School news
Eighth grade students write letters to Ukrainian children
During Middle School Advisory this week, students learned about the stories of four Ukrainian children who have been displaced by the war in Ukraine. Then, eighth grade students wrote Letters of Love to Ukrainian children who had to leave their home country due to the war. In a few weeks, after their unit on Ukraine, seventh grade students will be participating in the project.
Ms. Drufovka's advisory and Mrs. Stuntz's advisory met in the library and wrote their messages of love and hope and illustrated their letters with colorful hearts, flags and flowers. Clara Burkholder wrote in her letter, "We love you, we are thinking of you and we hope you will stay strong! My home town in Vermont has Ukranian flags hanging in our windows and on doors."
Annie Hauze runner-up in Vermont State Poetry Out Loud finals
In the past week, senior Annie Hauze commanded the stage as Woodstock's Poetry Out Loud champion in the regional competition held in Barre, Vermont, qualifying for state finals; she went on to play the lead all weekend long in the fabulous Percy Jackson:The Lighting Thief Musical.
Taking full advantage of the gift of time a snow day affords, Annie added a third poem to her repertoire in preparation for the Vermont State Finals Competition for Poetry Out Loud, held at Burlington's Flynn Center, Thursday evening, March 16th. Competing with other state finalists from Burr and Burton, Champlain Valley, Bellows Free Academy- Fairfax, Peoples Academy, St. Johnsbury Academy, Bellows Free Academy -- St. Albans, Williamstown, Thetford and Rice Memorial, Annie led round one with Shakespeare's "Sonnet 55: Not marble nor the gilded monuments". In Round 2, Annie captivated her audience with her signature recitation of Adelaide Crapsey's "The Properly Scholarly Attitude". Annie's pacing, intonation, physical presence and delivery in both these recitations were impeccable and secured her position as one of the top 3 selected to recite a third poem, Thursday night.
To lean on a line from her rendition of "Clear Night" by Charles Wright, Annie was indeed "strung up in a strong light and singled out" for her excellence, "gears notch[ed] and engines wheel[ed]" in ways that led her to Woodstock's top finish as our first "runner up" in the state Poetry Out Loud competitions over the years.
While it was hard for any of us to discern the difference between Annie's recitations and Greer Kennedy's of St. Johnsbury Academy, top place went to Greer who will travel to Washington, D.C. in early May to represent Vermont in the national Poetry Out Loud contest. In the meantime, keep an eye out for more of Annie's amazing performances this spring in Shakespeare's Twelfth Night, the class of 2023 Speak Chorus, and likely many other performance events!
Sugaring season at King Farm
Students in CRAFT and agriculture classes had the opportunity to go up to the King Farm during class to learn about and help sugar.
SAP (Stewardship Action Project) students began last week by putting out 42 taps with buckets. They have been busy collecting sap, boiling and splitting firewood.
Food and Forest Systems classes, along with Foundations of Agriculture students, have visited the sugarhouse with Kat Robbins. They had fun learning about the sugar content of sap vs. syrup using a hydrometer, the quantity of sap required to produce a gallon of syrup, the process of sap evaporation and filtration, and they also had the opportunity to taste the sweet sap sugar that was produced during the past week and a half of boiling.
We have already collected over 300 gallons of sap from our buckets and plan on collecting a lot more this week as the cold nights and warm days make for a perfect run! Our syrup will be tried by students during a pancake breakfast and will be used in future CRAFT classes for cooking. We might even have enough for the cafeteria.
Language Students earn top honors in statewide competition
The Modern and Classical Language Department is thrilled to announce that the following students were recently recognized for creative excellence in state-wide competitions!:
In the Vermont Foreign Language Association's Annual Poster Contest,. Clara Burkholder earned 3rd place in the middle school division. Sophia Randolph earned 3rd place in the high school division. Danny Smith earned 1st place in the digital category (open to all grades).
In the Annual Writing Contest sponsored by the Classical Association of New England, Annie Hauze earned 1st place in Vermont for her poem titled "Madwoman".
Congrats to all!
WUSHMS Trailblazer Speaker Series
Gordon MacMaster ‘16 recently spoke with Andy Smith’s AP Computer Principles class in our Innovation Lab. Gordon is currently living in Salt Lake City, Utah and working as a founding engineer for a small startup currently in stealth mode. Gordon’s computer programming experience began at Woodstock where he took courses in introductory programming as well as AP Computer Science.
We’re grateful to all of the WUHSMS alumni who have taken the time to chat with our current student body this past year and in 2022.
Gordon MacMaster '16
Gordon has gained programming experience in various languages and frameworks. He interned with the Vermont Agency of Digital Services, Pennsylvania Multifamily Asset Managers, and finally for Tesla Motors as a Digital Products Engineer. He enjoys his work immensely and is planning to stay in his current role for the foreseeable future. In this Trailblazer conversation, Gordon discusses all of the above and more with Andy Smith's AP Computer Principles class.
Kathleen Sheppard '14
Students form our Advanced French class met with Kathleen Sheppard ‘14. Kathleen studied Business Administration at Babson College, with a specific focus on Entrepreneurship, Sustainability, and Marketing. She graduated with a Bachelor's of Science in 2018 and began her career in digital marketing. The following year, Kathleen launched her sustainable swimwear brand, Tiller Swim. She utilized Kickstarter to crowdfund for her first collection of clothing and has been able to leverage profits and self-funding to propel the business since August 2019.
Sarah Andrews '10
Students from our Advanced Placement English Language class visited with and interviewed Sarah Andrews. Sarah is a member of Woodstock’s class of 2010 and is currently the campaign manager for the re-election campaign of Colorado Governor Jared Polis. Sarah was formally the Chief of Staff in the Colorado Office of Economic Development and International Trade. Her experiences range from leading youth engagement efforts for Hillary Clinton, managing rural policy for U.S Senator Michael Bennet, and conducting scheduling & advance in the Obama White House. She’s a graduate of the University of Colorado in Boulder where she earned a degree in Political Science and Peace and Conflict Studies.
Andre Malerba '06
Andre is a fully accredited photojournalist based out of Bangkok, Thailand. He has worked throughout Southeast Asia and further afield, from Sri Lanka to Mongolia. From 2013-2016, he covered Myanmar exclusively, as the country struggled through the early days of democracy. In this interview, Andre describes how he got started with photography and shares a few of he favorite projects and stories. He also discusses how both political turmoil and the Covid-19 pandemic have impacted his life and work in Southeast Asia.