CVU Celebrations

Dear CVU Community,

It’s been a week of appreciation within CVU. On Thursday morning, faculty and staff nominated adults in the building who inspire them. This adult version of our monthly CVU Inspirations Award Ceremony complimented the Student Council’s Gratitude Boards and both were lovely reminders of some of the people we are grateful for as we head into the Thanksgiving break. Our students gave shout outs to “Grandma”, Seth Emerson and their friends. The faculty and staff spoke about the positivity and kindness of their colleagues. As I closed out the week at this morning’s staff meeting, I shared my personal gratitude for the teachers, staff, students and community partners with whom I work. I believe that these acts of gratitude and appreciation can ripple outwards, helping to create an environment where everyone feels valued. This is among our most important work.

Also grateful for this amazing CVU rainbow.

Photo credit: Justin Chapman

11/23 - CVU 5K Turkey Trot

11/25-11/28 - Thanksgiving Break

11/30 - CVU Access Craft Fair

Well done, Kayden and Kayla who helped Rex organize the sending of love and get well wishes to Seth Emerson!

Congratulations to Isabella Urch, Alexandra Fox and Gianna Petrunich from Elan Academy of Classical Ballet. They performed in Clara Dreams at Spruce Peak Performing Arts Center this past weekend.

From Meredith Visco: Happy Friday and Vacation!! Students in Spanish 3 last week got the opportunity to cook empanadas with local chef, Catalina H-R, from Veracruz, Mexico. It was a delicious lunch and they all made their own beautiful tortillas for their individual lunches. Juanita Galloway was a gracious host and helped out with the cooking and helped to maintain the immersion in Spanish. If anyone has any catering needs - get in touch with me (mvisco@cvsdvt.org) and I can connect you with her catering business.

Mini pumpkin pies in Cooking with Ms. Galloway. Yum.

CCS STEM Night 11/13:

Earlier last week, the RoboHawks participated in the STEM night at CCS. Charlotte Central School hosted an interactive event that featured tables of local high-tech companies, organizations and students. Griffin H, Leo F, Clay N, James H, Ben G, & Lydia E took this this great opportunity to introduce elementary and middle kids to robotics, demonstrate our 2024 robot and allow them to drive it.

Shelburne Community School 11/21:

On Thursday, RoboHawk members Griffin H. and Leo F. went to SCS to help the coaches judge the middle school FIRST LEGO LEAGUE teams’ Innovation Project presentations. All 4 SCS Lego League teams got to do on field competition testing of their robots and code under the watchful eyes of Griffin and Leo!

Upcoming Work: RoboHawks are looking forward to their continued mentoring work with Williston Central School robotics teams, as well as working on and testing their own robot over the Thanksgiving Break!

EmpowerHER - NYC RISE: Application deadline December 2nd, 2024

Students who are interested in participating with the EmpowerHER - NYC Rise trip need to have both their Recommendation Form and Student Application (with personal statement letter) completed and turned in by December 2nd, 2024.

If you need the forms, they are located in the Business Classroom #230. Any questions, please check in with Ms. Marriott or Tamie-Jo Dickinson.

jmarriott@cvsdvt.org

tdickinson@cvsdvt.org

Jess Hoskins teaching CPR to a group of students.

Muessel/Johnson Advisory Turkey

From Jennifer Marriott: Kid's On The Ball was here all this week for blocks 1-4 teaching students tennis. So much FUNNNN with these coaches. We are super grateful for their inspiration, humor and commitment to bringing this sport to so many kids.

The Class of 2026 is excited to announce its 2nd Annual "Fill the Buck-et" House Challenge starting on December 2nd. Each CVU House will have a bucket and we are asking members of our community to fill the bucket with coins and dollars! Consider a donation to our CVU Community Cares. The House which raises the most money will receive the Buck trophy to display in their House Office for the year! Nichols House is the reigning champion and is looking to hold onto its status. Which House will knock them out of the running? Our House Directors are all hoping for the glory of the trophy!

Senior Class Council spent C3 today putting together posters promoting our annual toy drive, Toys For Kids. Please consider sending in new, unwrapped toys we can wrap and give to families to help make their holidays a little brighter.

From Dave Trevithick: Zoe Norris, Olivia Stewart, Yvonne Miceler and Amelia Oppenheimer took time to chat with Farm to School learners from Shelburne Farms visiting from Ohio, Minnesota and other states to see what we are doing at CVU with the Sustainability Hub and CVU Farm. They did a wonderful job detailing all the work they do with the Farm to School club to make our tiny farm run! Colleen French also took questions about how we procure local foods for our cafeteria!

ASAAP Announcement!

The student-led club ASAAP (Abuse, Sexual Assault Awareness & Prevention) is excited to announce that our club raised enough money to host The Safety Team, dubbed “the most experienced group of Empowerment Self-Defense (ESD) instructors on the planet.” The 2 ½ hour comprehensive violence prevention training program took place Thursday evening, 11/21/24, and was attended by members of ASAAP as well as others in the CVU community who were excited about the opportunity. Here’s a bit more from the TST website:

“The Safety Team was founded 20 years ago by a group of advanced female martial artists who also happened to be professionals with diverse expertise in the realities of violence against women. Over the years, The Safety Team has run hundreds of workshops and served thousands of women. The result? Many people have reduced their risk of violence, and many have experienced healing while doing so.”

Huge kudos go to Jackie Whittier, Molly Fairhurst, Rosie Destito, Gianna Ostlund, and Emma Armstrong for their strong, inspiring leadership! ASAAP is already planning its next self-defense workshops, hopefully taking place this winter and again in the spring. Also, keep your eyes open for our blue bandannas! Club members tie them to their backpacks as a way of communicating that they are a safe person to talk to for support, guidance, resources, or just a listening ear. Stay tuned for a recap and photos of the workshop in the next Celebrations (after Thanksgiving).

From John Bennett: CVU Scholars' Bowl hosted its annual regional event on Thursday, November 21, welcoming 6 other schools with 10 teams to play 5 varsity and JV matches. CVU added four teams to the event with excellent results. Our varsity team won all five matches decisively to lead the varsity bracket. CVU's varsity team is now 18-2, defeating Montpelier, Essex, South Burlington, Rice and Burlington. CVU's A team has not lost a match to another Vermont high school since March 2023. Our B team matched them in winning the JV bracket with a 5-0 record.

Playing for CVU Thursday included the following 17 players:

12th Grade- Jacob Graham, James Haines, Alyssa Hill, Nolan Sandage, Jackson Yager

11th Grade- Kingston Cherry, Jack Daly, Dylan Elder, Leo Elder, Braden Griffin, Clay Nicholson, Leah Rauch, Charles Redmond

10th Grade- Willcox Elliott, Meredith Golek, Zephyr Haines

9th Grade- Monte Rosenfeld

We also welcomed back Scholars' Bowl alumni legends Peter Antinozzi, Jacob Parker, Colin Ravlin, and Brandon Tieso who served as readers and scorekeepers.

Thanks to Kiran MacCormick for his expertise in helping me pull off this complex event- could not do it without you! Also thanks to our great maintenance staff allowing us to run the event smoothly.

From Katie Kuntz: On Wednesday, the Holocaust and Modern Genocide class was lucky to hear from Tom Glaser whose parents survived the Holocaust. We thank him for sharing his powerful family story with us! The Vermont Holocaust Memorial is also collecting leaves for their Leaf Project. They are in the process of collecting 1.5 million leaves to symbolize the 1.5 million children murdered during the Holocaust.

From Katie Mack: The library would like to thank all the students (and John) who stayed after PM Connect on Tuesday to clear the space for the Board Meeting (some, but not all students, pictured below). We would also like to thank Charlie, Nick, Bambi, and Melinda for returning the furniture to its original position before the students even arrived the following morning. Thankful for everyone who takes care of this place!

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In this season of gratitude, the library is supremely grateful to all of our AcLC volunteers, who keep the library up and running. They do everything from reshelving books and inventorying the collection to making posters and book displays. We couldn't do it without you! Thank you to: Libby Manning, Lily Posner, Julia Rowles, Rose Bunting, Abbey Pitcavage, and Ezra Dziurzynski!

The Bennett/Tonino Advisory celebrated their annual Advisory Thanksgiving in style! This is a tradition dating back to 2004.

Happy Thanksgiving from the CLD room!

CORE English Teachers Nick Canaday and Henry Lang met author Kate McKinnon (Saturday Night Live, Barbie) at the National Convention of Teachers of English in Boston.

Don't miss this annual CVU Winter Craft Fair on Saturday, Nov 30th 9am-4pm!

With 150 talented handcrafters you are sure to find the perfect gift for everyone in your life. Jewelry, home decor, art, crafts, fiber, wood, foods, beauty products, candles, quilts, and unique gifts!

Feeling lucky? ACCESS will be selling 50/50 raffle tickets! Proceeds benefit the community education financial aid fund that helps support life-long learning opportunities for all!

Hungry?
-PIZZA 44 Food Truck will be serving breakfast and lunch.
-CVU Student Bake Sale and Fundraiser!
-Green Mountain Kettle Corn will be popping all day.

When: Saturday, November 30th, 9am - 4pm, rain, snow, or shine!
Where: CVU High School, 369 CVU Road, Hinesburg, VT
FREE PARKING & FREE ENTRY

Join us for a screening of Patagonia Films from 6:30 - 8:30 pm in the Auditorium on Thursday, December 5th run by Enact! We will offer a raffle and a bake sale, the proceeds of which will be donated to Migrant Justice, a key advocate for migrants’ rights in Vermont!

Volunteers Needed for Northern Vermont Lego Robotics Competition

On December 14, Shelburne Community School will be hosting the First Lego (Robotics) League Northern Vermont Qualifier. All of CVSD’s K-8 schools have teams and many will be participating. So will teams from across Northern VT. To operate the event, we are seeking 40+ volunteers including judges, resetters, scorekeepers and more. Not all roles require a technical background.

If you are interested in volunteering please complete the initial sign-up form here FIRST.

After completing the initial form, please register for specific roles HERE.

The second form is a little more complex and requires multiple steps. Please contact Sarah Samuelson, volunteer coordinator, with any questions or concerns. Thanks for considering volunteering!

Community Health Needs Assessment

The University of Vermont Medical Center is currently conducting its annual Community Health Needs Assessment (CHNA) of Chittenden and Grand Isle counties. Results will be used to better understand and respond to the top community health needs in these counties. Those who live in these Chittenden or Grand Isle counties and are 16 years of age or older are encouraged to complete this survey, which takes less than 10 minutes.

Holiday Note: Connecting Youth Connects Caregivers:

If next week is a time for gathering, celebrating, and family connectedness, we wish you joy and happiness. Those moments are precious. If this time of year brings up challenging emotions - stress, loneliness, or missing loved ones - please be kind to yourself.

For those whose celebrations involve alcohol, be mindful of the young people who are present and watching. The way adults model responsible drinking behaviors significantly influences the risk perceptions and actions of young individuals. We recognize that not all aspects of holiday celebrations involving alcohol are within our control. However, many situations are preventable, particularly concerning underage [binge] drinking and impaired driving.

For a little more on the topic, check out this take from Jessica Lahey, a renowned NYT bestselling author, parent educator, and prevention coach.

This time of year is also a prime opportunity to have a conversation about alcohol and substances with your kids. Just try starting from a restorative place about their safety and genuine concern rather than a restrictive "don’t get caught" mindset. We know that when we have open, honest and curious conversations about substances, our words can have a more significant impact on their choices and behaviors.

For more prevention resources, check out our library for parents and caregivers here.

Have a wonderful break!