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.

Mrs. Rice’s students prepare for a group discussion.

Hayde Blanco
SJHS Staff Writer

Do you remember those essays you had to do when you were in school? Well writing here at Springville Junior High isn’t too hard to find. Especially for those students who would like to have a better understanding and were brave enough to take Honors English.

Honors English here is taught by only one teacher, and that teacher is Mrs. Mary Rice. According to her, in Honors English students have more choices than students in other English classes. Instead of Mrs. Rice choosing what the class will study, it is, “Whatever the students decide to do,” said Mrs. Rice. “Students pick from a reading list and the subject that has the most votes is what they get to work on.”

Ninth-graders Whitney Norman and D.J. Barnes both agree that their favorite thing they have worked on is reading Dracula. Whitney said, “Reading it as a class helps me understand it more than when I read it alone.”

People may think that Honors English is a class where they do nothing but work, but students sure do like this class. Whitney said, “It’s just a lot of fun!”  D.J. also likes the teacher. D.J. said, “She interacts with her students more than any other teacher I have met.”

Mrs. Rice has a lot of fun projects planned out for the students in Honors English. According to Mrs. Rice, these projects will be writing, dramatic and presentational projects. So think again, maybe Honors English is a class that eighth grade students might want to take.

Mrs. Monica Distefano, ninth grade counselor at SJHS.

Jose Martinez
SJHS Staff Writer

Throughout their junior high years, some students have personal problems big or small, and there is a group of dedicated people who are always there to help out with problems.  That group of people is the counselors.

Mrs. Monica Distefano is a very well-known and loved counselor at  Springville Junior High. Throughout the past three years she has helped many teenagers who either have personal problems or are just feeling unhappy about life. Whatever the reason, she is always prepared to talk to them.

“I have enjoyed counseling because I get to know a lot of students very well,” said Mrs. Distefano. A lot of people are not familiar with the fact that these were her first three years actually counseling full time, whereas before she was only counseling half time.

“There has not been one thing I have not liked about these kids,” said Mrs. Distefano.  Students are at times shy or aggressive when they have to talk to a counselor, but she has liked all of the students that go in and out of her office, looking for advice or to transfer classes.

“I didn’t really expect a certain thing from any of the students,” said Mrs. Distefano. With every new set of kids a counselor gets, some expect great others expect not so great things, but Mrs. Distefano did not, and that’s why she learned to get along with all the students.  She talked to them and also grew to be loved by all of them.

Ninth graders bidding farewell to SJHS.

Emily Regan
SJHS Staff Writer

Dear fellow ninth grade students,

We made it! Our last year in junior high, our freshmen year in the world, is now over. Laughter, tears, cafeteria food, morning enrichment—all are ingredients of the junior high school experience. Now we’re all on to bigger and better things.

Here starts the beginning of the rest of our lives. Here is where we grow the most, for good or bad, into what we will become as adults.  But if we made it this far, we can make it all the way. The rest of the century will be a piece of chocolate cake.

Ready or not, here comes high school! You think testing in junior high was hard? Just you wait. But the challenge is part of the fun. So are making new friends, going to football games, and getting your iPod taken away for ignoring the teacher. It isn’t all fun and games, though. It’s sweat, blood, and hard work, too. High school can sometimes be scary, but hey, we survived cafeteria food.

Some of our freshmen class will be moving on, to Maple Mountain, or U.C.A.S. (Utah County Academy of Sciences), or other places. We wish all of them well, and hope they come to visit us! It might be tough for them to be in a completely new environment, but the world doesn’t know that we’re from Springville—little city, big future.

But who can forget good old Springville Junior High? Whether you like it or not, isn’t that where you began your legacy? Remember to laugh every time you pass SJHS. Wave to the kids running the mile, show up to support our band geeks and orch dorks, buy a tub of cookie dough when they knock on your door. The teachers have already admitted that they’ll miss us, and we know we’ll be thinking of them on our High School Graduation day.

So here is to the good and the bad, the happy and the sad, the halls and the walls, of our beloved SJHS.

—On behalf of the student body, have a great summer.

SJHS will not ever call and request any financial information over the telephone.  Please notify law enforcement authorities if you receive any of these calls.

Ninth grade students at Springville Junior all have very different lifestyles. Journalism took the chance to find out a little bit about some different people, with very different lifestyles. Angela Allred, Shayne Bailey and Monica Gollaz told the journalism class about their personalities.

They described their personalities as fun, awesome, bubbly, caring, helpful, talkative, outgoing, happy, energetic, and funny. Everybody has different personalities that make them individuals.

Music can tell a lot about a person. Their personality and attitude can be affected by the types of music they listen to .Their favorite kind of music types are they are hip hop, R&B, rock, pop, alternative, and all but, hard rock and opera.

Their after school hobbies include hanging out with friends, dance, gymnastics, and ice skating. Everybody has different hobbies; their hobbies help explain their personalities by seeing how they act around people and how their athletic skills are.

Every student has a favorite class in school. Most students said that body conditioning, photography, English, science and history are their favorite subjects in school.