The Woodstock Unified Soccer team placed first in their division in the Unified Champions State tournament last week at Norwich University. It was a fun day with games against Brattleboro and Rutland. Woodstock came out on top in both games. Congratulations athletes!
Huge kudos to Aleks Cirovic, Riley O'Neal, Owen Whalen, and Chelsea McDermott who represented the CRAFT program at the Upper Valley Teaching Place Collaborative Conference at the Lake Morey Resort last week! Students presented in front of a group of 25 educators about CRAFT, reflected on meaningful learning experiences, and elegantly answered a number of questions.
They facilitated the harvest and sampling of microgreens and shared everything from Food Justice to EcoArt to Wind Turbine building. Educators were impressed by their articulateness and the interdisciplinary opportunities that they are taking advantage of. We hope that CRAFT can serve as a model for other schools to integrate place-based learning into their curriculum in deep and connected ways.
Leading up to the Best Day assembly, last week’s schedule of ‘Spirit Week’ clothing themes generated some kudos for the best costume of the day. Many students dressed in crazy costumes and then each class wore their class color on Thursday, October 5th, for the Best Day assembly. The assembly was held outside in the Bowl under a blue bird sky.
The students enjoyed the musical talent of classmate, Leo Winawer-Stein who played the keyboard and sang Pompeii by Bastille as well as the WUHS band who taught the audience the traditional ‘Fight’ song played at some of the school’s sports’ events. As usual, there were some energetic games such as musical chairs and an intense round of tug o’ war. To be eligible for a prize at the end of the school year, classes are competing for class points by engaging in the games during assemblies.
As a result, enthusiasm was pervasive! Along with the music and activities, there were also student kudos, general announcements and of course some raffles! The event was a great kick off to create some school spirit and celebrate the many aspects of our school community!
The EcoArt students invite the public to SculptureFest located on Prosper Road on October 22 from 1:00-2:30 to view their newly created sculptures.
The students have collaborated with Peter and Charlet Davenport over the past three weeks. They met local artists, explored the sculptures on the Davenport’s land and learned about how gesture, light & shadow, texture, negative space and place influence sculpture. The students then spent time along the farm trail that connects the Davenport’s land with the King Farm.
They designed and created art surrounding and within unique features of the landscape. The purpose of their sculptures is to bring attention to aspects of the land that might otherwise be overlooked. The students considered how environmental public art is an act of stewardship and how using found and ephemeral materials connects to sustainability.
We hope you enjoy exploring the wonderful art pieces created by these talented artists.
AP U.S. History students participated in a Patriots vs. Loyalists debate this week in class. Students researched key leaders, politicians, and writers from the time leading up to the Declaration of Independence and played those roles in their class debates. They discussed enlightenment ideas, taxation without representation, and reasons to stay loyal to the crown.
SAP students went to Whitman Brook Orchard in Quechee, VT to glean apples for the nonprofit Willing Hands. Willing Hands recovers fresh food in order to reduce waste, improve health and provide reliable access to nutritious food for neighbors in need.
The collected apples were divided into 2 bins, one for cold storage to be distributed to food shelves throughout the year and the other bin was for Ben Kilham and his black bear research center. The bears eat up to 25 lbs of apples a day!
Through the gleaning process, food that would other wise be completely wasted and left to rot is now feeding people (and bears in need). Willing Hands has 1,000 + individual volunteers, 64 food donors, 82 delivery sites and have delivered 796,202 pounds of food to people in need in the upper valley. The USDA estimated that 30-40% of all food in the US is wasted. People in need go hungry, the energy and resources to grow the food is wasted and we are producing carbon emissions for no reason.
In SAP we are learning how to reduce the many sources of climate change and how to make those sources more sustainable to help our community now and in the future. According to Willing Hands, Dartmouth College Environmental Studies Department found that the work of Willing Hands prevents a million pounds of CO2 from entering the atmosphere each year, the equivalent to taking 100 cars off the road. If you have an opportunity, reach out to Willing Hands and volunteer to glean for your community!
Student Council recently coordinated a Club Fair where fifteen clubs were represented by student members and advisors, including but not limited to: French and Spanish, Chess, QSA, Social Action, Future Farmers of America, Scholars Bowl, Outing Club, VTLSP, Creativity Club, and more!
On Friday, September 29th the Art Department took a field trip to the Clark Art Institute in Williamstown, MA to see the exhibit “Edvard Munch: Trembling Earth”.
Ms. Gravel’s AP Art History, Ms. Jimerson’s AP Art and Ms. Piana’s Advanced Art classes went on this trip to see an exhibit of Munch’s landscape and nature inspired paintings. Prior to the trip, Ms. Piccoli gave presentations on Edvard Munch, his work and the exhibit to prepare students for their docent-led tours while at the museum.
A real highlight of the visit was seeing students make connections between what they learned in class and what they were observing in person. Of the experience, Joey Sluka said, “The trip was awesome because students don’t actually get the opportunity to apply their learning in museums. It was amazing to see Munch’s lesser known work. It was super helpful to expand my knowledge of Munch, his art and his techniques.”
One of Munch’s paintings that made an impression on Sadie Boulbol was The Yellow Log, 1912. It shows felled trees highlighted in yellow in a Norwegian forest. Sadie explained that it “represents what’s happening today environmentally.” And she said, “Munch was ahead of his time.”
After the tour, students had free time to explore the permanent collection. Ms. Gravel’s AP Art History class visited “Printed Renaissance” for a special presentation by Sophia Nisimblat ‘24, Teaching Assistant, on an Italian Renaissance woodcut on paper by Niccolo Vicentino which she compared to a German Renaissance engraving by Albrecht Durer. Then, AP Art History students visited the Manton Collection of British Art to see a wonderful collection of Turner and Constable paintings.
Thanks so much to the Clark Art Institute for their free educational programming. “Edvard Munch: Trembling Earth” is at the Clark until October, 15. This is the only US venue before it travels to Germany and then back to Norway.
Our Center of Community Connections (C3) organized a field trip to the annual Women Can Do! Conference and Expo in Randolph, Vermont on Thursday, October 5th. Women Can Do is an annual, statewide career exploration conference for high school girls and gender-expansive youth.
At Women Can Do, hundreds of students from across Vermont explored careers through hands-on activities and conversations with Vermont employers. WUHS students who attend Hartford Area Career and Tech Center were out in force and leading exhibitions on welding, auto body repair and building trades.
Woodstock students who attended the conference as participants had the opportunity to interact with professionals from a variety of STEM-related careers such as aerospace, medical technology, engineering and more.
Tenth grader Quinn Eckler attended the conference for the second year in a row. Quinn shared, “It was amazing to be surrounded by so many women from all over the state. We were all excited to learn about a wide variety of different jobs, careers paths, and opportunities with a bunch of hands-on stations and lots of information about options for after high school.”
