Latest News

The 2020-21 academic year marks Williston Northampton School’s 180th year. To celebrate this achievement, WNS Choirs, with support of the Grum Project, commissioned local composer Geoff Hudson to set to music words culled from student texts to create a piece specifically for the school, “The Mountain and the Bell.” The English Department collected student texts...

Williston Northampton School is pleased to announce that Ronald Chan ’01 will be the featured speaker for our virtual Cum Laude induction ceremony, to be broadcast on January 26. Chan has had more than a decade of experience in public service and current affairs. Born and raised in Hong Kong, he attended the Williston Northampton...

Want to join the watch party for the Williston Choral and Instrumental Concert? Click here, starting at 8 p.m. on December 15!

Many families live with dogs, cats, bunnies, and even snakes, but few people get the chance to live with a zebra. In an already strange year, I have been given that unusual chance. The Good Earth Farm and Chocolate Chip Animal Rescue in Loxahatchee, Florida, is owned and operated by Nancy Freid and home to...

How do you put on a play during a pandemic, when there can be no audience, when players have to distance and wear masks? The theater makers at Williston took that challenge and raised it. They not only produced the Sophocles tragedy Antigone, but also reworked the play, added new character arcs, composed musical accompaniment,...

During the Academic Awards ceremony held on October 6, Dean of Faculty Peter Valine presented three faculty members with two chairs and an instructorship. Congratulations to these dedicated teachers! His statements are as follows: Grubbs Faculty Chair, Jeff Ketcham, Science Faculty The Grubbs Faculty Chair was established in 1999 by trustees and friends of the...

How do you teach students a new language while wearing a protective face mask? That’s what Adeleen Brown was wondering before the 2020-21 school year began. Brown—who’s a French teacher, the chair of the Language Department, and the holder of the NSFG Instructorship—looked into different types of masks and settled on one with a clear...

In a talk designed to help Williston Northampton School students understand how biased comments can hurt fellow classmates, and how to turn that around, presenter Rosetta Lee explained how dynamics of difference work, and how to stop harm by engaging in courageous conversations. She is one of several speakers on diversity, equity, and inclusion to...

How do you stage a dance performance during a pandemic? You film it outside, of course! We asked Artistic Director of the Williston Dance Ensemble Debra Vega to give us an update on Williston’s dance program and heard how Wildcats are finding new ways to express the meaning they find in the strange times we...

Since mid-March, our administration and opening-of-school task forces have been working on all aspects of our fall reopening, and we are pleased to share Williston’s Reopening Plan, which includes our comprehensive strategy for a healthy and safe fall trimester, as well as an updated list of Frequently Asked Questions. See the reopening plan here.

As part of the school’s commitment to anti-racism work, Williston will host several trainings for students, faculty, and administrators at the start of the school year—a focus that will continue throughout the year. On August 21, student leaders—admission interns, international student leaders, proctors, student council members, and student mentors—will gather for online leadership trainings with...

Dr. Vivian Liu P’17, ’19, and ’21 has sewn 1090 cloth masks since the pandemic began in March. Today, she brought 224 of them to Williston for the adults who work at the school. “I am so grateful to the faculty and staff at Williston, and I wanted to thank them for fully opening up...

Student leaders got to hear from Dr. Liza Talusan yesterday. Her talk focused on self-care in unprecedented times. When we take care of ourselves, she said, we are able to let go of the idea that we have to be perfect, and we learn how to love ourselves—which allows us to create a space that...

After an accident in the kitchen—you’re slicing a strawberry, you do it every morning, but the knife handle slips—there’s a 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,...

During its remote 179th Commencement ceremony, broadcast on May 23, 2020, Williston Northampton School announced the names of its senior academic award winners. Please note, award winners in grades 9, 10, and 11 will be announced during the 2020-21 school year. The senior awards are as follows: History and Global Studies The A. L. HEPWORTH...

On Friday, May 29 at 2 p.m. EDT, the Williston Middle School will air a virtual ceremony for graduating eighth graders and their families filmed in the Phillips Stevens Chapel. Despite our unfortunate inability to celebrate in person, this virtual ceremony is a chance for us to celebrate the occasion and honor these amazing students....

A group of Williston students, dubbed the Williston Wildhackers, banded together earlier this year to start a coding club and enter a contest, GirlsGoCyberStart. On May 20 and 21, they competed in the national championship online, facing a wide variety of coding challenges in a field of nearly 300 schools—and won! Sophie Gontow Calderon ’21...

During Williston Northampton School’s 179th Commencement, celebrated virtually, the Cum Laude Society inducted 12 new members. Language teacher Karen Ram, president of the Williston chapter of the Cum Laude Society, read the names of the 12 students inducted into the honor society in January. Eric Albanese Jason Albanese Brenna Banas Julia Farnham Rachel Goodman William...

Believing that in times of difficulty, neighbors should help neighbors, Williston Northampton School has donated and lent medical supplies and equipment to an Easthampton community organization and to the town of Easthampton. The school lent a van to the Easthampton Community Center’s Food Pantry Program so staff there can pick up supplies and deliver meals...

Williston Northampton School students are donating equipment and time to help others during the coronavirus pandemic. Garrette Ondrick, a ninth grader from Westfield, has been manufacturing face shields in his home for health care workers. First using an Ender 3 brand 3D printer to make the headband, he then attaches clear, empty laminate “pouches,” that...