School news
AP Environmental Science long term data collection
AP Environmental Science students have been putting their fieldwork to good use across the school forest, river, garden, and beyond.
Between soil sampling at these three sites — now with six years of data collected — and a collaboration with National Park Service staff to gather dragonfly larvae from the Pogue at Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller, students are contributing to real, long-term environmental research.
For the dragonfly project, students learned about different families like Gomphidae and Cordulidae, and how, as predators, dragonflies bioaccumulate mercury up the food chain — making their larvae useful bioindicators. Samples will be sent to a lab for mercury analysis and added to hundreds of other data points gathered nationwide over the project's 12-year history. Check out The Dragonfly Mercury Project for more information.
Aquaculture expert visits AP Environmental Science
Eva Douzinas from the Rauch Foundation visited AP Environmental Science to present about fish farming. Students are studying land use with a focus on food production methods.
We learned that there are both unsustainable and sustainable methods of doing aquaculture. When people are using open aquaculture systems in the ocean to grow carnivorous fish, there are huge amounts of pharmaceuticals, fish food and other chemicals that must be pumped into them and there are huge amounts of waste that they are releasing. Essentially, open aquaculture systems for carnivores convert natural efficient food systems into less efficient ones because you have to make so much fish meal to feed them. Thank you to Eva for visiting us! We learned so much!
Woodstock Envirothon team places second
Schuyler Hagge, Kody Lantiegne, and Pippa Shaw won second place in the Vermont Envirothon Competition. They rotated through four stations where they worked as a team to complete hands-on tests about Aquatics, Soils, Forestry, and Wildlife. They also presented about Nonpoint Source Pollution in our watershed and potential solutions. The team enjoyed spending the day at Buck Lake Conservation Area, showcasing the knowledge they've gained in their science and agriculture classes, and getting to talk with professionals in the field.
If you are interested in joining the Envirothon Team next year, please reach out to Abbie Castriotta (Room 27 or abbie.castriotta@mtnviews.org).
Equitable climate action partnership at VINS
Middle school and high school students presented at the third annual ECAP\(Equitable Climate Action Partnership) at the Vermont Institute of Natural Science on May 8. Students got to experience some activities, check out the birds and trails, learn about birds and climate change and present their projects.
Middle school students Reese Fenity, Isa Contarino and Annabelle Park presented about their food system project from wellness. The girls gathered local foods from Annabelle’s garden, cooked over 80 healthy meals and served them to people in need in Rutland.
Middle achool atudents Reese Fenity, Isa Contarino and Annabelle Park presented about their food system project from wellness. The girls gathered local foods from Annabelle’s garden, cooked over 80 healthy meals and served them to people in need in Rutland.
High schoolers Pea Richardson, Bethany Thorburn, Sadie Boulbol, Owen Whalen and Brody Allen shared about their immersive semester work at the King Farm this past fall where they created a permaculture design for future use of the land and made and planted air pruning beads with native trees.
Pippa Shaw presents at New England STEM Symposium
Woodstock Union High School junior Pippa Shaw took her research beyond the classroom last month, presenting her original scientific poster at the 4th Annual New England STEM Symposium in New Hampshire.
Pippa's poster, "The Effects of Handwashing Methods on Bacterial Diversity," explored how different handwashing techniques affect the variety of bacteria present — research with genuine public health relevance. She was among 32 students from 10 schools across New Hampshire and Vermont who gathered on April 25th to share their work and engage with professional scientists.
The symposium, hosted by the New Hampshire Academy of Science, gives secondary school students the opportunity to present original research, attend talks by STEM professionals, and sit down with working scientists over lunch to ask questions about their careers and what different paths in science actually look like. This year's event featured 15 posters spanning engineering, botany, molecular biology, analytical chemistry, and ecology.
Congratulations, Pippa, on representing Woodstock Union so well!