Principal's Corner Newsletter
Woodstock Union High School and Middle School
June 4, 2023
Dear Students and Families,
This week, eighth-grade English students investigated artificial intelligence and considered a big question of our time, whether the transformative technology would improve human life. High School Art Students collaborated with Abenaki artist Vera Sheehan to create artwork to display at St Gauden's National Historical Park. Government and Politics students visited the State House and the Vermont Supreme Court, where they met with Chief Justice of the Supreme Court and Woodstock alum Harold Eaton and participated in a mock trial. The Earth Beat Club reached its goal of collecting and recycling five hundred pounds of plastic, way to go! And the High School Student Council announced the winners of the 2023-24 elections. Congratulations, student government leaders!
The last school day for grades 7-11 is Thursday, June 15th. It is a half-day, and students will be dismissed at 11:40.
Warm regards,
Garon Smail
8th Grade Students Students Investigate How Artificial Intelligence Creates and Sorts Natural Human Language.
As Artificial Intelligence becomes a routine presence in our lives, 8th grade English students have begun investigating how AI creates and sorts natural human language. Students began by looking at artificial intelligence broadly, and took a homemade Turing Test to see whether they could tell the difference between human and AI artists, musicians, and writers. Then we took a deep dive into StoryQ, an AI text classification model that took us behind the scenes to see how a machine "reads" human text, identifies key words, and assigns them negative or positive weights to make predictions about the overall sentiment, or tone.
Students fed StoryQ ice cream reviews, then analyzed the words the machine used to make its predictions about sentiment. Some of the machine's decisions surprised us. For instance, it assigned a heavy negative weight to "like" and "just," which were sometimes used positively. It was also flummoxed by sarcasm :). At first, StoryQ was only able to predict 78% of reviews accurately, so we analyzed error cases and proposed new language rules to improve the model.
Once we understood more about how AI generates and classifies text, we turned our attention to its limitations and its role in our lives. We looked at news stories and discussed whether AI is sentient, and whether it will ultimately improve or worsen human communication, and human life. Students raised concerns from disinformation to job loss. Below is an AI-generated image of 8th graders having a fishbowl-style discussion, courtesy of DALLE-2, and an actual image of our class doing the same thing.
Below: DALL-E2 generated an image of "8th graders having a fishbowl
discussion in the style of Andy Warhol"
“Destruction of the Basket Tree”
This year Advanced Art & AP Art have worked closely with Vera Sheehan, an Abenaki artist, educator, and member of the Vermont Abenaki Artists Association. The students spent time in conversation with her, learning about the Abenaki culture as well as how Abenaki people are connected to the ash tree and affected by the presence of the emerald ash borer. The beautiful artwork they designed and created is in response to these conversations. Their work will be displayed in the education barn at St Gauden's National Historical Park in Cornish, NH, through July.
Congratulations to these student artists: Lindsey Bacon, Annie Hauze, Daphne McDermott, Myra McNaughton, Delia Morgan, Dillon Moss, Kiara Nestler, Charlotte Nunan, Jacob Stone, Logan Sudol, Allie Tarleton, Kyra Tartleton, Joseph Tsouknakis, Ariana Winawer-Stein, Kamron Yuengling.
Government & Politics Students Visit State House & Vermont Supreme Court
Chief Justice of the Supreme Court Harold Eaton, a Woodstock Union High School graduate, spoke with students about the separation of powers, branches of government, common topics in the law, and the specific operations of the court. Afterwards, students participated in a mock Supreme Court trial.
Students also were invited into the meeting room for the House Education Committee, where they spoke with Tesha Buss, State Representative for Reading, Plymouth, and Woodstock.
There was a flurry of activity in the State House, as the visit occurred during the last week of legislative business.
Earth Beat Reaches Goal of 500 lbs of Plastic to be Recycled!
Thanks for everyone's diligence, Earth Beat has met its goal of recycling over 500 lbs of plastic! We have received our bench and installed it at the top of the bowl behind the school. Earth Beat will be wrapping up the plastic film drive for this school year on June 10! Please don't bring any plastic over the summer. We'll let you know when we start up again in the fall!
Congratulations to Student Government Leaders for 2023-24!
Please congratulate the students on the attached list of Student Government leaders for 2023-24!! Elections will be held in the fall for rising 9th graders.
WUHSMS Semi-Formal a Success!
Faculty and Staff Highlights
We had a great gathering of hikers and mountain bikers at our Thursday PATH event. We just might have to make this a yearly event!
Vali Stuntz and Alyssa Smith
PATH Building Leaders
SAVE THE DATE!
AP Art & Seniors Exhibit Art Show at Artistree
AP Art & Seniors Exhibit Art Show
Artwork by seniors and AP art students from Woodstock Union High School
May 26 – June 10, 2023
Gallery Hours:
Tuesday – Saturday 10 am-6pm
2095 Pomfret Rd.,South Pomfret, VT
7th Grade Team Pathfinders Weekly Newsletter
8th Grade Team Horizon Weekly Newsletter
Here is the newest 8th Grade Newsletter link
The Buzz is Back!
Here is a link to The Buzz. High school journalism students write articles for The Buzz.
The editors are Tess Belisle, River Miles, and Alec Smail.
Be Safe During Prom and Graduation Season
Upcoming prom and celebration events are upon us. Celebrate smart! Be safe during prom and graduation season. Brought to you by Green Peak Alliance!
Check out this video! https://youtu.be/hNjjH5H9A14
Please see this video from Parent's Against Vaping e-cigarettes or (PAVe) for parents who want to learn more about vaping and its effects on our youth. Or visit: www.parentsagainstvaping.org for more information and resources. It's a great resource.
Ask the Expert Presentation featuring PAVe co-founder Dorian Fuhrman and Dr. Nicole Beurkens
Follow WUHS Athletics on Instagram
Follow WUHS Athletics on Instagram @wuhsstudentsection
Interested in staying up to date on upcoming athletic events, as well as their outcomes? If you are an Instagram user, you can follow WUHS’s StudentSection account. This account was set up by Kendall Taylor (Class of 2022) last year and is currently being maintained by Junior Zach Martsolf-Tan, as an independent study in social media through the Center of Community Connections (C3). Know when the games and matches are happening--and come out and cheer on our student-athletes!
Events, Announcements & Updates
Friday, June 9, 2023 – Graduation 6:00 PM
Thursday, June 15, 2023 – Last Day of School
Classes end 11:45 AM
Buses leave 11:50 AM
WHEN YOU DON'T KNOW WHERE TO TURN
LET VERMONT 211 GUIDE YOU Vermont 211 link
FREE Covid Tests
Households can order another round of free antigen tests! Go to https://www.covid.gov/tests
Also, just a reminder that through BCBS (and many other insurance companies), you can get eight free tests monthly from rite aid (and maybe other pharmacies).
LIBRARY NEWS!!!
Program Openings @ HACTC!
If any current 10th or 11 th graders are interested in the following program at HACTC please stop in the counseling office to learn more and apply!
Health Sciences
Intro to Engineering Design
Information Technology
Software Engineering
ULTRA LOCAL MAPLE SYRUP MADE BY OUR OWN STUDENTS IN THE CRAFT PROGRAM (Community and Climate Resilience Through Agriculture, Forestry and Technology).
Students and Staff enjoyed ultra local maple syrup with their Chicken & Waffles lunch.
Spring/Summer P-EBT Information
Vermont will be issuing a final round of Pandemic EBT (P-EBT) benefits for Summer 2023. All students at our school qualify for a Summer P-EBT benefit of $120 per student. This is because of the way that we are offering free school meals to all students this year.The benefit will be sent to the head of household and mailing address that we have on file for your student. These benefits will be sent out by mid-August. If your student missed school for a COVID-related reason between February 2023 and May 11, 2023, you will receive benefits for those days at the same time.If you have questions about the P-EBT, please refer to the attached Frequently‐Asked Questions (FAQs) About School Pandemic EBT (P‐EBT) for more information.If you have additional questions about P-EBT, including requesting a new card, call 1‐800‐479‐6151, option 7.
WE NEED VERMONT FREE & REDUCED MEAL APPLICATIONS!
Even though meals are free for all students this year, school meal applications play a critical role. Meal applications returned by families help bring in funding for your school and determine education tax rates, open the door for students to access additional programs, and make Universal School Meals successful this year. Completing and returning school meal applications is critical to helping make this program permanent in Vermont.
Help our school access its fair share of millions in federal dollars for educational programs.
Provide students in our district and across Vermont with healthy, nutritious food.
Reduce the cost of universal school meals for Vermont taxpayers.
Helps the Summer SOAK program secure funding and ensures SOAK participants who are Free & Reduced can access free meals during SOAK sessions.
You can download an application on the WCUD School Nutrition Program website or request a packet from the school’s administrative assistant. Please email the scanned completed application or picture copy to Gretchen Czaja, gczaja@wcsu.net or mail to: WCUD School Nutrition Program 100 Amsden Way Woodstock, VT 05091
STUDENT MEALS ARE FREE!
Students can access one free breakfast and/or one free lunch every school day. Students enter their 4 digit lunch number at the register stations as they exit the meal line. Student meal accounts will not be charged. This is for tracking purposes only.
SALAD BAR IS BACK!
In addition to the healthy main meal option, students can add items from the salad bar to their meal. Fresh veggies and fruit help complete the meal and keep students nourished for the school day,
GRAB & GO BREAKFASTS-Grab & Go breakfasts are available in the north cafeteria. A full breakfast includes 3 food items with one of the items being a fruit portion.
June 14th-VEGGIEVANGO FREE FOOD DISTRIBUTION-Every second Wednesday of every month- The distribution takes place at the Union Arena end of the WUHSMS parking lot @ 10am. The VT Foodbank distributes fresh produce items. Proteins are now provided by the VT Foodbank! Next Dates are: July 12th, August 9th, September 13th
Scan the QR code to access lunch menus, program information and the VT Free & Reduced Meal Application.
Follow us on @vtschoolmeals on Instagram.
About us
Email: gsmail@wcsu.net
Website: wuhsms.org
Location: 100 Amsden Way, Woodstock, VT, USA
Phone: 8024571317
Facebook: facebook.com/WUHSMS/
Twitter: @wearewoodstock