School news
Stewardship Action Project students hard at work
Our SAP students have been working in varying capacities this fall to be stewards of the land and our community. As part of the Abenaki Land Link Project, students harvest, dried and separated out the seed of native plants including the cranberry bean and red flint corn. The seeds we grew go back to the Abenaki people in Vermont and provide them with additional seed to grow crops and food to eat for those in need.
SAP students gleaned apples at Sunrise Orchard in Reading with the non-profit Willing Hands. The apples they harvested go into storage in the Willing Hands facility and will be distributed to people through the winter.
After gleaning apples, there were so many that were not the best to give to people but were great for baking and applesauce. Thanks to their hard work ALL classes got to make apple muffins and applesauce!
SAP students volunteered with Veggie Van Go to help hand out monthly food items provided by the Vermont Food Bank. They also went to the Thompson Senior Center to put together several meals on wheels for the elderly in our community. The senior center delivers over 18,000 meals annually within our community!
Geometry students on a treasure hunt
Mr. Villanueva uses a Treasure Hunt to help his Geometry students understand concepts.
Mr. V had the students play an origami game, where they use their visual perception to make a pirate hat. Donning their pirate hats students had to follow one of the two different paths with the clues to find the treasure. In order to open the chest they had to show Mr. V their thinking over the map.
We started "Constructions" a week ago and today we were reviewing the 4 loci or geometric places that satisfies one condition. Same distance from one point, two points, one line and two lines. Besides it being a little cold some of them had fun and started Halloween with a little extra candy.
Graphing sine curves in Trigonometry
Trigonometry students are working on graphing sine curves using smaller prototypes of water wheels that were made by the NUVU lab. Students were tasked with creating a proposal for a city that needs a waterwheel installed to generate electricity. They could change the height, the size and the speed of the water wheel to give ideas to the city council on which one they should choose.
CRAFT launches first cohort!
CRAFT (Community and Climate Resilience through Agriculture, Forestry, and Technology) has officially launched its first cohort! In just this first semester, 16 students have declared a commitment to work through 6 credits of interdisciplinary, hands-on, community-based learning to earn a credential on their transcript and recognition at graduation! Students across grade levels met at Farm and Wilderness to build community, vote on the program values most important to them, and participate in a community science project on biodiversity.
Pictured above:
First row: Skye Cully, Holden Larmie, Hudson Maxham
2nd Row: Priscilla Richardson, Eleanor Williams, Daphne McDermott
3rd Row: Edwin Lynds, Annesonia Beardsley, Riley O'Neal, Owen Whalen, Jesse Magner
Not pictured: Ada Mahood, John Severance, Kody Latiegne, Schuyler Hagge, Aleks Cirovic, Caleigh Webb
VTLSP Club's Red Ribbon Week
The high school's Vermont Teen Leadership Safety Program (VTLSP) Club had a great time with Red Ribbon Week!
The Red Empire Apples donated by Woodstock Farmers' Market for Nutrition Day were a big hit! This annual tradition that always includes Red Empire Apples saw 5 cases of apples go pretty quickly! Students would comment that the apples were "really delicious" and "I'm not an apple eater, but those apples were great!"
Also, another big hit was the Spin to Win on Destress Day and a prize giveaway of four $10 Amazon gift cards. Students had to write what their "Natural High" was to be eligible in the drawing. Winners for this event were: Cat Delieto, Jada Ruch, Sophia Randolph, and Kassidy Haley. Many of the Spin to Win prizes were donated by the Mount Ascutney Prevention Partnership.
VTLSP is a high school peer-to-peer education, prevention, and activism organization dedicated to preventing destructive decisions, particularly underage drinking, other drug misuse, risky and impaired driving, teen violence, and teen suicide. The purpose of VTLSP is to develop among teen leaders an awareness of prevention and wellness issues while providing them with the resources, skills and adult support with which to facilitate positive change among their peers.