SJHS News

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.

Dr. Sam Tsugawa plays along with the junior high orchestra.

Sarah Jensen
SJHS Staff Writer

January 20th is the first concert of the year for Springville Junior High’s eighth and ninth grade orchestras. They will play many different songs. Alex Hawker, a seventh grader in the eighth-grade orchestra, said, “We will play six songs, and one we learned it without any music!” Dr. Tsugawa is the director of these orchestras. Students in his eighth-grade orchestra think he is funny. According to Yamina Castro, Dr. Tsugawa teaches music concepts well and jokes with them.

In orchestra, the students learn many songs and do music theory. Dr. Tsugawa helps them with everything they do. Alex Hawker said, “Dr. Tsugawa is nice and funny. He makes learning theory fun and exciting.”

Yamina Castro’s favorite part of being in orchestra is “being able to play with many different parts and harmonies at the same time to make beautiful music.” They play songs called Frolic, Fiddles Down Under, Joust, Nightrider, Ashgrove, and Two English Dances. Remember, the concert is on January 20th at 8:00 p.m.

Brooke Seaton
SJHS Staff Writer

Springville Junior High students are excited for the new semester, but most kids are really going to miss a few of their classes. According to Maddie Joyner, an eighth-grade student, she is going to miss “the friends I won’t get to see as much.”  Another thing most students are going to miss is foods, an elective class.

But there are a lot of classes students are very excited for. Savannah McNitt, an eighth-grade student, is excited for “photography, because I get to take pictures!”  Maddie said what she’s most exited for is “foods because you get to eat your work!”

The hurry and confusion of changing classes starts the 19th of January, and the students at Springville Junior High get to go to brand new classes. Morgan Bowser, an eighth- grade student said, “I think it will be good to get new teachers to listen to and new work to do.”

Katya Wagstaff
SJHS Staff Writer

Every Christmas morning, little kids and others who wish they were little kids, wake up early to rush downstairs to see what presents are peeking out from under the Christmas tree.  They tear the wrapping paper off as fast as they can, after all, who cares about the wrapping paper, right?  This would describe everyone who completely loves Christmas and can’t wait to see what they received.  Coming back to school after the Christmas break is when many students compare what they got and what their friends got.  Every year there are certain items that it seems everyone has received for Christmas.

Among Springville Junior High students, some of the most popular gifts this year are iPods, cameras and, as every year, clothes.  According to Jamie Devenish, a seventh grader, her favorite gift this year was an iPod Touch because they have tons of things you can do with them.  Katelynn Marshall, an eighth grader, loves her new iPod touch because she has been “wanting one for a long time!”  According to Cynthia Esklund, another eighth grader, her favorite gift this year was a Nikon digital camera.

Other Christmas gifts aren’t as common, but still well-loved this year for SJHS students, for example, Bailey Cox, an eighth grader received a laptop.  According to her, it was her favorite gift because she can now take her computer wherever she wants.  A seventh grader, Morgan Dunn received a bow and arrow.  He loves it because, as he said, “It makes me feel like a hunter.”  Zoe Baldwin, a seventh grader, loves her new Wii because you “get a workout while playing video games.”

Teachers are big fans of Christmas as well.  Ms. Josie Jarvis, the SJHS Business CTE teacher said, “I love Christmas and always will!  The only thing that has changed is that I am more excited to give my gifts than receive gifts.”  Though she loves to give gifts, according to her, she loved a cute orange purse from Buckle given to her by her mom.  That just shows that at any age, SJHS loves Christmas, along with everyone else.

SJHS Staff Writers

Front row, left to right:  Jack Setzer, Spencer Duncan, Jacob DeRosia and Cody Woolsey.  Second row:  Jacob Simmons, Brooke Seaton, Morgan Bowser, Hayde Blanco and Christopher Taylor.  Third row:  Cheslea Ricks, Kenia Martinez, Julie Barbosa, Katya Wagstaff and Sarah Jensen.  Back row:  Max Schreiner, Andrew Garza, Jose Martinez and Kara Dunn.

Kenia Martinez
SJHS Staff Writer

This week is the last week that journalism will be available this school year. Students have enjoyed writing about different events from around the school. From student and teacher spotlights to school-wide happenings, the journalism students have covered nearly everything.

Ms.Tiffanie Miley has taught journalism this year. Ms. Miley enjoyed teaching the class and described her Journalism students as a group of great writers who are motivated to do good work. “I’ve been really impressed with what my journalism students have written this year–both in quantity and quality,” said Ms. Miley. The journalism students have done so well that Ms. Miley cannot think of a way that the students can improve in their writing.

Andrew Garza is an eighth-grade journalism student this semester. Andrew is sad that these are his last days as a journalism student. He’s had fun writing a wide variety of articles for this class. All the students in the journalism class can agree that their writing has improved since they’ve taken this class. “I think my writing has improved. I can be more descriptive when I write,” said Andrew. Andrew’s favorite article was one he wrote about what students were planning on doing for Christmas.

Sarah Jensen is another eighth-grade student in the journalism class. Her favorite article was one she wrote on Mr. Booth because it was fun to learn about band. “Yes!” Sarah said, explaining that the journalism class has indeed helped her in her writing, “I write tons better!”  Sarah isn’t particularly happy about leaving Journalism this semester because she enjoyed getting published, and she thinks that the class is really fun.

This semester will not be the end of news from SJHS, however. Next semester, a couple of former journalism students may end up writing articles. The scheduling is still being worked out, and Ms. Miley really hopes it happens. There will also be a journalism class next year for eighth and ninth grade students.

Jacob Simmons
SJHS Staff Writer

Over the past few weeks, students in Mrs. Mary Rice’s honors English class have been working hard to create there very own renditions of a “Faustian Bargain.”

In the story Dr. Faustus a very intelligent scholar sells his soul to the devil and in return, the devil grants the man his every wish for a number of years. The students in Mrs. Rice’s class have been making their own versions of this exchange. They are making up stories that involve a character giving up something of long term importance for something of immediate gain. The ideas the students have come up with ideas that vary from a jungle scene to an ocean scene, and they involve all different kinds of characters such as lions, fish, and llamas.

After the students come up with an idea, they ponder on ways to share it. They can do a skit, a puppet show, or pretty much anything else they can come up with. The students create the scenery, the character, and the voices in each scenario.

All of this is in preparation to read the classic novel, Dr. Faustus. After the skits the students of Mrs. Rice’s class read about the real Faustian Bargain. The main purpose of all of this was explained by Mrs. Rice, “I am really aiming for students to understand how sophisticated authors layer stories together. The layering indicts the original story in some ways and affirms it others. Lots of times young people think that they have to come up with an entirely new story, which is not the case. One of the traits of brilliant authors is that they can tell an old story in way that sounds fresh and relevant for modern audiences.”

Mr.Rolfe and Mrs. Johnson in the cafeteria at SJHS.

Julie Barbosa
SJHS Staff Writer

With every school there is a principal behind it, one who runs the fundraisers, does the school assemblies, supervises students, and encourages staff members.  The principal behind Springville Junior High is Mr. Darrel Rolfe.

Mr. Darrel Rolfe has been principal of Springville Junior High for three years and continues going strong. Prior to leading SJHS, Mr. Rolfe worked at Spanish Fork High as a teacher, guidance counselor and assistant principal.  Mr. Rolfe said, “I am excited to be here. I have enjoyed the transition from high school to the junior high. Both have their advantages, but this has been a good experience for me.”  With all the hectic work, Mr. Rolfe isn’t alone in running this busy school. Mrs. Courtney Johnson and Mr. David Knudsen are vice principals, ready at his side to help. Mrs. Johnson said, “Mr. Rolfe is very intelligent man, who really cares about the kids and teachers. He also has a really great sense of humor.”

There is talk of a new Springville Junior High going to be built, even with a new building the knights will live on. Mr. Rolfe said, “We continue to work on our school sprit each year. Much has been done to display our logo in the school and help students identify with the KNIGHTS. Over the next few years as we move through the process of building a new school, we will look at many changes and improvements.”  Springville Junior High Knights are effective communicators, responsible citizens and respectful learners.