Fair Haven Union Middle and High School holds first Cultural and Ethnic Food Fair
By Sophia Buckley-Clement: Staff Writer
Rutland Herald May 22, 2023
From left, senior Madison Slater, school-based Clinician Jade Melito, Madelyn Henderson and her father James Henderson smile while they serve passing students at Fair Haven Union Middle and High School’s first-ever Cultural and Ethnic Food Fair on Monday.
Sophia Buckley-Clement / Sophia Buckley-Clement / staff photo
FAIR HAVEN — Fair Haven Union Middle and High School students had a chance to expand their palettes at the school’s first-ever Cultural and Ethnic Food Fair on Monday.
Held in the FHUMHS lobby, students were invited to indulge in foods from cultures across the world. Students, staff and family members were all invited to make and share a cultural meal.
The event was hosted by The Belonging Group — a school club founded in February by senior Myrriam Hussnane — and featured Korean and Syrian dishes alongside other appetizers like chili, pita and cucumbers with hummus, and chips and salsa.
“(This fair) is something that I definitely would have benefited from as a kid in elementary school. In a way, it’s very healing to me — especially since I didn’t have this sort of thing growing up of being able to show off my culture and my food and things like that. So, it’s good for other kids coming into the school who are ethnically diverse,” Hussnane said.
Though Hussnane was not able to make the event in person due to illness, her clubmates expressed gratitude for all the work she did to make the fair happen.
According to Principal Ben Worthing, a supporter of The Belonging Group and occasional participant, Hussnane first brought the idea for the fair to him in hopes of raising awareness for the group and encouraging new membership.
Worthing added that the club and the fair are both very much in line with conversations that FHUMHS has been having with the community over the past year on how to build upon the school’s inviting culture and climate.
“We’re hoping that this brings experiences to these kids that they might not easily find in the local community. And then, I think, also, we’re hoping that it helps people who maybe live in the area and have a family that’s coming from a completely different culture, but they might not own local businesses. We hope this gives them an outlet to be able to come in and share their life experiences with our students,” Worthing said.
The Belonging Group’s adviser, school-based clinician Jade Melito, said that the group meets weekly during a lunch period and primarily talks about diverse issues in students’ personal lives, at the school and across the world.
Melito said she was pleasantly surprised by the turnout at the event, and that there was much more engagement with students outside the group than she expected.
“(This event) gives students the opportunity to explore foods of different cultures, increase their awareness of all the other cultures and widen their palate so that when they go out into the world, they’ll be more interested in trying different dishes,” she said. “It also allows for a different option than what is provided in the cafeteria on a day-to-day basis.”
Azure Wood, a junior club member, said that she participated in the event to support Hussnane, but added that she believes it’s crucial for a small, predominantly white community like FHUMHS to understand and celebrate others’ cultures.
“It’s great to encourage the beauty of different cultures coming together and just say, ‘I see and understand you,’” Wood said. “The more experiences people have with other cultures, the more respectful and understanding they (become). It may just be food, but introducing it to people, I think, is really important.”
Worthing thanked parents and staff for their help with the fair, adding that he is excited to see how it evolves next year.
Melito said that next year she has hopes of involving more students and staff, as well as local restaurants that serve cultural foods.
And though Hussnane is graduating this year, she wished the best for the group that keeps this new tradition going next year.
“A huge way my family connects with each other is through food. I’ve always been taught that food is a really good way to connect with people and your community,” Hussnane said. “I just hope that this helps students broaden their insights. This town is very small, so it’s important to show that there’s more out there in the world than just this small community.”
sophia.buckley-clement
@rutlandherald.com
Stafford Tech students take home a win at Vermont Envirothon
By Sophia Buckley-Clement: Staff Writer
Rutland Herald May 17, 2023
From left, Caleb Steves of Fair Haven, Cayman Pratt of West Rutland, Evan Dennison of West Rutland, Savannah Mitchell of Whiting, Jack Bartholemew of Benson, Ryan McNeil of Rutland, and Conway Clark of Fair Haven celebrate their 2023 Vermont Envirothon win at Shelburne Farms in Shelburne last week.
Photo provided by Mike Stannard
Students of Stafford Technical Center’s Forestry and Natural Resource Management program took home a big win at the 2023 Vermont Envirothon on Tuesday, placing first in the forestry category.
The Vermont Envirothon, which took place at Shelburne Farms this year, is a state-wide competition where high school students test their knowledge of forestry, soil and land use, aquatic ecology, wildlife and current environmental issues.
This year is the first year the competition has returned post-COVID.
Over the course of the day-long competition, teams answer questions and complete tasks in each 45-minute competition category and receive a score on overall performance in each one.
Students are also asked to give an oral presentation on a topic chosen by Envirothon coordinators. This year’s topic was climate change.
“These students have done their Game of Logging certification one and two this fall, a timber harvest, and we’ve been sawing lumber. These students understand the application of these skills,” Program Instructor Mike Stannard said. “We’ve been training almost daily with the tools we needed (for the competition). And there’s just so many other peripheral skills and knowledge they have obtained for the other parts of the competition.”
STC students, in one team of five and one team of two, competed against five other teams from across the state. While the team of five, Stafford Tech 1, was ultimately the group to take home the win for STC, Stannard said the team of two, Stafford Tech 2 received a variety of very positive feedback from adjudicators.
According to Stannard, Team 2 was going to be a complete five-member team, but scheduling conflicts resulted in the downsizing.
Ryan McNeil, a sophomore from Rutland High School and Team 2 competitor, said that while it wasn’t easy to tackle the challenges with only the help of his partner, Jack Bartholemew, the two enjoyed the competition all the same.
“We decided we might as well go and have fun because if we did the test, we could learn something that we didn’t know before. So, why not just do it and have fun,” McNeil said. “And I think we did a pretty good job.”
Stannard said that during the past decade or so, STC students have won nine awards across the various categories with the help of previous Program Instructor Mark Raishart.
He added that STC has only ever won the forestry category once before, in 2016.
Savannah Mitchell, a junior from Otter Valley Union High School who competed on Team 1, said that having this opportunity was amazing and that she was incredibly happy with the result of her team’s work.
“It was a whirlwind experience. I feel like we did well in all of (the categories), but wildlife and forestry were for sure our best since our program is based around them. When we got the plaque, we were all in awe. It was cool to be there, but to learn more than what we learn here was amazing,” she said.
Caleb Steves, a senior from Fair Haven Union Middle and High School who was also on Team 1, said he learned a lot from the experience — especially since he will be headed off to pursue a degree in forestry at Paul Smith’s College in the fall.
“I definitely learned a lot about soil, aquatics and how to work as a team to figure out the questions,” Steves said. “I’ve grown up in Vermont. I’ve always liked to be outside and work with trees. Once I got in the program here (at Stafford), that really kick-started everything. This program introduced me to the tools that I’m going to need for my major that I’m going for.”
The overall winner of the event, one of North Country Career Center’s two competing teams, will represent Vermont at the North American Envirothon, set to take place from July 23 to 29 at Mount Allison University in New Brunswick, Canada.
“We live in a time period where there is less and less frame of reference in our youth for the outdoors, conservation, environmental issues and those old-school Vermont occupations,” Stannard said. “This actually gets them excited about doing things that most students would never have any experience with and that could truly be, with employment trends, their ticket to a great career and a great life that they enjoy outdoors.”
sophia.buckley-clement
@rutlandherald.com
Slate Valley Students Achieve Honors at SkillsUSA
Campbell brings home gold, Meyer, Shepherd and Coan earn silver
Anthony with his gold medal
FAIR HAVEN, VT April, 2023 -- Four students from Slate Valley who attend Stafford Technical Center in Rutland, took part in the SkillsUSA Vermont Spring Conference on April 5 and 6. This competition occurs each year at nine different locations throughout the state. All Vermont Career Technical Education (CTE) students are invited to participate. Skills competition tests range from Carpentry to Nail Care. The four spotlighted Slate Valley students from Fair Haven Union High School are junior Anthony Campbell, senior Jeremy Coan, senior Maria Meyer, and junior Jaylin Shepherd. Anthony took part in the Automated Manufacturing competition, Jeremy participated in Firefighting, Maria in Action Skills, and Jaylin in Culinary Arts. Each testing category has a strict set of rules and guidelines to follow. No matter the category, each evaluation tests the student’s preparation for employment in his or her field, assesses his or her ability to work well in a team, and recognizes outstanding students for their excellence and professionalism in an individual field of study.
The competitions were judged on specific criteria in the areas of Science, Math, and Language Arts, and on the overall performance of a set task. This sounds quite intimidating, but our Slate Valley students took it all in stride.
“It was my first time competing in Skills,” Jaylin said, “I was nervous, very nervous, but it was cool. I met some wonderful people and ended up having lots of fun.”
Jaylin with her silver medalNot only did Jaylin enjoy herself, she also brought home a silver medal in the Culinary Arts division. Jaylin prepared a full course meal of homemade soup, followed by a chicken entree with vegetables and rice pilaf. The meal was made entirely from scratch. Jaylin had four hours to prepare it. She was judged throughout the process and then on the final presentation and overall taste.
Another silver medal was awarded to Maria Meyer in the Action Skills category. In Maria’s category, she was required to prepare a five to ten minute presentation on how to accomplish a certain task. Maria chose how to make homemade pizza dough. She did not actually create the pizza dough, but thoroughly explained each step on how to do so. This presentation was given to a panel of judges, all of whom are professionals in the category’s industry.
Maria with her silver medalSkillsUSA is a wonderful opportunity for students to demonstrate their areas of focus. Often the fear and anxiety that coincides with public speaking is replaced with a sense of accomplishment and confidence in their ability to conquer a hard, challenging task. Demonstrating what you have learned before a panel of industry professionals opens wonderful networking opportunities, and in this competition, the chance to go on to the National Competition. It’s the Best of the Best, or those who achieve a gold medal, who move on to compete at the next level. This year’s SkillsUSA National Leadership and Skills Conference will be held June 19 through 23 in Atlanta, Georgia. In Vermont, ten students earned this eligibility. One of those ten is Slater Anthony Campbell of Fair Haven!
Anthony competed in the Automated Manufacturing Technology test. For this test, three people work as a team. One person models the part through drawings, someone else creates the coding for cutting that will be programmed into the machine, and the third team member, who was Anthony, prepares the machine and operates it. He explained the test as, “essentially boiling down to whether I could use a CNC machine, and operate it properly. CNC stands for Computer Numerical Control. It is a precision software that allows for very precise measuring and cutting.”
Anthony continued with details about the competition, saying, “Our team received a technical drawing of the part we needed to make, with the dimensions and allowed tolerances for the part. Essentially we needed to translate that into a 3D model, which we would then program cutting paths for using 3D modeling software. Next, we plugged our program into a machine we set up and pressed ‘go’ to make the final part.” The total test time was about eight hours. All team members worked individually on their area of focus and then came together to produce the final assigned part. Judges watched the creation process, but most of the judging occurred at the end, when they reviewed the final product. The team was also responsible for handing in paperwork documenting their entire thought and work process. This was also a main component of the judging. When asked what Anthony thought pushed their team to gold, he replied that they were able to quickly, and successfully, finish the second challenge. The second challenge involved the judges handing the completed part back to the team with a request for modification. It only took Anthony’s team about 30 minutes to remodel and modify the tool pathing program, run the machine with the new specifications, produce the new design, and submit the updated paperwork. The fine teamwork and astute precision earned Anthony’s group a gold medal. This qualified them to compete against other gold medal recipients from around the country at the SkillsUSA National Leadership and Skills Conference this June in Atlanta.
As for life after SkillsUSA? All the students expressed great aspirations for the future. Both Jaylin and Maria hope to one day own their own bakery or cafe. Anthony will be returning to Stafford for a second year. He would like to earn an apprenticeship at General Electric or Hubbardton Forge. Congratulations to all and best wishes to the team heading to Atlanta! We’ll be cheering you on!
Slate Valley Unified Announces New Principal
Jennefer Paquette to Become Fair Haven Union Middle School Principal
FAIR HAVEN, VT April, 2023 -- Slate Valley Unified Union School District is pleased to announce that Jennefer Paquette has been named the new middle school principal of Fair Haven Union Middle School.
Paquette is currently the assistant principal at Fair Haven Grade School. She will begin her new role July 1st. Paquette was hired as part of the restructuring plan for the middle and high school administration. Presently there is a 7-12 principal with three assistant principals. Next year the administration will consist of 2 Co-Principals, Paquette, who will be responsible for grades 7 and 8, and current principal, Ben Worthing, whose responsibility will shift to 9-12. Additionally, there will still be 2 assistant principals, Gwen Hagenbarth whose primary responsibility will be student discipline and Margaret Hayward who will continue to oversee 7-12 Special Education.
Ms. Paquette holds 24 years of educational experience as a classroom teacher and administrator. During her four year tenure as Assistant Principal of Fair Haven Grade School, she worked to support the students, staff, and families through the pandemic which included the building closure and, more importantly, the return to our buildings. She has worked closely with Principal Infurna to rebuild community engagement at the Fair Haven Grade School. Most recently, with the 7th and 8th grade students transitioning to the district middle school, she re envisioned what Fair Haven Grade School would be as a PreK to 6 building.
Upon acceptance of her new position, Ms Paquette stated, “While FHGS will always have a piece of my heart, I am excited to return to working with middle school students, as that is the age group I have spent the vast majority of my career working with. I have missed the energy that comes with Middle School.”
Brooke Olsen-Farrell, Superintendent, commented, “We are pleased to have someone of Paquette's caliber, and middle school expertise, on board in her new capacity”.
Please join the Slate Valley Board of Education, and its encompassing schools, in welcoming Ms. Jennefer Paquette to her new position.