CVU Celebrations

Dear CVU Community,

CVU celebrated its involvement in the Special Olympics Unified Sports program, which unites athletes with and without intellectual disabilities. The student body showed its support at an assembly featuring a Unified basketball scrimmage to promote the upcoming Penguin Plunge, a fundraiser for CVU’s Unified teams. The event showcased CVU’s spirit, kindness, and dedication to inclusion. Watching a Unified Sports event is always inspiring, and I’m proud to see our community come together to celebrate and support one another, both on and off the court. If you’d like to donate to the CVU page, you can find the link here. Go Hawks!

From the team captains: Unified Sports is more than just a game- it’s a celebration of inclusion and teamwork. Today we celebrated our Unified Basketball team and rallied behind Penguin Plunge which raises money to support such programming. Penguin Plunge is happening February 8th, 2025 at the Burlington Waterfront. Plunging starts at 11am. Join the team, raise money, and have a good time! Links to sign up and donate below

9th grade: https://give.specialolympicsvermont.org/team/608969

10th grade: https://give.specialolympicsvermont.org/team/608970

11th grade: https://give.specialolympicsvermont.org/team/608972

12th grade: https://give.specialolympicsvermont.org/team/608974

2/8 - Penguin Plunge and Winter Ball

2/13 - 8th Grade student, parent night 6:30-7:45

2/21 - Winter Carnival

2/24-2/28 - February Break

Happy Friday and end of January, hawks! This is Ariel. This week, Student Council split up once again into planning groups for upcoming events. The 8th Grade Family Night group is in the final stages of planning for the event on Thursday, 2/13 at 6:30. The Blood Drive group met with a representative from the Red Cross and is super excited for another successful CVU Drive! Make sure to look out for more info when it comes out and be sure to sign up if you’re eligible. We are also excited for some upcoming Valentine’s Day celebrations, including a photo booth with Valentine’s-themed props! Have a great weekend, CVU!!

CVU students will have the opportunity to visit the four Pre-technical programs at Center for Technology-Essex (CTE) and the Burlington Technical Center (BTC) Pre-tech program (housed at CVU).

The CTE Pre-technical program visit will be on Tuesday, February 4th. The bus will depart from CVU at 9:30 AM and return to CVU at 12:30 PM. HERE is the permission form for the visit. Please have your students return the form to the CVU Direction Center by the end of the day on Monday.

For Burlington Technical Center (BTC) Pre-tech at CVU, students can sign up to visit during C3 on Tuesday, February 4th or Tuesday, February 11th. Please have your students ask their Advisor or School Counselor to help them sign-up.

If you have any questions, please reach out to your CVU School Counselor.

Check out this month's student run newspaper The Hawks' Nest https://s3.wasabisys.com/project-pdfs/569484/hawksnestjan25-2.pdf

Snelling Core students are learning hands only CPR and how to use an AED during Core Time rotations.

From Charlie MacFadyen: On Monday, the Math League team traveled to Vergennes for Meet 3 of the season. In a nail-biter, they were edged out by South Burlington, 289 to 284, finishing 2nd out of the 13 schools competing. Essex HS placed third.

Representing CVU were Brady Driver, Robin Dubrul, Finn Etter, Leo Fleury, Jacob Graham, Oli Guiterman, Alyssa Hill, Georgia Knight, Mikaela Montoya, Clay Nicholson, Ava Nnochiri, Jonathan Postlewaite, Wylie Ricklefs, and Henry Shrier. Individual honors for top scores on individual tests went to Jacob, Alyssa, and Wylie. CVU scored a perfect 75 on the team test, tying with Essex for first place.

Our next meet is at home at CVU on Wednesday, February 19th.

This past weekend the CVU Indoor Track Team participated in our second varsity State championship. It was an incredible show of grit, talent, and teamwork after working hard all season. The boys team received third overall in the Division 1 State Championship. For the second year in a row girls received the Division 1 State Title!

Congratulations to the Vermont State Indoor Champions:

Quintin Fortier 300M
Ben Holoch 3200M (School and State Record)
Izzy Gravina-Budis 600M
Alice Kredell 1000M & 1600M
Lydia Donahue 3200M (School and State Record)
Audrey Neilson, Bea Taylor, Izzy Gravina-Budis, Alice Kredell (4x400M)

The team had 10 personal records! There were strong performances adding to CVU Points total from Treson McEnaney, Audrey Neilson, Bea Taylor, Madeleine Deyo, Claire Kim, Olivia Neilson. And from the relays that scored, Elsa Klein, Dylan Elder, Emmeline Brewer, Ellie Zweber, Anna Fry, McKenna Rettew and AJ Sicard. Looking forward to an amazing outdoor season!

Burlington Free Press Article.

Snelling PA students are working on communication and team building in PA this week.

My name is Sofiia Hordenko and I am a three-year exchange student from Ukraine at Champlain Valley Union High School. I founded a Union for Ukraine Club that just met last Friday. The purpose of this club is to educate high school students about the Russo-Ukrainian War and introduce Ukrainian culture and its rich history to American students. One of our main goals is to fundraise money for Ukrainian kids recovering in hospitals after experiencing Russia's missile attacks.

On Tuesday, January 28, the CVU Chorus went on tour to HCS, CCS, WCS, and SCS to recruit future singers. We performed "Can't Help Falling in Love" for the 7th/8th Grade Choirs and then sang songs, played music games, and answered their questions about life as a student at CVU. We can't wait to welcome next year's 9th graders into our choir!

CVU's Scholars Bowl teams played in the opening round of the State tournament playoffs at Montpelier High School on Saturday, January 25, and the results could not have been better!

Our varsity "A" team won all four playoff matches, including two over Hanover (NH) HS, the only team to beat us this season. This 4-0 record gives us a great advantage for the playoff finals. We automatically earn a berth in the State finals, and we can win the State Championship two ways: by winning the playoff round robin, or by defeating another team that wins the round robin. The varsity has a 28-3 record this season and is seeking to defend its 2024 State Championship and its 3rd in the last four years.

The JV "B" had similar results in its playoff matches, winning all four to earn the same advantages as the varsity for the final playoffs. The team had to rally from far behind to defeat Burlington High School in the round robin final match. The JV team will also be seeking to repeat as State Champions and win our 9th JV State Championship in the last 12 years. All twelve players contributed in big ways and small to truly claim team victories.

Playing for CVU on 1/25 included the following team members:

12th grade - Dylan Elder, Leo Elder, Jacob Graham, Alyssa Hill, Zoe Mui, Wylie Ricklefs, Nolan Sandage

11th grade - Clay Nicholson, Leah Rauch, Charles Redmond

CVU will next be in action on March 7, in a tournament at Spaulding High School. The playoff finals will be held on March 22. I also expect there will be some kind of Scholars Bowl competition at the Winter Carnival in February.

Thanks for your support - John Bennett & Kiran MacCormick

Pictured left to right Dylan Elder, Leo Elder, Leah Rauch, Meredith Golek, Jacob Graham, Wylie Ricklefs, Clay Nicholson, Charles Redmond, Alyssa Hill, Kiran MacCormick. Missing Willcox Elliott, Zoe Mui, Nolan Sandage

On February 8th (Next Saturday) the RoboHawks teams #5741, #22683, & #27581 will compete in the FIRST Robotics FTC State Championships at South Burlington High School. This week and next week will serve as critical time for RoboHawks to practice their presentations, edit their Engineering Portfolios, and optimize their robots. In past years, the Varsity A Team has qualified for the World’s Championships in Houston, and this year RoboHawks have THREE teams competing, and hope to grab both qualification slots for World’s with our CVU teams. The RoboHawks will be working hard for this next week to get the robots competition ready. Pictured is the RoboHawks 2023-2024 season state competition.

CVU Faculty and Staff enjoying Maple Latte’s at Palmer’s Sugarhouse.

Henry Lang visited students at Shelburne Community School to launch Story Sharks: a children’s literacy and theatre group that promotes a lifelong passion for writing. CVU students will adapt K-4 students’ own stories into songs, skits, and raps, then perform a unique revue for each school. If you are interested in joining this year’s shiver of Story Sharks, email hlang@cvsdvt.org for more info.

Unified basketball coach Steve Reinemann brought the littlest Redhawk to cheer on the team. And Senor Jenson was happy to receive the handoff while Steve was coaching.

Learn About CVSD’s FY26 Budget, Its Impacts & Voting

On or before Tuesday, March 4, 2025, residents of Shelburne, Williston, Charlotte, St. George, and Hinesburg will vote on the FY26 budget for all public schooling in Champlain Valley School District. More information about this budget, its impact on CVSD schools and taxpayers, and where, when, and how to vote is available at www.cvsdvt.org/budget.

You’ll also find a schedule of upcoming informational meetings, where administrators and school board members will be presenting about the budget and its impacts on schools and taxes.

As January closes, so does National Mentoring Month. But that doesn’t mean we take away the spotlight. Today, Connecting Youth pairs 184 5th-12th graders with caring and trusted adult mentors. And there are more students on our waitlist than adult mentors available to pair them with. According to Mentor National, one in three young people will grow up without a trusted mentor to turn to for support outside of their immediate family; CY Mentoring exists to foster relationships and help close that gap.

Zack Ackey, a former WCS student, has returned to his school in a new capacity as a mentor to middle school student Quinn Rogers. Here’s a little more about what their mentoring relationship means to them:

Zach - “I find mentoring to be a centering experience. My mentee is kind, funny, competitive, intelligent to name a few of his many great qualities. Spending consistent time with him is a highlight of my week as is. But getting to be there for him as he goes through the middle school experience is something that feels very important in a world where that can sometimes be hard to discern.”

Quinn - “What I get out of being in mentoring is a break from school and anxiety to be with a friend that makes me laugh and is like me. We play games a lot, ping pong and we are the best cooks in the school. I feel more free at mentoring than in regular school, because I can do more with my time and we like doing the same things.”

CY Mentoring welcomes all community members to explore our program. If you’re interested, please contact one of our school Mentor Coordinators to coordinate an informational meeting.

Hinesburg Community School, Livy Bulger, lbulger@cvsdvt.org / 802-482-6248
Charlotte Central School, Kate Rooney, krooney@cvsdvt.org / 802-425-6682
Shelburne Community School, Alice Brown, abrown@cvsdvt.org / 802-734-9845
Williston Central School, Becky Martell, rmartell@cvsdvt.org / 802-871-6046

Champlain Valley Union, Alison Duback, aduback@cvsdvt.org / 802-482-8921

UVM Basketball - Staff Appreciation Opportunity

Join your CVSD colleagues for a night of hoops at UVM on Saturday, February 15. At 4 p.m., UVM Women's Basketball faces off against the Maine Black Bears at the Patrick Gym, and all CVSD employees can purchase tickets for just $4. Scan the QR code for tickets.

CVU will be offering the SAT to interested Junior students on March 28, 2025. If your child wants to take the test, our district will purchase one. Nothing further needs to be done and you can disregard this form.

Please use this form only to OPT out of this test. Deadline to OPT out is Friday February 21st, 2025 but the sooner we know, the better.

If you have any questions, please contact your child's school counselor.

https://forms.gle/7dnorGdRhMbTEL8L6