December 2012

Have you ever made anything that was so great that you just had to show everyone?  Well heres your chance. SJHS is making it possible for your art to be seen all over Springville in Springville Junior High School’s school newspaper! Emily Baugh, an eighth grader at SJHS, said, “I love seeing my art in the school newspaper!” Kallie Powell, a ninth grader at SJHS, said, “Entering my picture was fun! It was fun to see it in the newspaper!”         

Recently, there was an assembly at the Springville Junior High. Cherie Davis came and told stories to SJHS students.  She also taught them about good storytelling abilities. Carter Call, seventh grader at SJHS, said, “She taught us that you can use actions to make the story come alive and that by switching your tone, you could change the feeling of the story. She also taught us that you should look at the people in the audience while you were telling the story so that you kind of had a connection with them.” Mrs. Davis is a professional, and she told several fairy tales to the students. Many students enjoyed the event.

This past semester, Springville Junior High has had many events happen. Many students have good memories of the things they experienced. From August through December, many things have happened at SJHS, from Cross Country in September to Election Day in November. This article is dedicated to these past months of the the first semester.

August of course, many students will recall the first day of school, but according to Carter Call, a seventh grader at SJHS, he had a pretty interesting day. Carter said, “I was happy to see there were vending machines. I also got lost a couple times.”

At Springville Junior High School there are teacher assistants, also known as T.A.’s,  that help with lots of tasks for teachers. According to Mr. Hatfield, a science teacher at SJHS, T.A.’s help with a lot of things like copying papers, running errands, and scheduling meetings. 

Most T.A.’s help with things like stapling papers, printing and copying papers, scheduling meetings, and a lot more when the teacher is busy teaching. “If I could go back I would still be a T.A. because it’s fun, and it’s really cool to feel like a teacher,” said Preston Wilkins, a ninth grade student at SJHS.

On Wednesday, December 12th, Sue Jones, from Intermountain Donor Services, came to Springville Junior High.  She taught the students in Mr. Chambers’s health classes all about the importance of organ donations.

An organ donor is a person who is willing to donate their organs to people who need them to live.  Did you know that you can donate several organs?  Some of the organs you can donate include: your heart, lungs, kidneys, and liver.  If fact, just one donor can save at least nine lives!

Have you ever written a thank you letter to someone? Perhaps you got to see their faces when they received the letter. Or maybe you even have received a thank you letter. According to www.operationgratitude.com, the men and women who are serving in the Armed Forces love to get letters from really anyone! Whether a family member, or just a student they had no idea existed, they will cherish those letters forever. According to Mrs. Murray, the Service Learning class at SJHS, the letters go to men and women working away from their families. That’s why this year at Springville Junior High, the Service Learning class is collecting letters from different classes that want to participate.

Every Friday during Quest Time, students at Springville Junior High let loose and sing karaoke. This enrichment activity is held at Ms. Neeley’s classroom, #58. Karaoke is singing along to a machine that plays music. Carlie Maughan, an eighth-grade student, said, “Karaoke is where you sing along to awesome songs!”

Sometime during eighth or ninth grade, students at Springville Junior High will be taking a class that teaches them how to use different computer programs that they may need in later life.  The class is called Computers in Business, and it is taught by Mr. Taylor.  According to Mr. Taylor, the class does a lot of stuff with marketing and money, and they are almost always on the computers.  “The overall goal of the class is to show students how you can use different computer programs in real life,” said Mr. Taylor.  According to Brendon Tolley, an eighth grader at SJHS, sometimes the class will go on different websites, such as E-Trade, where they will learn about stocks.

Mrs. Droz, seventh-grade counselor at Springville Junior High, has been working at the junior high for nine years. Before Mrs. Droz became a counselor, she went to the University of Utah and got her bachelor’s degree in English. Then she was accepted into the U of U  graduate program for School Counseling and got her Masters degree in School Counseling. She did an internship at Hunter Junior High in Granite school district before moving to Nebo School District. Mrs. Droz is a die hard U of U fan. She worked at Spanish Fork High School, Mt. Nebo Jr. High and now she is currently working at Springville Junior High.

Here at Springville Junior High, we know that we get out early on Wednesdays, but why?  Mr. Van Ausdal, Springville Junior High principal, said, “Wednesdays are designed to provide teachers with an opportunity to prepare their lessons and improve their teaching skills.”  This makes it so the teachers at SJHS are better prepared to teach.  Letting school out forty-five minutes earlier than usual gives teachers some extra time to get better at what they do best: teaching.