FHUHS Administration

With the Senior Prom now officially behind us, we swing into the home stretch with our seniors. The prom also made me think how nice having formal school uniforms would be, but I will pursue that movement no further. It was great to see our students having such an openly positive night, with many staying until a little after midnight. Thanks go to the many adults who attended the prom ‘til that late closing. Faculty members Mr. Everett, Ms. Riter, Mr. Bruce, Mr. Doucette, Deputy Elrick and Ms. Doran commented on what a terrific time the students seemed to have with Mr. and Mrs. Traverse also assisting and taking many photos. The Brandon Inn offered a beautiful setting for the evening.

The Special Education department is in the process of purchasing a much needed student laptop computer, thanks to the generosity of Maplefields in Fair Haven. For three consecutive years now, FHUHS has been the beneficiary of a $500 Exxon/Mobil grant that has assisted the school in a variety of ways. Our thanks go out to Maplefields for continuing to support education in their community and Mr. Paul Eaton for overseeing this opportunity.

Mr. Bruce White, Varsity Girls’ Tennis Coach reported that last week his team lost to Springfield at Springfield, but Katie Stickney won her second match of the season, in convincing fashion, 6-1,6-2; and Jessica Pelletier and Lindsay Brown took their doubles match, to notch the only 2 match wins for the team. Kelsie Ward, Jenna Jakubowski and the doubles team of Kylee Harvey and Aaren Davis kept the match close. The girls are looking forward to playing them again, on our own turf.

This week our SADD/VTLSP students went out to all of the local stores and participated in Sticker Shock. This program is designed to reach adults who might purchase alcohol legally and provide it to minors by placing stickers on cases of beer. The stickers are bright orange and say, “Providing Alcohol to Minors is ILLEGAL. Fines are up to $10,000 and/or up to five years in jail”. Our SADD students realize that there are adults out there who purchase alcohol for our students, and we want to try and stop it. This was a great event for our community to help raise public awareness about underage drinking and to strengthen the deterrent effect of the law against providing alcohol to minors. It was great to see the students stand up for something they believe in and want to help stop. For those that have heard me say many times this year how having a student-centered School Resource Officer like Mrs. Bonnie Elrick benefits more than just FHU, you have one more clear example to what I have been referring.

The Student Council sponsored a very successful blood drive on May 8. This drive was an emergency drive to replace a canceled blood drive at Dartmouth College. 106 people offered to give blood, with 97 successful pints taken. The Student Council wishes to thank all community members who donated blood. FHUHS Student Council has two blood drives a year, one in November and the other in April. The American Red Cross was very pleased with the results and very pleased with the students’ attitude towards giving blood. In fact, two of the adults overseeing the drive commented to me how it is their favorite school to work with because Student Council Advisor Mr. Cavacas is always there to greet them in the morning and our students work hard, have great attitudes and go out of their way to make the day a huge success.

On Tuesday, May 13th, there will be a Bone Marrow Drive at the high school from 2-6:30. This is a very important event, as many lives can be saved through bone marrow transplants.

Members of Stafford’s Video Production Class recently took part in the annual Vermont State Videofest held at Castleton State College. The festival is open to all Vermont high school students and awards outstanding production in the areas of narrative fiction, experimental video, documentary and public service announcements. This year Stafford took home three awards including an award for Outstanding Cinematography won by Fair Haven junior Chelsea Tice. Chelsea’s video also picked up 3rd place over all in the Experimental/Animation category. Congratulations to Chelsea on a tremendous accomplishment. I mentioned several weeks ago how May is likely the busiest time for many high schools, and with Monday’s School Board meeting, Tuesday night 8th Grade Parent Open House, Wednesday’s Chorus Concert, athletic contests every afternoon, fieldtrips, Advanced Placement testing, NECAP Science upcoming and the daily student performance in the class room, this week more than proves that to be true. I look forward to seeing many of you at these events.

Brett C. Blanchard, Fair Haven Union High School Principal