GUILFORD-Growing up in Vermont means getting a formal education in appreciating winter.
At 1 p.m. on Feb. 19, all 129 of Guilford Central School’s elementary students poured out of the school’s back doors for the first-ever GCS Winterfest. The sun was shining, the snow was sparkling, and the kids were revved up.
Building on the success of the school’s inaugural Farm and Field Day in the fall, Principal John Gagnon asked Farm-to-School Coordinator Sarah Rosow to organize the event.
Rosow brought the event to life by enlisting parent volunteers, calling on local expertise, and exploring traditional winter activities through the ages.
“Time spent outdoors is so valuable for everyone, and many kids don’t spend as much time outside as they used to in decades and centuries past — particularly in winter,” she says. “It’s so easy to curl up on the couch and play video games, but I love showing children the joy and wonder of the outdoors.”
Students were organized into mixed-age groups to visit three stations.
At the first station, they met Marla Brodsky and her friendly team of Alaskan Huskies from Hilltown Sleddogs of West Chesterfield, Massachusetts.
After the students had an opportunity to pet and snuggle with the friendly dogs, Brodsky regaled them with stories of her years racing her pack throughout New England, the Midwest, and Canada, where the activity dates back centuries, if not millennia. The first evidence of “mushers” driving sled dogs was circa 9,000 years ago, in a cold Siberia.
Meanwhile, on the soccer field: On one side of the “Snow Fun” station, parent volunteers patiently strapped snowshoes on children’s feet while GCS alum Liam Salisbury ventured into the woods guiding small groups on short snowshoe expeditions (and accruing community service hours at Brattleboro Union High School in the process).
Many students had never snowshoed before, and they were at first confused and then delighted to learn that the Abenaki people used ash-frame snowshoes with rawhide laces to travel, hunt, and survive in Vermont’s deep snow.
In the middle of the field, children built snow people, snow animals, and snow forts. And on the far side of the field were the Snow Olympics, dominated by a rowdy tug of war where kids pulled with all their might and ultimately triumphed over the grownups.
In the tradition of the athletic competitions in ancient Greece 3,000 years ago, groups of kids rotated from the tug-of-war into a snowman-building relay race and a competition to see who could craft the biggest snowball.
In the close-by woods, students calmly gathered around a campfire, sipping on hot cocoa as they listened intently to wildlife stories from Anna Caputo, education coordinator of the Vermont Museum of Natural History in Marlboro.
Caputo’s two assistants — a barred owl and a screech owl — came into human care for rehabilitation after injuries and are now part of the museum’s educational staff. Owls have lived in Vermont for thousands of years and, as an animal order, have survived plenty of cold winters thanks to their insulating feathers and their predilection for capturing dense energy sources like small rodents and birds.
Lyla, a second grader, described this particular Thursday as the “best day of her life.”
For students, staff, and presenters, Winterfest provided a unique and joyful experience, a break from traditional classroom learning and an opportunity to connect with students from other grades.
It was also a chance to enjoy the Vermont winter in the ways people have for many, many years.
“The smiles on the kids’ rosy-cheeked faces on Thursday afternoon were so heartwarming,” Rosow said. “Many of these kids had never snowshoed before, or seen an owl up close or had a chance to pet a sled dog. I loved seeing older kids helping younger kids when they fell while snowshoeing and hearing them cheer on their peers in the tug of war.
“This wasn’t just a fun day,” she added. “It was a day of connection, learning, trying new things, and exuberantly appreciating and celebrating our roots.”
This News item was submitted to The Commons.