School news
2023-2024 Madrid-Woodstock Exchange
Retiro Park, Madrid
We are excited to announce that WUHS students will have the opportunity to participate in an exchange with high school students from the Colegio Salesiano Paseo Extremadura in Madrid, Spain next year. Luis Villanueva, Betsie O’Neill and Anna Megyesi are coordinating the exchange. El Colegio Salesiano is a wonderful school in Madrid that offers K-12 studies including vocational training in nursing, early childhood education, technical sports and physical activities, computer science and communications.
Dates: Students from Spain will be arriving the second week in September and staying 10 days. Woodstock students will be traveling in Spring of 2024 to Madrid for 10 days.
Our planning team will be working this Spring and summer on selecting and matching students, and working with host families on logistics.
Segovia
We will hold a parent meeting later this Spring for parents of applicants.
Itinerary: In addition to the rich cultural exchange and homestay experience, Woodstock students will visit two UNESCO World Heritage sites, the Prado Museum and Retiro Park. In addition, students will take day trips to Segovia, Spain to explore the famous Roman aqueduct, Medieval Alcázar and historic Cathedral as well as La Granja San Ildefonso.
Application and Host Family Information: We have held two informational meetings with students. Interested students will be sent a digital application that focuses on Skillful Communication, Academic Excellence, Stewardship, Critical Thinking and Self Direction. Approximately twenty students will be participating from each school.
Interested: Please email Anna Megyesi amegyesi@wcsu.net if you and your family are interested in participating. . Click here to access a brief informational presentation.
Middle school book club reads Wolfish
On Tuesdays and Thursdays the Middle School Book Club meets in the library and they are reading Wolfish by Christiane Andrews.
The author took her inspiration for this book from Roman mythology. Her previous book Spindlefish and Stars was inspired by Greek mythology. The publisher's note for Wolfish states, "Inspired by Roman mythology, this mysterious and uniquely magical adventure explores the intricate roles of nature and fate in our lives, the power of language to shape our world, and the boundless importance of love and kindness."
Christiane M. Andrews is scheduled to visit with the Middle School Book Club in May! If you would like to read either of these books, stop by the library to pick up a copy and if you'd like to attend the author talk, please let Ms. Piccoli know.
Algebra 2 students search for parabolas in nature
On Monday, Mr. Bremel and Mrs. Vonada took their Algebra 2 students to Mt. Tom in search of Parabolas in Nature. Parabolas are the "U" shaped graph of quadratics. Algebra 2 students have been studying quadratics and this project was for them to take pictures of nature that appear to model parabolas. They will then do some analysis of their pictures as they overlay them onto graphs. Finally, they will write equations for their parabolas and decide if their nature picture really does model a quadratic. Thank you to Kat Robbins and her Mt. Tom team for a great guided tour and hot chocolate!
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!