Colchester School District artists’ creations have been selected for display as part of the annual Champlain Valley Regional Art Show at the University Mall.

CSD students’ collected works on display at the Champlain Valley Regional Art Show

The event, which runs this year from February 17 through March 8, showcases selected works from schools all around the Champlain Valley. The selected works of CSD students representing every school in our district are in the concourse in front of Sears.

Congratulations to our celebrated artists!

From Union Memorial School:

UMS student artwork

UMS student artwork

From Porters Point School:

PPS student artwork

PPS student artwork

From Malletts Bay School:

MBS student artwork

MBS student artwork

From Colchester Middle School:

CMS student artwork

CMS student artwork

From Colchester High School:

CHS student artwork

CHS student artwork

Congratulations to our community’s recognized artists!

For more information, please e-mail Kate DeCoff (decoffk@csdvt.org).

Do you like CSD Spotlight? If so, please encourage your family and friends to subscribe! We are working hard to engage our community and keep everyone informed. Please help us spread the word!

We have discussed in other CSD Spotlight articles the ways in which our schools’ libraries help to foster and facilitate student engagement and success.

Some of our schools recently celebrated I Love to Read Week as part of the Vermont Council on Reading’s I Love to Read and Write Month.

At Porters Point School, librarian Mary Ann Kadish championed the event by inviting guests from our community to the PPS library to read aloud to the students. PPS also tied reading into a PBIS success celebration by showing films based on Dr. Suess books (the beloved author’s birthday is March 2).

At Union Memorial School, librarian Judy Flanagan also invited guest readers to work with the students, including staff from around the district and even Colchester Police Department’s DARE officer, Corporal Fontaine. These efforts are important; the Colchester School District Vision and Strategic Plan 2012–2017′s Pathway E is “Parent, Community, and School Partnerships Among Lifelong Learners.”

(Here are a few tiny thumbnail snapshots of some of the UMS guest readers just for fun.)

At Colchester Middle School, librarian Angelika Mahoney organized her annual daily reading enrichment contest in which students correctly answering questions related to Dorothy Canfield Fisher Reading Award books were entered into drawings to win a book.

A winner of one of the contests

We invite you to explore any of these embedded links if you would like to learn more about Colchester School District’s various approaches to literacy instruction (which includes but is not limited to the Junior Great Books program, an emergent reading program, a guided reading program, annual participation in the Red Clover event, the Title I program, participation in special reading competitions, and more). To read our five-part primer on literacy, please click here.

Do you like CSD Spotlight? If so, please encourage your family and friends to subscribe! We are working hard to engage our community and keep everyone informed. Please help us spread the word!

I love argument, I love debate. I don’t expect anyone just to sit there and agree with me; that’s not their job.
—Margaret Thatcher

Please join us in celebrating these talented students!

As we’ve discussed in previous CSD Spotlight articles (including this one published on January 9 of this year), Colchester High School’s participation in the Vermont Debate and Forensics League is winning our students considerable acclaim. Most recently, CHS students Lauren Hutchings and Summer Colley placed third in the Vermont 2013 Public Forum Debate State Tournament, going on to place second at the March 15 & 16 National Forensic League’s district tournament in Oneonta, New York, and qualifying for the national event in Birmingham, Alabama, later this year!

CHS’s Summer Colley, Bob Hall, and Lauren Hutchings with their trophy from the Vermont 2013 Public Forum Debate State Tournament

“Nationals is going to be unlike anything we’ve done so far. We’re really going to have to spend a lot of time getting ready for that level of competition,” Lauren said.

“Being good isn’t going to be enough. We’re going to have to be perfect in everything—research, presentation, cross-fire …” Summer added.

As we’ve mentioned in the past, cultivating excellent debating skills is excellent preparation for life beyond high school. “For my money, debate is one of the best activities for college and life preparation,” said CHS’s Guidance department chair Bob Hall, who was recently named the Vermont Debate Coach of the Year. “Students develop many valuable twenty-first-century skills in debate, including research, collaboration, communication, public speaking, critical thinking, and problem-solving, rigorously tested by their peers in authentic settings.”

At the March 15 & 16 National Forensic League’s district tournament in Oneonta, New York, Lauren and Summer qualified for the June 16–21 NFL National Speech & Debate Tournament in Birmingham, Alabama, having secured one of two spots available with a 6–1 record. “This is the first time a CHS debate team has gone to nationals,” said Bob Hall.

“We’re going to just prepare as much as we can, do our best, and keep our fingers crossed for nationals,” Summer said.

“We’re lucky to have teachers willing to help us. Some have even volunteered to debate us to help us get ready,” said Lauren.

Summer Colley, Bob Hall, and Lauren Hutchings following the 2013 Iroquois National Forensics League District Tournament in Oneonta, New York

Why is debate important? As an example, it is fundamental in leadership and in policy making. (CHS senior Hanna Orselet participated in Girls State and Girls Nation last summer—a leadership program in which representatives engage in model state legislatures to debate issues and pass bills—and she met President Obama in the process.)

How does this relate to your school district’s mission? The Colchester School District Vision and Strategic Plan 2012–2017′s pathways include Pathway A: High Standards, Expectations, and Individual Engagement for All Learners; Pathway C: Learning Outside Our Four Walls; and Pathway E: Parent, Community, and School Partnerships Among Lifelong Learners. We are working hard to provide powerful learning and growing opportunities for each and every student.

Fundraising efforts are under way to send the students to the national competition. If you are interested in helping these students to meet their fundraising goal of $5,000, checks can be made payable to CHS Debate c/o Colchester High School and sent to:

Colchester High School
131 Laker Lane
Colchester, VT 05446

Many, many thanks to the following organizations for their funding assistance in sending the students to the regional competition:

• Colchester Lions Club
• Colchester/Milton Rotary Club
• Law Offices of Todd Taylor, P.C.
• Bauer, Gravel, Farnham Attorneys at Law
• Kenney & Fisher PLLC

If you would like more information, please contact Bob Hall at (802) 264-5710, or e-mail him at hallb@csdvt.org.

Congratulations and good luck in Birmingham, Lauren and Summer!

Do you like CSD Spotlight? If so, please encourage your family and friends to subscribe! We are working hard to engage our community and keep everyone informed. Please help us spread the word!

Everyone is recognized as a learner and teacher.
—From the Colchester community’s shared beliefs as stated in the Colchester School District Vision and Strategic Plan 2012–2017

Colchester High School students in one of Carrie Robinson’s Spanish classes had a unique opportunity to converse almost entirely in Spanish with another of our district’s students … this one a native of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico.

Malletts Bay School fifth grader Lizbeth Cintron recently met with the CHS Spanish students to help provide an authentic communication lesson and some insight into her birthplace.

CHS Spanish 3 students with MBS’s Lizbeth Cintron

Colchester School District Vision and Strategic Plan 2012–2017 includes Pathway E: Parent, Community, and School Partnerships Among Lifelong Learners, and this experience was a classic example of it.

Do you like CSD Spotlight? If so, please encourage your family and friends to subscribe! We are working hard to engage our community and keep everyone informed. Please help us spread the word!

The National Association for Music Educators (NAfME) has selected Colchester High School senior Jacob Morton-Black’s composition “Chapter 1, Bar 60″ for string quartet as one of fourteen award-winning pieces. As a result, Jacob participated in a forum and panel discussion of young composers, and his composition was performed at the NAfME Eastern Division Conference in Hartford, Connecticut, on April 5.

(Jacob was also on the student team in the recent sixth-annual Battle of the Brains competition; if you missed that article and video, you can access it here.)

CHS’s Jacob Morton-Black

He also applied for a composition scholarship through the Vermont Music Educators Association’s All-State Festival, and “Chapter 1, Bar 60″ was selected for one of three scholarships.

The piece, which was composed over a two-week period as part of the String Quartet Project in collaboration with the Burlington Ensemble, includes parts for a cello, a viola, and two violins. The Burlington Ensemble performed the piece on April 6 at College Street Congregational Church, and the piece will also be performed as part of the Town of Colchester’s 250th anniversary celebration on May 31 beginning at 7:30 p.m. in the CHS gymnasium.

Jacob, who plans to pursue higher education in music composition and conducting, often draws inspiration from the work of Czech composer Antonín Dvořák, particularly when writing quartets. “Every piece is unique in its creation process, but they all start with a nugget—and that nugget can come at any time,” he said.

Please join us in congratulating him!

Aspiring musicians abound throughout your school district. Jacob and other fellow CHS musicians also recently participated in the New England Music Festival—a prestigious opportunity to perform with New England’s best high school musicians under the direction of nationally recognized directors and master conductors. Along with Jacob for this opportunity were Lauren Zwonik, Ian Flores, Isabella Bertoni, Andrea Trudeau, and Teremy Garen.

Lauren Zwonik and Jacob Morton-Black

Back: Ian Flores
Front, from left to right: Andrea Trudeau, Isabella Bertoni, and Teremy Garen

At Colchester Middle School, more than sixty students are involved in the April 18 and April 19 production of Willy Wonka Junior, which will begin at 7:00 p.m. on both nights in the community theater at Colchester High School. The students’ extensive preparations for this musical production include memorizing lines, singing, and creating artistic sets. Eighth grader Sam Dickin will play Willy Wonka, seventh grader Ethan Goedken will portray young Charlie Bucket, and eighth grader Mario Houle will play the role of Grandpa Joe. “I am so proud of how hard the students have worked on this,” said Emily Desautels, CMS band and musical director. “They’ve been rehearsing for the past five months after school … they give it so much energy and dedication. They’re all very excited to perform for the Colchester community.”

For more information about the upcoming Willy Wonka Junior production, please contact Emily Desautels at (802) 264-5800 or e-mail her at desautelse@csdvt.org.

Do you like CSD Spotlight? If so, please encourage your family and friends to subscribe! We are working hard to engage our community and keep everyone informed. Please help us spread the word!

Colchester High School senior Nick Bezio placed first in the state—winning Vermont 2013 Best of Show—and won an honorable mention for his submission to the national Junior Duck Stamp Contest!

US Fish & Wildlife Service’s David Frisque, CHS art teacher Vito Cannizzaro, Nick Bezio, and CHS art teacher Anne Cummings

CHS senior Nick Bezio won the Vermont 2013 Best of Show award for his submission to the Junior Duck Stamp Contest

The contest, an important educational program sponsored by the US Fish and Wildlife Service, presents the “Best of Show” submissions from state/territory competitions around the country to the annual national competition, the winner of which becomes the image for the next Junior Duck Stamp. The stamps are then sold by various organizations in order to fund environmental and conservation programs.

Nick Bezio’s 2013 submission took weeks to complete.

Nick is accumulating an impressive collection of accolades and awards for his artistic abilities. His submission to the Junior Duck Stamp Contest won him honors last year, as well, and his logo design was selected by the Vermont Agency of Education’s Green Mountain Star program last summer. His work is also currently on exhibit through May 13 at the Vermont College of Fine Arts in Montpelier as part of the Thirty-Second-Annual Congressional Art Competition, which celebrates artistic talent in every congressional district in the nation. (Winning entries selected at the district level are displayed at the US Capitol Building for one year!)

“I am both happy and sad that this is my last year to participate in this contest,” Nick said. He plans to pursue higher education in wildlife biology and art beginning this fall.

Please join us in congratulating Nick and in wishing him well in all of his future endeavors!

Do you like CSD Spotlight? If so, please encourage your family and friends to subscribe! We are working hard to engage our community and keep everyone informed. Please help us spread the word!

Three Colchester High School students have been recognized for their contributions to climate change research as a result of their extensive and impressive work with the University of Vermont’s Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR): Research on Adaptation to Climate Change (RACC) project!

CHS students Denir Djozic, Grace Yasewicz, and Andrew Pike and teacher Kara Lenorovitz at the 2013 symposium

As a result of the warming global climate, scientists anticipate that Vermont will experience more frequent and more intense storm events, potentially resulting in increased phosphorus pollution in Lake Champlain.

The CHS RACC team—CHS seniors Denir Djozic and Grace Yasewicz and sophomore Andrew Pike—focused their efforts on understanding how storm events impact phosphorus levels in streams in various areas of different land uses. Under the tutelage of science teacher Kara Lenorovitz, the student team worked with EPSCoR—a National Science Foundation (NSF)-funded collaborative research effort between university researchers, graduate and undergraduate students, and high school teams throughout New England, New York, and Puerto Rico—beginning in July 2012 to better understand how climate change will impact the Lake Champlain Basin. Specifically, the researchers hoped to better understand the impact of global climate change upon Vermont and how we can best prepare for it.

Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

At the April 4 fifth-annual VT EPSCoR Center for Workforce Development and Diversity (CWDD) 2013 Vermont EPSCoR Student Research Symposium in South Burlington, a panel of post-doctorate judges deemed the CHS team as having created and presented the best scientific poster! (To view the poster, please click here.)

CHS has been involved with the EPSCoR RACC and Streams projects for more than five years. Next year, Andrew Pike and rising juniors Hannah Rogers and Maddy Powell will continue in the RACC research effort.

Congratulations, Denir, Grace, and Andrew!

For more information, please call CHS at (802) 264-5700, or e-mail CHS science teacher Kara Lenorovitz (lenorovitzk@csdvt.org).

Do you like CSD Spotlight? If so, please encourage your family and friends to subscribe! We are working hard to engage our community and keep everyone informed. Please help us spread the word!

The Caring Cougars (formerly Advocates for All) at Colchester Middle School recently reached out to offer support to an important area organization.

CMS Caring Cougars at the Ronald McDonald House

The Caring Cougars, a group that aligns closely with CHS Cares at Colchester High School, are students who work hard to make a difference in our community. The group’s overall philosophy is akin to the concept of paying it forward, whereby good deeds are repaid by passing them along to others who need them.

Under CMS faculty advisor Patty Ward, the Caring Cougars do a considerable amount of community service and volunteerism, regularly meeting to brainstorm ideas for how to make a positive impact in our community—everything from raising funds to support the Toys for Kids initiative to coordinating food drives to support the Colchester Community Food Shelf.

Most recently, the group got together after school to make a meal for the Ronald McDonald House in Burlington. On the menu? Homemade lasagna using a tasty spaghetti sauce made from scratch, as well as freshly baked cookies and cupcakes for dessert.

Parent, Community, and School Partnerships Among Lifelong Learners is one of the pathways in the Colchester School District Vision and Strategic Plan 2012–2017, and the school community works hard to that end. If you would like to learn about just some of the many other examples of our students serving our community, please click here (spoiler alert: our students step up and make a positive impact again and again!).

There is a lot of good that goes on in our community. This is a great place to be!

Do you like CSD Spotlight? If so, please encourage your family and friends to subscribe! We are working hard to engage our community and keep everyone informed. Please help us spread the word!

As in years past, Colchester High School students in Jim Price’s AP European History class recently met with honored guests.

Holocaust survivors Gabe Hartstein, Simon Barenbaum, and Manny Gurowski were recent guest speakers in the class.

Mr. Hartstein—a native of Budapest, Hungary, who was seven years old when the Nazis invaded his homeland in 1944—has been sharing his personal story and historical accounts of his experience in schools, churches, and synagogues throughout Vermont for more than fifteen years as a way to remember all who were affected by the Holocaust—the many millions of those persecuted as well as all of those who rescued others even at great peril to themselves.

Mr. Barenbaum has been sharing his experiences at Colchester High School for more than twelve years. He was fourteen years old when the Nazis invaded and occupied his native France. His incredible story includes—among other things—becoming the first French underground contact for the American forces (eventually resulting in a monument in his honor).

CHS student Ian Flores and Mr. Barenbaum

CHS student Mariah Noth and Mr. Barenbaum.

Stories about the guests have been published in The Holocaust Personal Accounts by the Center of Holocaust Studies at the University of Vermont.

“These are incredibly important visits,” Mr. Price said. “Our current students are the last ones to hear stories from that generation.”

Such opportunities are not unusual for our students. In April 2012, students in CHS teacher Erin Brady’s Advanced Placement US History class met with two area residents to learn about the residents’ experiences during World War II (if you missed our CSD Spotlight article about it, you can read it here).

Creating opportunities for students to meet people from a variety of cultures and backgrounds allows them to develop appreciation, insight, and understanding of others, encouraging respect for differences and building positive connections. It also often helps students to gain a greater appreciation for their own opportunities; many see the importance of their education in a new light, and this has a lasting and meaningful impact not only upon the students but upon society. Community engagement, collaboration, and multigenerational learning partnerships of this nature foster the vision our community members created and affirmed through the Colchester School District Vision and Strategic Plan 2012–2017.

If you would like more information about these guest speakers’ presentations, please call CHS at (802) 264-5700.

Do you like CSD Spotlight? If so, please encourage your family and friends to subscribe! We are working hard to engage our community and keep everyone informed. Please help us spread the word!

Continuing a long and proud tradition honoring students who have maintained academic excellence throughout their high school careers, Colchester High School applauded forty-six top-honors students at a celebratory banquet in South Burlington on May 29.

CHS students celebrate their academic achievement at the 2013 Honors Banquet

The forty-six students, celebrated for graduating magna and summa cum laude, were distinguished guests for the special evening. Keynote speaker Principal Amy Minor praised the honors scholars, and students celebrated with a sit-down dinner. Each honored student was recognized for his or her accomplishments, and all received honor cords to wear during their upcoming graduation ceremony.

The students honored at this special event for their outstanding academic achievements are as follows:

CHS teachers Jim Price, Aimee deLaricheliere, and Pat Schiller coordinated the event. Many members of the Colchester School District contributed financially in order to make the event possible, along with many generous members of the community who also sponsored students in honor of academic excellence. To view the program and to see the list of sponsors who funded this event, please click here.

Congratulations, honors scholars!

Colchester High School students Ben Seaman and Tate Hamblett teamed up and came in third place in the Bass Federation State High School Fishing Championship on June 30 on Lake Champlain near Shoreham, Vermont.

Ben and Tate caught their limit of five fish with their lunker bass weighing in at 3.75 pounds. After being weighed, all fish caught at the tournament, which were maintained in live wells, were released back into the lake. “Catch and release” is in keeping with the philosophy of the program and its mission of being good stewards of the lake and its ecosystem.

Ben Seaman and Tate Hamblett at the Bass Federation State High School Fishing Championship on June 30

Ben also took third place in last year’s Bass Anglers Sportsman Society (BASS) Federation Nation Eastern Division Championship on the Mystic and Charles rivers—which included competitors from as far away as Spain! (BASS is an international fishing organization with more than a half million members worldwide.) He has fished on a national level representing Vermont and on a regional level representing the high school, earning college scholarship funds as a result of his impressive angling skills.

On a similar note, CHS has a new fishing club currently consisting of twenty-one student members who began meeting officially in the spring of 2013. During meetings, the club members have discussed what they would like to learn as a club member, learned knot-tying techniques, and had a casting seminar.

Congratulations, Ben and Tate!

Your schools and your town are working hard to engage our community and keep everyone informed. Please encourage your friends and family to subscribe to The Spotlight!

At Malletts Bay School, three fifth-grade student leaders are coordinating a blood drive in a solemn nod to the historical significance of September 11.

Called “Pint-Sized Heroes,” students Basma Yahyah, Quinn Holly, and Bobby Genest are orchestrating the program in collaboration with the American Red Cross. The blood drive will be held in the Malletts Bay School gymnasium on Wednesday, September 11 from 12:30 to 6:00 p.m. Donors must be at least eighteen years of age. To schedule an appointment, or for more information about blood donation, please visit www.redcrossblood.org.

Fifth graders Basma Yahyah, Quinn Holly, and Bobby Genest are organizing the “Pint-Sized Heroes” blood drive at MBS on September 11

Students throughout MBS are learning to be active citizens in their community. When MBS students submit a plan, teachers, parents, and administrators support them in learning how to develop and execute it. Over the years, they have raised money to support juvenile diabetes, cancer research, rainforests, disaster victims, and local animal agencies; spearheaded recycling efforts; and much more.

For more information, please contact MBS at (802) 264-5900. And to read other examples of student leadership in your school district, please click here.

Your schools and your town are working hard to engage our community. Please encourage your friends and family to subscribe to The Spotlight. When we’re all informed, we make a stronger community!

Colchester High School science teacher Dustin “Dusty” Scheuch first visited China in 2002 to teach English. As a result of that experience, for the past six years—during the summer months when he’s not teaching science at CHS—he works with the Governor’s Institute on Asian Cultures (GIAC), which is cosponsored by the Asian Studies Outreach Program (ASOP) at the University of Vermont and the Governor’s Institutes of Vermont (GIV).

In this role, he takes students from all over Vermont to explore and experience all aspects of China—more than sixty students in six years!—and this summer, CHS junior Julia Bessy participated in this extraordinary opportunity.

CHS’s Mr. Scheuch and CHS junior Julia Bessy at the Temple of Heaven

This particular GIAC program, which has been in existence since 1996, is largely funded by the Freeman Foundation for the primary purpose of increasing Chinese-American relationships and understanding among high school students. Upon acceptance into this two-part program, students spend a week in a cultural immersion camp on the UVM campus. Throughout the school year, the students then earn an invitation to China by completing a major research project and presentation. Upon their return, students are expected to share their learning and experiences with the community—and they can earn college credits through their participation in the program.

During the two-week visit and under Mr. Scheuch’s tutelage, Julia traveled all over China. In Beijing, she visited many historical sites, such as Tiananmen Square, the Forbidden City, the Temple of Heaven, and the Great Wall of China, and she learned lessons in bartering at the world-renowned Pearl Market.

Julia at a section of the Great Wall of China known as Mutianyu

“The Great Wall of China was one of my most memorable experiences from the trip; it is so iconic, and it has so much history behind it. It was incredible to get up there and walk around on something that is so ancient,” she said.

Portrait of Mao Zedong in Tiananmen Square

A market in Beijing

Julia and her group also visited southwestern China’s Yunnan Province to visit two cities that are known for their minority cultures. The first was Kunming, where students were able to spend time with Chinese students, learn about minority culture, and were invited to Chinese households for home-cooked dinners.

Julia and her friend and their host family

Traditional food served by Julia’s host family

The second was Lijiang, a United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) world heritage city (meaning that it is considered a place of particular cultural or physical significance) in the foothills of the Himalayas, an area rich in beauty and culture. This was a great experience for Julia and her fellow students because they spent time in Chinese classrooms and also at a Naxi minority day care.

CHS junior Julia in Lijiang at a Naxi day care with a new little friend

Julia and some of her travel companions dressed in traditional Naxi dress in the Stone Forest in Yunnan Province

“In Lijiang, we went to a typical Chinese public high school, and it was completely different,” Julia said. “There was more poverty. It was a little shocking for me to see how those students learn; it is very intense. They go to school from seven in the morning until five or six at night, and they have a lot of pressure on them to pass each school year.”

A Chinese high school that Julia visited

A Chinese classroom

“The fact that we were almost celebrities when we got there came as a complete surprise to me; people were always asking to take pictures of us. It was unusual to find out that we were extremely popular,” Julia said.

This opportunity through GIAC is open to any high school freshman or sophomore in the state of Vermont! A significant portion of the program’s cost is covered by a generous grant from the aforementioned Freeman Foundation, and in addition, there are also scholarships available. “I would recommend to any student that they should travel to such foreign countries in order to get them out of their comfort zone, experience the universals of culture, and gain an appreciation for what we have in our country,” Mr. Scheuch said. “The most gratifying part of my job is seeing how much kids change in the two weeks that they are in China. They come back with new friends, a much larger global perspective, and memories that last them a lifetime.”

And would Julia return to China given the opportunity? “I would go back in a heartbeat!” she declared. “And I definitely would recommend it to others; it was one of the best experiences of my life. It is a good way to get out of your comfort zone and to experience something completely new and different. And I appreciate what we have here in America so much more now.”

For more information, please contact Mr. Scheuch at scheuchd@csdvt.org.

Your schools and your town are working hard to engage our community. Please encourage your friends and family to subscribe to The Spotlight. When we’re all informed, we make a stronger community!

Have you wondered what our 2013 graduates are up to these days and what some of them have planned?

The subject of life after high school is one about which many articles and books have been written by a wide variety of individuals and organizations. It is a vast and often complex topic covering everything from financial literacy and career preparedness to procuring insurance and starting a family.

Mapping out a future can be a daunting task for many … and even having a good sense of where to begin can feel overwhelming. Get a job? Go to college? Take time off? Volunteer?

The Colchester High School 2013 graduates—all 184 of them—have diverse interests and plans for their futures. From surveys they completed, we know that their plans currently include military service (a significantly higher percentage than usual, in fact), technical school, direct entry into the work force, and pursuing college degrees. Among those graduates pursuing college degrees, their focus of study will include such disciplines as athletic training and physical therapy, business, information technology, education, science and engineering, liberal arts, musical theater, and nursing to name a few. This year’s graduates are attending fifty-seven different local and distant schools—the University of Vermont, Champlain College, Castleton State College, Vermont Technical College, St. Michael’s College, SUNY Plattsburgh, Albany College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences, Shenandoah University, Clarkson University, Cornell University, Drexel University, George Washington University, Hofstra University, Northeastern University, Pomona College, Rochester Institute of Technology, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, University of Rhode Island, University of Connecticut, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Tufts University, Villanova University, and more.

Two graduates even embarked on a cross-country humanitarian project this summer! Graduates DJ Tuttle and Sean Casey launched their initiative, Helping Hand Adventure 2013, earlier this year (to view their interview with WCAX, please click here). Their objective was to volunteer all across the country and to create a documentary about the experience upon their return home. (Click here to follow them on Facebook.)

Congratulations again, class of 2013, and good luck out there!

Your schools and your town are working hard to engage our community. Please encourage your friends and family to subscribe to The Spotlight. When we’re all informed, we make a stronger community!

Malletts Bay School fifth grader Tyler Roberge is on a crusade to raise funds for the American Cancer Society.

Using a real popcorn machine, Tyler is making and selling popcorn on Fridays during October with a goal of raising $400. (To see his flyer about his project, please click here.) He was inspired to raise funds to support cancer research by a family member who was affected by the disease.

The popcorn maker was a long-awaited birthday gift. Tyler loves popcorn and was unable to eat it for quite some time because of dental complications. Now that those have been rectified, he is happily enjoying popcorn once again … and clearly others enjoy it too; Tyler is already more than halfway to his $400 fundraising goal.

The “Pop for a Cure” cash box

Tyler’s friends Adem Basic and Owen Russo have stepped in to help in the fundraising effort.

MBS students Tyler Roberge, Adem Basic, and Owen Russo

“I know they’re trying really hard to find a cure,” Tyler said, “and I wanted to help.”

MBS students regularly step up to organize ways to help out with a variety of causes. Last year, three MBS Ospreys raised a considerable amount for the American Cancer Society through the Daffodil Days campaign. Earlier this year, a group of MBS Ospreys served as “Change Bandits” in this year’s Big Change Roundup to benefit programs and services at Fletcher Allen Health Care’s Vermont Children’s Hospital.

Just a few other examples of what Malletts Bay School students have done for their community include:

• coordinating a blood drive in acknowledgment of September 11
• raising more than $1,000 in the fight against juvenile diabetes
• spearheading widespread recycling efforts
• raising funds to support local animal agencies

Your schools and your town are working hard to engage our community. Please encourage your friends and family to subscribe to The Spotlight. When we’re all informed, we make a stronger community!

UPDATE!

Since the original publication date of this article, the 5K event to support the Colchester Community Food Shelf was a tremendous success.

The event, coordinated by Colchester High School senior Ethan Thibault and junior Nigel Sarrazin, raised $4,022 and received 228 pounds in food donations. A total of eighty-six community members ranging in age from 4 to 62 took part in the benefit event!

Participants in the 5K event to benefit the Colchester Community Food Shelf on October 27

“We would like to thank everybody who volunteered their time to either participate or help out at our event,” the students said in a joint statement. “The generous donations are greatly appreciated and will go directly to the Colchester Community Food Shelf.”

To view more photographs from the October 27 event, please click here.

Congratulations, and well done, Ethan and Nigel and all in our community who participated!

As it turns out, academics, wellness, and grassroots activism can fuse quite naturally.

CHS students Nigel Sarrazin and Ethan Thibault

Colchester High School senior Ethan Thibault and junior Nigel Sarrazin have organized a 5K event to benefit the Colchester Community Food Shelf.

Ethan has volunteered at the Colchester Community Food Shelf for well over a year and is incorporating aspects of the program into his Senior Seminar action research project (please click here to read more about these required projects). Nigel—a member of CHS Student Government—is actively involved in community service and fundraising efforts for a variety of organizations. Both students enjoy running and have collaborated in devising the 5K as a lively way of melding an enjoyable, community-oriented activity with a great cause.

Ethan Thibault (photo contributed)

Nigel Sarrazin (photo contributed)

People of all ages and fitness levels are encouraged to participate in the event, which will gently weave its way through the woods behind CHS. Participants may choose to walk or run according to their preference.

“We are accepting monetary and food donations on the day of the race to benefit the Colchester Community Food Shelf, as well,” Ethan said.

The food shelf’s Shirley Meier said that though the organization has averaged approximately ninety-five clients per month over the past several months, there was a sharp spike in need in the month of September.

The 5K steps off at 9:00 a.m. on Sunday, October 27; participants are asked to arrive for registration by 8:15. If you would like to register, please click here to access the event page.

You can also register using this QR code.

(Those who wish to register in person on the morning of the race are asked to arrive earlier.)

Rain or shine, it will be a fun community event to benefit an organization that is of immense help to many of our friends and neighbors.

Student leadership and community outreach is widespread in your community’s schools; students all across the district routinely extend themselves for the benefit of others and work hard to make a difference for those around them. Please click here to read more about just some of these shining examples of student-led activism.

This grassroots initiative well reflects the Colchester School District Vision and Strategic Plan 2012–2017, which speaks to Pathway A: High Standards, Expectations, and Individual Engagement for All Learners; Pathway C: Learning Outside Our Four Walls; Pathway E: Parent, Community, and School Partnerships Among Lifelong Learners; and Pathway F: Wellness-Oriented, Balanced, and Healthy Learners.

Your schools and your town are working hard to engage our community. Please encourage your friends and family to subscribe to The Spotlight. When we’re all informed, we make a stronger community!

Fifty Colchester High School students were recently inducted into National Honor Society!

The National Honor Society (NHS)—which has chapters in all fifty states as well as in many US territories and in Canada—recognizes high school students in grades 10–12 who have exhibited outstanding accomplishments in scholarship, leadership, service, and character.

This prestigious affiliation can only be obtained after a stringent selection process. In order to be considered for induction, candidates must detail their achievements in service and leadership and must meet the cumulative grade-point average requirement. Input about the candidates from faculty members can also be submitted to the local NHS chapter’s faculty council for consideration, and in some cases, the chapter’s faculty council may even interview candidates. The local NHS chapter’s faculty council deliberates the candidates’ qualifications before voting whether to invite a candidate for formal induction.

NHS inductees assume a number of obligations as a condition of their membership; along with maintaining the standards by which they were selected (failure to do so can result in discipline and/or dismissal), membership includes such responsibilities as conducting service projects for their school or community as well as individual service projects, and members attend regular meetings with the NHS’s local chapter. Inducted members enjoy a number of benefits as a result of their affiliation with the National Honor Society—including access to a number of scholarship programs.

We are pleased to announce the 2013/2014 National Honor Society inductees!

Congratulations to all of the inductees, and best wishes!

Your schools and your town are working hard to engage our community. Please encourage your friends and family to subscribe to The Spotlight. When we’re all informed, we make a stronger community!

We have a moral responsibility to protect the earth and ensure that our children and grandchildren have a healthy and sustainable environment in which to live.
—Jim Clyburn

Your school district is committed to creatively and effectively addressing the daunting environmental challenges that affect each and every one of us, empowering students and citizens to bring about positive environmental change.

CHS student leaders and MBS students team up on a recycling project

As one recent example, Malletts Bay School fourth-grade students in Kari Carney’s class teamed up with Colchester High School students in a recycling and composting project. (Please click here to read an earlier Spotlight article about some of MBS’s other recycling efforts and environmental education.)

Fourth graders in Kari Carney’s class at the CHS “Big Trash Extravaganza” event

The Ospreys pitched in to help out with “the Big Trash Extravaganza” multiyear study by sorting and separating recyclable and compostable materials that had been collected in wastebaskets around CHS to be weighed and compared to data from past events and saved for comparison with next year’s data. (They later created eBooks about the experience and blogged about it on their classroom blogs; you can access the students’ blogs from Kari Carney’s classroom blog.) One of the anticipated outcomes of this project is the increased incorporation of sustainable practices into CHS’s culture and climate—much like CHS’s innovative, grant-funded sustainability project called Net Impact High School (please click here to read about Net Impact High School and why it is important). A bag’s worth of compostable material rescued from the trash receptacles went to a local resident, and returnable bottles were donated to a fundraiser. The event was the result of widespread collaboration among members of the Food: From Soil to Stomach class, maintenance personnel, science teachers, the physical education department, the art department, the food service personnel, the administration and office staff, a former CHS graduate volunteer, an educator from Chittenden Solid Waste District, and more. (To view more photographs from the project, please click here to visit CHS teacher Melanie Laquerre’s blog.)

CHS students Allison Pilcher, Casey LaBonte, and Sophia Simkis led the charge in the project

As another example, last year, Colchester Middle School’s student-led “green team” launched an extensive, multifaceted sustainability project (please click here to read more about it).

Incorporating conservation and environmental sustainability concepts into our academic environment is a fantastic way to promote a variety of benefits to our students. Becoming actively involved in facing real-world challenges encourages our students to become connected with their community and to become real-world problem solvers. They learn to work collaboratively with their peers to make quantifiable differences through careful consideration and innovative thinking.

And as we have discussed before, the district has numerous ongoing efforts in environmental responsibility and sustainability, including but not limited to:

• transitioning to eco-friendly cleaning products in our buildings before it was mandated by Vermont law on July 1, 2012
• replacing the Ford Taurus driver’s education vehicle with a new Toyota Prius—a hybrid vehicle that typically exceeds fifty miles per gallon—with funds received from an ARRA grant
• utilizing funds received through another grant to install more than eighty LED lamps throughout the parking lots at CHS, CMS, and MBS, resulting in an annual savings of fifty thousand (50,000) kilowatt hours and additional incentive dollars
• installing upgraded lighting at both PPS and UMS (in fact, CSD worked closely with Efficiency Vermont and various vendors to replace lighting in all schools with high-efficiency lighting, and the anticipated savings to the district were such that Efficiency Vermont covered the entire cost with incentives)
• installing three high-efficiency boilers resulting in annual cost savings replaced the aging boilers at CMS
• working closely with Chittenden Solid Waste District in order to increase recycling efforts
• winning a grant to support a human-powered generator capable of storing electricity to help offset some of the stage lighting, sound, and projection equipment’s power requirements

CHS staff and students and Berlin City’s Dedrick Casab

We’re all in this together!

For more information about sustainability efforts in your school district, please contact any of your schools.

Your schools and your town are working hard to engage our community. Please encourage your friends and family to subscribe to The Spotlight. When we’re all informed, we make a stronger community!

As we announced in the December 2013 issue of Currently Colchester, we introduce CHS senior Teremy Garen, the Colchester School Board’s newly appointed student representative.

CHS senior Teremy Garen has been appointed to the Colchester School Board. (Photo credit: Amy Guidice)

As a non-voting member of the school board, Teremy’s responsibilities include attending school board meetings in order to liaise between voting school board members and the student body. “Part of my role is to be available—to be present—everywhere I can possibly be to hear opinions and perspectives on different things,” she said. “As a student, I have an insider’s view into how students are being affected by policies created by the school board.”

Inspired by former student school board member Jordan Isham’s involvement last year, Teremy is looking forward to the opportunity to augment student participation in the process. “It’s important to make not only my opinion heard but also the opinions of everyone else,” she said. “Expressing opinions is difficult for a lot of people; the age factor is a barrier … there is sometimes a feeling among students that, because you’re seventeen, your opinions are not quite as valued.”

In addition to connecting with CHS Student Government to solicit input and to help disseminate information, part of Teremy’s strategy for keeping her peers informed of school board-related activities and decisions that affect policy involves widespread social media. In preparing for effective participation in school board business, Teremy plans to speak with the school board members and the CSD principals in order to acquire additional input. Having attended a number of school board meetings in the past, she is also catching up on Lake Champlain Access Television (LCATV) recordings of school board meetings in order to gain a better sense of parliamentary procedure and the general manner in which school board business is typically conducted. She also plans to connect with former student school board member Jordan Isham for the benefit of his perspective and insight.

A talented vocalist (hear her singing the national anthem in this video), Teremy has participated in twelve selective choral festivals and ten theater productions to date during her high school career, and she also plays guitar, clarinet, and piano. Additionally, she recently participated in the 2013 American Legion Auxiliary Green Mountain Girls State program (the same program in which former CHS student Hanna Orselet participated which ultimately landed her a meeting with President Barack Obama).

Teremy invites the Colchester community to contact her via her Colchester School District e-mail address (teremy.garen@colchestersd.org) or via her Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/teremylee).

Your schools and your town are working hard to engage our community. Please encourage your friends and family to subscribe to The Spotlight. When we’re all informed, we make a stronger community!

Colchester Middle School seventh grader Myla Jacobs has recently returned from competing in the 2013 USATF National Junior Olympic Cross Country Championships in San Antonio, Texas.

CMS’s Myla Jacobs in San Antonio, Texas

Qualifying for the Texas championships was no small feat. Myla began her running days with Girls on the Run while at Malletts Bay School and later joined CMS’s cross country team. While taking first place in the 2013 Chittenden County Cross Country Championships on October 15, she caught the attention of a running shoe representative who approached Myla’s coach, Cheryl Aley, to discuss Myla’s participation in the USATF New England Junior Olympic Championships in Smithfield, Rhode Island, on November 17, which included runners from Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont.

Placing thirteenth in the Rhode Island event qualified Myla for the USATF Region I Championships in Poughkeepsie, New York, on November 23; she was the only Vermont girl to do so.

Myla is runner #1279 in the New York race

Myla’s competition in the Poughkeepsie event—in which she placed fourteenth, thus qualifying her for the nationals—consisted of qualifying athletes from Connecticut, New York, Maine, and the New England Championships. She was the only Vermont athlete who qualified for nationals!

At the 4K race in San Antonio, Myla finished ninety-fourth out of 377 runners, placing her squarely in the top 25 percent!

Myla in the Texas event

Please click here to view an interview with CMS’s Junior Olympian!

Congratulations, and well done, Myla!

Wellness is an integral component of the Colchester School District Vision and Strategic Plan 2012–2017. For information about CSD’s wellness program and ideas about improving and/or maintaining wellness, please visit CSD’s wellness blog.

Your schools and your town are working hard to engage our community. Please encourage your friends and family to subscribe to The Spotlight. When we’re all informed, we make a stronger community!