News & Events

(photo taken at the Yelardy-Morganstern home before they took off for the airport)

Each year our staff members (headed by Emily Skoler) compose a Valentine poem to the students and perform this poem at a school wide event. This year, the students outdid the staff and wrote a sweet (and funny) poem dedicated to the staff! Seniors Max and Micah read the poem and even joined the staff wearing sparkly Valentine accessories. We love this silly, fun tradition and hope to keep reading ridiculous rhymes to one another for years to come. Here are few verses from the student written poem:

Like many people, we do not take Martin Luther King Day "off;" instead we chose to honor his legacy through service. This year, our history teacher, Gus, had students listen to King's most famous "I Have a Dream" speech and then led a discussion on social justice and preserving/promoting rights. Students discussed the roles of bystanders and collaborators, and the differences between empathy, pity, and sympathy.

Because of the overwhelming response to our event last month, The Enigma of Adolescence: Decoding our 21st Century Youth with Dave Melnick, we are hosting a follow-up dialogue on January 27th to focus on the challenges of growing up, parenting, and working with adolescents in the digital age.

Our resident beekeeper, Gus Buchanan––also known to Rock Point School students as their history teacher!––was invited to be a visiting lecturer at a high school in the Bahamas, in their agricultural studies curriculum. He gave two lectures to the school. His other duty while there is to teach students to build hives, and to capture some wild bees that located in homes and trees and install them in the hives that the students are building. Unfortunatley, customs held up many of the supplies we sent down, so rather than be able to build Langstroth hives, Gus is teaching the students to build top bar hives out of local resources. Gus and some students successfully cut open the wall of a home, removed a hive that had lodged there, and placed it in the hive that students constructed––with no one getting stung! We look forward to future involvement with South Andros High School, with cultural exchange and service learning opportunities for our students and theirs.

Our favorite moments during the school year are when alumni come to visit us or get in touch with an update! It was great to see Bapi B, Ben P, and Will S recently. Bapi, RPS class of 2011 and a graduate of Roger Williams University, is now working as a researcher at the Naval War college where he is persuing his interest in observing the threat various insurgent and terrorist organizations pose to stability in South Asia. Ben, RPS class of '11 and a graduate of Mitchell College, is working in Washington D.C. in the political arena. Will, RPS class of '12, is enrolled in Mountain Guide School and is working as an educator at The Outdoor School.

Photo from the article in Seven Days, taken by Kevin J. Kelley

For the past several years, Rock Point School has been hosting yoga classes taught by the awesome Erica Lustgarten! Our students and staff have been able to join classes and Erica has loved using our space. This year, we decided to make yoga and mindfulness even more of a part of our curriculum! With our academic classes starting later in the day (10:15), Erica has been able to offer yoga class twice a week in the morning (9:15-10:15) and a mindfulness/yoga walk once a week! This class is taught as an elective and students are loving the option to start their day with physical fitness and meditation. Studies have shown that yoga can improve students' behavior, health and academic performance, as well as their self-confidence. Erica has added some creativity to her class, including a blindfolded session and yoga on the beach! We are loving this addition to our electives program and look forward to finding other ways to bring mindfulness into our curriculum.

We are excited to announce that Rock Point School will host a public lecture by Dave Melnick, LICSW, Director of Outpatient Services at NFI, Vermont. When: 6:30-8:30 p.m., Wednesday, Dec. 9, 2015 Where:Main Street Landing Performing Arts Center, Film House, 60 Lake Street, Burlington, VT