Three weeks ago Mr. Shawn Hatfield, a science teacher at SHJS, gave his science enrichment students an exciting assignment. The students had to come up with unique ways to cushion an egg while it fell from the top of the school's roof.  This thrilling experiment came in three parts. While participating in this project, Mr. Hatfield's students learned about force and movement, and how to problem solve. In the first experiment, the students used a container eight inches or less and anything that wasn’t a liquid or a substance like peanut butter substance to keep the egg from cracking. The second experiment was the same except that the students had to make a container five inches or less.

Recently, the company Blendtec donated eight blenders to the Springville Junior High School’s foods class. But they didn’t donate to just Springville Junior High, they donated blenders to all the secondary schools in Utah County. Caitlin Dinkle, ninth grade student at SJHS, and her dad, Ken, brought them in one day and now the foods class uses them almost everyday.

Each year at Springville Junior High School, every student gets a planner. The planners help the students stay organized and stay caught up. The planners.  Ms. Rachel Neeley, SJHS English teacher said, “The planners help students keep organized and remember what assignments are due when.”  That’s not the only reason the planners are beneficial. According to Mr. David Kindrick, science teacher at SJHS, the planners are also great to use as a hall pass.

On September 10th, Mr. Greg Shields, an eighth-grade United States history teacher at Springville Junior High school, started a competition for his students to memorize the states and say them as fast as possible. He held a mini-competition in each of his classes, and the top three students that defeated all the other students went to the finals. He called the competition the “Sweet 16” because there are 16 finalists. The finalists were Amanda Schultz, Katie Ashton, Zac Camara, Kenya Rodriguez, Morgan Ammons, Raini Couch, Elyse Hanks, Shelby Christensen, Joseph Cieslewicz, Tasha Wagstaff, Chyeann Peterson, Mitch Miller, Nicole Plowman, John Whitney, Mark Ohman, and Kelsie Taylor. 

Once again it is time for Accreditation! An accreditation review team will visit Springville Junior High School on April 23 and 24. Accreditation is when educators come from around the state of Utah and see how things are going at SJHS. It is the process the school goes through every six years and is an opportunity to get an evaluation. Accreditation allows SJHS to make a plan to help improve the school.

This year after school at Springville Junior High School, students can attend intramurals to catch up their grade in P.E.  If students go one time, it makes up for one day of class full credit.  Throughout the year there are several choices to compete in.  There’s basketball, volleyball, badminton, pickleball, indoor soccer, archery, and weight lifting.  Currently, there are two different choices for intramurals: indoor soccer and weight lifting.

For the first time at Springville Junior High School, students can take dance as an elective class. There are two dance teachers: Mrs. Koriane Maughan and Mrs. Erica Persson.  Mrs. Persson is one of the many new teachers this year at SJHS, and she teaches health and aerobic conditioning. Mrs. Maughen was a math teacher last year, but now she is teaching English.

This is not Mrs. Maughan's first time teaching dance; she has also taught at a few dance studios in Springville and Salem. But that's not the only place she has taught.  She has gaven some of her skills to two different high school drill teams.

Mrs. Mary Rice, English teacher at Springville Junior High School, said, “As SJHS ninth graders start their freshman year their understanding of literacy changes and becomes more sophisticated.” In Mrs. Rice’s Honors English classes, her students created their own “This” projects. Students added things like physical setting, ideological setting, symbols, plot, and theme to their “This” projects and their understanding of narrative structure.  According to Mrs. Rice, the idea of the project was to begin the process of giving students tools to become better thinkers about text and introduce the idea of disciplined re-reading.

The eighth-grade choir class, also known as the Knightingales, meets every Tuesday during Quest Time in Mrs. Walker’s room to prepare for their Christmas concert in December. The Knightingales are preparing three songs to sing in the December concert. Mrs. Walker’s favorite song that they perform is “O Come, O Come Emmanuel.” The Knightingales will perform that song with the Master Singers and the Journeymen.

Amanda Schultz, an eighth grader at SJHS and a Knightingale, said her favorite song the choir performs is “One candle.”  It tells a story of how the candles just keep getting brighter and brighter as more candles are added.  

***Front row, left to right: Sidney Gierisch, Sarah Skinner, Kimberlyn Hicken, Chyeann Peterson, and Stephanie Aragon.  Back row, left to right: Ciara Snapp, Maiya Buckley, Leah Morales, Bailey Davis, Mekinna Sokolowski,  Aubrey Wasden, Kylee Richmond, Kaylee Richmond, Maddie Brenchley, and Melanie Anderson.***