The High School community gathered together under sunny skies on Friday, May 31, 2024 to celebrate the senior class, to honor some individuals with some well-deserved awards, and to bid a fond farewell to some departing staff. Patty Topliffe was this year’s faculty recipient of the yearbook dedication. Bill Berry, a beloved bus driver for Woodstock sports’ teams and field trips was honored with the James T. McLaughlin Co-Curricular award, and exchange student Cassandra Naife from Mozambique was awarded her diploma for successfully completing her senior year at WUHS. In addition to marking some important events, students also shared their competitive spirit during a water balloon toss competition as well as a musical chairs showdown.
In this week's From the Library newsletter, consider participating in the National Book Foundation's Summer Reading Adventure, read about the Young Adult Books Book Club summer read We Are All So Good at Smiling by Amber McBride, learn about our Library Angels and read about Ms. Piccol's presentation at the Vermont Library Association Conference. Please click here for more information and photos.
Please remember to return your overdue books and checkout your summer reads!
This spring, students in the agriculture classes continued the tradition of growing tomato plants for the Woodstock Food Shelf. The 110 tomato plants will provide fresh tomatoes for community members throughout the summer.
Co-Presidents of VTLSP (Vermont Teen Leadership Safety Program), Aleks Cirovic and Eleanor Williams, participated in our annual campaign, Project Sticker Shock. Working together with area convenience stores and grocery store, we address issues related to underage drinking and work to do this campaign before graduation. This project consists of youth placing stickers on multi-packs of alcohol and other appropriate alcohol beverages to thank them for not buying alcohol for minors and keeping our youth alcohol-free. VTLSP would like to thank Cumberland Farms, Maplefields, and the Woodstock Village Market for allowing us to do our campaign in their stores.
Woodstock juniors, seniors, guests, and parents gathered for prom at the Killington Grand Resort Hotel on Saturday, May 18th. Parents looked on as the students promenaded into the Oscar Wilde Grand Ballroom.
Students finished their bowling unit in Wellness and added it to the list of lifetime activities we have practiced this year. By the end of the unit students were able to understand how to score and use the four step approach. Students tested their skills when we took a class trip to Valley Bowl in Randolph, Vermont. Lots of smiles, spares and strikes were had!
Wellness teacher Matt McCormick is teaching students to fly fish.
Here’s what’s been going on with our amazing student artists at Woodstock:
A trip to Boston: In March students in Advanced Art, Advanced Digital Art, AP Art History, AP Drawing and AP 2D Design visited the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston on March 13th. 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. Students also had some time to explore the exhibits on their own, during this time the students had the opportunity to sketch inspiring works of art.
Student Art Show Returns!
During the first week in May, the school art show brought creativity and excitement for art to the community. The art show was open during the school days, and many students and staff had the opportunity to visit the amazing drawings, paintings, collages, and sculptures created by our 7-12 students. The art show was open to community members on Friday and Saturday evenings before the YOH performance. Thank you, Steve Stunts, who played music during Friday night's art opening! The interactive art stations were especially popular; we even had students run caricature portrait stations for visitors. The art department looks forward to more pop-up shows in the future!
Students are recognized for their outstanding work at the Congressional Art Show
Each spring, a nation-wide high school arts competition is sponsored by the Members of the U.S. House of Representatives. The Congressional Art Competition began in 1982, in Vermont, to provide an opportunity for members of Congress to encourage and recognize the artistic talents of their young constituents. Since then, over 650,000 high school students have been involved with the nationwide competition. The over-all winners from each state are displayed for one year in the U.S. Capitol.
Congratulations to the six student artists who were recognized by the art teachers at Woodstock for having their work at this year’s art show in Castleton: Lindsey Bacon, Logan Knox, Delia Morgan, Charlotte Nunan, Clara Shortle, and Joseph Tsouknakis. The students viewed the amazing artwork created by 90 students from around Vermont. Congress woman Becca Balint met the students and presented the awards. Charlotte Nunan won first place for Windsor county, and tied for the People’s choice award!
Charlotte with her winning painting “Under Pressure”
Last week in Integrated Environmental Science (IES), 86 freshmen worked with Karen Ganey from Regeneration Corps to plant native shrubs on campus in order to help transform our outdoor spaces to increase biodiversity, promote ecosystem resilience, and store carbon. The work builds on a design for a pollinator hedgerow created for a 2022 Stewardship Action Project by former Woodstock graduate Wyatt Begin and is one of several service learning opportunities offered in 9th grade. It could not have been possible without our former students or Karen.
Karen has a passion for connecting people to the land and has dedicated her professional life to a variety of organizations including Regeneration Corps, The Upper Valley Apple Corps, Ottauquechee Water Protectors Association, Vt Agroecology School, and the Clifford Park Community Food Forest. Highly energized by work that centers climate solutions and food systems, Karen is currently engaged in various regenerative design consultations, education outreach, and community organizing events.
To prepare for hedgerow planting, students individually researched various herbaceous perennials. Karen also visited our class to raise awareness about the importance of pollinators and stewardship opportunities that create diverse land ecosystems in order to build resilience and increase biodiversity. Our amazing place-based educator Kat Robbins and committed Garden & Greenhouse Manager / CRAFT Teaching Assistant Abbie Castriotta were also integral in preparation efforts by obtaining the tools, equipment and shrubs necessary to complete this project.
In addition to having fun and being outside for the afternoon, our 9th grade students worked to increase the number of pollinator species, the number of interactions and exchanges between organisms, and the health of the ecosystem! Students were highly engaged and reported feeling very successful at the end of the day. When prompted to share a favorite highlight of the day, this is what our students said.
My favorite highlight was…
“Finally getting the plant in the ground and preparing it to flourish under our combined care.” - Luke Hecker
“The vivid green after the storm.” - Tee Miller
“Getting my hands dirty.” - Khloi Bruso
“Learning about how Kat uses the plants.” - Marshall Sommerville
“The feeling of making progress towards a goal.” - Liam Wheeler
