CVU Celebrations

Dear CVU Community: I wrote the paragraph below earlier in the week, and as I prepared to hit send today, I was struck with two conflicting feelings: first, it’s always important to celebrate the joys and good we see in the world; second, as we acknowledge the good, we also have to recognize the significance of the conflict and violence in Israel, Palestine, and in many places around the globe. As we did earlier in the week, we are offering information, support, and dialogue for our students during C3 on Tuesday and Wednesday next week. Students, if you or your family need support or just someone to listen, we are here.

10/13 - CVU Club Fair - Lunch blocks

10/14 - Access Craft Fair at CVU

10/19 - Half-day for Core Activities 9, Harbor Day 10, PSAT 11

10/24 - Beltrami Picture Retake Day

10/31 - Crystal Skull Competition (special schedule)

Student Council pulled together an impressive Club Fair. This is no small endeavor. Thank you!

The Unified LTS class had great teamwork using the parachute to make a tent in class.

From Emily Mitchell: Charlotte T fully immerses herself in learning the pottery wheel.

Painting students took advantage of the beautiful weather and painted views of the CVU fields and fire ponds!

From Gary Lambert: I hope everyone has enjoyed this last taste of summer! The weather will be a little chillier this week, so why not spend 11 minutes and watch this semester's first episode of The CVU Show?

https://youtu.be/_wfB4qOHthc

The first episode includes:

• CVU News
• Sports
• Interview with Coach Rahn
• and our popular "student interviews" segment

Please click on the above link, and let's set a record number of views!

Thank you!

Here is the Friday the 13th NEW episode of The CVU Show.

https://youtu.be/xvzJKyo_Fgc?si=jZrCDXAyrbndymdr

The CVSD Gender & Sexuality Alliance clubs came together last weekend to pull a fire truck up Church Street in support of LGBTQA+ youth! We had representatives from CVU, HCS, and WCS pull with us for a final time of 22.5 seconds. Collectively, Outright VT raised $216,000 by the end of the event! Pictured: Lena Kirillova and Nick Canaday, CVU GSA club advisors.

Congratulations to CVU/BTC Health Sciences Academy student, Kennedy Desautels, who has been chosen as the Vermont HOSA Future Health Professionals Vice President of Operations for 23-24. Kennedy traveled to Dallas, Texas with BTC last spring representing Vermont in the international HOSA conference and competition.

From Olaf Verdonk: This week the RoboHawks visited HCS to inspire elementary school students to participate in FIRST robotics. RoboHawk members James, Clay, Addison, Braden, Gavin, Leo, and Andrew lead a meeting of the HCS FIRST Lego League team, the Hinesburgers, launching them into their Innovation Project, where they had to answer the question: How can you use art and technology to engage others or increase participation in what you love to do?

Additionally, Libby and Lucy are leading C3 Lego Robotics and coding; you can sign up in Adaptive Scheduler for "RoboHawks" with Olaf Verdonk on Wednesday and/or Thursday to participate!

Banned book event in the Library last week with Lt. Governor David Zuckerman.

From Community Skills: Just another plug for you all to tune in to the Henry Eaton Radio Hour this and every Sunday. Last week, Cesar Sanchez gave a shout out to the entire CVU community for being supportive! Thanks Cesar.

To listen, tune into 99.3, or go to this Link at 6pm on Sunday. Just find the "Play" button and enjoy!

From Community Skills: The CVU Work Crew got to hang out with and do some work for folks with close connections to the CVU Community. Pictured in the photo below are: Henry E, Steve Metz, Melissa Kiphaut, Noah S, Connie Metz, Chuck Bunting, Ezra W and Daniel Lyons. Thanks for the support and the treats, Connie and Steve!

From Bret Gardner: I wanted to share this picture of Sage P, Charlotte Z, Charlie B and Jacob K leading a powerful discussion on the Israel-Hamas war today in C3! This has been a new student led club and the leaders have been doing a great job planning activities, building community and tackling big issues.

A bit early for Halloween, but we'll take it!

Special thank you to Luke Dorfman & Heather MacDonald’s Chittenden Core Common Read group for all of the wonderful conversations, honest analysis and heartfelt moments during our time together. This sweet group deserved all the cookies and candy we could give them during our final book group!

Colleen McSweeney and Ry Hoffman worked overtime this week (and the week before...and the week before that) to ensure that CVU and BHS students would have access to the PSAT. THANK YOU!

Our Librarians do so much more than simply run our Library. They are educators and leaders. We appreciate you.

Russ makes a pretty sweet CVU-themed table!

VIRTUAL Financial Aid and Managing College Costs presentation

Wednesday, October 18th 6:30 pm

YouTube Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JSODVKeGaYI

Attend an online, free Financial Aid and Managing College Costs presentation. At this presentation, Carrie Harlow from VSAC will provide an overview of how families pay for college costs and the different types of financial aid, as well as the application process and timelines specifically for the 2024-2025 financial aid award year. We will share some resources that can help you research the true cost of colleges and get ready to file financial aid forms. If you would like to stay a bit longer – after the end of the regular presentation – we will share in-depth information about how to create an FSA ID, and you can attempt to create at least one ID for later FAFSA filing with VSAC’s help.

CVSD’s Connecting Youth (CY) seeks new community members to join our team of mentors for 5th - 12th grade students. This is a meaningful volunteer opportunity to be engaged with your community and truly make a difference in the life of one great kid!

• Mentors and mentee pairs meet weekly for about an hour. *We work with mentors' personal/professional schedules*

• School year commitment

• Mentor training and continual support provided by CVSD mentor coordinators.

• Middle school mentors have access to dedicated spaces for cooking, crafting, playing games and developing a friendship.

• High school mentors work alongside students to grow their skills and resilience, guide in goal-setting, and even explore possible career paths through new interests and experiences.

If you consider yourself fun, caring and trustworthy, your consistent presence can enhance a young person’s self-confidence, improve their academic performance, prevent substance use, and help them discover new passions. All while enriching your own life.

LEARN MORE by contacting a CVSD Mentor Coordinator today

• Charlotte Central School, Kate Rooney, krooney@cvsdvt.org, 802-425-6682
• Hinesburg Community School, Livy Bulger, lbulger@cvsdvt.org, 802-482-6248
• Champlain Valley Union, Alison Duback, aduback@cvsdvt.org (802) 482-8921

Let me know if you have any questions. We appreciate your support. Thanks!

CVSD Fall Family and Caregiver Survey

CVSD values your feedback and we want to know what you think!

We are currently surveying our families and caregivers to gain insight into your perception of our school and district's effectiveness. To ensure that we continue to provide high-quality, rigorous learning experiences that meet the needs of our learners and prepare them for college, career, and the future, we would love to learn your opinion on the progress towards those ends.

To administer these surveys, we have partnered with Panorama Education to conduct our Fall 2023 Family Survey. Panorama safeguards your privacy, keeping your responses confidential and anonymous. The survey will be a valuable source of information for us as we work to make our schools and our district exemplary.

You may complete the survey online between September 22 and October 13 using a computer, tablet, or smartphone. If you have children in more than one of our schools, we'd appreciate you sharing your thoughts about each separately. Please note: we are not certain that the survey saves if you have to step away while completing it. Please try to fill it out in one sitting.

We thank you in advance for your thoughtful responses. If you have any questions about the survey administration, please don’t hesitate to contact us using Let's Talk and selecting the General Questions topic.

Thank you,

Rene Sanchez, Superintendent

Champlain Valley School District