Thornton Academy Postscripts Alumni Magazine Winter 2007 | Page 3

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Janson ‘72 Named to Board of Trustees
Alumni Board, he has served the
While checking messages
Academy as a Development Comduring out-of-town travel last
mittee member since 2004 and
summer, Ken Janson ’72 wasn’t
an Annual Fund volunteer since
expecting to receive an e-mail
2000, and has assisted in numerfrom Thornton Academy Board of
ous alumni activities. He also
Trustees president James Nelson
plays with other alumni musi’67 asking him to consider joincians at Thornton events as the
ing Thornton’s Board of Trustees.
drummer of Exit 5 and Small Boy
Yet, while the invitation to serve
Pete’s.
in the leadership role may have
One event that has become a
come as a surprise to Janson, a
personal favorite of Janson over
quick look at his involvement
the years is the
with Thornton
Senior Alumni
over the last
“There are moments when
Reunion, he
decade leaves
I think ‘maybe I am too
says.
little doubt
“When I see
about his abilinvolved,’ and then I see
200 or so alumity to fill the
someone else giving so
ni gathering to
role well.
much more. That’s what
share memories
For the
keeps me driving forward.
and life stories,”
past seven
says Janson,
years, Janson

—Ken Janson ‘72
“…to get alumni
has served
back onto
as a member
campus is not
of Thornton’s
only good for the alumni, it’s also
Alumni Association Board of
great for the school and great for
Directors, most recently as presithe kids.”
dent since May 2002. He says he
And Janson should know.
first became involved in ThornIn addition to being a Thornton
ton activities around the time of
alumnus himself, Janson has
his 25th class reunion, helping
a strong family connection to
Alumni Director Nancy Tripp ‘67
Thornton. His daughter Jessica
plan the event as a member of the
Janson ’05 and stepdaughter
reunion committee.
Nicole Voccia ’04 are graduates of
“One thing led to another, and
TA; and his son Jonathon Janson
I was asked to join the Alumni
and stepson Joey Voccia are both
Board,” says Janson.
TA sophomores this year.
Janson has served on the
Janson says that when it
Alumni Board since 2000, one
comes to volunteering, it’s the
year as a member, one year as
people—the students and alumvice president, and the remaining
ni—that keep him coming back
portion of his tenure as president.
for more.
In addition to his work on the

Thornton Academy
Trustee and President
of the Alumni Association Ken Janson
‘72. Photo courtesy of
Nimlok Maine.

“If you didn’t get
anything back you
wouldn’t keep coming
back, right?” he adds.
“I’ve had the opportunity to work with some
very talented and giving
people—so many alumni
members and volunteers
that do so much for the
TA community. There
are moments when I
think ‘maybe I am too
involved,’ and then I see
someone else giving so
much more. That’s what keeps me
driving forward.”
Janson is the owner and
president of Nimlok Maine, a New
England distributor of Nimlok
custom trade show exhibits, and
chair of the Nimlok Branded Partner Advisory Board. His community activities include service to
the Convention & Visitors Bureau
of Greater Portland Board of Directors, Maine International Trade
Center membership, and past
service to the Old Orchard Beach
Chamber of Commerce Board of
Directors and the Old Orchard
Beach Planning Board.
In addition to serving his first
year on the Board of Trustees this

year, Janson is completing his
term as Alumni Board president
until the Annual Meeting in May.
As a trustee, he will continue
to serve primarily on the development committee, and wherever
else he is needed.
“The next ten years are really going to be pivotal times for
schools in Maine as more and
more communities are going to be
facing budget and consolidation
challenges. At Thornton, not only
do we have to anticipate change,
we have to prepare for change,”
says Janson. “My goal is to help
Thornton meet that challenge in
coming years.”

A Worldly Lesson
Thanks to a sponsorship by
speak the language through total
the Biddeford-Saco Rotary Club,
submersion.
current senior Cara Moulton
“I did not know how to speak
spent her junior year last year
Thai before I left. I had to learn
studying abroad in Thailand.
when I got there,” says Moulton.
Looking back,
“Everything is
Moulton says
in Thai—all the
“I think studying abroad is
the chance to
TV is in Thai, all
go to school
the signs, all of
an incredible experience...
halfway
my host families
It broadens your mind in
around the
spoke in Thai.
a way that texbooks and
globe not only
My host famimovies never could
brought acalies spoke only
because you’re living it.”
demic oppora little English.
tunities inside
The language

—Cara Moulton ‘07
the classroom,
was challengit also helped
ing, but I had to
raise her
figure it out.”
awareness of the interconnectedIn addition to the language,
ness of the world.
Moulton also had to adapt to
During her 11-month stay,
daily life. Overwhelming heat,
Moulton spent the majority of
flooding during the rainy season,
the time living with a single
heavy school uniforms, and living
host family in Bangkok, but also
in a home without a traditional
stayed briefly with three other
western kitchen and running hot
families in Bangkok and southern
water, were just a few of the geoThailand. While there, she attendgraphical and cultural differences
ed school, work