CVU Celebrations

Dear CVU Community: Nexus, a course built to promote self-designed learning, hosted project exhibitions in the Library on Thursday night. I loved the entire evening, but my favorite moment from the event came in the form of a conspiratorial whisper from one of our juniors. In the midst of his presentation, he peeked over both of his shoulders to ensure no one else was listening, and whispered with a sly smile, “You should see how easy my White Days are. I go to my first block class…and then I leave for my internship where I use traditional methods to refurbish boats all day.” I had to restrain myself from telling him that he just confessed to his principal that his school day is actually longer and potentially more challenging than the days of many; however, when work and learning feel like you are getting away with something, I think we call that passion and purpose.

1/5 - End of Snapshot Q2 (Semester 1)

1/8-1/12 Wrap Up Week

1/15 - MLK Day, no school

1/16-19 - Add/Drop for Semester 2

From the Gender & Sexuality Alliance (GSA) Club: THANK YOU to everyone who donated to our Winter Product Drive! Both COTS and the Pride Center were extremely grateful and impressed with how much people were willing to give to others in need. Pictured: The collection boxes before donations and after donations!

The CVU Class of 2026 had a busy December raising money for the CVU Community Cares Program in the Fill the "Buck"et campaign. The buckets raised $130 for the program. Anthony Spagnolo, Nichols House Director, received the coveted Buck Trophy this year thanks to Nichols House raising the most money from this spirited drive! Pictured are class council members with Spags and his trophy.

The Class of 2026 organized a Meal Drive in December to benefit the Hinesburg Community Resource Center's Food Shelf. With the help of director, Anna Main, students assigned each House a theme for their meal. We loved the idea and are excited to partner with this organization again. A huge shout out to all of our CVU families who were able to contribute and spread some generosity to our community. A special thank you to the Class of 2026 for your enthusiasm to embrace a variety of projects all at the same time!

Angelina helping out in the cafe!

Students in Olaf Verdonk's Design & Engineering Technology 1 course showing off their custom 802 brand vinyl stickers. This graphic design project combined understanding of vector files, CAD, and Scalable Vector Graphics software to create branding and custom designed vinyl stickers. They were answering the question: "What does 802 mean to you?"

(pictured L-R: Mikaela, Kiersha, Ashley, Zavier, and Deacon)

Please watch our last CVU Show episode for this semester. This week's show includes CVU News, Sports, and Goats! Thank you for watching this semester. Please look for our next NEW episode out soon in Semester 2.

https://youtu.be/dbnCklbaWZk

Happy New Year!

From Magali Simon-Martin: French V classes enjoyed making French madeleines. Students followed a set of steps in French learning new vocabulary and the metric system in a recipe. After a vote one team per class won the best madeleines contest! Thank you to Eleanor Marsh for letting us use the kitchen.

Congratulations to 10th grader Clay Nicholson who was selected selected by Congresswoman Becca Balint, a former teacher, as this year's Vermont winner of the Congressional App Challenge. Clay created an app called Lexi-Scan, which can help people with dyslexia. Users simply take a photo of the text they want to read, and the app identifies the image, displays it on the screen and reads it aloud in up to eight different languages. Check out the local NBC news story:

https://www.mynbc5.com/article/champlain-valley-union-dyslexia-app-development/46288749#

Thank you to Troy, Amy, Peter, and the fabulous Jessamyn for your efforts to pull together Nexhibition Night! (I imagine Olaf and Andrew deserve a thanks, too!)

Scholars Bowl is rocking at CVU right now, and it is a blast to see so many of our alum return to help host the event. John Bennett has run an impressive program for many, many years at CVU and deserves a Celebration this week. Kiran MacCormick gets a shout out, too!

Upcoming Technical Center Visits

If students would like to visit Burlington Technical Center Programs on Thursday, January 25th, please fill out this FORM. Families can visit Burlington Technical Center Programs for an evening session, and more information can be found HERE.

If students would like to visit the Center for Technology -Essex (CTE) Programs on Friday, February 16th, please fill out this FORM. Families can visit CTE Programs for the CTE Discover Days.

GRADUATION TASK:

Seniors in preparation for graduation on June 14, 2024, please stop by the Direction Center as soon as possible to check the spelling of your name and how you want it to appear on your diploma. It is important that your name appears just the way you want it! Is your name spelled correctly? Do you want your middle name or just your initial? Should there be a “JR or lll” attached to your last name?

Parents, please encourage your graduating senior to verify the spelling of their name as soon as possible. If you prefer, you can email the appropriate spelling directly to our Registrar, Colleen McSweeney at cmcsweeney@cvsdvt.org.

The deadline for making changes is Tuesday, January 30th. Once the order is placed with the printer, changes can only be made at your expense.

Starting in January 2024, CVU clinicians Katy Farnham & Laurie Berryman are offering a weekly meeting for CVU parents and caregivers who are intersecting with the mental health system, (and all of its challenges!). If you find yourself feeling confused, stressed, or isolated as you try to help your adolescent navigate the mental health system, this meeting is for you! Come meet other caregivers trying to navigate similar challenges, and learn more about mental health resources & systems. Discussion will be facilitated by Howard School Services clinician Katy Farnham LCMHC and CVU Social Worker Laurie Berryman Ed.D. Format: standing 60-minute meeting, offered weekly, that can be accessed remotely. Meeting times offered will be mid-day (12:00-1:00 pm?). When several caregivers express interest in participating, we will start offering the weekly meetings. No fee. No commitments. If you are interested to join or learn more, please email Katy Farnham at kfarnham@cvsdvt.org

Join us for a free Financial Aid Forms workshop. At this informal, small-group workshop, VSAC will assist seniors and their parents as they file the FAFSA and Vermont state grant application.

Very important! This year, students and at least one parent, need to sign up for an FSA ID in advance of forms night – in the past, people could apply for an FSA ID the day/night of the workshop and still file a FAFSA. This year, the FSA ID has to be applied for and verified by both the social security administration and homeland security before being able to be used, which takes at least 3-5 business days. Yes, our handout says 5-7, largely because we are uncertain – with so many people needing to sign up in a condensed amount of time, we are uncertain if the heavy use will cause delays.

What this means is that people really cannot sign up for Forms Night and expect to get the FAFSA done if they sign up the day of or day before the event. At that point, if they believe they still need help, they will need to schedule help through our VSAC Resource Center in Winooski – they will be offering in-person and virtual meetings after the start of the new year.

VSAC forms night is Wednesday January 24th from 5:30-6:30pm in room 152. Please click on the link to sign up or more information. Space is limited.

ParentIN 2024 Greeting

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Happy New Year, ParentIN family!

As we step into 2024, we know the New Year can bring a gamut of emotions. For some, it's a time of joy and fresh starts. For others, it's a bittersweet goodbye to a year of challenges. And for most, it's a beautiful blend of both.

Here at ParentIN, we see you, all of you. We see the superhero strength you bring every day, juggling caregiving, work and all the goodies in between. Most of all, we know you’re here because of your unwavering love for your family. Reminding you that ParentIN is your constant sidekick throughout these years. Providing you support groups, resources, and a listening ear when you need a break.

And guess what? We've got some great programming coming!

• CVSD and ParentIN join forces against tobacco/vaping! Check out Access CVU's February cessation classes coming at you!

• Dr. Maheux, UNC brain expert, joins us to talk addiction and science. Get ready for mind-blowing insights about youth and addiction prevention.

• Outright Vermont partners with us for our annual Pride event in June. We’re also working with them on another parent education event to learn together!

We would love to hear your ideas on how to build our programming and strengthen this community. Don’t hesitate to reach out to me with hot topics you want addressed or suggestions for learning opportunities you hope to see offered. We can’t do this work without you.

All the best,

Amy Sayre

23-24 Launch message

Youth Vaping: What’s CVSD Doing About It?

You’ve likely heard more about youth vaping these days. And rightly so, the most recent Youth Risk Behavior Survey reported 16% of Vermont high school students used an EVP (electron vaping device) in the past 30 days. Vaping is not a social norm or youth trend. It’s an increasingly serious health issue for our kids.

That’s why CVSD and Connecting Youth continue to proactively address vaping as a health issue. Our prevention strategies are restorative, not punitive. We aim to educate, empower and support. Not point blame. And we know prevention is most effective when it connects people across multiple social and economic settings.

From community education to readily accessible quit resources, learn more here about our prevention efforts to help youth make the healthiest choices. If you have questions, ideas or just want to learn more, reach out to your school’s SAPs. We're in this together!

-Connecting Youth