CVU Celebrations

Dear CVU Community,

Spring is a season of change—but here in Vermont, it’s also a season of contradiction. Yesterday, we basked in 70-degree sunshine, windows down, coats forgotten. This morning, we woke up to a snowstorm, scraping windshields and pulling out boots we thought we wouldn’t need again. It’s a back-and-forth dance, a tug-of-war between what was and what’s to come.

School can feel like that sometimes. One moment, everything clicks—discussions flow, ideas spark, and progress feels steady. The next, a challenge appears out of nowhere, and it feels like we’re backtracking. But just like the seasons, learning isn’t linear. Growth comes in waves, and every setback is just part of the bigger shift forward.

So whether today feels like spring or winter—whether you're cruising or recalibrating—know that change is happening, even when it’s not obvious. And through all of it, we show up for each other, just like we always do.

Stay warm, CVU. Spring is coming!

3/21 - Spectrum Sleep Out

3/28 - Grade 12: Exit Experience Interviews, Grade 11: SAT, Grades 9&10: no school

3/31 - No school

4/4-4/6 - Spring One-Act Plays

Happy Friday, CVU! This is Ariel. Student Council recapped our very successful Blood Drive this week before splitting into groups to plan upcoming events. Thanks so much to everyone who gave blood or helped with running the day, we couldn’t have done it without you! We also held a school-wide Anti-Bullying Week last week, with Advisories discussing topics surrounding bullying and harassment and posters going up around the school. It’s important to remember to be mindful of your actions and their effects on others, and we hope this week reminded everyone to be a little extra kind. Despite these recent successful Student Council events, spring is a busy time and we still have a lot upcoming. We are excited for this year’s Educator Appreciation Week which will be in May! Our faculty and staff work so hard to maintain all aspects of CVU, and we’re going to go all out this year to show them how much we appreciate all they do. Additionally, Student Body President elections are coming up in the not-too-distant future! Stay tuned, more details on that are coming soon. We are also so excited for Spring Rally, planned in collaboration with Athletic Leadership Council! More information is to come, but remind your team captains when spring seasons begin. Have a wonderful weekend, Hawks!

STUDENT INFO SHEET FOR THE DIGITAL SCHOOL-DAY SAT

When - Friday, March 28, 2025

What time - Test begins at 8:45 am and ends around 11:45 pm. Students should be in their assigned rooms by 8:30 am.

Where - Student room assignments will be posted around the school on March 26th.

Lunch/after the test - Students will be able to grab a lunch from 11:45-12:10, after dismissed from test.

During the test - Students will get one break within the testing period.

What to bring - Fully charged Chromebook, pencils, a snack, something to drink.

Should my electronic devises be turned off during testing - Yes, if devices are not turned off during testing or student devices makes a noise or creates a disturbance while in your possession the student will be dismissed from testing.

What is on the SAT - Reading and Writing, and Math. There is no essay section.

What if a student is sick or out that day - There is no makeup test date.

What if a student is late that day - If students in the assigned room have already started the testing portion of the SAT, no one else will be allowed in the room to test, and there is no late testing opportunity.

When will results be released - SAT scores will be released online through www.collegeboard.org in

May

Questions - Please see your house counselor or anyone in the Direction Center.

Bluebook app will provide calculators

PLEASE MAKE SURE YOU CHROME BOOK IS FULLY CHARGED

From Laurel Billingsley: The Women in STEM group excitedly decided to take on the challenge of building a popsicle stick bridge, made only of the sticks, toothpicks, glue and dental floss for the Vermont State College competition. The bridge had to have a span of at least 1 meter and a clearance height of 15 cm. They decided to take on the challenge late January and quickly drew out amazing designs, which were complimented on by the VTrans employees who were there to judge the competition. Over the course of several weeks they came together to create a solid bridge which held 264 pounds of a compressed weight on the center of the span. They did an excellent job communicating and scheduling time after school and in every moment they could to build the bridge, even on the weekends and late in the evening the night before the competition. Not only did they end up with a solid bridge, but they also had a ton of fun being together as a group. As did I. They are very excited to participate next year and are seeking out more opportunities to compete and share their skills with younger girls in the community through Girls in STEM.

I recently nominated Teryn Hytten, senior at CVU, for the WOKO 20 Outstanding Women award for her hard work and leadership with the Empty Bowls Dinner. She was one of 20 local women recognized by WOKO radio station and Hannaford Supermarkets. She will be recognized at a dinner sponsored by WOKO with her family later in the month. Each of the award recipients were interviewed and celebrated on the radio. This is a link to Teryn's radio interview.

The Empty Bowls Dinner that Teryn set up has made such an incredible impact at the Hinesburg Community Resource Center and for our Hinesburg Food Shelf shoppers. She raised over $6,000 last year for HCRC and is hosting a second Empty Bowls dinner this spring.

Anna Main, Executive Director

Hinesburg Community Resource Center

From Anna Main: I’d like to recognize four CVU students who compete for the Edge Swim Team. These dedicated swimmers have been participating in championship meets throughout New England this season. Along the way, they’ve achieved personal bests, set team records, and had a lot of fun. Next week, they’ll be heading to Ithaca College for Speedo Sectionals, where they’ll compete alongside nationally ranked swimmers from across the Eastern United States.

Swimmers (L to R) Beckham Palmer, Camden Palmer, Emma Main, Allison Biunno

RoboHawks On WCAX! News Segment

Earlier last week the RoboHawks were interviewed by a representative from WCAX to talk about the robotics program at CVU. Members shared some insights on this year's challenge and took the opportunity to show off some of the work they have been doing to prepare for the Robotics World Championship in Houston, Texas. James Haines, a co-captain of the team, was also able to speak about some details on the RoboHawks program structure. Members James, Clay, Juniper, Leo, and Spencer took the reporter to the library, where the competition field was set up and they demonstrated the driving components of the robot, like depositing the bricks and hanging onto the center structure.

RoboHawks To New England Regionals!

Team #22683 has been invited to compete in the New England Robotics Regional taking place in Springfield, Massachusetts from Friday, April 4th to Saturday, April 5th. Being one of 56 participating teams, #22683 has been working hard to prepare for the competition.

CVSD Inspiration Award Recipients

CVU students, Cooper Berard and Thomas Mathon, were honored as CVSD Inspirations at Tuesday night's board meeting. Arthur Chiaravalli shared, "Cooper is consistently kind, selfless and models the exact actions we say we value. Every day in the cafeteria, Cooper is picking up others' messes left behind, gathering loose plates and silverware, and making sure tables are spotless for the next group. Not once has Cooper ever said 'that’s not mine' or 'somebody else will get it.' Because Cooper understands that all of this belongs to all of us."

Karen Kirkland, who nominated Thomas Mathon, said, "What truly sets Thomas apart is his infectious enthusiasm for learning. His expression radiates joy and interest, creating an atmosphere that lifts everyone around him, including me."

Clay Nicholson Earns Top Honors at the Vermont STEM Fair

Clay Nicholson competed in the Vermont STEM Fair, where he was awarded the Vermont STEM Fair gold medal, the Yale Science and Engineering Award, and a Vermont Biomedical Research Network medal. He was also nominated as an ISEF Finalist for his project, "The Development of a U-Net Model for Pancreatic Tumor Segmentation in Computed Tomography Scans." He will be representing Vermont at the Regeneron International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF), the world’s largest international STEM research competition for high school students.

The Hoffman/Walpole Advisory celebrated Kate Roberts' 18th birthday featuring her requested homemade vanilla/vanilla cake. Happy 18th Birthday, Kate!!

From Emily McLean: The CVU Photo Club is excited to announce the winners of our 4th contest. The themes for this contest were Fonts & Letters and Conflict.

Congratulations to Lu Albers, Sebastian Bush, Hayden Careau, Roni Csizmadia, Connor Durochia, George Francisco, Charlie Miner, Tina Roberts, and Jack Snyder. Thank you to all of the participants. You can view the winning entries HERE.

From Brad Miller: The CVU Harkness Leadership class spent a lovely morning at Harwood Union High School having student-led discussion with Harwood's Harkness Leadership Class. Big shout to Will Wallace for volunteering to be one of the student facilitators of this interschool dialogue. Hopefully Harwood's students will visit us later in the spring!

From George Schock: Every year, CVU’s Future Business Leaders of America (FBLA) club attends the organization's Spring Leadership Conference. This year, the event was hosted by Champlain College and was attended by chapters from all across the state.

W3 Trig students in Mr. Hood's class enjoyed some delicious blueberry and cherry pies from Klinger's Bakery last Friday (3/14) to celebrate pi day. Yum yum!

From Cameron Brownell: On Thursday, March 20 at 7pm in the CVU Theater, the CVU Chorus presented their third concert of the school year! This concert started with a thrilling arrangement of Didn't My Lord Deliver Daniel, followed by a tender setting of Crossing the Bar, Time with driving rhythms and ticking clock sounds, a celtic folk song arrangement called Wild Mountain Thyme, and finally Lakeside Lullaby performed by the CVU Chorus Seniors. Click HERE to listen to our performance of Wild Mountain Thyme!

From Deborah Newell-Robinson: Spanish 1 students working on a weather vocabulary puzzle with the beautiful backdrop of a snowy tree.

From Charlie MacFadyen: The CVU Math League Team attended the final meet of the 24-25 season on Tuesday at Colchester HS. They ended the season in third place in the league (out of 13 schools). There was a banquet after the meet where individual awards were given. CVU's Jacob G received 3 of the 14 awards: 1st place in Arithmetic, 1st place in Algebra, and 2nd place overall in the league, with Wylie R was taking 4th place overall (out of 220 students competing). Representing CVU at the last meet were: Anna D, Brady D, Finn E, Leo F, Patterson F, Jacob G,James H, Alyssa H, Gwen I, Mikaela M, Clay N, Ava N, Jonathan P, Henry S, Charlie S, Georgia K, Max Raynes, and Wylie R.

As always, I'm so impressed with the spirit and colleagueship these students show!

Finally, Thanks to Kiran MacCormick for his work with the team all season and to the Math Department for their support.

Here is some of the team assembled with an assist from Photoshop :)

From Daniel Lyons: The Community Skills Program gives a huge shout out and thank you to the Vermont Adaptive Ski and Ride program at Sugarbush. The crew at Vermont Adaptive provided our students with another awesome season of shredding. Their patience, flexibility, support, and professionalism is greatly appreciated!

From Daniel Lyons: Claude Bigue, graduate of CVU, pictured here running the show with the Burton CHILL Program up at Bolton Valley on Tuesday evenings. Great to see ya, Claude! Keep up the good work.

Each year, second-semester Principles of Business students put their skills into action by launching and managing their own micro-businesses. Twelve student teams collaborate to apply marketing, management, and leadership principles, all while raising funds for a cause of their choice.

Click the link to learn more about their projects and how you can support them. For any questions, please contact Tamie-Jo Dickinson. PRINCIPLES OF BUSINESS MICRO PROJECTS

Dear Juniors,

If you’re interested in applying to any of the following colleges next year, please know that these schools are currently accepting nominations for scholarship opportunities:

Clarkson University

Lasell University

Rochester Institute of Technology

Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute

Russell Sage College

Saint Michael’s College

*Awards range from $1000-to a full scholarship for all four years of college.

If interested in receiving CVU’s nomination for a scholarship from any of the above colleges, please complete this scholarship application.

Students should talk with their School Counselor if they have any questions.

On Wednesday, March 19th, the CVEA (Champlain Valley Educators Association) joined the National Education Association and tens of thousands of educators, students, parents and community allies around the country and mobilized locally a “Walk In” to support our schools and students.

The Direction Center just wrapped up this year's course request process. New to the process this year is a course priority survey. Please check with your students to make sure they completed this course priority survey whereby they could note their top-3 courses for SY25-26. While we cannot guarantee students will be scheduled into these particular courses, we are hoping to honor every student's identity, connection, proficiency, and direction through these stated priorities. Students can only complete the survey once, and must use their school-issued email. The deadline for completing this Course Priority Survey will be Monday, March 24th at 12:00 noon.