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Last week in Integrated Environmental Science (IES), 86 freshmen worked with Karen Ganey from Regeneration Corps to plant native shrubs on campus in order to help transform our outdoor spaces to increase biodiversity, promote ecosystem resilience, and store carbon. The work builds on a design for a pollinator hedgerow created for a 2022 Stewardship Action Project by former Woodstock graduate Wyatt Begin and is one of several service learning opportunities offered in 9th grade. It could not have been possible without our former students or Karen.

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Karen has a passion for connecting people to the land and has dedicated her professional life to a variety of organizations including Regeneration Corps, The Upper Valley Apple Corps, Ottauquechee Water Protectors Association, Vt Agroecology School, and the Clifford Park Community Food Forest. Highly energized by work that centers climate solutions and food systems, Karen is currently engaged in various regenerative design consultations, education outreach, and community organizing events.

To prepare for hedgerow planting, students individually researched various herbaceous perennials. Karen also visited our class to raise awareness about the importance of pollinators and stewardship opportunities that create diverse land ecosystems in order to build resilience and increase biodiversity. Our amazing place-based educator Kat Robbins and committed Garden & Greenhouse Manager / CRAFT Teaching Assistant Abbie Castriotta were also integral in preparation efforts by obtaining the tools, equipment and shrubs necessary to complete this project.

In addition to having fun and being outside for the afternoon, our 9th grade students worked to increase the number of pollinator species, the number of interactions and exchanges between organisms, and the health of the ecosystem! Students were highly engaged and reported feeling very successful at the end of the day. When prompted to share a favorite highlight of the day, this is what our students said.

My favorite highlight was…

• “Finally getting the plant in the ground and preparing it to flourish under our combined care.” - Luke Hecker

• “The vivid green after the storm.” - Tee Miller

• “Getting my hands dirty.” - Khloi Bruso

• “Learning about how Kat uses the plants.” - Marshall Sommerville

• “The feeling of making progress towards a goal.” - Liam Wheeler

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This week, the 9th grade Integrated Environmental Science (IES) class invited guest visitor Kyle Burton to engage students in an exciting presentation about salamanders–an important vernal pool apex predator and bioindicator species–in order to supplement our current studies on Ecosystems & Citizen Science.

Kyle has always been an outdoor person. As a teen, he developed a love for zoology and sought out various volunteer opportunities. He attended Mizzou as an undergraduate and UC Denver, where he received a graduate degree in Geographic Engineering Systems. Currently, Kyle serves as a Science In Parks (SIP) intern through USGS, which works in conjunction with Americorp.

To prepare for his visit, students individually researched and reported out on frogs/toads and salamanders that are native to Vermont. Presentations included information about the amphibian’s visual identification, range and habitat, energy sources, winter survival strategies and breeding behavior. After break, students will build on their initial research by engaging in the Salamander Monitoring Project at Marsh Billings National Historical park. Engaging in this project serves to provide context to changing forest structures as the climate changes, including understanding salamanders’ role as a bioindicator species. In addition, students will engage in an authentic citizen science opportunity that will help to shape conservation efforts to support salamander breeding habitats.

In late April, the 9th grade students will be taking a field trip to three arrays within the Marsh Billings forest to monitor Eastern Red-Backed Salamander populations. Marsh Billings National Historical Park offers a unique habitat for 6 salamander species, including the endangered Jefferson Salamander; its unique hemlock-dominated stand, coupled with vernal pools, offers a stronghold for this population. Stay tuned for more information and additional volunteer opportunities in which you and your family can engage.

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This week In AP Physics I, students applied their knowledge of forces acting on an object and Newton’s 2nd Law to investigate a double-mass system. Students worked in small groups to share predictions about how changing the mass of a cart will affect the acceleration of the system and to brainstorm their plan of action for this investigation. Next week, students will be generating and analyzing their experimental data and comparing it to a theoretical value for acceleration.

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This week in Integrated Environmental Science, 9th graders researched and shared information pertaining to a forest pest of their choice. Forest pests included Asian Jumping Worms, the Asian Longhorned Beetle, Spongy Moths, Winter Moths, the Emerald Ash Borer, the Hemlock Woolly Adelgid, and the Butternut Canker! Forest pests, including invasive species, have the ability to drastically change the forest ecosystem. They can have far-reaching impacts on our environment and economy, including negative impacts on human agriculture, recreation and health. See pictures from our student presentations below.

'I never thought about how forests can provide answers for us" remarked one ninth grader as they gazed upward through a leafy canopy on a brilliant October day.

Students were lucky enough to visit Gifford Woods State Park in Killington at peak foliage to explore the one remaining stand of Old Growth forest in Vermont. They noted characteristics of bark and topography, measured girth and height, responded to a piece of text and engaged in a conversation with park staff about how to manage different groups of trail users like mountain bikers and hikers.

These activities are grounded in a unit of study about forest biodiversity in students' Integrated Environmental Science class that are a natural extension to students' more local exploration of our 3.5 acre forested parcel of land across the Ottauquechee River.

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In Integrated Environmental Science, students recently completed a multi-day experience immersed in our outdoor forested classroom. Students worked collaboratively to identify the various species of trees present in the Northern Hardwood Forest.

Students will also have the opportunity to teach their peers how to identify a single tree species using important identification characteristics, as well as sharing a song, poem or watercolor painting.

In the future, students will combine their observations with the long-term monitoring data from our AP Environmental Science class to calculate the Simpson’s Index as one way to measure biodiversity. The study of our forest includes opportunities to develop an increased appreciation for the natural landscape and to discuss the importance of being a forest steward. Our work also serves as a foundation to understanding the beautiful complexity of old growth forests.

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The 9th grade Integrated Environmental Science students also engaged in a unique service learning opportunity as part of the course’s alignment to WUHSMS’s CRAFT program, which connects students, teachers, and community patterns through food and forest systems to empower people to be engaged in place-based solutions. Students helped to remove a fence that was damaged by flooding this past summer and helped to clear the garden in preparation for the installation of lasagna garden beds.

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This past week in AP Physics I, students explored various ways to abstractly represent the motion of objects. After crafting claims and making predictions pertaining to the motion of a marble rolling down a ramp, students worked in small groups to collect data, which they used to calculate the acceleration and final velocity of an object. Stop by room 11 to check out their work!

AP Environmental Science has had a few spring field trips to explore things that most people take for granted, wastewater treatment and electricity. First in April we visited the Woodstock Wastewater Treatment Plant that is located near East End Park. We learned that there is a lot of science to wastewater treatment including the use of microbes, chemical disinfection and water quality monitoring.

For our second spring field trip, we toured the McNeil Biomass power plant in Burlington and the Winooski One hydropower generating station on May 18th. Students learned about how electricity is generated and about how these two renewable stations try to minimize their environmental impact.

How are the carbon cycle and the issue of food security related? Ask a 9th grader. They’ve been working on an interdisciplinary project this semester that culminated in several days of field work in our community. In Wellness and Modern World, students took the 3SquaresVT challenge where they worked in groups to create a menu within the budgetary constraints of this food assistance program and then analyzed it for nutritional value. This week they shopped at Hannaford’s for these food items and then delivered them to the Upper Valley Haven. Budgeting, learning food prices, menu planning, food access, and community service are all real-world skills students learned through this project.

Additionally, in their Integrated Environmental Science class, students are following their investigation of the nitrogen cycle with a deep dive into the carbon cycle. To see an example of a closed loop carbon cycle, students visited Sunrise Farm to explore nutrient cycling between vegetables and livestock and a community-scale composting system, all situated under solar panels. Farm staff discussed the pros and cons of a CSA system in the context of food access and students dug their hands into a 170 degree compost pile that instantly provided warmth on a windy 25 degree day. Bacteria is kind of amazing.

“I learned that farms and agriculture can be an important part of the solution to addressing food insecurity and supporting the carbon cycle. Farming practices that promote sustainable and efficient use of resources, such as composting and cover cropping, can help to increase the productivity of the land and reduce negative impacts on the environment.”

— 9th grade participant