CVU Celebrations

It’s my pleasure to guest-write this week’s Celebrations message.

One of the things that never fails to brighten my winter is the start of the Unified Basketball season. Yesterday, the entire school assembled during advisory to cheer on our Unified team in an exhibition game. The energy was fantastic, as was Hudson’s commentary!

While it’s disappointing that the Penguin Plunge has to be postponed (stay warm this weekend!), the silver lining is that there is still time for students to sign up to jump in the lake to help support Special Olympics and Unified programming at CVU.

Jess Hoskins

CVU Director of Special Services

Penguin Plunge Sign Up Links (by grade):

9th Grade

10th Grade

11th Grade

12th Grade

The CVU Dance team placed first for JV Jazz at Lamoille on 1/24 (and tied for first in the overall JV division!), and 3rd place for JV Jazz yesterday at Middlebury (which just goes to show how subjective it is to “score” dance, which to me is more artistic expression, but alas…that’s the world we’re in). Our final competition is 2/14 at SBHS starting at 1!

Excellent fanning!

Students competed in our annual Poetry Out Loud competition Tuesday, Feb 3 before school. From left: Nathaneal Akselrod, Theo Novak, and Karmen Wilbur each performed two poems from memory. Judges evaluated performances based on their the quality of their public speaking skills, emotional interpretation, and the accuracy of their memorization. Thank you so much to our volunteer judges: Annie Bellerose, Kathleen Gibbs, Lena Kirillova, and Emily McLean. A huge congratulations to all of our competitors, and especially to Theo Novak, who will go on to represent CVU at state semi-finals! Interested in seeing these performances live? Attend the Poetry Out Loud session during Winter Carnival to hear from our competitors and take part in a creative writing workshop with guest poet Geof Hewitt.

Honor Roll Studens

(Left: Mason, Miles, Griffin, Gavin, and Owen with the robot. Middle: Gavin, Griffin and Mason in the team tent. Right: Griffin, Gavin, Mason, Miles, Juniper and Owen standing with awards.)

The RoboHawks' outstanding performance continued last Saturday, January 31st, when they won the Inspire award and were a part of the tournament winning alliance for the playoff matches.

The Inspire award is given to teams that demonstrate Gracious Professionalism, and teams that excel in both match and judging performance, making it the highest level award a team can win.

They partnered with winning team #8227, Enginuity of Lenox Memorial High School, from Lenox, Massachusetts, where they won all 3 playoff rounds with the help of the RoboHawks.

In total, our team played 7 rounds and won 6. Great job, RoboHawks!

Rep. Becca Balint has named CVU junior Amelie Fairweather as the winner of the 2025 Congressional App Challenge in Vermont’s At-Large District. The Congressional App Challenge is an official initiative of the U.S. House of Representatives that encourages middle school and high school students to learn to code, explore computer science, and build practical technology solutions for their communities. Amelie created an app called Ride that "provides a service similar to Lyft or Uber, but entirely free, and intended to be used in smaller Vermont communities." Congratulations, Amelie!
Read more at https://www.congressionalappchallenge.us/25-VT00/

Physical education classes are off to a strong start in the second semester!

From the CVU Health Office

Our CVU community is experiencing a significant amount of illness and to provide guidance on how to help your child and others stay healthy.

There are a number of students experiencing a variety of flu-like symptoms including: fever, headache, chills, body/muscle aches, cough and sore throat. Some students are also experiencing nausea, vomiting and diarrhea, but those symptoms alone without any respiratory symptoms are often caused by another disease.

Flu-like symptoms are highly contagious and are easily spread by coughing and sneezing, or by touching contaminated surfaces. Symptoms can be spread before a person even shows symptoms.

In an effort to maintain a healthy environment for students and staff, please refer the following list of symptoms that will help determine whether your child needs to be kept home:

• Fever, 100.4 F or above

• Diarrhea or vomiting, currently or within the previous 24 hours

• Persistent sore throat with fever or enlarged tonsils/glands

• Undetermined rash

Here are some ways to keep your family and others healthy:

• Do not send your child back to school with a fever of 100.4 or above. They have to be symptom-free without fever-reducing medications for at least 24 hours (a full school day).

• If respiratory symptoms continue, you may choose to take extra precautions such as wearing a mask, which helps protect you and the people around you from getting or spreading the virus.

• Wash hands often with soap and water; provide alcohol-based hand rub where sinks aren’t available.

• Clean and disinfect frequently touched surfaces.

Please feel free to reach out to the CVU health off at 802-482-7185 or cvuhealthoffice@cvsdvt.org

with any health related questions.

Thank you for helping keep our CVU community safe and well.

On January 20, the CVSD School Board approved a $107.9M FY27 budget to support and operate the district. Voters will consider this budget on Town Meeting Day—Tuesday, March 3, 2026. You can also vote or absentee beginning Wednesday, Feb. 11, by requesting a ballot online at sos.vermont.gov/elections.

The proposed $107.9M budget carries forward the current year's level of services and programming into the 2026-27 school year, recognizing that further cuts to programs would affect the core mission of the district.

Learn more about the budget at www.cvsdvt.org/budget and at the upcoming informational meeting:

Virtual Community Budget Meeting

Monday, February 16 at 7 p.m.

Join via Zoom, Meeting ID: 287 287 5018, Passcode: cvsd11

This opportunity was shared with high school students statewide by Senator Sanders' office. Please follow the link below if you are interested in participating.

High school students: RSVP HERE to participate and ask questions

NEWS:

• Photo Club Contest: The themes are Winter/Frozen/Ice; Music/Sound/Songs; Motion/Speed/Cars. If your work is selected, you earn bragging rights and a shout-out in CVU Celebrations. Entries are due Thursday, February 12th; limit of 3 entries per person. Submissions should be high resolution and renamed with the title of your image. Email entries to emclean@cvsdvt.org or upload to the Photo Club Contest shared folder.
• Penguin Plunge: Looking to support our community and have some fun? Sign up to participate in and fundraise for the Penguin Plunge. Brave the cold and take the plunge on Saturday, March 14th at the Burlington Waterfront at 11am. This event helps raise money for Special Olympics Vermont and Unified programming. Check your email for a link to sign up today!