On November 22, 2011, Springville Junior High School had a culture assembly where students were able to sing, dance, or play their instruments in front of the school. The students began practicing in September for two or three times per week. The theme of the assembly was “Diversity Means.” Mr. David Hansen, a history teacher at SJHS, said, “We wanted the students to show their different cultures and talents.”
Jentry Hendricks, an eighth-grade girl, was one of three girls in a singing performance. The other two girls in the group were Ciara Snapp, and Demmi Nava, who are both eighth graders. They sang a song called ‘Liar Liar’ by Christina Grimmie. One of Jentry’s favorite performances was the Aztec dance.
Most of the students who participated in the dances did not know the steps already. They were taught by Jessica Lopez, a ninth grader, Demmi Nava and Kiera Trejio, both eighth graders.
Mr. Hansen thought it was a good idea for an assembly because it’s good to celebrate diversity. Mr. Booth, the SJHS band teacher, said, “The theme of the assembly was great. It was very cool to see a wide variety of performances and cultures.” According to Mr. Hansen, all of the performances were good in their own way and they were all unique. Mr. Hansen loved the assembly most because he was able to see the students grow so much. One of the performances was a piano piece performed by Chase Kimball, an eighth grader. Mr. Hansen said, “We asked Chase to do it because we knew he could. He’s incredible, just incredible.”
Another performance was Dominic Edwards. She sang her heart out and blew everyone away. According to Mr. Hansen, she knocked it out. There were also Samoan dances, the band, and the fiddle band, with Sam Hall, an eighth grader, as a dancer. It’s clear that the culture assembly was a big hit at Springville Junior High School.