Mrs. Leslie Walker’s choir classes got to sing before the sun on December 1, 7, and 8. The students in choir had the opportunity to wake up early and be at the school at 6:30 am. There are three choir classes, the Master Singers, Journeymen and the Knightingales. The Master Singers are an audition boys and girls ninth-grade class, the Journeymen are an eighth-grade boys class, and the Knightingales are an eighth and ninth-grade girls class. Mrs. Walker said, “The early morning choir practices are so that the students from all the choirs can get together on the songs they sing together.” These practices helped the choir students prepare for their Christmas concert on December ninth.

On Friday, November 18, 2011, the students in the Gifted and Talented program at SJHS learned about The Dog Poop Initiative. The Dog Poop Initiative is a children’s book written by Kirk Weisler. “It’s a wonderful story to point out,” said Mr. Hatfield, Gifted and Talented advisor.  This activity was held in Mr. Hatfield’s classroom.

At Springville Junior High School one of our English teachers is Mrs. Elizabeth Bass. In her eighth grade class, Mrs. Bass is teaching her class about World War ll, and will soon be reading the Dairy of Anne Frank. Mrs. Bass thinks that everyone with appreciate learning the history for many reasons.

Jordann Wallentine, and eighth-grader at SJHS, said, “It is very interesting to learn everything about Hitler, and World War ll, there are so many different and cool things we are learning about this topic, And Mrs. Bass is having us do a presentation on one of the many topics with partners.”

The foods class is known for cooking food, but that’s not all they do.  Most Fridays, the eighth and ninth-grade students who are enrolled in the foods exploration class at Springville Junior High School are required to do a demonstration in front of their class.   This is where the students make a food by themselves, or with one helper.  Demonstrating in front of everyone, including the teacher, proves that students have learned how to cook on their own.  The eighth graders can choose any food recipe they would like to make.  The ninth-grade students choose a recipe from a foreign country.  They are also supposed to share ten facts about the country with the class.

The Future Farmers of America (FFA) from Springville Junior High School went to Richfield on Friday December 2nd to attend the Utah Youth Leadership Conference. At the conference they learned about how to be a good leader and how to speak in front of crowds. They learned that someone is always looking up to them. They went to the state fairground, split up into groups, and went to different people to learn about how to be good FFA students. Students in agriculture classes and can sign up to be in the FFA group. The group drove to Richfield and stayed overnight because the conference took two days, and they wouldn’t be able to make it back in time if they drove back to Springville. 

On October 24th through November 4th, Mr. Sam Dahl’s seventh-grade science classes at Springville Junior High School made cell models.  Students had about three weeks to make a cell out of whatever material they could.  Mr. Dahl said, “Many students used styrofoam spheres and modeling clay to build their cells.  Some used food products.  I had one student make a big sugar cookie with different types of candy to represent the parts of the cells.”  

Ever since Mrs. Amanda Hunsaker, was a little kid, she wanted to either be a history teacher, because she loves history, or a nurse, because her mom and sister are both nurses so she wanted to be one. But when Mrs. Hunsaker went to college, she did a summer camp for students in Special Education. She fell in love with it. So now, Mrs. Hunsaker teaches Special Education at Springville Junior High school. Mrs. Hunsaker said, “I never thought that I would ever teach this, but I just fell in love with it when I was in college doing the summer camp.”

Mrs. Hunsaker loves to see her students learn and progress. She really likes to see the students master difficult things. 

Mrs. Angel Nilsson is one of the new teachers here at Springville Junior High. She teaches pre-algebra all day, and she loves it! Mrs. Nilsson loves seeing her students reaction when they understand the math that she is teaching them. 

Mrs. Nilsson went to Brigham Young University to get her mathematics education. Mrs. Nilsson said, “I never thought I would end up as a teacher, but when I got to college and started studying math, I realized that teaching would actually be ideal for me.”

Springville Junior High has a new teacher named Mrs. Erica Persson; she teaches dance, health 8, and aerobics.  Mrs.  Persson has wanted to be a teacher since she was a little girl.  Mrs. Persson said, “I really enjoyed helping people and found teaching was fun.” Mrs. Persson’s favorite part about teaching is “The ‘Ah Ha’ moments, that is when the light comes on and I know the student understands what is being taught.”

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.”