Ms. Rachel Neeley, the creative writing teacher at Springville Junior High School, adds mystery to what students learn at school.  Here is the basic process of how mystery stories are written:  Ms. Neeley presented several different books to her class, each on the topic the class has chosen to write about, in this case mystery.  They learned about the general characteristics of that particular genre, and then learned what needs to be included in that type of writing. Then the students will planned their story with a plot diagram and a character sketch.  After they finished those things, they wrote the rough draft, then edit and peer review.

Students who are not understanding math or having trouble with math, there’s no need to fear! Mrs. Meredith Sabey is here! Mrs. Sabey is the new half-time math teacher at Springville Junior High School. Her job is to help students with math when they are struggling. 

“I teach a math intervention for seventh through ninth grade. It is a class that helps students get more practice with certain math concepts they might be struggling with. We work on assignments in class, and I help students understand the concepts a little bit better,” Mrs. Sabey said. Mrs. Sabey started working here the third week of school and she teaches fifth, sixth, and seventh period. 

Students at SJHS begin in band the seventh grade and continue in eighth and ninth grade. Students learn to play the flute, clarinet, saxophone, trumpet, french horn, trombone, baritone, tuba, or percussion. Their first concert is on Wednesday, December 14th and second one Wednesday, May 16th. 

Most students' favorite part of band is the awesome music they play and Mr. Booth’s humor. Mr. Booth tells a lot of stories. Hannah Grosland, an eighth-grade student at SJHS, said, “I wanted to take band because I wanted to learn to play an instrument.”

For many years, students have been designing the yearbook for Springville Junior High School. According to Ms. Rachel Neeley, yearbook advisor, SJHS has the yearbook so students may look back on their junior high years and remember them. 

To get into the yearbook class, students fill out an application that asks questions like why they want to be in the yearbook class. Ms. Neeley and the current yearbook class will interview the applicants and pick seven to ten students to be in the yearbook class. According to Ms. Neeley, the class is small because its easier to keep track of assignments and she gets to know the students better. 

Springville Junior High School has started a new program called advisory. Advisory is 20 minutes between third and fourth period on Mondays where students will stay in their third period teacher’s classroom.

During that time, students are able to plan where they will go during Quest Time for the week. It is also a time when the teachers can teach the students lessons on how to become responsible citizens.  According to Mr. Ken Van Ausdal, principal at SJHS, during advisory students are able to get extra help and learn social skills. Advisory also helps students adjust to junior high.

On October 7th, six Springville Junior High School students named were called up on stage during an assembly to receive an award for being great students.  Mason Merrill and Miriam Burrell, ninth-grade students, Sarah Rawle and Oakley Call, eighth-grade students, and Lela Packard and Jake Rowland, seventh-grade students were named “Super Knights.” 

In eighth or ninth grade students have an option to take sewing. Students get to make tons of fun and helpful things such as pajama bottoms, a school bag, and an apron. Katya Fullmer, a eighth-grade student at SJHS, said, “I enjoy sewing a lot, and it’s one of my favorite classes.” Mrs. Diane Bird, the sewing teacher at SHJS, said, “Sewing is so fun and teaching it to kids is great, because it teaches them to do something with their hands.”

At Springville Junior High School, a new thing is happening in the P.E. classes. Mr. Michael Parker, boys’ P.E. teacher at SJHS, came up with the idea at a disk (frisbee) golf tournament and decide to try it out at SJHS.   His classes are participating in a tournament where the best disk players go against each other to find out who is the best. Mr. Parker got three green suit jackets and whoever wins gets to wear the jackets and be king for a day. He hopes that it makes the boys and girls compete harder in class. He did it once with an old Springville High School jacket when the boys played badminton.  According to Mr. Parker, the kids loved it, and everyone played harder to get the jacket.

How would you feel if you learned how to play an instrument when you have collage students learning with you?   Well that is what happened with the seventh graders in Dr. Sam Tsugawa’s orchestra class.  Cody Page, a member of the seventh -grade apprentice orchestra class, said, “It’s nice to learn with students who are learning with you.” 

The idea to get new pictures and banners in the hall came from our very own Springville Junior High School principal, Mr. Ken Van Ausdal. According to him, the school needed to show more school pride, and the pictures and banners in the halls do just that. Mr. Van Ausdal thought they would help reinforce school rules and ideas. 

The pictures in the north hall give advice are things like “What is bulling,” “Why cheating is bad,” “Why is it important to respect the rules,” “Why teachers assign homework,” and many others. Mr. Van Ausdal found the posters in a magazine during the summer and thought they would be good to put in the halls.