This past year the Ottauquechee School raised money to undertake a cutting-edge learning program for their students. With donations from the annual Scholastic Book Fair and a Donors Choose Campaign (donorschoose.org), Rebecca Whitney, the school’s library media specialist and Principal Cathy Newton managed to create “STEAM Time” to focus on: science, technology, engineering, art, and mathematics. Working in collaboration with the Tarrant Institute for Innovative Education at the University of Vermont, dedicated STEAM learning time found its way into the little big school in Quechee.

The general idea of the program is to create the time and space for students to learn how to approach these subjects, how to work together as a group to focus on an issue, and to collaborate on ideas and resolutions.… Read More

For most of us, our first exposure to geology in school was the study of the Grand Canyon. Awed by its immense size and varying nature, it seemed improbable that a mere river could cut such a wide, and deep swath through the earth, even with millions of years to get the task completed. At close to 300 miles long, up to 18 miles across, and a mile deep, the Grand Canyon inspires awe, with about 5 million visitors going to see this wonder each year. Even though new evidence suggests part of the canyon formed millions of years before the Colorado River existed, the power of water, and erosion are on display at this American landmark.… Read More

Revels North is a theatre company steeped in tradition, according to their history on their website, revelsnorth.org. “Revels” began in 1957 when John Meredith Langstaff staged the first production of Christmas Revels in New York City, where its traditional songs, dances, mime, and a mummers’ play introduced a new way of celebrating the winter solstice. By 1974, Revels North was founded as a non-profit arts organization providing year-round, multi-generational programming which celebrates the power of traditional song, dance, storytelling, and ritual.

Revels has been a profound positive experience for those in the Upper Valley for over 40 years. Upper Valley local and Quechee resident, Heather Nowlan, and her two children, Monet, 12, and Teelin, 9, had such an incredible experience the first time she saw a performance that she jumped at the chance to be involved.… Read More

You might think that a guy who’s made a career as a firefighter, with a retirement career as a balloon chaser, would be kind of a wild man, but Tom Ritland is soft-spoken and quiet. Perhaps after a lifetime of springing suddenly to full alert, wearing, and carrying at least 60 pounds of equipment into life-threatening situations, and dealing with constantly changing catastrophes, he feels no need to swagger. Here’s a man who has seen a lot of disasters, and done more than his fair share to remedy them. He knows the value of forethought. He prefers prevention to having to fix problems, and he knows that the best explanation is no good if the recipient doesn’t get it.… Read More