Core Life
+ Leadership

Williston’s Student Life Program is a scaffolded, four-year life and leadership curriculum that engages students with relevant, developmentally appropriate learning about themselves and others. Focusing on unique themes for each class each year, students learn skills that build organization, self-awareness, character, decision-making, responsibility, and leadership through class assemblies, discussions in advisories, dedicated classroom sessions, and all-school workshops. As a cornerstone of the student experience, this program seeks to help all our students live healthier lives that are filled with purpose, passion, and integrity.

Develop a deeper understanding of who you are as a person, student, and adolescent. 

The Core curriculum for ninth graders introduces all students to the four-year program at Williston. Class Deans work closely with the ninth grade advising team to help students navigate the transition into high school, teach study strategies during daytime study halls, and offer class assemblies that focus on curiosity, organization, reflection, and empathy. To introduce leadership skills, students rotate through the five student council seats and report back to their class on initiatives.

During the first trimester, ninth grade students attend a weekly Core class that builds on the theme “Be Curious” by offering discussions around identity, self-awareness and self-discovery. The curriculum is largely focused on personal health, learning at Williston, and cognitive psychology during adolescence. Students will discuss topics such as the teenage brain, strategies for managing stress, embracing identity, creating healthy relationships, AI at Williston and sleep hygiene, to name a few.

Throughout the year, the Core program advising team and ninth grade teachers meet bi-weekly to work on strategies to help those students who need additional support. The program coordinators work with students’ advisors, teachers, and the Academic Dean to support those students and help them improve their academic work and encourage them to achieve their potential.

Consider your identity in the context of your community and world and learn how to make smart decisions and form healthy relationships.  

The Core curriculum for tenth graders continues our four-year student life program by encouraging students to think more deeply about their identity and create healthy relationships. To introduce the theme of “Look Outward”, the tenth grade experience begins with an all-class hike up Mt. Tom. This opportunity not only allows the class to look out on the local beauty of western Massachusetts, but also to meet classmates and start fresh as a new group, full of interesting perspectives. The group works all year to listen to one another and learn from each other. This happens regularly during class assemblies, where students discuss varying topics of identity and engage in the Sophomore Speaks program, where they can hear their peers tell personal stories based on a given prompt.

During the second trimester, tenth grade students attend a weekly Core class that focuses on healthy relationships and sexuality education. Students are provided with up-to-date information and strategies designed to help them support themselves and others. Special focus is placed on communication skills, decision making in relationships, understanding relevant health and science terminology, and identifying and appreciating one’s own values and biases.

The tenth grade class is supported by its Class Deans, faculty advisors, and the Core teachers. Regular communication occurs between the Class Deans and administration to ensure that all students are finding success.

Find your voice, develop leadership skills, and begin to take ownership of your future with the college process. 

The eleventh grade program seeks to find balance between busy lives within our community and preparing for next steps. Leadership opportunities increase substantially this year, and students are asked more often to embrace responsibility for their own experience and that of others. The Core curriculum for eleventh graders presents a clear shift from focusing on being their best selves in the present to looking toward future decisions. Programming and curriculum ask students to focus on their personal identity and how they centralize their values and interests while creating an intentional college journey.

In this unique hybrid curriculum taught by the offices of College Advising and Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging (DEIB) in the second trimester, eleventh grade students learn to look introspectively at their identities, passions, and interests, and at how those qualities influence their Williston experience. By examining their experience within our community, students are asked to think about their lens beyond this campus and what they are looking for next. Special focus is placed on how to do a good college search, understanding the educational landscape and preparing a strong portfolio.

Students will then take what they have learned to responsibly embrace the college search process and seamlessly transition to be multifaceted seniors on campus.  This work is supported by Class Deans, Core teachers, and faculty advisors.

Be leaders in the community, prepare for life after high school, and actively develop the legacy you will establish at Williston and take with you into the world.

The Core curriculum for twelfth grade is designed and instituted each year by the Class Deans, senior administration, and the College Advising Office. Programming is carried out during specific workshop days throughout the year, in a spring Core class and during class assemblies. The goal of each of these programs is to promote leadership on campus and prepare students for life beyond Williston.

The senior Core class is for all seniors and postgraduates in the third trimester. Students will discuss topics like financial literacy, professional competencies, the first-year college experience, mental health and more. The course culminates with an exit interview where seniors will practice their interview skills with a Williston alum, engage in networking, and be actively introduced to the alumni community.

The senior year experience is closely monitored and supported by the senior Class Deans, who work with the class leaders to plan social gatherings, offer leadership opportunities and arrange workshops to help with the college process. Our community relies on the leadership of the senior class and it is a annual priority to ensure that seniors have a successful, meaningful senior year and leave with a sense of pride in their school.