Murray Journal | May 2024

THE JOURNALS INTRODUCES NEW PROCESS TO ENSURE LOCAL NEWS DELIVERY

TheCity Journals have published newspapers every month for the past 33 years. During which we have mailed a copy of the Journal to nearly everyone in the city. We know from audits that over 70% of the households in the city read the Journal, but that means 30% do not. That is a considerable amount of wasted paper. We also know that some people in the community are not receiving the Journal, although they want it.

Until now there was no way to address these issues. But now, using this QR code, you can select if you want to receive the Journal.

Because staying informed about local happenings is more important than ever, the Journals is proud to announce an innovative process to guarantee community members receive their local news each month.

Recognizing the vital role of local journalism in fostering community engagement and connection, the Journals has developed an approach to ensure timely and reliable news delivery to every doorstep within our coverage areas.

Using cutting-edge logistics technology and a dedicated team of delivery pro-

fessionals, we can create enhanced route planning, tracking systems and distribution methods. The Journal aims to overcome challenges that have hindered timely news delivery in the past.

“It is important to keep readers informed about what’s happening in their neighborhoods, schools, businesses and local government,” said Bryan Scott, publisher at The City Journals. “With this new process, we’re not only reaffirming our commitment to high-quality local journalism but also ensuring every member of our community has reliable access.”

We have deep gratitude for the United States Postal Service, whose dedication enables the delivery of more than 200,000 monthly Journals to our readers. This partnership is instrumental in ensuring our local news reaches every household efficiently and consistently. With our new system, readers will still receive their Journal in the mail each month but with more accuracy and control based on our new process.

This underscores the Journals’ unwavering dedication to providing trusted local news and information for our readers. Whether reporting on community

events, highlighting local businesses, or investigating important issues affecting our neighborhoods, the Journals remains steadfast in its mission to celebrate and build the community.

The Journals encourages readers to provide feedback on their news delivery experience, allowing for improvement and refinement of the process. With this groundbreaking approach, the Journals reaffirms its position as the leading provider

of local news, delivering stories that matter to our valued readers.

Residents can now choose if they want to receive the Journal at their home by using the QR Code or by visiting Mail.TheCityJournals.com. We ask all residents to complete this form to continue receiving the Journal each month.

Share this message with others in the city who may not be familiar with the newspaper and want to sign up. l

Benefits of Deep Brain Stimulation

with Dr. Joel MacDonald

eep brain stimulation is an important surgical treatment option for patients experiencing progressive symptoms from Parkinson’s disease. Parkinson’s is a progressive neurological disorder with prominent impairment of movement including a disabling combination of tremor, rigidity (stiffness), and bradykinesia (slow movements). As these symptoms worsen, they interfere with daily function and diminish quality of life. Even simple daily tasks like using utensils to eat can be extremely difficult. Many patients notice declining effectiveness of medications over time.

Deep brain stimulation both directly improves these symptoms and allows medication doses to be decreased so that side effects are minimized. The process involves a brief surgical procedure under local anesthetic to implant electrodes within specific targets of the brain. The targets are selected based on the predominant symptoms. The electrodes are then connected to a small implanted stimulator that can then be programmed to improve movement function. Programming is done by a neurologist. Most patients recover from surgery quickly but optimal programming can take some time. This type of surgery has been routinely performed at Holy Cross Hospital - Salt Lake for several decades. For more information about CommonSpirit Health and our Holy Cross hospitals, including information about neurological disorders, please visit www.holycrossutah.org.

As CommonSpirit Health, we make the healing presence of God known in our world by improving the health of the people we serve, especially those who are vulnerable, while we advance social justice for all.

Cardiology experts who

Interventional Cardiologist

Cardiovascular surgeons

Cardiac Team available 24/7

Cardiac Catherization lab 24/7

Heart Surgery

$69 heart screening - Call (801) 350-4451 to set up your heart screening

mountain.commonspirit.org

Joel D. MacDonald, MD, FAANS

Cottonwood theater teacher applauded for education excellence

By Julie Slama | j.slama@mycityjournals.com

During spring break, Cottonwood High theatre director Adam Wilkins was gearing up not only for his drama team’s ensemble piece, “Triangle,” but also for every individual event and duo and trio scene that qualified at region for the state competition in April.

He also was looking ahead to the 7 p.m., April 30, May 1, 3 and 4 performances for the school production, “Urinetown,” which were performed in the school’s black box with a three-piece student band under the direction of student music director Tate Curtis.

Wilkins had little time to revel in the team’s region win—the school’s first since 2020—but he did get a surprise celebration as a Granite Education Foundation’s Excel Educator awardee when he reached the auditorium. He was unaware of what he would face, but rushed at the urging of his wife and drama coach, Madison Howell.

“When you see the look in her face, you don’t question it,” he said, admitting her acting skills got him that time.

Wilkins is one of nine classroom teachers and one school administrator who are honored with the distinction. He and the others were honored at a May 2 dinner that will show videos of their accomplishments and will receive a $1,500 check, a trophy and gifts from community sponsors including tickets to the last home Utah Jazz game.

According to the Granite Education Foundation’s website, the application process begins in the fall, with nominations by community members, students, parents and administrators submitting names of applicants who are making a difference every day.

Throughout the winter, applicants follow a rigorous application, evaluation and observation process by a 30-member selection committee comprised of community members, retired educators, administrators, and business partners to determine the 10 Excel Educator

Award winners.

Wilkins and the other winning Excel teachers this and previous years can apply for the Granite School District teacher of the year award; that award winner will then represent Granite School District as the applicant for the Utah teacher of the year award.

“This is awesome; it’s something I was hoping to achieve,” said the 17-year teaching veteran. “When I reached the room, people were there with my students—admin(instration), counselors, superintendent, the Jazz bear and Jazz dancers—and they were cheering for me. The bear just lifted me up, and I’m a good improviser so I just went for it and had fun celebrating.”

In amongst those applauding was his mother, Denise Wilkins.

“My mom is a huge supporter. She has seen everything I’ve performed, everything I’ve ever directed. She still comes to all our shows. It was a special to see her and my uncle there,” he said.

He gives his mother credit for introducing him to theater.

“She teaches special ed(ucation) at Murray High, but that wasn’t the case when I was growing up. She went back to school to get her degree and that really inspired me. She’s one of my heroes. When she was in school, she needed an art credit so she took a theater appreciation class and she took me to see ‘Annie.’ I absolutely just fell in love with the show,” he said, adding that while “Into the Woods” is now his favorite musical, he has directed “Annie” twice at Cotton-

wood High.

His mother supported her son’s passion, taking him to audition for “The King and I” in fifth grade.

“I fell in love with theater. I kept pursuing it. My mom was great to find me different opportunities to audition and perform,” he said.

Wilkins continued to perform while in high school and college.

In addition to directing at Cottonwood High, he still performs and directs in the community.

This summer, he will be directing “Peter and the Starcatcher” at Murray amphitheater as well as overseeing Granite School District’s theater camp, aimed for sixth graders through high school seniors. Registration for the theater summer camp can be found on the school website.

“We’ll provide opportunities for all the students to not just be a part of the shows, but truly shine,” he said.

It was one of his students, sophomore Rory Shover, who nominated Wilkins for the award.

“That was really an honor that she recognized the hard work I put in with my team; I was proud for my department and for the school,” he said. “This is an award I’ve wanted for years, but when I saw the sign with my name on it, I was really taken back.”

Wilkins said that it’s a credit to all theater and arts teachers.

“We put in a lot of time into our craft and it’s such a passion,” he said. “I hope the recognition might encourage other students to take a theater class or a student coming in from a junior high will try it out. I’m certainly not going to change anything we’re doing right now because clearly, it’s working.” l

MURRAY TEAM

The Murray Journal is a monthly publication distributed directly to residents via the USPS as well as locations throughout Murray. For information about distribution please email hello@thecityjournals.com or call our offices. Rack locations are also available on our website. The views and opinions expressed in display advertisements do not necessarily reflect or represent 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.

PUBLISHER

Bryan Scott | bryan.s@thecityjournals.com

EDITOR

Travis Barton | travis.b@thecityjournals.com

ADVERTISING EXECUTIVES

Mieka Sawatzki | mieka.s@thecityjournals.com

Jason Corbridge | jason.c@thecityjournals.com

Ryan Casper | ryan.c@thecityjournals.com

Greg Tanner | greg.t@valuepagesutah.com

CIRCULATION COORDINATOR

Lydia Rice | lydia.r@thecityjournals.com 385-557-1022

Rack locations are also available on our website.

EDITORIAL & AD

Anna Pro Ty Gorton

Stacey LaMont

MURRAY CITY JOURNAL

9500 South 500 West, Suite 205

Sandy, UT 84070

PHONE: 801-254-5974

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

Cottonwood High’s theater director Adam Wilkins was selected as one of Granite Education Foundation’s Excel recipients. (Julie Slama/City Journals)

Kolt Kids, Cottonwood High’s preschool, open for 2024-25 registrants

By Julie Slama | j.slama@mycityjournals.com

Ahighschool student read the rhyming lines on a page of a storybook, then invited preschoolers to come up to the book to count the teeth in the hippo’s mouth.

Last week, the youngsters learned about the sun and planets and creatively painted bright replicas before their high student teachers placed them in a scale model of the solar system.

Learning and interconnecting subjects is the basis of Cottonwood Kolt Kids, the preschool for 3, 4 and 5 year olds held as a teaching-learning lab at Cottonwood High School.

“This is a high school student-driven program,” said preschool teacher Natalie Wonnacott. “We guide them to make sure the right things are being taught to the preschoolers and they meet their curriculum standards in science, math, language arts as well as social skills like learning how to take turns.”

Registration for the preschool is now open for 3 and 4 year olds, who are potty-trained for fall 2024.

The young students attend school for 2.5 hours Monday through Thursday mornings, following the high school calendar, mid-September to mid-May. A $25 deposit is required when registration is submitted on their website, www.schools.graniteschools. org/cottonwoodhigh/kolt-kids-preschool/. Tuition is $140 per month.

Currently, there are nine preschoolers to 24 high school students, but that number can grow to 12 youngsters to 45 older students.

“We break the high school students into groups, typically with two being teachers and two being helpers during the lesson so it won’t be overwhelming for the little kids,” she said. “Then, we’ll bring more high school students to help with the art project or free play.”

Senior Sammie Vance wanted to follow her two older sisters’ footsteps so she took the class. She may go into childcare or interior design as a future career.

Her friend, senior Hannah Rowland, heard about the class when a high school counselor came to her junior high.

“The counselor gave it this glowing review and I’ve known people who have had amazing experiences so I thought I’d take the class,” said Rowland, who is considering becoming a pediatric nurse.

This is their second year enrolled in the preschool lab; they, along with senior Ellie Wagstaff, took child development class beforehand.

“We prepare the lessons and the art or science project. We like the projects to be both challenging and fun. Everything is themed around a topic and a letter, then we work together to coordinate it and to teach it,” Vance said.

While one high school group was teaching, others were working on lesson plans for their next theme, dinosaurs, and have plans to investigate with the preschoolers where the dinosaurs lived and what they ate.

The topics have ranged from community helpers to springtime. Crossing guards or police officers may come to visit or students will learn about weather, flowers and animals.

Wonnacott appreciates when police and firefighters come to talk to students about being safe and also, dress up in their gear so “they learn these people are their helpers; they aren’t scary.”

Vance said they look for projects and games that tie into their lessons.

“We made little hand-held stop signs or playing red light, green light to tie into community helpers. With our lesson with worms, I learned so many new facts, like apparently, they breathe through their skins. The kids find those fun facts fascinating,” she said.

Rowland remembers teaching a lesson on photosynthesis when the theme was plants.

“I’ve never known more about photosynthesis in my entire life. We do a lot of research and fact-finding and in the process, we learn deeper on subjects we’ve studied,” she said.

Wagstaff, who is considering a career as an astronaut or as a hairdresser, taught a lesson about eggs and incorporated Humpty Dumpty.

“It was so fun,” she said. “We pushed eggs off of a tower. Some were boiled and some were not. They guessed which ones were which and it was cute because they would pick up the raw egg and said, ‘let me do it again.’”

Through their teaching, Rowland said

they learn more about kids with their different personalities.

“We learn to adapt to teach the shy kid and be patient with others. We learn to problem-solve, to find a way to get everyone to interact and engage in the lesson,” she said.

Even healthy snacks and playtime, where they could be riding on bikes and trikes on chalk-lined tracks, may tie into a lesson. The preschoolers also have time for free play with one of the several stations around the classroom.

Holidays are a favorite time, especially when the preschoolers go on a leprechaun hunt only to squeal in delight to find their room awry from a leprechaun while they were away.

Wagstaff liked celebrating Groundhog’s Day.

“We went outside—it was a nice day—and traced out shadows with chalk. They learned more about shadows, and it was fun to have that art experience outside. They’re really smart and learn and remember so much,” said the high schooler who is considering a career as an astronaut or as a hairdresser.

Much of the student-learning is done by the guidance of preschool aide Earlene Rex, who is in the classroom alongside the high school students. She said one of her favorite things is when the preschoolers get to explore different classes taught at the high school, such as the performing arts.

Instrumental music teacher Amber Tuckness and her students will explain different instruments and play for the youngsters and then, let them pluck a string.

“It’s wonderful for them to have that exposure to music,” Rex said. “She will let them try out the instruments, those with strings or pounding on the drums, which, of course, they love best. Then, when the stu-

dents perform the plays, we’ll see a production, like ‘SpongeBob’ or the ‘Little Mermaid.’ They love seeing those characters come to life.”

At the end of the year, preschoolers are presented a scrapbook the high schoolers make for them at their graduation, where they receive diplomas. They also sing songs from the year.

When the high school students aren’t preparing or teaching a lesson, they’re learning about children’s education from sudden infant death syndrome to developing an appropriate environment and licensing standards. Their work in the classroom can count toward the 480 required hours for the child development associate certification, Wonnacott said.

“It basically ensures they get a higher pay grade if they go into preschool or into a daycare service,” she said, adding that about 10 students per year may enter the teaching or childcare profession. “Even if they don’t go into the career, many of them have their own kids and they’re learning positive modeling and have invaluable tools to work with kids. Something I like about having this preschool here at Cottonwood is that they’re learning at 3 and 4 years old that high school isn’t a scary place. They’re connecting here; in fact, many of them think it’s their school.”

Rex she started working at the preschool in 2002 because she loved the kids.

“I still do,” she said about her passion. “Many of them are high school students so they return to the preschool to teach and put their own twist on things they enjoyed learning and doing.”

For more information, contact Wonnacott at nwwonnacott@graniteschools.org or Rex at erex@graniteschools.org. l

Cottonwood High’s Kolt Kids preschoolers count the number of teeth the hippo has in a storybook that was being read by a Cottonwood High student teacher. (Julie Slama/City Journals)

A Cottonwood High student teacher practices numbers with preschoolers during circle time. (Julie Slama/City Journals)

What’s the best use for the old Best Buy location?

By Ella Joy Olsen | e.olsen@mycityjournals.com

Best Buy is now closed, and changes are afoot for The Pointe @ 53rd.

Gary Howland is the principal and owner of Howland Partners, which is the managing member of The Pointe @ 53rd. They were also the original development team when Best Buy and Barnes & Noble were built, in about 2000.

“I want the community to know that I am from Murray, and I love the city. Many developers would maximize the use of an A+ site like this and sell,” Howland said. “But this property is in an irreplicable location, and I would anticipate it never being sold during my lifetime. It has transit nearby for a walkable livable community, so I want to do what is needed to update the center and bring new business to the area.”

To note, Howland did not develop and does not own the Starbucks, Chick-fil-A and Chipotle properties, however he has been working with Chick-fil-A to improve their drive thru lanes, allowing them to encroach onto his property to alleviate the exit traffic.

Will it be for the Best (Buy)?

Up for development is the 12-acre site that currently houses the shuttered Best Buy, Barnes & Noble, Mimi’s Cafe and other commercial properties.

In 2021, the entire property was rezoned to CMU (Centers Mixed-Use) and now will be developed as such, with a combination of commercial and residential uses.

The hope is that a mixed-use property will allow for more access to housing while retaining commercial space for tax revenue.

In a 2021 Facebook post Howland claimed, “If successful, the revenue brought to the city from property taxes will far exceed what The Pointe currently generates.” He later explained, “Because the current property valuation is around $40 million, and we anticipate the new value to be in excess of $150 million.”

As rumored, Barnes & Noble will also be torn down as part of the redevelopment. However, book lovers need not fear, as the bookstore has entered into a letter of intent to move to another Murray site in or near the Fashion Place Mall.

Other buildings on the site will be remodeled but not removed. Have a say

Howland indicated that plans for the development will likely be submitted to the city planning department by early April. After the planning commission is comfortable with all requirements, design criteria and setbacks, Howland plans to make the plans available to the public. Focus groups to meet with residents to take questions and suggestions will be planned.

An emerging trend, the shuttering of big box stores making way for new residential and mixed-use development. What to expect with The Point @ 53rd which will be redeveloped and will include new residential restaurants and retail businesses. (Ella Joy Olsen/City Journals)

“When we were approved [for the zoning change] we promised the citizens that we would include their input, and strictly adhere to city requirements.” Howland wrote on a resident’s Facebook page, later adding. "It is difficult to develop a property of this size by committee, but we plan to take seriously the comments and appease the residents to any extent possible.”

Murray resident and community advocate Clark Bullen said of the proposed development, “If you remember, there was a fervor of community pushback when the zoning was changed. We continue to be worried about density and developers replacing historic buildings.”

“But here’s what I hope,” Bullen continued. “I hope they don’t go to maximum density or height. No one wants a huge tower over the park, changing the dynamics and sightlines. People already feel a little overwhelmed by the seven-story development on Vine.”

Housing

Zoning for the site allows for 529 apartments, but Howland envisions building somewhere between 360 to 400 housing units, with a mix of micro, studio, one, two- and three-bedroom dwellings.

“Being so close to the hospital, there is some market interest in micro-units of about 400 square feet, which is what would land us in the dwelling count of the low 400s,” Howland said. “Think about a traveling nurse who works evenings, who wants to be close to the hospital, that’s

housing, based on citizen feedback we’ve already received about providing affordable living for the community.”

Restaurants and Shopping

Construction on one-of-three planned new restaurants will begin within the year, a collaboration between Bonefish Grill and Outback Steakhouse. The new structure will be 10,000 square feet of shared dining space, where customers can dine in and order from either restaurant’s menus.

After construction is complete, The Pointe @ 53rd will no longer be “one long shopping center” but will have two separate apartment buildings with traffic flow through the middle, including a pedestrian walkway accessing the retail, dining and courtyard areas.

Employees and residents will be required to park in the garage structure located behind the shopping center, which will boast 1,300 new stalls, leaving room for the restaurants and retail in front, facing west toward State Street.

Traffic

who would like a micro-unit.”

“The structure we plan to build is called a five-over-two podium,” Howland explained. “You cannot build over five stories high with wood construction, so there will be five levels of living over a two-story concrete parking structure, and ground-level townhomes in front of the parking so it doesn't look like a parking garage.”

So basically, the building will be a total of seven-stories, but there will be setbacks and leveling, and Howland indicates he could build much higher based on the zoning allowances, but he doesn’t want to overwhelm the site.

Also, with the intent of creating a livable community and not overwhelming the nearby park and rec center amenities, the complex will have its own workout facilities, business rooms, pickleball courts, swimming pool, rooftop firepits and barbecue amenities.

They’ll also have indoor and outdoor dog runs, and even a dog grooming business within the development itself. “Citizens indicated they didn’t want a housing development full of people with dogs to overtake Murray Park,” Howland said. “So that’s why we plan to include the dog amenities.”

Howland is applying to make this a HUD financed project, so units will only be available for rent initially. But he added, “We will look to see how many units can be viably worked in as affordable

“Traffic will make or break how people feel about this project,” Bullen said. “Traffic on 5300 is close to Hillcrest Jr. High, and at certain times of the day can be extra busy. It would be awful if a student was clipped by a car.”

According to Murray City code, the project requires a traffic study. “Traffic flow is paramount,” Howland agreed. “Anything I do must pass the traffic study and will dictate parameters of the project.”

Howland guarantees that none of the traffic will be funneled into the park. There will be no direct access for vehicles. “We want to make sure cars do not drive through the park as a shortcut to get to Vine Street.”

Aesthetics

Howland is aware of the form-based code being considered for the downtown block, which will be a codified effort to create a consistent look and feel for the downtown Murray area.

“We’d be happy to look at the new aesthetic plan if the city feels like they’d like us to meet the design guide,” he said. “But we already intend to stay with the brick-look already present in Murray, as much as possible.”

Bullen agreed. “In a perfect world the development will match the historic look and feel of Murray’s downtown Block One. But I also realize that demonizing and fighting a developer is a fruitless endeavor after the zoning has been changed. It’s best to work with the developer for the best path forward, because they are the ones ultimately making the design decisions.” l

Summer to bring safety improvements for bicyclists using Vine Street

By Ella Joy Olsen | e.olsen@mycityjournals.com

Thegolden rule of transportation is, “Keep moving.”

What that means for Murray this summer is the expected annual road improvements, but also improvements in active transportation aside from cars: sidewalks and bike lanes.

What that means to Jonny Olsen, Murray resident, is a more peaceful two-wheeled commute. “I ride my bike along Vine Street to get to the gym. I’ll gladly take a wider berth from the cars.”

According to the Murray City Transportation Plan released in 2021, Murray residents want a more walkable community with better bike lanes and pedestrian pathways. Because of the width and flow of the streets in the city, Murray is in a “good position to expand upon existing facilities to provide local and regional options for users with desirable accessibility to destinations within the city.”

One improvement planned for the summer of 2024 will be the repaving and addition of buffered bike lanes on Vine Street from State Street to 900 East.

“This is already a popular bike corridor,” Chris Zawislak, Murray City engineer, said. “It’s one of the few corridors that connects east and west through the city.” Indicating that preferred bike routes were decided after consulting with Bike Utah and residents during the planning phase of the project.

The original bike lanes on Vine Street were painted in 2015, but the bike lanes slated for 2024 will be buffered, meaning more room for the biker, translating to greater safety.

“Right now, there’s a 5-foot shoulder with a solid line and a painted bike symbol,” Zawislak explained. “After the

improvements there will be an additional 18-inch painted buffer area between the bike lane and traffic.”

The entirety of the road project will include removing the existing asphalt, improving concrete, fixing drainage, repaving and repainting. Construction will begin after June 6, as it will impact school zones, and should be completed by the end of the summer. Vine Street will be open during the project, with traffic impacted from time to time.

Bids are out now, but the city estimates the cost for the entire project of mill and overlay will cost $1.4 million, an already budgeted cost for ongoing maintenance. An Active Transportation Grant of about $300,000 from the county will help to pay for improvements to the sidewalks and bike lanes.

“There was no accident or incident that inspired the planned improvements for this year,” Zawislak said. “Murray tries to provide an opportunity for residents to get out of their cars to walk and bike to their destinations. Every time we do maintenance on a road, we try to improve the bike lanes.”

For updates on construction projects, consult www.murray.utah.gov/210/Public-Works or follow @murraycitypublicworks on Instagram. l

An example of the new and improved buffered bike lanes planned for Vine Street from State Street to 900 East. That part of Vine Street is a popular east-west biking corridor. (Ella Joy Olsen/City Journals)

Ready for the next level, Reece closes out Murray baseball career

By Ella Joy Olsen | e.olsen@mycityjournals.com

In baseball, it’s no secret that catchers can take a beating.

After years of playing the position, Murray’s Jacob Reece, a senior, has seen just about everything from behind the plate. The physical toll has been significant, but Reece has continued to come to work every day practice and games, ready to do his job and help the Spartans win.

Head coach Marce Wilson has nothing but praise for Reece and the efforts he has made for the team.

“He’s sacrificed himself behind the plate for us for three years on varsity, catching thousands of pitches and numerous styles of pitchers,” Wilson said. “He’s played through injury after injury. He gets beat up every game spring, summer and fall. That being said, he’s also one of the best catchers in all of Utah.”

Reece’s baseball career started several years ago, and some of the influences that got him started may be surprising.

“I have been playing baseball since as far back as I can remember,” he said. “There are really only two things that got me into baseball that I can think of. The first thing that got me started in baseball was my dad. My whole life, my dad has loved baseball; baseball always felt very familiar in my house. The second thing, as strange as it might sound, is golf. When I was younger, I was obsessed with golf, and that was all I did. I would take a wooden spoon and my brother’s foam golf balls and hit them around the house. I think the love of hitting a ball with some sort of stick just stuck with me. And once I got a little bit older, I started playing baseball in the front yard with friends, and I fell in love with it.”

In all his years of playing, it isn’t necessarily winning big games or making crucial plays that has stuck with Reece. He said the best part of playing baseball is being around his teammates and creating lasting friendships.

“I would have to say my favorite part about the sport is the brotherhood,” he said. “The camaraderie that you form with your teammates in baseball is like none other, and it’s crazy how fast those bonds are created.”

Reece has been a part of the Spartans’ program for four years. During that time, he has experienced a lot of ups and downs. This season has been a good one for Murray. Competing in Class 5A’s Region 4 (unlike other sports where Murray is a 4A program), the Spartans were 14-3 overall and 11-1 in league play as of April 25. Murray was 18-9 overall last season and 12-6 in Region 6.

Reece is grateful to be a Spartan and loves playing for Wilson. In fact, Reece was slated to attend Taylorsville High School but opted to come to Murray after eighth grade, largely because of Wilson and his coaching

influence.

“I would say one of the best things about playing at Murray is playing for coach Wilson; playing for him is the whole reason I came to Murray in the first place,” Reece said. “A majority of the seniors, including myself, transferred here to Murray High School to not only play together but to play for coach Wilson. It was a big life change when I decided to leave Taylorsville back in eighth grade. But after sweeping them [April 16, 17, 19], it really helped me to realize I truly made the right decision.”

Playing catcher is no easy task. It takes a lot of skill and concentration, not to mention physical strength and endurance. But Reece loves the position, despite its challenges. Not only has he mastered the skills and tactics necessary to play catcher, but he has learned other aspects about it as well. These traits have helped him develop into a leader for the Murray team.

“As a catcher, I have many different jobs and things that I have to bring to the table,” he said. “It is a defense first position, meaning I cannot let my hitting affect the way I play defensively. When I was a freshman or sophomore, coach Wilson showed me ‘the Catchers Pie Chart,’ which shows what are the most important aspects of being a catcher. That pie chart has practically become my bible. The different sections of the pie chart include things like game management, blocking, receiving, throwing and other skills. But the most important piece is the leadership section. Being a leader is something I have learned to become and is now by far the most important thing I bring to the team.”

Reece is humble and teachable too. He recognizes there are still things he can do better to help the Spartans.

“Baseball wise, I’m hoping to improve everything,” he said. “I don’t feel like I’m done learning and growing in this game yet. Luckily for me, I’m going to go play ball in college and will have more opportunities to improve in this game.”

After graduating, Reece will head to Columbia Basin College in Washington, a junior college. He hopes to move from there to a four-year school to continue his education and baseball career.

This season has been a successful one for Reece and the Spartans. As of April 25, Murray was sixth in the RPI rankings. Reece is optimistic about the team’s chances at the state tournament, which starts May 11.

“My goal as a team is—I would think is very obvious—win a state title,” he said. “That is my ultimate team goal for the year. I expect us to make a good run at it in the playoffs, and only time will tell. My goal individually for this season is to just play good overall every game. I want to leave the

field every day thinking I contributed to my team and to the game the best that I could.”

Success has not come easy for Reece, and it hasn’t come without some challenges and obstacles.

Reece suffered a wrist injury last summer, which required surgery in October. After the surgery came a 3 ½-month recovery, which Reece said he was lucky to “bounce back from quickly.” But the physical effects weren’t the only difficult issues.

“The hardest part about the injury and recovery was the mental side of it all,” he said. “Going to practice every day, not being

able to throw, swing and work on catching drills was killing me and mentally draining me. But I still went every day and worked on what I could. After going through that injury, my love for the game became bigger than ever, and I now try my best to truly enjoy every moment and not take anything for granted. One day, my baseball career will sadly have to come to an end, but I now know the importance of being appreciative of every second I get to spend on the field.” l

“Being a leader is something I have learned to become and is now by far the most important thing I bring to the team,” says Murray High’s Jacob Reece. Reece, a senior, is a catcher for the Spartan basaeball team. He started playing baseball through his dad’s love for the game and, ironically, his passion for golf.

(Photo courtesy Marce Wilson)

Murray hospital named in 2024 World’s Best Hospitals list

By Bailey Chism | bailey.c@mycityjournals.com

Several Utah hospitals were named in Newsweek’s rankings of 2024 World’s Best Hospitals list, but one stood out.

Intermountain Medical Center in Murray was the highest ranked Utah hospital on the list —ranking at 76th out of 2,400 other hospitals. The list aims to highlight the best facilities each year by using a mix of methodology that evaluates quality and safety measures meant to provide a guide for patients and families in choosing healthcare services in their communities.

“We are elated that we were named by Newsweek,” said Ralph Jean-Mary, the CEO for Intermountain Medical Center. “Being on the Newsweek listing is just fantastic and it’s just a confirmation of the amazing work that our caregivers at Intermountain Medical Center and the providers that work here do.”

Newsweek looked at data from 2,400 hospitals across 30 countries to compile their list. The final scores were based on surveys by medical experts, patient to doctor ratios and patient satisfaction surveys.

The Intermountain Medical Center in Murray received a score of 68.16% and it highlighted two awards the center has received—the Infection Prevention Award and Patient Experience Award.

For three years, Intermountain Medical Center in Murray has been named one of the nation’s top 50 cardiovascular hospitals for providing excellent heart care by Fortune and PINC AI, a national healthcare quality firm.

Aside from their score on this list, the

Murray Intermountain Medical Center has proved record breaking in their amount of successful transplants. In 2023, doctors completed 414 transplants: 182 liver transplants, 198 kidney transplants, 30 heart transplants and four kidney/pancreas transplants. This is the fifth consecutive year

that the Intermountain Health Transplant Program has performed a record-breaking number of adult transplants and 2024 is appearing to head for a sixth record-breaking year.

Doctors and staff at the medical center pride themselves on how they treat their patients and the effective work they do to help them.

“About 6,000 individuals work at the Intermountain Medical Center campus and it's a testament to the work that they do day in and day out for the patients we care for,” Jean-Mary said.

Jean-Mary said that Intermountain Health has really learned how to make services available for not just those living in Murray, but everyone in the Salt Lake Valley. Clinicians have worked to extend care over telehealth to others in the area.

Telehealth has been in development for two decades at Intermountain Health, but the pandemic has accelerated the popularity over the last three years.

“We just challenge ourselves every day to continue to be better,” Jean-Mary said. “We use external benchmarks to know how we perform and really what matters the most is obviously the outcomes.” l

(Photo courtesy of Glen Beeby)

Murray High teen selected to be Utah Youth of the Year by the Boys & Girls Clubs of America

By Ella Joy Olsen | e.olsen@mycityjournals.com

AMurray High student was recently select-

ed to be the Utah Youth of the Year by the Boys & Girls Clubs of America.

Noah Shaw is currently in his junior year, where he is a defensive lineman on the football team. He is also part of BSU (Black Student Union), where his older sister is the president, and where they create service and inclusion activities for fellow students.

After school, at the Boys & Girls Club of Murray, Noah is a friend to all and a favorite of the staff. He has been attending the Murray club since he was 4 years old.

“Noah creates a fun atmosphere among his friends, but he also demonstrates a willingness to step in and address any instances of disrespect from fellow youths,” recalled Jillian Orr, former Club director and Noah's teen director. “Remarkably, he manages to correct such behavior with a personable approach, ensuring a harmonious environment for everyone involved.”

Fun

The Boys & Girls Clubs provide an after-school safe space where youths can come together to learn skills, but most importantly, to have fun.

“Noah’s passion for cooking shines at the Club, whipping up batches of pancakes or breakfast burritos on those cherished no-school days,” Orr said. “Or the time he took charge of our humble snack shack at the Club for a fundraising initiative, making chocolate shakes for the young juniors who eagerly exchanged their handfuls of quarters.”

“He also delights in playing Super Fight, a card game that draws on his extensive knowledge of pop culture, history, anime and current events,” said Sean Distance, Noah’s current teen director. “His expertise in these areas makes him a tough competitor in the game.”

Skills

A hard worker, Noah also holds two jobs. One at the Boys & Girls Club in their sports programs as a Junior Jazz referee, and the other at Jamba Juice.

“Noah is an active leader in our teen center, mentoring younger students and setting a positive example. He has played a key role as treasurer in our Keystone leadership and civil engagement program,” Distance said. “And he organized a community cleanup and tree planting in our neighborhood.”

Noah was also appointed as a National

“One of my favorite activities through the years would be playing thunderball,” Noah said. “We [teens] created the game. It’s a mix between basketball and capture the flag.”

WYouth Ambassador by the After-school Alliance where he traveled to Washington, D.C. to testify before the U.S. Department of Education, advocating for after-school funding.

“Boys & Girls has helped me learn how to be confident and talk to adults, and to be the social person that I am,” Noah said. “There were over 100 people in the room when I spoke at After-school Day on the Hill, representatives and congress people. I also got to meet personally with Congressman (Burgess) Owens.”

Honors

As the Utah Youth of the Year, Noah will receive a $5,000 college scholarship from Boys & Girls Clubs of America.

“When we were in Washington, D.C. we stayed in the dorm rooms at the American University,” Noah said. “It gave me a taste of college life.”

Noah has researched and would love to attend Arizona State University because, “the business program is great, and the football stadium is awesome. I don’t think I could play there, but I’d love to go to the games.”

This summer, Noah will join other Youth of the Year winners to vie for the Pacific regional title. If he is awarded the regional title, he will receive an additional $20,000 college scholarship.

The five regional finalists, along with the National Military Youth of the Year, will advance to the National Youth of the Year event in October 2024. The National Youth of the Year will receive an additional scholarship of $50,000 and a new Toyota Corolla.

“We are incredibly proud of Noah and all the Youth of the Year nominees,” said Jim Clark, president and CEO, Boys & Girls Clubs of America. “Being named Youth of the Year is a lifelong honor and accomplishment. As the Utah Youth of the Year, Noah will serve as a spokesperson for Boys & Girls Club kids and teens across the state who need more role models that they can admire and emulate.” l

Señor Pollo and Comcast Business partner as restaurant expands

By Peri Kinder | peri.k@thecityjournals

hen Jesus Ruiz and his wife, Dulce, opened their first Señor Pollo location in Ogden in 2018, they knew they were onto something special. Ruiz is from Michoacán, a state in Mexico, but was raised in Utah. He introduced his secret family recipe for Sinaloa-style grilled chicken to patrons at his Señor Pollo restaurant and it quickly became a local favorite.

Since 2018, Ruiz has expanded his business to include nine restaurants, with more expected to open this year. Now fully franchised, Señor Pollo will soon open its first location out of the state in New York. He expects his award-winning restaurant to be a national brand soon, offering his fire-grilled chicken to even more consumers.

“Our challenge is consistency,” Ruiz said. “The biggest problem is training employees. We expect them to be very friendly to everybody. We’re trying to get all our staff to offer great customer service. One of our main goals is for every customer to leave satisfied and happy.”

As his business grows, Ruiz needs a reliable internet connection, not only to create a good customer experience but to communicate effectively with franchise owners. After having troubles with his previous internet provider, Ruiz turned to Comcast Business and has worked with the company for several years.

Comcast Business helped Ruiz streamline his communication channels and create a reliable point-of-sale system to give customers an easy way to pay for their chicken plates, tacos, nachos and tamales.

“I was paying too much for internet services, so I shopped around, talked to a Comcast representative, and

we went from there,” he said. “They provide internet and phone service. We don’t have problems with our TV services or problems with our point of sale. We have no problem connecting our equipment. They make it easy.”

Comcast Business works with companies of all sizes to create a strong network. As businesses grow, products and services grow too, including the need for better cybersecurity, unified communications, reliable connectivity and IT assistance.

Because each organization is different, Comcast Business can design, build, implement and manage a custom solution for each industry. Whether it’s a custom app for a restaurant, for easy ordering and delivery, or a transformative online presence for a unique shopping experience, a Comcast representative can help create the best system.

“Señor Pollo has been using our Comcast Business Internet and Mobility lines, which offer the fastest, reliable network and fiber solutions, for each of their locations,” said Tomas Cid, Comcast sales representative. “Beyond providing internet speeds up to 10 gigs, having our Connection Pro service gives Jesus peace of mind that he will always have data to service his customers.”

When unexpected disruptions happen, Connection Pro helps keep a business internet service seamlessly connected for up to 16 hours with powerful 4G LTE backup, which becomes more critical when businesses grow as Señor Pollo has seen.

“Working with Jesus has been great because on every location that we provide service, we’ve overcome

Señor Pollo's business keeps growing as owner Jesus Ruiz and team operate nine locations with more expected to open this year. He works with Comcast Business for the fastest, most reliable internet and phone service.

different challenges, such as construction, installation scheduling, and transferring phone numbers from other carriers,” Cid said. “Together, we work out the details so he has the fastest, most reliable internet and mobile service all the time.” l

Noah Shaw, currently a junior at Murray High School, has been selected to be the Utah Youth of the Year by the Boys & Girls Clubs of America. He will compete at the regional level this summer. (Photo courtesy Boys & Girls Club of Murray)

FREQUENTLY REQUESTED NUMBERS

Grant Elementary . . . .

. 801-264-7416

Heritage Center (Senior Programming) . . 801-264-2635

Hillcrest Jr. High

801-264-7442

Horizon Elementary . . . . 801-264-7420

Liberty Elementary 801-264-7424

Longview Elementary 801-264-7428

Ken Price Ball Park 801-262-8282

Miss Murray Competition (Lindsey D. Smith) 801-699-2288

McMillan Elementary 801-264-7430

Murray Area Chamber of Commerce. 801-263-2632

Murray Arts Advisory Board (Lori Edmunds) 801-264-2614

Murray Boys & Girls Club

801-268-1335

Murray City Cemetery 801-264-2637

Murray Community Education

Murray High School

801-264-7414

801-264-7460

Murray Museum 801-264-2589

Murray Parks and Recreation O ce 801-264-2614

Murray Parkway Golf Course

C ULTURAL A RTS

801-262-4653

Murray Park Aquatics Pool 801 290-4190

Mick Riley Golf Course (SL County). .

801-266-8185

Parkside Elementary 801-264-7434

Riverview Jr. High 801-264-7446

Salt Lake County Parks and Recreation 801-468-2560

Salt Lake County Ice Center

801-270-7280

The Park Center 801-284-4200

Viewmont Elementary 801-264-7438

M URRAY S ENIOR R ECREATION C ENTER

10 East 6150 South, Murray, Utah 84107

801-264-2635

seniorrec@murray.utah.gov

murray.utah.gov/140Senior-Recreation-Center mcreg.com

Monday-Friday 8:00 a.m. – 4:30 p.m.

Thursday 8:00 a.m. – 9:30 p.m.

Closed Saturday and Sunday

Check our website for any changes in programs.

CHEF OMAR LIMON

Daily Lunch

Date: Tuesday through Friday

Time: 11:30 a.m. – noon

Cost: Cost is $5; prior registration not required

CLASSES

Ceramics

Date: Tuesday and Thursday

Time: 9:00 a.m. – noon

Cost: $1.50 each class plus cost of supplies

Thursday Quilters: Fabric Design

Date: Thursday, May 9

Time: 12:30 p.m. – 2:30 p.m.

Cost: Free

Grief Support

Date: Friday, May 10 and 24

Time: 10:30 a.m. – 11:30 a.m.

Cost: Free CarFit

Date: Tuesday, May 21

Time: 10:30 a.m. – 11:30 a.m.

Cost: Free

Fraud: Who Gets Hit?

Date: Tuesday, May 28

Time: 10:30 a.m. – 11:30 a.m.

Cost: Free

Estate Planning: Last Wills and Testaments

Date: Monday, Jun. 3

Time: 11:00 a.m. – noon

Cost: Free

Nutrition: Building Balanced, Quick, and Healthy Meals

Date: Tuesday, Jun. 4

Time: 10:30 a.m. – 11:30 a.m.

Cost: Free

Rediscovering Science:

The Dose Makes the Poison

Date: Thursday, Jun. 6

Time: 10:30 a.m. – 11:30 a.m.

Cost: Free

DANCE

Line Dance: Beginning

Date: Tuesdays

Time: 2:00 p.m. – 3:00 p.m.

Cost: $10 for the month; register now

Thursday Evening Social Dance

Live Music provided by Tony Summerhays

Date: Thursdays

Time: 7:00 p.m. – 9:30 p.m.

Cost: $5

FITNESS

Daily Fitness Classes – check our current newsletter for the schedule and fees

30-Minute Fitness Room Orientations

Date: Wednesdays

Time: 10:00 a.m. – noon

Cost: Free; register now

PROGRAMS

Hand and Foot Card Game

Date: Mondays

Time: 12:30 p.m. – 4:00 p.m.

Cost: Free

Bridge Lessons

Date: Mondays

Time: 1:00 p.m. – 3:00 p.m.

Cost: Free

Mexican Train Dominos Game

Date: Thursdays

Time: 12:30 p.m. – 4:00 p.m.

Cost: Free

HEALTH SERVICES

Haircuts

Date: Wednesdays

Time: 9:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.

Cost: $12; advance appointment required

Massage Therapy

Date: Tuesdays and Thursdays

Time: 12:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m.

Cost: $40 per hour; advance appnt required

Murray City’s Public Works Water Division is adding to our water conservation program by o ering a seed mix created speci cally for Utah’s climate to Murray City residents.

The typical Kentucky Bluegrass lawn requires between 24 to 30 inches of water during the growing season. This grass seed requires 30% less, or 15 to 19 inches of water per season! This grass blend/ mix has been identi ed as being ideally suited for our service area by the Turfgrass Water Conservation Alliance (TWCA) and USU.

How do you plant it? Let your lawn dry out, mow it low, and spread the seed with a little mulch. No need to remove your existing lawn, or to even till it.

When do you plant grass? Anytime from the 1st of April to the 1st of October. Grass seed is best planted by October rst, but regionally, there has been success with planting even later.

education SECTION

A publication covering local graduation stories and events in the Salt Lake Valley City Journals presents:

With a little PREP in their step, underrepresented students are college-bound

By Jet Burnham | j.burnham@mycityjournals.com

“Without PREP, I'd be a loser right now,” West Jordan High School graduate Arlen Villalba Guerrero said. “I wouldn't be very far, just the same old boring stuff, getting ready to do a job that I didn't even enjoy.”

Arlen is one of 15 students graduating from high school with an Engineering Drafting and Manufacturing Technology Certificate of Completion from Salt Lake Community College through Jordan School District’s Pre-freshman Engineering Program (Jordan PREP).

Jordan PREP students, many of whom are typically underrepresented in STEM careers, take four years of science, technology, engineering and math summer courses to prepare to earn 30plus general and engineering college credits by the end of high school.

Arlen joined the program his sophomore year and immediately began to explore his options.

“Being in PREP, you get to think so early about how you're gonna get to what you want to do,” he said. “PREP makes you do so much better and shoot for so much more. I know everything I wanna do right now. I know exactly how to get where I wanna be, and I know exactly what I need to do to get where I wanna be.”

Arlen is now on the pathway to become an Air Force fighter jet pilot, with a head start and higher pay grade due to his college credits.

Natalia Solis said the PREP classes she took as a 12 year old helped her discover her interest in drafting and interior design. She is already on her way to earning a college degree, the first person in her family to do so.

First generation college students, those from economically disadvantaged families or underrepresented minority groups make up the majority of the

students in the Jordan PREP program, which recruits interested students from Title 1 designated schools to motivate and prepare them for STEM careers.

Jordan PREP Coordinator Stacy Pierce has been amazed by the students’ dedication to the program despite difficult life circumstances.

“You've got kids that you had no idea the challenges they had at home— and the challenges got far greater—and they're going to make it,” she said. “They're going to graduate from this program regardless of those challenges.”

She said the rigorous academic enrichment courses students take each summer during their middle school years, prepare them academically, socially and mentally for advanced courses in high school and increase their opportunities to attend college.

“Because it's not a camp—it's a rigorous academic program— I think that's been key to making these kids believe that they could do anything and pursue any career,” Pierce said.

She said the math courses have the biggest impact.

“Math is the gatekeeper that keeps kids out of, say, 80% of the higher paying jobs that help these kids break into a different economic level,” she said. “To help them maintain and build that math confidence—I think it's absolutely huge.”

Anna Fotheringham said staying academically active during the summer with PREP courses gave her an advantage.

“You learned a little bit of math before [school started], so when you did math [in school], you already kind of knew what you're doing,” she said. “So I feel like it gave me a step ahead in regular classes, and then also just in life, because we have a lot of college classes

done that kind of set us up to, if we want, pursue the certain career that they have set up for us to go into.”

When she was younger, Anna wanted to work in a nail salon but is now planning to earn a manufacturing degree.

“Doing programs like this made me realize that doing nails is not really going to give me enough money to live on my own, basically,” she said. “It made me realize I can do harder careers.”

Ayden Bascom said many of his friends don’t have a post-graduation plan yet, but that PREP taught him to think ahead.

“In PREP, especially with Stacy [Pierce], she tells you this earlier, to be prepared for life,” he said.

Natalia said the expectations set in PREP classes, especially during her middle school years, helped her set

higher goals.

“It pushed me into showing myself that I can do harder stuff than I had set myself to, because I had set my standards low for myself,” she said. “You can do much more harder things than you think you can.”

Lai Lai Havili almost dropped out of the program but is glad to be graduating high school with college credits he can use as a fallback plan if his dreams of playing in the NFL don’t work out.

Talon Johnson, who has always known he wants to be a chemical engineer, said the PREP program has not only given him a head start that will save him time and money, but the confidence to be successful in college.

“I have this foundation that a lot of other students may not, and I can push

Continued page 20

Jordan PREP Plus students will graduate high school with 30-plus college credits. (Photo courtesy of Stacy Pierce)

Unique traditions make graduation ceremonies special

By Jet Burnham and Julie Slama

Thousands of students will be graduating at the end of this month and each school will conduct their graduation ceremony with unique traditions, awards, celebrations and themes.

Students will be the main speakers at Providence Hall High School’s graduation ceremony. The student body president, two valedictorians and two other students will share their thoughts and wisdom with their peers.

“We really make it kid focused, so adults don't speak more than three minutes,” Principal Melissa McPhail said. “I feel like if we're waiting ‘til the last day to teach them something, then we have not done our job for four years.”

McPhail said one of the student speakers chosen to speak this year is not a well-known student but will share an impactful message.

“We get these kids who have had a unique journey through high school, and we catch the attention of those kids that weren't the activity type or the academic type,” she said.

Providence Hall’s graduation ceremony is always less than an hour and 40 minutes to ensure the students have time to celebrate with friends, family, and former elementary, middle and high school teachers who attend the ceremony. Of this year’s 155 graduates, 29 have attended Providence Hall since kindergarten.

After the speeches and diplomas, the students will leave the stadium as the ‘song of the year’ plays. McPhail chooses the song that best fits the graduating class. Last year’s song was Bon Jovi’s “It’s My Life” and in 2020, it was R.E.M.’s “It’s the End of the World As We Know It.”

“The kids really want to know all year what their song is going to be, but I wait until the day of graduation,” McPhail said.

Providence Hall’s ceremony will be held at the Zion’s Bank Stadium at nearby Salt Lake Academy, which also has a unique graduation tradition. Following the graduation ceremony, each Salt Lake Academy graduate receives five roses to give as a ‘thank you’ to their parents,

Continued from 19

myself to do more, to do better because of this foundation,” he said.

Talon will return to Jordan PREP in June as a tutor for some of the 220 PREP students taking classes this summer.

Many of this year’s program gradu-

teachers, counselors or friends.

“They get to present them to people who have influenced them along their journey,” school office manager Cheryl DeHeck said.

Gifts are also a part of South Valley School’s open house style graduation. Students and their families will also be treated to refreshments and a slide show highlighting each of this year’s 35 graduates.

Here is the pertinent information. ADA accommodations are available at all locations.

Academy of Math, Engineering and Science — An anticipated 118 students will take part in the school’s commencement exercises, which will feature nine student speakers and two musical numbers. The 90-minute ceremony will begin at 2 p.m., May 23 in Cottonwood High’s auditorium.

Alta High — About 545 seniors are to walk through commencement exercises at 10 a.m., May 29 at the University of Utah’s Huntsman Center with Canyons Board of Education Vice President Amanda Oaks and Board member Holly Neibaur speaking and will be joined by Director of High Schools Tom Sherwood. This year’s theme is “Alta, Let’s Fly!”

American Academy of Innovation — About 60 seniors will take part in their commencement exercises. Graduation will be at 6 p.m., May 29 at Thanksgiving Point’s show barn.

American Preparatory Academy —

At APA’s commencement ceremony, 52 students will graduate at 10 a.m., June 1 at the school. The APA Chorum Vita choir will be singing a Latin piece titled "Omnia Sol" by Z. Randall Stroope and "For Good" from the Broadway musical “Wicked.” The valedictorian will be selected in early May. The ceremony is by invitation only.

Beehive Science & Technology Academy — Twenty-three students will listen to their commencement speaker, Sandy City Council Member Mar-

ates were part of the first cohort of the Jordan PREP program which began the summer of 2018 with 25 seventh graders. It has since served over 300 students.

Nationwide, PREP is only a threeyear program. With grant money, a sponsorship by Merit Medical, and a partnership with Salt Lake Community College,

ci Houseman at 7 p.m., May 23 at Salt Lake Community College’s Miller Free Enterprise Conference Center’s auditorium. This year’s valedictorian is James Nelson and salutatorian Lliam Delahunty.

Bingham High — Commencement exercises will be held at 5:30 p.m., May 30 in the UCCU Arena at Utah Valley University in Orem. The theme is from author T.S. Eliot, “The end is where we start from.” Speakers will include Jordan School District Superintendent Anthony Godfrey, Jordan Board of Education members Marilyn Richards and Bryce Dunford with Board president Tracy Miller and District Administrator of High Schools Brad Sorensen in attendance.

Brighton High — Canyons School District Assistant Superintendent McKay Robinson is scheduled to speak to 520 students who are expected to graduate at 2 p.m., May 29 at the Maverik Center. Joining him will be Canyons Board of Education President Amber Shill and former Board president Nancy Tingey. This year’s theme is “The future depends on what we do in the present,” by Mahatma Ghandi.

Copper Hills High — May 29, 6 p.m. UCCU Arena at Utah Valley Univer-

Jordan District’s program expanded to a PREP Plus program, continuing through high school to earn a college certificate and set the students up for a promising future.

“It so far exceeded anything I ever dreamed of when I first started the program,” Pierce said. “If they decide not to pursue any more education, they've

sity

“Be your best self”

Corner Canyon High — “Always One” is the theme for 550 seniors who will graduate at 2 p.m., May 29 at the University of Utah’s Huntsman Center. Canyons School District Director of High Schools Tom Sherwood is scheduled to speak. Joining him is Canyons Board of Education Vice President Amanda Oaks and Board member Holly Neibaur.

Cottonwood High — About 400 seniors will walk through the traditional commencement exercises at 10 a.m., May 24 at the University of Utah’s Huntsman Center.

Cyprus High — May 23, 1 p.m. Maverik Center

Diamond Ridge — About 60 students will graduate at 6:30 p.m., May 28 at Eastmont Middle School’s auditorium. Canyons School District Director of High Schools Tom Sherwood is scheduled to speak. Joining him is Canyons Board of Education Vice President Andrew Edtl, former Board president Nancy Tingey and Board member Karen Pedersen. This year’s theme is by Canadian poet and author Rupi Kaur: “You don’t just

got a sustainable livelihood, and then they also have the option to continue their education and have the means to pay for it.”

For more information, see prep.jordandistrict.org.

Former Sunrise students who studied at several Salt Lake Valley high schools reunited at their elementary school prior to their 2023 graduation ceremonies. (Julie Slama/City Journals)

wake up to become a butterfly. Growth is a process.”

Entrada — Canyons School District Director of High Schools Tom Sherwood is expected to address 135 soon-to-be graduates at 7 p.m., June 26 at Alta High School. Canyons Board of Education President Amber Shill and Vice President Amanda Oaks will be present. The theme is “Winners never quit. We choose to win!”

Granger High — May 24, 7 p.m. Maverik Center

Granite Connection High — An open house will be held 4-7 p.m. on May 22 and 23 at Granite Connection High.

Granite Peaks High — June 5, 6:30 p.m.

Granite Peaks

Granite Transition Services — The graduation ceremony will be 10 a.m. on May 23 in the Granite Connection Auditorium.

Hartvigsen School — May 23, 12:30 p.m.

Hartvigsen gym

Herriman High — May 30, 7:30 p.m. Herriman High Football Stadium “Here and Now”

Hillcrest High — About 480 seniors will turn the tassel at their 9:30 a.m., May 29 graduation at the Maverik Center. The speaker is Canyons School District Assistant Superintendent McKay Robinson. Joining him will be Canyons Board of Education Vice President Andrew Edtl and member Kris Millerberg. The theme comes from American businessman and writer, Max Depree: “We cannot become what we want by remaining what we are.”

Hunter High — May 24, 2 p.m. Maverik Center

Jordan High — Canyons School Board of Education Vice President Andrew Edtl and Karen Pedersen will address the 430 seniors at the 6:30 p.m., May 29 commencement ceremony at the Maverik Center. For their theme, the seniors selected “And the Beet Goes On,” to tie into their nickname, the Beetdiggers. Canyons School District Assistant Superintendent McKay Robinson will be in attendance.

Jordan Prep Plus — May 3, 10 a.m. Maverik Center

Jordan Valley — Canyons School District Special Education Director Nate Edvalson will talk to five students who will graduate at 3:30 p.m., May 24 at the

Hillcrest High School’s fieldhouse gallery. Canyons Board of Education former president Nancy Tingey and Board member Kris Millerberg will join him. The theme is “Adapting to Change.”

Juan Diego Catholic High — The Baccalaureate Mass for 168 students in the Class of 2024 will be held on May 21 at the Cathedral of the Madeleine Catholic Church. The commencement exercises will take place on May 25 at the school. Both events require a ticket to attend.

Kearns High — May 24, 9 a.m. Maverik Center

Kings Peak High — May 30, 6 p.m.

Hidden Valley Middle Auditorium

“The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.”Eleanor Roosevelt

Life Skills Academy — Eight students will graduate at 12:30 p.m., May 28 at the school. The theme is a quote by author J.R.R. Tolkien; he said: “The greatest adventure is what lies ahead. Each day brings new possibilities for exploration and discovery.” Speaking will be Canyons School District Special Education Director Nate Edvalson and he will be joined by Canyons Board of Education President Amber Schill, former president Nancy Tingey and member Karen Pedersen.

Lone Peak High — May 22, 12:30 p.m.

BYU’s Marriott Center

Mountain Ridge High — May 30, 1 p.m.

UCCU Arena at Utah Valley University

“This is the Time”

Murray High — The graduation ceremony will be held at 11 a.m., June 6 at the Lifetime Activities Center on Salt Lake Community College’s Redwood Campus.

Olympus High — May 24, 2 p.m. Huntsman Center

Paradigm High — At 4 p.m., May 30, 55 seniors will graduate at the University of Utah’s Kingsbury Hall. The yet-to-benamed valedictorian will be the student speaker.

Providence Hall — May 24, 10 a.m.

Zions Bank Stadium

River’s Edge — “Level Up” is the theme for this year’s commencement, which will be held at 1 p.m., May 31 in the school’s auditorium. Speaking will

be Jordan Board of Education President Tracy Miller and Jordan School District administrator Lisa Robinson. Joining them will be Board vice president Darrell Robinson and Board member Lisa Dean.

Riverton High — May 30, 8:30 a.m.

UCCU Arena at Utah Valley University

“Beginnings are usually scary, and endings are usually sad, but it's everything in between that makes it all worth living.” - Bob Marley

Salt Lake Academy — May 30, 10 a.m.

Zions Bank Stadium

Skyline High — May 24, 6 p.m. Huntsman Center

South Valley — May 29, 3 p.m. South Valley School Cafeteria “Chart Your Course”

Summit Academy High — May 30, 2 p.m.

Summit Academy High Gymnasium

Taylorsville High — May 23, 6 p.m. Maverik Center

Valley High — Graduation will be held at 10 a.m., May 29 at Zions Bank

Stadium at Real Academy in Herriman. This year’s theme is “The People, The Stories, The Experiences.” Speaking will be Jordan Board of Education President Tracy Miller and Jordan School District Administrator of High Schools Brad Sorensen with Board vice presidents Darrell Robinson and Niki George and Jordan District administrator Becky Gerber in attendance.

Waterford School — At 10 a.m., June 6, the school will honor its Class of 2024 on the campus’ east soccer field. About 70 students are expected to participate in the commencement exercises, which will feature Waterford’s vocal ensemble, the Troubadours, as well as a musical performance by the Lower School students. ADA access is on the southwest side of the field.

West Jordan High — May 29, 2 p.m. UCCU Arena at Utah Valley University

“We didn’t know we were making discoveries, we were just having fun.”A.A. Milne in Winnie the Pooh

Now FDA-cleared

for depression

in adolescents 15 and older!

• NOT medicine

• NOT shock therapy

• NOT invasive

• IS safe and effective

• IS COVERED by most insurance

BY THE WAY… TMS is covered by most insurances! Let us run a FREE benefit check!

TMS is like physical therapy for the brain. It uses magnetic pulses, similar in strength to MRI, to reignite dormant connections in the brain and give you control of your depression. With NeuroStar, you can live on your terms Our Psychiatrist is available now, don’t wait to get help.

NeuroHealthUtah.Com

10437 So Temple Dr., Suite 200 South Jordan, UT 84095 385-412-9215 Visit neurostar.com for full safety and prescribing information. Outcomes Registry data was published by Sackeim HA, et al. J Affective Disorders, 2020, 277(12):65-74. The outcomes reported represent the subset of study patients for which the CGI-S data was reported before and after an acute course of NeuroStar TMS. Patients were treated under real-world conditions where patients may have been prescribed concomitant depression treatments including medications. “Measurable relief” was defined as a CGI-S score <=3 and “complete remission” was defined as a CGI-S score <=2 at the end of treatment. Take a free HIPAA compliant PHQ9 self assessment test. Our TMS machine can help you get your life back

Young women in Jordan and Canyons School Districts are shaping the future of business

By Peri Kinder | peri.k@thecityjournals.com

A celebration was held for the 22 graduates of the South Valley Chamber’s Junior Women in Business Program. This year’s cohort was the biggest so far in the history of the initiative that coaches high school seniors through leadership, business and mentoring opportunities.

Young women from high schools across Jordan and Canyons School Districts spent the year attending women in business events, meeting female entrepreneurs in the area, doing job shadowing, participating in service projects and receiving one-on-one mentoring with prominent business and civic leaders.

Savanna Barlow (Alta High School) said the experience was a valuable way to create connections with female leaders, gain experience with the legislative process and develop relationships with the other young women in the program. She plans to attend the University of Utah to get a degree in business management. Each graduate received a $1,000 scholarship.

“That scholarship was only the tip of the iceberg for what this program gave us,” Savanna said. “It was amazing. First of all, the monthly luncheons and the guest speakers

were incredible. We talked to CEOs, authors and entrepreneurs…Each of these women told us about the challenges they faced in the business world and in their personal lives. Those experiences are priceless.”

Sponsored by America First Credit Union, WCF Insurance, Intermountain Health and Crystal Maggelet, president and CEO of FJ Management, the Junior Women in Business program started 12 years ago.

Along with Savanna, these high school seniors also graduated from the program: Aubrey Campbell (Brighton High School), Ava Pezely (Riverton High School), Brooklyn Woodley (AHS), Chantel Moore (Jordan High School), Daira Camacho (West Jordan High School), Gabriella Martinez (WJHS), Giovanna Grant (BHS), Grace Mahoney (JHS), Grace Palmer (RHS), Hannah Bradshaw (Juan Diego Catholic High School), Healani Hernandez (Bingham High School), Jaci Elzinga (BHS), Kaitlyn Rios (Herriman High School), Kate Taggart (Corner Canyon High School), Kiara Sunil-Singh (Providence Hall), Madison Crowther (Copper Hills High School), Makai Johnson (Mountain Ridge High School), Mya Ruiz (American Preparatory Academy), Samantha Picker-

ing (JDCHS), Sienna Yang (Hillcrest High School) and Zoe Kener (CCHS).

“At the Chamber, we’re trying to do some good, and I think the community is a better place,” said Jay Francis, South Valley Chamber president and CEO. “We have 22 young ladies who have rubbed shoulders with some of the best business women in the community. We’ll just keep multiplying that and we’ll just be better.”

At the graduation ceremony held at the Jordan Academy for Technology and Careers South Campus, Sarah Davies (The Piano Place), Alma Lopez and Diana Lopez

(Cakes by Edith), and Sadie Bowler (SadieB) participated in a panel discussion talking about their business journeys as female entrepreneurs.

“From the age of 11, I decided I wanted to go to business school and learn how to manage business, how to hire people, how to manage a group of people and eventually how to become an entrepreneur,” Alma Lopez said. “I feel super happy and blessed that my sister and I are able to take the reins of the business and manage the business and be entrepreneurs.”

Nearly two dozen young women graduated from the South Valley Chamber’s Junior Women in Business Program in April, after receiving leadership and entrepreneurial training. (City Journals)

Wheeler Farm’s summer extravaganza: From farm fest to stargazing nights

By Shaun Delliskave | s.delliskave@mycityjournals.com

With the arrival of the summer sun, Wheeler Historic Farm (6351 S. 900 East) in Murray launches its diverse array of seasonal activities designed to cater to the broad spectrum of its community’s interests. From agricultural fans and animal lovers to youthful explorers and stargazing enthusiasts, the farm has carefully crafted an array of events intended to enlighten, amuse and engage attendees.

Farm Fest: Celebrating Agricultural Roots

Kicking off the summer’s festivities, Farm Fest on May 18, offers a day-long homage to the vibrant spring life on the farm. Visitors meander through displays of historic and modern tractors, forging a connection with the tools that have sculpted agricultural practices for generations. The festival grants an up-close encounter with the farm’s diverse inhabitants, from the adorable spring offspring to the sheep undergoing their annual shearing—a demonstration shedding light on wool production’s complexities. Moreover, a mini Farmers Market preview provides a taste of local fare and crafts, supplemented by interactive activities from IFA and USU Extension, making the day enjoyable and informative. Admission is free, with various rides available for a modest fee, showcasing Wheeler Farm’s dedication to accessible agricultural education.

A Canine and Craft Celebration for Mother’s Day

On May 11, Wheeler Farm enriches Mother’s Day with a boutique event in its barn. Here, local crafters and artisans offer unique, thoughtful gifts for mothers while the farm simultaneously celebrates National Dog Mother’s Day. This pre-registered gathering features special treats for dogs,

creative sessions for keepsake crafting, and plenty of photographic moments set against the farm’s idyllic backdrop. An off-leash area invites dogs to frolic freely, with a focus on the significance of responsible pet ownership through education on vaccination, etiquette and cleanliness.

Engaging

Young Minds: Summer and Horse Camps

The Horse Camp, aimed at beginners aged 8-14, embarks on a comprehensive exploration of equestrian care and riding, emphasizing the profound bond between horses and humans. This experience enriches young riders with invaluable skills and memories. The Summer Camp for 6 to 10 year olds delves into the essence of farm life, featuring activities like horse riding, egg gathering and dairy tasks. This

camp pledges an enriching summer of learning and adventure, echoing the farm’s mission to connect children with the wonders of nature and farming.

Wheeler Sunday Market: A Hub of Local Produce and Crafts

The Wheeler Sunday Market serves as a vibrant marketplace for local vendors to exhibit their produce, handmade foods and crafts. Active from May 19 to Oct. 13, the market not only bolsters local producers but also increases the community’s access to fresh, locally sourced items. Despite the absence of an onsite ATM, the convenience of modern payment methods is available, and the acceptance of SNAP and Double Up Food Bucks underscores the market’s commitment to making healthy, local food accessible to everyone.

Stargazing Nights: The Farm and Sky Star Party

Embracing the beauty of summer evenings, Wheeler Historic Farm, in partnership with Clark Planetarium, hosts a monthly stargazing event. Families are invited to gaze upon the starlit sky, with astronomers providing telescopes for an up-close view of planets and celestial phenomena.

Open daily during daylight hours, the farm and park invite guests to walk the farm, visit the animals, meet the dedicated farm crew and enjoy a picnic in the serene surroundings.

Farmhouse tours, offering a deeper insight into the farm’s history and operations, are available by reservation from November through May and Monday to Friday, 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., from June to October. For more information, visit slco.org/wheeler-farm/. l

Two baby goats frolic in Wheeler Farm’s barn. (Shaun Delliskave/ City Journals)

By Brian Shaw | b.shaw@mycityjournals.com

t should come as no surprise that Cottonwood’s Ciel Budge was sitting atop the Colts leaderboard as the girls’ golf team headed into the Region 10 Championships.

One thing that sets the multisport athlete apart from most kids is her intense competitiveness. When someone tells her that she can’t do something, she does it.

Starting out the season at Cottonwood’s home course of Murray Parkway, the senior Budge’s golf game ebbed and flowed with the Jordan River that runs through the 18 holes—she shot a gross score of 91 which adjusted, rounded out to a 92. It was Budge’s best score since midseason of last year. All told, the Colts finished fourth in the competition with a total team score of 383.

At Oquirrh Hills in Tooele County on a more mountainous and vastly longer course, Budge again topped the Colts with a 109 on links that averaged a 121 score; once adjusted, the senior captain’s overall score at

Along the flatter, shorter course at Glendale, Budge hit a 98, which on a course with a par of 111 is very good. It put the Colts in a good spot again in fourth place overall in Region 10. But, Budge’s most recent score of 100 once adjusted at Stansbury Park topped all of Cottonwood’s players and ranks her

“… And Ciel should be really good for us,” said Cottonwood Athletic Director and girls golf head coach Greg Southwick, completing the short conversation about his senior. “But we’ve got some younger girls we

Coach Southwick might be onto something. The highest score for the Colts, however, goes to sophomore Nicole Nelson who shot an 89 along Murray Parkway. She is ranked second behind Budge, with a 101 average over the four events.

Sitting right behind the sophomore Nelson but still within range of the top two is senior Valery Tomadakis, who shot a season-high score of 100 at the very difficult

and often windy Oquirrh Hills course. It puts her right there with Cottonwood’s top golfers, and she has a season average of 103 thus far.

Sophomore Nicky Edwards has only played in three events for the Colts but shot a season-high 104 at Oquirrh Hills. She’s ranked fourth on Cottonwood’s team with an average adjusted score of 105.

Others who have competed for Cottonwood’s varsity are players like freshman Kya Bridge, who competed at Murray Parkway during the Colts’ home meet and shot a 112 in her only event of the season thus far but is still ranked fifth in the team.

Sophomore Sophia Yates is ranked sixth and has played three events for the Colts. At Glendale, she shot a season-high 109. Freshman Indie Hoggan has competed in three events as well for Cottonwood and carries a season-high of 111 along the river-laden course at Murray Parkway. She stands seventh on the team in terms of rankings.

Rounding out Cottonwood’s top 10 on the season are junior Lindsey Jennings [season-high 119 at Glendale] in eighth, freshman Sunnie Ivins ninth [129, Murray Parkway] and in 10th spot, freshman Taryn Finlinson who shot a 139 at Stansbury Park in her only event.

The manner in which the team is set up by Southwick gives all the golfers an opportunity to earn the right to compete in any given event. Each Cottonwood golfer must qualify prior to that week’s event by posting a designated target score at Murray Parkway.

Cottonwood was the No. 15 ranked team in 4A and fourth in Region 10 at press time, putting the Colts right in the thick of the standings and in the hunt for state tournament berths altogether.

By the time you read this, the Colts will have competed at the Region 10 Championships. Considering that neither the team nor any individual qualified for the final round of the 4A state championships last year, one never knows what might happen this year. l

Murray kidney clinic helping the Latino community

By Bailey Chism | bailey.c@thecityjournals.com

IntermountainHealth has taken steps to address the Latino community by opening Utah’s first fully Spanish-speaking kidney transplant clinic.

The Intermountain Clinica Hispana de Riñon (Hispanic Kidney Clinic), in Murray, aims to provide support for Spanish-speaking patients undergoing kidney transplant surgery.

The idea to open a Spanish-speaking clinic came a few years ago when different healthcare providers saw the need and began working to put all the pieces together.

“Having a Spanish-speaking clinic allows us to be closer to a population of patients that have been historically underserved,” said Alan Contreras, MD, transplant surgeon for Intermountain Health’s abdominal transplant program at Intermountain Medical Center. “Regardless of the reasons for that, we saw the need and we also believe that it was in our hands the possibility to do something to help this particular population of patients.”

The clinic has bilingual professionals, including surgeons, social workers, financial and nutrition coordinators. The clinic offers culturally comprehensive care, where providers address patients in their native language and are trained to support patients’ cultural needs and educational styles.

Patients who receive medical information

in their preferred language are more likely to understand and participate fully in decisions about their care.

Intermountain Health Transplant Services caregivers spearheaded this project, recognizing there are many misconceptions about transplantation and the donation process in Spanish-speaking communities and that some information may get lost in translation.

“This goes beyond providing a translation service, there is a significant effort from everybody involved to understand the particular needs and misconceptions within the community to work together in helping as many Spanish-speaking patients as possible,” Contreras said.

Contreras said most common misconceptions about transplantation and organ donation are not exclusive to the Hispanic community, but having an open conversation with patients and understanding their culture helps them have better access to care. For example, some patients are hesitant to ask around about organ donation because they fear they’ll be hurting the donor. The clinic gave patients a place to go to learn in their preferred language that donors are heroes and learn more about the organ donation process to understand it better. This diminishes the reluctance to go through with a transplant and results in more acceptance.

The clinic has been at full capacity since it opened in October 2023 and they are currently trying to have more availability and hiring more healthcare providers to satisfy patient needs.

“[Our goal is] to get closer to our community, to understand what are the barriers for access to health and work along with patients and family members to overcome those barriers in

the benefit of our patients,” Contreras said. Intermountain Health Transplant Services also offers a clinic for Spanish-speaking patients post-transplant where they meet with a nephrology provider and pharmacist who speak with them in their native language to help complete a successful transplant journey, Intermountain said in a statement. l

Area students top DECA’s state finals; international competition will be in April

By Julie Slama | j.slama@mycityjournals.com

Morethan 22,000 high school students, teachers, advisers, alumni and business professionals will gather at the DECA international career development conference this month.

Many of the 10,000 DECA members will demonstrate their knowledge by participating in the competitive events program, which will be held April 27-30 in Anaheim, California. They had to qualify at their state competitions.

In Utah, hundreds of high school students dressed in their finest packed the Davis County Conference Center for the statewide business or DECA competition in late February.

DECA’s mission to prepare emerging leaders and entrepreneurs for careers in marketing, finance, hospitality and management in high schools and colleges worldwide. There are more than 255,000 DECA members who are students, teachers, advisers, alumni and professionals.

At the statewide competition, next year’s student officers were announced, including Corner Canyon’s Maddie Bloom, who will serve as the central region vice president.

Alta High was one of several Salt Lake Valley teams that competed. Its DECA club has 85 members and 30 competed at state.

“I’m so proud of these kids, watching how far the seniors on stage have come and seeing

the progress already made for our younger students,” said Alta’s adviser Shaley Louder.

“These students have a bright future.”

Corner Canyon was recognized as one of five chapters of the year.

Top finishers from Alta, Bingham, Brigh-

ton, Corner Canyon, Cottonwood, Jordan, Hillcrest and Murray high schools include: Hospitality and Tourism Exam — Allen Liang, Hillcrest; Sophia Lin, Hillcrest; Maximilian Schneider, Jordan; Nathan Williamson, Corner Canyon; Grace Norton, Corner Canyon; Sang Chun, Hillcrest; Teagan Kay, Hillcrest; Daniel Whalen, Murray Marketing Exam — Kiara Collins, Brighton; Vishnith Ashok, Hillcrest; Dovan Lapin, Corner Canyon; Kayla Nguyen, Corner Canyon; Savanna Barlow, Alta; Max White, Cottonwood; Mia Palmer, Corner Canyon; Gwen Holt, Cottonwood; Sathwik Boya, Hillcrest; Draven Hodges, Jordan; Vincent Liang, Hillcrest; Colton Woodley, Alta; Jonathan Arulanandam, Hillcrest Entrepreneurship — Kalash Rimal, Bingham; Thomas Pepper, Cottonwood

Human Resources Management — Haley Neff, Corner Canyon; Maria Salazar, Murray Principles of Business Management & Administration — Jake Catten, Cottonwood Quick Serve Restaurant Management — Daniel Whalen, Murray; Teagan Kay, Hillcrest; Sienna Yang, Hillcrest

Sports & Entertainment Marketing team two teams from Hillcrest; Cottonwoodl

Patients at the Hispanic Kidney Clinic feel more comfortable and open to treatment in their preferred language. (Photo courtesy of Erin Goff)

Alta High students show their medals earned at the state DECA contest this spring. (Photo courtesy of Shaley Louder/Alta High)

Two kindergartners put on solar glasses at lunchtime and looked up into the sky. One, Emilie Puente, was struck with awe as the other, Noelle Lansfeldt, was mesmerized by the partial solar eclipse she was witnessing in Murray.

The Parkside Elementary girls were amongst 400 of their peers out on the playground at lunch recess April 8 having the option to borrow one of the 100 pairs of solar glasses the school ordered, or one of the 60 pairs donated by T-Mobile.

“The excitement was electric at lunch for sure,” said Merissa Graves, Parkside assistant principal who shared a Google Slide presentation informing students about how the moon is between the Earth and the sun, casting a shadow on Earth, and addressing the safety of wearing solar glasses with the school beforehand. “‘Woah! I can see it! Look!’ was heard all around.”

Graves said one new student, a thirdgrade refugee, put on the glasses and held them tight to his face.

“(The student) had the biggest smile on his face,” she said, adding that about a dozen parent volunteers helped teachers with the viewing.

Parkside was one of several schools that gave students the opportunity to view the eclipse. In the Salt Lake Valley, about 48% was viewable, according to the Clark Planetarium.

At Welby Elementary in South Jordan, fifth-grade dual immersion Spanish students left the classroom three times to witness the eclipse. Beforehand, they discussed the risks of looking directly at the sun and the importance of protecting their eyes.

“Understanding these safety measures was our No. 1 priority: the glasses were going to allow us to watch the eclipse directly without risking eye damage,” Welby

Solar eclipse didn’t eclipse student learning

By Julie Slama | j.slama@mycityjournals.com

teacher Ana Cerezo-Berbel said. “To deepen our understanding, we watched and discussed various videos explaining solar and lunar eclipses.”

The students compared it to a “game of hide and seek,” she said. “Our initial adventure outside treated us to the eclipse’s opening act, with about 10% of the sun covered.”

During the second time outside, the students saw it near its peak eclipse in Utah.

“The excitement was palpable as we observed this significant moment, marking almost the halfway point of the eclipse,”

Cerezo-Berbel said. “This time we also crossed our fingers over each other and

formed square gaps. When we angled our hands and the sun was hitting them, sunlight passed through the gaps projecting mini eclipses onto the ground.”

As the eclipse began to wane, they stepped outside to witness its concluding stages, watching the moon slowly retreat, revealing the sun’s brilliance.

“This time we used another creative way to observe without looking directly at the sun: paper viewers. We made holes in a paper to safely watch the projection onto the ground,” she said, adding that the students also followed the event in other cities via the NASA website.

At Canyon View Elementary in Cottonwood Heights, second-grade students in Raydean Fernandez’ and Madison Elingson’s classes also used pinhole viewers to see the eclipse.

A first-grade teacher, Joy Smith, bought eclipse glasses for her class.

“I tied it to our Wonders curriculum where our question of the week was, ‘What can you see in the sky?’” she said.

Smith also was able to link the experience to the first-grade state science core curriculum about obtaining, evaluating and communicating information about the movement of the sun, moon and stars to describe predictable patterns.

They were able to discuss how the sun and moon typically appear to rise in one part of the sky, move across the sky and set, but during the eclipse, it was a different kind of view than the first graders were used to seeing.

Recently, students have been able to view several eclipses in the area.

This past fall, when an annular eclipse passed through Southern Utah, students could see the moon hide nearly 90% of the sun in the Salt Lake Valley, according to the Clark Planetarium.

Some students could recall the total solar eclipse in 2017; which was the first time a total solar eclipse swept from the Pacific to the Atlantic since the United States was involved in World War I. During that eclipse, where the peak was in central Idaho, Salt Lake Valley students could see about 90% as well.

The next total eclipse viewable in the Salt Lake Valley will be in 20 years. l

Parkside kindergartners Emilie Puente and Noelle Lansfeldt were amazed at the solar eclipse they saw during their lunchtime. (Photo courtesy of Cheree Larson/Parkside)

During the solar eclipse, seen here in the Salt Lake Valley, the sun was 48% covered by the moon. (Julie Slama/City Journals)

Canyon View second-graders use pinhole viewers to see the recent solar eclipse. (Madison Ellingson/ Canyon View)

At Welby Elementary, students put on protective glasses to check out the solar eclipse. (Ana Cerezo-Berbel/ Welby Elementary)

Local high school teams find ‘Crescendo’ in regional robotics contest

By Julie Slama | j.slama@mycityjournals.com

AMES’ Amperes was awarded the “Quality Award” and grabbed two wins Feb. 29-March 2 during the Utah Regional FIRST Robotics Competition, which was held at the Maverik Center.

Cottonwood High’s Underdogs won four qualification wins.

In FIRST Robotics, the teams first are challenged to build industrial-size robots following strict rules and limited time and resources, while also fundraising to meet their goals, designing a team “brand,” and advancing respect and appreciation for STEM within the local community.

Then, at the regional competition, they take part in Crescendo, this year’s game themed around music. It involves two alliances consisting of three teams each competing to perform various tasks, including shooting rings known as “notes” into goals, and hanging on chains at the end of the match.

Sandy’s Waterford School’s Ravens grabbed seven wins in qualification rounds and won four of its five playoff matches to be an event finalist. They also received the Autonomous Award in Utah and at the Idaho Regionals, the Quality Award.

The school’s second team, First-Year Ravens, claimed five qualification wins.

Other Sandy teams competing in Utah’s Regionals include Alta High’s ICARUS INNOVATED, which secured eight wins in qualification rounds and was an alliance captain in the playoffs. The team won the Team Sustainability

Award sponsored by Dow in Utah and at the Idaho Regionals, the Creativity Award sponsored by Rockwell Automation.

Alta High’s second team, the New Hawks, won five qualification rounds.

Jordan High’s Gravediggers recorded four qualification round wins.

South Jordan’s Bingham High’s 8-Bit Miners won five of its qualification rounds and competed in the playoff rounds while Holladay’s Olympus High’s BityBots 8174 won four of its qualification rounds. Draper’s Corner Canyon High’s Charger Robotics won five of its qualification rounds.

Midvale’s Hillcrest High’s Husky Robotics won a qualification match and received the Team Spirit Award. In addition, Hillcrest’s sophomore Senya Walker received the FIRST Dean’s List Finalist Award and will be attending the World Championships. The team received the same awards at the Las Vegas Regional contest. l

• Comprehensive Eye Exams

• Cataracts Glaucoma Management

• Macular Degeneration

• Eye Infections

• Eye Emergencies

• Dry Eyes

• LASIK/PRK/ICL

• Corneal Transplants

• Glasses & Contact Lenses

• .....and more!

AMES’ Amperes, seen here, was awarded the “Quality Award” during the Utah Regional FIRST Robotics Competition. (Julie Slama/City Journals)

Cottonwood High’s robotics team, sporting signature yellow Colt gear, won four qualification wins at Utah’s regional contest. (Julie Slama/City Journals)

Ninth grade moves to high school as part of school board’s latest decisions shaping future of Murray schools

By Julie Slama | j.slama@mycityjournals.com

Inthree separate unanimous votes, the Murray Board of Education approved a 2024-25 school boundary change, the transition of sixth graders to middle school and ninth graders to high school, and a bond measure to rebuild Riverview Junior High to a middle school model and adding on to Murray High.

The boundary change impacts about 70 students, moving them from Parkside Elementary to Liberty Elementary. This will reduce the size of Parkside’s 400-plus students and boost Liberty’s enrollment of 225 to about 300.

The students who will transition to Liberty live in the northern Murray School District boundary north of Fireclay Avenue and west of State Street.

“I don’t know that any of us agree that this is the perfect plan; it’s the best plan,” Board Vice President Kelly Taeoalii said during the special April 18 board meeting, adding that other plans would have shifted more students.

The second vote was to reconfigure the District’s schools into a middle school model of sixth through eighth grades, moving ninth-grade students to the high school, like many of the neighboring school districts and those across the country.

It wasn’t a decision made easily as Board members said it was only after researching, talking to teachers and administrators and even visiting other districts’ schools, that they reached their decision this would be best for Murray District.

Board member Jill Weight is a former elementary school teacher.

“When thinking of bringing the sixth graders up, it kind

of scared me for them, so I did a lot of reading, research that way, talked to strangers,” she said at the meeting adding that she also talked first-hand with some parents and neighboring districts about the issue.

Through research and conversations she had about the sixth graders, Weight believes the middle school model is best for Murray. She also supported moving ninth graders to the high school.

“I think they’ll realize that they are getting grades that will influence their college opportunities,” Weight said. “I think it will also offer opportunities to them that they just can’t have in the junior high because of the way the junior high is structured and the programs that are being offered at the high school.”

Other considerations were mentioned such as currently elementary schools are expected to serve 5-year-olds through 12-year-olds with classroom sizes and school meal serving sizes being the same. Board members also pointed out that socially and emotionally, sixth graders have more in common with middle schoolers than with younger elementary students and along the same lines, ninth graders fit better with high school students.

The meeting’s final vote was to put the school construction projects as a bond measure on the general election ballot in November.

The timeline for the construction projects and grade reconfiguration is dependent upon the outcome of the bond vote in November. If it passes, District officials expect to break ground this coming winter on the projects and upon completion, the students will align in accordance to the board’s vote. If it fails, the grades still will configure since it was a separate vote and that decision will be forthcoming, said Murray District spokesman Doug Perry.

The construction of the new Riverview school, built in 1961, and addition to Murray High has been something the Board has considered for a while, Board member Kami An-

At the April 18, Murray Board of Education Vice President Kelly Taeoalii speaks to the proposed boundary shift as the Board President Jaren Cooper listens. (Julie Slama/City Journals)

Liberty students score at being at school during March Madness tournament

By Julie Slama | j.slama@mycityjournals.com

March Madness. It wasn’t just celebrating University of Connecticut’s men’s team or the South Carolina women ballers or jumping on the bandwagon of Caitlin Clark fans.

Murray School District had its own competition, where Liberty Elementary edged out Viewmont Elementary in the last week to win the elementary schools’ attendance tournament.

“Our students and families rallied together and won the March Madness Attendance Champion award and the G.O.A.T. (greatest of all time) award for the most improved attendance during the month of March,” Liberty Principal Shana Mondragon said. “This was an award the students earned. They had to get here every day on time. It’s not an award that the teachers won for the school; it was all their doing.”

It’s the first time Murray School District has held the four-week competition to see which school earned the best attendance percentage of improvement from the previous month, said Darren Dean, Murray District personnel and student services director.

Liberty increased its attendance every week in March as well as its overall attendance from February.

In February, the 225 students had 90.44% attending school. The first week of the contest, it increased to 91.95%; week two, 92.22%. The third week, 92.73% of the Liberty Leopards were at school.

Similarly, Viewmont increased every week from 92.67% in February to 94.89% the third week.

Mondragon said students were already planning a dance party if they won, however, she upped the incentive with doughnuts if they could increase the percentage that final week.

“When Viewmont pulled ahead by 1/100th of a percentage the last day before spring break, I promised our students that I would get them all doughnuts if every kid came to school because we could still win,” Mondragon said. “The kids were laughing because they know doughnuts and bananas are my favorite treats, and I had been telling them all year I needed a reason to buy doughnuts for everybody.”

Liberty students committed to coming to school. With a 92.88% attendance rate the fourth week and a 2.44% change from the previous month, they won both awards. Viewmont was second with a 2.16% increase in attendance.

On April 8, Dean and attendance specialists Brittany Roller and Adrianne Miller came to present the students their trophies before the students danced to a playlist created with student and teacher suggestions.

“Our District and the school board prioritized attendance at the start of the year, and we were working with the State Board of Education to improve our attendance,” Dean said. “We’ve been generating ideas to incentivize students in addition to having traditional meetings with parents and students. This was one of those ideas that Brittany and Adrianne had.”

Currently, there are elementary attendance poster and secondary schools’ video contests being held.

Every elementary student is invited to submit a 8-inch by 11-inch poster that highlights the importance of daily

school attendance by May 15 to the child’s school’s office. Each entry needs to include “We are Here!” Three school winners will be chosen to have their posters displayed in the school and they also will have a chance to compete at the district level for prizes and to display the poster districtwide next school year.

The one-minute promotional video contest also needs to highlight the importance of attendance and include “We are Here!” Students need to submit their video at https:// shorturl.at/zADK1 by May 15. Three winners will have their videos used in 2024-25 attendance campaigns as well as win prizes.

With the recent push in attendance, Dean believes that Murray District will be “close to on track or maybe above where we were last year. We have a long-range timeline to improve attendance. School attendance is down across the nation. Chronic absenteeism was 15% before the pandemic. Now it is 25% across the nation.”

Chronic absenteeism is when a student misses 18 days or more of the school year.

Mondragon said that attendance can be overlooked.

“Sometimes, it may be easier to grab the elementary student when a parent is going to high school activities, or there’s an opening for a dentist appointment and it fits into the parent’s schedule,” she acknowledged. “From the education standpoint, we know how critical it is for kids to be here every day. It’s hard to keep them on track when they’re not here every day. I understand it can be hard from both standpoints; we all want the same thing but getting it done is difficult sometimes.”

Dean agrees.

“People got used to staying at home and now there’s parents working at home so it’s harder for students to get to school or people go on vacation and miss school. Sometimes, there are sports tournaments on a Friday. Attendance has just fallen off,” he said. “We’re reaching out to those families. We want them to know that we’re here to support you and help you solve the issues. We’ve had some workshops with multiple parents and kids where we look at the root of the problem and see how we can partner to solve it. It’s been eye-opening to hear their concerns, learn from one another and help make it better. We’ve had pretty good success; about 75% of those students have improved their attendance.” l

derson said at the meeting.

“This has always been in the back of our minds,” she said. “When is the right time to deal with some of our aging facilities? We have pushed it and pushed it. We had a recession; we had COVID; another little recession. I feel like it’s the right time. We have been very, very cautious of raising any kind of taxes. With this in mind, we know that this will be an added expense to our taxpayers, but an investment in facilities that provides the best opportunity for our kids is a good place to be. It’s been a very, very long time coming, and I’m excited to see what we have in the near future.”

Murray Board of Education President

Jaren Cooper said it’s the first bond measure the Board was requested in more than a dozen years; the last request was in 2012 to rebuild Hillcrest Junior High.

“Bond measures are not an easy decision,” Cooper said. “But I am confident in our homework. We have studied this issue for many years and believe acting now will save taxpayers millions (and) continue our promise of a quality public education.”

As per law, the Board provided several meetings for the public to make comments after it made its initial recommendations on Jan. 12. l

Liberty students celebrated their March Madness victory with a dance party and by eating doughnuts, as seen here with fifth-graders Eloise Hall and Mylee Nielsen. (Teresa Loveless/Liberty Elementary)

Over the last few years, more readers are emailing us about the Life and Laughter columns that run in the Journal. Last month, realizing the topic was more controversial, we decided to ask for reader feedback. Our readers left nearly 200 responses.

Over 60 percent of readers agreed with the article. Here is a small sampling of the comments that we received from our readers.

“I always love Peri Kinder's articles. I am on the same page with her politically. However, the length and tone of her articles make clear they are written for people who already agree with her - not for people on the fence or are looking for information on a topic”

“Peri inspired some thoughts that I hadn't paid much attention to.”

“Peri's bigotry is showing. No one should have to apologize for their sex, race, income status, or sexual orientation, unless of course, according to Peri, you’re a straight white male in Utah. Replace white with black and male with female in her piece and maybe you’ll be able to recognize the vitriol for what it is. Women are entitled to safe, private spaces, and I guarantee that if there were a man pretending to be a woman ogling at Peri in the bathroom, she might feel just a wee bit uncomfortable. As a woman, I’m tired of feminists telling me to “just get over it” and that my feelings don’t matter. Must I once again subjugate my desires in deference to a man who wants things his way? Maybe you should ask the girl in Virginia who was sexually assaulted by a transgender girl in the girls’ bathroom at school. Just because Peri doesn’t mind men in her bathroom doesn’t mean the rest of us aren’t traumatized by it. The Legislature did absolutely the right thing, carefully balancing the rights of transgender people with women’s right to privacy and safe separate spaces.”

“Biological men do not belong in the same restroom as women. I do not want my children to ever be in a bathroom where a man is present. Just because the author has

Life and Laughter Reader Response

not encountered a “creepy man dressed as Mrs. Doubtfire, accosting women in the restroom,” does not mean this has not occurred. There are numerous cases where women have been assaulted by so called transgender info inside of women’s restrooms, for example, the case in Louden County VA.”

“I really like a lot of her articles but I am very opposed to pretty much everything she said in this one.”

“I agree with most of the comments about the legislature. However, I do not want transgender (born male) in my women's bathroom. They can use the family bathrooms which are becoming much more available.”

“Responding to "the article" as a whole cannot be done here because many different opinions were expressed on many issues. My only reaction to the overall article is "what happened to laughter"? I have often enjoyed your humor but this article had none! That's sad.”

"I agree that Trans women should not be allowed in the female bathrooms. Why? Because they are not women. There are only two genders. There always have been two genders and that cannot change. It is not dependent on what we think we are or are not.

We cannot and should not change the gender given to us by our Creator. I think He knows best.”

“Also, the author makes it sound like not allowing Trans women in a female bathroom is being unloving...love thy neighbor. Since when does disagreeing with someone's lifestyle directly correlate to being unloving? In any relationship we have with others, there are likely times we don't fully agree with someone's opinion or choices. We can still love that person, but not agree with their actions or lifestyle. These days it seems that if you disagree in any way with diversity, equity and inclusion you are labeled a hater. How is it that everyone else is entitled to their opinion but if mine is different in any way, I am wrong. How is that loving? We live in a free country that allows us to have a variety of opinions and express those opinions in a respectful way. But we also have to understand that not everyone is going to agree with each other and that is OK. With the bathroom issue, single stall bathrooms that allow either gender is the best solution in my opinion."

“Agree 100%. Peri is right. Sometimes it is embarrassing to live in this state with the things the legislature worries about and focuses on, and the bills they pass. There are more important problems to deal with than worrying about which bathrooms people are using, fighting DEI, and what books kids should or shouldn’t be reading. Frankly I think some of these things send the wrong message; I fear the kids are only learning that the adults don’t trust them to make good decisions. Or any decisions at all which will only lead to more problems down the road… an even more intolerant society with no critical thinking skills which is never a good thing.”

“This article is right. I couldn't agree more with all of Peri Kinder's articles. This one is my favorite.

I usually read the Peri Kinder column to get a good chuckle but this one hit the nail right on the head.”

“Thanks for printing this. I'm a trans woman who lives here and this was nice to see. I worked at the airport before, now I'm looking for a new job. It's been a rough couple of years for trans people and can seem overwhelming at times. Thanks for reminding me there's allies out there.”

“Peri is so sensible. I appreciate her writing this column.”

"I completely agree. We have a short legislative session and too much time and efforts were made supporting hatred and exclusion, singularity of thought and government being for themselves instead of for the people.

Read the polls: none of this is what the majority of voters are asking for.”

“It is so refreshing to read an opinion driven by common sense and compassion, rather than ignorance and fear. I know people in Utah are more compassionate than those who represent them, based on proposed legislation.”

“I look forward to Peri Kinder's article every month. This article was especially "spot on". Government needs to be more transparent! Not hidden behind so called "privacy" laws that block access to to the daily calendar of elected officials. I also agree with Peri's stance on public restrooms. Nobody goes into a restroom 'looking for" a transgender. They are there to "do their business" and leave asap! I have noticed that airports, some restaurants, and some of the wonderful theaters (Pioneer Theatre's new Meldrum Theatre and The Eccles) have an open doorway. The stalls allow for individual privacy, but the rooms are open and very visible. This is the first time I have used my scanning code. I felt it was important to express my point of view.”

“Acceptance has been slow over the years, but acceptance of the reality is gaining more support as people learn about their families.”

“I question the comments about guns in schools but clearly agree with the rest.” l

My dog, Jedi, runs to the closet where her leash hangs. She spins in circles as I take it off the hook and click it on her collar. She bites the leash and pulls because I’m just not moving fast enough. She is so happy to walk the neighborhood and terrorize small animals.

Usually, these daily walks cheer me up, but recently, I follow behind her like I’m wearing cement shoes on a muddy beach. Does anyone else feel soul-tired?

I’m the weariest I’ve been since my daughters were newborns when sleeping two hours a night left me moving through life in a haze of dirty Pampers and milk-sour T-shirts.

But what’s my excuse now? I’m a deflated balloon, bouncing along the floor without the helium needed to float. I’m too weary to yawn, too sluggish to nap.

I guess I’m not alone because author and computer science professor Cal Newport said we’re in the throes of “The Great Exhaustion.”

It’s not about getting more sleep, it’s not about eating more fiber or fewer Hostess Twinkies, it’s a complete burnout because rest is a sign of weakness.

Taylor Swift recorded a double album while performing in a sold-out global tour

Peri Kinder Life and Laughter

Dead on My Feet

and then flew halfway around the world to catch her boyfriend’s little football game. And here I am, struggling to write a column and make it to my granddaughters’ soccer games.

I sprawl on the couch watching dust accumulate on the end tables, too fatigued to do anything about it. I pray a brisk breeze blows through the house, scattering the dirt back to the floor where it belongs.

I feel a lot of people are in this same engineless boat. It doesn’t help that companies now require employees to return to the office, even though the flexible, at-home schedules have kept thousands of women in the workplace. Even though, for the first time in history, job schedules have helped women feel like work and home are almost manageable.

Our energy is also being drained fast-

er than our bank accounts because we’ve trained ourselves to be 24/7 content creators. We spend a crapload of time making reels about our trip to the Grand Canyon or a TikTok video about how to raise goats and make goat milk ice cream.

But there’s more! Start a tech company during your free time! Renovate your kitchen and use time-lapse videos to share with the world! Become an Instagram influencer by creating beauty masks using pencil shavings! Document all the moments all the time and share on all the platforms!

With nonstop information from streaming shows, music, podcasts, audiobooks and social media going directly into our big noggins, our brains are tired. Every person in your household (and possibly your pets) is processing information at speeds unheard of just a few years ago. There’s probably smoke coming out of our ears.

It’s a firehose of electronic data. Everything is breaking news. Everything is trying to capture our brief attention. Life is one big clickbait link and we doomscroll like we’ve been enchanted by a wizard to sell our souls for just a little more spilled tea.

Are you feeling burnt out? Tell us about it.

Are you feeling fresh, share your secret with us!

The funny thing is, we can turn it off, silence the noise and deactivate the notifications. But our cortisol addiction is out of control.

So what do we do?

Jedi has the right idea. Walking outside, breathing fresh air, maybe even chasing a cat up a tree reminds us the small things matter. Quiet rituals are important. “The Great Exhaustion” is a bone-deep weariness but also a reminder we’re not alone as we stumble through life.

Maybe in sharing our weariness, we can find a listening ear, a comforting shoulder or a Hostess Twinkie.

Focus@TheCityJournals.com (801) 254-5974 Tell your friends!

ANNUAL MEMORIAL DAY PROGRAM

to Honor Military Veterans for Their Service to Our Country

Monday, May 27, 2024 at 10:00 a.m.

At Larkin Sunset Gardens Cemetery 1950 East Dimple Dell Road (10600 South), Sandy

FEATURED SPEAKER: Congressman Blake Moore

PROGRAM WILL INCLUDE: Hill Air Force Base, Honor Guard, Utah Firefighters Emerald Society Bagpipes, Patriotic Music by Brian Stucki and the Minuteman Brass Quintet OPEN TO THE GENERAL PUBLIC