WellesleyWeston Magazine

FALL 2012

Launched in 2005, WellesleyWeston Magazine is a quarterly publication tailored to Wellesley and Weston residents and edited to enrich the experience of living in two of Massachusetts' most desirable communities.

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Back to School "In the end a school is a shell without all the people in it. Students, faculty, administration, parents, and the community make it what it is." – Dr. Andrew Keough, principal of WHS The new auditorium is named for Selectwoman and Chair of the School Building Committee Katherin L. "Gig" Babson, Jr.. The new gymnasium (below) seats the entire student body for all-school meetings and rainy graduation days. A group charged with planning for opening day came up with the theme "The Things We Carry" to communicate Dr. Keough's very point, and used the red and green cards to encourage students to be deliberate about how they approached their time in the new school. Pam Stewart and Mary Roberts, parents in the group, categorized the green cards, revealing the most popular themes: academics, friendships, positive emotions, charac- ter, and memories of the old school. In time for the May 2012 "Turn on the Lights" dedication ceremonies, they hung hundreds of the cards in the lobby, showcasing students' hopes for what they would carry for- ward. The group also installed permanent banners of WHS' core values in the lobby, taking them out of the handbook and making them visible to everyone in the building each and every day. Academic Excellence, Commitment to Community, Respect for Human Differences, and Cooperative and Caring Relationships echo the students' green card priorities perfectly. 68 It is impossible to overestimate the number of people who worked tirelessly to make the new WHS a reality. Thirteen constituent groups contributed to the planning and execution. Selectwoman and Chair of the School Building Committee Katherine L. "Gig" Babson Jr., for whom the auditorium of the new high school is named, expresses her gratitude: "The most remarkable part is the number of volunteers who thought through all the issues—from renovation to building anew— and then collaborated to shape a high-performance, green building." School Committee Chairwoman Suzy Littlefield communicates appre- WellesleyWeston Magazine | fall 2012

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