Twenty new members were inducted into the Ottauquechee Chapter of the National Honor Society. These juniors and seniors have been selected for their commitment to the four pillars of NHS: Scholarship, Leadership, Service, and Character. They will serve as peers tutors and complete 30 hours of community service annually to make their community a better place.

Congratulations to: Catherine Austin, Jaedon Beardsley, Lila Beckwith, Skye Cully, Phoebe Goldberg, Hannah Gubbins, Brooke Hecker, Logan Knox, Leah Kuhnert, Chloe Masillo, Declan McCullough, Tori McNamara, Margaret Mello, Grace Modarai, Delia Morgan, Mikayla Myers, Sophia Nisimblat, Clara Shortle, Ella Stainton and Farren Stainton.

The Safe School Ambassadors in grades 8-12 just completed an all day retreat and training. These students were selected from survey results where their peers identified them as admired and trustworthy.

Since students can have a powerful influence on each other, this training focuses on how the students themselves can recognize acts of unkindness, and learn the intervention skills they themselves can safely implement.

This year's training event was a particularly powerful experience since the returning members entered the day with an explicit intention to be honest and open with each other.

Thank you to the 11th and 12th grade SSAs who planned and presented many of the day's activities, and then showed by example the incredible power of personal vulnerability and responsibility.

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French students as well as members of the French Club celebrated National French Week by enjoying some classic French pastry and cheese. Students brought in ingredients to prepare crêpes in the classroom. One group decided to also conduct a French cheese tasting event. For this, students even made homemade baguettes. Members of The French Club enjoyed preparing and eating an autumnal specialty called “Tarte Tatin,” a caramelized upside down apple tart, once again proving that an important part of a culture is its gastronomy!

Algebra II students used Virtual Reality to learn about rooftop gardens and maximizing areas in an urban area. Students had to come up with the best possible design for the garden, write the equation and then graph it, all in virtual reality.

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On November 1st, ninth graders spent an afternoon engaging in community service projects across the school grounds and the community. From stacking wood to sewing stuffies, they made meaningful contributions and had a lot of fun. Learn more about the afternoon.

“Giving to people who may not be able to afford proper heating for their home during the winter is a huge topic of concern (especially in Vermont). Acting on this situation and being a part of the process makes me feel inspired and encouraged to do more for the community and more for people in my life.”

— Calvin, 9th grader

Last Thursday, members of the Club de Español visited the Thompson Senior center luncheon birthday celebration. Each month, the Senior Center celebrates those who had birthdays that month and the Club de Español sang a traditional birthday serenade, Las mañanitas to help celebrate.

On Friday, club members made spiced hot chocolate and pan de muertos to commemorate the start of los Días de Muertos. Many Spanish-speaking countries celebrate this holiday which honors ancestors and family members who have passed. Pan de muertos and chocolate caliente are traditional foods prepared to enjoy with family members during this time

Students registered to vote on November 3, 2022 during a lunchtime voter drive organized by the League of Women Voters and Woodstock's Student Council. In the past few weeks, all junior year government classes have been exploring the ballot and researching federal, state, and local candidates to prepare for an in-class vote on November 8th, followed by a voting reflection.

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Our SAP students have been working in varying capacities this fall to be stewards of the land and our community. As part of the Abenaki Land Link Project, students harvest, dried and separated out the seed of native plants including the cranberry bean and red flint corn. The seeds we grew go back to the Abenaki people in Vermont and provide them with additional seed to grow crops and food to eat for those in need.

SAP students gleaned apples at Sunrise Orchard in Reading with the non-profit Willing Hands. The apples they harvested go into storage in the Willing Hands facility and will be distributed to people through the winter.

After gleaning apples, there were so many that were not the best to give to people but were great for baking and applesauce. Thanks to their hard work ALL classes got to make apple muffins and applesauce!

SAP students volunteered with Veggie Van Go to help hand out monthly food items provided by the Vermont Food Bank. They also went to the Thompson Senior Center to put together several meals on wheels for the elderly in our community. The senior center delivers over 18,000 meals annually within our community!

Mr. Villanueva uses a Treasure Hunt to help his Geometry students understand concepts.

Mr. V had the students play an origami game, where they use their visual perception to make a pirate hat. Donning their pirate hats students had to follow one of the two different paths with the clues to find the treasure. In order to open the chest they had to show Mr. V their thinking over the map.

We started "Constructions" a week ago and today we were reviewing the 4 loci or geometric places that satisfies one condition. Same distance from one point, two points, one line and two lines. Besides it being a little cold some of them had fun and started Halloween with a little extra candy.

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