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Woodstock students in grades 7-12 attended Latin Day at UVM and met hundreds of other students from across the state who also study Latin and the ancient world.

Students participated in various fun and educational breakout sessions, including a tour of Latin inscriptions at UVM, trivia and Latin grammar competitions, a visit to UVM’s special collections where they could see 500-year-old books, and a session on how Roman military formations worked.

Students in Latin II and IV wrote and performed a skit about Emperor Claudius battling an orca in the port of Ostia, and they got a ton of laughs and won first place! Woodstock students also received 1 silver and 2 gold medals for their participation in outdoor Olympica competitions.

Overall Woodstock earned 3rd place in the small school division! We're pretty excited about that since it was our first time (at least in recent memory) going to Latin Day, and we look forward to attending again next year! Venimus, Vidimus, Vicimus!

The ninth grade students at Woodstock Union High School began their school year with an all-too-relevant topic: dystopian fiction. In this ebook compilation, you will find short stories, chapter excerpts, and works of art that relate to the utopian and dystopian literary genres, all penned by Woodstock Union High School English I students. In their stories, you’ll notice a glimmer of hope--that one individual can disrupt even the most oppressive societies, and can make change through rebellious acts, like writing in a journal, sacrificing oneself for others, or daring to love during a time of great peril. You will find evidence that even in the darkest of times, both real and imagined, there is always hope for better times ahead. Enjoy!

Shirley Jefferson gave an engaging and inspirational talk about her life as a civil rights activist and law professor to students in Mr. Clifford’s, Ms. Hagge’s and Ms. Perkins’s Block 5 English classes in the library on Thursday, February 16.

Danny Smith and Annie Hauze organized the event as part of the Social Action Club’s programming for Black History Month. In 2020, Danny Smith saw Professor Jefferson speak at a Black Lives Matter rally in South Royalton and recently invited her to speak at WUHSMS for this event.

She shared her story and her history as a little girl growing up in Selma, Alabama marching to Montgomery with the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and John Lewis, to living in Baltimore, Washington, DC and South Royalton, Vermont where she went to law school and is currently a law professor and the Vice President of Community Engagement and Government Relations at the Vermont Law School.

Throughout her talk, she gave encouragement and advice including, “Think of positive things in your life when you get down” and “Start thinking about what you want in your life.”

Her story is an inspirational one. She he integrated her high school in the early 1970’s—some twenty years after the US Supreme Court decision Brown v. Board in 1954 was supposed to desegregate public schools. After explaining how she was passionate about her cases, she proclaimed, “Use your brain!”

When Isabel Konijnenberg asked Professor Jefferson if law school helped her tackle the injustices she had faced, Professor Jefferson explained that first she had to “let a lot of bitterness go” if she was “going to embrace the law.” She explained that before she could fight injustice for others she had to fight injustice within herself.

Ella Stainton asked about the effect she wanted to have on her students and Professor Jefferson replied, “I want them to know they can do it and I will fight for them.”

8th graders put the novel To Kill A Mockingbird on trial this week to decide: Should students today still have to read this book? The trial was the culmination of an investigation into classics, and when and whether they should be canceled.

Our class looked at censorship issues around the US, developed criteria for what a classic book should do, and spent several weeks reading To Kill A Mockingbird, analyzing and discussing its flaws and merits.

Students found racist content and offensive language in the book, but they also found relevant messages about tolerance and justice. They interviewed elders about their experiences with the book and read articles to try to answer the question: Is this a racist book, or a book about racism?

This week, teams of defense attorneys presented arguments to keep the book in the curriculum, while prosecutors argued for its removal. Our judges asked tough questions of both sides and reached different conclusions in each class. In the end, students used pages of To Kill A Mockingbird to create a visual representation of what they believe should happen to problematic classics.

"In the book we are constantly feeling bad for the characters we morally shouldn’t be ... the way Harper Lee writes in the people of color, she uses them as literary devices to raise the plot of the story, leaving us to feel for the wrong people." - Lexi, Prosecutor

"Racism in our nation has often been ignored and [flown] under the radar, despite being the catalyst in so many issues then and today. It’s important for us all to know this, no matter what race, as history must be remembered and not forgotten, because once something is forgotten it can happen again." -Charlie, Defense

Congratulations to Junior Leah Kuhnert, a finalist in the 13th Annual Bernie Sanders State of the Union Essay Contest. The contest drew essays from 382 students from 31 Vermont high schools. Leah wrote about climate change and industrial agriculture, and she shared her ideas with Senator Sanders and fellow finalists during a round table discussion in Montpelier last Saturday. After the event, Leah and her parents were interviewed by ABC 22 news. Leah’s essay will be sent to the Congressional Record.

“It’s an amazing opportunity to have a direct connection with someone who could make large-scale changes for high school students. And it’s something that I think should be done more often.”

— Leah Kuhnert, in an interview with MyChamplainValley.com

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Despite the lack of a true winter, students enjoyed the blue bird day, warm temperatures and lots of activities to explore during the Winter Carnival on February 15th sponsored by the Student Council. The kick off assembly featured a lively play written by Latin students who took first place for the effort at a recent Latin Day event at UVM.

Following the assembly students migrated to their chosen activity. Many chose active events such as skating at the Arena, sledding in the Bowl or competitive dodgeball, basketball and ping pong games. Others chose more peaceful pursuits such as arts & crafts, board games, a pop up music jam, or watching a movie in the Auditorium. To top off the afternoon, many students also enjoyed hot cocoa and s’mores by the firepit outdoors or the yummy baked goods in the cafeteria, or both!!

This week, Vermont Teen Leadership Safety Program (VTLSP) brought back their annual P.S. I Love You Campaign, a national campaign that addresses suicide prevention and mental health awareness on the second Friday of February.

As a peer leadership group, we dedicate the day to reminding everyone of their worth and the positive impact they have on our lives. Advisories took part in writing positive messages on purple post-it notes and they were all put up and displayed on Friday.

On Thursday, we brought in Grief Recovery Specialist Kyle Ludwig to offer support and suggestions on grief and loss during ARE time.

VTLSP students made S.O.S. kits or Save Our Students kits that had clay, fidget toys, and lollipops to hand out to all who attended. We also hand out purple ribbons and ask others to wear purple on Friday. For more information on this campaign, please go to: http://psiloveyouday.net/

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On February 7th and 8th ninth grade students experienced the many benefits of being outside in the winter. Students had the opportunity to ice fish on Dewey's Pond in Quechee and tube at Mt. Ascutney Outdoors in Brownsville. Both trips included a lot of smiles, s'mores making, and good old fashioned fun in the snow!

The Intermediate Math team brought home their second first place finish in last week's math meet!

Lili Morris, Aidan Keough-Vella, Aubrey Seman and Dext Namkung all worked hard competing in 3 of the 4 sections. They beat out five other teams to come in first place. Dext Namkung was the top scorer for the entire Intermediate division.

There is one meet left and this team is currently in 2nd place overall. They are hoping to have another big win in March to win the whole thing! Congratulations Mathletes!!!!!