Spanish Ambassadors at WES

Do you know how to say “anteater” in Spanish? Could you identify a lapiz in the classroom? How about making a flower out of three pieces of tissue paper, or cheering on your teammates in Spanish as they play fútbol? These are some of the things that WUHSMS Spanish Club and Language Ambassadors led Woodstock Elementary School students in during a field trip last Monday. 

Picture Above: Spanish Club students got together during ARE time to design and create their activities. Ninth grade students Lindsey St. Cyr, Kara Pomeroy, Addison Tapley, Betta Cirovic and Alaythia Lockhart created a vocabulary relay. They taught students about rainforest animals and students had to race to match the Spanish name for each animal with its picture on the other side of the room.

​Hannah McComb and Ruth Stallard teamed up to lead a classroom scavenger hunt where students had to find the objects on each Spanish vocabulary card that they found.

Georgia Pimentel and Sophie Hendee taught students how to create tissue paper flowers. These are popular decorations for many holidays, especially in Latin America. 

Students making tissue paper flowers

In addition, seniors Jane Stout and Aidan Keough-Vella took charge of the fútbol game. Soccer is the most widely played sport in Spanish-speaking countries, and WES students can now cheer in Spanish at their own games.

Yoh Theatre Players are presenting Head Over Heels ​ ​

Fifty of our Yoh Theatre Players are presenting Head Over Heels, the Musical, based upon The Arcadia, by Sir Philip Sidney, adapted by James McGruder, with music by the Go-go's. This is a fun and lively show, perfect for this season.

Tickets at:   https://theaterengine.com/productions/2776

Friday, December 13, 7pm

Saturday, December 14, 7pm

Sunday, December 15, 2pm

The target audience for this show is 10 and up, based on sexual innuendo, and some language.

We hope you can come!

Marcia

Description:

Head Over Heels is a jukebox musical comedy with music and lyrics from the catalog of The Go-Go's. A mash-up of posh and punk, Head Over Heels is an unpredictable, joyous romp about a royal family that must prevent an oracle's prophecy of doom. In order to save their beloved kingdom, the family embarks on an extravagant journey wrought with mistaken identities, jealous lovers, sexual awakening, scandal and self-discovery, where everything (and everyone) is not quite what it seems.

Members of VTLSP/OVX attended the OVX Leadership Summit

Members of VTLSP/OVX(Our Voices Xposed) attended the OVX Leadership Summit at Lake Morey Resort on October 30th. This event was not just about learning but also about doing. Middle and high school students actively engaged in understanding how the tobacco industry uses misleading advertising and promotions.

They also had the chance to develop leadership skills, organize tobacco prevention projects, and connect with other like-minded youth from across Vermont, all while having fun. The summit was led by New Hampshire's Dover Youth to Youth program. VTLSP's co-president, Aleks Cirovic, is on the state Vermont Tobacco Control Youth Leadership Council and helped create and organize this great conference! 

VTLSP (Vermont Teen Leadership Safety Program) just completed their annual Red Ribbon Week Campaign. Since its beginning in 1985, the Red Ribbon has touched the lives of millions of people around the world. Drug Enforcement Agent Enrique Camarena stated, “I’m only one person, but I want to make a difference”. Parents and youth in communities across the country began wearing Red Ribbons as a symbol of their commitment to raise awareness of how drugs affect America. Today, the National Red Ribbon Campaign serves to educate youth and encourage participation in prevention activities and healthy choices.

Monday – Red Ribbon Day 

Tuesday – De-Stress Day

Wednesday – Compliment Day

Thursday – Nutrition Day

Friday – Empower*Mint* Day

Art Trip to the Hall Art Foundation

On Wednesday, October 23, three Art classes visited the Hall Art Foundation in Reading, Vermont to see exhibits by Sherry Levine, Barbara Kruger, Zorawar Sidhu, and Rob Swainston. Students in Dr. Gravel’s AP Art History, Ms. Jimerson’s AP Studio Art, and Ms. Piana’s Studio Art toured the exhibits, participated in a "token" exercise choosing works they loved and had questions about in the Barbara Kruger exhibit with Mrs. Kaija, discussed an outdoor sculpture installation titled Waterfall by Olafur Eliasson using Visual Thinking Strategies noting observations, thoughts and feelings with Ms. Piccoli and students went on a sculpture walk through the apple orchard and enjoyed taking breaks on the interactive benches by Jeppe Hein.

One of the sculptures titled Children of the Corn (after the Stephen King novella) by Terence Koh inspired Tegan Miller, a student in AP Art History, to write her own horror novel! She stated, “The Children of the Corn sculpture inspired me to write a horror novel about a field of megaliths that come alive at night, filled with the souls of runaway children.”

When asked about the exhibit that interested him the most, Aksel Oates, a student in AP Art History, said, “I really enjoyed the Doomscrolling exhibit. It was so interesting to see art based on events that we all lived through interpreted in such unique and interesting ways.”  Doomscrolling by Zorawar Sidhu and Rob Swainston is a series of 18 woodblock prints that cover events including the Covid pandemic, the Black Lives Matter Movement, the 2020 election, and the insurrection on the Capitol Building that span from May 24, 2020 to January 6, 2021.

The current exhibitions are on view until December 1, 2024. Thanks so much to the Hall Art Foundation for welcoming students from WUHS to learn about contemporary art.

WUHS Language Students Welcome French Students to VT October 2024

Nineteen French students and their two teachers traveled to Boston and Woodstock from Ecole Sophie Barat, our new partner of the Woodstock French Exchange Program. The students and teachers began their adventure by spending three days touring Boston, exploring the history and culture of this beautiful city. The group walked the Freedom Trail, visited the State House and enjoyed the city’s cuisine. The students and teachers arrived in Woodstock on Thursday, October 17th, and quickly acclimated to both their host families and “siblings” as well as the school. The French students began their school experience with a full-day of orientation, meeting with Aaron Cinquemani and Tom Emery, both of whom warmly welcomed them to the high school. Cinquemani and Emery expressed their enthusiasm and appreciation for this rich experience. After the orientation, the French students and teachers spent the afternoon at Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller Park, learning about the importance of this site to both our school and our community from Kat Robbins. For the next few days, students participated in immersive language lessons, attended daily classes as well as after school sports and activities. In the evenings and on weekends the French students were kept very busy by their host families. All of these experiences allowed the students to fully understand what it is like to be a young adult in an American school.

The French students and teachers were enthralled with the quintessential fall activities that make up life in Vermont. The host families were more than generous with their time and effort to make sure the French students partook of such things as pumpkin carving, hiking, star gazing, apple picking, and exploring corn mazes. Many of the students enjoyed a typical Thanksgiving dinner which delighted them, particularly because the meal is such a unique American cultural phenomenon. They even took a short tour of Vermont, visiting Montpelier, eating ice cream at Ben & Jerry’s, then seeing Lake Champlain in Burlington. Many of the students attended sports events, another typical part of many American students’ lives. There’s no doubt that the French students and teachers experienced much of what American culture is like.

On the last day of their stay, the French students and their “siblings” traveled to the Vermont Institute of Natural Science for a tour of the aviary habitats as well as a presentation on raptors. After the morning together, Woodstock bid adieu to the group as they headed to Logan to fly home.  

In all, the French students and teachers participated in classes, experienced life in a rural community, explored the culture of New England, and made friends in Vermont. Teacher Marie Anderson and Exchange Coordinator Colleen O’Connell reflected on the success of the exchange, happy to have seen the group fully engaged, squeezing every ounce of experience and fun from each and every activity. Anderson and O’Connell are grateful to our French friends and to our school community for having had such a wonderful time together.

On the last day of their stay, the French students and their “siblings” traveled to the Vermont Institute of Natural Science for a tour of the aviary habitats as well as a presentation on raptors. After the morning together, Woodstock bid adieu to the group as they headed to Logan to fly home.  

In all, the French students and teachers participated in classes, experienced life in a rural community, explored the culture of New England, and made friends in Vermont. Teacher Marie Anderson and Exchange Coordinator Colleen O’Connell reflected on the success of the exchange, happy to have seen the group fully engaged, squeezing every ounce of experience and fun from each and every activity. 

Anderson and O’Connell are grateful to our French friends and to our school community for having had such a wonderful time together.