Friday, October 30, 2009

Interview With A Vampire

Today at school we were visited by many remarkable people, and School Head Dennis had a chance to sit down and talk with one visitor in particular.

DH: Welcome to Wellsprings, Mr. V.
We are a non-violent community here. You look pretty scary. I hope you won’t do anything…unpleasant.

MrV: Oh, no, don’t be afraid!
I am a vegetarian vampire! I don’t drink human blood. I get blood from ...TURNIPS …TOMATOES … TOMATILLOS …

DH: That’s a relief.
A lot of us are vegetarians too. And we have an organic garden. Perhaps you could volunteer to help us with that?

MrV: Sure.
You know, in fact, I don’t sleep in a coffin—I sleep in a greenhouse.

DH: Wow, that’s awesome.
How else are you different from those other vampires?

MrV: Well, you know sometimes people try kill my vampire cousins with a silver bullet or something, but that doesn’t work
on our branch of the family. Please don’t tell anyone, but the surest way to kill a vegetarian vampire is to drive…a t-bone steak, right through the heart! Just kidding. But if you force us to EAT a steak, we keel over dead in minutes.

DH: I’ll be sure to keep that a secret, Mr. V., though veggie vampires aren’t the only folks to be hurt by too much red meat…
Anyway, is there any other thought you’d like to leave us with today?

MrV: Everyone knows the saying, “don’t judge a book by its cover.”
And please don’t judge a vampire by his fangs.

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Monday, October 26, 2009

Wellsprings Family Reunion: Celebrating Our First 15 Years

On a cool, sunny Saturday afternoon, over 100 people came to school for our Family Reunion -- past graduates, current students, parents, and friends. Together with teachers and staff, everyone celebrated Wellsprings first 15 years and looked forward to our next 15 as an alternative learning community for high school students.

Past graduates visited with their friends and teachers while enjoying a lunch that included burgers and hot dogs cooked on the grill by teachers Bob and Tyler. Several current students and parent volunteers helped with the set-up, lunch preparations, and clean-up of the school as well as gathered "Share Your Wellsprings Story" information from attendees.

Head of School Dennis Hoerner moderated a program that honored three special people who have served the school over the years -- Helen Park, founder of Wellsprings, and Board members Hanna Still and John Etter who've been on the Board of Trustees for all of the 15 years the school has existed. Helen Park told the story of her inspiration to start the school and shared memories from the early years. And past graduates, a parent, Peg Morton, and teacher Paul, shared their experiences of being at Wellsprings. Our teachers and Dennis were given a round of applause for their contributions to the education of students and the life of the school.

Here are some photos of students, teachers, staff, and volunteers getting ready for the reunion.



Additional photos feature many of the people who joined us for the celebration.



Thank you to everyone who made the event a rousing success and a special thanks to Yancey for all of her work in preparing for our second Wellsprings Family Reunion. We look forward to continuing the tradition!

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Friday, October 23, 2009

Photos of the Week

This morning in preparation for our Wellsprings Family Reunion tomorrow, teacher Chanci and several students baked cookies for the event. Here are a few photos of students at work (and the finished "products"):


Macaroons in progress.

Mixing the chocolate chip batter.

Baked and ready to bake chocolate chip cookies.

Cheering on the macaroon makers!

Join us tomorrow from 12 to 3 p.m. for the reunion (and taste a cookie or two!).

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Thursday, October 15, 2009

Photo of the Week

Fall colors are gracing our school this week. And student bicyclers are staying dry (at least for the time between the rains!).



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Photo of the WeekSocialTwist Tell-a-Friend

Friday, October 9, 2009

Progress in the Garden

This week students did more work in the school garden, planting garlic and winter vegetables. It was a sunny (and chilly) morning for digging up the dirt and doing the planting (click on the photo to enlarge for better viewing).



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