Student projects may save lives, win prizes

By Jet Burnham | j.burnham@mycityjournals.com

current application is for school-use, but students said its application could be expanded to retirement homes and hospitals.

The JATC team is composed of students from Mountain Ridge, Riverton and West Jordan High Schools, who, through classes offered at JATC, have experience in coding, website building, designing, programming, circuitry and hardware, and hold certifications in HTML, CSS and JavaScript.

“Pretty much all the skills for this project came from the JATC,” Jaxon Smith said, a senior at Mountain Ridge High School.

Many JATC class assignments are project-based and students are encouraged to develop projects for competitions.

“I know that learning accelerates when it's a project,” Web Development Instructor Melissa Mansouri Smith said. “They'll learn far more than if I was just teaching. It always feels like it's where the real learning really begins because they just accelerate so much faster without some of the constraints when the project is what the focus is, instead of for certain assignments.”

The students also gain real-world experience by consulting with experts about their project.

“We met with the safety manager and were confident with our ideas going in,” Smith said. “He gave us a list of new ideas and important things to focus on. It helped us make important changes to our focus which required us to rewrite and come up with a new design. It was good input we didn't know we needed.”

Neither team advanced further than Phase 1 in the competition this year, but both will continue to work on their product. The MHA team is using the same product for the eCYBERMISSION virtual STEM competition. The JATC team is interested in continuing to refine their design until they have a final product.

The two schools used their $2,500 prize package to stock their classrooms with new equipment. Mountain Heights Academy reinvests each year’s winnings. The money won by last year’s team paid for arduino kits, sensors, smart home kits, a laser cutter and 3D printer. This year’s team used the kits to learn about transmitting and coding concepts and will be using the 3D printer to create a cover for their device. The equipment is also used for other contest projects and class assignments.

“Next year, we're opening a new class to an elective called the innovation lab,” STEAM Program Coordinator Andrew Hulse said. “It's essentially going to be a makerspace of sorts, where we'll go through some learning opportunities as far as how these things work, but then students will be able to utilize all these fun tools and gizmos and gadgets that we have to create their own projects.”

Other Utah schools selected as top 300 finalists include Wasatch High School Alternative, Olympus Junior, Green Canyon High, West High and Elk Meadows Elementary. West High School was selected to advance in the competition as the Utah finalist. l

When I was a kid, I worried about four things: my Halloween candy being stolen by siblings, missing a spelling word on a test, accidentally eating mayonnaise and nuclear war. In that order.

While those four things were the main cause of concern, I also worried about rainy days because stupid boys would throw earthworms down my shirt. I worried about wearing dresses to school because stupid boys would look up my skirt.

I worried about running out of books to read because I couldn’t imagine that apocalyptic scenario. I worried about earthquakes because we were constantly told The Big One would happen when we least suspected.

I guess I worried a lot, but I’m pretty sure our state legislators at the time didn’t give a rat’s behind about my mental health. In fact, children in the 1970s weren’t really considered people until they had a job and started paying taxes.

But now, our illustrious leaders say they are really concerned about the mental health of Utah’s youth, but only in select situations. There is talk to ban social media for kids under 16 because of the harmful impact it has on their mental wellness.

However, representatives don’t seem

Peri Kinder Life and Laughter

society. Even though teens with access to these treatments have demonstrated better mental health.

This is a “problem” our leaders don’t have to “solve” because, hear me out, it isn’t a “problem.” milla introduced a bill that would legalize psilocybin in Utah under strict controls. Because this is Utah, this mushroom therapy bill will probably go down in hallucinogenic flames, but hopefully it gets the conversation started. concerned about the mental health of transgender youth since our state leaders banned gender-affirming care for minors. Even though suicide rates skyrocket for trans youth who often feel stigmatized in

On a related note, I found it interesting Utah will still permit cisgender female teens to get breast implants. Because Utah.

Do you know what else affects a child’s mental health? The fear they’ll be shot at school. The fear that climate change will eliminate elephants and polar bears. The fear their overworked teachers will quit because public money has been siphoned off to private and home schools.

I won’t clump all our elected officials into this bunch of wackadoodles because there are many people working to help trans youth, create sensible gun laws and reduce the load of our poor public school teachers who get beat up each year during the legislative session.

Another way to help our youth develop better mental health? Stop passing harmful bills. Start passing bills that help our children and grandchildren deal with the everyday pressures of living in this world that feels like it’s gone bananas.

I agree social media causes great harm to our teens through cyberbullying, shaming and creating a comparison mindset. But there are additional issues we could tackle to help our children sleep better at night.

I vote that each educator be given a 10-day trip to Hawaii, paid for by the record-breaking state liquor sales. Of which they’ve heartily contributed, I’m sure.

Speaking of addressing mental health, Senate Minority Leader Luz Esca -

I never had to worry about cyberbullying as a kid, although actual physical bullying was definitely a thing. I worried about being pushed off the monkey bars onto the hard concrete. I worried about kids laughing at my homemade polyester pantsuits.

What I worry about now is how to create an inclusive and safe environment for our youth. I also still worry about accidentally eating mayonnaise, and nuclear war. In that order. l

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