December 2012

For one day at Springville Junior High, some students hands were dyed green. These students are all in the Agricultural Science class and members of the National FFA Organization. These students were awarded with the Greenhand award.This is a National FFA degree for all first year FFA members. The students can earn their Greenhand Degree by completing a list of requirements. These requirements include being in an Agricultural Class, attending FFA activities, having a plan for a project, and lastly, learning the basic knowledge and history of the FFA.  This is the first of many degrees that students can earn as they progress in the FFA.

Library TA’s are an essential part of the library. The TA’s are like the oil on a squeaky wheel; they keep everything running smoothly. Mr. Brimhall, Springville Junior High’s librarian, said, “They are very very helpful, I couldn’t function without them.” These fantastic library TA’s do many things to keep the library in spit-spot shape. According to Kate Allan, a library TA at SJHS, TA’s check books in and out, make copies, re-shelve books, deliver things to teachers, and lastly put out the newspapers each day.

Springville Junior High School would like to recognize Mrs. Tarin, the secretary in the counseling office. She has been working here for four years running. Mrs. Bales, the attendance secretary at SJHS, “The best thing I love about Mrs. Tarin is that she’s friendly; and she’s helpful with the kids and the rest of the faculty. She raised her family here in Springville,Utah. A lot of people helped her raise them, so thats what motivated her to want to be apart of a team.”

For the past nine years, Springville Junior High School has had a counselor who loves the band Poison and has a dad in a rock band: Mrs. Distefano. Mrs. Distefano started working here in 2004. She worked part-time for her first three years and has been full-time since then.

She became a counselor because she loves working with teenagers and is fascinated with adolescent development. She wants to be able to help students through this challenging time of life and give students guidance they need in planning their futures. Before she became a counselor, she worked for a company that provided services to people with disabilities for about ten years. 

During the month of November, Springville Junior High was spreading around their appreciation to teachers by making posters and saying how much they appreciate their teachers.

Here is how the doors work: The service learning class picked two to three teachers and made a poster for them; the posters are a way of showing teachers appreciation. Then that teacher has their class make a poster for another teacher. “It is a way to show teachers we care for them and a way to say thank you,” said Tanner Shields, a student in service learning.

Mrs. Murdock is the amazing finance secretary here at Springville Junior High. “She is good at explaining financial things to people,” said Mr.Mikesell, assistant principal at SJHS. Mrs. Murdock has been a secretary at SJHS since 1989, but she hasn’t always been in the finance office. She started as the secretary in the counseling office, moved to the attendance office, then ended up in the finance office. According to Mrs. Murdock, her favorite part of her job is being able to interact with the students and watch the kids go on to high school and to see where they end up.

Do other schools know what it takes to be super? Springville Junior High does! At SJHS, adults that that work at the school elect a monthly Super Knight. A Super Knight is someone who strives to be a Responsible Citizen, Effective Communicator,and Successful Learner and follow the monthly virtue. November’s virtue was knowledge, and December’s is tolerance. There are a total of six super knights in the end, one boy and one girl from each grade. The Super Knights are recognized in an assembly at the end of the month, rewarded with trophies, and get to go on a field trip with all the other Super Knights at the end of the school year.

As Springville Junior High approaches winter break, winter weather is on the way.  And with this weather comes a rule for all SJHS students: the “No Snowball” rule.  What is meant by the rule is that students are not allowed to throw snowballs anywhere on school property; not at anything or anyone.  According to Mr. Mikesell, Dean of Students at SJHS, the purpose of the No Snowball rule is to keep students from getting hurt.  If a student is caught throwing a snowball (especially if they hit or hurt someone with it), they might be given detention, and may even be suspended.  “It’s a district-wide rule, but it’s also a common sense rule,” said Mr. Mikesell.  “Snowballs hurt people.”

Volleyball. A fun sport that is great for all ages! But where do the athletes of Springville City go to practice and play this sport? Well, the Springville City Volleyball Program of course! The program has games every Thursday and sometimes on Tuesdays at Cherry Creek Elementary School. But that’s not all, they also host clinics on the Tuesdays that they don't have games, also at Cherry Creek, to teach the girls basic skills they need to know before they can play, which makes it so even beginners can sign up. 

What in the world is winter guard? Well, winter guard is a competion dance group for high school students. Students will learn how to dance and skillfully spin flags. They might even learn how to rifle! They also have other equipment such as sabers. Winter guard has two seasons. One of the seasons takes place during summer and fall with the SHS marching band. It is called color guard. The other one takes place in the winter. (Hence the name “winter guard.”) Each year the team decides on a song they will dance to for the rest of the year. They will go and work on their dance, until it is perfected. This year the song they have chosen is “You Haven’t Seen the Last of Me” by Cher.