News & Events

Did you know that 93% of people experience some level of math anxiety? Rock Point School math teacher Leda Sommerville certainly does! Leda is passionate about helping kids love math, “We're living in a world where competitive math and rote memorization early on have turned kids off to math or created a false belief that some can and some cannot ‘do’ math. We're here, together in this classroom, to smash that myth.”

This year Rock Point School has expanded our gardening program to include an indoor tower garden. For years students and staff have grown food in the outdoor gardens on the Rock Point property as well as in the hoop house on campus. In 2021, the school was awarded a grant from the Whole Kids Foundation to invest in a tower garden that could be used year-round by students to grow food. The Whole Kids Foundation targets their grants for schools, particularly those with gardening and bees as part of their curriculum.

Each year, Rock Point School makes an effort to participate in the grand tradition of Vermont Town Meeting day. The overall vision for Town Meeting Day is to explore how we live and participate in community.

During their work with our college counselor or weekly meetings with their advisors, students explore who they've been, who they are now, and who they want to be. There is a big focus on personal qualities and values, but students are also encouraged to explore potential career paths. Staff can help them connect with professionals in the community.

This fall a group of students at Rock Point applied for and were accepted into Teens Reaching Youth for the Environment (TRY). The TRY program was developed by UVM Extension and their environmental partners, and the goal is to coach teens how to teach elementary students about environmental issues. Besides getting to learn a lot about a particular environmental issue, these students will be developing mentoring and leadership skills, while increasing environmental literacy and responsibility in younger kids.

Most science classes include instruction in scientific methodology and discussion of the advantages this system of problem solving presents. However, it can be a challenge to keep this topic fresh and relevant. In Chemistry, our class has tackled scientific methodology from the ghoulish and fascinating perspective of toxicology.

Despite a big snow storm and some inclement spring weather, our maple production has been trucking along this year. In fact, we've made more syrup than usual! Our favorite part of the program continues to be giving tours of our sugaring operation to school groups. Our "Maple Ambassadors" are Rock Point students who have not only learned about the process of maple sugaring, but have also learned about the science and history of making syrup. These student leaders then teach groups of preschoolers, elementary school students, and even other high school students about maple sugaring, while showing them our sugarbush and sugar house. This year, we've had groups visiting from Heartworks Preschool, Burlington Early Childhood Education program, CP Smith Elementary, and an ESL class from Burlington High School, among others! This program continues to be a great opportunity for students to experience place-based education, practice public speaking, and gain confidence in themselves. Not to mention all the delicious syrup we get to enjoy all year!

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!