The Springville Junior High students were privileged with a lot of new elective classes this year. The animal science class was one of these. Animal science is seventh period. There is something unique about this class. It has nine class pets! They have two guinea pigs, Uggs and Buddy, two hamsters, Cinnamon and Hulk, and a betta fish, named Schmitty.
The kids on the Springville Cross Country Team are absolutely amazing! About 32 kids signed up to run this hard, exhausting, fun event.
The team has practice everyday except on the weekends and when they have meets. They have one meet a week. They have to run a mile and a half at every meet.
“I love Cross Country; it gets all my stress out and feels good,” said Kaitlyn Gee, a member of the Cross Country team. “The practices are hard and planned out, but still fun. Mondays and Wednesdays are especially hard,” said Kaitlyn Gee.
On Friday, September 5, the students all headed down to the cafetorium. There was a special guest speaker coming to our school to talk about defeating bullying. This special speaker turned out to be more than we thought he would be. He taught with positive words and examples. His name was Josh Drean.
Josh started out by teaching students the rules of being a mascot. When he was younger he was Cosmo for BYU. He showed a few clips and he shared a few stories about his life as a mascot, and mistakes he had made. He then called up three students to the stage.
This new SJHS was built this year as a upgraded version to the old SJHS which was built in 1957 (although there was a older SJHS that was built in 1912). The two schools have some similarities, as well as some differences. Sarah Tucker, a ninth grader, said “The new school is jazzy and pretty! [but] the old school was older and more ancient!”
Ninth grade P.E., and just P.E. in general, is more important than you think. According to Coach Parker, a P.E. teacher, ninth grade P.E. is not too different than seventh and eighth grade P.E., there is just more that is taught about each sport because ninth graders already know how to play the sports. According to Jared Buhler, a ninth grader, there are also a few more different activities that you can play in ninth grade. “I like how there are more options this year,” says Chris Ohman, a ninth grader currently in P.E., “ I also like how I can hang out with friends in P.E.”
At the new Springville Jr. High we got a brand new gym for P.E and to play in. Ms. Gerhauser, a P.E. teacher at SJHS, said that she likes the size of the gym and the sound system. But Coach Parker, another P.E teacher at SJHS, said, “It is frustrating to try to play pickleball and badminton without the lines.”
Andrew Yazzie, an eighth grader at SJHS, said, “I like the gym because of the three to four choices of activities we get to choose from, but I don’t like that we can’t fit our binders in our P.E. lockers because they are so small.”
The Springville community football teams had a great start to the beginning of the season. These football teams are made up of students from schools throughout Nebo School District and started near the end of August. Many people sign up to have a fun sport to play, or something to do, and to be able to hit people.
S.O.S, a seventh grade football team, played Payson Silver on September 6 in Springville. They had a great win with a score of 26-0. Kia Ellison, one of the players, said, “Our passing was really good, along with our defense. Even though our passing and defense were good, we could have held our blocks longer.”
A new school year is a great time to start anew with a lot of things: friends, grades, and maybe even love... While it may be hard to find that special someone during the day, SJHS holds great dances so that you are not left without any opportunities.
The first dance, the Hello Dance, was held on September 4th. Students gathered early and waited for the doors to be opened. Finally at approximately 7:00 the students were let in. This year’s dances are different than last year’s like many aspects of the school year, because of the new building. Instead of being held in the boy’s gym as previous dances were, this dance was held in the cafetorium.
Hundreds of children within the Nebo School District have recently evolved past elementary school and proceeded into the seventh grade, and accompanying them were a plethora of fears, excitements, and several other complicated attitudes. Although this transition can be challenging to maneuver through, the outcome justifies all possible trials. These seventh graders have only been familiar with the minor difficulties of elementary school; they are now forced into a world of both full of hardships and opportunities.
Mrs. Distefano is the eighth grade counselor for SJHS. She has been such a help to eighth grade students.
