The Peak – Winter 2024

At the end of February, Head of School Mr. Fader, Upper School Dean Mrs. Rallis, and Latin/History Faculty Member Mr. Tresnan ’15 led 32 students from the junior and senior classes to the 38th annual Harvard Model Congress in Boston. The Williams School has sent a delegation to HMC for over 20 years!  This year, 1700 students representing 84 schools from all over the United States sent delegates. 

Prior to attending HMC, students met biweekly to research their assigned roles and prepare for civic engagement. Over a period of four jam packed days at HMC, the students role play as delegates of Congress, the Senate, and other federal committees such as the World Health Organization and the Republican and Democratic National Committees. This experiential learning opportunity provides students with a unique participatory experience as students engage in open debates, caucuses, trials, press conferences, testimonies, and crises. As current political, national and international issues are occurring in real time, students are able to better appreciate the purpose and role of the political process. 

Congratulations to Avery Ruhe ‘24, who earned the award as “Best Delegate” as a member of the World Health Organization!  

Our 8th grade students were quite impressive as they presented their capstone projects to an audience of their peers and parents during the evening event on March 7th. From volunteering at libraries to coaching swim, there is an array of talent that will move to our Upper School next year.

Congratulations to each 8th grade student for your thoughtful and thorough contributions to the greater community.

Thank you to Middle School Dean Mr. Cote and Assistant Head of Teaching and Learning Mrs. Hannon for guiding our students through this distinctive program.

In late February, Science Faculty Mrs. DeLaurentis’ Marine and Environmental Science class visited Professor Rosa at Connecticut College to learn about her Reef Ball Project.  Rosa is leading a team of students and volunteers in an effort to build reef balls – hemispheric concrete artificial reefs that, once installed, will turn Conn’s riverfront into a sustainable aquatic habitat and living laboratory. “Reef balls are extremely common in Florida and certain regions of the Caribbean, but our riverfront is also perfectly suited to benefit greatly from this type of artificial reef,” Rosa said. 

Thank you to Mrs. DeLaurentis for always providing interesting and fun opportunities to study science at Williams!

Congratulations to Calvin LaFrance ‘26, who was recently chosen as a semi-finalist in the MIT THINK program. This program is organized by a group of undergraduates at MIT, and is a science, research, and innovation program for high school students.

Calvin was chosen as a semi-finalist (one of twelve) out of 500 submissions! Calvin explains his research project as, “mathematically defining the interpretation of J.S. Bach’s first variation of the Goldberg Variations by defining the relationship between a pianist’s ‘touch’ and the resulting sound level. Pianists spend thousands of hours practicing to develop technique and expression, but I believe that through careful analysis, it may be possible to break down this quality into a mathematical algorithm that can be predictably and reliably reproduced.” 

As one of many examples of Williams’ active and engaging learning community, Mr. Tresnan’s Latin 8 class recently challenged their Latin knowledge by participating in a unique scavenger hunt throughout the campus. This interactive challenge was fun and valuable for all! 

Compchorea 2024 was another huge success. With a 40+ year history, the annual production features dances choreographed and performed by students and music composed and performed by students. The name is derived from the words COMPosition and CHOREOgraphy.

This year, there were nearly as many music pieces as dance, thanks to the efforts of Music Director Mr. Cregeur who, during the past two years, has significantly grown the music program and our student musicians’ skills. Adding to the amazing show were several dances choreographed by 40+ year Dance Director, Ms. Bo.

We must also commend the amazing work of our student production teams for all performing arts shows at Williams. Thank you to Theater Director Mr. Brown ’14 for guiding students through the operations of the “PAC!”

All three nights were sold-out performances for very impressed audiences. 

Great job to all performers and the amazing student production team!

The entire community was invited to celebrate Valentine’s Day with a special student art exhibit posing the question, “What is Love?,” experimenting with a variety of mediums to express their interpretation through art.

Surrounded by the exhibit, everyone also had the opportunity to make their own valentine cards during mid-morning activity time.

Thank you to Art Director Mrs. Zweir for guiding students in showing their works in such a creative manner.

Brian Li ’25, in the first violin section, was one of seven finalists and one of the three accomplished musicians earning a $500 prize. The American Chamber Orchestra is a semi-professional orchestra made up mostly of music teachers.

Brian will perform the first movement of the Shostakovich Cello Concerto No. 1 with the ACO on June 15th at the Norwalk Concert Hall. 

Congratulations, Brian!

Video of Brian’s performance

Students and faculty had a lot of fun participating in a community photo shoot hosted by the Photography II class. Participants used movie theater props for the shoot, and images will be photoshopped into the same classic-style theater reacting to the same “scenes.”

Thank you to Photography Director Ms. Griswold for always keeping it fresh and forward thinking!

This year’s Boys Varsity Basketball team has improved by incredible metrics, stunning several teams who underestimated the Williams Blues’ growth and progress from last year. One of the many team highlights of the season is coming back from a 14-point deficit in a home league game to defeat Christian Heritage!

Thanks to driven players motivated by Coach Daniels and Coach Kelly, the future looks bright for Boys Varsity Basketball at Williams, GO BLUES!

Awards

Offensive MVP: Jadiel Thomas ’26

Defensive MVP: Henry Champagne ’26

Coaches Award: Marc Macera ’25

• Photo Credit: Harry Chen ’27

The Boys JV Basketball team grew from five players in 2023 to 17 players in 2024 – a 240% participation increase! Splitting into two squads, all players improved their individual skills and teamwork while having a lot of fun during intrasquad games with Upper School students helping to coach our young and upcoming players.

Thanks to Coach Braithwait for a busy and fun season.

Awards

Offensive MVPs: Marek Soboloeski ‘28 & Andrew Suqillacote ‘28

Defensive MVPs: Nick Cosentino ‘30 & Tyler Lui ‘28, 

Coach’s Awards: William Dockery ‘29, Raymond Dolan ‘28, & Hazem El Hoffy ‘28

Girls Varsity and JV Basketball at Williams this year combined the effort and skills of all players and coaches to gain and maintain the momentum the program needed to gain significant growth this year. With 13 excited athletes from grades 7 – 12 on the varsity roster, players committed to each practice and game, which led to improved records for both the JV and Varsity teams this year.

Thank you to Coaches Hart, Hockford, and Gaudreau for helping to build this important program!

Awards

Offensive MVPs: Annie Gingras ‘29 & Kate van Berkel ‘28

Defensive MVPs: Gabby Ivy ‘28 & Elle Reid ‘29 

Coaches’ Awards: Ally Iacobellis ‘26 and Ouranub Murtaza ’27

The Varsity Swim Team worked hard to earn their best times this season. With limited but longer practices, it was amazing to see the times of swimmers (from grades 7 – 12) decrease so significantly. Racing in five meets against much larger teams, our Blues swimmers held their own, all rising to many challenging meets this season. 

Thank you to Coach Clark for all your guidance and motivation!

Awards

Varsity MVP: Gus van Berkel ‘26

Varsity Coach’s Awards & Team Captains: Helen Godshall ‘24 & Abigail Potts ‘24 

“Newbie” Award: Seb Knoop ‘25

Most Improved: Eddie Keane ‘27

2024 NEPSAC Championship Qualifiers 

Participants: Gus van Berkel ‘26 (4th place for whole conference), Ken Wang ‘26, and Calvin LaFrance ’26

Helen Godshall ‘24

Brendan Li ‘24 

Abigail Potts ‘24

• Photo Credit: Harry Chen ’‘27

On February 5th, students learned about the Chinese New Year holiday by Williams’ International students from China and members of our Global Perspectives Interdisciplinary Certificate program.

Students led an informational assembly with a Chinese Flute performance by Harry Chen ‘27. After learning about the history of the holiday, traditional games along with Chinese tea and treats and guitar music played by Yuran Li ’26 were enjoyed throughout the day in the Williams Room.

Mr. Peter Emanuel, former Williams music and history teacher for 29 years, returned to campus right before March Break to present at an all school assembly his newly published book Course Change: The Whaleship Stonington in the Mexican-American War.

Always the educator, “Mr. E.” not only provided highlights of his new book, but talked about his journey from teacher to author. One interesting aspect he spoke about was the process of starting  with his first draft of 50 pages and after advice from his publisher significantly enhanced his next and final draft to 350 pages!

During his book signing session, many students were thrilled to talk to “Mr. E,” letting him know how valued he was to their Williams careers. He also visited a few classes that he developed and taught at Williams before having lunch with former colleagues.

We hope to bring Mr. Emanuel back to campus for another book review and signing for parents and alumni in the spring!

Senior Anna Milne started the 2024 year in excellent fashion, coordinating a successful Red Cross Blood Drive on Tuesday, January 9. Twenty-nine donors gave over 30 units of blood. Of those donors, 37% were donating for the first time.

Thank you to Anna, her classmates, and parent volunteers Jenny Zaborowski P ‘24 and Amy Hambly P ‘24 for helping implement the entire day. Williams looks forward to making this an annual event.

This year’s Penguin Plunge took place on March 3rd at Eastern Point Beach in Groton. Sabine Balentine ‘27 led the charge for this Williams tradition of raising funds for the Special Olympics organization. Mr. Fader, along with other faculty and staff members and alumni, joined students to brave the chilly waters for a great cause!

Thank you to everyone who contributed to this great cause.

While attending the 2024 CASE-NAIS Independent School Conference in Austin, TX, Brian Mezzi, Director of Development and Alumni Engagement, had the opportunity to meet with NAIS President and Williams Alum Debra Wilson ’90, a keynote speaker at the conference. Earlier in the school year, Debra also brought her administration team to the Williams campus to meet with our administrators, which served as a great exchange of insight on the value and future of independent day schools.

Thank you to Debra for the time, expertise, and attention given to Williams!

“Connecting with Williams students about education and career possibilities has been so fulfilling. I’m grateful to be able to share my experiences and to engage with current students, while giving back to the community that has played such a huge role in my education and professional development.”  – Katie Hodgkinson ’15

On March 4th, the Williams community welcomed back nine alumni for our Alumni Speaker Series event. Starting with an all school assembly panel, facilitated by seniors Katelyn Harvey and Aarav Patel, 8th – 12th grade students then broke into forums centered around themes of finance and law, software development and STEM, and arts and humanities.

We were thrilled to have the following alumni come back to where it all began and leave inspired after engaging with our students:

Ashby Anderson ’89

Christopher Catalano ’89

Katie Hodgkinson ’15

Noah Jenkins ’14

Russell Learned ’86

Russell Parker ’14

Charlie Pascal ’97

Dmitri Rabin ’96

Edie Twining ’73

Thank you to all of our alumni participants!

Fostering connections from south to north, Head of School Mark Fader recently journeyed to Southeastern Florida to reconnect with several alumni, including Abbigail Xenelis ‘16, Lieutenant JG of the United States Coast Guard, in Miami. Upon his return, Mark, along with Board President Dwayne Xenelis P ’16, ’18, ’23, ’29 and Brian Mezzi, Director of Development and Alumni Engagement attended a dinner in Boston, hosted by Jon Marston ’97.

Connecting with alumni near and far is important to Williams. If interested in hosting an alumni event in your area, please reach out to Brian – bmezzi@williamsschool.org.