News & Events

For the second year, students participated in a day of poetry called "Share Your Heart, Share the World" with the Sundog Poetry Center. This year, the event featured Vermont Poet Laureate, Chard deNiord. Currently, deNiord is a professor at Providence College and lives in Westminster, VT. He is the recipient of the Pushcart Prize (1998) and was included in Best American Poetry (1999).

Our students attended workshops and readings with other high school students and professional poets from around the state. We were particularly happy to see poets LN Bethea, Rajnii Eddins, and Lizzy Fox who participated in our visiting poet series last year.

Thanks to Sundog Poetry Center for hosting this inspiring event!

It's that time again! The Ooky Spooky race will be on Saturday, October 20th! Come to Rock Point School 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) Families and children of all ages are welcome! There is also a "fun walk," for people interested in exploring the Rock Point property and watching the race. As usual, prizes will be given for best costumes, as well as those with the best time in each category. The course is an all-terrain adventure on trails, the bike path, and the beach. 

We encourage interested runners to register early. Payment and release forms will be collected the morning of the race. If you have any questions, please call the school at (802) 863-1104 or email C.J. at (cspirito@rockpoint.org). For more information and to register, click the link below.

Our new staff have just completed their first couple weeks of inservice and are ready to meet new students on Sunday! We are excited to introduce them to our community and share all their energy,  enthusiasm, and experience with you.

Zachary Whiting (back row, left) is from Maryland and has been working with young people in experiential education for several years. He has worked on challenge courses, canoe expeditions, and taught skiing. With all his experience in the outdoors, Zachary can't wait to take our students on adventures in the dorm program!

Marsi Foster (back row, right) taught science at Rock Point School in the nineties and has returned to us as a tutor after working in special education in schools around Vermont. Several alumni told us that Marsi was their favorite science teacher ever and we are so happy to have her back in our community. She has been bringing her sweet puppy, Charlie, with her to work, which is an added bonus!

Sean Morrissey  (front row, left) is from Vermont and has been working as a behavioral interventionist and TESL teacher since graduating from Saint Lawrence University in 2016. He is excited to share his interest in creative expression with students in the dorm program.

David Boggs (front row, middle) is our new school nurse. David works in the Critical Care unit at UVM Medical Center and is excited to start his work at Rock Point. David is happy to join our small, supportive community and help us keep our students healthy.

Laura Abrams (front row, right) is our new Admissions Associate! Laura grew up in Vermont and recently earned her degree in Art Therapy.  She will be assisting Hillary and is looking forward to meeting new families and students this year!

We can't wait to see what this group of amazing people brings to our community! We appreciate the enthusiasm and interests they have shared during staff meetings and know they have a lot to offer our students.

C.J., our Head of School, headed to Boston on Thursday for a Red Sox game and met up with some alumni, former staff, trustees and friends for the game. The Red Sox were victorious over the Blue Jays in a 6-4 game, which made C.J., a longtime Red Sox fan, pretty happy!

We are hoping to make this a yearly event and we would love for more people in our community to join us! 

First week of Summer Session 2018

For our first week of Summer Session we took a five day trip to Maine, visiting Bar Harbor and Acadia National Park! We stayed at the College of the Atlantic was a great opportunity to check out the campus and get a taste of college life. 

On the 4th of July we were able to enjoy the festivities in downtown Bar Harbor, including a parade, swimming, lobster, and fireworks! Bar Harbor is a fun New England town and students enjoyed hanging out there all week, getting ice cream, going to the movies, and shopping.

In Acadia National Park students woke to see the sunrise on Cadillac Mountain, hiked the Bee Hive trail, checked out the beach, and biked the Carriage Trail. We loved seeing all the natural beauty in the park and exploring the sea life on the coast.

It was a wonderful way to begin summer session and students are happy to be back on Rock Point campus this week!

This Spring, the biology students worked to grow native pollinator plants from seed with some success for Rock Points Solar Pollinator Meadow Project!  Kara Schott Buchanan, garden educator, joined Science Teacher Mari Dalton’s class weekly throughout the spring to start early seedlings. First, students fostered them under grow lights and then moved them into the school’s hoop house for hardening off before planting in new raised beds built in the schools garden.  The successful starts include quantities of Black-eyed Susan’s, Purple Coneflower and Mountain Mint among others. These perennial species will eventually be planted in the new pollinator meadow and the demonstration garden for visitors to be built next spring. RPS looks forward to continued contribution to the project with seed starting throughout the four year process and the very relevant educational collaboration this offers the students through this mission.

Our annual Wiffle ball tournament is right around the corner! Join us for two fun days of activities and a chance to reunite with Rock Point staff, former staff, alumni, and friends.

June 29th - Pre-Parties!

Join us for a 5k, a Wiffle Skills competition, including a home-run derby, and home-made pizza from our wood-fired clay oven.

• 5:30 Wiffle Fest 5k 

• 6:00 Pizza at the outdoor oven 

• 6:30 Wiffle Skills events - Home run derby & pitching contest 

June 30th - Wiffle Fest

The first games begin at 9 a.m. and go through the day. The World Series will commence around 4 p.m. Come play, watch, listen to music, make your own t-shirt, purchase Wiffle swag, make your own smoothie from the smoothie bike, enjoy kid story readings,  and a pot luck lunch.

If you're interested in entering a team (2 person minimum), please email C.J. Spirito, our head of school, at cspirito@rockpoint.org!

We were surprised and thrilled to see that Rock Point School was selected by Business Insider as "The Most Beautiful School in Vermont." The selection was made using the following criteria:

"To find the most scenic schools in the US, INSIDER consulted Architectural Digest's lists of the most beautiful public and private schools as well as regional lists, such as Southern Living's guide to the South's most beautiful high schools. We also looked at schools with award-winning designs or stunning natural environs."

To see the full article and the information about Rock Point, click here.

Our 18th annual art show went off without a hitch! The art on display was beautiful and demonstrated the breadth of student talent. Stained glass, mixed media pieces, photography, block prints, paintings, and doodles decorated the walls of the Rose Street Gallery to much acclaim.

As usual, students planned and organized the show with guidance from Jean Waltz, our art teacher. In addition to hanging the show, selling art, and playing music, students also prepared a delicious array of snacks.

The evening was especially wonderful because it was C.J.'s, our Head of School's, birthday! We celebrated with cake and the traditional Rock Point School birthday song. We are so grateful to everyone who was able to come to the show and we were particularly happy to see so many alumni! 

If you'd like to see all the photos from the event, click here to see the Flickr album.

For the past several years, students have participated in the COTS Walk and raised money to help homeless people in our community. This year, students were particularly inspired by visitors to the school who spoke about the mission of COTS and the high need for temporary housing in the Burlington area. Last year, students raised $1,750 for the walk, but this year they wanted to beat their fundraising record from 2017. Over the past few weeks, students worked hard asking staff, family, and friends to contribute to COTS and they were able to raise $1,905 for this year's team! Sunday, the day of the walk, was beautiful and so much fun. Thank you to everyone who donated to COTS in the name of our team. Our students are grateful for your support!