Herriman Journal | October 2022

By Justin Adams | justin.a@thecityjournals.com

For Herriman families experiencing a medical emer gency, there is now a much closer option available for emergency services.

This month the Lone Peak Hospital network will be opening a new Herriman Emergency Center (5050 W. Herriman Rose Boulevard) just north of the McDonald’s and Walmart on 13400 South. A ribbon-cutting ceremony for the new facility was held on Sep. 22.

This emergency center will meet a critical need for emergency services in this part of the valley. Thousands of families have chosen to call this beautiful area home. But up until now, hospital-level emergency care wasn’t avail able in this city,” said Brian Lines, CEO of Lone Peak Hospital.

The new emergency center features 10 patient exam rooms, onsite diagnostics like X-rays, CT, and ultrasound, and lab services.

Having these kinds of services available so much closer than other previously available options will make a big difference for critical patient care according to Unified Fire Authority Chief Dominic Burchett.

“Our crews make tough decisions each day about the best way to help individuals survive accidents, injuries and illness. Often one of those tough decisions is: where do we transport our patient? Very few things are as stress ful as having a long transport time with a critical patient. With free-standing ER’s opening in areas that have signif icant growth, like Herriman, helps us make that decision a little bit easier,” Burchett said.

Burchett specifically cited the intersection of 13400 Herriman residents will now have much

“Dozens of doctors told me that there was nothing more that they could do to expect to be in a wheel chair. I went from the top 1% in the army Special Forces to being in so much pain that I could not tie my shoe or hold my new daughter. I did physical therapy and pain killers for years, but nothing worked. Finally, I went to Dr. Smith and I improved exactly as he told me I would. I couldn’t believe it! My wife cried, “I have my husband back.”

Smith D.C. CSCS

Matthew

Assistant principals granted reign over just one kingdom: No more splitting time between multiple schools

Jet Burnham | j.burnham@mycityjournals.com

J

ay Eads inherited the role of royalty when he became the new principal at Butterfield Canyon Elementary this year. Administrators have traditionally played the role of queen or king in the knighting ceremony for third grade students joining the “Knights of the Multiplication Tables.”

At the knighting ceremony, each student who has passed off their multiplication and division facts that month kneels before the administrator, who is dressed in a red robe and a gold crown. Students are knighted with a foam sword and receive a certificate and trophy as their parents and peers cheer.

Third grade teacher RaNisha Glover said the Knight ing Ceremony has been a tradition at Butterfield Canyon Elementary for eight years and is something students look forward to.

“This has been a huge motivational tool for us and our students,” Glover said. “They are excited to work hard so their family can come to support them and see them get knighted. Students get excited, parents get excited, and teachers get excited. When you are excited, naturally you are more likely to think about it more often, and as a re sult, work harder to make it happen.”

Eads is thrilled to wear the royal costume and to “ham it up” to make a big show of recognizing students’ efforts. However, if he is busy, assistant principal Hallie Myler is willing to fill in as queen at the ceremony.

“Anything that makes the kids excited to do some thing or learn something, I'll do it,” Myler said.

Eads has the luxury of knowing Myler can fill in if he’s busy because this year, Jordan District has assigned one assistant principal to each school, instead of sharing them among two or three schools, which has been the norm.

Before he became principal, Eads was an assistant principal splitting his time between Westland Elementary and Mountain Point Elementary, which was problematic. If one of the principals was called away, Eads had to drive 30 minutes from one school to the other to fill in as the ad ministrator in the building, even if he was in the middle of something at the other school. If there was an issue with

a student, he sometimes had to wait two days to resolve it because he was scheduled to be at the other school.

Myler said it is difficult for an assistant principal to support teachers and to get to know students when they aren’t in the building every day.

Jordan School District Director of Communications Sandy Riesgraf said having a full-time assistant principal improves the school experience for everyone.

“The change was made to provide additional support for teachers in the classroom, for front office staff and to give principals more time to spend on instruction,” she said.

Eads and Myler are excited for the change and be lieve they will be able to provide consistent leadership, re lationships, discipline, restorative practices and academic focus at Butterfield Canyon.

They believe building relationships with students, staff members and parents is an essential part of being an administrator and will be easier when they are dedicated to just one school.

“You have to have relationships with kids in order to be able to make progress,” Eads said. He said it is the same with parents and teachers—you must have a relationship before you can ask them to do something difficult.

Eads said, because neither of them have any obliga tions at another school, he and Myler can share responsi bilities, build off each other’s strengths, and have a reli able back-up team member to handle issues when one of them is busy.

He said this environment will provide an overall bet ter training experience for his assistant principal.

“I can give her more things to do full time within the school and actually build a leadership team together ver sus having somebody part time,” Eads said. l

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Butterfield Canyon Elementary Principal Jay Eads is ready to welcome third graders to the Knights of the Multiplication Tables. (Jet Burnham/ City Journals)

Athlos Academy wishes to clone award-winning teacher

By Jet Burnham | j.burnham@mycityjournals.com

Stacy Tonozzi, a fourth grade teacher at Athlos Academy of Utah, a K-9 public charter school in Herriman, is one of two recipients of this year’s Athlos Distinguished Educator Award. Jo Whittaker, assistant principal at Athlos Academy of Utah, explained why Tonozzi’s colleagues nominated her for this award.

“She truly is one of the greatest humans I've ever met in my life, professionally and personally,” she said. “I wish I could clone her and make a million of her.”

Tonozzi, who has been teaching for 15 years, came into teaching through a nontraditional pathway. She spent several years in special education and intervention classrooms after her involvement in developing her own children’s IEPs to ensure their academic needs were met.

She continues to use the techniques she learned to teach every student, no matter their abilities, learning style or lan guage.

“She is able to spot students that need intervention, she gets them quickly assessed and then she puts in place these rigorous, individualized interventions for each one of the stu dents,” Whittaker said.

Tonozzi believes in using all sensory modalities to teach a lesson so that students access information auditorily, visually and physically.

“Not every student is on the same page or on the same level, so I really try to focus on how we can teach a whole class as a whole on all these different levels where it's engaging for everybody,” she said.

Tonozzi, who is also a professional artist, photographer and graphic designer, said hands-on activities are her favorite

tool.

“I think anything that you can get hands-on, it just wraps around their brains better, and they're actually doing the work themselves instead of just listening to somebody do the work,” she said.

She has had a lot of success using games to help students strengthen their math skills.

“I love working with dice and cards in mathematics be cause that gives them number fluency and they don't know that they're really working on number fluency, they just think that they're having fun,” she said.

Tonozzi informally mentors colleagues who want to in corporate hands-on activities into their lessons. When a teacher has a question or a challenge, Whittaker said she often refers them to Tonozzi.

Tonozzi is goal-driven and encourages growth in others.

This year, she set incentives to encourage students to practice math skills with an online game. Within the first three weeks of school, students in the two fourth grade classes had completed 20,000 math equations and had earned a pizza party as a reward.

“When those that she teaches and works with excel, she radiates brighter than the sun, not because of the work she has put in, but because of the work that her students have put in to accomplish goals,” Whittaker said.

Tonozzi values her colleagues and students and looks for opportunities to encourage and uplift them. She often leaves a positive note for a colleague who is having a rough day or for a student who has worked hard to overcome a challenge.

“She just pops a card in front of them, and that little ‘thank

you’ or that little ‘you're awesome’ that's been noted, it brings somebody from the dark into the light,” Whittaker said. “Ev erybody needs that pat on the back when you've done some thing good, especially with the roughness in the world right now.” l

Stacy Tonozzi, winner of the Athlos Distinguished Educator Award. Pictured with Dr. William Bressler, Chief Executive Officer of Athlos Academies (at left) and Sam Gibbs, Executive Director at Athlos Academy of Utah (at right.) (Photo courtesy of Heather Crocker.)

Shifting the mindset from letter grades to standards-based grading

By Jet Burnham | j.burnham@mycityjournals.com

The traditional letter-based grading system is being replaced with stan dards-based grading in Jordan District. Bastian Elementary is one of six schools pi loting the program at the elementary level. Principal Amanda Edwards said her faculty, who has been laying the groundwork for the transition for a few years, jumped at the chance to be a part of the pilot because they have seen the benefits.

“It has brought back the excitement in teaching for me and provided so much more clarity in exactly what I need to do to help these children succeed in their educational needs,” first grade teacher Kelli Sundquist said.

Jenniffer Green, who teaches third grade, said standards-based grading has changed her perspective of her role as a teacher.

“It is helping us all focus on progress versus an endpoint—it's more about the journey of learning.” Green said. “It will al low teachers to pinpoint exactly where stu dents are performing in relation to the most important concepts and fill in any holes.”

What is standards based grading?

Teachers have identified power stan dards, which are skills from the grade level curriculum that are most important for stu dents to master. These are then broken down, step by step, into learning scales to identify what a student needs to know to advance in each level. Teachers can easily identify stu dents who need remediation or extension work.

Standards based grading uses a 1–4 scale to identify a student’s progress toward proficiency in a skill.

1- below proficient 2- approaching proficient 3- proficient 4- highly proficient

The goal is for students to earn a 3 for each grade level standard by the end of the year.

“We're looking at evidence of student learning towards a standard that they should have mastered by the end of the year,” Ed wards said. “So by the end of the year, a 3 is proficient, meaning they can meet the ex pectations in the standard and do them inde pendently.”

No more A’s

Parents who think their kids should never get anything less than an A or the top of the scale will need to adjust their expec tations. With SBG, growth is the goal, not earning the top score. A 4 represents a stu dent who has moved beyond proficiency and needs extension learning and increased rigor.

“The most challenging part of switch ing over to SBG is it doesn't look like what we are used to seeing,” Edwards said.

Teachers are working with parents and students to help them adjust their view of ac

ademic growth.

“Change, even when it's a positive thing, is hard,” sixth grade teacher Amanda Rasmussen said. “However, I have found that by explaining the how and why this system truly identifies how students are per forming, they get it. Seeing how the learning scales clearly state what is required to master a certain skill set, they can better focus their learning.”

Assignments and assessments provide teachers with the evidence of a student’s learning. These are collected into data note books, portfolios or evidence of learning folders—each grade level has chosen a dif ferent name—which give an accurate view of a student’s growth.

“Even if they're still sitting in proficien cy levels of ones and twos, we're able to see all that growth and celebrate it, which, be fore, wasn't quite as easy,” Edwards said.

The problem with letter grades is they don’t always represent what a student knows. Instructional Coach Bobbie Evans said often students received a grade based on just com pleting their work or on “busy work” rather than proficiency.

“Traditionally, teachers would teach the curriculum and hope a standard is mas tered,” she said. “But with standards-based grading, teachers are focusing on what needs to be taught and using the curriculum as it is intended, a tool for learning.”

With SBG, teachers have clearly de fined what students need to know to earn a 1, 2, 3, and 4. The number grade students receive gives them feedback about what skills they need to practice. They are given chances to continue trying until they become proficient.

“It takes all of the subjectivity out of grading,” fourth grade teacher Jessi Berry said. “Standards-based grading has changed the way that I think about teaching because it's no longer about percentages or if students necessarily are completing all of the work. Instead, I focus more on whether a student does a skill consistently or not.”

A learning journey

Rasmussen said SBG enables teachers to effectively teach learning standards.

“It directs our teaching in a natural se quence, giving clear expectations of every step of the learning process as students mas ter each skill,” she said. “It just makes sense. Standards often build off each other, so you know when a student has a skill down, they are ready to move on to the next level.”

Third grade teacher Kristi Marriott said she’s had to change her mindset of how she perceives students who have not mastered grade level skills.

“I can still celebrate growth but also be aware that many of my students aren't there yet and it is OK to see that reflected on a re port card, especially at the beginning of the

school year,” she said.

SBG supports a growth mindset; stu dents may not have all the skills yet, but teachers can see, according to the standards breakdown, exactly where to target their teaching to get them there.

“I have changed where I am truly look ing at the individual student more as to what I can do for them to get them to meet stan dards,” fourth grade teacher Blaine Bjarnson said.

Megan Dahlgren said having skills bro ken down into steps helps her easily identify what concepts she needs to focus on by look ing at where her kindergartners are scoring low in proficiency.

“This gives me another chance to teach it, both on the basic level and in an expand ed level for those who do understand it and, hopefully, I improve in my instruction which will help my students to grow and improve in their understanding,” she said. “Stan dards-based grading gives the opportunity to show growth in learning. It shows that it’s OK to not understand a concept at the begin ning of the year, but that you have the whole year to demonstrate growth."

When students see they are making progress, even at lower proficiency levels, they are motivated to show what they know and to take responsibility for their learning journey, said Rasmussen.

“I love that students have a vision of these steps and the ultimate goal,” she said. “I think it gives them obtainable goals in each step, which drives their motivation to succeed. Student success is the whole pur pose of standards-based grading.”

Second grade teacher Amanda Bruce said it is beneficial to have clearly defined learning scales and rubrics so students un derstand what skills they need to learn.

“This perpetuates deeper learning of content, measures student learning, and un

derstanding of instruction's effectiveness,” Bruce said. “This is powerful because it provides a framework to measure student progress regularly. Teachers who have a continuous understanding of proficiency can better adapt instruction to meet student needs, leading to more effective and engag ing education.”

SBG works well for reluctant learners because it makes the work the student does valuable and meaningful, Edwards said. In stead of asking a student to complete a work sheet of 50 math problems, the student can show their teacher they understand the math concept after five or ten successfully com pleted problems.

Some kids just won't do anything so they're going to fail no matter what,” Ed wards said. “But if we can get them to show us what they know, then we know at least where their learning really is, what they can do versus what they're not willing to do.”

Fewer report cards

Instead of quarterly report cards, SBG schools will generate two report cards each year, one at the end of each semester. Parent teacher conferences will be held midterm, to discuss students’ learning journey and deter mine how teachers and parents can support them in working toward skill mastery.

“I think that's really empowering for my teachers and for parents,” Edwards said. “The absolute best piece of all of it is we know exactly where kids are and what we need to do to help them move forward.”

At the conference held the first week of October, about eight weeks into the school year, many students will still be scoring 1s and 2s.

“They are below proficient because we haven't taught an entire standard yet. We're building a skill set to get them to eventually be able to meet that standard,” Edwards said. Moving toward full implementation

Local student chosen for elite Esports training

By Annabelle Larsen | a.larsen@mycityjournals.com

The rise of esports has been incredible the past few years, and one that seems to have no end to the growth in sight. Esports, short for electronic sports, is a competition involving video games. Esports often takes the form of multiplayer games that teams of video game players play competitively against other teams, often for cash prizes.

One local Herriman resident, Trakker Danjanovich, a student at Mountain Ridge High School, was chosen to participate in the inaugural Esports Tower Summer Invitational.

The Esports Tower Summer Invitational is an elite bootcamp style training and devel opment event hosted in July. They selected 56 out of 10,000 high potential teen players to at tend an all-expense paid event held at the Boi se State University Esports Arena. Top teams and select players can also score go-anywhere study-anything scholarship prizes. In 2021 players earned $1.7 million in scholarships, and it seems like 2022 rewards will match and possibly exceed the 2021 rewards.

A very select group was asked to attend, and Trakker Danjanovich was one of the few to be selected for this event.

Danjanovich specializes in the game Valorant, a team-based first-person hero shoot er style game set in the near future. Players play as one of a team of Agents, characters based on several countries and/or cultures around the world. In the main game mode, players are assigned to either the attacking or defend ing team, with each team having five players on it. His position is flex, meaning that he has one of the more complicated roles in the game Valorant. He has the capability to swap from character to character and still execute specific strategies. As a flex, one person has to be able to play multiple different agents almost per fectly. The team depends on this player to be able to adapt to certain situations at high speeds and assess situations carefully and quickly. Definitely a position and skill that takes time, practice and talent to perfect.

The Invitational involved personal train ing from ten University Esports Directors from institutions across the USA. The training fo cused around the Esports Tower curriculum, designed to improve the emotional intelligence of esports athletes. Athletes were tested with an intense schedule with nightly tournaments that

pushed the players' stamina and game sense. Activities also included daily team building and coaching talks with collegiate Esports Di rectors that were designed to help broaden the teaming and communication skills of teens in attendance, a mandatory skill for team gaming.

Dr. Chris “Doc” Haskell, associate profes sor at Boise State University and head coach of the Esports league said, “Parents are often sur prised to learn over 420 colleges now offer Es ports programs and often esports scholarships too. However, most gamers who go it alone at home are ill-prepared for collegiate varsity gameplay. Organizations like Esports Tower help elevate high school gamers by providing the structure and training that helps prepare players just like traditional club-level sports. As we scout for new talent here at Boise State University, we think of Esports Tower as the AAU of esports. They have very focused train ing that prepares gamers for the next level of gameplay after high school.”

The growth of esports recently has been incredible, and one that there are continu ally growing outlets and teams for. Trakker Danjanovich has not only been able to attend an elite invitational, but has excelled even amongst the best of the best. Program Director of Esports Tower Tony Baccaro says, “Trakker has set the standard for sportsmanship, strate

gic thinking and creativity in their gameplay, this selection is a testament to the skill, hard work and grit of this high-potential player.”

Danjanovich shows skill, dedication, and very importantly, an overall love of the esports community and the game itself.

If you would like to follow Danjanovich’s journey, or are interested in esports, check out ESTV, a live linear television channel dedicated to all things esports. l

Todd Theobald, administrator on spe cial assignment in the Teaching and Learning Department at Jordan District, is consulting on the transition to SBG. He said the district is following a nationwide trend toward more meaningful grading.

“Around the country, there's a shift in how we grade students and it's really looking at the standard and their progress towards mastery, rather than a percentage that gives you a grade,” he said. “It reflects the shift that has already taken place in instruction, of

really focusing on standards in a very deep way, not just learning and grading and telling people how much homework they turned in and just this general percentage on the test, but really digging into what is that skill ask ing for.”

While SBG has been implemented at the secondary school level, the transition is in the early stages at the elementary level in Jordan District. Bastian is one of six ele mentary schools piloting SBG this year. Oak Leaf, Mountain Shadows and Riverside in

West Jordan and Jordan Ridge and Daybreak Elementary in South Jordan are also partic ipating.

“Being able to pilot the new report card is exciting, as it feels like the final piece to the puzzle is coming together,” Evans said.

Over the next few years, all JSD ele mentary schools will transition to SBG as they are ready. Several, who’ve begun to adopt some of its principles, will begin full implementation next year. Laying the nec essary groundwork will take other schools a

few more years.

“Teachers are putting a lot of time in up front, but ultimately, it gives them so much deeper, better information about where stu dents truly are and what we need to do to help students progress, that they're all saying it's completely worth it. They're loving what we're getting on the flipside of their effort,” Edwards said. l

Trakker Danjanovich, Herriman, Utah resident. Danjanovich focused on his sport.(Photo courtesy of ESTV)

Danjanovich working with one of the sports coaches at the esports Tower Invitational. (Photo courtesy of ESTV)

Trakker Danjanovich, Herriman, Utah resident. (Photo courtesy of ESTV)

Continued from front page

South and Rosecrest Road as “one of the busiest” in Herriman. “The closest ER, pre viously, was about 8-10 minutes away. This facility will cut that drive down to just a few minutes. And that makes a huge difference when it comes to potentially saving a life,” he said.

Herriman Mayor Lorin Palmer was also

on-hand for the ribbon-cutting, and praised the center as another piece of crucial infra structure for a growing city.

“This is a pivotal and exciting time to live and work in Herriman. We are becom ing a community of milestones, and today is one of the greatest milestones that we get to celebrate,” he said.

“I talk a lot about infrastructure and re

Mathnasium Transforms

sponsible growth, and what could be more responsible than making sure our healthcare needs are met as the city continues to grow. Infrastructure is not just roads and water. It’s healthcare, and we’re fortunate to have this facility that meets that critical need.”

Dr. Jeremy Voros shared a story of a time when he was working in another Lone Peak standalone emergency center.

“These parents brought this little twoyear-old-girl in because she couldn’t breathe.

It was the middle of the night, but they lived just down the street. We were able to get her stabilized and breathing, then transferred her to a hospital,” he said.

A few weeks later, Dr. Voros received a letter from the mother thanking his team for their excellent service. He now keeps that letter in his office as a reminder of the impor tance that these emergency centers can have when people’s lives are on the line. l

LEADING THE WAY

We see it all the time. Kids who were struggling with math begin to love it. Or advanced kids who weren’t being challenged are now thriving and engaged. It’s why parents around the world rave about the Mathnasium Method™ and the difference it makes in their children.

Lone Peak employees and local stakeholders came together to celebrate the opening of a new Herriman Emergency Center last month. (Justin Adams/City Journals)

Unified Fire Chief Dominic Burchett speaks during the ribbon-cutting ceremony for the new Herriman Emergency Center. (Justin Adams/City Journals)

Herriman Mayor Lorin Palmer speaks during the ribbon-cutting ceremony for the new Herriman Emergency Center. (Justin Adams/City Journals)

Nature’s Virus Killer

By Priscilla Schnarr www.copperzap.com

Scientists have discovered a natural way to kill germs fast.

Now thousands of people are using it against viruses and bacteria that cause illness.

Colds and many other illnesses start when viruses get in your nose and multiply. If you don’t stop them early, they spread and cause misery.

Hundreds of studies confirm copper kills viruses and bacteria almost instantly just by touch.

That’s why ancient Greeks and Egyptians used copper to purify water and heal wounds. They didn’t know about viruses and bacteria, but now we do.

“The antimicrobial activity of copper is well established.”

National Institutes of Health.

Scientists say copper’s high conductance disrupts the electrical balance in a microbe cell and destroys it in seconds.

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The kids all got sick, but not me.”

The EPA recommended hospitals use copper for touch surfaces like faucets and doorknobs. This cut the spread of MRSA and other illnesses by over half, and saved lives.

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The strong scientific evidence gave inventor Doug Cornell an idea. He made a smooth copper probe with a tip to fit in the bottom of the nostril, where viruses collect.

When he felt a tickle in his nose like a cold about to start, he rubbed the copper gently in his nose for 60 seconds.

“It worked!” he exclaimed. “The cold never happened. I used to get 2-3 bad colds every year. Now I use my device whenever I feel a sign I am about to get sick.”

He hasn’t had a cold in 10 years.

After his first success with it, he asked relatives and friends to try it. They all said it worked, so he patented

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Mountain Ridge soccer wins region title for first time

By Justin Adams | justin.a@thecityjournals.com

In its fourth year of existence, the Mountain Ridge girls soccer team has won the Region 3 crown. As of the Journal’s press deadline, the team held a perfect region record of 9-0, with one game remaining against Copper Hills on Sep. 27.

Not only had the Sentinels not lost a region game, they won many in dominant fashion. Through nine games, they had ac cumulated a combined goal differential of 33-5. Even more impressive is the fact that this is a pretty young team, as they only start three seniors.

Head coach Jeremey King credits the team’s success to a few ingredients: their maturity, their fitness and their willingness to play as a team. All three of those traits were on display during one match last month against Copper Hills.

After a hard-fought yet scoreless first half, Copper Hills was able to get on the scoresheet first in the second half. While a lot of teams start to panic when they con cede a first goal, the Sentinels instead just buckled down and scored five of their own in response.

“Copper Hills came out and smacked us in the face. They were more physical than us. They were aggressive. They were beating us to the ball. But the team just dug down,” King said.

It’s also no accident that the team scored so many goals in the second half. King said the team takes pride in their fitness level - he doesn’t sub much and only plays about 14 players regularly.

“Our motto has always been, we’re go ing to play hard until the end, so we’re going to score a lot of our goals towards the end of the game,” he said.

The leading goal-scorer for the Sen tinels this year has been freshman phenom Kya Newton, with an astounding 18 goals, the most by any player in the 6A classifica tion.

“Kya Newton is one of the most coach able kids I’ve ever met. She comes to practice every day and works hard, takes criticism and coaching well. She’s a great teammate,” King said.

That coachability comes in part from being the daughter of a coach, according to King. (Newton’s mom is McKenzie Newton, the Mountain Ridge girls basketball coach.)

But it’s by no means a one-girl wreck

ing crew, as 10 other players on the roster have registered goals this season. And many of the goals scored by Newton are made pos sible by her teammates.

Sophomore midfielder Kelsie Peterson is the team’s primary distributor, and leads the team in assists. “She controls the middle of the field. Everything runs through Kelsey. Her and Kya have developed a great rela tionship,” King said.

As the regular season draws to a close and the team sets its eyes on the state tour nament, King said they still need to work on playing faster and handling pressure better.

The state playoffs kick off Oct. 6. l

Kelsie Peterson dribbles the ball through the middle of the Copper Hills defense. (Justin Adams/City Journals)

Freshman forward Kya Newton has scored 18 goals so far this season. (Justin Adams/City Journals)

Herriman Cross Country team gains national attention

By Justin Adams | justin.a@thecityjournals.com

It goes without saying that the effects of COVID-19 have been almost entirely neg ative, but for the Herriman Cross Country program, there’s a silver lining.

Back in 2020, Doug Soles was the head coach for the Great Oak High School track and field and cross country teams in Temec ula, California. Over the course of 17 years, he had built a dynasty there, winning 14 state championships and one national cham pionship in 2015. But amid the frustration of COVID lockdowns and canceled sports sea sons, Soles and his family decided to move to Utah. (It also helped that Soles’ wife has a lot of family in Utah.)

After getting settled last year, Soles be gan looking for his next coaching opportu nity. He heard that the job at Herriman was opening up this year, so he went to go meet with Principal Todd Quarnberg. The two dis cussed their vision for the future of the Her riman track and cross-country programs, and unsurprisingly, Soles landed the job.

Luckily for Soles, he was by no means taking over a program with empty cup boards.

“Coach Hague did a really good job managing the program. Got out a lot of re ally good kids. Left me in a position where I could just come in and build off of it,” Soles

said.

While the talent was certainly there, Soles said his primary focus after taking the reins was to instill a different culture and mindset.

“I told them I think they have the po tential to be a top five national team but to get to that level, they have to be there in the summer, they have to make sacrifices, they have to push themselves,” he said.

That summer training is no joke. The team has morning practice six days a week.

“It’s a full-time commitment for the kids,” Soles said. “The boys put in a killer summer and they’re seeing the rewards of that.”

And boy are they seeing the rewards. The team took 16 boys and 12 girls to Cal ifornia to compete in the Woodbridge Cross Country Classic, the largest high school cross meet in the country. The boys team took first place overall, with two runners fin ishing in the top ten and four runners finish ing in the top 30 (out of 280 total runners).

Those top four finishers were Noah Jenkins, William Horne, Ryland Garner, and Luke Briggs, all of them seniors.

The girls team also performed very well, finishing in 20th place out of 400 teams.

Maybe most impressive of all though,

was what the team did when they returned to Utah. Not content to rest on the laurels and celebrate their accomplishment, Soles said they went out for a 12-mile run the day they got back.

“They’re just focused on their next

goals,” Soles said, “Winning the 6A title and qualifying for the Nike Cross Nationals.”

The state meet is scheduled to take place on Oct. 25 at the Regional Athletic Complex in Salt Lake City. l

Members of the Herriman girls cross country team gather for a picture at the Woodbridge Cross Country Classic in California. (Photo Courtesy of Doug Soles)

Herriman elected officials connect with residents over cookies

By Justin Adams | justin.a@thecityjournals.com

T he next time you’re out for a walk or watching a child’s soccer game at a Herriman park, you may just bump into the mayor or a city council member offering you a cookie.

This summer, Herriman City has launched a new event called “Cookies and Connections,” intended to facilitate casual conversations between elected officials and their constituents. The first was held in Au gust at the Herriman Skate Park. Herriman Mayor Lorin Palmer was joined by District 2 council member Teddy Hodges. Another one was held in District 3’s Prairie Oaks Park in September.

“The first thing we wanted to do as a council is get out more in the community and get more involved. Not everybody can come to city council meetings, but it’s our job to pick up the table and come to the res idents. And this is more engagement than we get at council meetings,” said Palmer during the September event.

“It’s nice to be able to meet with the public and give them an opportunity to chat with us in an informal setting,” said District 3 council member Sherrie Ohrn.

The elected officials are also joined by select city staff members, on hand to help answer any questions that residents might

have. They also bring along some posters with information about various city issues like commercial development and progress on road construction. Oh, and of course there’s some tasty sugar cookies for resi dents to snack on while they chat with their elected representatives.

“There’s a lot of interest in the auto mall and how we’re progressing on that. And then a lot of interest in capital projects, especially new roads going in. Especially in this area, we’re lagging a bit in our roads,” Ohrn said.

According to Palmer, the event has al ready helped the council learn about issues happening in the city that they might not otherwise have known about.

“We had our first one at the skatepark, and just down the road from there, there’s a stop light by Herriman elementary. It’s not a busy stoplight for most of the day, but they brought up that when school gets out, everybody’s trying to turn left so you can’t turn right. It backs all the way up. And we had no idea because it only happens once or twice per day. Immediately we were able to go and say, ‘What can we do?’ So now we’re looking at putting in a left-turn arrow or adjusting the timing of the traffic lights.”

Future ‘Cookies and Connections’

events are planned for Herriman’s other two districts though exact dates aren’t set

in stone, follow the city on social media to find out when they are scheduled. l

Herriman Mayor Lorin Palmer talks with a resident during a ‘Cookies and Connections’ event. (Justin Adams/City Journals)

Double, double toil and trouble for witches of yesteryear

By Annabelle Larsen | a.larsen@mycityjournals.com

What’s a witch? Throughout human history, the defini tion has changed. Witches have been defined as peo ple casting spells or calling upon spirits for help, or to bring about change. Many witches were seen as pagans doing the devil’s work. Others were known as simple natural healers and called wise women. Mostly, this choice of profession or life was simply misunderstood and societal fear took over.

The prosecution of witches took hold in Europe during the mid-1400s when many people confessed, often under torture, to a variety of witch-like behaviors. Within the next century witch hunts were common, and most of the accused were executed by burning at the stake or hanging. Women, who were single, widowed, and those who lived on the margins of society, were the usual targets. Between the years 1500-1660 there were about 80,000 suspected witches that were put to death in Europe; 80% of them were women. Germany had the highest witchcraft execution rate while Ireland had the lowest.

What started this witch hunt and the witch hysteria that followed was in part caused by the publication of a book “Malleus Maleficarum,” which was written by a German Catholic clergyman in 1486. The book usually translates as “The Hammer of Witches,” and was essentially a guide on how to identify, hunt and interrogate witches. The book labeled witchcraft as heresy, and became the authority for Protestants and Catholics at the time trying to flush out witches living among them.

Although the witch hunt was far larger in Europe than it was in the Americas, most Americans are familiar with the Salem Witch Trials more so than what happened in Eu

rope. The New World, at the time, had fallen under many hardships and trials including a war between the French and British, a smallpox epidemic, and the ongoing fear of attacks from Native American tribes. The tense atmosphere was ripe for finding scapegoats, and these tensions are one of the reasons historians suspect led to the Salem Witch Trials of 1692-93 in Massachusetts.

The witch trials initially began when 9-year-old Eliza beth Parris and 11-year-old Abigail Williams began suffer ing from fits, body contortions, uncontrollable screaming, and odd behavior. As more young women began to exhibit symptoms, hysteria ensued. Three women were accused of witchcraft as an explanation to this problem. The three women were Sarah Good, Sarah Osborne and Tituba In dian, an enslaved woman owned by Parris's father. Tituba eventually confessed to being a witch, but she then began accusing others of using black magic on June 10, 1692. Bridget Bishop became the first accused witch to be put to death during the Salem Witch Trials. Between 1626 and 1730 there were around 150 people who were accused of witchcraft and 18 were put to death. While women were the main victims, there were six men who were also convicted and executed during this time.

Massachusetts wasn't the only state in the Thirteen Colonies to be obsessed with witches and witch hunting; it also spread throughout the rest of the colonies, but it was most prevalent here. Historians speculate that much of the hysteria and the reasons for the fits, body contortions, and uncontrollable screaming first displayed by the two girls could possibly be from a poisonous fungus, found in the

An artist’s rendition of the trial of a suspected witch. (Courtesy of History.com)

eastern U.S., that causes spasms and delusions.

So as people go about this year’s Halloween season and make-believe (or real) witches are safely out and about, it’s interesting to remember a time when this wasn’t so. l

Election officials address claims of mail-in voter fraud

By Peri Kinder | peri.k@thecityjournals.com

Following widespread allegations of voter fraud after the 2020 presidential election, Salt Lake County election offi cials want residents to know the mail-inballot system is safe and secure.

During a voting rights discussion, hosted by the League of Women Voters, panelists addressed voting concerns and invited the public to be involved with the process.

Salt Lake County Clerk Sherrie Sw ensen has been administering county elec tions for 32 years. She said her office is dedicated to ensuring elections are run efficiently and smoothly, and that every eligible vote is counted.

“I’m so glad we have a vote-by-mail system in Salt Lake and the State of Utah,” she said. “It has been a wonderful system. It’s served the voters so well.”

Since 2016, all elections in Utah have been conducted by mail, with ballot dropoff boxes and Election Day voting booths available as alternate options. During the 2020 presidential election, Salt Lake County had a 90.1% voter turnout, with 498,000 residents voting by mail, 100,000 more active registered voters than the 2016 election.

Residents were encouraged to vote by

mail in 2020 because of COVID, but mis information spread that the voting system had been compromised. Swensen said al legations of voter fraud in the county are absolutely not true.

“We heard people could print ballots in their living room, foreign countries could print ballots and insert them into our system, but they would never make it through our system,” she said. “Every sin gle ballot that is sent to a voter is correlat ed to a record of an active registered voter with a unique nine-digit number.”

During the last legislative session, Rep. Phil Lyman (R-Blanding) tried to pass a bill that would dismantle the state’s mail-in voting process, claiming the sys tem was vulnerable to fraud. The bill failed but election officials are worried a similar proposal will come up again.

“It is a secure system, we have total confidence in it,” Swensen said. “It is dis heartening to me to hear all this rhetoric about the vote-by-mail system not being safe and secure. I really believe that it’s an attempt to suppress voter turnout.”

She invites voters to attend tours of ballot centers to witness the transparent and secure process, and to address misin formation and false claims.

“We love to conduct tours and we have done so many tours, I can’t even count them all. Everyone walks away feel ing very confident. They are impressed af ter they come to see it in person,” Swensen said. “It’s best when processing ballots so you can actually see what’s happening when it’s being done.”

Deputy Director of Elections for the State of Utah Shelly Jackson said elec tion officials are constantly culling lists to make sure voter information is accurate and up-to-date. Several security elements are in place to stop voter fraud, including signature verification and unique voter IDs on every ballot.

Ballots are not mailed to every person in the state, only voters who are actively registered receive a mail-in ballot. For in formation about the election process, visit slco.org/clerk/elections.

“I love that people are now paying at tention to elections,” Jackson said. “I love that people are wanting to come see our logic and accuracy tests. When I worked at the county we would beg people to come, we would beg city recorders to come, we’d beg friends and family to come. I don’t think I ever had anyone come.”

Nathaniel Brown, 24th Navajo Nation council person, and Nikila Venugopal, di rector of campaigns for the ACLU of Utah, expressed concerns that bills like Lyman’s proposal would disenfranchise thousands of voters.

In 1962, Utah was the last state in the country to give Native Americans voting rights. Brown said members of the Navajo Nation still face obstacles to voting, in cluding remoteness and language barriers. Doing away with the mail-in ballot system would further restrict voting access to this population.

“I think we need to remove the clas sism mentality and think about who we are at the soul level,” Brown said.

Venugopal said sometimes the voteby-mail system isn’t feasible, like for vot ers with disabilities who need to sign a ballot when their signature could change over time. She said the ACLU is working to create greater access for voters with disabilities and works with the disability law center to make continued changes to the process. She’s also keeping an eye out for legislation that could suppress the vote throughout the state, like Lyman’s bill in February 2022.

“Claims of voter fraud are rooted in trying to stoke fear, and our elections are in fact secure. But maybe there are areas of improvement,” Venugopal said. “This bill essentially would have gutted our voteby-mail system and really caused a disen franchisement crisis in our state if it had passed.” l

Utah’s mail-in voting system has been in place since 2016, and Salt Lake County’s election officials say the process is secure and accessible. (Stock photo)

Mountain

•

Lone

on September 16.

They honored the following:

• Bluffdale Fire Department: Captain Daren,

Toby Wynee, Paramedic Ryan Heiner,

Dakota

Business of

•

Nails Salon

•

• Herriman Police

Ryan Hoyne

• Riverton Hospital:

•

from Camp Williams

• Large Business of the Year: Redemption Bar and Grill in Herriman

• Unified Fire Authority: Captain Matt Weygandt, PM Brad Jewett, Engineer Mike Jemmett, Captain Chris Wilcox, Engineer Dusty Smith, PM PJ Goetz, Captain Gary Limberg,

Matt Skokos, PM Wade Winder,

Jonah Capelle, PM Dan Anderson,

Justin Austin, PM Pete Young, FF Ben Porter

• Volunteer of the Year: Stephanie Isiko

• Bluffdale Police Department: Officer Landon Braden

• Community Champion: Officer Ash

• Jordan Valley Medical Center: Krista Smith Bluffdale City celebrated the opening of the bridge on Porter Rockwell Blvd.

will significantly help the traffic in Bluffdale.

here are lots of people in this world who scare me, like toddlers, Christian nationalists and the barista who always compliments my shirt, even when I’m wearing a blood-stained hoodie.

But dentists! Dentists are a higher level of fear. I'm sure they get tired of being compared to the sadistic den tist in “Little Shop of Horrors” but if the tooth fits…

My dentophobia is rooted in an experience when I was 5 where many of the details are still slumbering in my subconscious, waiting to burst when I’m least expecting it. The only thing I remember was the dentist was not my friend.

I start ed dreading my annual checkup.

Mom would write our dentist’s name on the bathroom mirror in red lipstick, so she’d remember to schedule the appointment. But every time she wrote it, I’d take a wet washcloth and wipe it off. I’m sure she never noticed the smeared lipstick or the dripping-wet mirror.

Now that I’m older, I should be braver, right? I should be grateful I don’t have a medieval dentist who also works as the village butcher, barber and blacksmith. I’m lucky I’m not Tom Hanks in “Castaway” when he uses an ice skate to knock out his abscessed molar. Modern dentistry

It’s like pulling teeth

is a privilege.

My rational mind knows all those things, but I’ve never left a dentist’s office thinking, “Hmmm. That wasn’t too bad.”

I recently had my first root canal, which didn’t ease my fears. At all. I was upfront with the endodontist and told him I didn’t like him very much.

“I understand,” he said.

“No, really. I loathe you,” I said.

“Yeah, I get that a lot.”

We went from there. He offered me nitrous oxide be cause if I’m going to be root-canaled, I’d rather be float ing somewhere near Venus. After I was nice and drifty, he told me I’d feel a little pinch as he numbed my mouth. Then he proceeded to nail my face to the chair while the nurse handed him a Black & Decker drill. He laughed ma niacally, donned a hockey mask ala Jason Voorhees and started excavating my back teeth.

At least, that’s how I remember it.

After the root canal, I had to make an appointment with my dentist to put a crown on my tooth. I called the receptionist who said I could schedule time on Sept. 12 at 2:30 a.m. or wait until June 2023. Typical.

I don’t know why I’m still terrified of all things den tal. The smell of a dentist’s office makes my stomach roll. The sound of a drill makes my jaw clench, which makes it really hard to work on my teeth. When it was time for my crown appointment, I sat in my car for a good 15 minutes, giving myself a pep talk.

“You’ve got this,” I said. “You’re a big girl.”

“Nope. I’m going to Starbucks,” I responded. “No, you’re not. You’re going to act like an adult

and walk in that office.”

I stuck my tongue out at myself and went to get my crown. Not a cool crown like a Dutch sapphire tiara but a porcelain crown that I’m afraid to chew with. I’m pretty sure my dentist has a hook for a hand and he proceeded to stab my gums repeatedly, probably just for the fun of it. And then it was over. For now.

I’d rather face a zillion zombies, a multitude of mum mies, a van full of vampires or a ton of toddlers before seeing the dentist again. He’s the scariest monster I know.

Peri Kinder Life and Laughter