Katya Wagstaff
SJHS Staff Writer

Many people love to travel to far-off places for vacation.  People crave vacations because they’re a chance to get away from everyday life and either relax or go sightseeing.  Most people go to see sights that are famous for different reasons; perhaps they go to visit the Seven Wonders of the World including the Pyramids at Giza.  Perhaps what someone else dreams to see is the Eiffel Tower (“Tour de Eiffel” in French) in the City of Lights.  Whatever that special place may be, students, teachers and faculty members at SJHS love to travel.

Students at SJHS have a love of traveling to different places.  Julie Barbosa, a ninth grader, has been to Brazil and South Africa.  She said, “I love Brazil because it’s a party place and the food is great!”  Eighth-grade students Christopher Taylor and Spencer Duncan have both visited England.  According to Christopher, Oxford was a cool place to see because of the different old buildings.  Spencer said, “I like to go see the different places you can learn about Old and New London.”

As a teacher, the work schedule is different than “normal” office jobs.  Teachers have plenty of time in the summer for vacations.  Mr. Steven Robbins, a seventh-grade English teacher, has traveled to places all over the globe.  The most exotic vacation he has been on was to China.  Mrs. Natalie Luke, the foods teacher, has been to Ireland and Finland.  While she was in Finland, she ate reindeer!  Mrs. Lori Caras, a seventh and ninth-grade science teacher, couldn’t decide which vacation spot was her favorite.  She said, “Europe was filled with amazing history.  I loved being in a different culture and hearing different languages.”  Her other favorite vacation was Cancun.  According to Mrs. Caras, it was a relaxing place to visit.

Teachers aren’t the only ones who work in schools and have time to take vacations.  One of the newest faculty members to enter Springville Junior High is Mrs. Courtney Johnson, an assistant principal.  She said, “Last May, I traveled to Germany and drove down through Austria and into Slovenia.”  Slovenia is one of her favorite vacation spots because it is “easy to explore” because of its small size.  She also went through the Alps, one of the largest mountain ranges in the world.

These exciting vacations to far off places seem like you have to go to the other side of the world to experience.  But that’s not true, there are places in Utah that people across the world come to visit, and these places are practically in our backyards.  Utah is home to five national parks, which is more than any other state.  We also have many ski resorts to visit during the winter months.  This means that memorable vacations are right around the corner!

Kenia Martinez
SJHS Staff Writer

Springville Junior High School has a couple of science teachers. Among them is Mrs. Lori Caras, who teaches seventh and ninth grade students at the junior high. She’s taught at SJHS for ten years, and she taught at Woodenville High School in Seattle for four years.

Mrs. Caras decided to teach because her father was a professor and as she was growing up, Mrs. Caras saw how he loved teaching. She would also see him grading papers, but besides that, she said it looked like fun. She chose to teach science because she loves it.  She went on the explain, “Sometimes I think kids struggle, so I want to make it easier, and I want to make it fun.”

Besides teaching seventh grade life science and ninth grade Earth Systems, Mrs. Caras has also taught Biology, A.P. Biology, Anatomy, Physiology, and Microbiology. She says her favorite is Anataomy, Physiology and that she loves zoology, which is something she has a Master’s Degree in. “I thought I was going to be a vet when I was going up!” She said, explaining her love for Zoology. Mrs. Caras said she would like to teach for as long as she can; as long as she can stay an effective and enthusiastic teacher.

Jose Martinez,a ninth grade student at SJHS, said, “I like what I learn because the work is pretty easy. I like to learn about the Big Bang because it’s fun.” He says he likes the class because it’s fun and he has a lot of friends in the class. Jose likes the teacher because she’s pretty relaxed, but when the stduents get too noisy and don’t do their work, Mrs. Caras hushes them up and tells them to do their work.

Shelby Mason, a ninth grade student of Mrs. Caras’s also likes the class, “I like this class because we learn about a lot of interesting stuff.”

Out of all the science teachers in the school, Mrs. Caras is probably amongst the favorite for her sense of humor and nice and enthusiastic attitude.

Mrs. Manwaring long jumping at the district track meet.

Kayla Price
SJHS Staff Writer

Mrs. Manwaring is the ninth grade science teacher at Springville Junior high but not for long. She is leaving at the end of this school year.  Her husband will be attending medical school next year, and she just had a baby girl on Friday, May 15th.  Julia Manwaring was born at 4:58 a.m., and everything went well.

Mrs. Manwaring does not expect to get right back into teaching because she wants to stay home for a little while to spend time with her daughter.

Mrs. Manwaring is going to miss some the activities that she does with the students after school. “I will really miss coaching basketball and track, to,” she said. She is going to miss all of her students and the dances that she and her husband get to chaperone. “My favorite memories here at the school are because of the great students.”

Mrs. Caras said that Mrs. Manwaring is “an excellent teacher.” One of her students, Breekel Orton, said, “I’m going to miss Mrs. Manwaring.”  All of the students at SJHS are going to miss Mrs. Manwaring and there is no replacement for her outstanding personality.