SOCIAL STUDIES

AROUND THE QUAD

ROCKET DREAMS

Kai Hori ’22 has wanted to build and launch his own rocket ever since he saw the movie October Sky and was “almost religiously carried away” by the story of a high school boy in a coal mining town who dreams of launching a rocket. Hori saw his dream come true with the help of the Williston Rocketry Club, which he and a friend founded as ninth graders. In April, a projectile he designed soared up into the skies above Sawyer Field as part of the American Rocketry Challenge.

“I pressed the ignition button, saw smoke furiously coming out of the nozzle in slow motion, and felt this sudden relief,” he said. The rocket, which was partially made on a 3D printer, rose 855 vertical feet, then parachuted back down to the turf with its payload, an egg, unbroken. Hori is hopeful about a career in the field of space exploration. “Fingers crossed, I will be working for an aerospace engineering company in the not-so-distant future.”

WELCOMING TWO NEW SENIOR LEADERS

With the retirement of longtime Dean of Faculty Peter Valine and the creation of a new Dean of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging (DEIB) position this spring, Williston was excited to welcome two new members of the senior leadership team—Nikki Chambers (left) and Corie Fogg ’99 (right).

As Williston’s new Dean of DEIB, Chambers brings more than a decade of experience in higher education and enrollment management, serving most recently as the associate director of admission and coordinator of multicultural recruitment at Smith College. Before that, she worked in the Office of Admissions at Barnard College of Columbia University for six years.Chambers earned a Master of Arts in higher and postsecondary education from Teachers College, Columbia University, and a Bachelor of Arts from Mount Holyoke College, where she majored in history with a minor in African-American studies. In this new role at Williston, Chambers will manage and coordinate collaborative DEIB strategic initiatives across campus, partnering with students, faculty, administrative leaders, and trustees to shape and guide the school’s sustained efforts to build a culture of inclusion and belonging on campus.

Fogg takes on the role of Dean of Faculty, after having served as the Director of Curriculum and Professional Development since 2015 at Stone Ridge School of the Sacred Heart, a school for girls in Bethesda, Maryland. She began her professional career teaching English at Hudson High School in Hudson, Massachusetts, then worked at the Fay School. She served as Site Director in Seattle, Washington, for Johns Hopkins’ Center for Talented Youth program, and taught at Woodside Priory School in Portola Valley, California. Fogg has presented at a range of regional and national conferences on education. In 2018, she co-authored “Enough as She Is: The Educator’s Guide” with New York Times best-selling author Rachel Simmons. Fogg earned B.A. and M.Ed. degrees from Boston College. In this new role, she will lead the faculty and play a critical role in hiring and professional development. “Returning to Williston, a place I hold core to my formation, allows me to humbly extend my service to a school that gave much to me,” says Fogg.

Coding Gender Equity

Kim Evelti, Director of Curriculum and Computer Science teacher, cites the fact that women still make up a small percentage of the computer science workforce as just one reason she is passionate about encouraging girls to get into coding—and excited about the AP Computer Science Female Diversity Award Williston received this spring. Williston was awarded this honor by College Board for expanding young women’s access to AP Computer Science Principles. “I take as many opportunities to recruit girls into CS classes, particularly through my work in the dorm,” she added, “because I wish someone had done that for me in high school.”

NEW TRUSTEES

JONDELLE JENKINS ’71, DPM

Jenkins has worked in private practice in Chicago for more than 30 years, and holds hospital affiliations with Advocate Trinity Hospital, Advocate Condell Medical Center, and Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center. She serves as a Chief Delegate to the American Podiatric Medical Association.

That’s a Williston Class?!

With more than 150 classes, Williston’s course catalog goes way beyond the three Rs. Here are four recent additions that let students explore everything from the smallest fingerprints to the vastness of the stratosphere.

APP PROGRAMMING

Using a cloud-based programming tool supported by MIT, students begin by programming pre-designed mobile apps, and then modify them with their own creative designs. The course culminates in students creating their own uniquely designed projects, which range from drawing apps to educational games.

ASTRONOMY: STELLAR

Where do stars come from? (Other than Williston, of course.) This class examines the nature of light and matter, and at its core, investigates the amazing ability of humankind to explore and discover. Students learn about the optics of telescopes, consider black holes, and ponder the origins—and possible fates—of the universe.

FORENSIC SCIENCE

This week on CSI: Easthampton: Williston students examine crime scenes, both real and fictitious. Through hands-on work that touches on physics, chemistry, and biology, students use the science labs to analyze data and draw conclusions through DNA fingerprinting, handwriting analysis, and more.

EXISTENTIALISM

In this seminar, students explore one of the most important philosophical and literary movements of the 20th century through the work of Søren Kierkegaard, Jean-Paul Sartre, and other superstars of thought. The class, says teacher Tom Johnson, “addresses the everyday experiences we have, whether issues around anxiety or authenticity—or even the meaning of existence.”

CHERIE HOLMES ’75, MD, MS

A practicing orthopedic surgeon, Holmes serves as Chief Medical Officer at Cheshire Medical Center/Dartmouth-Hitchcock in Keene, N.H. She is a member of the American College of Physician Executives and the American College of Healthcare Executives.

BRYANT MCBRIDE ’84

An entrepreneur and investor, McBride developed and sold the companies myteam.com, Vision Sports and Entertainment Partners, Football Scouts Inc., and Sports Technologies, Inc. He has built growth initiatives with M&M Mars, Dunkin Donuts, and Bank of America, among other brands.

ANGELA PERRY P’21

Perry is the Marketing Director of Climate Control Systems at Mestex, a division of the leading HVAC manufacturer Mestek, Inc. Previously, she was lead Business Analyst at Citizens Bank, Home Lending Solutions, and had a 20-year career at IBM. She lives in Ware, Mass., and is the mother of Jillian and Jenna ’21.

JEFF BRUCE P’22

Bruce is Managing Director and Founder at True North Capital Partners, a Boston-area real estate investment firm. His extensive entrepreneurial experience includes fostering seven successful technology and media startups. Jeff and his wife, Aura, live in Concord, Mass., and are parents to Gaby and Lily ’22.

Worth Repeating

“Because of my own personal experience, I’m convinced that being broad-minded and creating a global community is a worthwhile cause, and I hope all of us will recognize the value of connecting with people coming from a variety of backgrounds.”

—Ronald Chan ’01, who spoke at Williston’s Cum Laude Induction Ceremony in January. Chan formerly served as Hong Kong’s undersecretary for Constitutional and Mainland Affairs, playing a major role in the government’s two-year endeavor to introduce universal suffrage. Currently, he is executive manager at the Hong Kong Jockey Club, where he is responsible for the club’s business development and stakeholder engagement with mainland China.

“Technology can either help people or be an obstacle. This experience will help me be more cognizant when designing technical systems in the future.”

—Frannie Cataldo ’22, who, with a friend, started Juniors Helping Seniors and designed a bot to help elders set up vaccination appointments this February “Unmute yourself when you see injustice. Unmute yourself for a noble cause. Unmute yourself to show your love of your family or grief at a funeral... Unmute yourself in your future classrooms.”

—Head of School Robert W. Hill III in his Commencement address to the Zoomfatigued class of 2021

“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.”

—Anna Richardson ’21 in a story she wrote for The Willistonian on studying remotely while living at The Good Earth Farm, which rescues animals, during the pandemic

“On this campus people know me just as a football player. But I want people to see past that, and realize I work hard in the classroom and in other aspects of my life, just like others.”

— Eniola Falayi ’21, one of three Black male students who spoke during a Black History Month assembly about wanting to be seen as more than just an athlete

“If you see a problem, you are the one who can fix it. It may take eight years, it may take 40. This is an ongoing event. This is a marathon, not a sprint.”

—Former Writers’ Workshop presenter and Martin Luther King Day speaker, poet Roger Reeves on the fight for racial justice

“Even a global pandemic could not prevent us from singing together.”

—Williston Director of Choirs Colin Mann on the debut of “The Mountain and the Bell,” a song commissioned in celebration of Williston’s 180th year

“We as a country have to have the patience and the respect for one another to engage in these conversations.”

—Former head of the CIA’s Counterterrorism Center Robert Grenier ’72, during an all-school assembly on the January violence at the Capitol