SJHS News

Kara Dunn
SJHS Staff Writer

Mr. Booth’s ninth grade band class competed in a district festival on April 16, 2010, at Spanish Fork High School. The ninth grade band has been preparing for this festival since before Christmas and has worked hard to get to where they are today.

The band played three pieces of music: Appalachian Morning, Lost Mountain, and All Glory Told. These pieces of music were challenging, and difficult for the band to learn. They worked hard, and dedicated their band class to becoming better.

The ninth grade band will also be performing in a district festival at U.V.U on May fifth, where they will be performing the same songs.

Kara Dunn
SJHS Staff Writer

Students at Springville Junior High School are considered very lucky to have the opportunities they do, by living here, in the United States. Other teens in the world aren’t as lucky to be able to go to school all through high school.

In an effort to help other teens in other places of the world, Springville Junior High is participating in fundraiser to help earn money for students around the world that aren’t as fortunate as others.

Yuda Bands are bracelets made by students in Guatemala that are then shipped to the US to be sold. Yuda Bands will be sold during lunch for seven dollars, or three for twenty, April 13th – 23rd. All the money that is raised is given to students in Guatemala to pay for their high school experience.

Springville Junior High is working hard to help other students benefit and receive the education that they deserve.

Kristi Hatch
SJHS Staff Writer

Attention! Attention!  If you’re a 7th or 8th grader at SJHS, this is your chance to be on the 2010-2011 yearbook staff!  The time has come to sign up to help make this memorable book for the whole school.

Yearbook is a fun class that lets you use your imagination.  You get to design pages, think of a theme, and put it all together.  You get to put your ideas with others’ and come up with an amazing book that the entire student body will remember for the rest of their lives.

It’s not all fun and games, however.  You need to do research, talk to teachers and students, and hurry to make deadlines.  To be on the yearbook staff, you need to be hard-working and dedicated so that the yearbook gets done on time.  You need to manage time wisely and come up with creative ideas in order to benefit the book.

If you’re a creative, hardworking person, and interested in being on the staff, pick up an application at the counseling office and turn it in to Ms. Neeley in room 58.

Kristi Hatch
SJHS Staff Writer

All year, eight SJHS students have been working hard to bring you a book that you will keep for the rest of your life.  Now all that’s left is for YOU to buy one!

Yearbook Week is April 19-23.  This is the time for SJHS students to buy their 2009-2010 yearbook.  During this week, students who have bought a yearbook are put into a drawing for prizes, and a prize will be given away every day.  The last prize that will be given away will be an iPod shuffle, and you could be the winner!

So don’t wait! Be sure to buy your yearbook before they run out! It’s your chance to be entered in a drawing for prizes!  You don’t want to be left out, so be sure to bring your $20.00 to the finance office before it’s too late!

Chris Crowe, author of Mississippi Trial 1955

Kara Dunn
SJHS Staff Writer

In Mrs. Bass’s ninth grade English classes, they have been reading “Mississippi Trial 1955,” by Chris Crowe. As part of their learning experience, Mrs. Bass’s classes invited Dr. Crowe, an English Education professor from BYU, to come and speak to them about his book and the history behind it.

The book is about the famous Mississippi Trial and a boy who lived during that time. Dr. Crowe spoke about the cause of the trial, the results, and how different society was back then from how it is today.

“I’m glad to meet new people who are reading my books,” Crowe said. Springville Junior High was grateful for the opportunity to hear from such a famous author and were able to connect the words on the page to the story that was told.

Kristi Hatch
SJHS Staff Writer

For the second year at SJHS, one of the many elective classes that is available is Chinese.  The Chinese class has a wonderful teacher, Mrs. Debra Wells, and the students enjoy it.

Mrs. Wells learned Chinese while serving an LDS mission in Taiwan, and then continued to study in college.  She decided to be a public school teacher, so she went to China and took an 8-week teaching course.  Between her mission and her life as a school teacher, she kept her Chinese up in many ways. “I worked for the U.S. Department of Defense in the Washington, D.C. area for a couple of years, translating oral Chinese materials. I worked with the BYU high school level Independent Study Chinese classes. My family and I hosted Chinese dancers several times for the Springville World Folkfest. I even got to be a guide during the Olympics – for the Chinese Women’s Hockey Team!” she explained.

Next year, Chinese 1 is available for eighth and ninth graders, and if students take Chinese 1 in eighth grade, they can take Chinese 2 in ninth grade. They do a lot of fun class projects, like learning about the Chinese Lantern Festival and attending the BYU Language Fair.

Kara Dunn
SJHS Staff Writer

Seventh graders at SJHS skipped school on February 5th and spend a day acting as an adult for Job Shadow Day.  Job Shadow Day is a day where the seventh graders spend a day with someone who has a job and learns about that job.

Ms. Josie Jarvis, CTE teacher at Springville Junior High, said, “Job Shadow Day is really beneficial because students get the opportunity to spend the whole day observing a specific job that they may be interested in. We want students to get thinking about a career path, so they can explore different paths before they head down a certain career path.”

Some students that went on their Job Shadow expedition had an interest in the job. Sarah Muir, a seventh grader who went to a massage clinic with her grandmother, was one of these students who had an interest in the job. “I really enjoyed it, I learned a lot and I’ve wanted to be a massage therapist for a long time,” she explained.

Other students discovered that they had no interest in the job they shadowed. Courtney O’Halloran, another seventh grader, enjoyed her experience at the BYU bookstore, but didn’t have an interest in perusing it as a career. “I had a lot of fun, but I want to be a chemist when I grow up.”

Lots of students at Springville Junior High participated in Job Shadow Day. Ms. Jarvis said that about 98% of her students were gone on Job Shadow Day.

For some students, finding and keeping a job isn’t something they’re particularly concerned about, seeing as their only in seventh grade. But as time goes by, it tends to speed up and the time flies by. Now is the time for students at Springville Junior High to be thinking about a career path they want to take.

Assistant Principal Dave Knudsen, Principal Darrel Rolfe, journalism students Christopher Taylor, Andrew Garza, Spencer Duncan, Katya Wagstaff, Kristi Hatch, Cody Woolsey, Kara Dunn, Julie Barbosa, and journalism teacher Tiffanie Miley.

Kristi Hatch
SJHS Staff Writer

On Wednesday, February 10, 2010, the journalism class of SJHS made a presentation to the Nebo District School Board.  Using the same presentation as when they presented to the Nebo PTA, the journalism class impressed the School Board.

Mr. Rolfe, the principal of SJHS, introduced the class and the teacher, Ms. Miley.  Then three students of the class, Kara Dunn, Katya Wagstaff, and Christopher Taylor presented a brief summary about what the duties and opportunities of the journalism class, after which there was a video presentation that Ms. Miley put together.

The video covered certain areas of journalism, and throughout the presentation, students were talking about what the certain things meant to them and how they do it well. A few the areas discussed were brainstorming, interviewing, drafting, editing, and peer review.  Students also expressed their satisfaction with being published in the Springville Herald and how their writing improved throughout the semester.

“Those who visited with me after the presentation indicated they were very impressed with the journalism program,” said Mr. Darrel Rolfe.  Ms. Miley also said, “I think the school board liked our presentation. They seemed interested in our video and were reading our newspaper.”

There’s no doubt that this year’s journalism class has been very successful. Mr. Rolfe said, “The fact that we had published so many articles and 100% of our students had been involved stood out to [the school board] as very untypical.  Certainly this is not only a tribute to our students, but to Ms. Miley as well.”

For more information, click here.

Kristi Hatch
SJHS Staff Writer

In Mr. Shields’s eighth grade history classes, students have been debating and learning about politics as they determine who they think will win the 2010 Super Bowl.  On February 5, students used the Electoral College system to vote on who they thought would be this year’s champion.

Electoral College is the system that the United States uses when it’s time to vote for the president of the United States.  Each state gets a certain amount of votes, based on the population in that state.  This system brings a different set of results than using popular vote.  For example, if a few lower-populated states all vote Republican and one higher-populated state votes Democratic, Democratic could still win in the Electoral College, but Republican would win in popular vote.

Well, needless to say, Mr. Shields’s classes were excited and involved on February 5.  Before the voting, the classes had a debate. Half the class represented the Saints, and half represented the Colts.  Then each student picked a state out of a hat (some students got two so that all 50 states were represented), and then they voted.  Mr. Shields remarked, “The kids had fun with it. It was a little vocal and fun, and they got to campaign.”

The results are in, and the total (all the classes combined) Electoral College votes for the Saints was 1,255 (popular was 131), and for the Colts, 1,970 (popular was 175).  As it happened, there was one unusual score: in Mr. Shields’s third period class.  In popular vote, the Saints won with 27 votes to 23 for the Colts.  However, the Colts won in Electoral College, at 310 votes to the Saints score of 228.  Despite all of these students rooting for the Colts, the Saints pulled ahead in the game, winning 31-17.

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!”

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.

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.”

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.