School news
Sociedad Honoraria Hispánica & Société Honoraire de Français Induction Ceremony
The MAC Language department at Woodstock Union High School honored inductees into two national World Language organizations on Friday, May 23,2024. The ceremony was held in the Rhoda Teagle Library. Membership in the Sociedad Honoraria Hispánica for Spanish and Société Honoraire de Français for French requires academic commitment and excellence and demonstrated service in promoting the language and culture.
Woodstock Union High School’s chapter of the Société Honoraire de Français inducted the following seniors as well as several underclassmen: Phoebe Anderson, Tess Belisle, Amelie Fabre, Leah Kuhnert, Chloe Masillo, Delia Morgan, and Clara Shortle.
Woodstock Union High School’s chapter of the Sociedad Honoraria Hispánica inducted and celebrated the following seniors: Lila Beckwith, Amelie Fabre, Brooke Hecker, Maggie Mello, Sophia Nisimblat, Ella Stainton and Farren Stainton.
We are truly proud to recognize the achievements of this group of students.
Pictured up above: Newly inducted members of the Sociedad Honoraria Hispánica and Société Honoraire de Français
Seniors from Left to Right: Chloe Masillo, Leah Kuhneret, Phoebe Anderson, Clara Shortle, Delia Morgan, Amélie Fabre, Farren Stainton, Ella Stainton, Maggie Mello, Sophia Nisimblat, Lila Beckwith. Not pictured: Brooke Hecker and Tess Belisle. Photo: Susan Piccoli
Senior Amélie Fabre was inducted into both the Sociedad Honoraria Hispánica and Société Honoraire de Français
9th Grade Hears from Holocaust Survivor at Shir Shalom
Below: Ninth graders view the Holocaust Torah with Art Skerker
Poster featuring Eta Wrobel, a famous Partisan during the Holocaust, and grandmother to field trip speaker Corinna Dodson.
This spring, the ninth graders have been engaged in an interdisciplinary unit in their English and Modern World classes. In Modern World History with Mr. Wolfe, students learned about the historical background of the Holocaust, studying the escalation of hate that led up to the atrocities. In English with Ms. SJ, they explored the individual stories of people who endured the Holocaust, chronicling their lives and legacies before, during, and after the Holocaust.
The unit culminated on May 7th with a field trip for all ninth graders to Shir Shalom Woodstock Area Jewish Community in honor of Holocaust Remembrance Day. There, we were privileged to hear from Mrs. Fran Malkin, who shared her incredible story of survival during the Holocaust. This field trip was especially memorable and powerful because Mrs. Malkin is 9th grader Jessica Pierce’s grandmother. It was so special to see the three generations of Fran’s family–Fran, her daughter Debbi, and her granddaughter Jess–share the same stage at Shir Shalom.
Students also heard hopeful, poignant remarks from Ms. Corinna Dodson, granddaughter of famed Partisan Eta Wrobel, and they had the unique opportunity to view Shir Shalom’s Holocaust Torah Scroll, which likely dates back to the 1840s. Finally, students were treated to delicious pizza and popsicles, which were generously provided by Shir Shalom.
This field trip was made possible by the generosity of Mrs. Malkin and her daughter, Debbi Schonberger-Pierce, and of Shir Shalom leaders and congregants, including Rabbi Haigh, Lois Fein, President Mike Brown, Roni and Art Skerker, and others. Lois Fein was especially instrumental in planning this field trip and unit, and we owe her many thanks!
Jessica Pierce stands on stage with her mother, Debbi, and her grandmother, Fran. Art Skerker holds the Holocaust Torah.
With the help of Corinna and Art, Jess, Debbi, and Fran pass the Holocaust Torah, symbolizing the passing of Holocaust remembrance from one generation to the next.
Above: Lois Fein plays guitar and sings throughout the field trip.
Students engage in an Equitable Climate Action Project By Ada Mahood
Currently, the Food & Forest systems class is working on an Equitable Climate Action Project with other students in the Upper Valley. Here is the ECAP project described by Hannah Gelroth, Senior Director of VINS as, “Through this endeavor, students have been exploring changes in our local environment while actively engaging in activities designed to enhance their sense of agency “I can do this!” and contribute to making the Upper Valley an even better place to live In.”
The Food and Forest systems class made the decision that for their equitable climate action project they were going to help the riparian buffer by the river that runs through the back of our sports fields where heavy flooding occurred last summer. A riparian buffer is a strip of vegetation along the riverside to help prevent erosion. The students collected data from the riparian zone at our school and researched different plants and other aspects that would help strengthen the riparian buffer along our river.
Each of the students were assigned a different zone and researched which plants would thrive best in that zone. They also came up with a hypothesis of what would happen when they executed their plans. The group also touched upon what climate challenge they were addressing. “A Riparian buffer prevents pollution from entering the river,reduces flooding and the river and trees are a sink for CO2.”
They used their research to build the riparian buffer along the river bank and were thoroughly satisfied with their work. They harvested and planted live stakes of shrub willow and red osier dogwood in the first zone of their buffer. They are going to plan and plant zone 2 in the coming weeks. They planned some more data collection for the future to monitor their zones and if the buffer
is effective.
AP Art History is Awestruck by Hudson River School Paintings!
On Tuesday, Dr. Gravel's AP Art History class went for a tour of the Hudson River School paintings at Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller National Historical Park. Ms. Piccoli engaged the students in discussions about the landscape paintings using Visual Thinking Strategies which encourages participants to observe, think and feel emotions when looking at art. The students just took their AP exam last week and studied the Hudson River School earlier in the year. They really impressed Ms. Piccoli with their observations, thoughts and use of relevant vocabulary terms like "sublime" to describe the paintings and "divine illumination" when explaining the symbolism the artists incorporated in their use of light. The group had the opportunity to look closely at paintings by Thomas Cole, Albert Bierstadt and William Bradford. Maeve Roylance stated, "It was very interesting to learn about all the different aspects of the paintings, but to then see how they all came together was really incredible."
Library News
In this week's From the Library newsletter, read about the Young Adult Diverse Books Book Club picking up books for next year, learn about the Faculty/Staff Book Club's discussion of The Fury by Alex Michaelides and see some photos of students in Our Busy Library! Please click here for more information and photos.
Please remember to return your overdue books, renew the books you need more time to read and check out some new reads for spring!