SJANews——校长的信：真正的优秀

Message From The Headmaster校长的信

Authentic Excellence

真正的优秀

Sometimes my role as Headmaster allows me a privileged position from which to watch our students perform. I often get to stand at the foot of our student section during championship games, and I know where to sit in Fuller Hall to get the most leg room. On Friday, I got a front row seat (with plenty of leg room!) to watch nine young scholars strut their stuff in front of hundreds of peers and dozens of faculty members, community members, parents, and friends. This was the Spring Capstone Day, one of my favorite days of the year, and here is a brief description of what I witnessed:

作为校长，有的时候我可以选择一个绝佳位置去观看学生的表演。在锦标赛期间，我通常都会站在学生所在区域的前面，因为我知道在Fuller大厅哪个位置能够让腿部有足够的活动空间。周五，我坐在最前排（大量的腿部活动空间）观看九位年轻的学者在数百位同龄人和几十位教职工、社区成员、家长以及朋友面前展示自己。这是春季尖石顶级课程日的活动，是我每年最喜欢的活动日之一，以下是我亲眼所见的简要描述：

Kicking things off, Keisha Bedor refuted misconceptions about shelter dogs by looking at their health, temperament, and adoption process. Her beloved shelter dog Delta lay peacefully on stage throughout her 30-minute presentation.

Lizzie Gilmartin explored American consumer culture throughout history by comparing 1920’s diaries with 2010’s vlogs as ways to allow “honest and truthful lines of dialogue” about important issues.

Emily Steen discovered the common traits (funding, community involvement, and inclusive culture) that helped certain small Vermont towns sustain big arts communities.

To start the second session, Tyler Wells explored the value of quantifying certain aspects of performance by applying his “moneyball”-type statistical analysis to golf, creating a statistic he calls “total score” by which to rank golfers.

Jiaxin (Jesse) Du exposed the problem of teen depression in Shanghai, a secret hidden by social status and cultural taboo.

Right before lunch, JoJo Williams-Keane explained how cultural appropriation of natural and protective black hairstyles affects black young adults’ self-esteem.

As we returned for the afternoon session, Ying-Chi (Alex) Chen advocated for more social interaction between international students and local students through increasing speaking confidence.

Fiona Sweeney observed patterns of gut microbiome colonization in C. elegans using flourescence microscopy.

Closing out the day, Katie Girouard analyzed the social, natural, and personal motivations behind youth hunting in the NEK.

Keisha Bedor从狗狗的健康、性情和收养过程开始了她的演讲，之后驳斥了人们对流浪狗的误解。在30分钟的演讲中，她钟爱的狗狗Delta一直安静地趴在讲台上。

Lizzie Gilmartin通过对比20世纪20年代的日记和21世纪10年代的微视频去探索美国消费文化，以此作为有关重大事件“真诚对话”的方式。

Emily Steen发现佛蒙特州一些小镇能够形成高端艺术社区的原因是它们都有共同的特征（足够的基金、高社区参与度、包容性文化）。

在第二阶段，Tyler Wells通过将他的“货币求”统计分析方法应用与高尔夫球，探索量化方面的价值，创造出一套对高尔夫球手排名的统计方式。

Jiaxin (Jesse) Du揭露了上海青少年抑郁症的问题，这是一个被社会地位和文化禁忌所掩盖的秘密。

午餐开始前，JoJo Williams-Keane向观众们解释天生且具有保护性的黑人发型文化侵占对黑人年轻人自尊的影响。

下午的分享会开始后，Ying-Chi (Alex) Chen发出倡议，通过增强演讲时的信心来加强国际学生和本地学生之间的社交互动。

Fiona Sweeney利用荧光显微镜观察了线虫肠道微生物群的移殖模式。

最后，Katie Girouard分析了NEK青年狩猎背后的社会、自然和个人动机。

All of these speakers were poised and polished; most did not use the podium, instead moving freely about the stage—sometimes never looking at their notes—and clicked through their well-designed slides without turning to look at them. They were well-prepared and expert in their topics. Each of them had some personal connection and purpose behind their choice of topic, each had narrowed their focus to a research question, and each had explored the wider body of literature in the field as well as evidence on their particular focus. With the help of mentors and teachers, they each crafted a proposal, their research, and this presentation. I could gush about each of them, and as a collective, they gave evidence of our school’s diversity, comprehensive curriculum, and standards of excellence. However, I want to shine a light on Fiona’s presentation in particular because of its unique focus and type of excellence.

所有的这些演讲者姿态稳重且优雅；大多数人都没有利用领奖台，而是在舞台上自由走动，有些同学甚至从不看他们的演讲稿，而是敲击着精心设计的幻灯片来展示自己的成果。他们对这次演讲做了充分而专业的准备。他们每个人在选择演讲主题时都掺杂个人的考量和目的，他们的课题重点都围绕一个研究问题，每个人都探索了该领域更广泛的文学课题，以及核心论点的论据。在导师和老师的帮助下，他们每个人都起草了一份提案、研究报告和演讲稿。提到他们，我总有说不完的话，作为一个集体，他们就是我们学校的多样性、综合课程和卓越标准的形象代言人。然而，我对Fiona的演讲更有感触，因为它独特的关注焦点和卓越的课题类型。

Fiona began by explaining the importance of the microbiome in the human gut and how scientists have gone about researching bacterial colonization, using the transparent worm-like invertebrate C. elegans as a model organism. Fiona explained why she and others chose this organism, what other studies have shown regarding colonization and the formation of biofilm, and what hypothesis guided her research. She then explained how she chose three genetic strands of C. elegans (including two mutations that would address experimental concerns) and how she chose three types of e. coli (including two that would cause fluorescence). After conducting her experiment, she proposed two significant conclusions: that C. elegans is not the best choice to study microbiomes, as it does not retain a microbiome, and that one of the mutations has a lower ability to eat food. As someone who did not like biology in school and who knew very little about microbiomes or scientific research of this sort, I remained fascinated throughout the half hour that Fiona spoke, as she used her speaking skills developed through Academy Theater to keep me engaged and used language that I could understand despite the technical nature of her topic.

Fiona首先解释了人体肠道微生物群的重要性，以及科学家如何利用透明蠕虫样的无脊椎动物C.elegans作为模型生物来研究细菌定殖。Fiona解释了她和其他伙伴选择这个生物体的原因、其他研究显示的移殖现象和生物膜的形成，以及指导她研究成型的假说。之后，她解释了她如何选出三种线虫基因链（包括两种能够解决实验问题的突变），以及她如何选出三种大肠杆菌（包括两种能够引起荧光的突变）。在进行实验后，她提出了两个重要的结论：线虫不是研究微生物组的最佳选择，因为它不保留微生物组，而且其中一个突变具有较弱的进食能力。作为一个在学校里不喜欢生物学、对微生物群或这类科学研究知之甚少的人，在Fiona演讲的半个小时里，我竟然一直沉迷其中，因为她运用通过在学院剧院培养出来的口语技能让我保持专注度，并用通俗易懂的话语去阐述她的研究课题。

At the end of her presentation, I expected there to be no questions from the hundreds gathered at the end of a long day. On the contrary, dozens of hands flew up, asking about her conclusions, her process, and her motivation. In answering them thoroughly one-by-one, she was articulate, clear, and humble. In fact, when someone asked if she would publish her findings in a professional journal (she was that compelling and knowledgeable!), Fiona said no; she explained that the next step would be for someone, preferably someone with a much larger sample size, to replicate her findings. She explained that, while she stood by her process and finding, she recognized the limitations of her process and results and encouraged others to take up this research to verify it. She sounded like a real scientist!

在她的演讲结束时，我以为这漫长的一天即将结束，数百名观众并不会有任何问题。恰恰相反，几十只手举了起来，纷纷询问她的课题结论、研究过程和动机。她一个一个地回答他们，口齿伶俐、头脑清晰、谦逊有礼。事实上，当有人问她是否会在一本专业杂志上发表她的研究结果时（她的研究课题很有说服力，她本身也很有见识！）Fiona说没有这个打算，她解释说希望有一个拥有大量样本数量的人，重新进行该研究过程。因为尽管她对自己的研究过程和发现很有信心，但她明白自己的研究过程和结果存在一定的局限性，因此她鼓励其他人进行这项研究来验证这一点。这样子的她看起来像个真正的科学家！

And that is because she is. One of the things we say about Capstone and many of the other activities at the end of our courses is that they are “authentic.” By that we mean they are activities that require students to “do the discipline” (e.g. biology) in a realistic context and in front of a real audience. The activities are not algorithmic repetitions of learned skills or the recitations of memorized knowledge. They are evidence of deep learning and mastered skills by students doing the work of professional historians, statisticians, sociologists, ethnographers, and scientists. I was particularly impressed by Fiona’s research because it is the kind of work made more difficult by the time and space constraints of our educational model. She didn’t have a dedicated lab where she could set up and run her experiments, and she had to fit her research into a day divided into five 70-minute blocks, followed by theater practice and homework, at the end of a long multi-subject day.

而她也正是一名科学家。在课程结束时，我们谈到了尖石顶尖课程日和其他活动，印象最深的就是其真实性，要求学生在现实环境中和真实观众面前进行“学科”（如生物学）活动。活动并不是重复学习技能或背诵知识。他们证明了通过做一些专业历史学家、统计学家、社会学家、民族志学家和科学家相关工作，能够获得更深层次的学习和技能的掌握。Fiona的研究给我留下了特别深刻的印象，因为在我们的教育模式下，学生的时间和空间都很有限，使得这项工作变得更加困难。她没有一个专门做实验的实验室，她只能在一天内安排5个70分钟的时间段来进行她的研究，之后还有戏剧练习和家庭作业，她漫长的一天多学科经历就这样结束了。

All of those who presented in Fuller made me proud on Friday, but as proud as I was to be at a school and part of a community that produced such scholars, I was humbled by the professional presence and character of these young people. I told them in Chapel at the start of the day that we had celebrated champions in a myriad of fields already this year, but today I wanted them to be champions: experts in their field, showing their absolute best, and expertly demonstrating what they had learned. One of the things I love about Capstone Day is that it puts me in the role of student again, flipping the teaching dynamic of the classroom as I learn from my students. Teachers live for such moments, and so my colleagues and I are extremely grateful to these scholars and their classmates, as we prepare to watch them graduate in a few short weeks, for teaching and inspiring us.

周五那天所有在Fuller大厅演讲的人都让我感到骄傲，但正如我代表着培养出众多优秀学者的学校和社区而感到骄傲一样，我被这些年轻人的专业和品格而深深折服。我在教堂里对他们说，今年我们已经在许多领域获得了冠军，但今天我希望他们能成为这样的冠军：成为他们所处的领域里的专家，展示他们的绝对优势，并熟练地展示他们学到的东西。尖石顶尖课程日让我再次扮演学生的角色，这是我喜欢做的一件事，因为当我向学生学习时，它颠覆了传统的课堂教学模式。老师们都很享受这样的时刻，所以我和我的同事们非常感谢这些学者和他们的同学，因为在短短几周内他们就要毕业了，希望我们能向他们学到新事物，得到新启发。

In The News

2019年，圣约翰博睿学院St. Johnsbury Academy数学团队成员再次获得MathCON国家竞赛荣誉，且其中一位学生成为十二年级最高分获得者，被评为全国十二年级组数学竞赛冠军。

SJA Senior Hanzhang “Carlos” Yu of China placed first in the U.S. in the MathCON competition last weekend in Chicago, Illinois. Five other Academy students received Honorable Mentions (equivalent to fifth place in the U.S. Front row, left to right, Qiangyue Li (Honorable Mention), Jaining Wu (Honorable Mention), Emma Keenan (Honorable Mention); second row, left to right: Hanzhang Yu (National Twelfth Grade Champion), Liang Zhao (Honorable Mention), Daisuke Yamada (Honorable Mention).

上周末在伊利诺伊州芝加哥举行的MathCON数学竞赛中，来自中国的十二年级学生Hanzhang “Carlos” Yu在美国名列第一。其他5名学生获得荣誉提名（相当于美国前五名），第一排从左到右依次为Qiangyue Li、Jaining Wu、Emma Keenan；第二排从左到右依次为Hanzhang Yu（全国十二年级组冠军）、Liang Zhao、Daisuke Yamada。

Out of 200,000 students who participated in the online competition, only the 500 top-scoring students qualified to compete in the final round in Chicago. Of these highly qualified students, Hanzhang “Carlos” Yu was the highest scoring twelfth grader at the day-long competition, and was named the National Twelfth Grade Champion.

在参加竞赛的20万名学生中，只有500名得分最高的学生有资格参加芝加哥决赛。在这些高水平的学生中，Hanzhang “Carlos” Yu是比赛中得分最高的十二年级学生，被评为全国十二年级组冠军。

Additionally, five Academy students received Honorable Mentions which is the equivalent to fifth place in the U.S. in their respective grades. They are senior Jianing Wu of China, sophomore Emma Keenan of Peacham, Vermont, junior Liang Zhao of China, freshman Qingue Li of China, and senior Daisuke Yamada of Japan.

此外，五名学院学生获得了荣誉称号，相当于美国各年级的第五名。他们是来自中国的十二年级学生Jianing Wu、来自佛蒙特州皮查姆的十年级学生Emma Keenan、来自中国的十一年级学生Liang Zhao、来自中国的九年级学生Qingue Li、以及来自日本的十二年级学生Daisuke Yamada。

SJA Students are Tap Into Film 48-Hour Student Film Slam Winners

SJA学生获得48小时学生电影大满贯冠军

Several teams of film students from   won top prizes in this year's Tap Into Film 48-Hour Student Film Slam sponsored by Catamount Arts and SOCAPA.

在今年由Catamount Art和SOCAPA赞助的48小时学生电影大满贯中，学院几支电影学生团队获得了最高奖项。

Latin Students Honored拉丁语学生获得荣誉 On the Latin I exam, Sophomore Emma Keenan won a gold medal and a Summa Cum Laude certificate, Sophomore Lucas Chadderdon and Freshman Giorgia Mari won silver medals and Maxima Cum Laude certificates, Freshman William Kimber earned a Magna Cum Laude certificate, and juniorAnna Aiken a Cum Laude certificate. On the Latin II exam, sophomore Gavin Ghafoori won a silver medal and a Maxima Cum Laude certificate, freshman Hannah Vogel earned a Magna Cum Laude certificate, and senior Lucas Masure a Cum Laude certificate. Finally, on the Latin IV Poetry exam, junior Zoe Montague won a silver medal and a Maxima Cum Laude certificate and junior OliviaRobinson earned a Magna Cum Laude certificate.在拉丁语I考试中，十年级学生Emma Keenan获得了金牌和最高荣誉证书，十年级学生Lucas Chadderdon和九年级学生Giorgia Mari获得了银牌和最高荣誉证书，九年级学生William Kimber获得了最高荣誉证书，十一年级学生Anna Aiken获得了优等荣誉证书。在拉丁语II考试中，十年级学生Gavin Ghafoori获得了银牌和最高荣誉证书，九年级学生Hannah Vogel获得了最高荣誉证书，十二年级学生Lucas Masure获得了优等荣誉证书。最后，在拉丁语IV诗歌考试中，十一年级学生Zoe Montague获得银牌和最高荣誉证书，十一年级学生Olivia Robinson获得了最高荣誉证书。   

Mark Your Calendar

Monday, May 13

5月13日

NO LATE CHAPEL due to AP Testing

Chapel begins at 8:00 a.m.

上午8点开始AP考试，没有礼堂活动。

Monday, May 20

5月20日

Department Exam - English/ESL

英语/ESL考试

Tuesday, May 21

5月21日

Department Exam - Social Studies

社会研究考试

Wednesday, May 22

5月22日

Department Exam - Math

数学考试

Thursday, May 23

5月23日

Department Exam - Languages

外语考试

Friday, May 24

5月24日

Department Exam - Science

科学考试

Sense Of The Week

Tyler Wells presented his Capstone "Advanced Statistics: Exploring Quantification Through Golf."

Tyler Wells在尖石顶尖课程日展示他的作品“高级统计：通过高尔夫探索量化”。

Emily Steen presented her Capstone "Small Town, Big Art: A Qualitative Case Study on the Arts in Vermont."

Emily Steen在尖石顶尖课程日展示她的作品“小城镇，大艺术：佛蒙特州艺术的定性案例研究”

Sophomores helped spruce up a local daycare among many other volunteer projects.

十年级学生和其他志愿者一起帮忙装扮了一所当地幼儿园。

Freshmen took part in several team building exercises including musical chairs.

九年级学生参加了包括音乐椅游戏在内的几项团队建设项目。

Senior Ainsley Larsen scored her 100th goal in her lacrosse game last week.

十二年级学生Ainsley Larsen上周在长曲棍球比赛中打进了100球。