We had a great visit with the SHS Interact Club yesterday, and I can promise that you will be impressed with the leadership skills of these Tide students!  Club Advisor and SHS Flexible Pathways Coordinator Margo Austin joined us with four of her club officers to talk about a "Tree Plenish" project they are conducting for the second year in a row.

We are hosting three separate virtual information nights for students who are currently in 8th, 10th, or 11th Grade.  Click the image above for more information!

For this week's School Showcase, we honor and celebrate our SHS Winter Sports teams.  What a fun and incredibly successful season this has been!  I will let you watch and listen to the team captains in the showcase below to hear all of the highlights instead of sharing them here, but many of our teams and athletes are among the top in the state.

Last night we attended the Varsity Boys Basketball game against Hazen and spoke with four students to hear their thoughts on the past two weeks and how proud they are of their community for stepping up and showing their support.

I got to visit SHS Art Teacher Brendan Eaton's Digital Photography class yesterday, and we were able to hear all about some of the studio portraits his students have been working on in recent weeks. These juniors and seniors are combining use of the latest digital technology along with their own artistic skills to create some truly beautiful pieces. Mr. Eaton has allowed for a very collaborative and creative artistic community in his classroom with these students, and I was grateful to be able to share in their work.

For those who don't know, last week was "Computer Science Education Week", and all of our schools are participating in the nationwide Hour of Code event this month!  We got to spend time with all three of our district's Technology Integrationists the last three days as they collaborated with their colleagues to bring basic coding skills into the classroom.  First, BTMES's Jess Van Orman joined band teacher Ally Tarwater and her 6th graders coding "Edison" robots to play their musical pieces.  We then joined SHS's Angelique Fairbrother at the SEA program to hear how she is teaching their students to use Minecraft with their history lessons.  Finally, we joined BCEMS's Mike Martin in the 4th grade classes of Roberta Melnick and Charlotte Murphy to learn how to move Angry Birds through a maze.

It's finally here! Student Council has set up an online store for all of the Spaulding High School merch including hoodies, sweatpants, T-shirts, hats, and more! Not only can you pay with a card at the new shop, but we can ship to your mailing address as well! You can access the store through this link, as well as a QR code on the Student Council Instagram. Please note that if you wish to purchase merchandise before the holidays, you must get your order in before December 12th.

For this week's showcase, we joined SHS J.R.O.T.C. Teacher Sgt. Danny Boone and his cadets.  This showcase really speaks for itself, but I want to recognize SHS Senior Ian Longfellow who has just found out that he has been nominated by Senator Leahy for an appointment to attend the United States Military Academy at West Point.

We didn't want to wait until next week to celebrate the start of the fall SHS playoff season, because it will already be underway as you read this!   Our Crimson Tide teams have had an exciting fall season, and the playoff rounds are beginning this afternoon with our girls' soccer team playing Enosburg at the Barre Town Rec Field.  SHS Athletic Director Derek Cipriano and I had a chance to catch up with all of the team captains and some of their teammates this afternoon, and they shared some highlights of their season and what we can look forward to in the days and weeks ahead.

This week's Showcase brings us for a return visit to the SEA Program!  "SEA" stands for Spaulding Educational Alternatives, and the program is in the middle of its second year in our new location.  Located on Allen Street in Barre City, SEA provides an alternative opportunity to access high school for up to 60 of our students, and the program is off to an impressive and successful start.  We met with SEA teachers Stephen Kelley and Cliff Thompson along with some of their students yesterday in East Montpelier with the Vermont Youth Conservation Corp, and it was a great visit.

Last night, the BTMES and BCEMS middle school boys and girls soccer teams combined for a spirited game under the lights at Pendo Field on the Spaulding campus.  It was a lot of fun for all the athletes and the big audience that came to cheer them on!  BUUSD Athletic Directors Jodi Bushway (BCEMS), Jack Carrier (BTMES), and Derek Cipriano (SHS) joined forces with the BYSA to put on this event.  Any opportunity to bring our school communities together is always welcome, and I want to thank all who made this event possible!  What an incredibly fun way to spend a Wednesday night!

A group of about 40 SHS Juniors and Seniors had a great experience attending the Fall College Fair at St. Michael's College yesterday!  SHS Work Based Learning Coordinator Michelle LaFrancis leads this trip annually, and according to Michelle, "WBL programming provides opportunities for students to participate in a series of college visits to determine where they can get the education, experience, and training needed to meet their professional goals while experiencing various college campuses."  This was an exciting eye opener for our students! 

We will be sharing a Weekly School Showcase video each week that shines a spotlight on our students and staff across the district.  These Showcases proved to be very popular last year, and we look forward to showing you all of the outstanding and exciting learning opportunities that go on in our schools every day!

For this week, we have a showcase video welcoming everybody back and introducing our BUUSD Strategic Plan.  We hope you like it!