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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...

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

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,...

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...

Jack Spagnola’s current play was written before 2020, before social distancing, quarantining, masks—before phased re-opening and scaling back and re-opening again. Before the tumult of emotions that have been a constant part of life for nearly five months. But, like all powerful art, the work, Lou (an unintentional search for friendship), feels prescient, almost comically...

By Kate Lawless We’re looking forward to welcoming four artists this year as part of the Grum Project, our artist-in-residence series. Read more about the program here. Composer Geoff Hudson will be composing a choral piece written by Williston students. He recently completed a piece called “Passion for the Planet,” addressing climate change through music. Choreographer, director, and...

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 Saturday, May 23 at 9:30 a.m. EDT, the Williston Northampton School will celebrate the Class of 2020 with the conferring of diplomas and accolades, in a video online. Watch it on our Commencement page.

During a recent assembly, Williston Northampton School’s Art Department Chair Natania Hume recognized four students for their devotion to and excellence at their respective arts disciplines. Britanie Acurio ’20, AP Studio Art Brittanie has taken her love of her hometown and brought a serious amount of New York attitude and energy to her work in...

During a six-day residency as part of the Grum Project, a visiting artist series funded by a generous alumna, Los Angeles-based artist Kiel Johnson worked with students to create a collection of unique cardboard trophies that celebrated victories both personal and humorous. “I did the dishes” reads the base of a mock-up of one trophy,...

Imagine constructing a miniature city out of cardboard. Or a whole band’s worth of instruments. How about a life-sized boat? Or a barnstorming airplane big enough to seat a pilot? Kiel Johnson, master of the crowd-sourced project, has made them all, and he’ll be on campus this month to create with students an installation called...

For Cameron Williams ’09, encouraging reuse has been a springboard to creativity   Fast fashion—aka cheap, trendy clothing, once beloved for quickly bringing runway looks to the masses—is becoming a problem. Americans buy five times the amount of clothing they did in 1980, contributing to 70 pounds of cloth waste per household each year. Six...

Poetic storyteller, aerial theater artist, and educator Nicki Miller ’03 talks about the inspiration behind her work   The shipwreck scene in Shakespeare’s Pericles was in full swing. Actors and actresses pulled on ropes and large fabric sails, when— snap! —the troupe was suddenly suspended high above the audience, contorting and gesturing, acting in mid-air....

Voiceover actress Nika Futterman ’88 waves off fame while seeking a seat at the poker table You may not have heard of Nika Futterman—this despite the fact that she has 254 acting credits, most of them voice characters, going back to 1991 and is a singer and a professional poker player (more on that later)....

Four students were recognized for their excellence and hard work in the arts during a recent assembly. Dalina Nguyen ’21 for AP Studio Art Since day one, Dalina has shown consistency in the quality of her work and ability to manage her time. She carefully and thoughtfully creates each work of art in order for...

Williston’s Photographer’s Lecture Series kicks off with digital photography pioneer Dan Burkholder. A Master platinum printer, in the early 1990’s Burkholder wrote the groundbreaking book Making Digital Negatives for Contact Printing, opening doors for legions of image-makers wishing to combine the precision of digital imaging with the warmth and charm of the handmade print. He...

In her first few weeks on campus, Caroline O’Connor is already making a mark on this school both on and off the field. A first-year senior Caroline attended Hampshire Regional for her first three years of high school, then repeated her junior year at Northfield Mount Hermon. Tired of enduring hour-long rides to campus, Caroline...

A script by Edward Bergham ’22 describes a typical Thanksgiving gathering. In a warmly-lit home, backed by the song L-O-V-E by Nat King Cole, family members laugh, new guests arrive, kids play cards, and a smiling matriarch calls everyone to the table. But the shocking reveal at the end of the one-minute, 22-second video (view...

Editor’s note: this address was given by Dean of Faculty Peter Valine during Assembly on September 25, 2019. The George E. Gregory and Catherine B. Gregory Instructorship was established in 2007 by Dick Gregory, former faculty member, in honor of his parents. The purpose of this instructorship is to recognize the initiatives of a young...

Launched in the fall of 2016, the Grum Project is Williston’s five-year visiting artist program, which has featured artists in a variety of genres. Guests have included a Grammy-Award-winning multi-instrumentalist/ethnomusicologist, a poetry-slam champion, a photographer whose work explores social media, and a dancer-filmmaker transfixed on athleticism of baseball. Funded by a generous alumna from the...