SJHS News

Hayde Blanco
SJHS Staff Writer

Dr. Sam Tsugawa conducts the Springville High School folk ensemble, which meets every Thursday after school.  This program is mainly for high school students, but two Springville Junior High students are involved. Emily Daybell and Dylan Larsen both play the bass. Anyone in the high school can join. All they have to do is show up.

Members of the folk ensemble play violins, fiddles, basses, mandolins, and banjos. They play Bluegrass, Irish and Folk music. They use no music and play by ear. Dr. Tsugawa said, “We add on more and more as long as it sounds good.” Dylan said, “I like all the music that we play.”

Diana Melendez, eighth grader in Reading for Enjoyment, explains why she loved Pride and Prejudice during her book talk.

Katya Wagstaff
SJHS Staff Writer

In most classes at SJHS you will hear talking, laughing, and so on.  If you pass by Ms. Tiffanie Miley’s room during seventh period, it will be very quiet, which is just the way the Reading for Enjoyment students like it.  Inside, are students reading whatever books they want.  They join this class simply, as Sara Torsak, a seventh grader put it, because “reading is so fun!”

Ms. Miley, the Reading for Enjoyment teacher, also teaches seventh grade English. According to her, Reading for Enjoyment is similar to seventh grade English because they both practice reading strategies and share opinions about what they’ve been reading.  Courtney O’Halloran, another seventh grader, explained their daily agenda by saying, “We do book talks, a book talk is when you ‘advertise’ a book you recently read, and then we read and at the very end we write a journal entry on what we read.”

According to Joee Lowe, an eighth grader, she doesn’t have enough time to ready during the day, so this is 30 minutes for her to read.  Reading for Enjoyment has been taught in the past, but was postponed for a couple years because of a limited amount of teachers to teach the class, now, book lovers have a class to look forward to!  “Reading is one of my favorite things to do,” said Diana Melendez, an eighth grader taking Reading for Enjoyment.

When it comes to books, it’s impossible to love every book you read.  Everyone has a different personality; therefore, certain books may be more appealing to us than others.  Erika Frischknecht, a seventh grader, said, “The Lightning Thief [series] is so action packed, I loved it!”  While the Lightning Thief series is Erika’s favorite, Courtney loves Inkheart.  She said, “When I read it, it grabbed every bit of my attention and tweaked at my emotions.”  That’s exactly why Reading for Enjoyment students love to read!

Jose Martinez
SJHS Staff Writer

At Springville Junior High School there is the new skill building instructor, Mr. Josh Hakes. While he isn’t teaching any classes, he is helping out with skill building upstairs. He is only here half days, but he is still of great help and greatly admired by students and teachers.

“I am new to this school this year. I am majoring in math and getting a minor in science. I want to become a teacher,” said Mr. Hakes. Mr. Hakes is new to Springville Junior High School and has so far been enjoying his job, and as he said enjoys helping the youth. He is still in college and plans to be a teacher.

“My original plan was to teach high school, but after working here I really enjoy this junior high,” said Mr. Hakes.  Skill building is a classroom that is used for kids who either get into a lot of trouble or have a lot of late/absences.

“I will stay here as long as they let me,” said Mr. Hakes.  Springville Junior High School is happy to accept Mr. Hakes as a new helper at the school.

Katya Wagstaff, Krystena Robbins, Darby Farr, Aaron Stoddard, and Spencer Duncan participated in the Mormon Tabernacle Choir’s Christmas concert.

Katya Wagstaff
SJHS Staff Writer

Many may not know it, but Mrs. Leslie Walker, the SJHS Choral Director, also is a member of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir.  For the recent Mormon Tabernacle Choir Christmas Concert, The Wondrous Gift of Christmas, there was a children’s choir consisting of many childrens’ choirs from Utah.  One of those choirs, Hobble Creek Singers, is from Springville and is directed by Mrs. Walker.  Five of the ten children participating in the Mormon Tabernacle Choir concert are students at Springville Junior High.

Students Krystena Robbins, Darby Farr, Aaron Stoddard, Spencer Duncan and Katya Wagstaff were the five participating.  The concert was December 10th through the 12th, and Music and the Spoken Word, on the 13th.  During the week of the rehearsals and performances, the students left Springville at about 4:00 in the afternoon and didn’t arrive back home until 11 or 12 at night.

“When you’re on stage, it’s a lot better than when you’re just watching,” said Krystena.  According to Aaron, the best part was the performances.  Darby had a different opinion, according to her, meeting Dr. Mack Wilburg and singing in the LDS Conference Center was the best.  Spencer simply enjoyed “being able to sing with friends and MoTab members.”

Being in the concert required making sacrifices; if you wanted to be in the concert, it was required that you participate in every single rehearsal and performance.  According to Krystena, she sacrificed part of the time that she normally would’ve been asleep.  According to Darby, she missed her first ballroom concert with BYU.  Aaron had to miss a swim meet.

Performing with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir was a learning experience.  Spencer said, “[The concert] helped me appreciate what the MoTab members go through every week.”  According to Aaron, it improved his singing voice and his confidence.  Confidence is needed if you’re performing in front of up to 21,000 people, and being filmed for a DVD to come out the next year!

No matter how many sacrifices were made, all the kids agreed that it was worth it, even though they were wearing black turtleneck sweaters with long sleeve, baggy lilac shirts with a violet bow over, a purple beret tipped to the left, and either a black skirt or black pants.  Talking about the costumes, Darby said, “I looked like a French painter, but I wish I could do it again.”  According to Krystena, she’d love to as long as she’d be able to get more sleep.

Christopher Taylor
SJHS Staff Writer

A few weeks ago, the citizens of Springville woke up to a pristine ivory blanket of snow on the ground. Many people probably greeted it with a cry of joy, but others might have been thinking of scraping cars, shoveling sidewalks, and driving and walking on icy, wet roads. Some of the students at SJHS share this opinion, while others are more optimistic about the recent precipitation.

Celeborn Stringham, a seventh grader at SJHS, loves the snow. According to him, the snow is fun because you can go sledding, build forts, and have snowball fights (outside of school of course). There are a lot of other fun activities that you can do in the snow like ice skating, skiing, snowboarding, snowshoeing and making snowmen.

Some students feel that there are just as many reasons to dislike snow as there are reasons to like it. Aaron Stoddard, an eight-grade snow-hater at SJHS, said, “I hate snow, mostly because its cold and wet, and I’m from California where it’s warm and sunny.” There are plenty of kids who, like Aaron, can’t wait for the long winter months to end.

Not everyone is so strongly opinionated on this topic. Jennifer Bate, an eighth grader at SJHS, said, “I love it for a while, but it gets really old after Christmas.” Whether students like or not, snow has come to Utah, and it’s probably going to stay a lot longer than after Christmas.

Mrs. Gleave’s geometry class sings math Christmas carols to a seventh-grade English class.

Jacob Simmons
SJHS Staff Writer

A new tradition has sprung at SJHS in Mrs. Corrin Gleave’s most advanced math classes. A unit she started just last year is her Christmas caroling unit, which she has decided to revive again this year.

Last year Mrs. Gleave had her students take a little bit of time from math, and had them rewrite words to the tunes of familiar Christmas carols. The words the students wrote all had to relate to math formulas and theorems from their book. This year the students are required to do the same thing.

Once the masterpieces have been written by the students, the whole class learns each others songs. They then go around to different teachers throughout the school to sing their formulas and theorems.

“Last year was our first caroling event, but I immediately knew it should be an annual tradition,” said Mrs. Gleave. The unit has also proven to be a great way to help students remember the formulas; students from last year remember the songs, and even those who were sung to remember them.

“The slope formula set to ‘Feliz Navidad’ and the Order of Operations set to ‘Santa Claus is Coming to Town’ were both exceptionally hilarious!” Mrs. Gleave commented, “It is really difficult to choose favorites because students are amazingly adept at “spoofing” songs!” She continued.

Jacob Simmons
SJHS Staff Writer

Springville Junior High School is very pleased with their English department. One of the men that helps make the department so successful is Mr. Trent Mikesell, seventh-grade English teacher.

Mr. Mikesell is working on his fourth year as a teacher. He has taught at three schools: Payson Middle School, Pocatello High School, and of course, Springville Junior High. He has taught grades seventh through ninth, as well as eleventh. “I like seventh best of all, especially in a junior high. They are so new and really enjoy coming to school,” he said.

“I really like teaching, it is truly the ideal job for me,” said Mr. Mikesell, “I like that each day is varied, and that I get to work directly with people.”  According to Mr. Mikesell, he chose to teach because both of his parents had taught. “It is in my blood,” he said. Originally he wanted to be a music teacher; however after taking a few music classes in college, he decided to change. He chose another of his favorite hobbies: reading.

Mr. Mikesell also helps out with the school’s “Gifted and Talented” program. The program is for a group advanced students in each grade level, which get to go on various activities throughout the year to places like the Utah Capitol, or museums close to home. “Mr. Mikesell has a great sense of creativity which contributes a lot to the program,” said Ethan Trunnell, a ninth-grade student in the program. While Mr. Mikesell is still new to the program and learning his way around what they do, he says, “it’s fun to see the students outside of the classroom and do fun things with them.”

Outside of school, Mr. Mikesell enjoys playing the piano, reading, and going to his parents’ cabin in Island Park, Idaho. While there, he and his family ride four wheelers, go snowmobiling, and canoeing. Something many people don’t know is that Mr. Mikesell likes skiing, although he claims he is not very good at it. Mr. Mikesell stated, “If I had unlimited money, I would want to travel all over the world in my free time.”

Jack Setzer
SJHS Staff Writer

It’s on the Utah License plates- “The Greatest Snow on Earth.” Mrs. Kaycie Sorenson, SJHS math teacher, agrees with that statement. “Utah ski resorts rock!” said Mrs. Sorenson. In the winter, many Utahns, and others from across the world, go up into the Utah Rockies and ski up at any of the several resorts.

“Hills are split,” said Spencer Duncan, an eighth grade SJHS student. “From hardest to easiest: Double Black Diamond, Black Diamond, Green Square, and Blue Circle.”

What do people like about Alpine skiing? “You can go super fast, but slow as well,” said Spencer. Mrs. Sorenson said, “There is no greater feeling in this world than the cold air rushing across your face as you fly down a steep slope covered in fresh powder.”

Jack Setzer
SJHS Staff Writer

Some would say that Springville Junior High has been a very lucky school for 10 years straight. They would be referring to the fact that the boys’ PE coach, Michael Parker, has been instructing students for 10 years at Springville Junior High. “I hate grading, so PE seems the spot for me!” said Coach Parker. According to Coach Parker, he received a minor in PE which let him teach, even though his Bachelor’s degree is in Geology.

Throughout the semester, students play a variety of sports in boys’ PE. Eighth-grade student Tyler Condie’s favorite sport played in boys’ PE is volleyball. “It’s a fun and easy game that anyone can get,” said Tyler. “And it’s easy rules, so [there are] no mistakes.” Another eighth-grade student, Jay Biesinger, said that his favorite PE sport is pickleball. “It’s like tennis, except with a wooden paddle and a wiffleball,” said Jay.

“[Coach Parker] does a good job of letting us play, and not so much talking!” said Max Schreiner, an eighth-grade boys PE student.

Kara Dunn
SJHS Staff Writer

Springville Junior High school is undergoing a few changes this year in appearance and staff. Mrs. Courtney Johnson has been added to the staff at Springville Junior High as the new vice principal. “I love how well-rounded the school is. Mr. Rolfe and Mr. Knudsen really understand the kids here, and you can tell they really care,” Mrs. Johnson explained.

Mr. Dave Knudsen, another vice principal at SJHS, shared his thoughts on working with Mrs. Johnson when he said, “I enjoy working with Mrs. Johnson; she’s really funny and a hard worker. She’s also very energetic about her work.”

Mrs. Johnson said, “I had just finished my administrative degree, and I’ve wanted to be a principal for twelve or so years. These kids are at my favorite age. They’re funny, honest, and make me laugh.”

Just like anyone else, Mrs. Johnson also has outside interests, besides being a vice principal. She has written one book, and is in the process of writing two others.  Mrs. Johnson also had a dream to be an airline pilot. “I originally wanted to work for the airlines, but I fell in love with the kids when I was student teaching and decided to give up my airline career,” she explained. Mrs. Johnson’s husband, however, is a pilot, and they are able to fly together.

Mrs. Johnson loves working at Springville Junior High because of the overall atmosphere and the excitement that goes on inside the halls. “I hope to stay here for a long time,” she explained.

Hayde Blanco
SJHS Staff Writer

SJHS has a lot of hard working teachers. One of them is Mrs. Diane Bird, who teaches three classes: service learning, CTE, and sewing. She has been teaching here for one year and has loved it. Even though she is busy with school work she still has time for her family, pets and her big yard at home.

This year is Mrs. Bird’s fifth year teaching. Before coming to SJHS, she taught sewing, service learning, CTE, foods, child development and Interior Design at Provo High School. Before teaching, she helped with her husband’s business and has been busy raising four children.

Mrs. Bird may seem too busy, but she doesn’t let work stand in her way of doing things at home. She likes to cook, sew, hike and hang out with her kids. “My kids are my hobbies,” said Mrs. Bird. Mrs. Bird also likes to travel. She has been to places like Arizona, California, Hawaii, Canada and Europe. Her all-time favorite place to go is the Teton Mountains in Wyoming, and she loves the beach!

Students have nothing but good things to say about Mrs. Bird. Brittney Hooley, an eighth-grade student, said, “Mrs. Bird is a really good teacher. She takes time with you so you can understand what you are doing.” Another eighth grader, Laurelin Webb, said, “Mrs. Bird is a fun, easy-going teacher.”

Jacob Simmons
SJHS Staff Writer

A great component to the quality teaching in both schooling and sports at Springville Junior High is thanks in part to Mr. David Kindrick. Mr. Kindrick teaches science at SJHS, coaches the girls’ basketball team, and also helps out with the track team.

Mr. Kindrick has been teaching for nine years, eight of those years at SJHS. The other schools he has taught at include East Hardy Early Middle School and Timpview High School.  Mr. Kindrick is currently teaching and has mostly taught eighth-grade integrated science. He has also taught body conditioning and study skills. “I really like the ecology section [of eighth grade science] because I get to integrate a lot of art,” said Mr. Kindrick.

Mr. Kindrick doesn’t just teach in the classroom; he teaches both on the basketball court and out in the field for track. McKenzie Morris, a member of the ninth-grade girls’ basketball team, said, “He is a good coach. He is very assertive and knows a lot about the game.”

Some of his favorite things to do outside of school are sports, puzzles, and reading. He is a big fan of science fiction books. Like most people, Mr. Kindrick also enjoys spending time with his friends and family.

Mr. Robbins reading to his students.

Sarah Jensen
SJHS Staff Writer

Did you ever write an autobiography? The students in Mr. Steven Robbins’ class are writing one right now. Mr. Robbins has been teaching English and doing these autobiographies since 1990.  However, he took eight years off to teach Geography. “My favorite thing about having my students write these essays is watching students get into writing them,” said Mr. Robbins.

Mr. Robbins teaches seventh-grade English. Haylee Duncan, a seventh grader at SJHS in Mr. Robbins’ class, said, “In class we read, do journal entries, he reads to us, and lots more!” There are seven chapters in the autobiography. The first chapter is called “What about Grandma and Grandpa?” The first chapter is about the students’ grandparents. The students have about two to three weeks to write an at least one full page typed or one-half very neatly written single-spaced pages. Mr. Robbins gives the students a guide so they are not writing it all on their own. The guide helps them to make sure they have everything they need.

Chapter two is called “How My Parents Met.” The students in Mr. Robbins’ class have not gotten this assignment yet, however, it will be assigned to them soon. This essay needs to include when and how they became engaged, when and where they were married, who performed the marriage, about the reception and more. “The parents essay will be due sometime in January,” said Mr. Robbins.

Following chapters focus on later parts of the students’ lives.  The last chapter is called “Who am I?”  This essay need to have the students describe themselves and include their feelings about life, values, hopes, goals, things most important to them.

There is another part it is not a whole essay, it is an epilogue. It needs to be hand written and should be addressed to future generations. Include the students’ plans for the future and it needs to be signed and dated at the end. Mr. Robbins’s classes are going to write an interesting autobiography. Mr. Robbins hopes they enjoy writing it.

NCTE Publicity

Mary Rice of Springville Junior High was recently appointed to serve as State Coordinator of the Achievement Awards in Writing Program for the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE).

The NCTE Achievement Awards in Writing competition is open to juniors in high school and recognizes writing excellence based on the students’ samples of their own best prose or verse, and on impromptu themes that are written under supervision. The State Coordinator receives entries and directs the work of the state judges. For more information on NCTE’s Achievement Awards in Writing, please visit here.

The National Council of Teachers of English, with 50,000 individual and institutional members worldwide, is dedicated to improving the teaching and learning of English and the language arts at all levels of education. For more information, please visit here.

Ninth grader Brooke Caswell standing next to her poster about the north central African nation of Chad.

Jack Setzer
SJHS Staff Writer

Students in Mr. Rob Bentley’s ninth-grade geography classes have been working on presentations about specific countries in Africa. They do the presentations because, according to Mr. Bentley, there isn’t enough time to talk about all 53 countries in Africa. Students had two weeks to work on the presentations, and they presented their reports on Monday, December 14. Before making their reports, they did two class periods of research on Africa.

Students did different things for their presentations. “I’ll probably get a poster, and some pictures of different tribes, and their customs and cultures there,” said MacKenzie Morris, who is doing her presentation on Niger. According to Leksi Rosenberg, who is doing a report on Mali, she will most likely do a PowerPoint for her presentation.

According to Mr. Bentley, most students “seem to really enjoy” assignments like this one. MacKenzie said, “I like learning about Africa and everyone in it.”