Rice Starts the School Year With a Bang!

Here at Rice we're starting the school year strong with a full day devoted to activities related to the school wide summer ready, Unbroken, by Laura Hillenbrand. This work is a true story of grit, determination, and survival; Louis Zamperini beat the odds by surviving 47 days on a life raft without supplies and two and a half years in a Japanese POW camp during WWII. Students, teachers, and staff all read this powerful text over the summer.

Biology students dissected a shark, History students hid contraband, English students packed into a “life raft” taped out on the floor, in Math they mapped out a drift path to scale, in Art they learned about elements of a plane, and in Foreign Language students deciphered Morse Code. There was also a powerful presentation on how the military honors real-life POW’s at banquets. 

In the afternoon we broke for lunch and had class competitions including a relay race, distance frisbee throwing, and tug of war (congratulations Seniors!) We also had a LOT of fun with carnival games, a blow up obstacle course, jousting, water balloon target shooting, corn hole, pick up soccer, and life size battleship. 

Unbroken is a story of resilience – a quality that is critical to foster in high school students especially after COVID. Building Resilience is the theme for the school year at Rice; this year, students will face challenges with academics, athletics, and socially. Teaching them to overcome obstacles, persevere, and bounce-back after failures is critical for their success outside the classroom. 

Rice Principal, Andrew Nagy, commented “this is an incredible opportunity to emphasize the importance of summer reading and engage the entire school community with fun, educational activities.”  This sentiment is echoed by fellow teachers including Devin Collins, Rice History Department Chair.  Devin said, “this event will pull from the elements of the book including: tenacity, teamwork, and determination.” 

This event was made possible through the Student Life Fund established by a generous anonymous donor to Rice. This fund is available to Rice students and teachers to apply for funds for activities related to engaging the student body.

The whole school came together to make this event a success and we're truly excited about the year ahead.

Check out the story from WCAX