The Williston Northampton School - Review #1

I felt like Williston prepared me for life. The school not only taught me much in academics, but enabled me to branch out into other interests and made it possible to pursue these areas throughout my six years attending. With unbelievable fine arts, theatre, athletic, and other extracurricular clubs and programs, Williston is able to embrace students with wide interests. Personally, I found the athletic program to be extremely rewarding both on and off the field. I continue to stay close to many of my teammates years after graduation.

Williston provided a great preparation for Bates College. I was prepared academically, athletically and socially for college life. The transition was seamless.

I would not have done anything different in the application process. After coming to visit the school I knew this was the right place for me. I do not regret anything I did at Williston as it has all suited me very well. If I was to do it again, I might diversify my studies a little further.

The atmosphere. Williston is a great community which is able to attend to each individual student and particularly help students excel in their areas of interest. With lots of activities to support the community feeling, the administration both realizes and supports this atmosphere.

Williston may be able to change the daily course schedule to allow students to take more of the diverse courses. The number of electives and interesting course offerings exceed the number of available class periods in a day.

The only true way to understand the life at Williston is to visit. Contact the Admissions staff and set up an appointment to get a tour, spend a night in the dorm, visit classes. Do everything you can to get a real sense of what the school has to offer. Also find a faculty member that you share interests with. Even during the application process you may be able to find a coach, or an advisor who will be able to support you throughout your years at school.

Williston's academic program was able to suit every student's needs as well as talents. Varying class levels inside of one subject matter provide students with a small class size and a lot of one on one attention. Personally, being able to take four Advanced Placement courses my senior year was extremely beneficial heading into my freshman year at Bates College.

While Williston offers a range of coursesbeyond a "regular" high school curriculum, there is not enough time to take all the courses which you feel impelled to study. There are many courses offered by the school which are outside of the structured English, mathematics, science, foreign language departments. The history department is notable for having a wide range of these electives in which students can study in depth certain areas of interest. Some of these elective courses include Economics, Psychology, Hitler and Nazi Germany, and The History of Modern China. I was extremely prepared for college, but my course load was not conducive to a sixth class, and thus I missed out on electives which had caught my interest.

I made friends at Williston that have lasted beyond my years at the school. The closest friends I had at school, and still have now, are students I competed with daily. Being apart of a Varsity Soccer team which made the New England Tournament for three years in a row, was an awesome experience. My junior year was notable as our soccer team challenged for the New England title, but fell just short in a great 1-0 battle in the finals.

I had a great experience in athletics at Williston. Up until my sophomore year there was a pep rally which took place in our gymnasium. Teams would put together skits, jokes, and talents to show off to the entire school. Due to a lack of organization this tradition has not taken place the last few years. Due to the popularity of the event and the leadership of our new Athletic Director, I expect the event to be back in the near future.

I was not thoroughly involved in the fine arts program, however I was able to appreciate the work of other students from my role as a spectator. There always seemed to be something happening in the fine arts program, whether it was a theatre performance, an art show, or a concert.

The majority of extracurricular activities on campus were founded, organized, and run by students but overseen by faculty liaison. This creates an opportunity for new students to create clubs of interest within the first weeks of attendance. There are already a number of clubs which current students are involved in. I personally found the Outing Club to be of particular interest.

The lack of frequent events made some activities less appealing when considering joining different groups. However, this did work in favor of some groups such as the Outing club. It was able to organize a few large outings well in advance and then have other smaller trips monthly.

The dining hall at Williston offers a range of food from all over the world. With a full self serve facility students are left to decide what they eat but with a full Deli and Salad, Pasta, and Soup bar students eat well daily.

I always wished the dining hall was open during the class day just for a piece of fruit, or a glass of water. While they serve three full meals a day it would be nice to have the option to have a small snack during the day.

There was never any feeling of being out of place. Williston is a very inviting community and yearly there are a number of students which are new to the school. Being a part of an athletic team really helped me to get familiar with the school as well as the people here.

Willistion attracts students from all over the world, including all parts of the United States.

There are trips into Boston and New York City as well as more local trips to Northampton and Holyoke. Northampton has a great downtown and Holyoke has a large mall which students frequent regularly. There are also a large number of activities on campus such as movies, dances, performances and athletic events.

In the surrounding town, Easthampton there are a number of restaurants, shops, and other businesses. A movie rental store just down the street is a place of frequent visits from students as well as faculty.