Passion – Team Solstice Learning

TRY for the Environment

TRY stands for Teens Reaching Youth and is an environmental leadership opportunity for students in grades 7-12. TRY for the Environment invites youth to connect with young people (grades K-3) through teaching solutions to real-world environmental problems. In TRY, you will help design and teach fun hands-on lessons for children in younger grades.

Last year, Solstice 8th graders Chenoa, Lanxi and Maddie were TRY leaders. Check out what Maddie had to say about her experiences here and here.

The registration deadline is Friday, November 8.

Click here or talk to Mr. Caswell for more information and registration materials.

Here is a video about the TRY program.

Resident Experts

Back in September, Solstice students participated in a Resident Expert Digital Convention – where they introduced themselves to the team via a poster communicating a topic or area of expertise. Once the posters were all uploaded to a private site, students practiced making positive connections through social media by posting positive comments on each other’s posters.

You can see all of the Resident Expert Posters here.

Students Strike for Climate Action

Sixteen Solstice students were among the 50 students who marched three miles to attend the Vermont Climate Strike on September 20.

Check out even more photos here.

And It Was Awesome

Team Solstice successfully held our first-ever Passion Fair last week. Students presented 80 different passions in a variety of formats. How did it go? This is what Solstice students said:

It gave me the opportunity to see what other people have been passionate about and to showcase my own.

It gave me time to think more about what I enjoy doing and what job I might like to have in the future.

I was probably going to give up … because of one simple mistake that I had made. This project gave me the opportunity to not give up, and keep going while learning new things on the way.

It was a fun experience and although it seemed a little scary and stressful at first it turned out to be amazing. I also feel like whenever I was having a bad day doing the passions made it better.

Passion Project Progress

Solstice students have been working hard to prepare for our Passion Fair on Wednesday, May 29. Students have been practicing all kinds of transferrable skills in communication, creativity, research, and teamwork. Everyone is excited (and a little bit nervous) to share their passions with the community.

YouTube gaming celebrities and songwriting.

Podcast recording session in our makeshift “studio.”

Solstice Shines in Variety Show

Many Solstice students impressed us all with their performances in the Hunt Variety Show on Wednesday. Their courage and skills made us all proud!

Researching my Passion

Students continue to research, interview and take notes about their passions, which are turned into blog posts that show organization, clear writing and evidence.

Passion Blogs – Take 2

Ms. Flanagan, Ms. Sawtell’s student teacher, is taking over ELA for the next few weeks during her solo time. After teaching students the importance of revision and organization for non-fiction writing, students revised blog posts for their passion projects. They also learned the art of paraphrasing by working together and summarizing part of an article. We look forward to more blog posts next week.