News & Events

Please join us April 26-28 for a tour of four remarkable schools Itinerary:

Each year, students and staff venture forth on a cultural exchange trip. This year, we are headed to the Bahamas! Over the past few years, we have built a relationship with South Andros High School and they have come to visit us, getting tours of our garden, sugar house and apiary. The photos above are from their previous visits to Rock Point. Gus traveled to South Andros last year to give a guest lecture at the school on bee keeping. This year we are sending a group to the Bahamas on February 24th to complete the exchange!

We are excited to welcome families back to campus in a few weeks! Winter Parent Conferences are a great chance to touch base with parents and have students show off the awesome work they've been doing over the past few months. Highlights of the weekend will be:

It's hard to imagine, but after 42 years, this June Lonnie will be retiring as our office administrator. If you have called the school, walked through our doors, delivered the mail, or fixed the pipes, Lonnie has been the one to greet you and make you feel welcome. In her time at Rock Point, she took on everything from book-keeping to record keeping to decorating the dinning room for special events. She is the engine that has kept the school running.

As part of our project based learning curriculum, students are writing, producing, and performing several short plays again this year. Every student will take part in making this performance happen - from writing the plays to making costumes to promotion of the event. We hope many of you can make it to the performance to see the exciting culmination of several months of work!

One of the sweetest traditions we have this time of year is the tradition of exchanging gifts. In our community, we participate in a Secret Santa exchange. Every staff member, every student, and some members of our extended community draws a name before November break, giving them a month to plot and plan what they will do for their gift recipient. The magic of this is that it brings our community together. People often draw the name of someone they may not be close to, but in our tradition, they secretly investigate what their recipient may like. Many students make personal gifts for their Secret Santa in their art class or in their spare time. The care and kindness that is on display when gifts are exchanged are a testament to the thoughtful nature of our community.

Rock Point hosted it's second talent night of the year this weekend! Dorm staff, Kelly, has been encouraging students to share their performing talents with the school and several students organized the events!

For the past twelve years, our Residential educators have offered a "Wellness" class on Thursday evenings. This class generally covered topics related to health, wellness, and well being. This September, staff met with the students to discuss what direction they thought the class should take this year. Students were clear that they wanted the class to be more about concrete skills, activities and topics aimed at life after high school. They came up with a great list of topics and our new "Life Skills" class was born!

We were so excited to take part in the 2016 Convention for the Episcopal Diocese of Vermont. This year's theme, Love Heals, had leaders of the Church exploring how they can take an even more active role in championing women, children, and vulnerable populations. The Diocese generously gave us time to speak to the Convention about the work we do at Rock Point School. Ross, a junior at Rock Point, shared his personal story and spoke about what Rock Point has done for him. Last spring, Ross was struggling at home and he and his parents found Rock Point School. Ross says he likes the "social dynamic" at Rock Point, where "you can be free to express yourself and not get harsh criticism from peers or staff." He also really appreciates the teachers, who are willing to spend extra time with him, and the dorm staff who "are always positive and ready to do any activity." Ross is a fabulous representative of the school and we are so proud of him for being brave enough to share his story in front of hundreds of people!

If you watch the news at all, it seems like our country is more divided than ever. As a school, we decided to combat the divisions in our culture by joining the UNITY project. This is a public art project designed to raise awareness about the labels we put on ourselves and others and explore how those labels both support and limit communities. This giant yarn structure demonstrates visually how we are all connected, while also acknowledging what makes each of us unique.