News & Events

April 20, 2023 ~ 5:30 p.m.

This year’s senior English class recently embarked on a project to investigate book banning – why and how are books banned, and what are the cultural implications of banning books? As a group, they read several articles about banned books, including Banned in the USA: The Growing Movement to Censor Books in Schools, and discussed their opinions on what it means to have materials censored in a school or community. They discussed both the historical context of books that have been banned in the past, as well as current examples of books that are banned or censored.

At Rock Point, we believe in taking a ‘day on’ instead of a ‘day off’ to honor a historical hero with as important a legacy as Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. This year, on Martin Luther King Day, students were invited to St. Michael’s College to participate in a full day of events celebrating the legacy of Dr. King. The entire student body loaded up our vans and headed to the SMC campus, where we were greeted by an admissions counselor. We heard about the college, took a tour of the campus, then joined in with their MLK Day celebration.

Nine RPS students elected to take part in the Vermont Young Playwrights' workshop on Tuesday, November 16. Among them were students with lots of experience writing plays, students who have been involved in theatre but never tried their hand at writing their own play, and students who are trying out drama for the first time. With the guidance of professional playwright Jordan Gullikson, they spent the day playing improv games, learning the basic tenets of writing plays, and then beginning their own plays.

Rock Point School's Gender & Sexuality Alliance (GSA) provides a space for students to discuss identity, belonging, community, activism, and more. Every week, we gather and hold a student-facilitated meeting that focuses on any relevant topics students want to discuss and address. We make crafts, eat snacks, and generally support each other in finding our ways with regard to gender, sexuality, and more.

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This winter, our English and Science teachers teamed up to guide students through a research and writing unit about the nature of viruses and pandemics. Our students have learned so much first-hand this year about pandemics; we decided to present them with the scientific and historical context and have it culminate in a project of their own creation. In Science classes, students learned the basic science behind how viruses work and some information about historical viruses that have caused pandemics. We studied several types of writing and communication in English class, including narratives, infographics, and persuasive writing. Students then chose a specific topic within virology and pandemics, and dove into a research project.

This fall, staff members participated in the Point Made Learning program called “Look Deeper: Race” as part of our professional development. Over the course of the six-week training, teachers and residential educators met weekly to discuss our responses to the film and to try to build a common understanding of racism, anti-racism work, and how we can incorporate the learning and ideas into our work with students. We were excited to bring students into this program this winter.

Our first ever Remote Summer Session ended on August 13th. We are happy to say that even in the virtual world we were able to have fun, laugh a lot, play games, make connections, and even get some credit-earning academic work done.

We are all new to Distance Learning and there has been a certain amount of trial and error to the process. We wanted to share these answers to Frequently Asked Questions about how we are teaching our students remotely in hopes that it will help people invision what is now becoming the norm across the country for this school year.