On Wednesday, October 4th, the eighth grade class spent a beautiful day on Mt. Tom. Students hiked enthusiastically (despite the heat), vied for bragging rights in advisory-based challenges, ate lunch at the top by the star, and ended the day enjoying popsicles and shade on the school grounds. It was a great fall day!
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.”
'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.
Students in Ms. Jimerson’s Middle School Studio Art class made “garden focaccias”. Using dough prepared from a King Arthur Flour recipe: students shaped their dough, brushed it with olive oil, and carefully created their “gardens” atop the dough using sliced vegetables, herbs, seeds, olives and capers.
Their creations were baked by Ms. Jimerson and WUHS senior Charlotte Nunan, Ms. Jimerson’s TA for this class. When the students sampled their creations, they all concluded that they were not only pretty but really yummy!
This was a fitting conclusion to their recent study of botanical illustrations, which included a multi-day visit from Susan Sawyer, a renowned botanical illustrator.
Thirty-three students went and spent part of the day at Billings Farm learning, viewing and tasting all things pollinators. Students explored the bountiful pollinator gardens, made pollinator smoothies with pedal power, and viewed and identified flower parts in a microscope.
They also had fun exploring the amazing sunflower house which has 100 varieties of sunflowers. At school, students have been learning about our native pollinators, doing pollinator observations, netting bees, and growing herbs!
Yoh Theatre Players will present Argonautika by Mary Zimmerman on October 20 and 21 at 7 p.m.
We are proud to present our first Vlog episode documenting our work, created with the help of our new Assistant Director Claire McKey Berkman.
The Superintendent's Advisory Council is hosting their third annual Leadership Summit on Social Action on Wednesday, October 11. WUHS students are encouraged to sign up for this day-long event hosted at the Killington Grand Hotel.
This year’s summit will include student-led activities, discussions, and breakout sessions, along with speeches and activities from guest speakers. Food and transportation will be provided, and students will return to school in time for sports, buses, and other after-school commitments.
The deadline for all applications is Wednesday, October 4. If you have any questions, reach out to any of the emails listed on the application form.
We hope to see you at the Leadership Summit this year!
