Wellesley Celebrates
Education
 | Website
sponsored by The Fund for Wellesley |
The New WHS - Opening 2/28/2012!
New photos of WHS with some interior furniture courtesy of PBC
Movie/photos by Ann Rappaport
Floor Plans of New WHS courtesy of Kathy Mullaney
Photos courtesy of Turner Construction
Welcome to Wellesley Celebrates Education
from Katherine (Gig) Babson, WHS '65
WHS School Building Committee Chair
We
are delighted to showcase a series of events in 2011-2012 which celebrate education
in the town of Wellesley!
Jeanie Goddard, a retired and a dearly beloved WHS English teacher, is organizing “Turn Out The Lights”, an extravaganza of events during Thanksgiving week, allowing us to bid a fond farewell to WHS. “Turn On The Lights” will be a series of events leading up to the dedication of the new WHS on May 19, 2012. Many groups in Town are sponsoring events before Thanksgiving and through the winter, celebrating education in our Town.
This year-long Celebration of Education grew out of a desire to thank the Town residents for their extraordinary commitment to education. They made the hard decision at a time of serious economic uncertainty in the fall of 2008 to undertake the financial responsibility for the construction of a new High School. The residents also supported the very difficult (and for many, emotional) decision to take down the current High School, the educational home for decades of WHS students.
Our website, sponsored by the Fund for Wellesley, is the most up-to-date source of information about the celebrations. Please join us - nearly all of the events are free and open to the public. Questions and comments can be sent to info@wellesleycelebrateseducation.org We hope to see you all this year!
Turn Out the Lights and Turn On the Lights
Two of the major milestones are "Turn Out the Lights" in November 2011
and its companion event "Turn On the Lights" in May 2012. "Turn
Out the Lights" is a farewell to the town's high school building and a celebration
of over 70 years of educating Wellesley's students. There will be seminars, a
Performing Arts Showcase of music and drama starring current and former students,
a football game welcoming back WHS alumni/ae, dancing, food, visits with retired
faculty members, METCO and Child Lab reunions, and a giant yard sale of old WHS
memorabilia, like banners, locker fronts and old uniforms. Former WHS English
teacher Jeanie Goddard is the organizer-in-chief so it should be a wonderful occasion!
To learn more, read Jeanie's
letter to the Wellesley Community.
"Turn
On the Lights" will occur in the spring of 2012 to celebrate the opening
of the new high school on Wellesley's Wonderful Weekend. The weekend will start
on Friday night with a special Masterworks concert performed by members of the
WHS orchestra and choruses. The annual Pancake Festival sponsored by the Wellesley
Rotary Club will be held at the high school on Saturday morning and tours of the
new building will follow, including "green tours" that will showcase
the green features of the new building. (The rendering of the new WHS is courtesy
of SMMA, the architects of the new school.)
Last updated: 2/8/2012
News & Quick Links
- NEW!
Tours of the new high school will take place starting in March. Some are for specific
groups of people and some are for all town residents. Tour information here.
- NEW! Read about GoSmart,
the energy saving initiative which encourages WHS students to walk, bike or take
the bus to the new school with some great prizes!
- NEW!
Rededication of the Wilbury A. Crockett Library will take place on May 15th at
3:30 PM. Details here.
- Jeanie
Goddard is one of this year's Townsman 10! Read the article here.
- The
Wellesley Town News has an article about the 12th annual MLK Breakfast. Click
here for a pdf of the
article.
- Turn Out the Lights is the 3rd most memorable Wellesley
story of 2011 according to the Swellesley Report. Read more here.
- See
Rhys Heyden's Turn Out the Lights video.
And read his report "The Space Between" about the old and new high schools
here.
- The
Turn Out the Lights photos, videos and press have been relocated
(see box).
- Wellesley Celebrate Education video with commentary
by Gig Babson and Ilissa Povich! Click here
to see it.
"Pave
the Plaza" and support WHS at the same time. The website which allows you
to buy personalized bricks for the new WHS is here.
- Save the Date!
5/18/2012 - 5/20/2012
for Turn On the Lights
Calendar
Full version of this calendar