Last week the 8th Grade Class visited the Vermont Supreme Court, Vermont Historical Society Museum, and the State House in time to see 8th grader Nick Cellini on his last day of work as a Vermont Legislative Page.

Students were greeted in the Supreme Court by Woodstock graduate Justice Harold Eaton (Class of 1973) and they participated in a mock trial based on an actual case. They took a self-guided tour of the Vermont Historical Society Museum, and were able to see their town representatives in the House as they observed them in session during their tour of the State House. One group of students was greeted by a few of their legislators for lunch and had a chance to ask questions and have conversation. Interestingly, a student question that turned into a point of discussion was whether any money from the large federal infrastructure bill would trickle down to local school districts for school renovations or rebuilds.

This was our first field trip to Montpelier since Covid and we hope to resume making it an annual tradition for the 8th Grade Class!

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C.R.A.F.T. was super excited to host David Andrews (Class of 2012) and his partner Erin Donahue along with Phil Rice from Cobb Hill to lead our students in a mushroom cultivation workshop.

David first learned how to grow mushrooms as a student at WUHS at Cobb Hill, and has since gone on to own and run his own very successful vegetable and mushroom farm in Maine, Tiny Acres Farm. This was a true partnership venture, as Field and Forest Products donated the mushroom spawn and Pat Bartlett donated the sugar maple logs.

David, Erin, and Phil lead the students in a 'drill, fill, and seal' process to inoculate 60 logs with shiitake and chestnut mushroom spores. We also learned about mushroom varieties, economics, and ecological benefits. We are planning on a big harvest in the spring of 2024, so patience is also emphasized!

A big shout out to Kevin Nunan for helping us move and store the logs too!

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On Thursday morning, two representatives from Migrant Justice visited our library on their Milk With Dignity tour of New England. The Milk With Dignity Tour was designed to bring awareness of immigrant dairy workers' working conditions and their call for human rights while calling on Hannaford supermarkets to "source its store-brand milk from farms where workers' human rights are independently monitored and protected, and the long-term interests of farm owners are supported."

There were over eighty students in attendance from Ms. Megyesi's Spanish class and Ms. Jimerson and Ms. Piana's middle school Art classes, the largest audience they have had so far on their Milk With Dignity Tour of New England. The presentation by Migrant Justice is part of our programming for the Vermont Reads book, The Most Costly Journey: Stories of Migrant Farmworkers.

The presenters, Madeline and Abel, brought a new awareness to our students today about their work, human rights and activism. Members of the Social Action Club were in the audience including Ella and Farren Stainton. Farren said, "I had no idea of the mistreatment of migrant workers for milk until the presentation. I am really grateful I got to learn about this movement's action." And Ella said, "After learning about Milk With Dignity I was motivated to get involved in the movement, making sure to sign a postcard before I left the presentation."

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Students in Advanced Art, AP Art History, AP Drawing and Latin visited the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston on March 27th. Some students went on a guided tour that focused on several different works of art made from a variety of media and from a variety of time periods and places. The docents engaged the students in meaningful conversations that related to identity, culture, artistic expression and visual stories. All were impressed by the power of Turner’s Slave Ship. Magistra Allen’s students also worked to complete a scavenger hunt in Latin about different works of art in the Egyption, Greek, and Roman sections of the museum. Students also had some time to explore the exhibits on their own, and during this time the art students had the opportunity to sketch inspiring works of art.

Retiro Park, Madrid

We are excited to announce that WUHS students will have the opportunity to participate in an exchange with high school students from the Colegio Salesiano Paseo Extremadura in Madrid, Spain next year. Luis Villanueva, Betsie O’Neill and Anna Megyesi are coordinating the exchange. El Colegio Salesiano is a wonderful school in Madrid that offers K-12 studies including vocational training in nursing, early childhood education, technical sports and physical activities, computer science and communications.

Dates: Students from Spain will be arriving the second week in September and staying 10 days. Woodstock students will be traveling in Spring of 2024 to Madrid for 10 days.

Our planning team will be working this Spring and summer on selecting and matching students, and working with host families on logistics.

Segovia

We will hold a parent meeting later this Spring for parents of applicants.

Itinerary: In addition to the rich cultural exchange and homestay experience, Woodstock students will visit two UNESCO World Heritage sites, the Prado Museum and Retiro Park. In addition, students will take day trips to Segovia, Spain to explore the famous Roman aqueduct, Medieval Alcázar and historic Cathedral as well as La Granja San Ildefonso.

Application and Host Family Information: We have held two informational meetings with students. Interested students will be sent a digital application that focuses on Skillful Communication, Academic Excellence, Stewardship, Critical Thinking and Self Direction. Approximately twenty students will be participating from each school.

Interested: Please email Anna Megyesi amegyesi@wcsu.net if you and your family are interested in participating. . Click here to access a brief informational presentation.

On Tuesdays and Thursdays the Middle School Book Club meets in the library and they are reading Wolfish by Christiane Andrews.

The author took her inspiration for this book from Roman mythology. Her previous book Spindlefish and Stars was inspired by Greek mythology. The publisher's note for Wolfish states, "Inspired by Roman mythology, this mysterious and uniquely magical adventure explores the intricate roles of nature and fate in our lives, the power of language to shape our world, and the boundless importance of love and kindness."

Christiane M. Andrews is scheduled to visit with the Middle School Book Club in May! If you would like to read either of these books, stop by the library to pick up a copy and if you'd like to attend the author talk, please let Ms. Piccoli know.

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On Monday, Mr. Bremel and Mrs. Vonada took their Algebra 2 students to Mt. Tom in search of Parabolas in Nature. Parabolas are the "U" shaped graph of quadratics. Algebra 2 students have been studying quadratics and this project was for them to take pictures of nature that appear to model parabolas. They will then do some analysis of their pictures as they overlay them onto graphs. Finally, they will write equations for their parabolas and decide if their nature picture really does model a quadratic. Thank you to Kat Robbins and her Mt. Tom team for a great guided tour and hot chocolate!

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During Middle School Advisory this week, students learned about the stories of four Ukrainian children who have been displaced by the war in Ukraine. Then, eighth grade students wrote Letters of Love to Ukrainian children who had to leave their home country due to the war. In a few weeks, after their unit on Ukraine, seventh grade students will be participating in the project.

Ms. Drufovka's advisory and Mrs. Stuntz's advisory met in the library and wrote their messages of love and hope and illustrated their letters with colorful hearts, flags and flowers. Clara Burkholder wrote in her letter, "We love you, we are thinking of you and we hope you will stay strong! My home town in Vermont has Ukranian flags hanging in our windows and on doors."

In the past week, senior Annie Hauze commanded the stage as Woodstock's Poetry Out Loud champion in the regional competition held in Barre, Vermont, qualifying for state finals; she went on to play the lead all weekend long in the fabulous Percy Jackson:The Lighting Thief Musical.

Taking full advantage of the gift of time a snow day affords, Annie added a third poem to her repertoire in preparation for the Vermont State Finals Competition for Poetry Out Loud, held at Burlington's Flynn Center, Thursday evening, March 16th. Competing with other state finalists from Burr and Burton, Champlain Valley, Bellows Free Academy- Fairfax, Peoples Academy, St. Johnsbury Academy, Bellows Free Academy -- St. Albans, Williamstown, Thetford and Rice Memorial, Annie led round one with Shakespeare's "Sonnet 55: Not marble nor the gilded monuments". In Round 2, Annie captivated her audience with her signature recitation of Adelaide Crapsey's "The Properly Scholarly Attitude". Annie's pacing, intonation, physical presence and delivery in both these recitations were impeccable and secured her position as one of the top 3 selected to recite a third poem, Thursday night.

To lean on a line from her rendition of "Clear Night" by Charles Wright, Annie was indeed "strung up in a strong light and singled out" for her excellence, "gears notch[ed] and engines wheel[ed]" in ways that led her to Woodstock's top finish as our first "runner up" in the state Poetry Out Loud competitions over the years.

While it was hard for any of us to discern the difference between Annie's recitations and Greer Kennedy's of St. Johnsbury Academy, top place went to Greer who will travel to Washington, D.C. in early May to represent Vermont in the national Poetry Out Loud contest. In the meantime, keep an eye out for more of Annie's amazing performances this spring in Shakespeare's Twelfth Night, the class of 2023 Speak Chorus, and likely many other performance events!