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As a junior at Hillcrest, she finished second nationally in Lincoln-Douglas debate, then elect ed to help her teammates her senior year as well as concentrate on theater where she teamed up with Amelia Miller to win first place in a classical scene at region. She and her friends Anna Hsu and Anya Ti wari also competed her junior year in the Utah High School Entrepreneur Challenge, taking second place for their project, “Pocket Garden,” which simplifies plant purchases, connects cus tomers with local nurseries and motivates plant care for novice gardeners.
C anyons School District administrators say it’s all about student achievement and success and helping them to be college and career ready. Hillcrest High students have taken that to heart, especially the past few months.
Recent graduate Zoe Liu was one of 161 stu dents nationwide and one of four in Utah, who were announced as U.S. Presidential Scholars. Liu, who receives a presidential medallion, was selected based on her academic accomplish ments, leadership, community service and appli cation.
Liu also recently was named a National Merit Scholar for her academic record, scores from the college entrance exams and leadership in school and community activities.
Liu isn’t the only one excelling at the national level.Five students who competed at the national Future Business Leaders of America conference this summer in Chicago brought home gold to Hillcrest. Senior Campbell Hone and recent grad uate Anika Balakrishnan teamed up to win the hospitality and event management event while juniors Thomas Lu, Vishwa Murugappan and Dheeraj Vislawath won the coding and program mingThecontest.hospitality and event management event consists of both an object test and an interactive case study that is given with a scenario in the hos pitality management and event planning industry. For the coding and programming contest, the Hillcrest teens created a travel app, “Traveler,” of Hillcrest High’s Thomas Lu, Vishwa Murugappan and Dheeraj Vislawath won FBLA nationals at the national Future Business Leaders of America conference this summer in Chicago. (Photo courtesy of Sofia Moeinvaziri/ Hillcrest High) Continued page 6 By Julie Slama | j.slama@mycityjournals.com
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“I'm actually quite excited. I get a meet with educa tional leaders in Washington, possibly even the secretary of education and other educational leaders and talk about the state of education,” he said. Jameson had a chance after the celebration to read the application that was submitted on his behalf.
That’s because after learning about it, parent volun teer and School Community Council member Dr. Allyn Kau found the application online and with the help of faculty and parents, completed and submitted the applica tion, much of it unknown to Jameson.
In mid-May, about 575 neighborhood and Spanish dual immersion Alta View students and faculty, Canyons administrators and UAESP members surprised Jameson in the school multipurpose room with the state award.
Alta View Principal Scott Jameson, who took several pies to the face in October 2021 as a result of a successful fundraiser, was named Utah Elementary Principal of the Year. (Julie Slama/City Journals)
M idvale C ity J ournalPage 4 | S e P t . 2022 MIDVALE TEAM The Midvale City Journal is a monthly publi cation distributed directly to residents via the USPS as well as locations throughout Midvale. For information about distribution please email brad.c@thecityjournals.com or call our offices. Rack locations are also available on our website. The views and opinions expressed in display ad vertisements do not necessarily reflect or repre sent the views and opinions held by Loyal Perch Media or the City Journals. This publication may not be reproduced in whole or in part without the express written consent of the owner. © 2019 Loyal Perch Media, Inc. ConnectsocialmediaJou r nals YOUR COMMUNITY NEWSPAPERS THE CITY MIDVALEJOURNAL/FACEBOOK.COM/ INSTAGRAM.COM/CITYJOURNALS CITY-JOURNALSLINKEDIN.COM/COMPANY//MIDVALENEWSTWITTER.COMMIDVALEJOURNAL.COM Connectsocialmedia CREATIVE DIRECTOR Bryan Scott | bryan.s@thecityjournals.com EDITOR Travis Barton | travis.b@thecityjournals.com DIRECTOR OF ADVERTISING Ryan Casper | ryan.c@thecityjournals.com801-254-5974 ACCOUNT EXECUTIVES Mieka Sawatzki | mieka.s@thecityjournals.com Jason Corbridge | jason.c@thecityjournals.com CIRCULATION COORDINATOR Brad Casper | brad.c@thecityjournals.com801-254-5974 Rack locations are also available on our website. EDITORIAL & AD DESIGN Ty AmandaGortonLukerStacyBronsonAnnaPro MIDVALE CITY JOURNAL 9500 South 500 West, Suite 205 Sandy, UT 84070 PHONE: 801-254-5974 MISSION STATEMENT Our mission is to inform and entertain our community while promoting a strong local economy via relevant content presented across a synergetic network of print and digital media. PUBLISHER Designed, Published, & Distributed by FREE | COMMUNITY | PAPERS W ile E. Coyote never had a chance against the Road Runner in the Warner Brothers’ Looney Tunes cartoons.The same may be said against those vying for the Utah Elementary Principal of the Year honor against Alta View Roadrunners’ principal Scott Jameson, who’s appli cation was as put together and submitted as fast as the comic blue Jameson,bird.who was named Canyons School District’s Elementary Principal of the Year, said he didn’t have time to attend the Utah Association of Elementary School Prin cipals conference on Feb. 17 where he was named a final ist for the state honor. He also said he didn’t have time to fill out an extended application for the award. “It's hard to be gone from the school; whenever I take a day off, it takes like three days to make up for it and I also don't feel like you should ever apply for that award,” Jameson said about the honor that happened this past spring. “I had so much I was doing that I didn’t have time to fill out this big packet. So, I just basically responded, ‘I'm not going to do that.’ But word got out and people in my community were saying things to me like, ‘I hope you win the state one.’”
“I walked into the gym, and there are all the students and several principals from the UAESP, my family was there, the superintendent and (Canyons Board of Educa tion Vice President) Steve Wrigley. I was just like, ‘Oh my gosh, thumbs up.’ They had a banner for me, and it was kind of a fun. It caught me off guard,” he said. It was a good day for the Jameson family as his daughter, Carissa, also was named senior class president at her high school. “It was really neat to share the excitement of the day with her,” Jameson said. “Receiving this honor was such a big deal. Even before I got the state award, when I was a finalist, the PTA threw a surprise indoor parade for me, and the kids threw candy and wrote me a bunch of notes. I had a note from basically every kid in the school.”
Jameson best principal in state, will represent Utah nationally
By Julie Slama | j.slama@mycityjournals.com
Now, Jameson will represent the state at the National Elementary Principal Association conference in October and be considered for the national honor.
“When I got to read the application that was submit ted, I was like, ‘Holy cow. Who is this guy? He's real ly impressive.’ Dr. Kau is a very good writer and very smart. I'm really just an average guy who had a very good packet writer,” he said, quick, as usual, to share the spotlight. “The application is pretty honest. I really liked that part of it because I think sometimes when you have
“He was selected as the Canyons Elementary Princi pal of the Year and he didn't tell anybody,” Kau said. “I heard about it the second week of March and I emailed a congratulations and asked, ‘what’s next?’ Mr. Jameson deflected the attention, saying he didn’t have time and didn’t feel right about applying for an award. I understood his viewpoint because this last school year was the most difficult of all three years of the pandemic by leaps and bounds and there was so much to do. But just from what I've seen, over the past four years, his leadership style and the things that he's been able to accomplish, and more im portantly, the things people around him are able to accom plish because he sets a fostering, positive environment. I told him, ‘You got to give it a shot.’ When he said he didn’t have time, I knew I was going to submit something because we appreciate all his efforts and all that he does, and his leadership style.” She reached out to other parents, faculty, principals and administrators, and with their help, submitted James on’s 26-page application in half the time as his competi tion.“His reach is so far. People were helpful and willing, and said, ‘he’s so deserving of this,’” Kau said. Jameson didn’t realize his application was being written for him. “I didn't know she was doing this until she finally said, ‘I have to ask you a few questions because there's a few final things on the packet that I can't answer.’ At this point since she put so much work into it, I answered the questions. I felt very appreciated and loved from her and all the people had helped with it. I thought, ‘this is so very nice of a thing to do’ and genuinely was touched, but that was all,” he said.
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“I thought about becoming a behavior unit teacher or aide because I know I could do that and then free the teacher up to be able to teach. I thought about becoming a Costco receipt checker. I thought about doing woodcarvings, with chainsaws and logs and carving bears. I don't know how to run a chainsaw and I've never sculpt ed anything, but I just think that's cool. I thought about opening a restaurant or be coming a Walmart greeter. I've been prac ticing, so when I walk into Walmart, I try to be faster at the draw saying, ‘Welcome to Walmart.’ I love smoking foods and put about anything on our smoker—pizza, macaroni and cheese, vegetables, any meat you can think of. My wife makes fun of me right now because we have four smokers and I realized the other day I didn't even know how to run our oven. I tried and I couldn't figure it out. I guess a career in baking is out for me, but maybe a job in the future as a smoker. I don’t know yet, and that’s OK, because I love where I’m at right now.”
MIDVALE,
After 25 years—18 as an administra tor, Jameson said he still wants to become a better listener. “I am not a natural listener and I real ly struggle with it,” he said, and tells the story of sitting on the couch, listening to his wife. “I got on my phone and started doing something—and I stopped listening to my wife. My wife got up, walked off. She was gone for 15 minutes before I no ticed she was gone. That's a true story. So, I have to really work at listening and that's what I found is probably the most import ant skill I could have is listening to ev erybody. You have to listen to people that have different perspectives. If you listen to everybody, you can actually make really good decisions and while every decision won’t go the way everyone wants, they’ll respect you for listening to them. So, I tell people, ‘my door is open, come in and tell me what you're actually thinking.’ I don’t want them to tell everybody, but me, but rather to come in and tell me so we can work through it. That’s what I’ve learned and tried to practice all these years. When I listen to others, we make great decisions. If I don't listen and ignore things, people stop talking and then that's when you make terrible decisions—and I did some of that earlier in my career.”
Kau, who wrote Jameson’s most sig nificant accomplishment as a principal is to build relationships and develop lead ers—“He recognizes that with strong relationships, anything can be accom plished”—said she was unaware of that Jameson wasn’t a natural listener. “I’ve just seen firsthand what a great leader he has been. His style is not flashy; he definitely never draws attention to him self. He’s more of getting to know people, understanding what the needs are, under standing his staff and what their strengths are and listening to them. Most of the changes that have been implemented in the past three or four years, were suggestions that came to him. It was a parent that had a concern. It was a teacher who had an idea and then he listened, and he gave them the support they needed to develop it. There are so many different examples, and it wasn't because Mr. Jameson had the ideas. It was because he listened and had created the environment where other people who had those ideas could flourish,” she said. Canyons Director of School Perfor mance Alice Peck supported that trait in her letter of “Relationshipsrecommendation.areatthe core of what Scott does and the results are evident in the work he is able to accomplish. He has the ability to ask the right questions when presented with an important task. His will ingness to listen; to collaboratively search for possible solutions; and to focus on the essential implementation steps is outstand ing,” she wrote. “I also know that Scott values relationships and will do whatev er it takes to help our district become as collaborative as we possibly can be as we work to improve student outcomes.”
Jameson, whom many students love for his sharing one of their jokes each school day on the morning announce ments—and alumni can recite even after their high school graduations, stayed out of much of the spotlight last year when he received the state Innovator of the Year Award last year for a program that has been in place for more than 15 years.
someone who wins an award, you view them as you know perfect. Then the real ity is people get to places because they've had a lot of failures. They've had a lot of challenges. They've had a lot of struggle, and through those struggles and challeng es and failures, they learn something and become better. So, I liked the way she showed my flaws and how we had to kind of work through and overcome challenges that came up, like listening to all sides of things to reach a consensus. I know I'm not perfect by any means and I know there's one million other people who are proba bly far more deserving of an award like this than I do, but it's fun to kind of reflect back, including the bumps and the bruises. Those things were tough at the time, but at the same time, that's what's helped me to learn and become a better principal.”
“I developed a way to discipline that focuses more on reteaching when kids get office referrals; I call it citizenship class. This is even before I knew what PBIS (positive behavior interventions and sup ports) was,” he said, saying he started it in his first year as Altara Elementary’s prin cipal. “I hired my PTA president, and she ran the citizenship classes during lunch re cess. She would teach some lessons, such as why we don’t call people names. She’d ask, ‘why don't we do this?’ and give them things we could do instead. It’s a chance to reteach students and help them understand the expectations and learn how to best meet them. When a lesson wasn’t being taught, then she'd be out on the playground being preventative and coaching kids on the playground.”Jamesonalso has been honored as Canyons Student Advocate Principal of the Year and as Instructional Leader of the Year and has served on the district’s Lead ership Implementation Team. Utah PTA recognized him as both the region and state outstanding school administrator and back in his teaching days, the Southwest Valley Chamber of Commerce recognized his excellence in teaching. While Jameson doesn’t have any immediate plans for retirement, he has dreams of his future.
Alta View Principal Scott Jameson gets high-fives from students after the Utah Elementary Principal of the Year surprise ceremony in May. (Photo courtesy of Canyons School District)
Moeinvaziri also was recognized na tionally when she participated in the ProCon Challenge in the National Speech and Debate Tournament this summer. She decided to compete virtually as she already had plans to attend FBLA nationals. So to compete, Moeinvaziri needed to sub mit a 10-minute video of both a pro side and a negative viewpoint for the competition. The judges would review the videos to de termine the winners. While she knew she had to register, she didn’t realize that was the same date she needed for her submission. Her younger sis ter, Sara, also competed in the same contest.
“I just had enough time to do my first take and send that in. My topic was wheth er the U.S. should adopt a bilateral trade agreement with Taiwan,” she said, adding that it was a challenge to find evidence for both sides of the topic last-minute. “For my affirmative. I talked about Taiwanese inde pendence; how will we want Taiwan to be independent from China if we had a trade agreement? Then the next point I talked about was how it would economically ben efit Taiwan and the U.S. For my negative, I talked about it would be war with China if the U.S. interfered with Taiwan.”
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Several weeks later, after receiving an email that she qualified for the top six, Moeinvaziri watched the livestream of the awards ceremony, alone in her bedroom.
“I misread the due date. It was due May 25 and I found out May 25, at 9 a.m., that it was due that day,” Moeinvaziri recalled. “So, we had one day to do everything which was a bit stressful.” That include deciding a topic, re searching, writing the speeches and record ing them to submit. She said there wasn’t enough time to do several takes.
“We were all very excited, we cheered for them, we were all celebrating their win because it's a big deal, especially to get first,” she said. “A lot of kids from Utah place, but not many first place and Hillcrest had two teams do that.”
“I was really surprised about that I moved on to finals,” she said, adding she watched apart from her family as she in correctly thought she had COVID-19 at the time. “When it came time for awards, I was honestly expecting to get like six through fourth, but then we got the top three and I was pretty surprised. Ms. (Emily) Kunz (de bate coach) messaged me congratulations as she also was watching the awards at the same time. I’m pretty happy with second place.”
M idvale C ity J ournalPage 6 | S e P t . 2022
at least 25 places to visit in each of the 1,400 cities across the U.S.—all while coordinat ing it through different time zones as Visla wath was visiting family in India. Their design, which included maps, a distance calculator from differing locations, filters of food, entertainment, cultural, his toric and natural sites as well as indications if its family-friendly, pet-friendly and the ADA accommodations, also includes links to websites, prices and the busyness of the site or restaurant. Users can bookmark the attractions for easy review and have the abil ity to have a help contact or peruse through frequently asked question tab for assistance. It took the students close to two months to create their final product and that exceed ed the rubric they were given to create the app. “FBLA only requires 50 places to visit for your own state, but we decided to make this one that anyone in the U.S. could use,” Lu said. “We ended up having coverage for the entire U.S. We decided to collaborate on the FBLA coding and programming event to improve our own knowledge of computer programming, and it turned out to be very successful.”Vislawath said this year’s topic of tour ism “allowed us to be more creative with how we design our application and really brainstorm a unique way to put ourselves out there differently from other teams by implementing more unique features that could fit better with someone who wants to travel. So, we ended up writing quite a lot of code.”Atthe beginning, the group brain stormed how to create the app, then again after finishing second at state, how to im prove“Weit. had these sessions, where we just like come up with ideas, and if it was im plementable, we would do it. After the first week or so, it become clear what we were doing and what we were aiming for at the end. So, it got easier after that,” Murugap pan said. “We knew how to do web scraping, but not for this scale (for the app). I think one of the biggest skills we had to learn wasn’t computers, but how to manage our group. We had to learn on the fly while we were working on this project how to figure out answers for our needs and how to pace ourselves for this project—as well as work with some different problems like Dheeraj being all the way in India and learning to communicate during our window of time over Google VislawathChat.”returned from India two days before nationals, so the team was able to polish their seven-minute speech they prac ticed virtually. At nationals, they gave their presentation twice—and met the time limit at six minutes 59 seconds both times. At the preliminary round, the judges didn’t ask many questions, Vislawath said.“They asked a really simple ques tion, then it was like, ‘OK, we don’t have any other questions,’ which can either mean, they like didn't like our presenta tion, or they absolutely understood every thing,” he said. “So, we were on the fence about that. When the announcement came out (who made the cut) for finals, and we found our names, we knew everything wentThewell.”Huskies advanced from 68 teams nationwide to the top 15 for finals. They continued to polish the presentation before finals, where once again, they felt they gave a solid presentation. While waiting for the results at the awards night, they used their app to vis it sights in Chicago such as The Bean, Navy Pier, and Lincoln Park Zoo and de cided they will keep improving their app even though the competition was over. On stage at the awards, Vislawath re members standing by his teammates and watching them as the placement of teams were“Thomasannounced.was hitting Vishwa out of excitement or something on stage every time they called out a team,” Vislawath said. “They called fourth place and then third place went to someone. Then I re member explicitly it was just us and the Texas team. I'm, like, there's no way we got first place. Then they called Texas, and Thomas was shaking visually crazi ly—and I'm just standing there watching.” Lu, however, doesn’t remember that. “Everyone said I was shaking every one. I don't even remember that. I remember after announcing second place, there was a light and people all saying congratulations,” he said.As they were given crystals, Hillcrest senior Sofia Moeinvaziri, who is a state FBLA officer, snapped photos.
S e P t . 2022 | Page 7M idvale J ournal . C o M
By Heather Lawrence | h.lawrence@mycityjournals.com
Though clouds appeared and rain threatened, a crowd still turned out to watch the hot air balloons at sunrise in Sandy’s annual Balloon Festival Aug. 12 and 13, with some operators offering kids quick up-and-down rides. (Sandy City)
Sandy Mayor Monica Zoltanski posted this photo on her Instagram of the drone light show. Coordinating lights into pictures and words is one advantage it had over fireworks. The show was moved to earlier in the night because of windy conditions, but was still visible. Zoltanski has another light show planned for the winter. (Mayor Monica Zoltanski)
Sandy Balloon Festival brings hot air balloons, light show and 5k to park and promenade
By Julie Slama | j.slama@mycityjournals.com
“I volunteered almost every day and the principal at the time, Mr. Cottrell, asked me if I’d like a job, saying, ‘you’re here ev ery day anyway,’” she said. “I was part time for the first four years. I helped everywhere, and this was the good old days. We did ev erything by hand.”
W hen school children walk in the doors of East Midvale Elementary, they’re likely embraced by administrative assis tant Charlotte Graham—figuratively and literally.“She's this familiar face to generations of parents so when they're bringing their kids or grandkids, they know her and that she’s a welcoming, inviting person who knows the community,” Principal Matt Nel son said. “She knows the families and she really cares about the school. It’s import ant that the first face, that first welcome, that first hello, is somebody that knows the school, the community, the history. It’s somebody they can lean on, and who is able to help. Our community appreciates that she lives right here in Midvale and is involved and has that connection. She has that loyalty to our families and our school, and ourCanyonscommunity.”Human Resources Elementa ry Administrator and former East Midvale Principal Sally Sansom agrees: “When I came in, she was the first one who greet ed me with a ‘good morning’ and instantly, went out of her way to help—and she does that with Grahameveryone.”hasset a culture of warmth at the school since fall 1977, 12 years after the school opened. She began working at East Midvale when her 50-year-old son was a kindergartner, and she was offered a job from the principal.
Fifth-grade teacher Diana Caldwell has worked with Graham at the school 18 years. “Char knows everybody, and she cares about everybody,” Caldwell said. “The kids love Miss Char. Every kid loves Miss Char. She remembers kids that were here decades ago, and she knows about their lives. She wants them all to succeed. She can be tough with them, if she needs to be tough. She’ll be kind to them, and she’ll be fair. She just
“I try to know every kid’s name,” Gra ham said. “It’s really important. We have 600 kids, and we have turnover and turnover because at The Road Home, they come and go so fast. We may have students a week, two weeks, maybe a couple of months and then they'll leave. We'll take them out of our system and then, sometimes, they'll come back. We have our neighborhood kids, and we have a number of refugees who now live here. We know we usually have these stu dents awhile because they get them homes and can live there for so many months. It makes it a great and diverse student body.”
East Midvale Elementary students return to Graham’s welcoming arms
few Spanish-speaking students when I first started here; we were just a little neighbor hood school. Our diversity increased when our boundaries included The Road Home (shelter) and we started getting refugees. That’s when we became a Title I school.”
“We used to have to balance to the pen ny. Now with the new system, I just put it in my computer, and it balances it,” she said. “I learned so much on the job, just starting with learning how to use the computer to now, having meetings on Zoom. In some aspects of the job, we went from all handson to virtual. But not with the kids. We’re all hands-on, here for them.”
With a degree in bookkeeping from LDS Business College, Graham became a “jack of all trades,” as a lunch secretary, as sisting in a third-grade classroom and help ing the secretary in the main office using an IBM electric typewriter with carbon copies for teachers that left her fingers purple from the carbon“Whenpaper.Iwent to school, I wanted to be an accountant. But here I was helping all over the place and I absolutely loved it, Be ing the lunch secretary involved a lot of ac counting. We wrote kids’ names down, then we wrote when they brought in their money and which days they ate. I’d keep track of how much money they had leftover and I had to call and let parents know that they owed money or how much money they had left. It was a really long process,” she said. During the COVID-19 pandemic, East Midvale students ate free meals as they were covered by a federal grant. Previous ly, students just keyed in their identification numbers for meals, which would adjust their accounts, and that reduced the amount of clericalGrahamwork.also remembers entering at tendance when she started. “We had attendance sheets with lit tle bubbles, one through 10. I’d take them home and I go through the roll books and when a child was absent on that day, I’d blacken the bubble. That's how we did it then to know how many absences that child has that month. I had all these little bubbles to blacken over and over,” she said. That, too, has changed through the years.“It was a different world back then,” Graham said. “The bookkeeping has gone away from these big 3-foot journals with little screws in it to add pages and where I would have to write everything by hand first by pencil, then go back over it with black or red pens to balance it. And it was double-entered, so when I made a check, it would come out of the checkbook, then I'd have to write in which area it came from. We had a budget with the old system that I had to balance by hand. Now for anything we buy, I use the P card; it’s like a charge card and it’s tax exempt. I don't think I've written a check for maybe three years. I used to have a checkbook, then I’d have a printer that I printed the checks out. We don't do that anymore.”
While Graham still keeps track of the funds, the budget now is computerized. The large books have been shredded.
Sansom said that while Graham is able to her job efficiently, she also finds time to “call a parent to check on a student who may have broken an arm to make sure he was OK, showing how much she cares. I don’t know if she knows how to juggle, but she juggles everything all the time.”
East Midvale Elementary’s Charlotte Graham who welcomes students to school, like she did this year, for more than 40 years. (Julie Slama/City Journals)
The culture of the school community has extended with a food and clothing pan try to help students’ families as well as an after-school program that was established in 2011 to provide homework assistance and meals. Through the years, United Way also has helped provide backpacks filled with school supplies and other needs for the students for the school that Nelson said av erages a 32% turnover rate.
M idvale C ity J ournalPage 8 | S e P t . 2022
After her first four years, East Mid vale’s first secretary retired so Graham took her job as her daughter started kindergar ten at the school. Graham’s duties have expanded so a full-time nurse was added taking much of the emergency care Graham handled with her first aid and CPR training. She also has part-time staff to help with attendance and student support assistance, tracking students’ birth and immunization records.“We’re one of the most diverse schools in the state of Utah. We have 16 different languages plus English,” she said, adding at the time they were expecting Ukrainian refugees to enroll at the school. “We had a
Graham also knows her community’s history having built her house across the street from the school when the area was unincorporated and was being determined if it would be part of Midvale or Murray. The school, which was the second school built in Midvale, had been called Twin Peaks in its initial conception.
Over the past four decades, Graham has seen two school remodels, one in the 1980s when walls were installed in the open-classroom building, and another, more recently, where the office was moved to the front of the building to best serve pa trons. It also has a secure entrance.
“It had been designed as Twin Peaks Elementary on the plans because you can see the twin peaks in the mountains. But at the last minute they changed it and named it East Midvale,” she said, adding that the town hadn’t been named Midvale at that point.One year later, Granite School District used the name Twin Peaks for its elementa ry that opened in Murray. At age 73, Graham said she’s often sees grandchildren of former students. Her own two grandkids also attended East Mid vale.“Sometimes I have to say ‘remind me of your name,’ because they’ve grown up and changed or they’re wearing a mask, and that’s hard to recognize them. When I hear the name, I know who they are. I just had a lady in here yesterday, and she said that she was so-and-so’s daughter. Of course, I remember her mother; she was a great vol unteer.”Graham isn’t slowing down nor think ing of sitting on a rocking chair on her porch to watch the students go to East Mid vale without her.
treats them the way they should be treated. If there's a problem that I have, I can go and talk to her, and she can give me some suggestions on how to fix it; she knows the workings of the school and district and who to talk to or who to call. Every school needs a MissNelsonChar.”said that since so many people in the community know Graham, they feel at ease with their students being enrolled at the school.“They already have good rapport with Char; there is already a connection, so it eases their worries to have their students go somewhere where people know your name. It sounds cheesy, but it definitely matters,” he said. “We pride ourselves on being a welcoming school for people to come bring their kids to learn. She's a huge part of that.”
Through the years as thousands of stu dents have stopped at her desk, Graham re mains consistently upbeat. “I try to be positive at all times,” she said. “Growing up, my dad always used to say, ‘Just because you're in a bad mood, it's not their fault. Don't be mad and mean.’ So, I would like to see that happen with lots of kids—to be more positive. I’m here to help these kids, many who have a hard life and that breaks my heart. So, the least I can do is be positive for them.”
“The principal’s office used to be right here in the front of the building with that beautiful view. I’m on my 17th principal now. We didn’t have assistant principals until we became a Title I school,” she said, adding the school’s first assistant principal was in Graham’s2011. commitment to education goes beyond her school as she serves on the Utah Association of Educational Of fice Professionals board, is the secretary/ treasurer for Canyons’ education support professionals association and took minutes during the negotiation committee during the Jordan-Canyons school district split that took place more than one decade ago. “I'm very involved in Midvale; this is my home,” she said. Through the years, Graham served on the city’s arts council, was the director for Miss Midvale, helped with Harvest Days, volunteered at summer concerts in the park and is the field director for Miss Utah.
“We strapped cats in, and we took off to New York. I have never been to New York before, so we took in sights. It was really fun.”Sansom pointed out that before they got there, Graham took a cat out on the plane to give it some love. “The guy next to her started freaking out, but then she started talking to him. She can make friends anywhere. We hailed a taxi to explore New York and she was best friends with the cabbie. Then she made friends at Starbucks, or I should say, ‘Charbucks,’” she said, adding that when she’s traveled with Graham and others to Wen dover and Las Vegas, “Char always turns it into the ‘fun bus.’ She knows how to have fun and laugh at silly things that happen, but at work, she still keeps her focus and keeps the office staff working together. My three kids were like everyone else’s kids who went to the school. Char just takes them under her wings as a loving person and helps them grow. Years later, she still cares. She’s the heart of the school. She’s one of the best things about East Midvale.” Having the ability to bring people to gether is something Nelson appreciates as well.“She’s a hard worker and gets along with everyone. She keeps track of every thing, but she’s always keeping things pos itive and light, cracking jokes with people she knows,” he said. “She just loves this school and this community and makes this a really, really great place to be.”
“She’s really service-oriented,” Nelson said. “She’s super friendly and will walk a family to a classroom or help them get something. Her service and willingness to help extends beyond working with organi zations. She’ll just stop and do anything for anybody.”Sansom can testify to that. When San som’s sister needed her cats delivered to her after moving to New York City, Graham was up for the job.
“I come from a really hard-working family. I'm of the opinion when you retire home and sit, you lose everything and you get dementia,” she said. “I love the school. This is my home away from home. These kids are my family.” This is the last of three profiles spot lighting longtime Canyons School District employees. l
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“We had these two big cats—19 pounds and 21 pounds—and Char said she’d fly to New York with me to deliver them,” San som Grahamsaid. remembers the opportunity.
The school also has embraced its di versity, hosting an annual Living Traditions event since 2008 that celebrates different ethnicities and cultures, encouraging stu dents to share their backgrounds and her itage. Often, community groups come to perform from their culture as well. “We've had some pretty good programs and we’re getting back to them now,” she said, referring to the absence of school events during the COVID-19 pandemic. “We're getting back now to field trips, too, and that's really important; it gives our stu dents opportunities. I help with that too— enter the field trips, transportation and all.”
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In addition to the Forever Athletics cheer team, members of the Oquirrh Thun der community team showed their appre ciation to Harmon for supporting Special Olympics.Mountain Creek ninth-grader Jaymi Bonner has participated in Special Olym pics for five years. She competed this summer in the inaugural sport of unified golf and competes in unified track for the Oquirrh Thunder.
We are very proud to hire those with special needs and they do a phenome nal job as a part of our staff and that’s a special experience for our customers.BobHarmon
Harmons’ ongoing support provides Special Olympians’ opportunities
M idvale C ity J ournalPage 10 | S e P t . 2022
W hen Randy and Bob—the faces of the Harmons Grocery Stores—were in elementary school, their mother agreed to host three Special Olympics athletes who were to compete the next day at the University of Utah. “It was the first time we were intro duced to someone different, but we didn't look at them as being different,” Harmons Grocery Chairman for the Customer Bob Harmon said. “We watched them compete and at that age, we were like, ‘we want to run too.’ They were engaged and a part of something, which is wonderful. It was an amazing experience and because it was so positive, we just continued to support Spe cial Olympics.”Thatsupport has extended to 42 years, and it continued Aug. 12 as Harmon handed Special Olympics Utah President/ Chief Executive Officer Scott Weaver a check for more than $302,000 from root beer float sales in March at the chain’s 19 grocery stores as well as donations at the checkouts. It was almost double the previ ous year’s Weavercontribution.saidthemoney is earmarked for the teams who told Harmons’ patrons about Special Olympics during the root beer float sales and will be used to offset sporting fees, uniforms, transportation, equipment and other costs.
“It makes me strong,” she said. “It’s fun to do it with my friends.”
By Julie Slama | j.slama@mycityjournals.com
“Bob’s parents started supporting Special Olympics 40-plus years ago and the family has continued ever since,” Weaver said. “When it comes to my years of nonprofit work, not many partners stick around that long. The longevity of this re lationship is truly impressive.”
Special Olympians Kate Williams and Miranda Clegg, who have been a part of unified cheer with Forever Athletics, presented Bob Harmon of Harmons Grocery Stores with a Utah Special Olympics jersey that the team worn at the Special Olympics USA Games. (Julie Slama/City Journals)
Special Olympians join Bob Harmon of Harmons Grocery Stores with a cheer as he presented them a check for $302,238 on Aug. 12 from this year’s root beer float sales as well as donations at the 19 Har mons stores’ checkouts. (Julie Slama/City Journals)
Harmon said it’s through the generos ity of their customers during annual pro motions that they can impact the lives of so many Special Olympians.
“It was really awesome, but my feet hurt; it was tiring,” Williams recalled. “I like getting to do cheer. I like the pom poms and when we do the jumps and stunts.”Clegg said that she was able to tell them about her experiences with cheer leading and making friends. “I liked talking to people and they asked me about Special Olympics,” she said, adding that now she has transitioned to help coach the team. “It’s been a lot of fun and I’ve made a lot of friends. I’ve been able to help coach since I’ve been there cheering, I have that perspective.”
“We are very proud to hire those with special needs and they do a phenomenal job as a part of our staff and that’s a special experience for our customers,” he said, adding that the chain also hosts an annu al golf tournament amongst other ways to support Special Olympics.
Weaver said the bonds people make through Special Olympics is what makes it memorable.Through his 42 years of being in volved with Special Olympics, he’s made unforgettable friendships, starting when he was in college, meeting 7-year-old Buddy. “I just connected with him and that became my connection with the disabled community,” he said, adding that because of that bond, he changed his major from forestry to therapeutic recreation and spe cial education.Weaverwent on to play and coach a unified softball team in 1986-7, then he formed lasting friendships with his unified double tennis player Gary and unified cy cling race partner Jeff. “I've had friendships with them for about 20-25 years now,” he said. “It’s the people that make such an impact, the sup port and connections we have that make all the difference.” l
As a token of appreciation, Jordan School District 2022 graduates Kate Wil liams and Miranda Clegg, who have been a part of unified cheer with Forever Athlet ics for the past five years, presented Har mon with a Utah Special Olympics jersey that the team worn at the Special Olympics USA Games, with the slogan, “Shine as 1” on theWilliamsback. and Clegg both volunteered to tell Harmons’ customers about Special Olympics during the selling of root beer floats back in March.
S EPTEMBER 2022 CITY NEWSLETTERCity Hall – 7505 South Holden Street • Midvale, UT 84047 By Mayor Marcus Stevenson MIDVALE CITY DIRECTORY City Hall 801-567-7200 Finance/Utilities 801-567-7200 Court 801-567-7265 City Attorney’s O ce 801-567-7250 City Recorder/Human Resources 801-567-7228 Community Development 801-567-7211 Public Works 801-567-7235 Ace Disposal/Recycling 801-363-9995 Midvale Historical Museum 801-567-7285 Midvale Senior Center 385-468-3350 SL County Animal Services 385-468-7387 Police Dispatch 801-743-7000 Uni ed Fire Authority 801-743-7200 Fire Dispatch 801-840-4000 Communications 801-567-7230 MIDVALE CITY ELECTED OFFICIALS MAYOR Marcus Stevenson 801-567-7204 Email: mstevenson@midvale.com CITY COUNCIL District 1 - Quinn Sperry Email: qsperry@midvale.com District 2 - Paul Glover Email: pglover@midvale.com District 3 - Heidi Robinson Email: Hrobinson@midvale.com District 4 - Bryant Brown Email: bbrown@midvale.com District 5 - Dustin Gettel Email: dgettel@midvale.com WHO TO CALL FOR… Water Bills 801-567-7200 Ordering A New Trash Can 801-567-7202 Reserving the Bowery 801-567-7202 Permits 801-567-7212 GRAMA requests 801-567-7207 Court 801-567-7265 Paying For Tra c School 801-567-7202 Business Licensing 801-567-7213 Property Questions 801-567-7246 Cemetery 801-567-7235 Water Line Breaks 801-256-2575 Planning and Zoning 801-567-7231 Code Enforcement 801-567-7208 Building inspections 801-567-7228 Graffiti 385-468-9769 EMERGENCY OR DISASTER CONTACT Public Works 801-567-7235 Fire Dispatch –Uni ed Fire Authority 801-840-4000 Midvale Police Precinct 385-468-9350 or Police DispatchUni ed Police Department 801-743-7000 EMERGENCY 911 Let’s talk about policing - speci cally Midvale’s history and future with the Uni ed Police Department (UPD). Before I dive deeper into our history with UPD, the nancial challenges we face as a city, and our proposed reforms to improve UPD, I want to point out that Midvale City is extremely appreciative of our o cers that do incredibly hard work to keep our community safe. Midvale City believes in the UPD model, but we also feel nancial and governance reforms are necessary to ensure the organization remains stable and a ordable.
During the City Council meeting on August 9th, there was an understanding that the shared services model is the right approach, but the City Council also wanted to have more control over the organization. The council decided on four basic reform areas that focus on cost control, political control, and local control.
OUR ISSUES & REFORMS
of Everything MAYOR’S MESSAGE CONTINUED ON NEXT PAGE
When Midvale rst joined UPD, there were several other cities that were part of the organization such as Holladay, Herriman, Riverton, Taylorsville, in addition to unincorporated Salt Lake County and the townships such as Magna, Kearns, and Millcreek (before it was a city). Since we joined UPD, Millcreek transitioned from a township to a city and continued its participation with UPD.
While there were di erent opinions among the City Council members at that time, the study conducted by the city indicated that there would not be cost savings from forming our own police department and there could also be a decline in service. Since the 2020 vote, signi cant changes have occurred in law enforcement nationally that have a ected us locally, and thereby in ating the cost of law enforcement and putting pressure on communities to nd the necessary funding. As an example, there have been law enforcement “wage wars” that have driven up the cost to provide police services. In fact, about 85% of UPD’s entire budget is comprised of wages and bene ts, which means most of the cost increases we’ve seen are directly related to increased wages for o cers. With these changes, from this time last year to now, our member fee to Uni ed Police has increased by about $2 million – an increase of more than 20%. This increased cost for law enforcement is in large part the reason why we passed a 7.3% property tax increase this year, which allowed us to maintain police services and other critical services our city provides. Ultimately, the increase we experienced over the last year, and the increases we’ve experienced the last several years, led us to have more discussions on how to improve cost controls, transparency, and governance to ensure that UPD remains nancially sustainable for our city and residents. On August 9th, our City Council decided to pursue UPD reforms that they felt will support the long-term stability of the organization, as well as continue high-quality law enforcement services for our community.
Reform #2: A Fund Balance Policy
To help give more cost control, such as what we would see with our own department, we are proposing that the UPD board sets a target budget increase early on each year. Currently, UPD sta requests what they want/need in the upcoming budget instead of cities rst stating what they can a ord. We hope to have a mechanism in place so all the UPD members can come together and set a target increase that each community can a ord.
Why we Believe in the Shared Services Model
During that same time Herriman, Riverton, and, most recently, Taylorsville, all left to form their own police departments. As cities have left and the organization has gotten smaller, we’ve seen the cost of shared services go up signi cantly. Because of these cost increases, and the perception that greater cost controls were needed, in 2020 Midvale conducted a study that looked at our ability to start its own police department. With this data the City Council decided to vote on whether to stay with Uni ed Police or start our own department – we ultimately voted to stay.
HISTORY WITH UPD When the Midvale City Council voted in 2011 to join forces with the newly formed Uni ed Police Department, it was because we were going to save money and receive high-quality service. The UPD model allows municipalities, townships, and Salt Lake County to share services, and therefore share costs, which in turn would allow Midvale to provide law enforcement at a lower cost to our residents than we could on our own.
COST CONTROL Reform #1: Budget Process Changes & Cost Controls
One of the biggest appeals of having our own police department is that we would have more control of the amount we spend on policing each year. Currently, as Mayor, I sit on the UPD board with 10 other board members. If those members vote in favor of a budget increase that Midvale cannot a ord, we are still stuck paying our portion of the bill. This year, the bill that Midvale City will pay is about $11.7 million. With our own department, we could set the amount we are willing to pay and accept the consequences that may come with those amounts.
A fund balance is essentially just a fancy government word for “savings account.” Currently, every municipality has its own police precinct that has its own budget and fund balance. There is also a pooled fund balance that is used for the overall organization. Traditionally, the pooled fund balance has been used to o set member costs, such as Midvale’s, when budget increases are high. Further, because of police o cer shortages, our own precincts The Middle
Marcus’s Message In
With UPD’s shared services model, all the UPD member communities share costs for specialized teams such as the Special Victims Unit and the Violent Crimes Unit. In smaller police departments, you may nd that your patrol o cer is also your homicide detective, but they likely have less specialized training to do the job well. With the shared services model, we have o cers who specialize in certain areas, which means they become experts in their eld. A police force is kind of like an insurance policy, but if it’s your family member that’s a victim of a heinous crime, I believe we would all want the best insurance policy possible to have the smartest, most capable, and the most highly trained o cers we can get to work on the case. Fortunately, UPD allows us just that.
LOCAL CONTROL Reform #4: Local Branding Emphasis
As with many police departments, we have a civilian board that oversees the organization, its operations, and its budget. On our UPD board, none of us have direct law enforcement background. This lack of direct knowledge becomes challenging when large nancial requests are being made either for new specialized equipment, speci c departments, or other needs, as none of us truly know the real impact those requests will have on o cer and resident safety.
To make sure that our board has the right information to have the political control in the organization, in order to both provide great services and look out for taxpayer dollars, we are asking that an independent organization evaluate UPD, speci cally our shared services. This type of review will help to determine whether the organization is as e cient and e ective as it can be and will give better information to the UPD board as budgetary decisions are made in the coming years.
Poets will be given a list of four words that must be included in their poems. And to make it all more exciting, they’ll only have 48 hours to write their entries. Prizes will be awarded for each category.
CURRENT STATUS
currently have higher than usual fund balances because some of the money that the city pays UPD for wages is sitting in this account. With a diminishing pooled fund balance and the increase in the precinct fund balances, there has been talk about shifting money from the precincts into the pooled account.
“Five years ago we weren’t sure if anyone would even be interested to coming here,” Jason Wile, MAC board member and one of WIF’s founders said. “But now we are on the comedy map and we have to actually turn teams down – something we hate to do!”
First, for this reform, we are looking for clari cation on how precinct fund balance can be used. Because our city, and therefore our residents, paid for our precinct fund balance, we don’t want to see that amount be rerouted into a di erent account. Secondly, there are regulations around most government entities for a minimum and maximum amount of savings you can have. UPD does not currently have these numbers in place, so we’d like to have both a savings oor and ceiling added to the policy.
August 11-13 saw 26 di erent troupes from all four corners of the U.S. visit Midvale for what is quickly becoming one of the largest improv festivals in the country. All three nights featured di erent comedy styles while the days were lled with classes and activities, including a Top Golf Tournament – A festival favorite.
COVID might have postponed the 5th edition of the Wasatch Improv Festival, but it wasn’t able to stop it. Normally the WIF hosts improv comedy teams from all over the United States in January, but a change of seasons got a chance to bring the laughs to the summer.
WWW. MIDVALECITY. ORG
Writers who want to test their ability will be given prompts that must be used within their entries. For Short Stories writers will get a location, object, and a line that must be used in their 1,000 word or less story.
“We were blown away with the entries we received last year,” said MAC board member Bob Bedore. “I can’t wait to see what people come up with this go around.”
Children’s Art (ages 0-11) 1st – Akshara Sudhakar 2nd – Lydia Wild 3rd – Taraasha Ojha Youth Art (ages 12-18) 1st – Erin Grimshaw 2nd – Erin Grimshaw 3rd – Debbie Mahe Three Dimensional Art 1st – Durga Ekambaram 2nd – Paul McGill 3rd (tie) – Camille Grimshaw 3rd (tie) – Jill Tea Smith Electronic Media 1st – Wendy Dewey 2nd – Steve Dewey 3rd – Ruth Giorgio Heirloom Art 1st – Sarah Morton Taggart 2nd – Ruth Giorgio 3rd – Carol Butter eld Traditional Art 1st – Komal Bhutada 2nd (tie) – Cassidy Huntsman 2nd (tie) – Camille Grimshaw 3rd (tie) – Aatmica Ojha 3rd (tie) – Ashley Ann Hilmand Calling All Writers & Poets! MIDVALE ARTS COUNCIL’S LITERARY FESTIVAL READY FOR ITS 2ND YEAR Midvale Plays Host to e Improv World With e 5th Annual Wasatch Improv Festival Midvale Arts Council – 2022 Art Show Winners
POLITICAL CONTROL Reform #3: Organizational Evaluation
The Festival will also feature pre-written entries in short stories and poems with all the winners featured on the MAC website and on all their social media. All questions can be addressed to the Midvale Arts Council.
In The Middle of Everything
I believe that we have some of the best o cers in the State of Utah, as the UPD model allows our o cers to become more specialized in speci c areas. However, we unfortunately have seen an increase of distrust in law enforcement nationally over the last several years. Therefore, it’s imperative to make sure that our community feels connected with our o cers. To create a community-to-o cer connection, there may be many solutions, but one part of the solution I see is making sure our community knows that UPD o cers are their o cers. Currently, Uni ed Police o cer gear does not generally mention the municipality in which they serve. And while in an emergency scenario, you may not care where the o cer came from or what their gear says, I want to ensure that we are building positive relationships in non-emergent situations. That’s why we are looking to work with both the UPD administration and o cers to maintain pride in the uniforms they wear and the vehicles they drive, while also signaling to our residents that these o cers are directly part of our community.
In August, not only did the city council decide to move these needed reforms to the Uni ed Police board, but they also gave direction for myself and city sta to report back in six months with an update on how the reform process is going. Currently, as the mayor and representative of our city who sits on the UPD board, I’ve been tasked with working to get these reforms in place so we can nd long-term stability in the organization. I’m committed to working towards implementing these reforms and ensuring that UPD remains a high-quality organization that meets the needs of our community in a stable and a ordable way.
MAYOR’S MESSAGE CONTINUED
Poets and Short Story writers, the Midvale Arts Council is looking for you. The Midvale Literary Festival is back for a second year and submissions will be open soon in various categories. You’ll be able to get all the details from midvalearts.com, but once again, the focus will be on “ ash ction”.
Kelly Chambers and Adam Bowling (otherwise known as “The Purdy Twins”) tucked in an audience member for a nap at the Wasatch Improv Festival held in August at the Midvale Performing Arts Center.
Next year the festival will return to January and troupes are already lining up to get a chance to make people laugh at the Midvale Performing Arts Center. Details about the festival can be found at wasatchimprov.com The Midvale Arts Council hosted its annual art show on August 3rd at the Midvale Performing Arts Center as part of the Harvest Days festivities. Bree Morris, who serves as Chair of the Art Show, noted the tremendous quality and diversity in the works submitted. “For a small show, there really is some incredible art here.” The show was adjudicated by local judges. Winners in each category were announced that evening and presented with gift cards to Michaels. Camille Grimshaw won Best of Show with her painting “Blue Gira e” and also won the People’s Choice award with her painting “Surf’s Up”. The Arts Council Choice award went to Erin Grimshaw for her painting “Colorful Face”. Other winners included the following:
SEPTEMBER 2022 CITY NEWSLETTER WWW. MIDVALECITY. ORG Pick UP A er Your Pet
Pet waste is full of bacteria that can make people sick. If it’s washed into the storm drain and ends up in a river, lake, or stream, the bacteria ends up degrading water quality. People who come in contact with the water can get very sick. Unless people take care of it, the waste enters our water with no treatment.
• Bring A Bag. Carry a plastic bag when walking pets and be sure to pick up after them. Clean up pet waste in your yard frequently.
Picking Up After Your Pet Help Keep Our Environment Clean
IT’S POLITE AND PROTECTS THE ENVIRONMENT!
• Dispose of the Waste. Bury small quantities in your yard where it can decompose slowly. Dig a hole one foot deep. Put three to four inches of waste at the bottom of the hole. Cover the waste with at least eight inches of soil. Bury the waste in several di erent locations in your yard but keep it away from vegetable gardens!
We LOVE our dogs, but when pet waste is left on the ground, rain or sprinklers wash that pet waste and bacteria into our storm drains, which pollutes our waterways. It’s a health risk to pets and people, especially children. It is also a nuisance in our neighborhoods.
In recent years, sources of pollution like industrial wastes from factories have been greatly reduced. Now, more than 60 percent of water pollution comes from things like pet waste, cars leaking oil, fertilizers from lawns, gardens, and farms, and failing septic tanks. All these sources add up to a big pollution problem. But each of us can do small things to help clean up our water too, and that adds up to a pollution solution!
You can help keep our lakes, rivers, streams, wetlands, and groundwater clean by applying the following tips:
Having clean water is of primary importance for our health and economy. Clean waterways provide recreation, commercial opportunities, sh habitat, and add beauty to our landscape. All of us bene t from clean water ‐ and each of us has a role in getting and keeping our lakes, rivers, wetlands, and groundwater clean. For more easy steps on protecting our water, visit stormwatercoalition.org
• Clean It Up. Pick up after your pets before watering your yard or cleaning patios and driveways. Never hose pet waste into the street or gutter.
The 2022-23 year’s theme is “Show Your Voice.”Other 2021-22 state winners from the area include:
#WorkPlayPayjobs.slco.org#WhereWorkIsFunWorkingwith us is your calling: Apply today.
“I hadn’t done Reflections before; it was my first time,” she said. “I’d tell anyone to do it. It’s a lot of fun.” Her mother was on hand for the an nouncement.“It’sreally fun and it’s a really great mem ory for her and her two best friends to be able to do this together,” Seaborn said. “It started out with ‘let’s do something fun’ and now, it’s just ending with another fun moment.” Her principal Christy Waddell said that the dance was “creatively made by a great stu dent who was a darling to get her friends in volved and just excited from the get-go when the theme was introduced.”
Each year, more than 300,000 students in pre-kindergarten through 12th grade national ly create original works of art in response to a student-selected theme. This program, which is more than 50 years old, is designed to give students a way to express their own thoughts through artistic ability in dance choreography, film production, literature, music composition, photography and visual arts.
Draper Elementary Reflections Chair Melarie Wheat was proud of all the students’ entries.“I’m super proud of all the kids who worked hard and did a great job,” she said. “As a volunteer, it was fun to see their videos and artwork. It’s so rewarding.”
The Draper Elementary students are among the 17,000 Utah students who compete at the school level. Students then can advance with an award of excellence to the council or regional level before those winners continue to state and possibly, nationals.
Cottonwood Heights Powell Nebeker, Bella Vista Elementary, literature, honorable mention; Katelyn Green, Butler Middle, 2D visual art, honorable men tion; and Laura Passey, Butler Middle, 3D art, honorable mention.
Draper Elementary’s Mia Seaborn, seen center in pink top, won nationals in Reflections for dance chore ography that she performed with her friends Kenedey Anderson and Jackie Woodward. (Julie Slama/City Journals)
M idvale C ity J ournalPage 14 | S e P t . 2022 When the theme for last year’s PTA Reflections was announced, Draper Elementary Chinese dual immersion sec ond-grader Mia Seaborn knew she wanted to enter in dance choreography. Before she burst in the doors to tell her mother what she was doing, she already enlisted the help of her two friends, Kenedey Anderson and Jackie Woodward to join her. “She came home that day and was like, ‘I’m doing Reflections and I've asked Jackie and Kenedey to be in it. I have this whole plan of how to make the world better,’” her moth er, Ellie Seaborn, said adding that in the video, they recycle, they pick up trash and help plants grow “so the world will be more beautiful.” Mia’s jazz dance video, “Reduce, Reuse, Recycle” expressed her way of matching the theme, “I will change the world by….” Her excitement grew as she developed the dance and performed it with her friends, who she has done multiple activities with, including tumbling and soccer, despite Jackie being in a wheelchair.“Ilike to dance,” Mia said, adding that she began at age 3 and knows several styles of dance. “I wanted to show all kinds of ways we can helpMia’sout.”dance choreography video was not only the best in the state for kindergart ners through second-graders, but she also was crowned national champion. She was surprised by a banner and balloons in her classroom and quickly had her two best friends join in the cel ebration.
Draper Charlie Hansen, Willow Springs Elemen tary, film production, award of merit; Max Stephens, Draper Park Middle, music compo sition, award of merit; Alex Piech, Draper Park Middle, photography, award of merit; Beau Boyce, Willow Springs, 3D visual art, hon orable mention; and Natalie Van Roosendaal, Willow Springs, 3D visual art, honorable men tion. Midvale Catherine Rubsam, Hillcrest High, litera ture, honorable mention; Micaela Madariaga, Hillcrest High, 2D visual art, award of merit; Elena Parker, Hillcrest High, 2D visual art, award of merit; William Griffiths, Edgemont Elementary, 2D visual art, award of merit; and Honoka Smith, Midvale Middle, 2D visual art, honorable mention. Murray Noelle Thackeray, Longview Elemen tary, photography, honorable mention; Milo Patterson, Horizon Elementary, 2D visual art, honorable mention; and Ivy Harding, Horizon Elementary, 3D art, award of merit. Sandy Kate Hepworth, Edgemont Elementary, film production, award of excellence; Anna Larson, Jordan High, music composition, award of merit; Leah Memmott, Indian Hills Middle, music composition, award of excel lence; Vivian Christine Mackerell, Lone Peak Elementary, music composition, award of mer it; Tawny McEntire, Willow Canyon Elemen tary, literature, honorable mention; Cameron Avery, Quail Hollow, photography, award of merit; and Ashley Meza, Jordan High, 3D art, award of merit. South Jordan Gabriel Hardy, Welby Elementary, film production, honorable mention; Siena Duncan, South Jordan Elementary, music composition, honorable mention; Jacob Whitmer, Welby Elementary, music composition, honorable mention; Bridger Pedroza, Elk Ridge Middle, music composition, award of merit; Eleanor Elshaug, Golden Fields Elementary, literature, honorable mention; Rush Simmons, Monte Vista Elementary, 2D visual art, award of mer it; Olive Pettit, Golden Fields Elementary, 2D visual art, honorable mention; and Rebekah Brinton, Mountain Creek Middle, 2D visual art, award of merit. l
Inspired by theme, Draper girl choreographs dance for national Reflections win By Julie Slama | j.slama@mycityjournals.com
50 years of ‘Burning of the H’ homecoming tradition keeps burning
Jerry Christiensen said, “True story. We turned it into a ‘B.’”
While it graced the cover of the 2014 Hillcrest High yearbook, the 1983 year book memorialized the practice. “The greatest tradition of all, the Burning of the H was an exhilarating occasion that ev ery Husky will remember.”
According to the alumni page, Linda White, who attended the school from 196871, said the tradition may have started with pranks. She remembered Jordan High burning a H in Hillcrest’s field in 1969 after the Huskies burned a H in their field for homecoming.
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This year, Hillcrest is using Vortex Fire works Artists, who will use lance fireworks or miniature green flares or that are mounted on wooden frames for the Burning of the H. “The fire is pyrotechnics, actually a bunch of little fireworks or road flares,” said Vortex’s Chuck Johnson, who said they’ll also shoot up traditional fireworks on the Sept. 22 celebra tion. He said that both Unified Fire Department as well as their own fire crew will be on hand to ensure the safety of the fireworks display. In recent years, the festivities have in cluded honoring representatives from all the different clubs, sports and organizations on the Thursday before Friday’s game when the crowning of the homecoming court takes place. Also, the bringing together of the current student body president with the student body president from 50 years ago, which has been fun addition, Conder said.
By Julie Slama
The ritual, which Hillcrest alumni best recollect beginning in the 1970s happens the night before the homecoming football game. Throughout the tradition’s approximate 50 years, it has had different looks—including so cially distancing students throughout the whole stadium during the COVID-19 pandemic— but its intent has remained the same: to boost school“Backspirit.then, schools wanted to get stu dents involved and it was part of the pep rally to jazz people up for homecoming,” said Hill crest High Alumni Association president Craig Conder, who graduated in 1978. “What better way to jazz a bunch of high school students up then by burning something?—especially for the guys.”Heremembers during his high school days a wooden structure H was set on fire. “Back in the day, when safety wasn't re ally a thing, they built a wooden H out on the 50-yard line. Other years, it was in the visitor’s side of the bleachers and in later years, after ar tificial turf, lit at the end of the stadium on the pavement or parking lot,” Conder said, adding that traditionally fireworks, a parade, and pep rally have been part of the night-before home coming celebration. “Safety, the environment, it wasn’t a thing back then. I mean we put tox ic smoke into the air because I’m sure we put gasoline, kerosene or some fluid on the burn ing H to get it blazing. These days, people are a lot more worried about safety and the envi ronment. So large fires with lots of teenagers around might not be the thing school districts are willing to do these days.” In fact, it was in 1996 when the longstand ing tradition was doused as students—both at the high school and college levels—learned the state’s open burning law didn’t allow bonfires. Even so, students at Juab High continued the tradition unaffiliated with the school until 2009 when a handful of students got severely burned.
Former Principal Charisse Hilton, who was at the school from 1993 to 1999, said that on Hillcrest High’s Alumni Association Face book page that the H was in “a large metal frame. Student government would weave old upholstery throughout and then we wrapped it in muslin. We soaked it in kerosene and set it in the middle of the field.”
Conder recalled a bunch of helium bal loons on strings were placed on top of the H. “The clown dramatically let it go and it floated off. It was pretty cool,” he said.
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Tracy Olson posted: “Legend (probably an urban legend) has it that the Brighton/Hillcrest rivalry had taken an ugly turn where Brighton killed a husky and ran it up the Hillcrest flag pole. In retaliation, Hillcrest burnt a giant ‘H’ on Brighton’s field.”
Brenda McCann graduated from Hillcrest in 1981 and worked at the school for about 20 years before becoming Union Middle’s princi pal this year. During her tenure, Burning of the H always was a tradition. “I think it changed from a bonfire as a cel ebration to where they started burning wood in the shape of an H,” she said. “In the ’80s, they did a fire in the middle of the field when it was grass, but we went to the fireworks when they put the turf field in 10-12 years ago. We always worry about safety. You have to have the fire marshal for Midvale involved and they'll come, and they'll stage it so it's in a protective area.”
However, Hilton, who became a Brighton administrator after leaving Hillcrest, said those scars were still there. “I was asked to check out an unusual burn mark on the football field,” she said. “After staring at it a few minutes, I realized it was the pattern of the ‘H.’l
The actual Burning of the H tradition, which has included a script read by student body officers, teachers and administrators out lining the legacy of Hillcrest since opening its doors in 1962, has included several different looks, including an H of candles in 1981, a foilwrapped H in 1999 and the Lifting of the H in 1978.Lars Boggess, class of 1978 vice presi dent, said during pride week, which lead up to homecoming, they hired Windy, a clown who was a balloon artist, who created a wire-framed H that was at least 15 feet tall. Then, they filled the interior with helium balloons for the Lifting of the“ItH.was a lot of work, and the clown wasn't very happy because we only gave him 200 bucks or something minimal,” Boggess said. “He was a grumpy clown.”
About
The Burning of the H homecoming tradition, seen here in 2019, dates back in this format about 50 years. (Julie Slama/City Journals)
Alumni Phil Montoya recalls it was fall 1975 when a bunch of Huskies went to Brigh ton High and burned a H in their grass football field. “They went and lit it up; I believe with gasoline,” he said. “They just burned a H and in Brighton’s field. It was a long time ago and kids do stupid things when they’re young. But it was a rivalry and a heated one back in those days.”
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A big component of that is community service, including the eighth-grade year cumulating “Make a Difference” project where through the years, students have identi fied service they can perform that will make a big impact in their community, such as making blankets for children in hospitals, organizing and sewing to make bibs for students with spe cial needs, and developing a learning program at a children’s museum. Robison said, within “Portrait of a Gradu ate,” there is a service competency.
By Julie Slama | j.slama@mycityjournals.com
“I want to make sure we have something in place that really allows students’ strengths to be seen, and for us as a school to really make sure that we were focusing on all the things to really help kids be successful in life,” she said. “We really like ‘Portrait of a Graduate’ and strongly believe it goes a step further (than the International Baccalaureate’s Middle Years Programme) by making sure that there are some competencies to this. It's also state ap proved, and we really liked that. We feel like it's giving some attention to some of the areas that we haven't put a focus on before.” It wasn’t just a simple switch from MYP to “Portrait of a Graduate.”
The state’s “Portrait of a Graduate” “identifies the ideal characteristics of a Utah graduate after going through the K-12 sys tem,” according to the state board of education website. The state program is created in three parts: mastery, or ability to demonstrate depth of knowledge and skill proficiency; autonomy, the self-confidence and motivation to think and act independently; and purpose, to guide life decisions, influence behavior, shape goals, offer a sense of direction and create meaning. “Portrait of a Graduate” stretches from academic mastery to wellness, from digital literacy to civic, financial and economic liter acy. It also includes communication, critical thinking, problem-solving, creativity and in novation, respect and more. Those are further broken down to skills to be learned at elemen tary, middle school and high school levels. The program will be incorporated in K-12 schools.
This past spring, Midvale Middle pro gram coordinator Shelley Allen led students, parents, teachers, and others in focus groups to discuss what the program will look like at the school.“I’m just excited about moving forward,” said Allen, who has overseen the MYP pro gram throughout its tenure at the school. “The competencies are really solid. I love the service component. I love that you're still developing character traits and it’s going to help kids suc ceed beyond high school. That's the goal. We wanted to be able to succeed and I think this is going to help them do so.” One thing Allen and Robison did was take parts of MYP that the school has done since it began in 2012 and incorporate them into “Por trait of a Graduate.”
Midvale Middle Principal Mindy Robi son said her aim is having the students learn and develop skills that will help them in the future and be recognized.
Robison said that while nearby Hillcrest High also offers the International Baccalaure ate program, there are no plans to discontinue it since the high school level is based on classes and is different in its structure from the Middle Years Programme. l
“The state doesn’t say how that should be implemented. So that's why we can take our ‘Make a Difference’ project that we already have, that we really love, that fits the service competency really well, and continue to im plement that. We can prioritize that because the school has such a great history of teaching service and having kids perform so highly with service,” she said.
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“Midvale has done some amazing work on ‘Portrait of a Graduate,’” Hanson said. “This gives ideal characteristics that we're all looking for in schools and it helps us to real ly build that knowledge base and that rigor that we want. It gives clear information tar gets, goals that allow us to move forward with students, especially getting them these more advanced skills, these 21st century skills and competencies that we're looking for.”
Of course, academics matter and their growth, but we’re also focusing on skills like how do you treat people; are you really ready when you graduate to get a job, go to college, or do whatever you choose; and are we really help ing you. We want to highlight things that kids are doing well and celebrate those, but also help kids see that there's a lot of intrinsic mo tivation from succeeding in a lot of these dif ferentUnderareas.”each of the program’s areas, there are additional focuses such as problem-solv ing, logical thinking, open-minded communi cation that students will learn. “I liked that we're doing something that really represents the state of Utah and has im portant components that we have advocated for here for years,” Robison said. “The added competencies are a more in-depth look of our students and how many things that they can be successful in areas. When we see a student who is maybe struggling academically, we can remind them they didn't give up and they per sisted when it really matters. We can help stu dents with academics, but maybe, they demon strated three or four of these qualities and that’s impressive. It allows us to build relationships with students who sometimes don't feel like they're the best student and it just gives vo cabulary to connect with kids and say, ‘OK, you don't have this concept yet, but I noticed that you're really working hard to solve this problem. You are persistent; you're resilient.’ Those things matter and we know that when kids graduate with those skills—and with the content—they’ll be skills they’ll have on how you keep a job, how you make it through col lege, how you do so many things. Those skills really matter, and they'll still empower them to be able to get the standards as well.”
Allen agrees: “I honestly feel like we're taking all the stuff that I love the most and we're implementing it with ‘Portrait of a Grad uate.’ It’s going to be great.”
Robison said “Portrait of a Graduate” aligns with Canyons School District’s new strategic plan. The development of the strategic plan has taken place during several years, involving parents through administrators, and incorpo rates high-quality learning, access and oppor tunity, human-centered supports and operating systems, said Cindy Hanson, Canyons middle school“Partdirector.ofthe strategic initiatives within those areas, encompasses the ‘Portrait of a Graduate,’” she said. “We're really going to be working through this year, our academic team with our cabinet, superintendent and with the (Canyons) Board (of Education) to identify what the competencies are that are focusing on to align to our strategic vision.” That will prepare them for a “broader roll out” of “Portrait of a Graduate” in all Canyons schools next fall, she said. Midvale Middle “had the go ahead” to “maintain some of the MYP things that were established, and then still be able to create those tier-one supports” for students, Hanson said. The timing of introducing “Portrait of a Graduate” at Midvale Middle also coincided with the review of the MYP program. By not continuing in MYP, the accreditation paper work was eliminated and the focus could be given to the state program.
Robison said that with the flexibility of “Portrait of a Graduate,” administrators can customize it for the school. This year, Midvale Middle administrators, with input from stu dents, parents, faculty and others decided on two initial competencies they will focus on in lessons during their Friday homeroom periods.
Board of Education member Mont Miller berg agrees: “It gives some pretty good guide lines as to what not only we as a school district can expect, also what parents should be able to expect from school and it gives the students a pretty good roadmap as to how they can mea sure what they're doing. We can go through and determine how effective and successful we are when we look at the progress kids are making.”
This fall, Midvale Middle School will be the first of the Canyons School District schools to incorporate the Utah State Board of Education’s program “Portrait of a Graduate.”
Midvale Middle Program Coordinator Shelley Allen and school principal Mindy Robison hand out programs at the school’s last International Baccalaureate’s Middle Years Programme celebration. (Julie Slama/City Journals)
Midvale Middle rolls out ‘Portrait of a Graduate’ to replace existing IB Middle Years Programme
“They want the students to work on re spect and effort, and then additionally service. Our lessons will be for all the grades and in corporating that into the whole culture of the school,” she said. “We really want to work with the community to let them know like sometimes in education, we don't always high light some kids who have these great strengths. We want to show how we value the students’ strengths, the diversity of our community, and many things at school. It's not just academic.
“Our captains (Emmy Stam, Rachel Black, Sage Christensen and Kaylee Taylor) came up with that and it’s super motivating. The idea is for every practice, every perfor mance and every rep to ‘make it count’ and in the long run, it matters, and the work is worth it,” Divine said. “We’re just starting the new season and running with the mo mentum that we built last year.” l
Now, HD is performing at football games and this winter, basketball games, as they gear up for the competitive season. This season, the state routines are military, dance and show. “Hip hop will be something we do at football or perform at an invitational rou tine,” she added. “It’s more school-spirited. I’m super excited because we’re getting new pom uniforms this year. We don’t compete pom, but I love we train our girls to do pom and build school spirit. We’ve been using the same uniforms for seven years now, but we designed this year’s uniforms. We have the Husky on them and the school colors. They’re going to look amazing.”
Hillcrest High’s drill team assistant coach Carter Williams films the team this August as they performed in this year’s Harvest Days parade near Midvale City Park. (Julie Slama/City Journals)
This year’s squad brings in 22 returners from last season along with 10 new mem bers.
Afterperforming.coming off their spring season, where they learned basic technique and some routines, HD participated in a June camp and performed in the recent Midvale Harvest Days parade. “These girls are so talented. They can learn a routine in a day or two, so then we have a few weeks to clean it and get it ready,” Divine said. “The difficulty in the routines has risen over the last few years. This year, the girls are really doing some cool things. Our goal is to do a full team right aerials, back handsprings and front aerials. It’s all about their flexibility and their turns; we re ally are pushing turns this season. We want to advance their ability and skill level to turn for a longer period of time and change direc tion. It takes a lot of body control and when they have it down, it’s impressive.”
Hillcrest HD ready to ‘make it count’ this season
On the field or floor, HD is planning for every minute to “make it count,” matching their drill team theme.
Hillcrest High’s HD, which was ranked third in the state last season, were crowned region champions in January 2022. (Photo courtesy of Berkeley Summer hays/Hillcrest High)
“It was cool because we have so many connections. We had an HD alum, who was on the Cougarettes with BYU (Brigham Young University) and then Carter, my assis tant coach, plus my brother, he's on the UVU (Utah Valley University) dance team and my sister (Erica Williams Jordan, former Hus kies assistant) coaches Weber State’s dance team. Being there and seeing it was really eye-opening for a lot of the girls. I know the new team was super inspired by it and it helped them come back with like a lot of energy,” Divine said. “It was fun for them to see these people who grew up in Utah and who are on these teams, practicing and working so hard, accomplishing these huge, amazing goals and doing crazy tricks. It's just good for the girls to see people doing these incredible things and that's my whole goal. I want these girls, whether they dance after high school or not, I want them to be empowered and believe that they can accom plish big things.”
M idvale C ity J ournalPage 18 | S e P t . 2022
Hillcrest High’s drill team knows their assistant coach, Carter Williams, can as he took the dance world by storm on the na tionally televised program this summer. But so can the squad fondly called “HD.”
“We had a humongous team, and they were amazing,” head coach Chelsea Divine said. “We absolutely loved it. We had a lot of returners, and we had some amazing new people show up, so we knew it was going to be an awesome year. They did phenomenal at state. They did really deliver amazing per formances.”Thatincluded a standing ovation for their show routine which was every girl sporting a black wig and glasses like Edna Mode from Pixar’s “The Incredibles.”
The team was ranked third in state’s RPI system and had three all-state team mem bers in Molly Underwood, Emily Swain and Emmy Stam. Swain and Morgan Peterson were named to the academic all-state team while Underwood took the EPIC top core and region hero award, and Rachel Black was a Miss Drill Utah top 10 finalist. After the competition season, HD trav eled to see the college cheer and dance teams compete at nationals in Florida.
“It was really cool because our girls were very excited about that and felt like people were really appreciating what we were doing this season,” Divine said. “As a team, they accomplished some amazing things. I'm so proud of our girls.”
“All of those girls were super amped up and excited,” she said, adding that they’ve used their collegiate connections to bring in dancers and coaches to help teach mas ter classes or talk to them about post-high school
Last season, the 40-girl team placed first and second in three invitational competitions before taking first place in every dance at re gion to win the championship.
By Julie Slama | j.slama@mycityjournals.com
So, you think you can dance?
After two tournaments in Stansbury and Payson before school begun, Hillcrest High’s golf coach can see improve ment and hopes with consistency, his team will be more com petitive this season.
Hillcrest golf could be on par for competitive season
Two wins against non-region teams Murray High and Jordan High before school began and head tennis coach Creighton Chun feels good about the season.
“I didn’t play as well as I wanted to,” he said. “It was kind of tough with a field of 110 kids playing.” Poulsen started sinking putts on the putting green around 8 years old. He then hit balls at the driving range before playing a course at age 10.
“Last season, at our own tournament at River Oaks, we took third, which was our highest finish,” coach Dave Richard son said. “With more players who are playing better, I see more of those finishes this year.”
With a goal to qualify and improve individually at state, Poulsen was on the course almost daily this summer. He also played in tournaments this summer. To pay for his practice rounds, he and other Huskies picked up driving range balls once per week in trade to play a couple rounds. “We mostly focus on the game,” he said. “I think we’re go ing to be able to set up a fight against schools this year. It would be really cool for us to win one of the actual tournaments, be cause it's been quite a while since we've done that. We all have the desire to win and everybody's willing to put in the work to make that happen. We most definitely have the manpower to do it.” l Hillcrest High’s golf team led by senior Connor Poulsen, seen here last year, is a stronger team, which its coach hopes will result in a state qualification. (Photo courtesy of Dave Richardson/Hillcrest High)
Chun said he expects the lines on the courts to be painted several days before that match and that will complete the new courts. None of this year’s squad has ever played at home, in stead consistently playing away matches and usually practicing in parks or making other arrangements to use tennis courts. Skyline High on Aug. 19 and Highland High on Aug. 26 are scheduled to be home non-region matches.
Hillcrest High’s Sowmya Paritala, seen here winning her set against Murray High, will play No. 3 singles her final year in high school. (Julie Slama/City Journals) Hillcrest tennis players strong in singles play, expected to lead to region success
Some other varsity players Richardson is looking to in clude senior Jeb Thomas, juniors Matt Miller and Keaton Glov er and sophomore Alex Lopez. Richardson also has high hopes for freshman Chase Runnells who has “a natural swing and nothing but potential.”
By Julie Slama | j.slama@mycityjournals.com
“I play soccer in the spring, but golf is way less stress ful,” said Poulsen, who plays goalkeeper for the Huskies in the spring and would like to play either sport on the collegiate level. “I kind of like golf, just being on my own. I can play on my own timeframe. There's not a set schedule when I need to be there and I'm not running around on a field for 90 minutes in a dead sprint. I'm just more relaxed.”
“If I think what I’m doing is wrong, I will sometimes watch videos of coaching lessons to see what they say and I’ll try to implement it,” Poulsen said.
“We graduated five players, but we have a bunch of guys back,” Richardson said. “Our JV is showing a lot of potential. It looks like we’ll have a fun season.” He expects competition again from Stansbury and Tooele, but Richardson thinks his team will be in the top five at several tournaments “if their scoring is low enough. I’m shooting to win theWhileregion.”thetop two region teams automatically qualify for state, the top scoring teams across Utah also qualify. Even if the team doesn’t qualify, Richardson expects Poulsen to compete individually at state as he did last year. At last fall’s 5A state championship, Poulsen played in the first round, but missed the cut to advance.
Joining Gonzalez is her friend and No. 2 singles player, sophomore Camila Andrade, who is new to Hillcrest.
By Julie Slama | j.slama@mycityjournals.com
“She’s a strong player and like Fabiana, came from Vene zuela,” Chun said. He expects strong play from his single players, including No. 3 player senior Sowmya Paritala, who was the top player her freshman and sophomore seasons.
“I put together a really hard pre-region schedule this year,” Chun said as he wanted to challenge his players, especially No. 1 singles player sophomore Fabiana Gonzalez. “Our schedule wasn’t challenging for her last year, and she’s greatly improved so I wanted to make sure she had some good competition.”
Gonzalez, who won a level 5 junior tournament for ages 16 and under this summer, went undefeated in the regular sea son last“She’syear.ranked the third best sophomore in the state,” he said. Both her toughest match and the hardest one for the team, Chun predicts, will be against Olympus High Aug. 16, the day after school begins. If it works out, it will be the team’s first home match since 2018 as their courts were ripped up during the reconstruction of the school.
“For the most part, my family plays—my grandpa, my dad, my brother, and my sister,” he said, adding that when he began his dad would give him pointers. Now, he watches YouTube to learn how to improve.
Around his sophomore year, he began to get more serious about playing golf. Thomas and senior Cole Wardle also joined the Hillcrest team then.
Steady improvement,
The squad is led by senior Connor Poulsen, “who just shot four under par and has a good supporting cast,” Richardson said.
“Sowmya went to international science fair; she’s bright and academically strong. She’s a good player; she's the epitome of a student-athlete,” he said. “I am confident, especially with our one, two and three singles, that we will challenge for the regionChunchampionship.”saidthatthe team would have brought home the title last year if it weren’t for including No. 3 doubles, which was essentially bringing up the No. 1 JV team to score. He said that isn’t a common practice and this year, it already has been deter mined it wouldn’t be included in the region scoring. In doubles play, he has senior returner Lily Greenwood matched up with sophomore Jacklyn Wei for the No. 1 team.
“I see our No. 2 doubles team changing throughout the year. There are so many girls that are really getting good and can challenge for that team that I know it's going to change,” he said about his 20-member squad. In doubles play, he said Uintah High in Vernal is always strong.“It seems like they put all their players on doubles rather than singles,” Chun said. “They won the region championship because over the regular season, they won more doubles match es. I feel our doubles teams are stronger than last year, that's why I feel confident about region.” Region play is scheduled to begin Aug. 18 against Cotton wood High. The team will travel to a St. George tournament Sept. 8-10, 11 days before the state tournament begins Sept. 21. The first round is at Brighton High and the second, semifinals and finals at Liberty Park. l
S e P t . 2022 | Page 19M idvale J ournal . C o M
By Julie Slama | j.slama@mycityjournals.com
The Huskies had three players score goals in the 5-0 win over North Sanpete High from Mt. Pleasant, each goal scored by a different player assisting. JV won 7-0. One week later, the Huskies won 2-1 on Juab High’s field in Nephi.
After the first game of Hillcrest High’s girls soccer season, new head coach Brett Davis was positive. “Great first effort,” he said, adding that they “got a look at a large number of play ers.”
“Our senior class is small, but it's pretty good quality and a lot of them play togeth er on club so that's going to help us hit the ground running,” he said. “That senior class is invested in the program; they’re here ear ly, they’re helping on the fields. They’ve got a lot of great qualities to be able to lead for us. Teya Snowder is instrumental to the team and Emma Cecil is quite a good player who didn’t play last year. We have Laura Curtis, who is a good, solid player and a couple oth er seniors.”Davissaid that even with graduating a dozen players, he likes what he sees in this team.“So far what I have seen is looking pretty good. I’ve got some good juniors and the sophomore class that came in last year is pretty good. The freshman class that's coming in is very, very good, so there will be some freshmen and sophomore playing varsity this year,” said Davis, who replaces former coach Eldon Brough, who moved to help coach Colorado Northwestern Com munity College. “I think we've got a nice, strong skilled core up the center of the field, in a central back, the central midfield, right up that spine. So that's going to be a nice, senior core that runs straight up the middle. I've got a junior and a sophomore goalkeep er returning and a new incoming freshman goalkeeper, so we'll be OK in that regard. Last year, we scored a lot of goals. So hope fully we can continue that trend and build uponDavisthat.” and the team have been watching training and scrimmage video to “talk about systems of play and movement as a team and put thatRegiontogether.”playwas scheduled to begin on the first day of school, Aug. 15, at Uintah High in Vernal. State tournament begins Oct. 6. Davis isn’t new to soccer nor new to Hillcrest. He has coached the Husky boys’ soccer for 15 of the last 19 years, including the last five. He grew up in California and started playing soccer at age 12, before the sport was popular in the states. “I played all the way up through semi-professional,” Davis said adding that the soccer system was different back in the day. “I played in college, but we didn't have a full-sanction program at the time. We did travel, we did play other colleges, but it was more of a club level.” He has coached high school through semi-professionals.“Thethingthat that appealed to me most in coaching high school is helping fill the need for young people to have role models and people to support them alongside their parents. Sometimes teenagers don't want to listen to Mom and Dad, but if coach says the exact same thing, suddenly it becomes gospel truth. So this is an opportunity I can have, a positive influence on the growth and development in human lives and help devel op them as people first, before we develop players,” he said. That will extend from the girls support ing one another academically to creating a team culture. As the COVID-19 pandemic allows, team dinners will return.
The team has two assistant coaches, Kimmy Wiley and Tawsi Rohner, who grew up playing soccer before getting into coach ing. Wiley, out of Wisconsin, played for Car roll University, while Rohner was a player for Mesa Community College in Arizona. This is expected to be the last season played at East Midvale Elementary. The Huskies began playing there fall 2018 when their field was torn up for the rebuild of the school. The new field has been laid down and now is expected to be ready in fall 2023. l
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“It's a great bonding opportunity to get the players together,” he said. “We'll look at some other avenues in addition to team din ners to build a cohesiveness. Creating the culture is a big deal in my programs.”
M idvale C ity J ournalPage 20 | S e P t . 2022
Hillcrest High junior Sarah Pruden, seen here in play against North Sanpete High, helped the Huskies in its first win under new head coach Brett Davis. (Julie Slama/City Journals)
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Hillcrest High soccer kicks off season on top under new head coach
S e P t . 2022 | Page 21M idvale J ournal . C o M LOVE WHERE YOU LIVE DISCOVER YOUR NEXT HOME VISIT UTRERC.COM OUR SERVICES: › Find a Home › Home Value › RESOURCEUTAHCommunitiesREALESTATECENTER
Chelsea Roberts was 8 years old when her mother was diag nosed with Huntington’s disease. She remembers watching her mother’s decline from the fatal genetic disease that affects nerve cells in the brain. When Roberts was 19, her mother passed“Itaway.was hard. At that point she had suffered for so long, it was kind of a tender mercy. She fought so bravely and so hard. When you watch someone you love go through that for so long, you only want the best for them,” Roberts said. “I’m the only one out of my siblings that hasn’t been diagnosed with the disorder. My younger brother and sister and both have tested positive.”Today, there are about 41,000 Americans with the disease and more than 200,000 at risk of inheriting the disease. People with the genetic marker have a 50% chance of passing it down to theirTochildren.bringawareness to the disease, the Huntington's Dis ease Society of America will host Team Hope, the organiza tion’s largest national grassroots fundraising event, which takes place in 100 cities across the country. In 15 years, it’s raised more than $20 million.
The Utah Team Hope Walk & 5K Run will be held Satur day, Sept. 10 at 8:30 a.m. at Sugar House Park (1330 E. 2100 South). All proceeds will support HDSA’s mission to improve the lives of people affected by Huntington’s disease and their families.People can visit Utah.hdsa.org to register for the event.
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“I’ve just been in awe of the community and the support they’ve given my family over the years,” Roberts said. “We’re going to come together in the community to celebrate hope, to celebrate the ability to have a sense of community because it’s a really isolating disease. We want to bring together a plethora of people who are here to buoy you up and support you and advocate for a cure.”
Roberts, who was recently crowned Mrs. Utah Earth 2022, serves as the vice president for the HDSA’s Utah chapter and encourages families, friends and community members to walk together to help improve the lives of people affected by Hun tington’s“There’sdisease.lots of research into medicine that will hinder or stop the progression of the disease. Lots of research in the UK yielded some great results,” Roberts said. “It’s in the group of Alzheimer’s and multiple sclerosis, as a neurological disorder, so once we get one of those, it will be amazing.”
Participants can also set up a team and create a fundraising page.
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The Utah Team Hope Walk & 5K on Saturday, Sept. 10 at 8:30 a.m. at Sugar House Park, raises funding and awareness for the fatal Hunting ton’s disease. (Photo courtesy of Chelsea Roberts)
Utah Team Hope brings awareness to Huntington’s disease
By Peri Kinder | peri.k@thecityjournals.com
Peri Kinder Life and Laughter A slow burn
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Remember in the ‘70s, when it was discovered that chlorofluorocarbons from aerosol hairsprays were destroying the ozone layer, that thin layer of protection that absorbs radiation so we don’t get mi crowaved by the sun? Everyone used aerosol hairspray to get big hair and sky-high bangs. In fact, Aqua Net was our school mascot. But when we learned the chemicals damaged our atmo sphere, there was a worldwide campaign to ban them -- and it happened. Everyone agreed the ozone was worth protecting and did something about it. Crazy, huh? Where’s that cohesion now? Remember in the spring of 2020, when people actually cared about trying to stop the spread of COVID-19? We isolated in our homes, playing endless games of Uno, Clue and Cards Against Humanity, until getting the disease didn’t seem so bad. Flights were canceled, millions of cars were off the roads, and introverts were having big celebrations. By themselves. In theirDuringclosets. those brief weeks, cities around the world showed an improvement in air and water quality. Even in Utah, the sky was bluer and the air was cleaner. Now we’re back in our cars and the air is trying to kill us.
I recently walked through the Room of Extinction and Forewarning at the Utah Museum of Natural History, where dino saur bones are displayed, like the 90-footlong Barosaurus that was all neck and tail, and died 150 million years ago. A trophy wall of triceratops’ skulls stared down at me with hollow eyes and gaping jaws. Gi ant sloths and massive bears wandered this area 12,000 years ago. Of all the species that ever existed on Earth, 99.9 percent are now extinct. We could soon lose mountain gorillas, black rhinos, African forest elephants and orang utans.Here’s the thing, the Earth will be fine. It’s gone through climate cycles for 4.5 billion years. It’s watched civilizations rise and fall, and specialty soda shops fade into extinction. However, humanity is in a spot of “Buttrouble.theclimate is going to change anyway. Why is it our problem?” annoying peopleShutask.up. Yes, climate change happens naturally, but thanks to humans, the pro cess has sped up like a meteor breaking the sound barrier. I don’t want my grandchildren to wor ry about water and food and sharknados. We need to elect leaders who promote green solutions. We need politicians who care less about their pocketbook and more about the planet’s future. I believe in global warming because I’m not a knucklehead. It’s my fear that one day my skeleton will be displayed in a museum as an extinct species, with the sound of Al Gore quietly weeping through the speakers.
