Kara Dunn
SJHS Staff Writer

Valentine’s Day is a holiday that is celebrated throughout the world. It has never been confirmed as to where this holiday originated, but there are, however, many speculations. The Catholic Church recognizes at least three different saints named Valentine that were martyred, but the real origin has never been confirmed.

Springville Junior High school is celebrating Valentines Day this year in a few different ways. The Service Learning class is creating Valentines that students can buy and give to other students. These Valentines will cost one dollar, and the service learning class will deliver them to the appropriate student during the students’ sixth period class.

Springville Junior High is also hosting a school dance for students at Springville Junior High. The dance will be February 11th from 7:00 to 9:00 and will be four dollars without their student I.D. and three with. Students are asked to wear best dress, but still follow the dress code found in the student handbook.

Gavin Kent and Reid Dwiggins, members of the cello section at SJHS.

Jacob DeRosia
SJHS Staff Writer

Have you ever been walking down the hall and heard the low hum of a cello? Every day the orchestra students have the opportunity to listen to the graceful sound of the Violoncello, Which is the long name for the cello. For the students who play the cello, “It’s great! I wish I could have 8 periods of orchestra!” said Reid Dwiggins, a cello player in the SJHS orchestra. Even the people who don’t play the cello love the sound.

The cello is one of the middle instruments in the string orchestra. Second only to the bass, the cello is one of the lowest instruments in the orchestra.  The songs played in orchestra are the favorites of every cello and violin alike. But according to the cellos, they sound so much better when they play them. And most of the cellos agree, “cellos are better than trumpets!”

Kaleb Barnum
SJHS Staff Writer

A lot of people in the world list weights almost every day; SJHS has a great teacher who is willing to spend his time and help kids work out. Mr. David Hansen, history teacher and weight lifting coach at SJHS, thought that there was a need to have a weight lifting program so students who have pent up energy can come and let some of it the energy go. Mr. Hansen thinks that lifting weight is a great way for students to physically exert energy in a good, positive way. Mr. Hansen loves to see kids come and do physical activity. It helps them meet their goals and look forward to something.

Mr. Hansen said, “It helps kids get stronger, and it gives them self confidence.” About 15-20 students show up everyday. They work hard and don’t goof off. A student like Kenny Roach, eighth grade student at SJHS, loves to work out. He says, “On bad days, weight lifting helps me get through the tough times.”  Weight lifting takes place after school except Wednesday. So people who don’t have anything to do after school, Mr. Hansen would love for anyone to work out after school with him.

Ms. Jarvis

Morgan Bowser
SJHS Staff Writer

One of the most popular classes among seventh graders at SJHS is Career Technical Education (CTE). Ms. Jarvis teaches the Introduction to Business section of CTE. Ms. Jarvis wanted to teach because in high school she was interested in teaching and the business field. She decided to teach business so she could combine the two.

Ms. Jarvis said, “I love teaching because I get to know the students; they are so funny and have great personalities.” Because she teaches also computers, she teaches information that they will use at school and at home, “It is so fun to see them take those skills and use them at home or in other classes.”

Hannah Thorn, a seventh grader, said, “She is super cute and nice; If you get this class you will love it.”  Olivia James, also a seventh-grade student, said “She is so nice; she lets us talk, but not too loud.”  According to Jehni McNeil, an eighth-grade student, she is always fun and she teaches well.

Besides teaching, Ms. Jarvis also enjoys horseback riding. Her family owns fifteen horses that they raise and train. They raise them to become barrel racing horses. In the summer she travels to two to four rodeos a week.

Kara Dunn
SJHS Staff Writer

On January 20th, Springville Junior High’s journalism class gave a presentation to the district PTA board about what goes on in the journalism class and how they write their articles.  “Whenever the district PTA has a meeting, it’s hosted at a different school. The schools are asked to give a presentation for the PTA members, and Mr. Rolfe asked that the journalism class give the presentation at our school,” Ms. Miley, the journalism teacher, explained.

The journalism class worked together to make a video explaining the process they go through everyday and their thoughts about the different steps. Three students wrote up introductions and introduced themselves and the journalism class to the PTA members and school principals in attendance.

“I really appreciate all that the students have done to prepare for this presentation. I think it portrays a very good message about the academic climate at the junior high,” Mr. Rolfe, principal at Springville Junior High, said.

Although the students worked hard on their presentation, Ms. Miley really made the presentation possible. “Ms. Miley has helped this class come alive to the students,” Mr. Rolfe observed.   “I believe it was very obvious to those who saw the presentation that our students are totally involved in the class and learning these wonderful principles of writing,” Mr. Rolfe said.

“I’m glad that the community reads what my journalism students have written throughout the semester. There are so many good things that go on at Springville Junior High, and I’m glad that we get a chance to share them.” Ms. Miley commented.

The journalism class has also been asked to give a follow up on this presentation to the Nebo School Board on February 10th about how they feel and why they enjoy journalism.

The ninth-grade girls’ basketball team.  Front row, left to right:  Ashley Crookston (manager), Sarah Patrick(manager),  Courtney Lefevre, Ripley Tew, Maddi Staheli, Mackenzie Morris, Amanda Sly, BreAnna Elzinga (manager),  Ashly Endicott(manager),  and Assistant Coach Murdock.  Back row, left to right: Emily Daybell, Kara Stoddard, Sarah Ripley, Brooke Caswell, Amy Tingey, Cami Sumsion, Mindy Staple, and Coach Kindrick

Jacob Simmons
SJHS Staff Writer

Springville Junior High School got a lot of new additions to their teaching squad this year. One of the many was Mrs. Becky Murdock, who has proven to be a great new addition to the social studies department.

Mrs. Murdock teaches eighth grade U.S. History and ninth grade World History/Geography. She enjoys teaching both.  “I adore teaching. I love to see the light bulb go on inside my student’s heads,” she said.

Mrs. Murdock went to Brigham Young University, where she majored in Social Studies Teaching. “I switched my major four times and tried everything from Geography, Geology, to Archeology and Anthropology; trying to decide which social science to go into,” she stated. Finally she decided to go with social studies teaching, deciding she would get the “best of all worlds.”

Another element Mrs. Murdock brought with her to the junior high, is coaching.  Mrs. Murdock is the assistant coach to Mr. David Kindrick for the girls basketball team. She said, “I love coaching. Period.”

Mrs. Murdock doesn’t just teach and coach, besides that she loves to cook, spend time with her family, and play lacrosse.

Kristi Hatch
SJHS Staff Writer

You always hear about Honor Choirs and Marching Bands, or in other words, extra-curricular activities for band and choir members.  But this year, Nebo School District has put together an Honor Orchestra.  Each school had about ten or twelve students who got to go to Springville High School on Thursday, January 21st to participate in this program.

These students were under the direction of Dr. Dabczynski, a professor at Brigham Young University.  They only had two rehearsals to get their music perfected before their concert: a four-hour rehearsal on the 21st, and an all-day practice on the 26th, and then they returned for a concert that night at 7:00.

Ten students from Springville Jr. were able to participate in this great opportunity.   Caryn Crandall, a violinist, said, “I thought it would be a good experience and look good on my college application.”   Honor Orchestra was a great place to make new friends from other schools, learn new music, and to have fun.

The students really enjoyed the conductor. “[Dr. Dabczynski was] very professional and organized,” said Mark Singleton, a cellist.  Elizabeth Elliott, a violinist, also said, “He’s an amazingly cool and talented person.”

This experience was definitely different than the normal orchestra experience.  They had about 72 people participating, so it was definitely a bigger sound. “The Honor Orchestra is a lot larger than the Springville Junior High Orchestra,” said Elizabeth Elliott.  This was also a great experience to meet new friends and associate with other young musicians their age.  Caryn Crandall remarked, “You get to meet new people and you only get to rehearse together for a few hours.”

Mrs. Bass

Morgan Bowser
SJHS Staff Writer

SJHS has many amazing teachers. One of them is Mrs. Elizabeth Bass. Mrs. Bass teaches eighth grade English. “I have a passion for ideas, knowledge, and feelings. Words when they are strategically expressed, can make me laugh, bring me to tears, help me see the beauty in the world and the people in it, and help me better understand it,” said Mrs. Bass.

Mrs. Bass has been teaching for eight years now and has taught at Landmark High School as well as SJHS. “She is so nice and she explains everything so well; the assignments are really easy and don’t take up to much time,” said Victoria Ireland, an eighth-grade student. Jace Hartman, a ninth-grade student at SJHS, said, “Mrs. Bass is the coolest teacher at SJHS.”

When Mrs. Bass has free time, she enjoys being with her family, reading, traveling, singing, learning new things, making things, and playing sports. She loves teaching because she loves when she can see understanding or new ideas in students eyes. She loves seeing them take something they learned in class and apply it into their own life.

Christopher Taylor
SJHS Staff Writer

Almost everyone has heard of someone who plays instruments like the violin, flute or trumpet.  There are many junior high students that play these instruments, especially since students can learn how to play them in band and orchestra.  But not that many students play instruments like the mandolin, harp, guitar, djembe, and oboe. SJHS has its fair share of these unique musicians who have all found great ways to express themselves through their music.

Lyndsay Wheeler, an eighth-grade harpist at SJHS, loves music. Along with playing the harp, she finds other ways to express herself through her music, like percussion or piano.  She said, “For me music is just amazing.  I love letting my fingers roll through the chords.” But, according to Lyndsay, playing the harp can be difficult sometimes, especially when she is learning a new song. She said, “Practicing is the hardest part about playing the harp because you want the song to be perfect right then.”

Jackson Averett, an eight-grade guitarist at SJHS, agrees with Lyndsay. According to him, practicing a song that you’ve never even heard before is one of the hardest parts of playing the guitar.  But he thinks playing the guitar can be fun sometimes too. He said, “Playing the guitar is a great way to get my mind off of things.”

Max Schreiner
SJHS Staff Writer

There are many unique sports played at Springville Junior High, and one of those sports is lacrosse. In lacrosse, there are ten players on the field at a time. For each team there are two defenders, two mid-fielders, and an attacker. The purpose of lacrosse is to score more goals than the other team.

Lacrosse is played in the spring by many members of Springville Junior High. One of those people is Jesse Martinsen, a defender on his team.  Jesse said, “I would say my favorite part of lacrosse is getting to hit people with a six foot pole!” As some people know, lacrosse is a high impact sport. You have to be in pretty good shape to play this sport, and you also have to be able to take hits from six foot poles.

Quinn Alleman, a former lacrosse player, said “scoring a goal is one of the greatest sensations you will ever feel!” So if you want to go out there and score a goal or hit someone with a stick, play lacrosse.

Morgan Bowser
SJHS Staff Writer

The Princess and the Frog is a movie about a girl named Tatiana who dreams of having a restaurant, but finds herself as a frog. She ends up going through the bayou and meets a few new friends.

According to Savannah McNitt, an eighth-grade student, she liked the movie because it was cute, funny, and enchanting. She loves Ramon the firefly because he always made her laugh.  “I would totally go see it again! I went with my friends the first time, and I just laughed and had a lot of fun!”

Maddie Joyner, an eighth-grader, said “I love this movie because Tatiana has to work for her dreams. Unlike the rest of the princess it was just handed to them. It has a good story line for kids.”

So if you are heading to the movies any time soon, be sure to check out The Princess and the Frog! It will make you laugh and it perfect for little kids!

Andrew Sa’u, seventh grader at SJHS, enjoyed snowshoeing in PE.

Hayde Blanco
SJHS Staff Writer

Mr. Michael Parker, the boys P.E. teacher, and Ms. Carrie Parker, the aerobics teacher, both did snowshoeing for their classes. Snowshoeing is where you walk around in the snow with snowshoes on. Snowshoes are web type shoes that make you walk on snow without sinking in. Mr. Parker tries to do it every year. He said, “If there is enough snow then we do it every year.”

Mr. Parker did games with snowshoeing. They did relay races and walking backwards. Andrew Sa’u, a seventh-grade student, said, “Walking backwards on snowshoes was one of the hardest things I’ve ever done through my experiences with snowshoeing.”

According to Mr. Parker, most of the students enjoyed snowshoeing. Kaleni Neiufi, a seventh grader, said, “I liked flicking snow at people with the snowshoes.” Andrew Sa’u said, “It was a good experience for me because I haven’t snowshoed before and I really did enjoy it!” Mr. Parker does snowshoeing because it is “active and fun!”

Mrs. Leslie Walker and one of the SJHS choirs.

Jose Martinez
SJHS Staff Writer

Every year at Springville Junior High there is always a very special concert, The Winter Choir Concert.  This year the Winter Choir Concert will be held on January 14th.  It is a prestigious honor for the choir students to be in. They have been practicing since the beginning of the year to bring students and staff members a rich and life filled-concert with a variety of musical styles and well known songs.

“The Winter Concert has a lot of variety in the types of songs we sing. I think people coming to see it will enjoy the different styles of music that we sing,” said Mrs. Leslie Walker, choir teacher at Springville Junior High.

“Next semester, we have the Journey Men. They are a group of eighth and ninth grade boys. I’m excited to work with them. I will also have a new group of Apprentice Singers, which I’m excited about. It’s always fun to get to know the new 7th graders. We will continue working in Master Singers, and we will have another concert in May,” said Mrs. Walker. The choir isn’t just stopping at this concert they are also going to continue throughout the year and beyond.

“The first semester students have been fantastic! I have really enjoyed working with them,” said Mrs. Walker. Springville Junior High is excited for the concert and for choir. The concert is scheduled to be on January 14th.

Kara Dunn
SJHS Staff Writer

In the world today, we are faced with many different challenges and problems that weren’t in the world a hundred years ago, or weren’t as threatening. One of these many dangers is drugs. “I think most people in the world today are affected by drugs, even if it’s not directly,” Mr. Ryan Chambers, the health teacher at Springville Junior High explained. “Even family members participating in drug use can affect a person’s life.”

In health, students are required to learn about the dangers of drugs and ways they can refuse them. Mr. Chamber’s health classes, just recently finished their unit on learning about drugs and the dangerous threat they can be to a persons life.

“We discussed some of the main drugs, effects, and, most importantly, refusal skills,” Mr. Chambers explained. According to Mr. Chambers, there are nine main “refusal skills” that a person can resort to when asked to participate in drugs, including the delay tactic, avoiding the situation, the broken record (no, no, no, no) and giving a reason or excuse.

“Now is the time to learn about the dangers of drugs,” Mr. Chambers explained, “Sometimes at this time in a person’s life, students are more likely to listen to their peers then to their parents and teachers. It’s critical for students to surround themselves with friends that have the same standards.”

“I’m never going to take drugs; people that do, ruin their life, and the lives of those that watch them,” Mariah Snyder, a ninth-grade student at Springville Junior High explained.

Drugs are becoming more common and more dangerous. It’s a worry that everyone needs to be aware of.

Spencer Duncan
SJHS Staff Writer

At Springville Junior High, Mrs. Koriane Maughan has come up with something called Friday Incentive.  The incentive occurs every Friday.  For twenty minutes of the period an activity takes place.  The activity is a surprise.

Students earn the activity by accomplishing the task Mrs. Maughan writes on the board every Monday.  If the task is not accomplished the students who did not complete it have to do something else while the other students get to take part in the activity.

Mrs. Maughan said, “Another teacher gave me the idea of Friday Incentive.”  Tyler Oman, an eighth grade student in Mrs. Maughan’s class, said, “It’s a good way to reward students.”  Mrs. Maughan said, “I think it helps students keep a goal in their minds.  If a person knows that they have to complete a certain task to receive a reward, then hopefully they will try their hardest to complete that task.”

Tyler said, “The students who complete the challenge get the Incentive.  Students who don’t, don’t get the reward.”

“I thought the first incentive went really well.  It rewarded and punished students individually, so they knew they couldn’t count on someone else.  If a student didn’t get the incentive then they knew it was their own fault,” said Mrs. Maughan.