November 2014

At Springville Junior High everyone likes to show that they are drug free. The week before Fall Break, October 12-15, was Red Ribbon Week.  Red Ribbon Week is only once a year. 

“I have really liked the fun activities we had at lunch this year, and the dress-up days are always fun! I love seeing other teachers get involved,” said Mrs. Murray, a teacher at SJHS. 

SJHS did an activity every day in support of Red Ribbon. On Monday the theme was "Don’t sleep through life! Get educated and be drug-free", and students wore pajamas to school.  On Tuesday it was "Stomp out drugs and wear your craziest socks!" and on Wednesday it was "Scare drugs away with crazy hair!" 

Mr. VanAusdal is the principal here at SJHS. He has been the principal here for five years, and has worked in Nebo School District for 23 years.

“The best part of being a principal is getting to see the students succeed and see things improve better,” said Mr. VanAusdal.

He is from Rock Springs,Wyoming. He is the second oldest out of five kids. Mr. VanAusdal has been married for almost 22 years. He has four kids, and one cat. He served an LDS mission to New Zealand, and served his country in the Marines. Some of his hobbies are playing golf, reading, and taking walks.       

This year has been so much fun, getting to know the new teachers. One of these new teachers is Mr. Busath, a seventh grade English teacher.

The SJHS students are very lucky to have the teachers that they have now. Ms. McBride, is one of these teachers. She teaches English, and has a lot to say about how much she loves her job and her students. 

“This year I teach all eighth grade English, with one elective (Film Studies). I used to teach seventh grade, but I'm not this year,” said Ms. McBride. 

Mr. Taylor, a CTE teacher  at SJHS, said he likes teaching because it is fun being around kids and teaching different kinds of new things. He has been a teacher here at SJHS for three years. He became a teacher after he was in a Business education program. 

According to Cassandra Vasquez, a student at SJHS, she likes Mr. Taylor because he is funny and nice. “I like his class because the activities are fun, and we can explore new things with the computers.”

According to Mr. VanAusdal, the principal here at SJHS, he hired Mr. Taylor because he was the best candidate available. He likes that Mr. Taylor is passionate about his subject  matter.

Many of the teachers have come to SJHS only this year. Some of them have been here longer. Mr. Shields is one of those teachers. Mr. Shields is one of the history teachers at SJHS, and he has been teaching total for twenty-eight years, and has taught at SJHS for eight years. Mr. Shields teaches eighth grade U.S. History. 

“I love teaching history,” said Mr. Shields. Many students like Mr. Shields and what he teaches.

“I love the projects we do, so far we have done the U.S. map which was fun,” said Alexis Garrett, an eighth grade student in Mr. Shields’ class. 

Technology here at SJHS has impacted our school a lot in the past year. Students have had more contact with technology during classes. “We wanted to make more technology available to students on a daily basis,” said Ms. Miley, assistant principal at SJHS. “Technology improves learning at our school by giving teachers and students more tools with which they can  learn and explore. It enables teachers to teach in a new way, and it allows students to learn in a new way,” said Ms. Miley. 

Mrs. Seeley is a math teacher at SJHS, and this is her first year at SJHS. She teaches math for eighth and ninth grade students. Mr. VanAusdal, the principal at SJHS, said, “At SJHS we look for the best and nicest teachers to teach. Mrs. Seeley is a nice and smart teacher.”

According to Mrs. Seeley, she loves to teach eighth and ninth grade math. She used to teach Juniors and Sophomores at Bingham High School which she said she loved, but she loves younger students because of how much energy they have.

On Monday, October 13th the Nebo School District golf tournament was held at Gladstan Golf Course in Payson.  Mr. Krebs, a math teacher at SJHS,  coaches the SJHS team.  “We had a good year, we placed first, second, two people got third, and one got fourth,”  said Mr. Krebs about the golf season.  “We finished fourth in the district final, there were only four strokes between second and fourth place.”

Brandon Gordon, an eighth grade student, said he did pretty well in the tournament. He took fourth out of eighth, and mostly first throughout the season. He said, “I like to play golf and try to play as much as possible.”  According to Brandon, Salem won the tournament and Springville got fourth.

Mr.Taylor is the teacher for the digital design class here at SJHS.  His first semester class says it is a cool class.

Tay-Tay (Mr.Taylor) said, “I like this class. My favorite part about this class is that I like watching and seeing kids make some programs, games, and seeing their creativity.  I think I’m a good teacher because I'm big (not fat), loud, have good humor, and I have a good taste in college football.”