Friday, February 23, 2024, Weekly Administrative Update

       

 

Enjoy winter break!

Upcoming Playoff Events:

Boys Basketball @ CVU (Quarterfinals) Friday, 2/23 @ 7:00 pm

Boys Hockey vs. Burlington at CPSC Saturday, 2/24 @ 7:00 pm

Girls Hockey vs. Rutland at CPSC Tuesday, 2/27 @ 7:00 pm

Recognitions:

Congratulations

January 2024

Math Students of the Month!

The names are in the same order as the pictures.

Kaylee Billings, Alexander Courtois,

Blake Cullen, Lindsey Johnson, Austin LaFountaine,

Julia Leclerc, Roman Maxham, Aryah Pendleton,

Ryder Rheaume, Ethan Tullos

Congratulations

February 2024

Congratulations

January/February 2024

Business Students of the Month!

The Business Department wants to congratulate and thank Ryder, Amelia, and Jayden for their positive attitudes, being supportive of their classmates, and for demonstrating excellence in Entrepreneurship, Personal Finance, and Leadership Training.

Congratulations

Grace Bruley, 

Maddie Messier, and Rachel Ledoux

Poetry Out Loud

Winners & Competitors!

Congratulations to Grace Bruley (11) who won BFA's School Wide Poetry Out Loud Competition! It was a robust competition with 14 competitors.  In a tie for second were Maddie Messier (9) and Rachel Ledoux (12).

Grace will go on to compete in the State Semifinals at The Barre Opera House on March 7th.  

All competitors are listed as follows:

Mania Tibbits

Shakia Ludlam

Madeleine Messier

Sophia Oszurek

Sadie Corrigan

Lily Zekos

Leah Jamison

Morgan Barnett

Anastasia Couture

Grace Bruley

Ruby Kennedy

Rachel Ledoux

Owen Scott

Congratulations

BFA Dance Team!

Our Varsity Dance Team had such a fun time at the State Championship this past weekend! Congratulations to all the teams that attended! Everyone did such a good job!! We will be competing at New Englands at South Burlington High School on March 9th!

Coach McHugh

Congratulations

Athletic Council

Athletes of the Week

Triton Redfield and Sutton Thomas!

This week’s athletes of the week were chosen by their coaching staff. The Athletic Council will be highlighting different teams weekly throughout the winter season.

Congratulations

St. Albans Messenger

Athlete of the Week

Will Hughes!

Classroom, Enrichment, & Other:

On February 13th, Madame Waite's French classes celebrated Mardi Gras.  We joined our Cajun comrades in spirit by eating King Cake and learning about French connections in New Orleans and wider Louisiana.  The students who received the plastic babies in their slices were crowned royalty for the day... but according to tradition, it's their responsibility to provide the King Cake for next year! 

Students in Digital Media are learning about analog recording formats,

using an old 4-track cassette recorder with our modern studio gear!

Theatre Students visit UVM costume department to borrow 

costumes for our upcoming production of Little Women!

The BFA Mercury:

Click here to read recent articles: https://bfamercury.org/ 

Homework Club:

Voter Registration Info:

For students older than 18, here is some voting registration information:   

https://sos.vermont.gov/elections/voters/registration/

https://olvr.vermont.gov/

Any person meeting the requirements above who will be 18 on or before the date of a general election may register and vote in the primary election immediately preceding that general election.

Winter Sports:

Senior Nights

Sports moments throughout the week.

Senior Update:

February 20, 2024

Seniors and Parents,

Here is the link to senior communications and event information on our BFA website. Click on each event for further details.

https://www.maplerun.org/o/bfa...

Reminders:

10 hrs of Community Service is due by May 17th. See Mr. Murray.

Seniors must share their completed PLP with their Advisor by June 1st. Additional PLP support is available every Thursday Call Back, from 7:30-8 am in the Library, or by filling out this form.

If you have any questions, feel free to contact me at 802-527-6400 or email me at tcallan@maplerun.org.

Sincerely, Theresa Callan, Graduation Coordinator

Summer School Update:

There will be no summer school. Over the last three years, BFA summer school was generously supported by ESSER (Pandemic Relief Funding), which was specifically designed to help our students overcome the educational challenges and learning gaps brought on by the pandemic. Due to the discontinuation of ESSER funding, there will NOT be a formal proficiency recovery program available this summer.

Save the Dates:

FRIDAYS - CHAT WITH A 

SCHOOL BOARD MEMBER!

Charlie Brooks, Maple Run Unified School District Board member will be at The Traveled Cup, 94 North Main Street, Saint Albans on Fridays from 4:00-5:00 pm. Charlie will be available to discuss Maple Run goals and answer any questions or concerns about the FY25 budget.

March 13 - BFA Spring Instrumental Concert

March 22 - No School - Inservice

May 11, 2024 - Prom

Friday, February 16, 2024, Weekly Administrative Update

      

 

Honor Roll:

Congratulations to the following BFA students for 

outstanding academic achievements!

Students who earned High Honors and Honors, please stop by the Guidance Office to pick up a sticker.

Q: How do students make the honor roll:  

A:  To achieve honor roll, students must receive at least a 3.3 course proficiency average in all courses. 

To achieve high honor roll, students must receive at least a 3.5 course proficiency average in all courses.

Honor Roll and High Honor Roll requirements can be found in the Playbook.

Playbook

Additional Recognitions:

Congratulations

Rachel Ledoux!

Congratulations to Rachel Ledoux for her success in the first round of the Rotary Speech Contest. Addressing the topic of hope in our schools is both timely and crucial, and it's wonderful to see individuals like Rachel shining a light on such an important issue. Best of luck to her as she moves on to compete in round 2!

Congratulations

Elijah Hazen qualified for

Nordic Skiing Eastern Championship!

Ninth grader, Elijah Hazen, qualified on February 11th for the U16 Eastern Championships for Nordic skiing. Twenty-four U16 boys and girls will represent Vermont in upstate New York for the New England Championships on March 8-10

Congratulations

St. Albans Messenger

Athlete of the Week

Ian MacKenzie!

Congratulations

Adelaide Hughes 

Tessa Sweeney

Selected to VT/NH

Lions Twin State Soccer Classics!

Adelaide Hughes and Tessa Sweeney have been selected to represent Vermont in the VT/NH Lions Twins State Soccer Classic this summer in Hanover, NH.

Congratulations

Robotics Team

attended Robotics Championship

held on February 10th!

Mr. Symula stated, "We ended up not meeting our desired outcomes, finishing 9th out of 23 registered teams, but stand by for one of the most reliable robots that the BFA Team 6731 The Ringers has built since we started this competition."  

The BFA Robotics team works from October until the NE regional championship in March with hopes of making it to the world championships held every April.  There are more than 600,000 students competing worldwide in which teams are responsible for designing, building, and programming their robots to compete in an alliance format against other teams. The competition changes every year adding elements the robot must perform in order to score the maximum amount of points.   Teams, including coaches, mentors and volunteers, are required to develop strategy and build robots based on sound engineering principles. Awards are given for the competition as well as for community outreach, 

Design/ Innovation as well as a number of other awards. 

Mission

The mission of FIRST is to inspire young people to be science and technology leaders, by engaging them in exciting Mentor-based programs that build science, engineering, and technology skills, that inspire innovation, and that foster well-rounded life capabilities including self-confidence, communication, and leadership.

Vision

"To transform our culture by creating a world where science and technology are celebrated and where young people dream of becoming science and technology leaders."  Dean Kamen, Founder

Goals for students to learn during the process:

Practicing gracious professionalism 

Design, build, and program robots

Apply real-world math and science concepts

Develop problem-solving, organizational, and team-building skills

Compete and cooperate in alliances and tournaments

Compete for a spot in the World Championship

Qualify for over $30 million in college scholarships of which we have had three students receive grants totaling nearly $100,000 worth of scholarship money for being part of the the team.

 Project Objectives

Students will design the robot to accomplish the specific task that is set by the First Technical Challenge team. Each game has several elements that can be completed in order to score points. Accomplishing this will be measurable in terms of team members learning and applying what they have learned in order to complete any specific task in the competition. There are three parts to the game. The autonomous, driver controlled and end game. The team can pick what they want the robot to do at any particular time. There are options where they can choose an easier task over a more complicated one if they deem that one to be achievable. Being realistic is a very important during the design, building and competing at the event. For the team members to understand what they have to the potential to accomplish with what they know, what they have and what they have the ability to learn in the given amount of time. What we want our team members to know and be able to do becomes very clear as the season progresses. There is nothing that is prescribed to each individual, each one is expected to self select, programming, design, chassis construction, power-plant, wiring management, marketing, game management, Engineering notebook throughout the entire build season. Within each of these they are encouraged to be open, thoughtful, listen and learn, as many of this teams lessons in each area are taught through mentorship, from older members on the team. Looking ahead and working to plan next steps, plan for problems and possible solutions in order to meet the task at hand is a true life lesson.

Awards: Team members have received many scholarships over the past 10 years to colleges and universities such as Syracuse, RIT, WPI, Clarkson and others totaling nearly $300,000. 

Classroom, Enrichment & Other:

Mr. Symula helping students in the woodshop.

Dissecting in Biology

Crochet & Paper Crafts

Cooking during Enrichment.  All groups made their own breakfast 

from the same basic ingredients. 

French IV/V Fun:

The French IV/V class recently learned about La Chandeleur, a French holiday that celebrates the days getting longer as spring approaches.  Traditionally, the French enjoy crêpes on this holiday, as the round shape and golden color of this food are reminiscent of the sun.  With the help of Monsieur Pollard, Madame Waite, and Julia Child, the class made crêpes to enjoy.

Hope Happens Here Event:

Eating Disorder Facts:

● 2.7% of teens will experience a diagnosed eating disorder in their lifetime.

● 13% of adolescents will develop an ED by the age of 20.

● 95% of EDs occur between the ages of 12 and 25.

Hope Happens Here (HHH) had a mental health display table raffle with resources on Thursday (2/15). Students were encouraged to stop by and enter the raffle and grab some resources/bracelets/stickers. 

The BFA Mercury:

Click here to read recent articles: https://bfamercury.org/ 

BFA Improv Team performed at Twiggs:

The BFA Improv Team performed at Twiggs on Thursday, February 15th.  All donations went to The Samaritan House. 

Winter Sports:

2024 Vermont Cheerleading

Coaches Association Invitational

February 10th!

Facilities Update:

Dear Parents/Caregivers and Staff,

Recently, we tested our school’s air for radon gas. On 1/29/24, we placed radon detectors in our school. After a few days, we sent them to a lab to find out what the radon levels were in our school.

All test results were below the action level for radon. This means that no further action is needed right now.

What is radon?

Radon is a radioactive gas that has no color, smell or taste. It is naturally occurring in rocks, soil, and water. Everyone is exposed to some radon in indoor and outdoor air.

Does radon cause health problems?

Radon is the leading cause of lung cancer among people who don’t smoke. Radon decays into radioactive particles that can damage your lungs. Breathing in radon increases your risk of getting lung cancer over the course of your lifetime. Your risk of getting lung cancer from radon depends on the level of radon in the air you breathe, how long you are exposed to radon, and whether you smoke.  

How much radon causes health problems?

The action level for radon is 4.0 picoCuries per liter (pCi/L). This means that if radon levels are found at or above 4.0 (pCi/L), the Health Department and Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recommend taking action to lower the levels. However, radon levels below 4.0 pCi/L still pose some risk, so the Health Department and EPA encourage taking action to lower radon levels below 2.0 pCi/L.

The Health Department encourages schools to retest every 5 years and after every major renovation project.

How can I test my home for radon?

If you are interested in testing your own home for radon you can request a free long-term test kit from the Health Department by calling 1-800-439-8550 or emailing radon@vermont.gov.

For more information about radon, visit www.healthvermont.gov/radon.

If you have questions or concerns about the testing or radon levels in our school, please contact Polly Rico at prico@maplerun.org.

Len Smith, Director of Facilities

Summer School Update:

There will be no summer school. Over the last three years, BFA summer school was generously supported by ESSER (Pandemic Relief Funding), which was specifically designed to help our students overcome the educational challenges and learning gaps brought on by the pandemic. Due to the discontinuation of ESSER funding, there will NOT be a formal proficiency recovery program available this summer.

Senior Update:

Seniors and Families,

Here’s a recap of what we’ve completed to date regarding graduation, some reminders, and the culminating events calendar.

Recap:

• Caps, gowns, and diplomas have been ordered! Payment will be due when you pick up your cap and gown on June 12th ($25, cash or check made payable to Balfour).

Reminders:

• Senior Class Meeting during Advisory Tuesday, February 20th, 9:45 am in the PAC.

• 10 hrs of Community Service is due by May 17th. See Mr. Murray.

• Seniors must share their completed PLP with their Advisor by June 1st.  Additional PLP support is available every Thursday Call Back, from 7:30-8 am in the Library, or by filling out this form.

If you have any questions, feel free to contact me at 802-527-6400 or email me at tcallan@maplerun.org.

Sincerely, Theresa Callan, Graduation Coordinator

Save the Dates:

FRIDAYS - CHAT WITH A 

SCHOOL BOARD MEMBER!

Charlie Brooks, Maple Run Unified School District Board member will be at The Traveled Cup, 94 North Main Street, Saint Albans on Fridays from 4:00-5:00 pm. Charlie will be available to discuss Maple Run goals and answer any questions or concerns about the FY25 budget.

February 26 - March 5 - No School - 

Winter Break

March 13 - BFA Spring Instrumental Concert

March 22 - No School - Inservice

May 11, 2024 - Prom