COMMONS Review
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
summer 2011 COMMONS review A newsletter produced by Vermont Commons School, an independent day school in South Burlington for students in grades 7-12. What’s New at VCS? We Bought Our Building! - This fall, VCS purchased 75 Green Mountain Drive from George and Pammella Starbuck. New Instructors - Heather Moore (Social Studies), Christie Beveridge (Language Arts), Jake Merkel (Chinese), Brian Lynam (Choral Director), and Tom Schicker (Math). New Staff - Liz Peck (Registrar), Sarah Judd (Development Director), and Linda Bursell (Business Manager). Preliminary rendering of a future Vermont Commons School by Wiemann Lamphere Architects Fond Farewells - With gratitude, we say goodbye to departing faculty members Hans Manske and A Year of Innovation at Vermont Commons Jordan Romm. We also said goodbye to Allison The State of the School Fayle, Registrar, in January. Thank you all for your years of committed service and energy to VCS. Peter B. Gilmore, Head of School Hatchlings - VCS welcomes several hatchlings to What a year it has been at Vermont Commons! extensively with our Board of Trustees to make the the fold. Adriana Comtois gave birth to Dominick Filled with new people, new ideas, and of course transaction a reality. As a result of the purchase, we in September, Chance Cardamone-Knewstub new encounters of all kinds, our fourteenth year as a have stopped paying rent, started building equity, and welcomed Marlon in October, and Jessica school was one of excitement and growth. With the actually saved money each month that has been put Redmond gave birth to Teddy in June! helping hands of our entire community we lived our toward improving our programs. mission of providing great programs for our students, Compiling and designing the VCS Strategic Plan Board of Trustees - Mary Hamilton Homer a vision of ecological citizenship for our environs, was a benchmark of our Board last year. Involving stepped down as Board Chair after three years a teaching laboratory for our faculty, and the further representatives of the entire Vermont Commons com- of devoted service. Rebecca Lindy Coll began as establishment of our school in the Burlington area. munity, we produced a document that will guide us the new Board Chair in June. The Board wel- We began the year undertaking three of the most for many years to come. The formation of a perma- comes George Starbuck and Kyler Robinson, and diffi cult and extensive projects in the history of the nent Strategic Plan Oversight Committee was the fi rst returning Board member Ken Edwards. We thank school - the purchase of 75 Green Mountain Drive, step in making the dreams of the project a reality. Co- departing Board members Casey Blanchard and the implementation of the new VCS Strategic Plan, ordinating each of the four Plan Pillars (Curriculum, Frances Carr for their service. (see pg. 4) and the start of our accreditation process with the Community Connections, Facilities, and Finance) the NEASC - VCS faculty and staff spent the school New England Association of Schools and Colleges committee made signifi cant progress in each area. year engaging in the New England Association of (NEASC). These projects, each impressive in its own The Curriculum group instituted our music Schools and Colleges’ Self-Study. Our accredita- right, are critical to the future of the institution, and program and the fi rst iteration of a Wellness Com- tion visit will take place in October. (see pg. 7) their completion refl ects the vibrancy and dedication mittee. It also identifi ed four areas of focus for of the VCS community. I speak for all of us when its work that will provide goals and objectives for First Student Body President Election - Willie I say how pleased and proud we are that we had the immediate future of our academics: assuring Strausser was elected Student Body President in launched them this Fall, and have achieved so much our curriculum refl ects our mission, enhancing March. Congratulations, Willie! (see pg. 9) by this Spring. the global nature of the VCS experience, provid- Obtaining legal ownership of our building has been Grandparents’ Day - We held our Second ing exceptional professional development for our an enormous undertaking that involved months of Annual Grandparents’ Day in May. Grandparents’ teachers, and bringing the newest of technologies planning, testing, negotiating, and fi nancing. The end competed in a Green/Gray competition and par- and pedagogies to the classrooms. result was the offi cial purchase of 75 Green Mountain ticipated in history, math, and language classes. The Community Connections Committee Drive, and the establishment of this building as our worked hard to actualize their important areas of Seventh Grade - We enrolled our largest 7th current and future home. Enormous thanks goes out the Strategic Plan as well. They chose, among a grade class this past year, with 20 students! to all involved, but especially to George and Pam Star- number of other initiatives, to recommend the buck who were once our landlords, and who worked (Continued on pg. 12) VCS Concert Choir - This year marked the premier of the VCS Concert Choir, led by Brian Lynam. They performed at our Winter Concert What Do Students Hope to See at VCS in the Future? and at The Arbors in Shelburne. (see pg. 10) “I want to see better science labs.” “I would like to see more respect for Girls Volleyball Wins State Championship - For Lex Jackson, 12th grade language programs. I want to take a the third consecutive year, the VCS Girl’s Volleyball Chinese intro class as a Senior and I Team won the Vermont State Volleyball “ I like everything the way it is. I’m just am not sure I will be able to. I would Championship! (see pg. 5) getting used to fi nding everything.” also like to see Physics Lab upgrades. Debut of Flying Turtle X-Country Team, Led Josh Wolfstein, 8th grade I know it’s coming, and I wish I was going to be by Coach Roxanne Bellamy - New to our around for it.” athletic off erings this year is Cross Country. “Bigger space for PE.” Ben Maksym, Milo Self, 12th grade Competing with a wide variety of local schools, 8th grade the team showed great promise! www.vermontcommons.org MOVING OUT OF THE CLASSROOM AND INTO THE WORLD Math Club Calculates an Award-Wining Performance at Gimme “Every VCS car not Shelter Competition! Lex Johnson only looked delicious, but also performed The nine members of the VCS Math Club competed against sixty-fi ve middle school and high school teams extremely well.” from across Vermont and New Hampshire in the UVM Aiken/TASC Gimme Shelter competition. This year’s challenge was to create an emergency shelter that could From left: Shannon Gill, Teddy Flynn, Sophia Lothrop and Sam Edwards-Kuhn get ready to test the performance of their edible cars be deployed quickly and effi ciently in the event of at the UVM Edible Car Contest. a crisis. Each shelter was tested for wind-resistance, weight, packing density, volume, pest-resistance, and set-up time. Both VCS teams had award-winning perfor- mances, earning a total of $600 for the school. The VCS team ‘Turtle InTENTsity,’ including Josh Wolfstein, VCS Students Deliver the Goods in Tanner Francis, Eli Hulse, Phineas Schlossberg, and Lex Jackson, took fi rst place in packing density, which was UVM’s Edible Car Contest measured by the number of packaged shelters that could Jessica Redmond be shipped in a seventy-three cubic meter box. The VCS team ‘Algebrothers,’ which consisted of Lyn Ackert- The most anticipated event for 7th grade math Smith, Sammy Edwards-Kuhn, Christian Frey, and Tim students is, unquestionably, participating in the UVM Sears, took third place overall. Congratulations to both Edible Car Contest as part of Engineers’ Week. teams for their outstanding performances! For the past fi ve years, VCS 7th graders have been constructing vehicles out of candy, veggies, bread, and fruit to roll down a ramp as quickly as possible. Yummy-ness is also a must. VCS has won or placed in the design and speed categories in past years. This year’s Math 7 took on this challenge, which was linked to their unit on geometry. With over 40 individual cars entered into the con- test, vying for just nine prizes (three each for speed, design, and edibility), VCS saw its toughest competi- tion ever. Every VCS car not only looked delicious, but also performed extremely well. However, it was the Rice Krispie treat-covered-with-white frosting trimmed with chocolate-car made by Sam Edwards- Kuhn, Sophia Lothrop, and Ben Maksym that made the judges’ mouth water and earned VCS its fi rst “Edibility” prize with a 3rd place fi nish. Way to roll, Math 7! From left: Tanner Francis, Eli Hulse, Lex Jackson, Josh Wolfstein, and Phineas Schlossberg. Photo by Ed Wolfstein. Math Puzzler! Jasmine Walker In honor of our students’ amazing accomplishments in math this year, we bring you our fi rst Commons Review Puzzler! If you can solve the following math problem, you will be in the running for a VCS water bottle or coffee mug! Ten contestants numbered 1-10 stand in order around a circle. Beginning to count at 1, every 5th contestant will be eliminated until only one remains. What is the number of the last remaining contestant? All submissions should be sent to Sarah Judd at [email protected] by July 30, 2011. The winner will be chosen from the correct submissions and will be notifi ed via email. Please include your prefer- The cast and crew of Guys and Dolls - fi rst row, from left: Justine Magowan, Will Thompson, Jordanna Dulaney, Anna Leffl er, Camille Bartsch, Lucy Pappas.