Imagine if you went to a concert or play, but you couldn’t see or hear the performers. The lights and sounds crew’s job at SJHS is to make sure this does not happen. They are in charge of all the lights and sounds in plays, concerts and assemblies. The seven students on the crew are directed by Mr. Shawn Hatfield, a biology teacher at SJHS.
Fridays at Springville Junior High are always fun because Friday is the day we spin the wheel at lunch. For most students, Friday is the day they get their awesome prizes such as iPods, chips, fifteen and five dollar gift cards to Wal-Mart, Yuda Bands, one dollar bills, and coming soon, Krispy Kreme Doughnut gift cards.
Mrs. Elizabeth Bass’s ninth-grade English class is taking a step back in time to the late fifteen hundreds, to the time when Shakespeare was the writer of the century.
“We’re starting a unit on the play, 'Romeo and Juliet.'” Mrs. Bass explained, “Typically all ninth-grade English teachers explore this play; I think it’s fun to study because there are lots of things that students can relate to.”
“It’s fun to learn about this kind of stuff, and about Shakespeare’s life,” Madeline Alishbah, a ninth grade student said.
Mrs. Marthea Jackson is a math teacher at Springville Junior High, as well as a friend to her fellow faculty members and the students she has taught in the past.
Mrs. Jackson started her teaching career at Springville Junior High fourteen years ago and has loved every minute of teaching. “I love how everyday is different; the experiences we have everyday in class, watching a kid be so happy that they did well on a math test when they didn’t think they would.”
Mrs. Jackson never thought she would be a math teacher until she got into college. “I took a class about education, and both my parents were teachers. I got hooked.”
Mr. David Booth is the band teacher at Springville Junior High and has been teaching for 14 years at SJHS. “I’ve always been drawn to all kinds of music, rock, jazz, R&B,” said Mr. Booth. According to Mr. Booth, his high school wrestling coach and math teacher, Mr. Hilderman, was a big influence on him becoming a teacher.
The band students love band. Paige Smith, an eighth grader at SJHS, said, “I like how I get to express myself through music; Mr. Booth is a great teacher!” When people think of band they usually think of music. The band members play many different kinds of music like rock, Christmas, jazz, classical and much more.
Every year at Springville Junior High there is a special event: students vs. teachers flag football. Each year, students think they will win but are always proven wrong.
“There are six teams, five student teams and one teacher team; the overall winner is the team that has the most wins," said Mr. Brian Rice. Even though it seems like the student would have an advantage with more student, the teachers are usually the victors because they are bigger, smarter and more handsome than the students, as Mr. Rice put it.
The Chinese class at Springville Junior High School is having a contest. Students made posters, and these posters will be entered into a contest sponsored by the Utah Foreign Language Association. The theme this year is “One Word Is Worth A Thousand Pictures”.
Ms. Tiffanie Miley teaches seventh grade Language Arts, Reading for Enjoyment, and the Journalism class at SJHS; she is a very busy teacher! Ms. Miley decided to become teacher because of her good teachers in high school. She enjoyed to reading so decided to teach English. She loves coming to work everyday, and considers herself lucky to have a job she enjoys.
This is Ms. Miley's eleventh year at SJHS, and she chose to teach here because, “There are so many good kids at the junior high!” Morgan Bowser, a student in Ms. Miley’s class, thinks that she is a nice teacher and is very patient. Max Schreiner, another student that has Ms. Miley, thinks she has “good teaching strategies and she also is very helpful.”
As the first term comes to an end at Springville Junior High, another one starts right back up. For students this is an opportunity to get it right the second term; students like Kaleb Barnum, an eighth grader at SJHS, said, “it’s a fresh start, all my grades are A’s.”
During term two, many students are bound and determined to get better grades from last term. Mr. Shaun Blakey, school counselor, said that one way to get better grades is to “Just do it!” He also suggested that students stay organized and use the writing and math labs after school if they fall a little behind.
Mr. David Rencher’s woodshop class is doing a class project. Their class project is to make their own individual chest that is the size of a treasure chest. It will take about the whole second term. Students have to take many safety tests so that Mr. Rencher knows that they will be safe in the shop. Students have to use saws, big machines, blades, and a lot of stuff that can hurt anyone. So students have to take a safety test for every machine that they will use.
