Sky Islands kicked off its tenth year this August! Students new and old alike participated in a week-long orientation where they learned about the school’s culture and community, toured the site and learned about the various projects we’ve done over the years, and became acquainted with each other through a series of icebreaker games. This year, as part of our ongoing Garden-to-Kitchen program, the focus was also on food and local food production, so students participated in a variety of activities designed to help them become aware of their local food system. To help with this, they were also treated to a presentation by guest speaker Dana Helfer from Rattlebox Farm. To top the week off, students also viewed the partial solar eclipse through a combination of special glasses, a projection set up, and even the shadows through the tree leaves!
As the semester went on, students got to know each other, their teachers, and their school better, and all new students and their families attended the New Student Luncheon at the Blue Sky Café, catered by the Culinary Arts class. There, students in the Urban Horticulture class did a presentation to the families about what projects they have been working on so far, and parents got an opportunity to see the school and meet the teachers as well.
Students have been hard at work both in and out of the classroom this semester, including the 2D Design class, where students have been honing their drawing skills by making informational posters about the problem of plastics in our oceans, and in Government class, where the students got to meet with Representative Kirsten Engel. After hearing about what it’s like to being a state legislator, the students took her on a tour of the school grounds. And in Council, the whole school was treated to a performance from Comedy Temple, a local improv group, where even the teachers were fair game! Later, our own Glen Coffman’s theater group, Winding Road Theatre, performed a dramatic reading of ‘An Iliad’.
