Not even Hurricane Jose could prevent Assistant Head of School Ann Pickrell from keeping her annual appointment at Bermuda’s Independent School Fair. And, for the first time in a while, alumni, parents, and friends gathered to celebrate a deep connection that goes back decades. Joined by Patrick Burke, Director of Advancement and Jill Stern, Director of Alumni Engagement, alumni from the classes of 1958 (NSFG alumna Elaine Stowe Harris, whose four children followed in her footsteps to attend WNS) to 2007 and current and past parents enjoyed clearing skies and a panoramic view from the 1609 Restuarant in Hamilton.
Some of the great Williston Northampton connections that were made and renewed included these snippets of conversation:
“What are you doing here? You were my third grade teacher! You mean we both went to Williston?”
“What are you doing here? We’ve been doing business together for 5 years! How did I not know you went to Williston?”
Assistant Head of School Ann Pickrell shared news about admission trends, current student life, and some exciting new projects happening on campus (including the groundbreaking for a new dorm) and Director of Advancement, Patrick Burke, thanked everyone for their support as the school had their strongest fundraising year ever in 2017, with the Williston Northampton Fund nearly reaching $2M ($1.95M) thanks to investment from alumni and parents.
And with a good turnout of alumni from the reunion classes of the 3s and 8s, we are looking forward to some island representation at reunion this coming May 11-13.
Sadly, we were so busy enjoying the sunset, we neglected to get a group picture — but in attendace (athough not pictured) were:
Darren Booth P’19, Peter Carpenter ’72, John Faiella ’68, Mike Freisenbruch ’69, Ron Harris ’97, Elaine Harris ’58, P’97, 93, 91, Gordon Henry ’66, Susan Jackson ’80, Glenn Jones ’95, Simone Maranzana ’93, Georgina and Tim Marshall ’79, P’10, 12, Gary and Patrice Moreno P’21, Rhonda Simmons ’87, Bailey Simmons (future Wildcat), Laverne Stowe P’95, Steve Thomson P’11, Angela and Craig Tucker, P’07, 09, Gretchen Tucker ’07, Allison Tucker ’07, and Vanessa Phillips-Williams ’90
From politics to PR, from investigative journalism to the arts, from law to insurance to medicine, and from restauranteurs (serving up the best pizza you’ll eat outside of Italy. Not joking: go straight to Portofino when you are in town) to entrepreneurs, Wildcat pride is alive and well in Bermuda!