This year, three ninth-grade students at Springville Junior High made the Springville High School girl’s basketball team: Ashli Averett, Amberly Austin, and Hannah Packard.

“I think it is really cool and great experience to be on the high school basketball team,” said Ashli Averett, one of the freshmen that made it to the girls high school basketball team. Ashli said, “I watched my sister play for many years. She had a lot of fun, and learned a lot. I hope to get the same experience.” Ashli also said, “Basketball is a lot of work, but it’s so much fun. I love it.” Ashli’s siblings, dad, and cousins have played high school basketball, and she said they are the ones who help her and teach her new skills.

“What’s the point of learning math if we can’t apply it?” asked Mrs. Corrin Gleave, the geometry teacher at SJHS. Geometry students are learning to apply the math they have learned to various shapes, angles, and lines. One of these shapes is the quadrilateral, or four-sided shape. Students recently made special art projects using all seven of the special quadrilaterals which include the kite, trapezoid, isosceles trapezoid, parallelogram, rhombus, rectangle, and square.  Students can make anything from a rocket to a house, and many of them have enjoyed this activity very much.

On Thursday December 2, 2009, the choir preformed their Christmas concert at Springville Junior High. This included the Apprentice Singers, Knightingales, and Master Singers. Some of the songs that the master singers sang were songs from all over the world. Both the Knightingales and Master Singers danced during some of their songs. 

Cami Sumsion, a Master Singer at Springville Junior High, said, “I chose to take choir and tryout for Master Singers because it was fun and challenging at the same time.” The choir students practiced singing their songs during class. “We practice our songs by singing them, and Mrs. Walker will stop and fix what needs to be fixed in that song,” said Braden DeFreese, another Master Singer.

The students in Mr.Booth’s seventh, eighth, and ninth grade band classes have been working hard the last few months to prepare for their annual Christmas concert. The concert will be held on December 15th from 6:00-8:30 p.m. in the SJHS auditorium. 

“I’m really excited for the concert,” Bailey Jones, an eighth-grade band student at SJHS, explained, “It’s awesome, and I really like our music.”

Ms. Rachel Neeley is just one of the amazing teachers here at SJHS. Ms. Neeley teaches seventh-grade English, yearbook, and creative writing. This is Ms. Neeley’s sixth year teaching. Ms. Neeley said, “I wanted to be a teacher ever since I was little. I loved reading and writing when I was in school. I was pretty good at it, so I decided to teach English.”

Springville Junior High is blessed to have so many wonderful faculty members to work with and rely upon. One of these many members is Mrs. Sue Tarin, Springville Junior High’s new counseling secretary and friend.

“I love working with Mrs. Tarin; she’s nice and is also very helpful,” Mrs. Monica Distefano, a counselor at Springville Junior High, said.

“I started working here because I already worked for the district and I was looking for a full time job. When this one became available, I took it,” Mrs. Tarin explained.

Mrs. Distefano explained that Mrs. Tarin has a big job. “There is a lot to learn and remember. She’s done a great job of jumping in and figuring things out,” she explained. 

Last week the Make it With Wool competition took place at Mapleton Junior High School. The Make it With Wool competitors sew outfits that are at least 60% wool.  The contestants who entered this competition spent many hard hours working on their projects.

The night before the fashion show of Make it with Wool, the contestants had their item judged. The judges base 40% of their evaluation on sewing and 60% on fashion, marketability, and how the contestants accessorize. After that night, the contestants smiled for the cameras and showed what their hard work was for: the fashion show.

We’ve all seen those old black and white commercials. The ones with women in aprons standing over kitchen stoves. But not at Springville Junior High, where eighth and ninth graders have the opportunity to take foods class. However, they’re not alone with raw ingredients and dangerous tools, they have Mrs. Natalie Luke.

When you walk into foods class, the heavenly aroma of fresh baked goods and flour cling to the air, not the ordinary classroom smell of dusty books and chalk. Mrs. Luke has been teaching foods to eager students for seven years, and loves every hectic minute, “I love the interaction with fun kids who share their lives with me.”

Many people feel that one of the great things about English class is that it can incorporate all other subjects.  Students can write a science fiction story or read a book about history.  Mrs. Maughan, an English teacher at SJHS, has been helping her students learn from historical literature.  Students in Mrs. Maughan’s class have recently been reading the play "The Diary of Anne Frank."  The play is about a Jewish girl who lived during the Second World War. She lived in The Netherlands when the Nazis took over and was forced to go into hiding in a secret room above her father’s business. The students have been reading for a little while, and are now just starting the second act of the play.

Every year, girls' PE teacher Mrs. Kelly Anderson has her students play a sport with a paddle and wiffleball. The sport is called pickleball. “Most students seem to enjoy it,” said Mrs. Anderson. The girls are all done for this year, but they play pickleball every year.

Students use different strategies. “In rallies, I always aim for the person who looks bored, because they probably aren’t paying attention,” said Jamie Devenish, a seventh grader. Eighth-grade student Darby Farr said, “If they’re far back, I hit it softly, and if they’re close, I hit it hard so they can’t get it.”

“I would play pickleball at least twice a day, no doubt,” said seventh grade PE Girls student Amanda Ripley, “If I had the time.”