Greetings from campus!
In a blink of an eye, we find ourselves in the final weeks of the school year. Seniors can see the light and college decisions have been made. Class activities like Senior Dinner, Prom, and Skip Day are on the horizon. Commencement will be on Saturday, May 27 and following finals for underclassman, the official academic year comes to a close. The spring rhythm of campus is so very familiar. With warm weather, the energy and excitement move outdoors and the positive vibes are palpable. The sound of music fills the quad, as do bursts of laughter in front of the dorms. So many things have never changed here, and spring term still delivers on all the promises.
Following Commencement we turn our attention to the arrival of our alumni for Reunion on June 8-11. We are excited to welcome back the 3s & 8s to Payson Avenue and can't wait to celebrate the 50th reunion with the legendary class of 1973! If you are still on the fence, do not hesitate to join us. It promises to be an incredible weekend for our community.
Go Wildcats!
Steve Hoyt '95, P'25, '25 Director of Alumni Engagement
Reunion Is Coming!
Join us on campus for Reunion 2023, June 9-11, for a weekend of reconnecting, reminiscing, and rediscovering with your classmates and friends! We will be celebrating the classes ending in 3s and 8s, and hosting our first cluster reunion for 2016, 2017, and 2018, but as always, all alumni are welcome to attend. We can’t wait to welcome you to campus! Click Here to register today!
At Reunion we present the Alumni Awards and induct new members into the Athletic Hall of Fame. Join us as we honor these esteemed alumni:
Founders Award, Michael G. Hirsch '73
Williston Northampton Medal, Elizabeth Wells McIlvain '73
Daniel and Jane Carpenter Award, Class of '68 Reunion Committee: Theodore S. Babcock '68, James E. Cain '68, Marc M. Griggs Jr. '68, Kent B. Haberle '68, Rockwell "Chip" Keeney, III '68, Donald R. Klock '68, Paul F. Wainwright '68,
Alumni Trailblazer Award, Kimberly Lindsey Gordon '03
Athletic Hall of Fame Inductees, Chuck Vernon '62, 1967 Boys Soccer Team, Lou Arp '73, Shawn Benoliel Lawrence '78, Keith W. Brown '78, Jamie Gass '87, Christopher John Miller '93, Spenser Allaway '08, Coach William J. Lossone
View the Reunion schedule and see who's coming! New this year, see photos and messages from those registered!
Notes From Campus
On a lovely Friday in late April, Grandparents and Special Friends Day lived up to the billing as the "happiest day on campus." It was heartwarming to see so many special people to our students spending the day on campus and seeing what life at Williston is all about. View all of the pictures from the day on our Flickr gallery.
May marks the start of a series of performances and displays by Visual & Performing Arts students. See photos from Sunday's Spring Instrumental concert, as well as photos from the Spring Choral Concert that included performances from Williston Fusion, Honors Chamber Singers, and Teller Chorus. The Williston Scholars Performing Arts students will have their spotlight event on May 24. Starting at 7 p.m. inside the Williston Theater, eight Scholars will perform original works they created over the spring trimester. The event is free, and tickets can be reserved here.
Read more about the Girls Water Polo team and their historic run here. The team is currently on an 13-game league winning streak with decisive wins against all their opponents, including powerhouse Greenwich Academy. Tune in this weekend as the program looks to repeat as NEPSAC champions. Livestream will be available here.
We recently gathered in the Phillips Stevens Chapel for the final athletic commitment ceremony of the year. The third ceremony featured 15 student-athletes announcing their commitments. Of the 15 signees, five each were members each of the Boys Varsity Soccer and Boys Varsity Basketball programs. The Boys Soccer team made the NEPSAC Class B championship game this past fall, while the Boys Basketball squad made the NEPSAC Class B semifinals. Read the story here and see photos here.
The Varsity Ultimate team won its second straight NEPSUL championship. The team secured its repeat with a commanding weekend at MacDuffie School, going 4-0 in the weekend tournament to capture its second straight trophy. The Wildcats, who also won the Middletown Tournament in April and have not tasted defeat in 2023, secured the title with 10-8, come-from-behind win over Hotchkiss in the championship match. Read the story here.
BUILD IT FORWARD—Earlier this fall, we asked two dozen alums, ranging from the class of 1965 to the class of 2013, an open-ended question: What did Williston Northampton build in you? Their answers ran the gamut—creativity, leadership, opportunity, character, and more—but all shared a common theme rooted in their formative experiences at the school and their desire to build the same opportunities for the next generation of students. New videos will be rolling out over the next few months. Please enjoy the latest videos below with Haoshu Xu '13 and Ann F. Lomeli '73. Click here to watch more videos.
Alumni Spotlight
Prep School, the Play: Jack Spagnola ’10 and Henry Lombino ’14
Three years ago, Jack Spagnola ’10 and Henry Lombino ’14 were both forging careers in the New York City theater world—Spagnola as a playwright, Lombino as a producer and choreographer—but the two had never met, much less worked together. Then, in December 2019, in a scene that critics might pan as a bit too perfect, they both happened to attend a Williston alumni party at the New York Yacht Club. Fast forward, and the two have collaborated on Small Fragments of Becoming, a new play written by Spagnola, produced by Lombino.
Described as “a period piece” that “explores the elements of socio economic disparity, sexual identity, racial identity, otherness, and self-discovery embedded in the prep school experience,” the production is slated for Broadway. In the play, these “small fragments of becoming” are experienced by four friends—three juniors and a ninth grader—whose stories unfold in various conversations and settings. “Jack has a really amazing way of finding interesting ways in which characters bounce off each other,” notes Lombino, “those self-discovery moments that are just two characters talking, on their way to class or at a lunch table, that stick with you all those years later.”
Spotlight On Sylvia Skerry ’14
What advice would you give to a girl graduating from Williston today?
"I would encourage you to keep Williston’s motto in mind and remember the things that you are passionate about. Graduating high school is a big step into your future and it is easy to get lost and feel overwhelmed by the pressure to have everything figured out. If you are feeling lost, return your focus to the things that fulfill you and try new things that make you feel similarly inspired. Search for role models, make connections with “grown ups” doing similar things, never stop seeking new knowledge, start to imagine your path, and be ready for it to change."
Alumni Events
It was great to see our alumni on the west coast in the beginning of May. Our annual visit to Los Angeles was incredible! Thank you to all that were able to make it to Santa Monica. Please click here to see event photos. We are also making our return to Bermuda this weekend with former Assistant Head of School Ann Pickrell. Check the Flickr gallery next week for photos from the event on Saturday May 20.
Reunion Registration is live! Join us June 8–11 as we celebrate the 3s and 8s class years and host our first cluster reunion for 2016, 2017, & 2018! Registration is open! Visit the reunion page and register today!
June 20 is the NYC Young Alumni Donor Appreciation Evening! Join us as we say thank you for your support of the Williston Northampton School this academic year. If you’ve not yet made your gift to the Williston Northampton Fund, there’s still time! You may make your gift when you register, or you may register and Venmo your gift to @WillistonNorthamptonSchool. Thank you—and we look forward to seeing you!
Send us notes or photos for the next issue of the Bulletin! Click here to Submit!
Help us celebrate the 2022-23 school year!
We're almost at the finish line of what has been a remarkable year! Starting this week, students will showcase everything they’ve learned through a variety of performances, including the Williston Scholars program final presentations, choral concerts, dance recitals, and plenty more. Next week, we celebrate the academic and athletic accomplishments of our students with a pair of awards assemblies, and then we celebrate the marquee event—Commencement on May 27.
Please consider a gift to the Williston Northampton Fund to honor and celebrate our extraordinary students and faculty and to recognize all they have accomplished this year!
Wondering how the Williston Northampton professional network works? Search our alumni LinkedIn or join WillistonConnects to find alumni who share your professional and personal interests. On WillistonConnects, members of the community are ready and willing to offer advice and perspective no matter where you are in your career journey. And with nearly 1000 members and growing, the Williston Alumni LinkedIn group and affinity groups like the Alumni of Color LinkedIn and the Women of Williston LinkedIn are your go-to resources for professional contacts. Tap into the power of your Wildcat Networks!