Peoples Academy has a rich tradition of innovation and excellence. Since the beginning, Peoples Academy stressed the importance of both academics and co-curricular activities. A student in the 1850's could take History, Botany, English, Latin and Philosophy, as well as, Music, Oil Painting and Drawing. 162 years later, technology class has replaced penmanship but students continue to have a wide variety of opportunity.
In 2000, Peoples Academy was named a ‘High School on the Move' by the Vermont Department of Education and participated in a renewal effort to continually improve our quality of education. Peoples Academy faculty completed TASS: Teaching All Secondary Students in 2008. This program provided weekly graduate education courses for our staff where improved student learning was the goal. As a result our staff provides unique, advanced and high quality educational experiences to all learners.
At Peoples Academy the focus is simple: Success for all learners. The examples of students finding success are endless at Peoples Academy. The following list provides some examples:
• Students in the class of 2010 were accepted to and attend a diversity of colleges: Vermont Schools: Middlebury College, Burlington College, VTC, UVM, Lyndon, JSC, Saint Michael’s, and Castleton; Bishop’s University (Quebec), Acadia University (Nova Scotia), Whitman College (Washington state), Suffolk University (MA), Elon University (NC), Columbia College (IL), Wagner College (NY), New England College of Technology (RI), Art Institute of Boston (MA), SUNY Cortland (NY), University of Maine – Farmington, College of the Atlantic (ME), and Plymouth State (NH).
• In the spring of 2009, our Spanish Club traveled to Nicaragua and helped with PLANTING HOPE and students from Nicaragua spent two weeks with us here in Vermont. Inspired by her trip in 2009, in spring 2010 senior Eliza Spalding returned to Nicaragua bringing along her father and donated supplies for the local children, completing her Capstone Project.
• Once again, French students visited Switzerland and France while staying with host families and students Switzerland were hosted in our students' homes. The annual exchange program with students from Drummondville, Quebec also occurred with both sets of students visiting their pen pals in each other’s areas for a weekend.
• In sports: the girl’s soccer team won the state championship for the second year in a row; Chelsea Hostetter was the 2009 Vermont State Girls Soccer Player of the Year; the girl’s track team placed 2nd in Div. III with only four team members and the boy’s baseball team advanced to the Div. III semi-finals. Both the girl’s softball and boy’s baseball teams were the Mountain Division champions. Allison Scarf was the Vermont Winter Indoor Track, high jump winner.
• Along with many other Vermont high schools, our AP Environmental Science Class traveled to Plymouth, Vermont to the Farm and Wilderness Center to be tested on environmental issues and resource conservation. PA came in 2nd only nine points behind 1st place Essex High School. PA won top scores in the categories of Soils and Wildlife.
• Nicole West won the Comcast Leaders and Achievers Award for Academic Achievement, Leadership and Community Service. Nicole also won the first Vermont Red Cross Scholarship for her tireless efforts in increasing blood donations in Morrisville.
• Caroline Wells won the Judge’s Choice Award in the Vermont Congressional Art Competition.
• GMTCC students Anna Couture, Katelyn Dewey won first place in the VT Skills USA Competition and competed in the National Skills USA Competition in Kansas City.
• 9th grader Audrey Hunt and 11th grader Craig Preavy applied to and were selected to attend the Champlain College Young Writer’s conference.
• 9th grader Devan Hill was Vermont’s largest youth fundraiser in the annual the March of Dimes walk-a-thon.
• In the Vermont Stock Market Game, seniors Bryanna Doe and Adina Barron placed 12th out of 465 teams.
• Peoples Academy students, led by our Educational Technology Specialist David Bain, participated in Senator Leahy’s initiative, Vermont National Guard YouTube Project: Postcards from Home.
• Our Drama Club, with PA graduate Marcel Freda at the helm, had a very busy year. The fall musical production was “HONK” a version of the Ugly Duckling story. They turned their talent on during the touching but funny One-Act production of “The One About You” written by Marcel Freda and senior Bryanna Doe directed the second one-act, “Thirteen Ways to Screw-Up Your College Interview”. “The One About You” won the regional competition and for the 4th time in five years, the students performed at the state One-Act play finals. For the year’s finale, there was a hilarious production of “The Craving” by Don Zolidis. Two drama side notes: “The One About You” has been re-performed and is going to video. Bryanna Doe is attending Burlington College studying film.
• Again this year students are participating in inspiring programs such as the Vermont Young Writers Project, The VPA sponsored “Youth & Adults Changing Schools”
• Seven students participated in four different Governor's Institutes: Science & Technology, Mathematics, Information Technology and The Arts.
• 55 students participated in AP classes in Biology, Environmental Science, Calculus, Chemistry and US History.
• Three more students were added to the previous six students completing Capstone Projects.
• Physical Education teacher Stuart Maynard was among the first eight inductees into the Harwood Hall of Fame as a successful Harwood High School graduate.
• English teacher, Moira Donovan, was selected as an AP Reader and spent one week in Kansas City reading 1,000 student essays.
Other highlights from the 2008-2009 school year include:
• Sarah Guillot had the highest SAT score by a female in Vermont
• Jenna Zukswert was a UVM math contest finalist and a member of the Vermont High School traveling math team.
• Audrey Kiely won the Vermont Poetry Outloud competition and represented Vermont at the national competition where she was a finalist.
• Ethan Dreissigacker was a national champion Nordic ski racer and both he and Jake Barton competed for the National Junior Ski Team.
• Scott Moran won the prestigious Dell Scholarship Award.
• Moira Donovan, English teacher, signed a contract with a book publisher.
• Barbara Brody, Driver Education teacher, was awarded the National Richard Kaywood Memorial Award for the most outstanding teacher by the National Traffic & Safety Board.
• Trevor Putvain, Social Studies teacher, was named a UVM Outstanding Teacher.
• Drew Farrell implemented the American Lung Association’s “Not on Tobacco” teen smoking cessation program. The program is nationally recognized and evidence shows the program has helped teens cut back or quit smoking.
These are just a few highlights. But success comes in many other forms at Peoples Academy such as students creating new clubs, learning to bake a pizza in an outside oven or making honey from real live bees. Some of these successes are a result of our innovative after school program, Unbound, which provides extended academic and enrichment activities to students beyond traditional school hours.
Finally, we believe that our student body deserves various pathways to graduation. This looks like some students taking traditional classes while others design their own. Their learning might take the form of an engaging discussion about Shakespeare or a working internship with a nearby business or community organization. Allowing for multiple pathways to graduation offers students more than one avenue to achievement.
Enjoy your visit. We have lots to share and many stories to tell.
Philip Grant, Principal
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