Williston Northampton School Bulletin, Winter 2020

A PASSION FOR PENGUINS PG 32

RUNNING FOR RACIAL JUSTICE PG. 42

COLLEGE IN THE TIME OF COVID PG 30

MORE THAN CHILD’S PLAY Koyalee Chanda ’92 and other creative alums who are making their mark in the world of kids’ media

WINTER 2020

AROUND THE QUAD

5 | CAMPUS NEWS Project Connect, Sarah Levine’s latest poems, scenes from our new dorm, and more

10 | RISING TO THE MOMENT The fall trimester was anything but normal—and utterly amazing as a result

18 | IN THEIR OWN WORDS Wise words to the class of 2020 from Head of School Robert Hill

42

Sidney Baptista ’05 is bringing running—and community empowerment— to his Boston neighborhood

CONTENTS | VOLUME 106, NUMBER 2

44

Anthony Willoughby ’70 taps into the deep wisdom of tribal cultures

38

Merideth Morgan ’03 uses her many platforms to reach women who are “in between”

PHOTOGRAPHS BY DOUG LEVY, ANTHONY WILLOUGHBY, AND MERIDETH MORGAN

ALUMNI NEWS

22 | WILDCAT ROUNDUP Athletes, actors, and other cool cats

24 | COOKING UP A COLLABORATION Three alumni with a delicious way to raise money for great causes

26 | IN THE SPOTLIGHT Jack Spagnola ’10 turns serious issues into comedy for the stage

27 | WORK IN METAL The stunning and intimate shapes of sculptor Betsy Lewis ’12

28 | INNOVATING TO STOP COVID To Brendan Hellweg ’14, data is part of the solution in Baltimore

30 | DON’T MIND THE GAP

42 | MORE THAN A RUNNER

89 | DRAWING CONCLUSIONS

Recent grads talk about adjusting to college life during a pandemic

Sidney Baptista ’05 is changing perceptions of running and race

An interview in words and pictures with Nell Heidinger ’14

32 | A PASSION FOR SAVING PENGUINS

44 | THE NOMADIC SCHOOL

Wildlife expert Dyan deNapoli ’79 works for a greener planet

Tapping ancient wisdom, Anthony Willoughby ’70 counsels leaders

36| SAIL BEYOND CANCER

48 | GUIDING COUNCILORS

Suzanne Snyder Johnson ’80 gives patients a day on the sea

A new group of alumni are helping to shape Williston’s future

38 | BODY GURU

51 | MORE THAN CHILD’S PLAY

Catching up with fashion & fitness blogger Merideth Morgan ’03

40 | A MISSION OF GRATITUDE Jeff Bastable ’65 recognizes veterans with Honor Flight

Three creative alums who are shaping the world of kids’ media

60 | THE YEAR OF THE ZOOM A pandemic could not stop Wildcats from reuniting and having fun

IN EVERY ISSUE

2 | HEAD’S LETTER 3 | 5 THINGS 4 | SOCIAL STUDIES 8 | WORTH REPEATING 16 | THE WILLILIST 59 | CLASS NOTES 87 | IN MEMORY

Head of School ROBERT W. HILL III P’15, ’19 Chief Advancement Officer ERIC YATES P’17, ’21 Director of Alumni Engagement JILL STERN P’14, ’19 Director of Communications ANN HALLOCK P’20, ’22 Design Director ARUNA GOLDSTEIN Assistant Director of Communications DENNIS CROMMETT Communications Writer and Coordinator KATE LAWLESS 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

Cover Photo JOHN DAVIS PHOTOGRAPHY

Non-Discrimination 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. Dean of Students Kathy Noble has been designated to handle inquiries regarding the School’s non-discrimination policies, including its Title IX policy. Contact her at knoble@ williston.com or (413) 529-3266.

FACULTY AWARDS These dedicated teachers earned chairs and an instructorship this fall.

JEFF KETCHAM

A 20-year master science teacher, Ketcham earned the Grubbs Faculty Chair, recognizing a life devoted to teaching.

KATIE LOOMIS

Spanish teacher Loomis is the recipient of the Granniss Chair, honoring a faculty member who personifies the pure joy of sharing knowledge.

Head’s Letter

A

s we highlight in this issue, 2020 brought many historic changes to Williston. In addition to the masks and nasal swabs with which we’ve all become too familiar, our community celebrated some highly-welcome developments. At the top of the list is the opening of Emily McFadon Vincent House, shown above. The fanfare of a formal dedication will have to wait until a time safe for mass gatherings, but already Vincent House is home to 40 girls and four faculty families and brimming with warmth­—just like its namesake (Emily McFadon Vincent ’49), who will forever hold a special place in the history of the Williston Northampton School. To quote one of the dorm’s first residents, Abby Vassallo ’22, “I’m so honored to be living in the first dorm named after an alumna.” A major milestone indeed and an especially apt one in 2020!

Another notable development is the formation of Williston’s Anti-Racism Coalition (ARC), a group I convened this summer to help advance our institutional mission of fairness and equitability for all. Comprised of alumni, faculty, trustees, and parents, the ARC is working to develop an institutional, five-year Strategic Plan for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion as we imagine the best future Williston.

You’ll hear more about these critical efforts in the coming months, but know that they expand on other work in progress, including extensive faculty, student, and trustee anti-racist training and an assessment of inclusivity and multiculturism from the National Association of Independent Schools.

Also helping to chart Williston’s future is the Head’s Visiting Council (see page 48). Now in its third year, this exemplary body is made up of 43 dedicated alumni to whom I regularly turn for guidance on topics as diverse as pandemic response and the critical place of humanities in a 21st-century education. As always, their insights and efforts remind me of the ever-present strength and dedication of the Williston community. In a year as tumultuous as this one, it’s gratifying to know some things never change.

MATTHEW PORTER

A beloved science teacher, Porter was awarded the Mesics Instructorship, recognizing a young faculty member’s impact.

FOLLOW ROBERT HILL ON TWITTER AT @HILL3WILLISTON

5 Things We’re Talking About!

MASK COUTURE Students, faculty, and even the lion were showing their style (and smarts!) through all manner of masks. Check out willistoncampusstore. com for masks that let you wear your Wildcat pride.

3.

2.

PHOTOGRAPHS BY CHATTMAN PHOTOGRAPHY

1.

HAUNTED SCHOOLHOUSE Scary Times at Williston High! For Halloween, costumed ghouls haunted up the Ghoulhouse, aka Schoolhouse, for a fun fright night. Thanks to the Wildest Cats club and the senior class, this spooky new tradition is here to stay.

ALUMNI VIRTUAL SOCIALS & WEBINARS Our Office of Alumni Engagement has hosted a zillion* virtual events this fall. (*Slight exaggeration, but a lot).

Featured so far: Wildcat webinars on finance, cooking, wine, health, and more. See page 59 for more info.

4.

POWERFUL WOMEN & POWERFUL MESSAGES As part of Williston’s ongoing diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts, Williston kicked off the school year with three amazing guest speakers who led faculty, staff, and students in training and courageous conversations. Read more on page 6.

5.

FOOD TRUCK One silver lining to the pandemic was the spiffy new food trailer behind Reed, part of our mealtime “dedensifying” stategies. Every day, dining staff served more than 150 meals from the truck.

WINTER 2020

BULLETIN 3

SOCIAL STUDIES

Wildcats returned to campus this fall facing new realities. Social distance: check. Masks: check. Fun on the quad: most definitely check!

An early snowfall inspired these JV volleyball players to craft elaborate snowpeople when outdoor practice near Sawyer Field was canceled.

Senior class president Adam Thistlethwaite ’21, stern, and Alan Rodal ’22 took a late-November spin on Nashawannuck Pond.

FACEBOOK.COM/WILLISTONNORTHAMPTON FLICKR.COM/WILLISTONNORTHAMPTON

4 WILLISTON NORTHAMPTON SCHOOL

Arrival Days bags included a stylish Williston face covering, along with maps and schedules.

TWITTER.COM/WILLISTONNS

Willistonian advisor Matt Liebowitz takes a look at the oldest continuously published student newspaper—which even a pandemic couldn’t stop.

INSTAGRAM.COM/WILLISTONNS

YOUTUBE.COM/WILLISTONNORTHAMPTON

PHOTOGRAPH BY MATTHEW CAVANAUGH

AROUND THE QUAD

PITCH PERFECT

In order to preserve Williston’s testing “bubble” this fall, intrasquad scrimmages and drills were the name of the game. Though students missed those long bus rides and championship excitment, they still had plenty of fierce competion. See more of our fall trimester on page 10.

Project Connect

6 WILLISTON NORTHAMPTON SCHOOL

MUSIC AS MESSENGER

Grum Project visiting artist Geoff Hudson works with students to create a unique song for Williston’s first 180 years

F

aced with a planetary crisis, we’re failing to respond,” notes composer and cellist Geoff Hudson, who will work with students this winter as part of our alumna-funded artist-inresidence program, the Grum Project. “If science can’t get the message across, perhaps music can.”

That was the thinking behind Hudson’s hourlong oratorio, A Passion for the Planet, which he will speak about during sessions with Williston students in January. Hudson will also give three

workshops with AP Music Theory students during the spring trimester. As part of his work with the school, he combined student texts and ideas and created a piece for Williston’s first 180 years, “The Mountain and the Bell,” which will be performed by campus musicians at its premiere in May. “Our jobs as musicians reach far beyond entertaining,” said Williston Director of Choirs Colin Mann. “We cultivate humanity and share big ideas.

Our students are learning to use their voices to create social change within our institution, and as they develop beyond our care as global citizens.”

TRANSFORMATIVE DISCUSSIONS As part of Willston’s diversity, equity, and inclusion initiative, the school year kicked off with three powerful speakers who led faculty and students in thoughtful workshops and transformative discussions. All student leaders—admission interns, international student leaders, proctors, student council members, and student mentors—gathered for online trainings with Dr. Liza Talusan, to talk about how to create more inclusive environments for students of all backgrounds. Dr. Darnisa Amante-Jackson conducted a two-day training for faculty that focused on building an equitable organizational culture and infrastructure.

During a day set aside for students to learn how to have “courageous conversations,” Rosetta Lee talked about microagressions: how harmful they can be, and how to handle being called out for making one. “Having the skills to hold these kinds of discussions is vital to engaging a diverse society,” Lee said.

PHOTOGRAPH BY CHATTMAN PHOTOGRAPHY

Where can you find dancers chatting with lacrosse players and seniors saying hi to first years? If new school counselor Deborah Potee has her way, the answer is “everywhere.” During a year when mask-wearing and social distancing has put literal barriers between people, she and colleague Joseph Katz have initiated a program called Project Connect, which has been implemented at several colleges and public high schools across the country. Williston is the first independent school to give it a try.

This fall, Potee and Katz trained a group of 40 proctors, then students were invited to enlarge their social circles. The first group includes 25 Wildcats who represent a cross section of Williston.

The cohort was divided into packs of four to six, who will meet six times over the next few months to get to know one another, with the goal of increasing connection among peers and reducing feelings of isolation. While they represent a multitude of perspectives, said Potee, “what they have in common is a desire to be more a part of Williston.”

SWERVING TOWARD DANGER

Knife-sharp language and visceral imagery run through teacher Sarah Levine’s poems

BY MATT LIEBOWITZ

A

fter an accident in the kitchen— you’re slicing a strawberry, but the knife handle slips—there’s that tiny window after the skin is pierced, but before the blood comes. That moment, a few seconds at the most, is where the beauty and power and fear of Sarah Levine’s poems live.

Consider this, from her 2016 poem “I Hear a Goose in the Sky Say Again”: “We started in a bedroom / tossing watermelon out a window, / watching chickens pick for seeds. / Your hand on the back of my neck / and if I told the entire story / I would never get it back.”

Or this, from “Forgotten Things” published in The ParisAmerican: “How absurd / to be given a mouth that craves fruit bruised into sugar. / The forgotten sun gored pulp, originally gnawed by rain and the inch worm’s / grotesque bite.”

Images like these fill the work in Levine’s new chapbook, Take Me Home, released this fall by Finishing Line Press.

A Williston Middle and Upper School English teacher since 2019, Levine has had work in Best New Poets, PANK, Fourteen Hills, Green Mountains Review, and other journals; she won The Westchester Review’s Writers Under 30 prize and has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize. She wields language with an ear for what she calls “vivid, violent,” and visceral imagery.

“I like surprising the reader,” Levine said. “I never want the reader to feel complacent or safe.

Basically, I write the opposite of who I am as a person and teacher.”

In the classroom, Levine’s even demeanor and intentional, passionate approach has won her fans in both her seventh grade and senior AP Literature classes. On paper, however, another side of her gets the chance to speak.

In writing poetry that “always swerves towards danger,” Levine said, “I give myself permission to feel ugly things. Hopefully I’m not so intense in the classroom,” she jokes.

Cutting and brutal, tender and intimate, the knife-sharp language in Take Me Home is informed by the multitude of lives Levine’ has lived while pursuing her passion.

As a young writer, Levine attended the New England Young Writers’ Conference at Middlebury College’s Bread Loaf campus, and the Young Writers Workshop at Kenyon College. Along with a 2010 B.A. in English from the University of Massachusetts, Levine earned her first postgraduate degree, an M.F.A. from Sarah Lawrence College, followed by a master’s in teaching from Smith College. Levine then taught creative writing at the Baccalaureate School for Global Education, a public school in Queens. But

it was her experience teaching the “Right to Write” course at the Westchester Department of Correction, an all-women’s facility in Valhalla, N.Y., that had the biggest effect. “It was amazing,” Levine says. “It taught me about systemic racism, about how much I don’t know.”

“Right to Write” gave Levine a platform to teach different styles of writing to the students, all of whom were mothers or grandmothers. The women then wrote original stories to their children, which they recorded; the tapes and the stories were mailed home so their children could listen to the stories at night.

The importance of giving a voice to those who may otherwise not be heard informs the poems in Take Me Home. The chapbook is a series of persona poems chronicling the misadventures of the protagonist, Herman, following his mother’s sudden death. Set in an imaginary Southern Gothic location, the book started as a graduate school project; she’s been “tinkering, adding, and evolving” the poems since 2012.

Levine cites the influence of John Berryman—whose “Henry poems,” are “so weird, in the best possible way: vivid melancholy, vibrant” — as well as writers such as Terrance Hayes, Keith S. Wilson, Lauren Berry, Carl Phillips, Franny Choi, Richard Siken, and Donna Tartt.

These esteemed authors have given Levine a community, a voice, the freedom to explore and express.

In the spirit of community and of poetry as a uniting force, Levine is also doing her part to tie her creative pursuits into the larger fabric of the community. The cover art of Take Me Home was drawn by Williston eighth grader Elise Ollmann-Kahle, and all the proceeds she makes from the collection will be donated to the Equal Justice Initiative.

WINTER 2020 BULLETIN 7

Worth Repeating

“When we’re outside we often compete with traffic from Park Street and fighter jets flying overhead. Who knew singing would be so adventurous?”

—Colin Mann, director of choirs, describing choral practice this fall.

“I’m so thankful and honored to be living in the first dorm named after a woman!

Our dorm is full of wonderful girls and I’m so happy to be here.”

— Abby Vassallo ’22, a resident of Emily McFadon Vincent House, in a thank you card to Emily McFadon Vincent ’49

“At Harrow, if you were caught within a hundred miles of a girl, even if it was your sister in a coffee shop, you could be had up. Then I found myself at Williston kissing a girl in the bushes, and the master’s lights go on. And in the classroom the next day they think it’s the funniest thing that’s ever happened.

So all of this structure and security of England was gone. I was free.”

—Anthony Willoughby ’70, reflecting on his year abroad at Williston Academy, after his experience in British “public” schools.

Read more about Willoughby’s many life adventures on page 44.

8 WILLISTON NORTHAMPTON SCHOOL

“We decided to revise pieces of the show, because we wanted to modernize it. We wanted to bring it back here, into this century, and make it a little more timeless.”

—Hannah Cannizzo ’21, a member of the acting company of Antigone, which was filmed and screened in December

“There is much for you to go do. There is a world out there that desperately needs people to contribute.

The world is broken at the exact moment we are graduating another class of fixers.

How convenient! I look forward to staying in touch and living in the world you and the class of 2020 make.”

—Shaun Chapman ’98 in a note to a graduating senior last spring, as part of an alumni initiative to pair new and past graduates at this momentous time

“Physical pain and psychological pain register in the same areas of the brain, and to the same degree.”

—Guest speaker Rosetta Lee on why we need to engage in courageous conversations to mitigate racial harm (see more on page 5)

“I’m wearing a clear mask because we realized that you need to see lips and the mouth when learning pronunciation.”

—Language Department Chair and French teacher Adeleen Brown on adjusting to new classroom measures to fight coronavirus spread

around the quad

SCENES FROM OUR NEWEST DORM

PHOTOGRAPHS BY CHATTMAN PHOTOGRAPHY

Opening in September, Emily McFadon Vincent House is now brimming with 40 students, four faculty families, countless best friends, study breaks, mug nights, and dorm mascot, Pretties the Cat.

FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL Dorm parent Erin Davey’s morning motto is: Have mug, will travel.

BOARDING BULLETINS This wall in the light-filled common room is information central for dorm denizens.

MATCHY MATCHY! Roommates Abby Vassallo ’22 and Poppy Deluzuriaga ’22 embraced their inner twins.

GREETINGS AND SALUTATIONS A welcoming message in front of EMV House captures the dorm’s friendly vibe.

STUDY SPACE Girls set up their desks for maximum concentration— and inspiration.

BESTIES Roomies Ella Mattocks ’22 and Meryl Sesselberg ’22 pose in front of their wall of photos.

STICKS DOWN The lacrosse team has a mini playing field on their doorstep: the new residential quad.

SPOOKY SNACKS The pandemic couldn’t stop fun dorm celebrations and holiday-themed goodies.

CERAMIC TREATS Sari Yamagata ’22 loves Mug Night: Decorate a cup; when it’s done, fill it with sweets!

#HUGLIFE In their EMV House pod, Grace Bean ’22 and Teaghan Hall ’22 found friendship.

SPOOKY KITTY Dorm Head Christa Talbot Syfu ’98 made sure Pretties’ costume was purrrfect.

NIGHT NIGHT! At the end of the day, Kaitlyn Williams ’23 and Annika Yeung ’23 are ready to hit the hay.

WINTER 2020 BULLETIN 9

FALL 2020

Rising to the Moment

The fall trimester was anything but normal—and utterly amazing as a result

I

f you have ever been behind in the final moments of a championship game or started your term paper the night before it is due or literally broken a leg on opening night, then you know that challenges can be, well, extremely challenging. But you probably also know that moments like these force you to dig deep—and sometimes, if the stars align, can result in their own against-all-odds synchronicity and beauty. That is the story of this fall at Williston.

After a remote spring trimester, Williston spent months answering the question: How the heck do you run a boarding school during a pandemic? The answers—masks, distancing, testing, Plexiglass, and a lot of rules—required tremendous sacrifice, discipline, and resilience from our faculty and students. Was it hard at times?

Yes! Did we miss normalcy? Absolutely! But, as you will see on these pages, the sheer pleasure of just being able to live, study, compete, and have fun together resulted in a spectacular kind of joy that we will always remember.

Ceata cus. Tem repro comniminis niendis cipiet isqui velest, assimpor acea quia vendunHenimet ernat. Porum sitibustrum, is ad quatiat ionseque conseria voluptata niscia volorem po

10 WILLISTON NORTHAMPTON SCHOOL

around the quad

DINING OUT(SIDE)

PHOTOGRAPHS BY CHATTMAN PHOTOGRAPHY

Mealtimes looked different this fall, with partitioned picnic tables, safari-style dining in tents, grab-andgo lunches, and our very own food truck (above with college counselor Emily McDowell’s new pup, Marvel)

ACTIVITIES With traditional events like indoor dances and shows on hold, Director of Community Life Erin Davey (above right) got creative with activities. Students bonded over costumed kickball on Sawyer Field (left), outdoor movies, al fresco trivia contests, and a haunted Halloween Schoolhouse.

Weekend s’mores sessions around firepits on the Quad became a cherished part of pandemic life.

WINTER 2020 BULLETIN 11

ROOM TO GROW

Ever resourceful, students and faculty adjusted to new norms such as masks and widely spaced desks (as in Mr. Liebowitz’s AP English class, right) and outdoor learning (below, AP Biology students run an experiment at Williston Pond). We’ve never been so grateful for our spacious campus.

To ensure proper distancing, large spaces such as the athletic center, the dance studio, and the chapel were pressed into service as classrooms. At left, students gather in the Dodge Room for class. Also different was the hybrid nature of many classes, with students who couldn’t be here in person Zooming in from around the world.

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around the quad

GAME TIME

PHOTOGRAPHS BY CHATTMAN PHOTOGRAHY AND MATTHEW CAVANAUGH PHOTOGRAPHY

In place of interscholastic competition, Wildcats players and coaches embraced a robust mix of scrimmages, strength-training exercises, and team-building games. Clockwise from below, the football team flexes on a tractor tire, a field hockey player hustles downfield, and the volleyball team serves up a rare outdoor practice.

Boys soccer #2

WINTER 2020 BULLETIN 13

THE SHOW MUST GO ON

Spurred by restrictions, the arts program took creative leaps throughout the term.

Clockwise from right: dancers turn the Parents Bridge into a studio as director Debra Vega shoots video; choral students under the direction of Colin Mann rehearse on the chapel steps; and a visual arts class gets comfortable with en plein air techniques.

14 WILLISTON NORTHAMPTON SCHOOL

around the quad

PHOTOGRAPHS BY CHATTMAN PHOTOGRAPHY AND WENDY STAPLES

In place of public performance, the fall dance concert, Distant Dream (left), and play, Antigone (below), were taped without audiences and shared with viewers at home.

As much as possible, the goal was to recreate the experience and feeling of live events.

“The whole company collaborated every step of the way,” says Theater Director Emily Ditkovski. “I commend them for being such open-hearted theater-makers!”

WINTER 2020 BULLETIN 15

The WilliList A by-the-numbers look at recent school highlights

BY DENNIS CROMMETT

12

The number of hours ahead of Eastern Time that Melody Pan ’22 reports for The Willistonian from her Shanghai home. Melody asked students which foods they missed most during remote learning. Their answers? Easthampton staples Tandem, Kisara, and La Veracruzana.

7

Videos filmed by Admission this fall in which current students give tours of campus, dorms, and Easthampton hot spots. Visit our YouTube channel and let us show you around!

$20K

Amount raised by Williston in our secondannual Just Tryan It triathlon, which supports families dealing with pediatric cancer.

Williston is stronger together!

16 WILLISTON NORTHAMPTON SCHOOL

10,000+ COVID-19 PCR tests given this fall in tents on the quad and then processed at Harvard and MIT’s Broad Institute in Cambridge

16

Number of alumni classes that reunited (and it felt so good) during our June Virtual Reunion 2020

106%

Increase in participation of young alumni giving to the Williston Northampton Fund since 2016. Let’s go, young ’Cats!

IX

Songs on Latin Teacher Beatrice Cody’s beautiful new album of original songs. Cody collaborated on the music and lyrics with jazz pianist Stephen Page, a music tutor at Williston and other area schools.

400+

Masks sewn for faculty and staff by Vivian Liu, parent of Williston student Andrew Warren ’21. Thanks for keeping us safe, Vivian!

50

Number of shovelers who helped clear Sawyer Field after an early snowfall to make way for that day’s scrimmages. Talk about teamwork!

6

481

Headsets distributed at the beginning of Trimester 1 (one for each student) to ensure students can easily hear and communicate with their Zooming classmates

Number of Williston football alums who will be playing in the Ivy League in 2021 (counting two on this fall’s team who are committed). The schools: Brown (2), Columbia (2), Harvard (1), and Princeton (1). Touchdown!

PAINT BY NUMBERS

33

Art supply kits made

by Williston faculty so that students would not have to share materials during pandemic art classes

156

Bars of instrumental electronic music composed by Z. Demetriou ’21 for the fall play, Antigone

1,839˚F

Average kiln temperature during the initial bisque firing of the 70+ pieces made in ceramics classes during Trimester 1

PHOTOGRAPHS BY CHATTMAN PHOTOGRAPHY

16

Choral students who serenaded legendary choir director and retired faculty member Dick Gregory

400

2,500

Approximate square feet of clear Lexan polycarbonate plastic installed across campus. And just like the Wildcat spirit, it’s tough to shatter.

ISO of the 35 mm black and white film used in the darkroom class, taught by veteran photography teacher and class of 1977 alumnus Ed Hing WINTER 2020 BULLETIN 17

IN THEIR OWN WORDS In addition to virtual classes, assemblies, and advisory meetings, the spring of 2020 brought the first-ever remote commencement in Williston’s 179-year history. In his address to the class of 2020 and their families, Head of School Robert W. Hill III talks about loss, resilence, and this historic moment that will forever bind students together.

W Since 2013, each grade has processed behind a special class flag. This year’s senior class banner was designed by senior artist Hannah Cannizzo ’21.

The vuvuzela is a long plastic horn, typically blown by fans at soccer matches.

illiston class of 2020—I cannot possibly stand before you this morning without first acknowledging this epochal moment—in fact, my remarks will turn on Williston’s long history and your place in it. But first, I know that everyone tuning in now has been wrestling with isolation and loss—and my heart and sympathy go out to all families who have suffered the loss of loved ones or friends from the insidious reach of this pandemic.

That hardly sounds like an upbeat way to begin a celebration, class of 2020, so I am going to shift gears.

On a normal graduation we come together as an entire school, all grades having processed behind their class banners to take their places in the matrix of over one thousand chairs. Beneath the canopy of the grand tent covering the Reed Student Center lawn, it is at this point that I ask seniors to rise and face the audience and show your appreciation to your extended families and supporters who helped bring you to this auspicious moment. I then ask you turn around to face the stage and thank your teachers and mentors.

So, wherever you are, I will now pause for the shouts, and hugs, and high fives, and sounds of vuvuzelas.

You are making history today, class of 2020, and on behalf of everyone at Williston, your teachers and coaches and advisors,

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I cannot overstate how proud we are of you.

We have been thinking about you constantly, and the more it became obvious that your Williston careers would end not with a bang but with a Zoom, the more my thoughts have turned to how to makes sense of this colossal deviation from the norm.

You are making history, 2020. For the first time in Williston’s 179 years, graduation cannot occur on our campus. This is where you say: Thanks for that news flash, Mr. Hill.

I do not blame you if at some point this spring you have thought or said aloud: Why me? I could have been born a year earlier, or a year later. But instead, here we are. Many of you were born in 2001, a monumental year itself, the year when 9/11 occurred, and so it seems you cannot escape history. What was arguably the greatest historical inflection point since World War II, 9/11 indelibly imprinted meaning on otherwise unnoteworthy numbers, which now give way to 2020.

Future historians will categorize and contextualize the year of this novel coronavirus and COVID-19, but it does not take a big leap to say you are completing your Williston careers at a pivotal moment in world history, not just United States history. The world has, literally, come to a standstill. The novel coronavirus is particularly heinous as it attacks the weakest among us, the poor or the sick, no matter what their home address. And for those other seniors, senior citizens, who graduated from high school 50 years ago or more, the virus

Like high school seniors across the world, Williston students headed off for March break 2020, having no idea they had just attended their final inperson classes on campus.

Of the 131 students who graduated in 2020, 75 of them—or just shy of 60 percent—were born in the monumental year of 2001.

around the quad

Fun fact: Mr. Hill grew up as a “faculty brat” on the campus of Middlebury College, where his father was an English professor.

Go, Panthers!

Just in case Mr. Hill is correct, Wildcat alumni may want to stock up on Willistonthemed face masks at willistoncampusstore.com

A plaque on Easthampton’s Town Hall is dedicated to the memory of 22 Easthampton sons “who died for their country during the Great Rebellion.”

has induced a state of fear and mortality levels that we hope to never see again.

I was 10 years old in 1970, and the American war in Vietnam, and the Cold War, and the eruptions of the civil rights movement, and the makings of a constitutional crisis with Watergate, all threatened my world, but not like what you have endured.

We do not yet know the aftermath of this pandemic because we are still in the middle of it. What new habits will become normal?

No more handshakes, no more middle seats on airplanes, Slack and Zoom doctors’ visits, face masks every flu season—who knows?

You might find that wearing fuzzy slippers and pajama bottoms becomes classroom dress. Maybe pandemic Tik-Toks will make you famous. Yet these are small considerations against the backdrop of what you have given up, being deprived of your long senior spring goodbyes, those truly meaningful rites of pas-sage that allow you to step from teenagehood and into early adulthood. About the only silver lining I can see is that the class of 2020 never had to endure the student handbook “talk” from me this spring about staying inside the lines, since school rules and Saturday night consequences do not translate virtually.

You are making history, class of 2020.

To give you some “Button Speech” context, Williston has held in-person commencement exercises every year: Through the years of the Civil War, while the cannons were firing on Fort Sumter, headmaster Josiah Clark was giving diplomas to the class of 1860.

In 1916, Joseph Henry Sawyer conferred diplomas as World War I raged, and in 1944 as D-Day changed the course of World War II, Archibald Galbraith sent Williston’s young men off into the world. Fifty years ago, when student protests against the Vietnam War resulted in the killing of four students by the National Guard on the campus of Kent

State, graduation ceremonies were canceled at a handful of major universities. Even then, Headmaster Phil Stevens presided over commencement at Williston. So here you are, class of 2020. You have not chosen any of this, none of us has, but the question you should be asking is not, “Why me?” but, “Since I am here, how do I respond to the moment?”

There is no easy answer, but that does not mean you should not apply your considerable powers of reasoning to reflect on how you will make your way through this truly unprecedented moment.

You have shifted from being present at Williston, some of you for an astonishing six years, or one-third of your lives, surrounded by your best friends, to quarantining at home or some other sanctuary. You have handled technology and time zones, Zoom bombs and unmuted mics, and home chores along with homework. In my 10 years of being head of Williston, I have never seen a community come together with such a common sense of purpose as you have done this term.

Williston seniors, you are about to receive your diploma signifying an extraordinary education from a uniquely caring school. You will be considered adults as you enter these unparalleled times, and you have endured with courage, patience, and resilience the massive disruption that has deprived you of important ceremonies and meaningful moments of celebration. The number 2020, like the numbers 9/11, will mark a before and after for the rest of your young lives. Paradoxically, the events that pulled you apart and separated you from Williston will be the shared experience that binds you together for the decades to come. I have faith and confidence that you will rise to the challenge, you will meet this moment in history by making history of your own. Do so with Purpose, Passion, and, above all, Integrity, no matter what you choose to do, and no matter where life takes you. Godspeed, 2020.

Technically, Zoombombing is defined as an “unwanted disruption by internet trollls into a video conference.”

For Williston students and faculty, though, last spring’s Zoom bombs were much friendlier—family pets, little siblings, and parents delivering study snacks.

Where has life taken the class of 2020? They matriculated to more than 105 different colleges and universities, from Assumption to Yale. Find the full list on the college counseling page of Williston.com.

WINTER 2020 BULLETIN 19

TAKE A CLOSER LOOK AT WILLISTON FOR YOUR FAMILY. Williston is a true family school with generations of students wearing the green and blue. As an alum, you know how great Williston’s community and faculty are, but do you know about all the new programs and facilities at the school today? Come find out how we’ve changed—and which traditions still anchor us.

TO SCHEDULE A VISIT OR RECEIVE A COPY OF OUR VIEWBOOK, PLEASE EMAIL ADMISSION@WILLISTON.COM

ALUMNI NEWS

PHOTOGRAPH BY ANTONIO YSURSA

The work of metal artist Betsy Lewis ’12 evokes the natural world—vinelike coils, bones, even a four-chambered heart— yet still retains a crafted delicacy. Now installed in her new Brooklyn studio, she is developing pieces on a larger scale. To read how Williston continues to shape her life and work, turn to page 27.

WINTER 2020 BULLETIN 21

WILDCAT ROUNDUP

SPORTS SHORTS

LIKE FATHER, LIKE SON: Looking back on the tremendous sophomore year Filip Rebraca ’18 spent on the NCAA Division I University of North Dakota basketball roster, there’s no doubt he’s fulfilling his destiny. The son of of Serbian former NBA player Željko Rebrača, Filip was named to the Preseason All-Summit League First Team in October and the All-Summit League Honorable Mention Team in 201920. He appeared in 32 games, starting all of them; led the Fighting Hawks and the league with 13 double-doubles, the most by a UND player in a single season during the program’s Division I era; and reached double figures in 27 of the 32 games he appeared in. He’s had two great college seasons, noted his Williston coach, Ben Farmer, who added he has “high expectations” for Filip’s COVID-modified junioryear season.

ROSS GOES PRO: Springfield College’s all-time leading basketball scorer (with 2,634 points) Jake Ross ’16 went pro this summer when he was picked up by the Bulgarian team BC Yambol. Ross was the only player in the history of Division III college basketball to score more than 2,500 points and pick up more than 1,000 total rebounds. At press time, he was in Bulgaria, preparing to compete.

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GOAL ORIENTED: Fiona Bundy ’18 earned Division III All-American honors for her lacrosse prowess earlier this year at Bowdoin. Bundy scored 48 goals in her rookie season for the Polar Bears, and seemed ready to duplicate that success through four games this spring. She scored a team-high 14 goals with three assists, 14 draws, and 12 ground balls.

She has 62 goals through just 22 games in her career.

WINNING LAX DEBUT: Mason Balch’s stick work led him to play on Bryant University Bulldogs’ NEC AllRookie Team when he debuted as a firstyear in 2019. The attacker and 2018 grad played in all 14 lacrosse games his first season, starting in 13. He ranked third on the team in goals (15), assists (11), and points (26) and added 19 ground balls and two caused turnovers, signaling a promising spring ahead.

POOL POWER: As a Providence College Friar, Sally Alrutz ’19 has been making great strides. She finished first at the Harold Anderson Invitational in the 100-yard backstroke (56.31) and the 200-yard backstroke (2:02.69). She also placed fifth in the 100-yard backstroke at the New England Catholic Invite (59.69).

At the Big East Championships in March, she was named to the All-Big East team after she finished third, while notching two Friar program records: 56.01 in the 100-yard backstroke and 2:01.40 in the 200-yard backstroke.

alumni news

Humanities on a Mission

The Williston Northampton School was honored that Alfred Griggs, P’93, ’95 served as chair of the Board of Trustees from 1996 to 2001. However this was just one of the countless ways he has worked for the common good. In July, Griggs was presented with the 2020 Mass Humanities Governor’s Award, which recognizes individuals for their public actions, grounded in an appreciation of the humanities, to enhance civic life in the commonwealth.

A Marine veteran who flew more than 100 missions during the Vietnam War, Griggs earned the Distinguished Flying Cross. He later attended Harvard Business School and joined the family business: a Coca-Cola bottling franchise in western Massachusetts. After expanding the business to plants in upstate New York, Vermont, and New Hampshire during his career, he retired in 1992.

During a retirement that has been anything but quiet, Griggs has focused his considerable energy on nonprofit leadership. He has steered boards of regional charities, including the Community Foundation of Western Massachusetts, the Beveridge Family Foundation, Community Involved in Sustaining Agriculture, and the Dartmouth-Hitchcock Health Board. We congratulate Griggs and thank him for his service.

DISCUSSING INJUSTICE An associate professor of education at Lesley University, David Nurenberg ’94 hopes his new book, What Does Injustice Have to Do With Me? (Rowman & Littlefield, 2020) fills a niche. “There are many resources to help teachers work with BIPOC students in underprivileged urban schools,” he said. “That work is vital, but only addresses half the problem. We also need to help white students in affluent public and independent schools understand antiracism and social justice.”

POLK SCORES GRANT Michael Polk ’18 was awarded the 10,000 Entrepreneurs grant by Alumni Ventures Group. A sophomore at Princeton University and a football player for the Tigers, he is now on a leave of absence. He owns L.A.-based Billboardology and is a founding member of fintech firm DH Securities.

ANGRY YOUNG PLAYER In Aaron Sorkin’s The Trial of the Chicago 7 on Netflix, Calvin Ticknor-Swanson ’16 plays an angry counter-demonstrator, representing one side of the divide in a nation fractured by the Vietnam War during the 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago. “I learned a lot about how a professional film shoot functions and how to conduct myself on set,” he said. “I also learned not to take any opportunity for granted, because you never know when a global pandemic will hit that will prevent you from having experiences like these.” Ticknor-Swanson graduated last spring from Northwestern University.

WINTER 2020 BULLETIN 23

Cooking Up

a Collaboration

“We can totally figure this out! We can do this!

That’s something Williston instilled in us.” Sarah Williams Carlan ’92, P’21, ’23 is talking about values, problem-solving, and giving back to her community. The leadership coach, along with culinary agent Sally Ekus ’03 and chef Laura Bowman ’13 (and plenty of non-Williston folks), has been working on a collaborative fundraiser for two groups hit hard by the pandemic: the local restaurant industry and the Treehouse Foundation, a 60-home community in Easthampton designed to support foster families and elders.

From left: Sarah Carlan ’92, Laura Bowman ’13, and Sally Ekus ’03 have teamed up to raise money for two groups hit hard by the pandemic—local restaurants and the Treehouse Foundation 24 WILLISTON NORTHAMPTON SCHOOL

Top Chefs That fundraising effort is Stir Up Some Love, a subscription-based, 15-episode video series of local chefs demonstrating their most iconic recipes. “COVID gave us lemons,” goes the project’s tagline. “We’re thinking, ‘Mmmmm…lemon meringue pie. With your donation, everyone gets a slice.’” Carlan, who chairs the fundraising and development committee at Treehouse, explains that, in a normal year, their biggest annual fundraiser is a big-donor, big-ask, inviteonly event hosted by Coco and the Cellar Bar in Easthampton. This was obviously not the year for that—and Coco, like other restaurants, was itself hurting as well. A flurry of meetings and brainstorming, involving what she describes as “committee-wide brilliance,” generated the collaboration—an approach that would mutually benefit the impacted folks (proceeds are evenly split between the restaurants and the nonprofit) and nourish its donors as well.

So far, the project is proving delicious. Michaelangelo Wescott of Gypsy Apple in Shelburne Falls shows off a signature salade niçoise; Casey Douglas from Galaxy in Easthampton makes his famous carbonara; and Unmi Abkin and Roger Taylor of Coco and the Cellar Bar prepare their droolworthy honey miso noodle salad. And there’s a plan for a second season, too, with Bowman, who owns the Blue Door Gatherings catering company and is collaborating with Abkin on Tula, a plant-based meal subscription program, due to add a video of her own.

Ekus would like to see this project become a model for the culinary community: “Giving back to local nonprofits and supporting the restaurant community too.” And she actually knows a ton about both.

After Williston, she earned her B.A. at Ithaca College, then considered starting a masters in social work (MSW) program. But home for a break in Hatfield, she had a change of heart. Her mother is Lisa of the Lisa Ekus Group, a culinary talent and literary agency, and Ekus realized that all of her skills—especially active listening—were wholly transferrable to working with cookbook authors. “‘What do you love personally that you can contribute to in this world?’ That’s what Williston asks. And for me, it’s this—this work—and the giving back.”

For Carlan, “Being at Williston taught me about having a connected community—and to look for those places in my life where people were supporting one another.” She graduated from Mount Holyoke before getting her MSW from Smith and moving to Conway. Now her own kids go to Williston, and she describes herself as “a therapist and facilitator, wife and mother, avid equestrian, and agent of adaptability.”

It’s this last, perhaps most of all, that she brings to her work with Stir Up Some Love.

“This campaign is such a good example of alumni coming together through shared values and then finding out we’re Williston alums!” says Ekus. “Williston produces a lot of people who invest in causes that are important to them.” Carlan echoes this: “You feel that instant connection to them and then later you realize you’re both Williston alums. It’s hard to put your finger on,” she adds, “but there’s this feeling, this commonality we all share. There’s this thread that connects us.”

—Catherine Newman

These local restauranteurs are participating in the Stir Up Some Love series, at left, by sharing recipes, techniques, and inspiration in how-to videos. Just donate, watch, and cook up something lovely!

Coco and the Cellar Bar | honey miso noodle salad

Small Oven | decorate a cake like a pro

Mesa Verde | onion-rosemary focaccia

Five Eyed Fox | pan-fried hake with creamed corn

Captain Jack’s Roadside Shack | cod cakes rémoulade

WINTER 2020 BULLETIN 25

“Comedy allows you to talk about serious issues without actually talking about them.

If you make [the audience] feel uncomfortable, expose [their] insecurities, what we’re nervous about—that’s why we laugh.”

Jack Spagnola takes a break during rehearsal of his play

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IN THE SPOTLIGHT Playwright Jack Spagnola ’10 turns serious issues—and the world of kindergarten—into comedy for the stage

BY MATT LIEBOWITZ

he current play by Jack Spagnola ’10 was written before 2020, before social distancing, quarantining, masks— before the tumult of emotions that have been a constant part of life since March. But, like all powerful art, the work, Lou (an unintentional search for friendship), feels prescient, almost comically necessary.

“I like to find where sad and funny meet,” Spagnola, 28, said of the play, a segment of which, called “You and Me and the Space Between,” was performed virtually this summer.

Starring Mark Feuerstein (“The West Wing,” “Royal Pains”) and Michaela Watkins (“Casual,” “Saturday Night Live”), Spagnola’s play centers on Lou, a struggling stand-up comic

“who performs mostly at old folks’ homes,” and Shirley, a greeting card writer. The two meet on a dating app for people looking for long-distance relationships.

“It’s not quarantine-specific, but it’s about loneliness,” Spagnola explained.

The Brooklyn-based writer sees the play (and the segment) resonating today because it shows how the “little gestures” of humanity are so important in difficult times. “If someone sees this and even for half a day thinks about how they treat someone at the post office or the grocery store,” he feels the humanity behind his work will have shown through.

Spagnola said although he doesn’t set out to write comedies, his plays all end up that way. “Comedy allows you to talk about serious issues without

26 WILLISTON NORTHAMPTON SCHOOL

actually talking about them. If you make [the audience] feel uncomfortable, expose [their] insecurities, what we’re nervous about—that’s why we laugh. I like bringing people together.”

That search for the humanity in humor stretches back Spagnola’s last trimester at Williston. When students are typically focused on graduation and the summer, Spagnola took Writers’ Workshop, did an independent study in playwriting, and took Emily Ditkovski’s playwriting course.

“It really opened my eyes to so much,” he said, noting the freedom from traditional prose-bound constrictions he had felt in the past writing short stories, and his love of writing dialogue with cadences one might hear in a neighborhood coffee shop rather than an anthologized short

story. “What I really love about plays is I don’t have to listen to the rules; it felt so freeing.”

Spagnola credits Williston with allowing him to focus so intently and specifically on fostering his love for the arts. Williston “really allowed me to do what I thought, at the time, was whatever I wanted to do. It was really nice being a senior at a place that trusted me; I really appreciated being at a place where I could really lean in.”

Spagnola’s bona fides are numerous: he studied theater and playwriting at Hampshire College, worked at The Lark, a New-York based incubator for playwrights, wrote three pilot scripts at the UCLA Professional Program for Writing for Television, and has racked up accolades including a semifinal nod in the Eugene O’Neill National Playwrights Conference for his play Little League. He cites Annie Baker, Sarah Ruhl, and Sam Hunter as major inspirations for his style, and for showing him what a play can be, “how they can look and sound different.”

But arguably his biggest influence comes from his day job as a kindergarten teacher. “It’s the most fun job I can imagine,” he said. Little League, he explained, was “totally cherry-picked” from talking to parents about parenting, reading books on early childhood education, and being around kids for seven hours a day.

That familiarity with small children is on display in his new work. “I’m used to conflict resolutions with fiveyear-olds,” Spagnola said. In searching for kindness amid catastrophe, for dialogue that’s open and honest, funny and sad, Spagnola said his work looks for “the adult version of that.”

“You and Me and the Space Between” aired online in July and is avilable to be viewed at playdatetheatre.com.

Tickets support Color of Change and the YWCA’s COVID Relief Fund.

PHOTOGRAPHS BY JAMI SAUNDERS AND ANTONIO YSURSA

alumni news

Work in Metal

The sculptures of Betsy Lewis ’12 trace intimate, yet stunning, shapes

by kate lawless

Find her latest creations at www.betsylewismetal.com

Betsy Lewis’ metal work suggests the organic: a four-chambered heart, a slim length of spine, a silver wishbone wrapped in a silver strand.

The pieces are arresting because they seem familiar, but differ enough from their muses to offer a brief surprise and an invitation to look closer. Ditto for her series of invented surgical implements.

Her first solo exhibition at the Brooklyn Metal Works was in the planning stages when the pandemic struck this spring. While she transitioned to an online showing, she acknowledges feeling the loss of her first solo opening. However, there’s reason to be optimistic. Lewis just moved into a new studio that overlooks the Manhattan skyline in the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn. Inside, there’s a jeweler’s bench, soldering system, tree stumps for hammering, long white tables to display finished works, an array of tools— and more room. She’s working with metal on a larger scale, fabricating hollow sculptures that resemble rope, inspired by a trip to the studio of the late muralist Al Held. “During my visit,” she said, “I noticed among his massive paintings was a tangled rope in the corner, representing life and workmanship.”

Lewis remembers being an “angsty kid” at Williston. She said she’s grateful for the independence she cultivated here and the friendships she still has today. “Being a Willistonian has impacted how I’ve moved forward with my life and career,” she said. Lewis has visited Williston art classes to talk to students about her process. She also teaches metalsmithing at the Rhode Island School of Design, SUNY New Paltz, and Brooklyn Metal Works.

WINTER 2020 BULLETIN 27

INNOVATING TO STOP COVID Tapped to coordinate contact tracing for the city of Baltimore, Brendan Hellweg ’14 helped create a model program that generates jobs as it protects public health BY KEVIN MARKEY

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altimore natives are quick to list the city’s emblematic attractions: quirky neighborhoods, great regional food (crab cakes! pit beef!), water taxis, the Ravens and Orioles. Brendan Hellweg ’14 has a transplant’s appreciation for all those things, but what really drew him to Charm City was its welldocumented challenges. Offered an opportunity to grapple with them after graduating from Yale in 2018, he jumped at the chance. “I’d never been to Baltimore before interviewing for the job,” he says.

“I came because I knew the work would have immediate impact. Efficient city governments are places where you can directly deliver meaningful services.”

As special project manager and data lead in the Mayor’s Office of Performance and Innovation, Hellweg helps devise and implement data-driven solutions to stubborn urban issues like poverty and public safety. Until last spring he spent much of his time figuring out ways to keep at-risk young people from entering the criminal justice system.

“Then,” he says, “the world changed.” Anxiously watching as the pandemic clobbered the East Coast,

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PHOTOGRAPH BY SHAWN HUBBARD

the Innovation Team pivoted overnight to full-time COVID-19 response.

Hellweg was tapped to coordinate the city’s nascent contact-tracing initiative. Working without a blueprint, his team built a novel program called Baltimore Health Corps that recruits, trains, and employs jobless city residents to serve as contact tracers, health outreach educators, and care coordinators for virus patients. “We’re taking the necessity of a public health response,” he says, “and turning it into an employment-development engine”—in a city where unemployment was an issue long before the pandemic began shutting down industries.

As the virus ramped up last spring, nothing about the city’s response was certain. “The only thing we knew was that we had to create something quickly,” Hellweg says. “The challenge was visualizing exactly what it should be.” Drawing on a background in economics, data analytics, and urban development, he created more than a dozen possible versions of a contact-tracing pilot. In part, he says, his thinking was influenced by a U.S. history class he took at Williston, where teacher Peter Gunn encouraged students to think about “what people deserve from their governments.”

Early in the modeling process, Hellweg collaborated with the city’s philanthropic community, sharing the city’s objectives and needs. “We didn’t know how many people we could hire,” he says, “because we didn’t know what level of funding we would have.” His team was able to forge partnerships with 20 different private institutions, including the Rockefeller Foundation and Bloomberg Philanthropies, securing more than $11 million. Funding in place, Baltimore Health Corps launched on June 4 and soon was hiring 25 people a week. By the end of the year, it had hired more than 300 health care workers from the city’s hardest hit communities, at a living wage, and with subsidized health insurance.

Public policy experts have taken notice.“The Baltimore Health Corps is the type of collaborative and innovative solution we need right now,” says Dr. Rajiv J. Shah, president of the Rockefeller Foundation. “By putting the community at the very core of this approach, the pilot will support the city’s public health and economic needs while serving as a model that can be adapted and scaled in cities across America.”

WINTER 2020 BULLETIN 29

alumni news

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Don’t Mind the Gap

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As the pandemic disrupts college life, recent alums are learning to adjust—or finding educational alternatives

BY ELLIE WOLFE ’19

1. NINA RENKERT ’20

2. ANYA ROZARIO ’20

Last August, when I was preparing to start my first year at Bates College, the most stressful things I had to think about were picking my classes and preparing for my orientation camping trip (Camping? Outside?

A nightmare.). I could never have imagined that a year later, those graduating in the class of 2020 would have to be contemplating much more difficult decisions, such as whether to take a gap year as a result of a global pandemic.

Meanwhile, many of my classmates, now in college and daunted by the idea of more online classes, also had to decide whether to take time off from school. While I am taking classes in person in Lewiston, Maine, I learned of other college-age Williston alumni who are taking a break to spend this confusing moment doing extraordinarily interesting things, and have found ways to be incredibly creative with their time. After checking in with a number of them, I was left inspired —and especially proud to be a Wildcat. Here’s what I discovered.

Instead of heading up to Saratoga Springs, N.Y., to start her first year at Skidmore College, Nina Renkert has chosen a decidedly smellier option: working on a goat farm. Despite her initial concerns about taking a gap year, she has thrown herself into making cheese and taking care of all the animals.

Also an artist, Renkert began painting a mural during quarantine that will soon be hung in Williston’s Reed Campus Center. “The Healing Mural” focuses on the restorative power of art and nature.

“My hope is that everybody will see something different every time they pass,” she said, “and will reflect on the power of their own self and voice.”

Anya Rozario has also opted to take a gap year, rather than start at Pomona College, but is working hard to “learn a lot outside of the classroom,” and has been focusing on helping her family around the house.

She has a long list of books she plans to read (favorites so far: The Color Purple by Alice Walker and My Life on the Road by Gloria Steinem), and is taking some courses online.

She has also started tutoring kids in her neighborhood, and has picked up embroidery. “I hope to be rested and refreshed for college in a year,” she says. “Although I wish I could have gone to Pomona this year, I am planning to make the most of my time at home.”

30 WILLISTON NORTHAMPTON SCHOOL

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3. TRINITI SLAUGHTER ’18

Triniti Slaughter, currently a junior at Cornell University, is excited to be back and taking classes in Ithaca, N.Y. Even with her challenging workload in the SC Johnson College of Business, she has been able to focus on her own business, Black Invest (@blackinvest_ on Instagram), which she started after the murder of George Floyd.

Black Invest provides Black entrepreneurs and business owners access to the tools they need in order to run successful businesses. “Black Invest pushes for the education and financial freedom of the Black community,” she explains, “with the goal of building the power of the Black dollar.”

4. MOLLY ZAWACKI ’17

Despite her initial disappointment when the University of Pennsylvania announced it was going to be all remote this fall, Molly Zawacki is making the most of her senior year.

She is currently living in an

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off-campus apartment with friends, which has helped the transition to online classes. “I think just being back near campus helps me focus,” she says. “Being able to socialize and hang out with my housemates is also definitely a positive aspect of being in Philadelphia for the semester.”

As the president of the Women’s Club Ice Hockey team, she, along with her team, have had to be creative in dealing with the shift to remote activities. “We’re not allowed to hold any in-person activities,” she says, “so we are considering some sort of virtual workouts or bonding activities in an attempt to keep the team together and socializing.”

5. SOLOMON NEUHAUS ’19

If you’re in the Plattsburg, N.Y., area and order pizza, there’s a chance Solomon Neuhaus might be knocking on your door.

Rather than return to the Gettysburg College campus for his sophomore fall, Neuhaus has chosen a different path: a gap semester

to save up money. Currently, he is working as a pizza delivery driver.

Neuhaus plans to use his earnings this spring when he studies abroad at the University of Wollongong in Australia, a decision he made after seeing how that country handled the coronavirus pandemic. While there, he’ll also be playing semi-pro basketball.

“I’ve always really wanted to study abroad, and just being somewhere new makes me really happy, so I’m really looking forward to being there,” he says.

6. INSOO KANG ’19

Insoo Kang is currently taking inperson classes at Boston University, and slowly adjusting to the process of being a college student in a pandemic. “I tried to look at it as an opportunity where I can use this time to reflect and improve on myself,” he says.

Besides attending his in-person classes, Kang has learned how to cook Korean food and found his

ideal home-workout routine. He has also made time to video chat with various Williston classmates, including members of his old advisory.

7. SIMONE BARRETT ’17

Simone Barrett is living in New York City, fostering 10 puppies and their mother while taking online classes at Boston University.

She acknowledges the dogs are “pretty time consuming,” but has been able to successfully balance their care, her classes, and working as a waitress at Bogart House, her parents’ bar. The business was not initially set up to deal with the pandemic, so Simone helped create a rooftop restaurant with music on weekends.

Remote learning has worked well for Barrett so far, with her favorite class focusing on online hate speech.

She plans to graduate in December and then possibly move to Vienna, as she has German citizenship. Until then, she—and the dogs—plan to stay in New York City.

WINTER 2020 BULLETIN 31

A king penguin bites Dyan deNapoli’s camera lens in Gold Harbor, South Georgia Island, in 2019

A PA S S I O N F O R S AV I N G PENGUINS 32 WILLISTON NORTHAMPTON SCHOOL

Author and wildlife expert Dyan deNapoli ’79 advocates for a greener planet

BY WENDY LOGAN ’80

PHOTOGRAPH BY SUZANNE SNYDER JOHNSON ‘80

wenty years ago, Dyan deNapoli ’79 was on the front lines of the largest wildlife rescue effort in history. A penguin aquarist at Boston’s New England Aquarium, she was called to Cape Town, South Africa, to join the world’s foremost experts and thousands of volunteers in their efforts to save the lives of 20,000 oiled African penguins.

The birds—covered in thick, black oil—were victims of a spill by the tanker MV Treasure that had dumped 400 tons of bunker fuel into the sea.

Six years earlier, after a similar spill, rescuers were able to save only half of the 10,000 oiled birds. But this time, because of lessons learned from the past, more than 90 percent were saved and successfully released back into the wild.

A 21st-century environmental warrior, deNapoli has continued to evolve her work on behalf of penguins and the planet in the ensuing years, following a career path that seems predestined, if less than direct. For one thing, it was supposed to be about dolphins. “Working with dolphins was my dream since the age of five when I was obsessed with Flipper,” she explains. A painfully shy young girl with cat-rimmed glasses and an overprotective mother, deNapoli says it was her time at Williston that gave her the first inklings of autonomy “because it was a place where, for the first time, I really had a sense of independence. Independent thought and selfactualization were encouraged. You were urged to excel and be thoughtful. I enjoyed the intellectual stimulation of the classes in a way I hadn’t in my public school. Williston helped me learn to be responsible for myself. It was my first baby step into adulthood.”

After college, though, deNapoli was somewhat at loose ends. “I didn’t think it would be possible to work with dolphins. The only career choice back then was being a veterinarian, and math and science were not my strong suit.” By age 30, she still hadn’t quite figured out her plan. An Earthwatch expedition to the Kewalo Basin Marine Mammal Lab, in Oahu, Hawaii, a birthday gift from her parents, helped give her a goal.

“I spent a month there working with dolphins and, at the end of it, I was deliriously happy. I have to do this, I thought.” But the next step was to try to secure a coveted internship at Kewalo Basin, and deNapoli would have to go back to school to work on a related degree (she chose animal science). “And there was no guarantee if I did that and applied that I would get it. But I knew in that moment that I did not want to get to the end of my life, look back, and know I didn’t try. That’s when I developed that mantra.”

The mantra is one she uses as part of her inspirational TEDx talk: “Someone has to get that cool (internship/job/gig). It might as well be me.”

And it worked for her. “It was the best summer of my life,” she says.

After those four months in Hawaii working with her beloved dolphins, deNapoli returned home to the Boston area to continue her college studies.

GET TO KNOW A PENGUIN Why they walk funny They have knees! Penguins keep their knees bent at a 90-degree angle. They are essentially squatting all the time, which is why they waddle.

Why you should keep your distance Penguins may be cute, but they are not cuddly. In fact, penguins can be rather ornery, and their sharp beaks can do a lot of damage when they attack.

Why they aren’t responding to you Penguins have a level of intelligence that deNapoli compares to that of cats.

They can be trained, they can learn to know their names, and they may respond when called…if they feel like it.

Or, they can turn and look at you over their shoulder and swim away. They choose to interact or not.

What they are trying to tell us Penguins are an indicator species.

Their plight represents a microcosm of the threat posed by climate change.

In 2010, when deNapoli published The Great Penguin Rescue, African penguins were already listed as endangered. Their population has declined by 99 percent over the last century.

Why they are in trouble Of the 19 species of penguins on earth, 15 are threatened or endangered.

The main causes for their decline are climate change and overfishing. Some 90 percent of the world’s oceans have been overfished.

WINTER 2020 BULLETIN 33

alumni news

In her senior year, she took a full-time internship working with penguins at Boston’s New England Aquarium. After earning her degree, she had to decide whether to stay on at the aquarium, or pursue her dream of working with dolphins in either Hawaii or the Bahamas. In the end, concern for her aging parents kept her in the Boston area. She first volunteered and then was hired as a penguin aquarist at the aquarium, eventually taking over the senior role. “I never in a million years could have predicted what would come from that decision to choose penguins,” she says, “but in hindsight, it was the right one.” In fact, both her parents would need her support, and it was at the New England Aquarium, in June 2000, that she received the desperate call for help from South Africa.

Since the rescue, deNapoli has become an author, educator, and world-renowned expert in her field, trademarking herself as the Penguin Lady. In June 2011, she presented a TEDx Boston talk (one of four TEDx talks she has given) about the rescue that’s

been viewed nearly half a million times. She has also written and narrated an animated TED-Ed video on penguin conservation for students. She’s shared her experiences at grade schools and universities, libraries, museums, and assisted living communities.

She’s been a guest lecturer for National Geographic, and served as a penguin expert on expeditions to Antarctica.

But in recounting the story of the rescue, even after all these years, the cheerful, positive, and dedicated Penguin Lady is briefly brought to tears. She is back in Cape Town, experiencing the emotions she could not indulge in that moment. As with medics in a war zone, deNapoli says there was simply no time to process it all. “I can talk about the penguin rescue 50 times without getting emotional. Then, without warning, during the 51st time, I suddenly get all choked up,” she explains. “Even after 20 years, it still catches me off guard when it happens.

My friends and colleagues who were there have the same experience. It’s rather astonishing, really, that the emotions from something that happened 20 years ago can still remain so close to the surface.”

She continues: “But here was this massive warehouse, packed full of 16,000 of the 20,000 oiled penguins from the initial rescue. These are always very noisy birds, and I had this expectation of a cacophony of noise when I walked in. And it was shocking to see them all, dripping with black oil, completely silent. It’s devastating, but you have to push down these intense emotions because if you let them come to surface, you know you won’t be able

to do the work. This was no time to let fear or uncertainty overwhelm us. I thought, ‘I can’t let myself feel this right now. I’ll fall apart and won’t be able to do this massive task that’s being asked of me.’”

On the trip home, 12 pounds lighter, thoroughly exhausted, having worked almost around the clock for three solid weeks, she had an epiphany. “I always had a deep connection with animals, and I always thought I would do something for them on a large scale. I didn’t know what that would look like, but I always felt that was what I was here to do, to help them somehow. And I had this moment coming back on the plane from Cape Town after three weeks knee-deep in oiled penguins, and I remember thinking, ‘If the plane goes down right now and this is the end of my life, I’m OK with that. I feel as though I’ve just done what I came here to do. I’ve fulfilled my destiny.’ It was humbling and powerful. That rescue was a pivotal moment in my life.”

Still, when she returned, she was haunted by a form of PTSD common to those involved in such life-or-death undertakings. For a time, each morning in the moments just before waking, she’d find herself panic-stricken by a vision of her apartment filled wall to wall with oiled penguins.

The dreams subsided, but on the job she felt disengaged. “To have spent this intense three weeks in a constant, heightened state of stress, with a singular focus to save a species…everything else seemed meaningless and pointless in comparison.”

Fortunately, her passion for her work returned after a few months. Then, after losing her mother in late

Treating a victim of the Treasure oil spill

STEPS TO REDUCE YOUR CARBON FOOTPRINT (AND SAVE THE PENGUINS)

1

Know the policies of the businesses you support and whether they are committed to sustainability and recycling

2

When ordering items online, choose a local supplier whenever possible. Shorter shipping distances translate to less pollution.

34 WILLISTON NORTHAMPTON SCHOOL

3

Vote for leaders who back policies that protect the environment and animals. Hold your elected representatives accountable.

4

Be mindful of what you eat: Patronize local farmers and choose only sustainably caught seafood.

5

Support or volunteer at an animal rescue center.

6

Buy electric automobiles.

7

Reduce, reuse, recycle. Like drops in the ocean, every little bit helps.

PHOTOGRAPHS BY TONY VAN DALSON

Marked with a temporary pink dye that helps researchers track them, cleaned penguins are released back to the wild

2004, deNapoli knew it was time for a change. She decided to leave the aquarium, retreat for a while, and heal, before determining her next step.

While she knew it was unlikely she’d experience anything as intense as the rescue, deNapoli says she felt strongly that there was more she could do, even if she wasn’t entirely sure what form it would take.

A workshop designed to help people make a living at doing what they love brought it all together. She would take her “penguin show” on the road, teach about penguin biology, talk about the rescue, and shed light on the very real perils faced by penguins and all of earth’s creatures due to climate change. She gave her first public presentation in December 2005.

Since they are an indicator species, the health of penguins portends the health of the oceans. Today, penguins are starving. The primary reasons are global warming and overfishing, and the resulting

massive decline in penguin populations is a warning, she says. Just 10 years after the Treasure spill and the efforts of the scientists and 12,000 volunteers, African penguins were placed on the endangered list. “It was so disheartening. After all that work, to have the population so precipitously crash. I couldn’t help wondering how many of the 18,000 that we saved were now dead because of starvation.”

Nonetheless, deNapoli’s mission to save the species continues. She donates 20 percent of proceeds from her award-winning 2010 book, The Great Penguin Rescue, and from her many appearances, to groups working on penguin rescue, research, and conservation. She says that Senegalese conservationist Baba Dioum best summarizes what drives her: “In the end, we will conserve only what we love, we will love only what we understand, and we will understand only what we are taught.”

THE PENGUIN LADY’S LATEST BOOK Author of the award-winning 2010 book for adults, The Great Penguin Rescue, Dyan deNapoli recently published her first children’s book, All About Penguins: Discover Life on Land and in the Sea, an illustrated, nonfiction introduction to penguin ecology for 4- to 8-year-olds. Look for it at Amazon and Barnes & Noble. On social media, deNapoli can be found as The Penguin Lady. For more info, visit www.thepenguinlady.com.

WINTER 2020 BULLETIN 35

SAILBEYOND CANCER

Suzanne Snyder Johnson ’80 gives patients and their families a day on the sea— and a chance to leave their worries behind

BY CATHERINE NEWMAN

I

f you’ve ever known a person with cancer—and you have—you understand why you wouldn’t say to them, “The universe has a plan.” But talking to Suzanne Snyder Johnson ’80—cancer survivor, entrepreneur, boat captain, and nonprofit genius—it’s crazily tempting. Luckily, she jumps in and says it herself: “I really believe that I survived cancer to give people joy, solace, peace, and relief as they battle this disease. The ability to create opportunities for those who are sorely in need—that means everything to me.”

The “opportunities” that Johnson cherishes are the sailing trips she provides free of charge to cancer patients through her nonprofit, Sail Beyond Cancer.

Operating from two locations—Burlington, Vermont, where Johnson lives, and Salem, Massachusetts—the organization provides three-hour excursions to anyone with cancer, their family, and friends. The program is donation-funded and powered by compassion; the captains and crew are all volunteers. “This is an opportunity for patients to make memories—and to be outside with their loved ones,” Johnson says. “I believe that being on the water sailing is a transformative experience.” Those who have sailed with her agree. “Cancer is at turns boring then excruciating,” observed a patient named Abe. “This sail made me feel alive again.”

Johnson’s path to this moment is both obvious and completely implausible.

As with any life, you can connect particular dots to end up with a picture of now. For Johnson, those dots include: growing up on the water in Greenwich, Connecticut.; having a father who was commodore of the New York Yacht Club; going to Williston where she met like-minded sailing enthusiasts; and getting her captain’s license five years after graduating. At that time, she thought, “Maybe, I’ll sail around the world!”

But she didn’t. She married, had three children (Jessie, Alec ’14, and Caroline), and worked in real estate. She divorced and raised the kids on her own. She bought and sold Tilley’s Café, a popular Hawaiian-style nautical-themed restaurant in Burlington. And, then—fast forward to 2010—she found a lump in her breast.

She was diagnosed with stage 2 breast cancer.

Johnson went through chemo and radiation treatments. To stay sane, she sailed with friends. Once recovered, she took a job at the Red Cross as a major gifts officer. “And the whole time, while I’m learning about development, I am thinking, ‘What if I were able to start a nonprofit connected to what I just went through?’” she says. “‘What would that look like?’”

A pivotal suggestion came from a therapist and cancer survivor, who

36 WILLISTON NORTHAMPTON SCHOOL

encouraged Johnson to unite her love of sailing and her care for those battling cancer. “Immediately, that idea took hold of my heart,” she recalls. “When I would mention it to friends, they were incredibly supportive, saying, ‘You should so do it!’ But, in the next sentence they would say, ‘Where are you going to find a boat!?’ The first time I heard that question, I had no idea. But the second time, I answered, ‘A boat will come to me.’” And, it did.

Soon after making that declaration, Johnson was invited to dinner with the family of a man she was dating. At the table, a beloved uncle suddenly put down his drink, burst into tears, and told the family that he was dying of cancer. After dinner, knowing that Johnson had just gone through treatment herself, Uncle Al and Johnson shared their experiences and dreams for the future. Four months later, having lived past his doctor’s predictions but nearing the end, Uncle Al summoned Johnson to the family home, sat her down, and asked, “Do you want my boat?”

It was perfect: a 30-foot O’Day sailboat named Jubilee. Johnson hesitated.

“Uncle Al,” she began, “I’m thinking of splitting up with your nephew.” Uncle Al didn’t blink. “This is for you and what you need to do.” And, in the summer of 2014, on the waters of Lake Champlain, her first nonprofit, Healing Winds, was born.

The venture grew quickly. Johnson was able add boats and an additional location. By 2019, Healing Winds had taken out more than 1,800 groups, and had enlisted more than 18 captains and 100 volunteers. However, in 2020, a split in the board and issues relating to trademarks caused Johnson to leave the organization. She started up again with her new group, Sail Beyond Cancer, a change she sees as “an opportunity to start afresh and remake this new organization to serve our communities with even greater clarity and intention.” She is now working to expand the organization from its two locations (and invites any Williston alums who have experienced cancer or who are passionate about sailing to get involved).

This summer, as COVID-19 forced changes to excursion protocols, the sails continued, with the help of screenings, reduced crews, and guest limitations.

“Cancer does not stop for COVID,” Johnson points out. And it is clear she has found her calling. “We provide silver linings— actions and metaphors that have meaning,” she explains. “Casting off the lines, giving control over to the elements, and then, even though their lives may be completely out of control physically, psychically, and emotionally, we turn off the engine and let the patient take the helm. For three hours, everything else is left on shore…”

PHOTOGRAPHS BY WHIT WALES

A day on the water with Sail Beyond Cancer; below, founder Suzanne Snyder Johnson

“Even though their lives may be completely out of control psychically and emotionally, we turn off the engine and let the patient take the helm.”

TO LEARN MORE, GO TO WWW.SAILBEYONDCANCER.ORG

WINTER 2020 BULLETIN 37

BODY GURU Midsize body-positive blogger Merideth Morgan ’03 creates content through fashion and fitness to reach women who are “in between”—neither small nor plus size

BY CATHERINE NEWMAN

A

sk Merideth Morgan for a one-liner about what she does, and she’ll laugh. “I feel like if you don’t have three or four things going on, you’re not a real New Yorker!” And, despite having grown up in Amherst, Massachusetts, Morgan is a real New Yorker now: a wardrobe stylist, midsize and curvy fashion blogger, model, actor, content creator, Instagram influencer, and self-love and body-positivity advocate. She is also, as her website will tell you, “Obsessed with: God, fashion, basketball, photography, and creating art.” We got a chance to catch up.

Tell us more about what you do.

I have an online platform—a body positive blog—where I inspire and encourage women to love their bodies, to love the skin that they’re in. It’s a place for women who don’t necessarily fit into a category—not the small sizes nor the plus sizes, but this in-between area that no one talks about. I’m really trying to create a space where women can see themselves represented. I’m trying to break down barriers. Plus, I’ve had a difficult time getting modeling work because of my size, and I’d really like that to change!

What was your style like at Williston?

We had a dress code, so I got used to planning outfits, probably more so than the average high school student! That’s when I really fell in love with fashion.

Once, I showed up at my cousin’s house wearing a white denim skirt with a beige button-down shirt tucked in and a matching beige wedge cork heel, and she asked me why I was so dressed up! And I remember this other outfit: bright orange terry-cloth Baby Phat pants with a drawstring—I had paired them with this white off-the-shoulder T-shirt and white Air Force sneakers with a matching orange bottom and a set of beaded orange bracelets. I guess everything back then needed to be matching. And one girl was like, “I hate you so much!” but at 38 WILLISTON NORTHAMPTON SCHOOL

the time I didn’t understand what she meant. Both of these scenarios confused me. But fast forward, I realize that a) I really love to put together outfits and b) I had a keen eye and intense love for fashion.

What influenced you back then?

I subscribed to Vibe magazine and I would tear out sheets and fill my walls.

I didn’t realize that fashion or modeling was ever something I could do one day!

It was just something I used to be in awe of. I didn’t even know what a fashion stylist was. Didn’t even know it existed.

And my body didn’t look like any of the models, so it wasn’t even a thought. But it was something I was so passionate about without even knowing it. Even though we were just, you know, shopping at the Holyoke Mall.

Favorite teacher at Williston?

Mr. Bindig! We read The Old Man and the Sea in his class and remember vividly how he helped us break down all the hidden religious messages. Marcia Reed and Mr. Hing were my other favorites. I owe a lot to the both of them for inspiring and igniting my creative/artistic side. Can’t forget my basketball coaches. Coach Brown—“Brownie.” And Amy Seymour —she was my all-time favorite person at Williston. Hands down. She used to call me JLo (laughs).

PHOTOGRAPH BY JP BEVINS PHOTOGRAPHY

You still play basketball!

Yes! I play in a league or sometimes I shoot in the park by myself. Moving my body is super important, even though I’m not competing anymore. I encourage people to move their bodies as much as possible. That’s an important part of my messaging for my online community. It’s so good for our mental health, our heart health, and many other things that have nothing to do with our appearance. But you have to find the joy in movement or you’ll be less motivated to move! Don’t go to the gym if you hate going to the gym. Don’t run if you hate running. Find something you enjoy doing, and do that.

What was your New Year’s resolution?

Always to be a better person—it’s that every year. To pray daily. And to become more financially savvy. I was never taught about investments or savings. We were never taught, specifically as women, and not knowing has been a detriment. It’s on me to learn and educate myself. How can we invest and grow our money? I want to buy a house! But with an additional space that I can rent out and alleviate a mortgage payment. That’s the way I want to think...to be more financially free.

Hardest lesson learned?

I had a 9-to-5 job for quite a few years, and I worked for a woman who literally was the devil! She’s essentially why I decided to become a freelancer. I never want to work for someone for the rest of my life. I thought, “Why am I putting myself in a situation where I’m working for someone else’s dreams, when I have my own dreams?” This actually wasn’t the hardest lesson I learned...it was the best decision I made, but leaving a steady paycheck with benefits and trying to survive working for myself was hard.

Best books you’ve read this year?

It’s definitely been a COVID silver lining—having a chance to read so much. I read more books in 2020 than I ever have before! Let’s see. Untamed by Glennon Doyle. It’s so inspiring! And The Virgin Suicides by Jeffrey Eugenides. One of my all-time favorite books.

Favorite take-out order?

I hate cooking! I am the worst. I would rather spend my time creating content.

So, yeah. I’m a pescatarian, on the verge of vegan. I love Thai food— especially pad thai and massaman curry—and Indian food, vegetable masala.

Favorite thing about New York?

The energy. The uniqueness and the diversity of the people here! I love going back to Amherst to see the stars—but then I’m ready to come back here.

DON’T MISS OUT! Stay up to date on the latest events and networking opportunities!

FOR DATES AND MORE INFORMATION, AND TO REGISTER, VISIT THE ALUMNI EVENTS PAGE • williston.com/alumni/events FOR NETWORKING AND CAREERFOCUSED EVENTS, JOIN • Williston Connects www.willistonconnects.com • Williston Alumni LinkedIn Group • Williston Alumni of Color LinkedIn Group LOOKING FOR YOUR CLASS FACEBOOK GROUP? MISS A MONTHLY NEWSLETTER? • Find them on The Wildcat Hub www.williston.com/alumni/thewildcat-hub QUESTIONS? COMMENTS? • Email: alumni@williston.com • Call: (800) 469-4559

A MISSION OF GRATITUDE Jeff Bastable ’65 recognizes veterans with Honor Flight

BY JONATHAN ADOLPH

40 WILLISTON NORTHAMPTON SCHOOL

Jeff Bastable’s ties to the Armed Forces run deep. Both his father and father-in-law served as physicians in World War II, and his son, daughter, and son-in-law are all veteran Navy officers. His uncle, LeGrande Howell, served in the Navy in World War II before joining the faculty of Williston Academy in the 1950s (and later put in a good word for young Jeff with Headmaster Phil Stevens).

So when Bastable first heard about the Syracuse, N.Y., hub of Honor Flight, a national network that flies veterans to Washington, D.C., to visit the memorials that were built in their honor, Bastable did not hesitate to enlist. Today, as the hub’s director of philanthropy and a member of the board, he has

PHOTOGRAPH BY CALYPSO RAE PHOTOGRAPHY

“To see the joy in the faces of those veterans when they experience that day, and what they write us about afterwards, it’s unbelievable.”

helped lead all but one of the group’s 14 trips, and says that it is “the best thing we’ve ever done.”

That “we” is Bastable and his wife, Susan, who also volunteers with the group, serving as a medical chaperone on what the group calls its “missions.” A nurse and educator who was the founding dean of the Le Moyne College nursing program, Susan first heard of Honor Flight and put Jeff in touch with the Syracuse chapter’s president, Rear Admiral John Paddock. “I said, John, you can count on me,” recalls Bastable, who was disqualified from military service himself by a blood pressure condition. “I don’t know what I have to do, but I’ll do it.”

Founded by Earl Morse, an Ohio physician assistant who in 2005 recruited members of his Air Force aeroclub to fly a dozen veterans to Washington in small planes, Honor Flight now charters commercial jets for its all-expensespaid tours of the nation’s capital. The group has transported some 250,000 veterans to date, many of them in their 80s and 90s (although veterans of any age are welcome). The day is marked by events honoring the vets at Washington’s various

memorials, as well as a celebratory reception at their local airport upon their return. Since 2013, Bastable’s Syracuse hub has flown nearly 1,000 veterans, an achievement recognized in November when the couple were honored with Onondaga County’s 2020 Friend of Veterans Award. While the COVID-19 pandemic put the group’s twice-a-year missions on hold, they hope to resume flights in April.

A former health care management executive and hospital CEO, Bastable had a long history as a community volunteer and fund-raiser before joining Honor Flight, including more than 30 years with the United Way. He finds the work with Honor Flight particularly rewarding. “To see the joy in the faces of those veterans when they experience that day, and what they write us about afterwards, it’s unbelievable,” he says.

Being able to connect personally with those who witnessed history has also given Bastable a new appreciation of the subject he studied with Robert Varnum ’60 at Williston. “Bob understood what I didn’t as a 17-year-old boy, that history is not so much about the dates. It’s the why, what,

Honor Flight veterans at the World War II Memorial in Washington, D.C.

and how,” says Bastable. “And now I’m hearing these stories about the Battle of the Bulge from guys who were there, or what it was like to be on the beach at Normandy.”

The veterans’ stories, in turn, reveal a level of character that today has become all too rare, he adds. “Service was so important,” he says. “To hear their humility and their commitment to their country, even as young kids, it just heartens me at a time when it’s hard to find those kinds of values.”

Bastable says his own commitment to community service was inspired by his friendship with his Williston roommate Robert Childs ’65, who died in a hiking accident in Switzerland the summer before he was to begin his studies at Yale. Childs’ personality, intellect, and promise left such an impression on Bastable that today, when faced with a test of values, he still asks himself, What would Bob do? Working with Honor Flight is Bastable’s most recent answer. “In a sense,” he says, “it’s serving Bob’s purpose.”

To learn more about Honor Flight Syracuse, go to honorflightsyracuse.org.

WINTER 2020 BULLETIN 41

M O R E T H A N A R U N N E R

Africans—eight of the top ten male finishers at the most With a leg up from Sidney Baptista ’05, runners from all walks of life recent Boston Marathon were from Kenya or Ethiopia—but and levels of experience came together last fall on behalf of racial jusamong amateurs the sport remains overwhelmingly White. tice in Boston. An entrepreneur, marathoner, and host of the podcast One of the barriers, Baptista says, is representation. “In my Fitness in Color, Baptista put together the city’s More Than a Run 5K neighborhood, you can see a basketball player, you can be a road race. The virtual event—participants completed solo runs, then rapper. Representation matters.” He started Pioneers Run logged their results on a digital platform—raised more than $50,000 Crew to help normalize running in the Black community. “I for three area organizations: Helen Y. Davis Leadership Academy, a wanted to share the joy running brings me,” he says. tuition-free charter school committed to culture-based education; The team’s name pays tribute to the New York Pioneer Violence in Boston, a nonprofit that serves families affected by urban Club, founded by three African American men in 1936 as trauma; and Boston University’s Center for Antiracist Research. one of the country’s first integrated athletic organizations.

“As runners, we love to be together,” says Baptista, who in 2017 Among its biggest stars was Ted Corbitt, Olympian, marathon founded Pioneers Run Crew, a club centered in Dorchester, the champion, and grandson of enslaved people. predominantly Black and immigrant Boston neighborhood where From a gathering of a few diehards, the Dorchester group he grew up. When the pandemic curtailed club activities, members has grown to include a revolving cast of some 500 athletes. It found themselves cut off from that camaraderie. The loss took on hosts free weekly training sessions, is active in neighborhood special urgency amid the summer’s reckoning over the killings of clean-up events, spearheads fundraising initiatives like the unarmed Black people in the U.S. The murder of Ahmaud Arbery SIDNEY BAPTISTA ’05 IS BRINGING More Than a Run 5k, and has launched an athleisure wear struck especially close to home: He was gunned down by white RUNNING—AND company that aims, says Baptista, “to build equity and ownermen while jogging. “People started asking, ‘How can we help?’” says COMMUNITY ship in the Black community.” The club’s pre-pandemic group Baptista. “‘What can we do as runners in the push for racial justice?’”

EMPOWERMENT— runs through the neighborhood routinely brought people out At Williston, Baptista was known as a sprinter, setting school TO HIS BOSTON onto their porches to cheer. Its activities have gained notice records at the 100-meter and 200-meter distances and anchoring NEIGHBORHOOD well beyond Dorchester, and recently PRC was written up in a record-setting 4-x-100-meter relay team. He proudly recalls the

BY KEVIN MARKEY Runners World magazine. assembly when Athletic Director Mark Conroy called him “the Not long ago, Baptista received a letter from a young club fastest man in Williston history.” He took up distance running in member. She wrote, “When you think of a runner, who do 2014, in part to help manage the stress and moments of self-doubt you picture? If you asked me before May of 2018, I would not he felt after leaving a comfortable career at consulting giant Pricehave described anyone who looks like myself. The spring day when I first joined waterhouseCoopers to start his own business. “Williston, college, PwC, there Pioneers Run Crew marked the start of my journey as a runner. At that moment was always a path,” he observes. “And suddenly there wasn’t.” Within a year, I became part of a community committed to uplifting one another in all aspects he ran his first marathon. of life. Yes, we run together. Yes, we like personal records. Yes, we like to have While pounding out training mileage around Boston, Baptista encountered fun. But what fuels us is our love for our community.” very few Black runners. Distance running for years has been dominated by 42 WILLISTON NORTHAMPTON SCHOOL

PHOTOGRAPH BY DOUG LEVY PHOTOGRAPHY

alumni news

WINTER 2020 BULLETIN 43

alumni news

Riding with nomadic herders in western Mongolia on their annual four-day spring migration

Making friends with a wolf puppy in Mongolia; below, a member of the Maasai in Africa explores his territory

LIFE LESSONS FROM THE NOMADIC SCHOOL World traveler and leadership consultant Anthony Willoughby ’70 uses the guidance of tribal cultures to help the rest of us find our way

BY JONATHAN ADOLPH

Experiencing a yurt-ful of traditional Mongolian hospitality 44 WILLISTON NORTHAMPTON SCHOOL

Nomadic School of Business speaker Emmanuel Mankura, an elder of the Maasai tribe, explains the fundamentals of leadership to Japanese executives in Tokyo

A

nthony Willoughby ’70 still vividly remembers the day his headmaster at London’s prestigious Harrow School suggested he continue his education elsewhere. “He said, ‘Anthony, let’s get one thing clear,’” recalls Willoughby, the eccentric founder of The Nomadic School of Business, a leadership training program that draws on the wisdom of tribal cultures. “‘You are far, far too stupid to go to university.

But how would you like to go on an English-Speaking Union exchange scholarship to America?’”

Raised in Africa by his adventurer father, Colonel Maurice Willoughby, a former Olympian and fourth-generation British army officer, and his mother, Nancy Dodd, a biggame hunter, Willoughby had gone from a happy childhood playing with pet scorpions to the formality of Harrow, a tradition-bound institution renowned since 1572 for shaping the scions of British aristocracy. It was not a good fit.

“My god,” Willoughby says today, “that was a lucky escape.”

Ending up at Williston, the 17-year-old experienced something new, “this glorious sense of freedom,” he says. “In

my day at Harrow, the headmaster was still wearing a top hat on Sundays and his word was God. And suddenly you hit Williston. I remember in English class once, Bruninghaus asked a question. So I put my hand up and said, ‘Sir, what’s the answer?’ He said, ‘No, it’s up to you to think about it.’ I had never had that before. I’ve always been told the answer.

So this really gave me hope.”

In the half-century since, Willoughby has continued to think deeply about life’s questions—What does success look like? What does freedom mean?—seeking answers from cultures in some of the planet’s most remote and inhospitable environments, from the jungles of Papua New Guinea to the steppes of Mongolia to the deserts of Africa. Through his conversations with Maasai elders, Mongolian herders, chiefs of the Chimbu tribe, and other indigenous peoples, he has assembled insights about how indigenous groups have adapted and thrived over the millennia, sharing that wisdom with an impressive roster of business leaders, including Bill Gates and Warren Buffett, both of whom joined him for team-building work at his teaching center at the Great Wall of China, which he opened in 1992. Other notable corporate WINTER 2020 BULLETIN 45

clients have included Ferrari, Dyson, and Virgin.

More recently Willoughby has brought his training program (remotely, in these pandemic times), as well as the tribal leaders themselves, to companies, schools, and organizations around the world, helping people rethink their own personal and professional journeys. Central to the process of understanding your place in life, he says, is knowing your territory, so Willoughby has participants draw a map. “Nomads for thousands of years have known their territory,” he explains. “They’ve had absolute clarity. They’ve had trust in themselves and others, and they’ve had the agility to adapt to the environment. That is what we’ve completely lost. That’s why we are now taking the territory mapping and helping people work out where they’re going. What are the swamps they’ve got to get through? What are the mountains of indecision? What are the goals? Once you get people talking in that language, then they can start to work out where they’re actually going and what’s important in their lives.”

Willoughby notes that the presence of Nomadic School of Business speakers, such as his Maasai colleague Emmanuel Mankura, who addresses groups in full tribal elder attire, adds credibility to the message. “Obviously, I can tell people this, but it’s far more realistic when you’ve got a bloke holding a goat saying, ‘Yeah, that’s what we’ve been doing for thousands of years.’”

The metaphor of the territory map well suits Willoughby, given his own peripatetic nature.

And, as it happens, his vagabonding got a boost at Williston, when during spring break he discovered hitchhiking. Traveling throughout the Southeast, he arrived in Florida to witness the launch of Apollo 13 (“bloody brilliant,” he recalls), bummed a ride on a private plane to the Bahamas, and, after graduation, hitchhiked across the American West, eventually seeing 45 states. He later hitched throughout South America, crossed Asia’s ancient Silk Road, and, while hitchhiking in Lhasa, Tibet, met his wife of 33 years, Victoria. He taught his two sons, Digby and Christian, to hitchhike on a trip to Istanbul. (He also has a daughter, Rebecca, and two grandchildren.)

More than merely a mode of transportation, Willoughby sees hitchhiking as a model of a healthy social transaction. “When you hitchhike, you have ‘Trust me’ across your chest. It’s basically, 46 WILLISTON NORTHAMPTON SCHOOL

Willoughby demonstrates his camel riding skills in Mongolia, wearing his I Will Not Complain shirt. Below: Mongolian archers and eagle hunters

alumni news

This page, clockwise from top: Around the fire with the Maasai in Africa; looking dapper on the Silk Road in China in 1981 (“I thought I was going to hitchhike with some girl,” Willoughby explains, “but she didn’t turn up”); a young child of northern Mongolia’s reindeer herders

I trust you. You trust me. And that’s a message that I’ve taken for the rest of my life.”

A natural storyteller given to self-deprecating humor, exhibited in the TEDx talk he gave in Tokyo in 2013 entitled “In Search of Inspiration” (also the title of a book he authored), Willoughby revels in sharing his extensive catalogue of life adventures—climbing the world’s tallest mountains without oxygen, crossing Papua New Guinea with only 24 bottles of wine and no food, ringing Linda McCartney’s sister for tea at Smith College while at Williston. But he is also fond of recounting his humbling mistakes, or cock-ups, as the Brits call them: failing dramatically at bullfighting, temporarily paralyzing himself in Western Mongolia after falling from a window trying to impress a girl.

Indeed, Willoughby formed a dinner group he calls

the Cock-up Club, to celebrate the wisdom of life experience, and appointed himself chairman.

Perhaps Willoughby’s most consequential cockup came when he was 22 and back in London.

Finding few opportunities, he bought a one-way ticket to Japan on the Trans-Siberian Railway, carrying the London yellow pages, thinking he would connect businesses in the two countries and make his fortune. Arriving after several weeks, he got to work. “I’d sort of ring up someone in pumping equipment in Japan and go, ‘Hello, pumping equipment? Willoughby here.’ Trust me. In those days, nobody spoke a word of English.” But he stayed on, teaching English, and eventually set up various businesses that allowed him to continue his travels in China and elsewhere in Asia.

“And that’s when I started to realize that, actu-

ally, I was learning from these journeys,” he says. “In Papua New Guinea, I learned a big man has many feathers. A bigger man can hand out his feathers.

The spear—you have to earn it. You can’t buy it.

You can’t give it away. I started to think of all those people I knew in Tokyo who thought they were selfactualizing because they had a BMW and director on their name card, but they hadn’t actually earned anybody’s respect. I started to see the link.”

To share what he was learning, he set up his first team-building business in Japan in 1989, calling it I Will Not Complain, a name inspired by a grumbling team member on that wine-soaked crossing of Papua New Guinea. A few years later, he expanded to Jin Shan Ling, China, at the foot of Great Wall, offering team-building and leadership to Asian business clients. He sold that business in 1999 to focus on territory mapping and the Nomadic School, but all his work has a common theme, he notes.

“Everything from 1988 onwards,” he says, “has been to unlock people’s trust in themselves, and to give them the willpower, the energy, the courage, the gumption to move forward in their lives with hope and self-belief.”

Today based in Sussex, England, Willoughby is still exploring. “I was in Kenya five times last year,” he says. “I was in Mongolia riding with the nomads a year ago. I last fell off a camel galloping about three years ago. I’m still out there doing stuff.” (Or was, before the pandemic.)

Among his recent travels was a return to Williston a few years ago, reuniting with classmates in the place where he first began living what has since become his personal and professional motto: Be clear, be bold, be free. “Williston was very, very good to me,” he says. “I have nothing but affectionate memories for it. I would not be doing what I’m doing now had it not been for Williston.”

But as for attending university, even Williston could not change Willoughby’s fate. “I certainly got interviewed by all the wonderful American universities, Harvard, Yale, and everybody else,” he recalls.

“They all said they’d love to have a young English gentleman like me. Until I got, I think, 300 on my SATs. And then they were not quite so impressed.”

Just as well. Willoughby would find his answers elsewhere.

To contact Anthony Willoughby or to learn more, go to nomadicschoolofbusiness.com.

WINTER 2020 BULLETIN 47

GUIDING COUNCILORS A NEW GROUP OF ALUMNI ARE HELPING TO SHAPE A BETTER WILLISTON BY JONATHAN ADOLPH

I

n his efforts to keep Williston true to its mission and reflect the values of the school community, Head of School Robert Hill now has a powerful ally. Actually, 43 of them.

The Head’s Visiting Council (HVC), an advisory group formed in 2017 to serve as a sounding board for school policies, advancement initiatives, and alumni-outreach strategies, welcomed 16 new members this year, bringing the total to 44. Though still relatively new, the council “has quickly gained an identity and become a significant resource for me,” Hill noted in a recent letter to the group, whose members reflect a diverse mix of backgrounds, ages, genders, and professions, hailing from 17 states and two foreign countries. “The perspectives that you and your fellow councilors are able to share from your own communities and experiences are particularly valuable now,” he added, “to inform our decisions in response to the extraordinary challenges precipitated by the novel coronavirus.”

The pandemic response, however, is just the most recent issue where the school has sought the council’s guidance. Members have helped the Advancement Office roll out networking events for alumni, served as ambassadors for Founders Day fundraising, offered support for a school initiative to emphasize the humanities, and weighed in on the date of 2019’s Reunion. “Thanks to their input and endorsement,” notes Director of Advancement Patrick Burke, “we were able to take a proposal to the board to move Reunion back to June, which was incredibly popular with alumni.”

The HVC, whose members are invited to serve a two-year term with the option of a second, was also asked to provide feedback on issues surrounding diversity and inclusion at the school, a process that left a positive impression on new member Paige Brinkley ’04. “Not only were we apprised of Williston’s response to the concerns of BIPOC [Black, Indigenous, and people of color] students and alumni,” she notes, “but we were consulted on approaches Williston should take in its attempt to confront its shortcomings.”

That opportunity to help make Williston the best it can be emerges as a common reason why council members choose to serve. “What brings this group together is a value alignment around what is most important for young people today,” explains Director of Alumni Engagement Jill Stern. “They see this as an opportunity to offer positive support to a place that they love so much.”

Once selected, members convene on campus for an annual fall summit and join

48 WILLISTON NORTHAMPTON SCHOOL

PAIGE BRINKLEY ’04 Home Washington, DC | Joined 2020 Occupation Attorney at the National Labor Relations Board Education B.A., political science, Howard University; J.D., New York University School of Law Williston Notes A three-year boarding student and member of the golf team, she participated in Big Brothers Big Sisters and TRIBE. Impact of the HVC “It has opened my eyes to just how vital alumni participation is to the school’s success. As Williston rises to meet the challenges of today’s world—namely, the pandemic and the nation’s (long overdue) racial awakening—it has been made clear to me that they are in a better position to do so because of alumni involvement. If Williston is to achieve its full potential, the onus is on us alums to step up by donating, attending or hosting events, mentoring, or joining alumni affinity groups and other organizations.”

HAOSHU XU ’13 Home Chicago, IL | Joined: 2019 Occupation: Consultant with Deloitte Education: B.S., business administration, economics, and strategy; M.S., customer analytics; both from Washington University in St. Louis Williston notes: A member of the squash team and Cum Laude Society, she received the Edward M. Lawton Jr. Prize, the David H. Thomas Spanish Prize, the Williams College Book Prize, the Arete Class of 1985 Outstanding Tutor Prize, the Fine Arts Prize, the Log Award, the Dartmouth Book Prize, and the Dorothy Bement Prize.

PHOTOGRAPHY BY SHAWN HUBBARD PHOTOGRAPHY, CHATTMAN PHOTOGRAPHY, AND JAMI SAUNDERS PHOTOGRAPHY

Impact of the HVC: “I got to see firsthand the relentless effort our administration and staff invest in our students.

Especially with the pandemic, I am overwhelmed by the amount of thought and work that has gone into ensuring our people’s safety and their ability to still enjoy school life as much as possible. I am more proud of Williston than ever (if that is even possible).”

TERRY MARTIN ’85 Home Larchmont, NY | Joined 2017 Occupation Partner/Client Leader at Table of Content, a hybrid creative development and production company Education B.A., history, Kenyon College Williston Notes A boarding student, he was a member of the soccer, basketball, and lacrosse teams, received the George Denman Award, and participated in theater and the Caterwaulers. He was just inducted into the Athletic Hall of Fame (see page 79).

Impact of the HVC “What it has really done—and makes me the most excited —is show me that Williston’s mission is the same as it was in the mid-’80s: inspire each student in the way that’s best suited for them. Complete appreciation for the individual. That wasn’t trendy back in the day, but the world has caught up to us.

And Williston is just doing it better than they did it before.”

“Williston’s mission is the same: inspire each student in the way that’s best suited for them.”

WINTER 2020 BULLETIN 49

alumni news

STEVE HOYT ’95, P’25 Home Hatfield, MA | Joined 2018 Occupation Business Development at AWH Inc. Education B.A., Union College; M.B.A., University of Connecticut Williston Notes A member of the basketball and lacrosse teams, he also sang with the Caterwaulers. His children Cal ’25 and Lucy ’25 now attend.

Impact of the HVC “The dialogue surrounding racial injustice and how it affects our Williston community has been the most powerful. We have learned more about our past, and several members have taken leadership roles in helping shape a better Williston for all. While the work is far from over, it’s an example of the willingness of the school community to create awareness and mobilize.”

TODAY’S HEAD’S VISITING COUNCIL Jondelle Jenkins ’71 | South Holland, IL Bob Grenier ’72 | Arlington, VA Louis Arp III ’73 | Raleigh, NC Michael Hirsch ’73 | Rancho Palos Verdes, CA Ann Lomeli ’73 | Whately, MA Keith Brown ’78 | Vestal, NY Mary Engvall ’81 | Groton, CT Hank Baer ’83 | Wilton, CT Mark Berman ’83 | Ponte Vedra Beach, FL Mary Ellen Bull ’83 | Clarendon Hills, IL Shannon Greenwood ’83 | Kennebunk, ME Bryant McBride ’84 | Lexington, MA Bill Okun ’84 | Mineola, NY Peter Kuyper ’85 | Mount Pleasant, SC Terry Martin ’85 | Larchmont, NY Christopher Briggs ’86 | Durham, NC Dana Harris ’86 | Charlottesville, VA Steven Weiner ’87 | Dallas, TX Kristi Prigmore ’88 | Newton, NJ Samantha Vardaman ’89 | Washington, DC David Mederrick ’91 | New York, NY Sarah Williams Carlan ’92 | Conway, MA Amber Hamilton ’94 | Memphis, TN Christopher Shields ’94 | Lee, MA Stephen Hoyt ’95 | Hatfield, MA Shaun Chapman ’98 | Brooklyn, NY Michael George ’98 | Washington, DC Joseph Maloney ’98 | Bethesda, MD Corie Fogg ’99 | Kensington, MD Sarah Levine Meyer ’00 | Old Greenwich, CT Peter Whiteford ’00 | Wilton, CT Ronald Chan ’01 | Kowloon, Hong Kong Charlie McNeil ’03 | Los Angeles CA Paige Brinkley ’04 | Washington, DC Adam Shepard ’04 | Los Angeles, CA Johanna Wakelin ’06 | Somerville, MA Joseph Wold ’06 | Roslindale, MA Andrew Bailey ’08 | Atlanta, GA Katherine France ’08 | Philadelphia, PA Reece Liang ’10 | Amherst, MA Susan Whitman ’11 | Truckee, CA Haoshu Xu ’13 | Chicago, IL Brendan Hellweg ’14 | Baltimore, MD

To see a complete list of the Head’s Visiting Council members, past and present, go to www. williston.com/hvc

PHOTOGRAPH BY CHATTMAN PHOTOGRAPHY

Hill for various regional gatherings and conference calls throughout the year. (The pandemic has forced the group to trade those in-person events for Zoom meetings.) “It’s a real working group,” notes Stern, “dealing with the key administrative and strategic issues that are on Bob’s radar.”

What’s more, the HVC’s access to both campus and the administration affords members a unique position as school champions and networkers. “They know what is happening at the school,” Stern notes. “Bob talks to them, the CFO talks to them, faculty talk to them, student panels take place for them. That makes them a really nice partner to have when you’re trying to get the word out.”

For their part, council members say the experience has strengthened their connection to Williston and to their fellow alums. “What we have at the core is a love and appreciation for the school and how it helped form who we are,” notes Steve Hoyt ’95, P’25, who joined in 2018. “No matter which decade you graduated or the experiences you had, there is always that common thread.”

MORE THAN CHILD'S PLAY

Meet three creative alums who are bringing their own deeply personal perspectives to the world of children’s media, using television, music, and books to reach a generation growing up in a time of social change and shifting values

BY JONATHAN ADOLPH

USING TELEVISION FOR EMPOWERMENT KOYALEE CHANDA ’92

PHOTOGRAPH BY JOHN DAVIS PHOTOGRAPHY

FOR MUCH OF HER 20-YEAR CAREER AS A TELEVISION DIRECTOR AND PRODUCER,

Koyalee Chanda was often “the only person of color in the room,” she recalls. Today, as vice president for kids and animation at Hello Sunshine, the award-winning production company founded in 2016 by Reese Witherspoon, she is embracing the opportunity to open doors for other storytellers, while “dismantling the preconceived boxes” that limit the complexity of characters in children’s television.

Hello Sunshine, the missiondriven company behind hits such as “Big Little Lies,” “The Morning Show,” and “Little Fires Everywhere,” creates programming with “women at the center of the story,” explains Chanda, who joined the company in January. “So we are now keying off that to do the same for girls—finding stories where the main female characters have agency and are empowered. These are, ideally, highly entertaining series for kids that also push the needle.”

That desire to shape media and society, in part, reflects Chanda’s own experiences at Williston. A day student from Holyoke and the daughter of a prominent obstetrician, she followed her older brother to the school and let her outgoing personality shine, especially in the theater. “I would audition for every play, and I would never get a role, but that didn’t deter me,” she says.

“I would do whatever I could to be involved in other ways. I would make props. I would paint the set. I would stage manage if I could. I worked part time in the theater office under Ellis Baker. I found my love of theater at Willison.”

But when the school held tryouts for a Tennessee Williams play, Chanda was told that the production

had too many racial undertones and there just wasn’t a part for her, she recalls. “It was explicitly told to me that I did not fit the bill racially to be cast,” she says. “So I just didn’t work on that particular production. And that was a moment of real clarity for me.”

Chanda didn’t give up on the theater program and now sees that experience as a mobilizing moment for her, and an illustration of how the decisions of show creators can have broad impact. “The plays that were chosen had these racial specificities that I think boxed the casting in, in a way that was unfortunately exclusionary to people who didn’t fit into one of those boxes,” she says, adding with a laugh that she knows she’s “a terrible actor” and may not have gotten a part anyway. “But definitely the idea of wanting more representation and inclusion in casting, and even the choice of content, became very central to my career.”

That career took off right after Chanda’s graduation from Wesleyan University, where she majored in theater (she also holds a director’s certificate from New York University). Hired on to what was then a fledgling children’s program called “Blue’s Clues,” she began as a production coordinator (and the voice of Blue’s friend Magenta) but within a year was directing. “I don’t think anybody realized how big it was going to become,” says Chanda, who would eventually direct some 30 episodes as the show became an international phenomenon. “It was such an amazing training ground for me in terms of how to communicate with kids.”

From there, Chanda formed her own production company, creating content for Sesame Street Workshop, PBS Kids, Nickelodeon, and others.

She was the voice director for Nickelodeon’s “Backyardigans,” produced the pilot for PBS’s “Odd Squad,”

and was co-executive producer of Nickelodeon’s hit series “Wallykazam!” In 2018, she produced the family podcast “This Podcast Has Fleas,” an audio cartoon about a dog and cat with competing podcasts.

After moving to Los Angeles to work in creative development at Apple, she was hired by “Doc McStuffins” creator Chris Nee to work on Netflix programming, then made the move to Hello Sunshine. Over the years, her work has been nominated for seven Emmy awards.

Now living in Culver City with her husband and two daughters, ages 7 and 12, Chanda looks back at her time at Williston as an important period in her life. “It’s all formative and really incredibly valuable,” she says. She recalls how there was just one other South Asian girl on campus, who looked and acted nothing like her, and yet teachers often confused the two of them. Still, she says, she stayed close to the faculty in the theater department, “and I got an opportunity to assistant direct my senior year, which was amazing.”

Her experiences continue to

inform her work today with Hello Sunshine, where she has a number of animated children’s shows in the pipeline. “You can’t work in kids’ content and not have a really keen sense of how much impact you can have over your audience,” she says.

“Our goal is to make content that all kids can enjoy, but really be focused on making sure those girl characters are complex and funny and engaging and smart and empowered.”

Speaking in August in a livestream discussion titled Talking About Race With Children: How Storytellers can Facilitate Important Conversations, she offered this broader assessment of being a content creator for a young audience: “Not only do you need to make sure you are creating content that is really engaging, you have to do right by them. And do right by this world…. We may not have all the tools at this moment to tell all the exact right stories to rise to this challenge, but we are certainly going to try. And we are always looking for people to help us do that in the best and most authentic way possible. So bring it on!”

Check it out!

Beginning at “Blue’s Clues,” Koyalee Chanda has created content for a host of companies, earning seven Emmy nominations

WINTER 2020 BULLETIN 53

A FAMILY LEGACY, PUT TO MUSIC PIERCE FREELON ’02

PHOTOGRAPH BY CHATTMAN PHOTOGRAPHY

PIERCE FREELON’S NEW ALBUM OF CHILDREN’S MUSIC WAS BORN OUT OF SILENCE. A politician, filmmaker,

teacher, musician, and entrepreneur, Pierce is the son of Phil Freelon, architect of the National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington, D.C., and jazz vocalist Nnenna Freelon. After his father was diagnosed with ALS in 2016, Pierce, then a professor at the University of North Carolina with a wife and two young children, would visit him often. “We’d talk and reminisce and play chess and watch TV, and eventually we’d run out of things to talk about,” he recalls. “I’d be scrolling through my phone and show him videos of Halloween parties, playing basketball, and spending time with his grandkids. It was a deeply emotional time, a vulnerable time, and a creative time for me.”

Full of ideas, Freelon would leave his father’s house and go right to his studio to start working with the clips and voice memos he’d discovered, putting them to beats, adding vocals.

The next day, he’d share the compositions with his father. “I’d give him some headphones,” he says. “He would rock out, give me feedback.”

When his father died in 2019, the songs were still just fragments.

Freelon set about completing them, and found revisiting his digital family archive both cathartic and healing.

“People grieve in different ways,” he explains. “Some people sob, some eat ice cream. For me, music was my grieving tool.”

What eventually emerged is D.a.d., an album that uses hip-hop, soul, and electronic music to create what Freelon describes as “a family journal chronicling the life and times of a Black millennial father living in the South.” The topical and heartfelt songs—with titles such as “Tuck Me

In,” “Gather Your Clothes,” “Movies and Popcorn and Video Games,” and “Daddy Daughter Day”—are interspersed with voice memos featuring Freelon and his children, Justice, now 12, and Stella, 10, who also performs on the record. The album ends with a voice memo of his late father’s advice on being an artist, and a last song, “Ascend,” “about becoming a phoenix and being fearless and resilient in the face of change.”

Making a children’s music album is just the latest achievement in Freelon’s multifaceted career. In the years since graduating from Williston, he has earned a B.A. in African and African American studies at UNC Chapel Hill and an M.A. in Pan African studies at Syracuse University; founded Blackspace, a digital makerspace for local youth in Durham; toured and recorded with his jazz/hip-hop quartet, The Beast; co-founded the Emmy Award- winning PBS web series Beat Making Lab, in which he travels the world teaching kids hip-hop and music production; and taught political science, music, and African American studies at UNC and North Carolina Central University. In 2017, he ran for mayor of Durham on a platform of “community, growth, youth, and love.” He was appointed this year to the Durham City Council, and is continuing work as the writer, composer, and co-director of The History of White People in America, an animated musical series (three episodes are on YouTube) that reexamines our country’s racial past through a format he describes as “somewhere between Hamilton and Schoolhouse Rock!”

Freelon’s eclectic interests were evident even in his days at Williston, where he played football but also starred as Sky Masterson in a multicultural production of Guys and Dolls.

Growing up in Durham, he transferred to the school as a sophomore, following his sister Maya (named for Maya Angelou, a family friend), and reveled in the diversity he discovered. “Williston exposed me to the world at a really crucial time in my development,” he says, noting that one of his roommates was a fellow football player from Brooklyn with roots in Trinidad, another was a hiphop fan from Taiwan, a third was a Moroccan by way of Canada who spoke French and Arabic. “There was such a rich international community in my peer group. I always felt very comfortable interacting with people of radically different cultures.”

One Williston connection in particular had a lasting impact, Freelon recalls: Sherrie-Ann Gordon ’00, who was two grades above him and a charismatic presence on campus. “My first time rapping in a proper venue was at Williston, as a part of her senior project,” he recalls, “It was a hip-hop show with dance, performance, and poetry, and that was a really special creative experience for me.” Gordon died from cancer in 2015, Freelon notes, but he remembers her in particular for “the joy that she brought to creative

spaces and the way that she looked out, especially for the Black students on campus, in a very nurturing way.”

Freelon’s new album, his first for children, clearly shares that sense of creative joy and a nurturing spirit.

But as a Black artist in the children’s music field, he understands that his work also carries a political message.

“I’ve learned from studying Black feminist thinkers that the personal is political,” he explains. “And so my personal story has political implications in the broader marketplace of children’s music, where Black voices are seldom heard, and Black fathers even less so. There are certain stereotypes around Black masculinity and fatherhood, thinly veiled racist stereotypes, that aren’t true. That certainly wasn’t my experience.”

Which returns us to Phil Freelon, and how his son’s work is passing along the values he stood for. “If you have a loving parent, you don’t always think about the ways they’ve loved or cared for you, until they’re gone,” Freelon notes. “This album was really a product of reflecting on, How was he a great dad? How did he parent? How did he love me?

And how is that love manifested in abundance in my life?”

Check it out!

Pierce Freelon’s first album for children features contributions from his daughter, Stella, and voice recordings of his late father, architect Phil Freelon.

WINTER 2020 BULLETIN 55

CHILDREN’S BOOKS WITH A DEEPER MEANING KIMBERLY GORDON ’03

PIERCE FREELON ’02

alumni news

PHOTOGRAPH BYJAMI SAUNDERS PHOTOGRAPHY

CHILDREN’S BOOK AUTHOR AND PUBLISHING ENTREPRENEUR Kimberly (Lindsey)

Gordon loved writing ever since she was a little girl, but never thought it could be her career. At Williston, the Franklin, Mass., native channeled her considerable energy into athletics, captaining the track team for three years, and playing field hockey and basketball. When she discovered the school’s Writers’ Workshop program, she “fell in love with it,” she recalls. “We met authors. We had seminars. I was exposed to a whole community of individuals that were publishing books, traveling the world. But I just didn’t ever connect that as something that I could possibly do.”

After graduation, Gordon earned her B.A. at Simmons, majoring in communications (with minors in English and Africana studies) followed by an M.A. in communications from Columbia. She found success in the business world, specializing in digital marketing for the College Board and Reed Business Information, among others. “I loved it,” she says. “But corporate America just wasn’t a fit for me.” In 2010 she decided to start her own company, Gordon Business Solutions, providing digital marketing for a range of clients, one of which happened to be a publisher of children’s books. Working on that project gave Gordon a glimpse of a lesser known facet of the writer’s world: the marketing side.

“That opened my eyes to what being an author was,” she recalls. “And how important what I knew—marketing—was to becoming an author.”

A few years later, now married with two young daughters, Gordon was shopping when her 3-year-old asked for a doll that was “like her.”

They couldn’t find one. “If there was an African American doll, she didn’t

feel it was like her. So I had to explain to her business and marketing through this conversation. And, I was like, This is a great book idea.”

Inspired, the author in Gordon emerged. The result was A Doll Like Me, a picture book, published in 2015, that tells the story of a girl named Mia who wants a doll that is as individual as she is, “a chocolate ballerina” who wears a purple superhero cape, has curly hair, and plays the guitar. When she can’t find one at the local stores, Mia and her friends, with the help of her fashion-designer mother, make their own, and soon are selling their custom doll kits to the other kids in town.

“It’s about starting a business and following your dreams, staying dedicated and focused,” Gordon explains.

“That’s something of importance to me, raising my kids with that mindset, which I did not know. I’m educating the next generation about things that I have learned, and continue to learn, in the business world, but in language that they can understand.”

To support the book, Gordon transformed her marketing business into a publishing company, 5D Media, and soon had spun off a coloring book version of A Doll Like Me titled Black Girl Boss. She has since written a number of other books, including I Am a Dancer Every Day of the Week (which she also illustrated— she is a former Scholastic Gold Key art award winner), about how practice leads to accomplishment, and A Day With Uncle Bembe, in which a boy experiences the work of his businessowning uncle. Now, five years later, 5D Media has published more than a dozen books, with others in the pipeline, including adult nonfiction titles on addiction and recovery, spirituality, and personal growth.

This year, Gordon notes, her focus is on nonfiction children books and

workbooks to support the diversity initiatives of school districts, parents, and homeschooling families. The company also produces school curricula and digital streaming content to support the books, selling to school districts primarily in the New York City area but also around the country and internationally.

Underlying both the children’s and adult titles is what Gordon calls “a deeper message” of personal empowerment and human potential.

“The aim of 5D Media content is to help an individual grow and transform into who they want to be,” she explains, adding that an earlier marketing project for a recovery group introduced her to the social and personal costs of addiction.

Being who you want to be requires having a clear mind, she says, which is not possible if you are controlled by drugs or alcohol. That realization led her to publish addiction and selfhelp content, “as we could not help the children without also helping the parents, teens, and young adults.”

That message of growth is reflected in her personal life as well. “I had to transform into the person that I am today,” says Gordon, who not only manages her business, with its six

employees, from the New York City home she shares with her entrepreneur husband, but also homeschools her two daughters, now ages 9 and 6.

“I have to have a schedule for everything—my husband’s schedule, my kids’ schedule, my schedule. I have my own business meeting, then I have a business meeting with my husband, then I have a business meeting with my staff. With my kids, we have a meeting before bed. We have goals.

I learned how to run my family like a business in order to survive.”

That confidence to take on challenges, Gordon notes, has its roots in her Williston experience. “The community, the support system— which I didn’t have in college—I felt that from my first campus visit,” she recalls. “I still love it to this day. I’m still friends with my friends from Williston. That feeling of being on campus has stuck with me and supported my belief that I could venture out and try something new.”

And she continues to do so. This holiday season, 5D Media released Gordon’s The Secret History of Popular Symbols Used in Everyday Life, the first in a series of nonfiction children’s books focused on spiritual growth.

Check it out!

The writing career of entrepreneur Kimberly Gordon began with A Doll Like Me and the coloring book version, Black Girl Boss.

WINTER 2020 BULLETIN 57

2.17.21

SAVE THE DATE! WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 17, 2021 Founders Day is your moment to join with the entire Williston Northampton School community to show your pride in the Green and Blue. Uplifted by your support, our faculty and students will continue to meet the challenges of this extraordinary year.

1,500 DONORS | 24 HOURS | TOGETHER AS ONE! When 1,500 supporters make a gift, it will unlock $100,000 for the Williston Northampton Fund.

MAKE YOUR GIFT ONLINE AT WWW.WILLISTON.COM/GIVE

CLASS NOTES

Williston alumni know things—a lot of things— so this fall we launched a Wildcat webinar series to share their know-how. In October, Mijanou Spurdle ’86 walked us through financial planning tips for every stage of life. In November, food and wine were on the menu, with Laura Bowman ’13 teaching us how to bake the apple galette, above, and sommelier Gordon Sullivan ’69 giving insights into wine pairings. And in December, Niels Gjertson ’98 helped us learn more about cryptocurrency, followed by Sean Kardon ’79 discussing the evolution of photojournalism. Our winter and spring roster is full of more fascinating topics and alumni presenters. Find out more and R.S.V.P. at williston.com/alumni/events.

THE YEAR OF THE ZOOM

REUNION 2020 AND BEYOND

W

hile virtual get-togethers may have started off as a substitute for in-person gatherings last spring, we quickly found that the video chats we’ve held since then—more than 55 of them—have served to connect us even more deeply with alumni from across the country and around the world. “That is the definite plus side to virtual events,” said Tammy Neils-Walker, Williston associate director of alumni engagement. “Everyone can attend, no matter where they live!”

As you’ll see on the next few pages, during Reunion Weekend—June 5 through 8—sixteen classes convened virtually, with alumni ranging from the class of 1955 to the class of 2015 and hailing from as far away as Alaska and as nearby as the Pioneer Valley. Photos were shared, stories were told, beverages were hoisted, and old friends were reconnected. An array of other gatherings have followed, as you’ll see starting on page 64. Whether alumni were sharing golf scores on the green, chatting with Emmy Award–winning actress Ann Dowd ’74, learning about financial planning and money management from Mijanou Spurdle ’86, talking sports, or dressing up with dogs—our community expanded in new and unexpected ways. We are heartened to know that Wildcat Nation remains, no matter what happens.

60 WILLISTON NORTHAMPTON SCHOOL

1970

These Williston Academy alumni love reuniting so much, they were dubbed honorary members of Reunion 2020, all 34 of them!

1960

1968

John Greenwood WA ’55 and Joanna Jones NSFG ’55 proudly represented at their 65th Reunion!

1950

1955

1970

“We had a lovely time this evening. No one has changed at all, except for the 50 years of life experience behind them!” said Diane Eskenasy ’70.

1960

1975

The Williston Academy classes of ’55 and ’60 joined up for a lively group Zoom call. The class of 1960 NSFG did their own thing, hopefully enjoying Whitaker-Bement mojitos!

The class of many sideburns and turtlenecks gathered from towns in Massachusetts and Florida to say hello.

1965 From the West coast to the East, ’65ers joined up with their 1960 classmates for a virtual tour of campus, which showed the new Residential Quad.

WINTER 2020 BULLETIN 61

1990 This illustrious class brought together 19 alumni to celebrate their 30th Reunion! That’s enough Wildcats to make a really impressive human pyramid.

2000 1980

1980

1990

“Arise, go forth, and conquer.” Tennyson said it and Denise Dumouchel quoted it in her 1980 yearbook. She was one of seven members of the class of 1980 to Reunion-Zoom.

2000

A lone member of the class of 2000 connected with the school, and we love him for it! Thanks for your dedication to Williston, Akintoye Moses!

1985 A baker’s dozen members of the class of 1985 had a great time reliving memories and reconnecting on a Zoom call during Reunion weekend.

1995 We had some Southwest representation on this call, as Wildcats Zoomed in from Colorado and New Mexico!

2005 Lilliana Santiago, who joined her 15th Reunion, said it best in her yearbook: “I can’t forget Williston.” Aw. 62 WILLISTON NORTHAMPTON SCHOOL

2010 Our furthest Zoom-in from Williston within the 50 states comes from this impressive class: Jazz hands for you, Savannah Sella from Kodiak, Alaska!

IT’S HAPPENING @ THE WILDCAT HUB Want to join the fun and connect with classmates? Navigate over to williston.com/ alumni/the-wildcat-hub for tools, events, videos, inspiration, and resources. Here’s a sampling of what you’ll find.

1

READ ALUMNI NEWS & STORIES Find out about front-line workers, strategic educators, and policy makers all facing today’s biggest challenges.

2010

2

2015 Five years flew by for Jenna Phelan, who joined in a Reunion call from nearby East Longmeadow, Mass.

WATCH ’CATS ON FILM Catch some wit, wisdom, and artistry from luminaries such as Alan Alda GP’11, Ann Dowd ’74, and Brad Hall ’75 in our video library.

3

LEARN SOME SKILLS Bake a crusty baguette, make your own personal protective equipment, or boost your wine IQ after watching alumni tutorials.

4

JOIN AN EVENT Download a sweet campus background, sign up for a class social, and catch up with old friends.

5

GET CONNECTED Wherever you are in your career, you’ll find potential colleagues, mentors, and networking opportunities on WillistonConnects. Joining is a snap!

WINTER 2020 BULLETIN 63

AN EVENTFUL YEAR! Your community of alumni, though scattered widely, is always here. Thanks to everyone who snapped and shared a pic, joined a video conversation—and tapped into the Wildcat spirit!

Amanda Bogue ’11, Erin McCullough ’10, Alex Starzyk ’13, and Laura Aptowitz ’13

JUST FORE FUN

Plenty of golfers hit the links this summer to play solo or join with friends in their bubble to compete for glory (and prizes, of course) in our virtual golf tournament.

Jeremy Deason

Teak Kelly ’65

Julie Haney Henry ’03 and family Will McLaughlin ’05

64 WILLISTON NORTHAMPTON SCHOOL

Darrell Harrison ’05

Nancy Kang ’17

class notes

Wildcat Huddle

1

At a Zoom with hockey alumni from across the globe, Adam Berger ’08 said hello from inside the NHL bubble.

2

Players from across a quarter century came together to celebrate the career of varsity baseball head coach Matt Sawyer, who marked 25 years of coaching in May.

WELCOME TO THE SMALL SCREEN Silver screen star Ann Dowd ’74 (above, top) earned an Emmy for her portrayal of Aunt Lydia in Hulu’s “The Handmaid’s Tale” and has been an indie film favorite for decades. Her passion for theater began at Williston, when Ellis Baker ’51 was her teacher and mentor. During a recent Zoom chat, facilitated by current theater teacher Emily Ditkovski (lower left) and Baker (lower right), Dowd shared her perspective on a 30-year career.

3

Twenty-three Wildcat football players joined Director of Athletics Mark Conroy and current coach Tommy Beaton for a Zoom call this spring—enough for two teams, plus one!

CLASS CALLS A sea of friendly faces on Zoom is a precious thing.

Several classes dived into the video chat pool to visit, share news, and reminisce.

Go to the Wildcat Hub if you want us to set up a chat for your class!

1970

1978

1979

1980

Denison Marsland-Rello ’13 (Star Wars family costume with dogs, Nyla & Luna)

POOCHES AND PUMPKINS ON PARADE

Jack Shumway ’13 and Alex Starzyk ’13

These dogs really raised our spirits this Halloween!

We got lots of entries for our spooktacular pumpkincarving and best-dressed-pet virtual photo contest. The results were, ahem, boo-tiful.

Alex Latkovski ’21’s dog, Cody

Mya Polastry ’26 (Eleven and the Demogorgon from Stranger Things) 1996

Erin McCullough ’10’s dog, Rocco

2004

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class notes

ALUMNI AWARDS Purpose. Passion. Integrity.

Instilled in students, lived by alumni. Alumni awards recognize loyalty, exceptional service, and achievement.

See full bios at williston.com (search Alumni Awards)

66 WILLISTON NORTHAMPTON SCHOOL

Roy Henwood ’65 FOUNDERS AWARD

Roy Henwood spent two years at Williston, where he captained the cross-country team and played on the undefeated ’64 lacrosse team. He graduated from Roanoke College. For 30 years, he led the trade association that represented the U.S. grain milling industry in domestic agricultural and international trade policy matters before the executive branch and Congress.

He then served in the Foreign Agricultural Service of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and in the U.S. Senate as an agricultural fellow. Roy has served as an annual fund volunteer, as class rep, and on Reunion gift and planning committees and has regularly returned to Williston for Reunions. He has attended and hosted regional alumni events. He is a member of the Elm Tree Society, has contributed to the Williston Northampton Fund for 26 consecutive years, and is a generous supporter of financial aid. He and his wife, Nancy R. Kuhn, live in Washington, D.C.

class notes

Pat Ingram Bone ’65

Teak Kelley ’65

DISTINGUISHED SERVICE AWARD

DANIEL AND JANE CARPENTER AWARD

Patricia Ingram Bone graduated from NSFG in 1965 and The College of Wooster in 1969. She married Stephen K. Bone on graduation weekend. She is an an Americana artist specializing in painting and collage. She has self published two books: Americana Collage and Americana.

Following her father’s advice to find inspiration in the world around her, Pat began painting on salvaged barn boards in the Charlotte area. After decades on the East Coast, she moved to California, where she has resided for the past 34 years near her three children and four grandchildren. Always eager to expand her own artistic education, Pat is currently exploring abstract painting with collage. Pat is the founder and generous funder of the Grum Project, Williston’s visiting artist program. The Grum Project brings artists of all kinds— musicians, actors, visual artists, dancers, and more—to campus for mini-residencies so that the entire Williston community can participate.

Thomas “Teak” Kelley was a three-year boarder, a member of the golf, soccer, and ski teams, and active in the Glee and Drama Clubs. Teak attended St. Michael’s College, where he continued his love of skiing, captaining his team senior year, and earning an NCAA Alpine Champion title. Teak taught English at Williston Academy and Holyoke High before entering Boston College Law School, followed by a career in civil litigation in Massachusetts.

An active volunteer for decades, Teak has participated in phone-a-thons, served as chair of his reunion committees, and supported the Williston Northampton Fund for 55 consecutive years. He has also attended every class reunion since graduation.

His most satisfying association with Williston, he says, is his long tenure as class agent. The “Guys of ’65” are quick to admit that they still share a tight connection to each other and Williston Academy through the Class Notes. Recently retired, Teak spends time traveling with his wife of 45 years, Denise.

Marcia Booth Drinkard ’70 DANIEL AND JANE CARPENTER AWARD

Marcia Booth Drinkard attended Northampton School for Girls for four years as a boarding student. Marcia was awarded the Headmaster’s Prize (shared) during 1970 graduation. Marcia has served as a class agent for the Williston Northampton Fund and a class rep for The Bulletin, and has attended every Reunion since graduation, except one.

For many of those, she tried to rally the class to attend and helped in the planning. She has led the planning committee for the 50th Reunion class of 1970 and has been instrumental in raising a class reunion gift of $20,000 for the Northampton School for Girls Instructorship. She is a member of The Elm Tree Society.

Marcia’s brother, Chip Booth, is a member of the Williston class of 1968.

After graduating from Elmira College, Marcia spent 11 years in human resources. She segued into a 14-year information technology career.

Now retired, Marcia and her husband, Dennis, live in Wilmington, North Carolina.

Sarah McCullagh ’10 ALUMNI TRAILBLAZER AWARD

Capt. Sarah McCullagh ’10 is an advocate, educator, and maritime professional dedicated to restoration and protection of the marine environment. After graduating cum laude with a degree in wildlife and conservation biology from the University of New Hampshire, Sarah has dedicated her professional life to the protection of marine mammals. Her work is currently focused on a population of critically endangered orca known as southern resident killer whales. Serving as the lead naturalist and vessel coordinator for a whale watch company in Friday Harbor, Washington, she designs programming for a wide audience of guests, trains new staff members, and publicly advocates for stronger protection for the ecosystem as a whole. Sarah earned her Merchant Mariner Credential, also known as a captain’s license, and now operates two of the company’s vessels.

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class notes

ATHLETIC HALL OF FAME 68 WILLISTON NORTHAMPTON SCHOOL

Charles E. Benoit Jr. ’60

Christopher M. Zook ’65

Charlie Benoit is one of the most accomplished studentathletes in Williston’s rich history. Charlie was a significant contributor to the football, wrestling, and lacrosse programs, winning eight letters in nine seasons.

As a senior, he captained Coach Rick Francis’ one-loss squad as a linebacker and center. In the spring, he also had great success on the lacrosse field. Playing on Williston’s first team in the spring of 1958, he became a linchpin for Coach George Buell, captaining the squad as a senior in the spring of 1960. Following a postgraduate year spent studying in Germany, Charlie matriculated at Yale University. In football, he excelled on the line, winning All Ivy League honors as a senior.

In lacrosse, he captained the team and earned MVP honors. He was a two-time All American, one of few twotime lacrosse All Americans in Yale’s history. Charlie is an accomplished linguist, commanding several Asian languages. He currently resides in Thailand, where he has lived for years.

Chris Zook was a threeseason standout athlete at Williston, competing in soccer, wrestling, and lacrosse. Playing for Coach Ray Brown ’55 in the fall, he earned two letters. In the spring, Chris earned three letters, played a major role as a junior on the undefeated 1964 team, and captained a strong team as a senior.

He was exceptional on the wrestling mat. In four years of wrestling at Williston, he lost a total of two dual meet matches. During an outstanding senior season, he both won the MIT Open Wrestling Tournament and was named the Most Outstanding Wrestler at the New England prep school championships. Following graduation, he attended Long Island University where he continued his success on the wrestling mat, losing two dual matches in four years. Following college, Chris continued to stay involved in the sport, coaching at both the high school and college level. He was inducted into the Long Island University Hall of Fame in 2016.

class notes

Boys Basketball Team ’65 The 1964-65 Williston basketball team was one for the ages. With a great balance of returning experience and new talent, the team finished with 19 wins and only two losses. Led by coach Rick Francis and captains Roger Walaszek ’65 and Bennie Zabek ’65, the team steamrolled its way through the regular season.

Highlights included sweeping home and away games with Cushing, Deerfield, and Mount Hermon, scoring a season-high 95 against Choate, and a convincing win over rival Suffield. The team won the Kingswood Invitational Tournament in December, as Jerry O’Neil ’66 was named most valuable player and teammates Walaszek and Skip Jarocki ’65 were named to the all-tournament team.

Averaging almost 70 points a game while giving up only 52, the team dominated. In the New England tournament, it was knocked off by Worcester Academy, coming up just short of its goal of winning a championship.

Walaszek and Jarocki were named co-MVPs.

Boys Swim Team ’70 The 1970 Boys Swim Team, coached by legendary Williston Hall of Famers Wilmot S. Babcock and David “Duff” Tyler ’63, enjoyed a truly remarkable season. The team competed against college freshman programs from Yale, Dartmouth, Cornell, Williams, Springfield, and West Point and convincingly defeated all of its prep opponents. With the exception of one dual meet loss by five points to the Harvard freshmen, the team was undefeated. In the New England Prep Championship, the squad dominated its prep competition by winning by more than 160 points. At the Eastern Prep School Championship, competing against top programs from Florida and New England, the team finished in third place. The team broke numerous records to include pool, New England, and even one national prep record. Led

by John Meade ’70 as captain, the team had an outstanding group of swimmers and divers to include sprinter Drew Brown ’70, diver Clark Falkenstein ’70, and distance swimmer Jim Bayles ’70. A remarkable six swimmers earned All American.

Terence D. Martin Jr. ’85

Holly McBurnie Kissane ’87

Terry Martin was an outstanding three-sport athlete who contributed to soccer, basketball, and lacrosse during his three years at Williston. While his contributions to soccer and basketball were noteworthy, his achievements as an attackman in lacrosse made him one of the truly outstanding players in Williston’s history. Terry’s senior year was remarkable as he scored a school-record 94 points in 14 games, leading the team to a 10-4 record.

His senior spring earned him team MVP, the Lance Odden Award given to the most outstanding offensive player in western New England, and the title of boys lacrosse All American. Terry earned the Denman Cup as the top senior boy athlete in the school. He went to Kenyon College, where he continued his success on the lacrosse field, leading the team in points, earning a team MVP, and averaging 4.6 points per game in his career, a school record. Terry has continued to give back to the game of lacrosse in his native Larchmont/Mamaroneck, N.Y., community.

Holly McBurnie enjoyed an outstanding four-year career at Williston, competing in field hockey, basketball, softball, and track and field.

In field hockey, she earned two letters and led Coach Ann Pickrell’s team in scoring as a senior. In the winter, she was a four-year stalwart for Coach Ray Brown ’55 on some of his finest teams, including the 1986 New England champion squad.

Holly earned four letters in basketball, captaining the team as a senior. As a sophomore, she was the team’s leading scorer and MVP. During the championship junior season, she was named to the all-tournament team at the prestigious Kingswood Invitational Tournament. She threw a no-hitter from the mound as a ninth grader. In track and field, Holly was a huge contributor to two undefeated teams in both her junior and senior year, captaining the team in her final spring. Excelling in the throwing events, she still holds the school record in the javelin. Her two older sons are alumni, and her youngest son is a senior.

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class notes

Jocelyn “Sis” Johnson Strum ’90

Bethany S. Babyak ’90

Girls Field Hockey Team ’99

Jocelyn “Sis” Johnson made an impact in all three seasons playing soccer, ice hockey, and softball.

During the spring, she was an offensive force in the softball program for Coach Sue Barnett’s nine, helping the team to consecutive winning seasons. Her greatest impact was on the girls ice hockey team. In a program widely recognized today as one of the premier girls programs in NEPSAC, many consider Sis the first impact girls hockey player in school history. Consider that the year before she arrived our team finished at 0-15. During Sis’ two years in the program, a remarkable turnaround took place as she led the team to consecutive winning seasons, finishing at 8-6 and then 11-7. Amazingly, she managed to score 123 points (including 89 goals!) in her two years averaging nearly four points per game! Her impact did not end with her graduation, as she sent both of her daughters, Jordan ’18 and Jersey ’20, to Williston, where both had an impact on the softball program as outstanding pitchers.

Beth Babyak certainly left her mark at Williston in a stellar four-year career that culminated with her being named the recipient of the Alumnae Award given to the top female senior athlete in the school. Winner of 11 letters in four years, Beth was a rare three-sport captain of the soccer, basketball, and lacrosse teams.

In soccer, she anchored the team’s defense while being named MVP as a senior. A four-year stalwart on the basketball court for Coach Ray Brown ’55, she had a decorated career on several excellent teams.

She earned MVP honors as a senior and league all-star honors as both a junior and senior. During her senior year, she averaged nearly 19 points per game and was named the MVP of the prestigious Kingswood Oxford Tournament held in December. In the spring, she brought her leadership, competitiveness, and athletic prowess to the lacrosse field, where she served as a two-time captain during her junior and senior years.

Longtime head field hockey coach Ann Pickrell considered the 1999 field hockey team one of the best in school history. Led by team captains Sarah Levine Meyer ’00 and Marisa Nebosky ’00, the team finished with a 12-4-1 record. Allie Joseph ’02 and Mandi Cherewatti ’02 were explosive goal scorers while goalies Colleen Hession Thom ’02 (a Williston Hall of Famer) and Johanna Gruber Schamm ’01 combined for seven shutouts in goal. The Wildcats gave up an average of only 1.2 goals per game while scoring nearly four goals per game as a team. The team’s terrific regular season earned them a NEPSAC postseason berth. In the quarterfinals, they defeated annual ISL power Noble and Greenough 2-1. In a thrilling semifinal game versus rival Berkshire, the team avenged an earlier season overtime loss with a 3-2 overtime win to reach the finals. At season’s end, newcomer Melissa Manseau-Martin ’00 (MVP) and returner Marisa Nebosky were both named Western New England all-stars.

70 WILLISTON NORTHAMPTON SCHOOL

Darrell Harrison ’05 Darrell Harrison went from novice freshman football player to starting a NEPSAC championship football game at cornerback by the end of the season. While he was also a strong contributor to the track and field program, it was on the football field and the basketball court where he truly excelled.

In football, he earned four letters, won three MVP awards, and became an All NEPSAC selection.

During his senior year, he accumulated over 1,000 yards running and receiving. In basketball, he was one of the truly outstanding players in our school’s history. Consider these accomplishments: MVP and captain for three years each, as well as only the second boy in school history to score over 1,000 points in his career. He led our team to back-to-back NEPSAC tournament appearances during his final two years. Following his career at Williston, Darrell went on to play football at Brown University, where he continued to excel as a three-year starter on two Ivy League champion teams.

class notes

REST IN PEACE, “STAN THE MAN” We remember a booming laugh, a wooden bow tie, and a very large heart.

A

math teacher and so much more, Stan Samuelson began his illustrious career at Williston Northampton School in 1982 and retired in 2014, an expansive tenure in which he was beloved by faculty, staff, and legions of students. Samuelson, who died this April of COVID-19, was the quintessential engaged faculty member who modeled volunteerism and active support of everyone in our community. He played an integral part in the Community Service Club, was a leader and supporter for the Gay-Straight Alliance and Diversity Committee, and was also a strong figure in the campus Jewish community, hosting a well-attended Passover seder in Whitaker-Bement each year. During his tenure, Samuelson was a dorm parent in both Ford Hall and Clare House and an active, engaged coach for many teams, including boys squash, cross-country, tennis, and soccer. His presence in the greater community, moreover, was extensive, given his limitless energy and unbounded spirit to help others. After retirement, he served on several boards for his local synagogue and taught brain aerobics and bridge at the senior center in Mashpee on Cape Cod, where he lived with his wife, Elinor Saltz. Those who knew him won’t soon forget his deep and resonant voice and his wonderful laughter.

“Stan was a fine math teacher and squash coach.

But he taught me more about life than either of those things. We talked of politics and philosophy and fairness and virtue, and occasionally of pre-calculus and where to stand on the court. Stan had a way of engaging with teenagers at exactly the right level to allow them to listen. His words both carried weight and offered comfort. He was a good man in a world that needs good men on the front lines of education.

And for whatever I was able to accomplish at Williston or since, Stan deserves a great deal of credit.”

—Jeff Traczynski ’00 “It should be no surprise that this bear hug of a math teacher was “Stan the Man” to decades of students.

He never made me feel stupid even when I was getting straight C’s in precalc, and for that I am strangely still grateful. He and his warm, big laugh will be missed.”

— Myra Palmero ’03

“I will never forget taking your geometry course. You were the first teacher to ever have us use your first name and first name only. Always ready with a quick joke or line and definitely made mathematics enjoyable. Your wooden bow tie was definitely my favorite.

Stan will long reside as one of the educators that inspired me to be a great educator to my students.”

—Nadine B. Muniz ’10 “Stan organized the first seder at Williston. I realize now that it was something completely new to the school, and it taught me to be proud to celebrate our shared heritage and invite others to join as he did in such a joyous manner.”—Rex Solomon ’84 “Beyond being an exceptional and one-of-a-kind educator, Stan was a moral beacon on campus. He was there for so many of us who were different or struggled to fit in, always ready to lend an ear and greet us with a smile or a joke.” —Bryan Perley ’10

“Stan was my dorm parent during my junior year at Williston in 1994. That was the year I left my hometown, Hong Kong, to attend boarding school in the U.S. I was trying hard to adapt to my boarding school life and was quite homesick. Stan and his wife Elinor were always extremely nice, kind, and attentive during my stay at Clare House.”

— Amelia (Kam Ping) Ng ’96

“Stan was one of those those teachers you look back and remember the very moment they changed your life! He believed in me, he encouraged me and made me less fearful of math. Stan came to swim/ diving meets, track meets and I always felt supported despite being far away from family.”—Christine McBride ’92

“Stan was a great guy, 100% genuine, always had the students’ best interest at heart. It is terribly sad to see him succumb to this awful disease. He will be greatly missed. A true ’school man.’”—Bob Shaw, former faculty

“Stan was my dorm parent and geometry teacher.

My favorite story was his detailed account of his first day at Woodstock, and that he was not sure what happened on the other two days. He will always have a place in my heart.” —Chad Beyerle ’89 WINTER 2020 BULLETIN 71

class notes

IN MEMORY This listing contains the names of alumni whose deaths were reported to the school between April 1, 2020, and October 31, 2020, although their passing may have occurred outside those dates.

1940 Thomas H. Buffinton of Plymouth, Mass., died May 16, 2020. He is survived by his son, Thomas III; his daughter, Holly; five grandchildren; seven great-grandchildren; and three great-great-grandchildren.

class notes

Barbara “Bobby” MacNeil Fuller of Marion, Mass., died June 17, 2020.

She is survived by her children, Frances, Faith, Abigail, Ruah, and Jean; and nine grandchildren.

Audrey Morgan Leaf of Chilmark, Mass., died April 9, 2020. She is survived by her husband, Carl; her daughters, Karen and Kirstin; her sons, Eric and Nils; her sister, Prudence; her brother, George; nine grandchildren; and eight greatgrandchildren.

1949 Paula Burgee Gallup of Longmeadow, Mass., died September 6, 2020.

She is survived by her husband, John; her daughters, Susan and Paula; her son, Bruce; six grandchildren; and two great-grandchildren.

1944

Joseph C. Stevens of Hanover, N.H., died October 5, 2020. He is survived by his daughters, Barbara Stevens ’76, Mary, and Susie; his brother, Aaron Stevens ’45; and six grandchildren, including Joe Sansone ’15 and Jordan Sansone ’17.

1948 Domenica Margaret Spinelli Duprey of Northampton, Mass., died May 15, 2020. She is survived by her sons, Gary and Nicholas; a daughter, Donna, predeceased her.

She is also survived by her brother, Vito; three grandchildren; and three great-grandchildren.

1956

Justin “Bill” Howland of Emmett, Idaho, formerly of Redding, Calif., died June 4, 2020. He is survived by his wife, Cindy; his sons, Keith, David, Scott, and Craig; his daughter, Tracy; his brother, Dick Howland ’47; 13 grandchildren; and 15 greatgrandchildren.

David W. Chase of Scottsdale, Ariz., died April 30, 2020. He is survived by his wife, Joan; his daughters, Cathy and Chris; his brother, Dick; and three grandchildren.

Ralph L. Sautter of Lexington, Mass., and Biddeford Pool, Maine, died March 28, 2020. He is survived by his wife, Carol; his daughter, Janet; and three grandchildren.

1952

Rebecca Grafton Sparks of Falmouth, Maine, died May 19, 2020.

She is survived by her son, Craig; her daughter, Carol; her stepdaughters, Tania and Lana; seven grandsons; and nine great-grandchildren.

Alexander D. Henderson of Carmel Valley, Calif., died May 12, 2020. He is survived by his wife, Madonna; his sons, Dawson, Greg, David, and Scott; his daughter, Holly; his brother, A. Douglas; 10 grandchildren; and three greatgrandchildren.

1951

1950 Robert A. Alden of McLean, Va., died June 7, 2020. He is survived by his wife, Diane; his sons, William and Thomas; his daughters, Jennifer and Martha; four grandchildren; and two great-grandchildren.

Diane Warner Wojtowicz of Marco Island, Fla., died August 28, 2020.

She is survived by her daughters, Lynn and Tami; her sons, Clark and Jay; nine grandchildren; and four great-grandchildren.

1953 William “Bill” Clark Jr. of South Windsor, Conn., died September 5, 2020. He is survived by his wife, Evelyn; his daughter, Marie; his son, William; and two granddaughters.

Theodore “Ted” Kurrus of Green Valley, Ariz., died September 12, 2020. He is survived by his wife, Rita; his daughters, Kimberly and Kristina; his sons, David and Alexander; his stepson, Christopher; his brother, Theo; his sister, JoAnn; and 11 grandchildren.

Cherry Copeland Gillespie of Greenville, Del., died May 31, 2020.

She is survived by her son, Brook; her daughter, Sally; and three grandchildren.

Robert W. Graham of Jackson, Wyo., died March 19, 2020. He is survived by his wife, Karen; his children, Monica, Tait, Duncan, and Andrew; and seven grandchildren.

Lawrence H. Herzig of Castle Pines, Colo., died August 14, 2020.

He is survived by his wife, Joan; his daughter, Catherine; his son, Philip; his stepsons, Rob and Glenn; his stepdaughter, Elizabeth; his sister, Linda; 14 grandchildren; and seven great-grandchildren.

1957 Judith Hawley Edwards of Olney, Md., died March 3, 2020. She is survived by her husband, Adolph; her son, Robert; her daughter, Mary; her sister, Joanna; and six grandchildren.

Edward “Mac” Harper of Glastonbury, Conn., died June 27, 2020. He is survived by his wife, Marilyn; his son, John; and his daughter, Melissa.

Evelyn Lyman Smith of West Hartford, Conn., died October 20, 2020. She is survived by her daughters, Wendy, Kimberly, Brenda, and Cheryl; and eight grandchildren.

72 WILLISTON NORTHAMPTON SCHOOL

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class notes

1958

1963

1973

1984

Alan “Chip” Hagstrom of Rockport, Mass., died April 5, 2020. He is survived by his wife, Grace; his son, Alan; his daughter, Alison; and eight grandchildren.

Arthur E. Gramse Jr. of Cape Elizabeth, Maine, died April 8, 2020. He is survived by his children and stepchildren, Shannon, Joshua, Jody, and Tracy; his brother, R. Reed Gramse ’66; and his sister, Gaylin.

Richard “Rick” Dec of Hadley, Mass., died March 29, 2020. He is survived by his sister, Doreen; and his brothers, David and Steven.

Nana Staub of Santa Rosa Beach, Fla., died March 9, 2020. She is survived by her mother, Nancy; her brother, Tommy; and her sisters, Liz and Leslie.

A. Michael Saaf of Yellow Springs, Ohio, died June 1, 2020. He is survived by his former wife, Barbara; his daughters, Shelly and Jennifer; his son, Jason; eight grandchildren; and one great-grandchild.

Robert M. Westover of Cutchogue, N.Y., formerly of Shelter Island, N.Y., died September 23, 2019. He is survived by his life partner, Tom; and his brother, Richard Westover ’70.

Agkarajit “Peter” Panomwon na Ayutthaya of Chiang Mai, Thailand, died May 8, 2020.

1959

1965

Deborah Wickes Schwabach of Gilbertsville, N.Y., died July 9, 2020.

She is survived by her sons, Aaron and Jon; and daughter, Karen; a second daughter, Jennifer, predeceased her. She is also survived by her sister, Cynthia; and three grandchildren.

Joseph J. DeLiso Jr. of Leeds, Mass., and Lourmarin, France, died September 24, 2020. He is survived by his wife, Elizabeth; his daughter, Claire; his son, Pierre DeLiso ’13; his brother, Clement DeLiso ’50; and his sister, Virginia.

1960

Paul Stasz of Vancouver, Wash., died November 2, 2020. He is survived by his daughters, Emily and Eleanor; his son, Phillip; his brothers, Peter Stasz ’65 and Edmund; his former spouse, Marisa; and three grandchildren.

Christopher R. Lowell of Colorado Springs, Colo., died July 14, 2020.

He is survived by his wife, Sue; his daughters, Laura, Barbi, and Jennifer; his stepchildren, Burton, and Clara; and nine grandchildren.

1966

Theodore “Baird” Wiehe Jr. of Cleveland, Ohio, died April 11, 2020.

He is survived by his wife, Sarah; his sons, Peter Wiehe ’86 and Oliver Wiehe ’88; his sister, Betty; and his brother, Phil Wiehe ’67.

Rolf H. Bortner recently of Waymart, Pa.; formerly of Shohola, Pa., died June 14, 2020. He is survived by his son, Robert; Robert’s partner, Brianna, and daughter, Hazel; and one grandson, Rolf.

1962

1971

Marion F. Judd of Northampton, Mass., died September 25, 2020. She is survived by her brother, Ned.

Steven S. Allen of Lafayette, La., died July 28, 2020. He is survived by his sisters, Lindy and Becky; and his brother, William.

1975

1986

Richard A. White of Point Pleasant Beach, N.J., died October 24, 2020.

He is survived by his wife, Noreen; his son, Brendan; his daughter, Alicia; and brother, Stephen White ’77.

1977 Douglas E. Gehlmeyer of East Greenwich, R.I., died July 8, 2020.

He is survived by his wife, Elizabeth; his children, Amanda, Victoria, Jessie, and Andrew; his brother, Robert; and his sister, Marguerite.

1978 Bruce L. McHugh of Sneads Ferry, N.C., died on November 5, 2020.

He is survived by his wife, Lisa; his mother, Janice; and brothers, Edward McHugh ’77 and Michael McHugh ’79.

1983 Kenneth V. Packard formerly of Westhampton, Mass., died on May 23, 2020. He is survived by his wife, Amanda; his daughter, Sophie; his sister, Jennifer Packard ’89; his brother, Jonathan Packard ’93 and his wife, Jennifer Pelli Packard ’93.

Jennifer Dumont Quiet of Hopkinton, N.H., died April 5, 2020. She is survived by her husband, Michael; her sons, Carter and Colby; her parents, Richard and Nancy; her sister, Andrea; and her brother, Michael.

1987 Kathryn P. Downey of Eugene, Ore., died March 4, 2020. She is survived by her mother, Marjorie; her father, Paul; her sister, Kristen; her brothers, Paul and Robert; and her stepmother, Hallie.

1988 Troy R. Price of Holyoke, Mass., died April 16, 2020. He is survived by his wife, Mary; his daughters, Emma and Anna; and his mother, Dixie.

2001 Jonathan E. Holden of Millis, Mass., died August 31, 2020. He is survived by his parents, Edward and Lucinda.

2018 George T. Goodhead of San Francisco, Calif., died September 14, 2020. He is survived by his parents, Giles and Claire.

WINTER 2020 BULLETIN 73

DRAWING CONCLUSIONS

Nell Heidinger ’14 Designer Nell Heidinger ’14 received her architectural training at the Parsons School of Design, where her focus was urban planning and sustainability. Now LEED certified, she works for Brook Landscape, a New York City firm specializing in “living” green roofs, planted with grasses and native species. She is also a freelance interior designer and artist, so when we asked her about herself, we invited her to answer us in words and pictures.

What do you like to do for fun?

I like to explore places throughout the city via bike that are out of range by the subway or by foot.

What makes you laugh?

If we traveled back in time to Williston in 2014, what would you be doing?

What was your favorite view at Williston?

The view of Mount Tom from the track.

I’d be basking in the sun room in the Reed art studio.

You say you wear many hats, but which one is your favorite?

You live in New York. What do you miss from western Massachusetts?

My most floral one, of course!

The view from the top of Mount Tom.

What is your favorite natural space?

What would your dream vacation be?

What is the view out your window?

Tompkins Square Park, home to many wild creatures.

A ride on the rings of Saturn.

My fire escape, home to mourning doves and sparrows.

Full-bodied dancing!