TA News

Dear TA Families,

Spring is teasing us a bit early today, and a few classes took their lessons outside this afternoon to enjoy the sunshine and breezy, moderate temps. 

Starting to Look Ahead to Fall

It’s that time of year in schools when we start to have a dual focus – staying knee-deep and focused on the current semester, while we also begin to look ahead to the fall. On Monday, students in 8th-11th grades will have presentations by the TA guidance counselors to talk about course planning and academic opportunities for next year and the future. Today, 10th and 11th graders learned about the STEM internship program at Hypertherm and FujiFilm; interested students need to apply by March 15. We won’t dive into the process of course registration for next year until April – but it’s helpful for students to start thinking ahead now (especially when there are early deadlines, like the STEM internship).

Student Learning Spotlights

We jumped right back into the academic swing of things this week.

• Kudos to Mary Bosco ’24 who performed in the Poetry Out Loud semi-finals on Thursday – and advanced to the next round! Mary recited “Tonight I Can Almost Hear the Singing” by Silvia Curbelo and “It Isn’t Me” by James Lasdun. Next up: She performs at The Flynn in Burlington on March 14, competing with 9 other students from around Vermont for the top spot. Best of luck, Mary!
• Kudos to the timber frame class who shared in teams their early designs for a woodshed in a round of client presentations earlier this week. Each team made a model and assembled a professional slideshow that included renderings in SketchUp, measurements and calculations, a project budget, and a design brief outlining the benefits of their proposal.
• Kudos to the physics class who put their study of sound – along with engineering and design skills – to the test by creating their own musical instruments. After a process of research, scale diagrams, and then the build/test/refine cycle, they made some music this week!
• Kudos to students in the environmental studies and outdoor education class who are helping manage TA’s sugaring operations as part of their curriculum. Outdoor Educator Scott Ellis will be boiling tomorrow (March 9) and has invited the community to come by to visit and check out the sugaring process, between 10am-3pm.

Winter Athletics Wrap-Ups

Break or no break, it was a very busy end to the winter season in the final days of Feb and early days of March.

• Read about our boys basketball state champs! LINK
• Read about the ski season finale! LINK
• And congrats to our girls basketball and indoor track athletes – and all of our middle school athletes!

Busy Month of March

• March 8 (today!) – Dance hosted by the 9th grade, 7pm
• March 12-13 – State testing in language arts (grades 7-9)
• March 14 – PSATs (grade 10)
• March 15 – Half day
• March 15-16 – One Act performances, 7pm [link for details & tix]
• March 19-20 – State testing in math (grades 7-9)
• March 21 – Getting to Y community dialogue, 6pm (in person @ TA)
• March 23 – One Act regional festival @ TA
• March 28 – Last day of Q3
• March 29 – No school (faculty inservice)

Happy Friday,

Carrie Brennan, Head of School

Featured photos include a few images from our first week of March: A group of timber frame students presents details of their woodshed design to classmates and a client, panther fans cheer the boys basketball team to victory in Barre, Asa Kelleher ’24 makes music with an instrument of his own making in physics class, and Ava Hayden ’25 competes at the New England Indoor Track Championship Meet in Boston.