News & Events

John Rouleau, Headmaster emeritus, came to read to students at the holiday time, as he has done for decades. Although John retired in 2011, he still lives in Burlington with his wife Alice, which means he is able to participate in some Rock Point traditions! This year he read Dylan Thomas' "A Child's Christmas in Wales" and "A gifty time of year" by Kathryn Blume. The students were engrossed from beginning to end and shared their appreciation generously with John.

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.

The morning of the Ooky Spooky was full of energy ... and lots of rain! Despite the cold temperatures and unrelenting precipitation, brave runners took to the course at 9am. Superheroes, supervillains, and one very appropriately dressed snorkeler ran the 5K, while a few younger runners did a lap.

Our Fall Family Weekend is coming October 20th-23rd and we are thrilled to welcome our students' families back to Rock Point. For many of our families, it will be the first time they have seen each other in six weeks! We look forward to sharing what we have been up to and having families see the growth students have experienced already. The weekend kicks off with a parent gathering at CJ's, our Head of School's, home on Thursday evening, followed by teacher conferences and a school wide meeting on Friday. Saturday morning brings our Ooky Spooky 5k and we hope families will bring costumes to join the race!

The Ooky Spooky race is just around the corner! Saturday, October 22nd come join us at 9 am (registration begins at 8am) for a spooktacular run! Each year, we host this fun, costumed, 5k race to benefit COTS (Committee on Temporary Shelter).

Benjamin Houchen (MA, LCMHC) will now be giving our presentation on Adoption and Adolescents. Adam Pertman was originally scheduled for this presentation, but is unable to attend at this time. We are excited to have Benjamin here to speak in his stead!

This week we held our 2nd Annual Bee Week! The week consisted of cross-curricular bee-focused activities. In science, students studied the anatomy of bees, the chemistry of honey, and the physics of bee flight. In English, students read articles from American Bee Journal and Bee Culture, learning about pollinators and the challenges of contemporary bee keeping. Students also operated the smoker, inserted a "bee escape" to our hives, and extracted honey. In Math, students focused on hexagons, and various problem solving activities using hive shapes. Finally, in art class, students designed and created a bee-themed cake. Alternating yellow cake and chocolate cake layers, topped with flowers and marzipan bees, the cake was a delicious piece of art! Students also made honey ice cream and some beeswax crafts.