Here you can find a snapshot of what we are up at CHS. If interested, you can also read about our community’s bigger events here.
Macroinvertebrates
Meg‘s Environmental Science class identified and counted macroinvertebrate organisms gathered in experimental leaf pack bags over the past two weeks in Carvin Creek. The class is going to use the data to assess stream quality and learn about habitat characteristics for these little critters.
Mixing It Up In Calculus class
The Calculus class got competitive with a “friendly” game of Grudge ball. The students had to answer questions correctly to earn chances to shoot the ball and eliminate their opponents.
Stitching Club Works On Blankets to Donate
In Stitching Club, co-founders, Eliza G. and Yutika P. are teaching interested students how to crochet every week. Their semester long goal is to make blankets out of plastic yarn that the group will then donate. The club is also a space for other stitching forms and all are welcomed to join.
Fall 2021 Community Service Day with BillionGraves
BillionGraves is the world’s largest resource for searchable GPS cemetery data, and is growing bigger and better every day. For this community service project, our students contributed by taking headstone images from a local cemetery, and then transcribing the personal information found on the images. The GPS information collected helps others research expansive family histories from […]
PSAT Cool Down
The PSATs are over! The students took some time afterwards to decompress with friends.
Cartography
Warren’s Geography class took a creative hands-on approach to explore methods of cartography which included charting geographic location, choosing symbolization strategies, and studying how landforms interact across the surface of the earth. It was a challenge of visual communication skills and hand-eye coordination. The students also had to coordinate where their landmasses end up on the […]
Carvin Creek Experiment
Meg’s Environmental Science class took a field trip to Carvin Creek to place experimental leaf pack bags in the stream. These bags were collected later to observe the macro-invertebrates and other critters caught in them back in the lab. Certain types of macro-invertebrates can be a helpful indicator species for water quality in stream ecosystems.
Zoë Receives the Bowdoin College Book Award
We congratulate Zoë L. on being chosen as our 2021 Bowdoin College Book Award recipient. She was chosen because she demonstrates: Extraordinary Service to the Common Good and an Unusual Passion for Inquiry, Discovery, and Innovative Thinking.
Density Column Lab
Our Chemistry students had fun making colorful density columns. The stacked liquid layers stay separate because each substance has a different density from the others.
Physics at CHS….Go Big or Go Home!
The Physics students experimented with angles and distance using this huge slingshot to calculate initial velocity.
Jacob Receives the William and Mary Leadership Book Award
Warren presented Jacob M with the 2021 William and Mary Leadership book award. Here is why he was chosen for this honor: Leadership comes in many different forms. And often, we are unaware that we are being a good leader. Being a role-model, and helping your peers to succeed as well, takes a willingness to […]
Western Wednesday Lives On!
Sam P would be very proud that his tradition of Western Wednesday lives on at CHS even after his graduation.
Students Volunteer for the Henry Street Music Festival
Reuben M and Zoë L dedicated some of their time to help out at the Henry Street Music Festival this year. They assisted with setting up tables and instruments, checking in vendors, and lending a hand setting up booths. The Henry Street Music Festival is a community event presenting an array of diverse entertainment, educational forums, […]
Roly-polys in Biology
Today our AP Biology students conducted an animal behavior experiment with roly-polys.
Welcome, Leanne
We’d like to take this opportunity to warmly welcome Leanne Cline to our community. Leanne comes to us with over 20 years of teaching experience from middle school to college. Having lived and studied in Spain, Argentina, and Ecuador, she brings a unique perspective to her classes, one of cultural awareness and linguistic diversity. Click […]
Eliza wins the 2021 John J. Sailer Scholarship
Congratulations to Eliza G, this year’s recipient of the John J. Sailer Scholarship from Mill Mountain Theater! This honor provides the opportunity for Eliza to learn the creative and technical skills required in creation of scenic, costume and lighting elements for professional theatre productions. Way to go, Eliza!
Food, Farming, and the Future Farming Blogs
Students in the Food, Farming, and the Future were asked to design, build, plant, and tend their own small garden throughout the semester. Below are some of the online blogs students created to document the whole process, from the humble beginnings to the successful harvests. Zora’s Garden Zoe’s Garden Oliver’s Garden Henry’s Garden Eliza’s Garden
ComMUN Back To In-Person Camp!
ComMUN hosted its fourth annual summer training conference in June. 8 members of this year’s Secretariat were CHS students; of those eight, six were a part of the first ComMUN camp and five were in the group that designed the camp during their Seminar year at Community School. The camp hosted almost twenty delegates this […]
Lucy Wins 3 Scholastic Art and Writing Awards
The Scholastic Art and Writing Awards is a juried art competition that takes place once a year nationwide, presented by the Alliance for Young Artists and Writers. Winners are selected on the basis of originality, technical skill, and the emergence of a personal vision or voice. At the regional level Lucy received a gold key […]
Astrobiology Students Test Their Solar Sails
The Astrobiology class is testing the solar sails that they designed. Whose model will travel the farthest?
Warren’s “Visions of Tomorrow” Art Exhibit
CHS arts and humanities teacher, Warren Fry, curated a youth art exhibition for young artists in the Roanoke area: For this exhibit Visions of Tomorrow, we asked local teen artists to respond to the following question: what does “tomorrow” mean to you. Whether struggling from day to day, or looking ahead to a future beyond our […]
Working in the CHS Garden
Students from Meg’s “Food, Farming, and the Future” class got out and worked on the CHS school garden.
A Third Course of Gristle-Butter
The third issue of Gristle-Butter, the CHS Creative Writing Zine, is ready to be eaten. If your literary diet has been sorely deficient in Gristle-Butter due to the covid-proofing delays this semester, fear not! Click here for a solid dose of creativity, tendony-typos and all, by your peers in the CHS Creative Writing Classes.
Practicing Language Through a Virtual Student Exchange
The CHS French students participated in an inter-institutional live chat exchange with students living in France and Germany who are studying English and French. The students in France (currently learning English) joined us from their classroom at Lycée Professionel Saint Joseph in Bucquoy, northern France. French students in Germany also logged on to connect with […]
QuarantZine #10 is Available For Your Enjoyment!
You can download it here! The Zine Club is asking for artwork submissions for the covers and interiors of both zines, Gristle-Butter as well as QuarantZine. No themes are assigned, but artwork should be able to be used in B&W. Get in touch with Olchar! To see all of the past issues, go to the […]
Your Next Heap of Gristle Butter Is Available!
The Second issue of Gristle-Butter, the CHS Creative Writing Zine has arrived! Click here to enjoy over 50 pages of Poetry and Fiction by your peers in the CHS Creative Writing Classes.
The Bookmasters Class Shares Their Research
Click here to read the independent research blogs from the 2020 fall semester’s Bookmasters Class. Most of the students chose to draw upon topics and methodologies from across the whole school curriculum, with many of their topics inspired by previous classes.
Our Last Friday Activity of the Semester was Coordinated with Olchar’s “Becoming a Bookmaster” Class
Olchar brought in some of the strangest, rarest, oldest, nicest, and most fun examples from his archival libraries of underground and countercultural books from the 18th-20th Centuries. From 18th Century newspapers, to an abolitionist book drawn by kids in 1850, to a one-of-a-kind Serbian Surrealist collaged book, to contemporary avant-garde Russian zines, we informally browsed […]
Quarantzine #9 Is Now Available!
Check it out! We want this zine to continue, and so we need YOUR words/doodles/thoughts/pictures/memes/etceras! QuarantZine features stuff by ANY AND ALL CHS students, faculty/staff, and alumni. QuarantZine isn’t just “High Art”! Whatever you used to leave on the Library Markerboard… is what we need now! To see all of the past issues, go to […]
“In the Moment: Artists and Their Work” Olchar Lindsann and Brian Counihan
Olchar Lindsann and Brian Counihan spoke about their creative processes/work at CHS as part of a speaker series at VT’s Moss Arts Center. In a series of 45-minute chats, the Moss Arts Center gave an exclusive look inside the homes and studios of these [Southwest Virginia] artists where we experienced their work, asked questions, and discussed […]
“In the Moment: Artists and Their Work” Brian Counihan and Olchar Lindsann
Brian Counihan and Olchar Lindsann spoke about their creative processes/work at CHS as part of a speaker series at VT’s Moss Arts Center. In a series of 45-minute chats, the Moss Arts Center gave an exclusive look inside the homes and studios of these [Southwest Virginia] artists where we experienced their work, asked questions, and […]
Get Your GRISTLE–BUTTER Here!
Introducing the first issue of Gristle-Butter, the CHS Creative Writing Zine! Click here to enjoy all 43 pages of poetry and fiction by your peers, the likes of which you won’t see in just about any other high school.
VTA 2024 Conference – Olivia L
At the Virginia Theater Association conference this fall, senior Olivia L attended stage combat, filmmaking, networking, and other fun actor workshops. Les helped Olivia rehearse a 60-second monologue that landed her 14 callbacks from prospective colleges, allowing her the opportunity to chat directly with professors from each college about their theater programs. She individually workshopped […]
Nature Club Meets Virtually
On Friday Nature Club met and shared some cool finds from the natural world. Antlers proved to be very popular!
Brian Counihan Reveals His “Apocryphal Texts” Exhibition
Our own Brian Counihan revealed his “Apocryphal Texts” exhibition at the Alexander/Heath Contemporary Gallery in Roanoke. The CHS students had the opportunity for a special private viewing! CHS students who took his Exhibition Protocol class had the privilege of apprenticing under him in nearly every phase of the creation of these works through hands-on studio […]
Writing Code
This week the Computer Science students learned how to input an imaginary class roster and write program code to display a student’s grade. They also used the program to determine whether or not the student needed to turn in test corrections.
Jen’s Quarantine-Friendly Community Service Challenge
You don’t need any specialized background, training, or expertise to participate in Zooniverse projects. All you need is a willingness to study authentic objects of interest gathered by researchers, like images of faraway galaxies, historical records and diaries, or videos of animals in their natural habitats. By answering simple questions about them, you’ll help contribute […]
AP Calculus Workshop
After taking the PSAT this morning, Bethany’s AP AB Calculus class enjoyed a lunch together and then dug right in to their Calculus workshop. This gave them an in-person opportunity to review and solidify material learned in the class so far, and to dive deeper into the meaning of this material.
Mill Mountain Hike
Students and teachers took advantage of a beautiful Friday afternoon to take a hike up the Mill Mountain trail. This hike as an entire school is a yearly tradition at CHS.
Zoë Experiences a Semester at Maine Coast Semester at Chewonki
CHS junior Zoë L. spent her fall semester at Maine Coast Semester at Chewonki, and this photo shows her enjoying a canoe trip on the Moose River! Here is her personal reflection on the experience: During the fall semester I had the wonderful opportunity to participate in the Maine Coast Semester Program at Chewonki. I, […]
Kicking Off Weekly Picnics
Students enjoyed the opportunity to gather outdoors for some lunch and (distanced) fellowship. Weather permitting, we will offer these gatherings once a week.
Alumnus Joey K (‘20) Joins the Performance Band For Practice
It was a beautiful day to make music outside.
An Outing at Fishburn Park
Students had a chance to socialize in person and enjoy the outdoors playing Capture the Flag, Trailwalking, and Creekwalking.
Daniel Is Selected for the VASTS NASA Program
Daniel reflects on his experience here: “During the semester-long class I learned a lot about space exploration, NASA‘s previous and upcoming projects, engineering design processes, and wrote a ton of APA essays. During the summer academy, I spent four intense days planning a long-term habitation mission to Mars with the ‘Science and Surface Operations’ team. […]
Welcome, Bethany!
We’d like to take this opportunity to warmly welcome Bethany Flanagan to our community. Bethany will be teaching higher mathematics through second-year Calculus as well as Logic and Computer Science. Click here to learn more about Bethany.
Student QuarantZine Publication Receives Recognition
The work of the creative QuarantZine team has received outside recognition! The first two issues of their publication were reviewed in the new issue of Asymmetrical Anti-Media, a quarterly zine that reviews dozens of other zines. Olchar has even been contacted with requests for copies. Well done!
Lucy’s Artwork was Featured by #ArtinRoanoke
Rising Senior Lucy B. gave herself an ink challenge during quarantine and it was featured by #ArtinRoanoke. Her work here is based on a series of words in Scots-Gaelic (which she’s been studying for the past year or so).