With Peterborough Children and the Arts volunteers Terry Reeves and Jeannie Connolly serving as guest instructors in Mr. Putnam's 3D Studio Art classes, students worked paper lanterns in a wide variety of shapes and sizes.

The classroom visits were part of a series of community lantern-making workshops that included schools and the Peterborough Town Library, which is a co-sponsor of the event.

Once completed, the lanterns will be donated to children who want to participate in the Annual Lantern Festival parade in downtown Peterborough on Saturday, December 7.

The theme for this year's festival parade is "Our Towns" and will feature a collection of house lanterns, star lanterns, and pyramid lanterns. The lantern installation in Putnam Park will be in place from Friday, December 6, to Sunday, December 8. For more details, please click here.

On Saturday, November 16, ConVal held its Annual Craft Fair which helps defray the cost of activities of the Class of 2025.

Over 70 vendors registered and participated in the event, in addition to tables that were run by a variety of student groups. 

The event was well attended by the public and busy all through the day.  Several vendors commented on how well the Fair was run and how polite the student volunteers were. Some of these volunteers are shown in the photo, together with class advisors Jen Kiley and Alexis Harris.

More than $3,000 was raised during the one-day event.

Over the weekend, Murder For Dummies, written and directed by junior Benjamin Michaud, premiered with three performances in the Lucy Hurlin Theatre.

The plot revolves around billionaire Arthur Blackwell who hosts a dinner party at his home, Blackwell Manor. He invites his wife, his ex, his step-brother, his best friend/lawyer, and his step-son. At dinner, after one spoonful of soup, Arthur collapses and dies. Everyone is suspected of killing Arthur, and the killer is lurking somewhere in the halls of Blackwell Manor.

The shows were attended by students, staff, and the general public, approximately 200 in total. The cast received high praise from the audience, even receiving a standing ovation on Saturday night.

For the past quarter century, students enrolled in Anatomy and Physiology have had the opportunity to combine science and art to create individualistic expressions based on their study of the cells and tissues that make up the human body.

This year, their scientific observations under the microscope gave rise to impressionistic artworks resembling a pumpkin, tree stumps, a Betta fish, waves of water, a spider, a frog, the planets, a snake, an octopus, a koi fish, a giraffe, a dream catcher, and a family of neurons.

In this photo, principal Heather McKillop and interim Assistant Superintendent Kathleen Scholand are shown visiting the gallery to review the expressions of student creativity and choose their favorite artwork to be nominated for first prize.

The winners were:

• 1st place - "Columnar Koi" (Izzy Jobin)

• 2nd place - "Simple Columnar Betta" (Maya Bennett)

• 3rd place - "Self Portrait" (Brian Alonso)

The winner of the People's Choice Award, i.e., the artwork that did not place first, second, or third but got the most votes from students, was "Frog Life" by Aubrey Niemela.

As part of a regional high school exhibition, students and visual art faculty from ConVal High School are currently exhibiting examples of their work at the Thorne Sagendorph Art Gallery at Keene State College alongside other art teachers and students from the area.

The gallery is located on Wyman Way in Keene. Hours are Tuesday through Thursday, 12:00-5:00 pm. The exhibit will be open to the public until December 7, except during Thanksgiving vacation.

ApplyNH Day was an exciting day for the Class of 2025!

The event was organized by the School Counseling Department. Representatives from Dartmouth College, St. Anselm's College, Southern NH University, and Granite Edvance were on site to help support students with their applications.

On ApplyNH Day, all application fees to New Hampshire colleges or universities are waived. Nearly 60 students took advantage of this day-long opportunity to get their applications done. One of these seniors will be awarded a $500 scholarship from Granite Edvance.

ConVal is one of about 70 high schools in the state hosting ApplyNH Days this year. ApplyNH is part of a national effort by the American College Application Campaign to help high school seniors navigate the college admissions process and increase the number of students who submit college applications, with a particular focus on first-generation and low-income students.

College and career access professionals volunteer to work with seniors during school time to complete and submit at least one application to a post-secondary program of their choice. All 50 states participate in this national initiative.

On November 9, Will Simard represented ConVal High School at the 89th New England XC Championships in Manchester, CT.

122 high schools from Connecticut, Maine, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont fielded a total of 256 runners for the meet that took place in Wickham Park.

With a time of 16:07, Will placed 23rd in the 5K race, just 54 seconds behind the winner and ensuring All New England team honors.

Congratulations, Will, on a great achievement in the race and an outstanding running season overall!

Last night, the ConVal Chapter of the National Honor Society (NHS) inducted 20 new members in a ceremony held in the Lucy Hurlin Theatre. Membership in NHS is an honor bestowed upon students based on the four pillars of NHS: scholarship, character, leadership, and service. Once selected, members have the responsibility to continue to demonstrate these qualities.

The newly inducted NHS members are: Liam Armstrong, Ivy Armstrong-McEvoy, Lukas Baker, Hadley Bates, Heidi Bell, Samson Davis, Alia Dodge, Nora Eliopoulos, Dylan Farrell, Brynn Frosch, Alyssa Hamlin, Riley Heider, Madison Kemp, Zadie Marshall, Megan Millbauer, Avery Moore, Charley Pyle-Cunningham, Adeline Regis, Emily Steinberg, and Clara Wilsher.

With 1.4 million members nationwide, the National Honor Society (NHS) is one of the oldest, largest, and most widely recognized co-curricular student organizations in American high schools. Through exclusive resources, programs, and services, NHS empowers and equips students with the knowledge and skills to be transformative leaders, both in school and in the community.