School news
Library News!
This week, the library has hosted Middle School advisories and High School English, Spanish and French classes. And, on Friday, there was an Easter egg hunt!
The next Young Adult Diverse Books Book Club pick is We Deserve Monuments by Jas Hammonds and the next Faculty/Staff Book Club pick is The Fury by Alex Michaelides. Stop by to pick up your copy!
Please remember to return your overdue books, renew books you need more time to read and check out some new spring reads.
Germany exchange with CRAFT
Last week, Woodstock Union High School’s CRAFT Program welcomed 5 exchange students from Ingolstadt, Germany visiting for the 2nd leg of the very first CRAFT exchange. For some, it was their first time ever in the US, for all it was their first time in Vermont. A few of them had already embarked on journeys to Boston or New York City, but they found life in Vermont starkly different to life in the city. For a week they stayed with their host families and got to learn the ins and outs of the town and the state!
For some background, a few weeks ago five of our very own CRAFT students went to their school in Ingolstadt, Germany to learn about their culture and what the agricultural aspect of their country is. They stayed with their host family in Germany and our students hosted them here. Some of them grew up watching American pop culture television or even listening to American music. While doing so, they built up stereotypes about the country in their heads, most acknowledging that when they came to Vermont those stereotypes evaporated and were proven wrong. One of the biggest stereotypes that they all agreed upon was the food. “There is a German stereotype about the US that we only eat burgers and fries and fast food.” noted by Elisa. She had been to Boston recently and ate quite a bit of fast food because it was cheaper. Here she talked about how it was different because of all of the access to vegetables and fresh produce. There isn't a lot of that in Boston.
Along with the fresh fruits and vegetables, another aspect of Vermont that they got to enjoy and something it’s kind of known for, is nature. They live in a city of 150,000 people in Germany and here in Vermont we take nature for granted sometimes. Elisa commented on how fresh the air was here, and the privacy aspect as well. When speaking on the essence of Vermont they all agreed that it had a really “romantic feeling to it.”
All of them really liked the lifestyle that we live here as Vermonters. In the city there's a lot of hustle and bustle and here it's very calming, peaceful and “real nature.” Of course you can't forget the cute houses too!
This week the German exchange students got to experience nature first hand. Some of their activities for the week were skiing at Killington , exploring the national park and Billings Farm in town and seeing firsthand where our food comes from. They visited Vermont Farmstead Cheese and got to make some of their own cheese. They got to go to the King Farm and the Richardson farm to participate in the quintessential/classic Vermont experience of sugaring! Last but definitely not least, they got to plant some seeds in the wonderful greenhouses here at the high school!
Regarding some of their experiences in nature, Patrick said, “Nature for me personally, was the best part, skiing in the mountains was awesome.” Most of the exchange students hadn’t been skiing before so they were really excited about being able to try something new in the beautiful mountains of Vermont.
When inquired about why they wanted to come on the trip, they spoke on the fact that learning about new cultures was incredibly important to them. Patrick commented that every time he learns about a new culture it adds more to his own beliefs and his own perspectives on life. Amelie agreed and remarked on talking to someone who's really familiar with the town, she really enjoys being around people who know the town well and the culture.
Something that really struck me that they said was about how we get used to our surroundings so easily. Them being from a city, they appreciated the nature here much more than you and I do on a daily basis. “You don’t realize what you have because you see it every day.” (Amelie).
Overall, our students and the German students had an amazing experience and got to learn a lot from each other and their countries! It is super exciting being able to connect with someone from another country and everyone had such a good time. Thank you to all the teachers, parents and students who made the German students feel welcome!!
Students Recognized in State Poster Contest
The Modern and Classical Language Department is thrilled to announce that the following students were recently recognized for creative excellence in the Annual Poster Contest sponsored by the Vermont Organization of Classics and Language Educators (VOCALE, formerly the VFLA).
Clara Burkholder earned 1st Place in the High School division.
Myra McNaughton earned 3rd Place in the High School division.
Isla Segal earned 2nd place in the Middle School division.
Jackson Fellows earned 3rd place in the Digital Category
(Open to all grades!).
All students received certificates and copies of their posters as notecards. Their original posters have been framed and will be hung near the MAC Language classrooms.
Spanish III Makes Empanadas de Pino!
Above (Students preparing to roll out empanada dough)
On Tuesday, March 19th, both of Maestra Megyesi’s Spanish III classes went to room 18, where they prepared and cooked Chilean-style empanadas de pino. Prompted by the class's food and culture unit, they first watched a video on how to make these beef-filled empanadas. The class then discussed the food and cooking vocabulary they observed in the video before getting to work. Different groups of students worked on various jobs within the kitchen. While Maestra worked on making the empanada dough, other students chopped and cooked onions, and another seasoned and cooked the ground beef. Once the dough was finished, other students rolled it out and cut out the circles used to make the empanadas. After everything was prepped, each student had a chance to fill and fold an empanada, either by hand or by using an empanada press. To make the empanadas de pino more traditional, students had the option to add olives and raisins to the beef and onion filling. (Written by TA Aubrey Seman!)
Link to the video watched in class.
CRAFT-ers explore Maple Sugaring
CRAFT students have learned a lot about enduring unpredictability this maple sugaring season. Food and Forest Systems and Stewardship Action Project students installed 32 taps and collected over 230 gallons of sap, but only produced 4.5 gallons of Amber Rich syrup, as the sugar content was super low this year, hovering between 1-1.5%. Our season ended two weeks earlier than usual. However, students still had a great time learning about density, grading, filtering, wood splitting, sugar content and weather. Our school was one of 13 participating in a state-wide pilot project around data collection during the sugaring season.