, 2022.

1953 Norman S. Parks of Manchester, New Hampshire, died May 16, 2022.

Mary Ellen Debarbieri Kozuch of Huntsville, Alabama, died April 23, 2022. She is survived by her son, Joseph; and three grandchildren.

1960 Bert H. Abbey of Raleigh, North Carolina, and Vero Beach, Florida, died October 31, 2022. He is survived by his daughter, Hayden Abbey Holt ‘96; and two grandchildren.

David Hawley of Rancho Mirage, California, died August 11, 2022.

Philip W. Wilkinson of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, died Oct. 13, 2022.

He is survived by his sons, Philip and Eric; his sister, Suzanne; and four grandchildren.

David L. McCoid of Mount Pleasant, Iowa, died December 28, 2022. He is survived by his sons, David and Douglas; his daughters, Laura and Katherine; his sister, Jean; and three grandchildren.

1956

1961

Gene J. Guidi of Franklin, Massachusetts, died Jan. 19, 2019.

He is survived by his sons, Kevin and Jason; his sisters, Dorothy, Barbara, and Christina; and four grandchildren.

Richard M. Furniss of Burlington, Connecticut, died January 24, 2023.

He is survived by his son, Keith; his daughter, Kathryn; his sister, Diane; his brothers, David and Donald; and five grandchildren.

Karl E. Rohnke of Galena, Illinois, died September 20, 2020. He is survived by his wife, Gloree; his sons, Matthew, Drew, and Kurt; his daughter, Kali; and three grandchildren.

William A. Hamilton III of Orange Park, Florida, died October 31, 2022.

He is survived by his wife, Janie; his son, William; his daughter, Elizabeth; his sisters, Patricia and Nancy; and two grandchildren.

1958 Edwin B. Jenkins of Louisville, Kentucky, died June 29, 2020. He is survived by his son, Edwin; his daughters, Elizabeth and Katherine; his brothers, Peter and John; and four grandchildren.

Richard G. Montville of Middlebury, Connecticut, died November 20, 2022. He is survived by his wife, Ellen; his son, Samuel; his sister, Karen; his brother, Jeffrey; and four grandchildren.

Barbara Hano Wenzel of Huntsville, Alabama, died July 30, 2019. She is survived by her daughters, Cindy and Tracy; her son, Brad; her sister, Susan; and seven grandchildren.

SPRING 2023 BULLETIN 91

CLASS NOTES

1967

1977

1996

Robert J. Zurcher of Sun City West, Arizona, died October 31, 2022. He is survived by his mother, Marilyn; and his brother, William ’65.

Leon J. Pernice, Jr. of Fort Pierce, Florida, died February 28, 2023. He is survived by his father, Leon; his brother, David; and his sisters, Lisa and Nina.

1962

1969

1978

Michela Woodbridge-LaMar of Rancho Palos Rivera, California, died January 13, 2023. She is survived by her husband, Blake; her daughter, Ava; her stepson, Jackson; her stepdaughter, Tahna; her mother, MaryEllen; and her father, Dudley.

John A. Ernst of Brookhaven, Georgia, died November 11, 2022.

He is survived by his wife, Suzanne; his sons, Mayor and Timothy; his daughter, Elizabeth; his sister, Barbara; and four grandchildren.

Marc L. Goldstein of Delray Beach, Florida, died January 1, 2023. He is survived by his wife, Janine; and his sister, Marjorie.

William L. Van Alen III of Minnetonka, Minnesota, died January 29, 2023. He is survived by his mother, Sydney; his sisters, Alexandra and Dina; and his brother, Luke.

William R. Powell of Horseheads, New York, died January 30, 2023.

He is survived by his wife, Barbara; his sons, Brandon and Jef; his sisters, Nancy and Marjorie; and his brother, Richard.

1963 David P. Goodall Jr. of Tewksbury, Massachusetts, and Phoenix, Arizona, died August 1, 2022. He is survived by his son, David; his daughter, Rebecca; his former wife, Patricia; his stepson, Ruben Michael; his stepdaughters, Roxanne and Rachel; his sister, Ellen; his brother, Thomas; and numerous grandchildren.

Marlin G. Howard of Enfield, Connecticut, died January 15, 2023.

He is survived by his wife, Karen; his daughters, Stephanie and Amy; his brother, Barry; his sister, Ronda; and three grandchildren.

1964 Christopher S. Diamond of Steamboat Springs, Colorado, died January 12, 2023. He is survived by his wife, Eileen; his son, Keenen; his daughter, Elizabeth; his sister, Barbara; and two grandchildren.

1966 Clifford L. Sterrett of Torrington, Connecticut, died March 2, 2023. He is survived by his wife, Barbara; his daughter, Melissa; his brother, Rollie ’61; and two grandchildren.

1971 Harvey E. Goldberg of Parkland, Florida, died January 5, 2023. He is survived by his daughters, Stephanie and Mara; his brother, Steven ‘70; his sister, Michelle; and two grandchildren.

1983 Charles E. Jabri of Springfield, Massachusetts, died December 15, 2022.

2002 Austen Eadie-Friedmann of Thompson, Connecticut, died December 1, 2022. He is survived by his husband, Billy; his father, Craig ‘71, his mother, Alexandra; and his sister, Anna.

2005 Benjamin L. Liang of Salt Lake City, Utah, died February 4, 2023.

He is survived by his wife, Melina; his mother, Paula; and his father, Jim; and his sisters, Kate and Maggie.

REMEMBERING CATHERINE MCGRAW In March, the Williston community learned of the sad news that Catherine McGraw, former Director of College Counseling and current parent, passed away following a courageous battle with cancer. A valued colleague, dear friend, devoted mother, and tireless professional, Catherine joined Williston’s faculty in 2015 as Associate Director of College Counseling, assuming the director’s role in 2016. Having been the Associate Dean of Admission at Mt. Holyoke College, she came with a wealth of experience from the world of higher education and had worked earlier in her career at Emory University, Carnegie Mellon, and Agnes Scott College. Catherine’s tenure here was marked by a student-centered approach to college advising that continues today. Her wise innovations had a profound effect on students’ lives, and no question or problem was too small for her full attention. Catherine will be remembered for having a lasting impact on countless Williston graduates, and especially, for being a devoted mother to two Williston alumni, Jack ’19 and George ‘21, and Catie, a current junior.

In her honor, Catherine’s family has established the Catherine Brooke McGraw Scholarship Fund in support of student financial aid.

We invite you to share your thoughts and remembrances at willistonblogs.com/obituaries.

Who’s in this issue?

Your classmates are up to cool things!

Find out more by flipping to the pages below.

Richard Harris ’37 See page 56

Dick Shields ’61 See page 17

Mitch Epstein ’70 See page 50

Shannon O’Brien ’77 See page 54

Maggie Hodges ’79 See page 27

Migdalia Gonzalez ’85 See page 46

Samantha (Healy) Vardaman ’89 See page 31

cauri jaye ’90 See page 42

Phoebe Stephens ’93 See page 25

Jamie LaFleur ’94 See page 34

Seth Kassels ’97 See page 40

Nick Nocera ’07 See page 49

Adam Berger ’08 See page 30

Christina Djossa ’10 See page 32

Charles Frank ’13 See page 58

Miranda Gohh ’13 See page 38

Kevin Zongzhe Li ’16 See page 26

Alexis Ryan ’17 See page 29

Ellie Wolfe ’19 See page 30

Parents: If this issue is addressed to your child who no longer maintains a permanent address at your home, please notify the Alumni Office of the correct new mailing address by

19 Payson Avenue, Easthampton, ma 01027 williston.com

contacting us at alumni@williston.com

Nonprofit Org. U.S. Postage PAID The Williston Northampton School

or (800) 469-4559. Thank you.

Change Service Requested

TOGETHER WE CAN BUILD WILLISTON’S FUTURE After a decade of momentum, Williston Northampton School is launching a bold $70 million campaign. Focused on our community and grounded in our values, Williston Builds doubles down in support of our remarkable people. Join us.

To learn more, visit williston.com/campaign

T H E W I L L I S TO N N O R T H A M P TO N S C H O O L B U L L E T I N

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