News

On November 13th,  RU's Racial Justice PBL traveled to Lamoille North Supervisory Union in Hyde Park, to provide training on addressing microaggressions to the Middle School and Technical Career Center staff and administration.

Over the past two years, RJ students developed the training in response to a student climate survey indicating that the issue of unaddressed microaggressions was negatively impacting student learning and safety.

Microaggressions refer to the common everyday statements, behaviors, or actions that are discriminatory toward stigmatized or marginalized groups. They can be intentional or unintentional and are often subtle or can be disguised as jokes. 

According to senior class member Sierra Bond, “Microaggressions are the most common form of oppression I see in the school. These small things are really harmful, and I tend to see them a lot more as a student.” 

RU junior Connor Deyette noted that the subject of microaggressions isn’t usually addressed during staff training, and teachers sometimes don’t know the right way to intervene. The class agreed that offering professional development on the topic would be a good step in addressing larger systemic issues of discrimination. 

Impressed by RU's RJ students' presentation at last year's student-led equity conference in South Royalton, Maria Davies, the DEI coordinator for LNSU, reached out to RU's RJ students to ask if they would be willing to present their powerful training to her staff. 

 The hour-and-a-half-long training led entirely by the students consisted of an overview of microaggressions in school settings, strategies for responding, and breakout groups with staff tackling a variety of real-world scenarios. 

Adrian Clement, an RU senior, felt the training was useful to staff.  “Microaggressions can go under the radar. Not everyone can pick up on it and not everyone knows where the line is.” 

Tevye Kelman, the lead teacher for the Racial Justice PBL class, affirmed the students’ success. “I’m really proud of the ownership they took over. Students did a good job explaining impact versus intent,” he said. “I heard [them] sending the message that, yes, you do need to consider and be curious about a student doing a microaggression.”

By Beverly Taft and Michelle Holder

On the week of October 8th, Randolph welcomed students and faculty from BBS (Berufsbildende Schulen) Cuxhaven High School in Cuxhaven, Germany. This is the 10th anniversary year of the German Exchange Program, which had been paused due to the COVID-19 pandemic. 

The group consisted of 8 students between 17 and 19 years old and 2 instructors from the school. All stayed with families in the area. 

Students had a busy week attending classes, doing local activities with families, hiking, and visiting nearby places of interest, such as VINS, Queechee, Woodstock, and Ben and Jerry’s.

Because BBS Cuxhaven has a vocational and technical school, students also spent time touring RTCC to learn more about career education in the U.S. 

Later in the week, the exchange students gave a presentation to RU students about the differences between high schools in the U.S. and Germany. Students learned that in Germany, extracurricular activities are not provided by schools. One student also spent time with the soccer team, teaching some techniques learned by the teams he plays with. 

For visiting students, the homestay experience helped broaden their horizons, and showed them what local life in the U.S. can look like. Many only had ideas based on what they had seen on television. The rural environment is very different than their own home, which in a more urban coastal setting. 

RU students will have an opportunity to travel to Germany either in the spring or fall of next year. 

Deb Lary, RUMHS Health teacher and coordinator for the exchange, noted, “It takes a community to have an exchange program.” 

For more information, or to be a host family for students from the Shizukuishi, Japan exchange program who will be visiting in January, please contact Deb Lary.

RUHS 10th Grade Science Classes Learn about Water Quality in Ayers Brook

By Michelle Holder

In the sunshine of the first weeks of October, RUHS 10th-grade students taking Integrated Science II – a class that combines chemistry and biology– donned their waders and headed into the river to learn firsthand about water quality.  Each class spent three to four hours in Ayers Brook behind the school’s athletic fields analyzing habitat, fish, the types of benthic macroinvertebrates, and water chemistry.

Benthic macroinvertebrates are small aquatic creatures without backbones that you can see with the naked eye. They include worms, nymphs, and insect larvae.  Knowing the types of benthic macroinvertebrates helps scientists better evaluate the quality of the water.  Students used a kick net specially designed to capture these small creatures.  They then used an analysis sheet to record their data. They also used a bug magnifier to observe the bugs’ behavior.

Students worked with their teacher, Deb Schaner, and with scientist Dan Ruddell of the White River Partnership. In addition to his work with local schools educating students, Ruddell also manages water quality and project monitoring programs. His expertise was essential to understanding the importance of this type of scientific study. 

Students prepared for the field trip by learning how to identify all of the insects that were in the water quality assessment, also known as the bioassay. They had to make a drawing of each organism. While some benthic macroinvertebrates can live in polluted water, many cannot, so during their fieldwork, students had to carefully identify the bugs they caught. 

Despite the summer flooding, results showed a healthy collection of species of benthic macroinvertebrates. The number of "sensitive to pollution" and "semi-sensitive to pollution" insects caught allowed students to give Ayers Brook the "very good" designation.  The trees and shrubs nearby create a “buffer zone,” which helps to keep the river in such good shape. All of this is good news for Ayers Brook and the RU students who put in such great scientific work.