SJA News — November 6, 2024

SJA News - November 6, 2024

HEADMASTER'S MESSAGE

We Teach

This fall, as the election season unfolded in its unpredictable way, here at St. Johnsbury Academy our Social Studies teachers gave a series of chapel talks about the history, facts and figures related to elections. Even knowing that only a few of them are of voting age, we wanted our students to encounter the news and opinions they were hearing with a common body of knowledge, and to bring rationality and understanding to a space often occupied by distortion.

We heard from Callahan Beck about Richard Nixon sweating on TV through the presidential debate of 1960–and how that complex interplay between substance and presentation has become ever more difficult since. David Eckhardt had students play a “branches of government” quiz game and later held up an actual ballot to explain the layers of elected officials who have different effects on your daily life. Peter Mantius and Kathryn Lemieux both talked about the Constitution as a living document– “rules not for you, but for our government.” Hank Eaton elucidated the Electoral College; Emmett Quinn talked about conspiratorial thinking; Lucas Weiss explained the Presidential election process and the phases that will happen from now until certification on January 6th. We heard from Steve Levesque about Fannie Lou Hamer and the fight for voting rights–and finally last week he quizzed everyone to see if they had been listening. They had.

CAMPUS NEWS

CTE Students of the Quarter

Front Row: Marisa Windrow ’28 (Career Exploration), Kenzee Barrett ’28 (Career Exploration), Ava Weaver ’27 (Intro. to Culinary), Tillie Lange ’27 (Intro. to Electricity), Bruno Alvarez Carreras ’26 (Entrepreneurship 1), Trystan Correia ’26 (Intro to Culinary).

Second Row: Riley Mathews ’26 (Auto Tech & Welding), Ilyana Valadakis ’25 (Human Services 1), Rylee Strohm ’25 (Intro. to Culinary), Dominic Gilley ’25 (Heating & Plumbing), Zuri Douglas ’26 (Intro. to Human Services).

Third Row: Justin Louis ’25 (Electricity 2), Raymond Roy ’26 (Woodworking), Elliott Marceau ’26 (Electricity 1), Brendan Roy ’25 (Work-Based Learning), Kyle Johnson ’25 (Construction Tech), Logan Gingras ’27 (Intro. to Auto).

Back Row: Conor Simonds ’27 (Intro. to Auto), Avah Ward ’25 (Human Services 2), Alexander Mitchem ’27 (Intro. to Const.), Mattie Royer ’26 (Intro. to Electricity), Daisy Hersom ’25 (Intro. to Business), Franco Millington ’25 (Intro. to Heating & Plumbing).

Missing from photo: Isabella Simonds ‘26 (Culinary Arts).

VT Student-Athlete Leadership Conference

Members of the Class of 2026 attended the two-day VSADA Student-Athlete Leadership Conference held in Burlington with Associate Athletic Director Rainville, where they had the opportunity to represent SJA athletics, engage with student-athletes from around the state, hear from leaders in sports, and practice leadership skills. (l-r) Luke Bostic, Luis Pena, Connor Decker, Lydia Ruggles, Emily Morgan, Reghan Greenwood, and Yuan Yin.

HilltopperMTB Receives Grant

St. Johnsbury Academy and fitness and recreation affiliate RecFit recently received a $5,000 grant from the Vermont Community Foundation to support the RecFit HilltopperMTB Youth program. HilltopperMTB is an inclusive mountain bike race program for students in grades 5 to 12. The program is run through St. Johnsbury Academy and draws student-athletes from a diverse group of schools. Student-athletes meet to practice at local trails, including Kingdom Trails, from late August to late October, and have the opportunity to race in four Vermont Youth Cycling races during the fall. The $5,000 grant will help HilltopperMTB

lower fees, compensate coaches and maintain their fleet of 20 free loaner mountain bikes.

The Vermont Community Foundation, established in 1986, and its over 1,000 funds, foundations, and supporting organizations put more than $60 million annually to work in, and are a key source of philanthropic support for, Vermont communities.

UPCOMING EVENTS

Thursday, November 7

Open House, Fuller Hall, 6:30 p.m.

This event is for students in grades 8-11 interested in attending SJA.

Learn more and pre-register at this link.

Friday, November 8

Halloween Dance, Streeter Hall, 7:30-10:30 p.m.

The doors will close at 8:30. The cost is $3 per person.

Tuesday, November 12

Winter Meet the Coaches, Fuller Hall, 7:00 p.m.

If your student plans to tryout or play a Winter Sport this year, please make sure they have completed the arbiter registration and have an active health physical. If this registration was completed for a Fall Athletics team, please log in and check that the Winter Sport was also selected. The student will not be on the tryout contact list for coaches if this step is not followed. If you need assistance with the registration process, please contact Associate Athletic Director Patrick Rainville.

REGISTRATION LINK

November 14-16

SJA Theatre Presents

Ken Ludwig’s Baskerville: A Sherlock Holmes Mystery, Fuller Hall, 7:00 p.m.

Advanced tickets are available through Catamount Arts.

HILLTOPPER ATHLETICS

Athletic schedules for every sport can be viewed here.

AROUND CAMPUS

Senior Victoria Gutierrez Medina met with Bruce Ralston, an engineer and the owner of Ralston Mill, to discuss possible renovations to the Ralston Mill building in St. Johnsbury. Victoria is pursuing a college major in architecture. She will be working on renovation blueprints that will be submitted for possible changes to the mill building.

Seniors Kayden Bogle, Huckle Perkins, and Django Farlice hold photographs they made in Mrs. Fox's Advanced Art class. Also in the class are Rylie Johnston '26, and Rylee Acox '25. This assignment was for Environmental Portraits: “The intention of the assignment was to develop an awareness of how surroundings impact the storytelling of a portrait. Exploring their subject thoroughly along with the space they inhabit, students were tasked with creating emotive, visual narratives about the people they photographed while placing emphasis on the environmental textures that contribute to the subject’s story.”

Members of the Student Diversity Council created an ofrenda (altar) in the library to celebrate Día de los Muertos (Day of the Dead). Día de los Muertos is traditionally celebrated on 11/1 and 11/2 and is a way to honor and celebrate family and friends who have died. Ofrendas often include photos of the deceased, along with symbolic objects and favorite foods and drinks of those we've lost. SJA community members were invited to add a photo of a special person they have loved and lost, along with a small object to represent their loved one.

The Keffer-Langmaid advisory created a Community Memory Board for Chip Langmaid '80 in the Field House. All are welcome to visit the board to add a thought or memory of Mr. Langmaid.

Mrs. Angell and her students enjoyed a fantastic trip to the Vermont Institute of Natural Science (VINS), where they explored wildlife biology careers and learned about raptors up close.

Dr. Sayarath's Biotechnology class, with help from Mr. Hansen, used Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) and gel electrophoresis technology to assess bacteria from simulated farm soils for antibiotic resistance. Through this lab exercise, students develop important baseline skills for future work in science, medicine, and veterinary pursuits, as well as an appreciation for the high-fashion look of goggle lines on the face!

Cornhole Club met in the lobby of Morse last week.

The Fall Concert was held in Fuller Hall last week. Videos from the event can be viewed here.

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