November 2010

Students have all heard about Springville Junior High’s new Quest Time program. Some students may have attended many different enrichment activities with many different teachers. One of these activities is sign language. The sign language enrichment class is held by Ms. Diane Hamilton, pre-algebra and algebra 1A teacher at SJHS, and takes place in room 74 every Tuesday. Ms. Hamilton teaches this enrichment class because she thinks it is important for students to know another language, and she thinks it should be a regular class.

A group of students at Springville Junior High was taken out of classes on October 7th and October 8th for an activity requiring critical thinking, teamwork, and leadership skills. The purpose of this activity was to “develop communication and problem-solving skills by working in groups, using higher-level thinking skills, while having fun in the process,” said Mr. David Hansen, Gifted and Talented supervisor at SJHS.  The students participating in the activity were given a problem, and they had to solve the problem using common items. According to Mr. Hansen, the success rate of this activity was excellent.

This year Mr. Ken Van Ausdal, principal at SJHS, and Mr. Dave Knudsen, assistant principal at SJHS, have given students an opportunity to show their accomplishments in and out of the school community. Together they have given students the Path to Knighthood. Similar to what the knights in the medieval ages had to accomplish, students will have to complete activities in physical fitness, academics, arts, and service to move along the Path to Knighthood. “I think it’s a good experience,” said seventh grader Sarah Christensen, “I’m excited to start.”

The creative writing class is a popular class at Springville Junior High School where students can practice their writing skills and have opportunities to write.  Mr. Trent Mikesell, English teacher at SJHS, is the new creative writing teacher at the junior high.

The creative writing class is held in first period, in Mr. Mikesell’s class- room 54. Mr. Mikesell took over the class from Ms. Tiffanie Miley and Ms. Rachel Neeley who taught it in years past. The class won’t be too different from last year; this year the class is doing many of the same assignments

At Springville Junior High students are having a great time in an elective class called Clothing Exploration. Students may take this class in eighth and ninth grade.  This is a class where students are taught the parts of a sewing machine, how to measure material, sew, and thread the sewing machine. Students are required to do five projects to pass after they finish all of their projects they may work on a mystery project.

Students start this class by going and getting their fabric, after students have purchased their fabric; they check their machine for anything wrong. After they check everything for flaws they may begin working on whatever project they are on. 

Students all over Springville Junior High School have been getting used to Quest Time enrichment activities.  Enrichment activities are students reward for having grades above a C-. Some of the most popular activities so far have been things like movies, board games, the pool table in the counselor’s room, and magic classes.  What most students haven’t heard of is the book group, a new activity that started just four weeks ago at Springville Junior.

Mr. Josh Hakes, a technician at SJHS, is going to the army on October 18th to be a medic for fallen soldiers in the war. He flew out of Utah October 19th. According to Mr. Hakes, he is going into the active army. He will live on a base then go home then join the National Guard.

Mr. Hakes will be in boot camp in Jackson, South Carolina for 12 weeks, then 16 weeks in San Antonio for medic training. The next two years he doesn’t know where he will be. They will inform him where he goes when the time comes.

Students are sitting in their quiet manners class during Quest Time when all of a sudden they hear this sound, and then the room starts shaking. After thinking it’s an earthquake and beginning evacuation procedures, they realize it’s just Mr. Dahl’s guitar class rocking out.
   
Mr. Dahl, the teacher of the guitar class that meets during Quest Time, has been playing guitar for the past ten years.  He writes songs and performs local shows in Utah and Idaho. Over the years, he has recorded several CD’s
   

Quest Time is a new thing here at SJHS, and the time period is filled with many different activities.   One of these activities is Fantasy League Football, supervised by Mr. David Kindrick, science teacher at SJHS.  The program takes place on Fridays during Quest Time in Mr. Kindrick’s room upstairs.  Students who take part in Fantasy League make predictions on what teams they think will win during that week of football.  The students also pick players that play certain key positions that the students think will do well, then the players who do well are rewarded more points than players that play poorly.

There are a lot of activities during Quest Time; one of them is Family Finding which takes place every Tuesday with Mr. David Hansen, Utah History teacher at Springville Junior High School. Students do you want to know who you are related to?

Mr. Hansen decided to do this during Quest Time because it is educational, plus it is fun. Mr. Hansen said, “People seem to enjoy it because it is challenging, and a puzzle, and people seem to enjoy puzzles.” According to Mr. Hansen, Family Finding has become a fast growing hobby for people they have developed new site with lots more information about you family.