South Jordan Journal | January 2022

January 2022 | Vol. 9 Iss. 13

FREE THE HALLS OF SAGEWOOD ARE ALIVE WITH MUSIC

By Rachel Aubrey | r.aubrey@mycityjournals.com

M

usic has the power to influence us in a variety of ways.

It can ignite some of our fondest memories and has the power to heal our deepest wounds. Approximately 230 residents of Sagewood in Daybreak started to experience that power and influence in a very real way. Despite the stringent rules and protocols brought on by Covid in the early part of 2020, the musical influence began to permeate the walls thanks to a little collaboration from the team at Sagewood.

From socially distanced performances in the courtyard, to more recent group sessions, music has brought an enhanced quality of life and vitality thanks to wellness director Jonathan Tate and executive director Wade Vest. Both Tate and Vest recognized that the residents needed an outlet, especially during Covid, to be entertained and to engage.

The senior staff decided to start a weekly concert series in their central courtyard, where residents could listen to music from their windows, thus ensuring everyone could be distant and safe. Local performers and artists were contacted and the weekly concert series began.

“It was so fun to see the impact music had on all of us,” Vest said. “Not just the residents but the staff as well.”

Initially hired to perform in the weekly concert series, Lance Merrell, a music major at Utah Valley University, was approached by Tate about a staff position to oversee music activities. Merrell applied, interviewed and was hired in June 2020 to be the music specialist at Sagewood, a position that the staff felt was important to have moving forward.

Merrell’s position is to create and facilitate musical activities coupled with some light music therapy. His focus is to help residents with memory and cognition through music.

“As human beings we are prone to make music,” Merrell Lance Merrell was hired in June 2020 to be the music specialist at Sagewood after performing in the weekly concert series. (Photo courtesy of Continued page 11 Lance Merrell)

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January 2022 | Page 3

Light the Night brings holiday joy to South Jordan

By Rachel Aubrey | r.aubrey@mycityjournals.com

T

he city of South Jordan once again brought an unforgettable community experience to residents with the Light the Night event that was held on Dec. 3 at the South Jordan Towne Center. The lights, the cookies and hot chocolate, and, of course, the line to see Santa Claus, all helped contribute to the magic of this event, one of South Jordan’s most popular of the year. The night began with the lighting of the tree at 6 p.m.

With a performance that truly epitomized the spirit of the season, the South Jordan Elementary children’s choir performed under the direction of music teacher Nancy Hopkin, who has taught music at South Jordan Elementary for the past four years. The choir group is new to the school this year.

They started meeting in August, gathering

once a week before the regular school day started at 7:45 am. The group looks forward to more performances in the community.

“I got the cream of the crop,” Hopkin said.

In addition to the entertainment, the South Jordan Fire Authority was on site with one of their rigs and holiday safety information. Firemen gave tours of the firetruck to eager and interested attendees. Christmas trees in homes make indoor fire safety critical at this time of year. Firefighter Rusty Bybee has been a firefighter for 11 years and had some holiday safety tips to share to help make the season less stressful.

“We don’t want people to have to experience fire in their homes during the holidays,” Bybee said. “If you’re using a real

Christmas, make sure to keep it watered, and make sure to turn your lights off at night and unplug it even.”

In addition to wagon rides around the Towne Center and the gnome hunt, one of the most popular activities for spectators to witness at Light the Night was the gingerbread contest. Dozens of tasty looking and ornately crafted creations lined both sides of city hall as the community went single file past each and every one.

South Jordan resident Kristi Burns participated in the contest for her fifth year, recreating her “amazingly crazy” version of the pirate ship from the movie “Pirates of the Caribbean.” Burns’ entry had many poeple stopping in awe.

“It’s just fun for me,” Burns said. “I like

The little rams of South Jordan Elementary sang to the crowd at Light the Night on Towne Center Drive. (Rachel Aubrey/City Journals)

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to do things that kids like to see and that they get into.”

Burns was able to use a variety of edible items such as spaghetti, Dum Dums, the bits of cereal at the bottom of the box, graham crackers, rice paper and fondant for the binder. She started working on the entry at the end of Augustwith help from her husband, Mike Burns, who lent a hand in kneading all of the dough used for the ship.

The categories for entry into the contest included: group, senior (55+), adult (18-54), teen (13-17), youth (9-12) and child (8 & under). All were welcome to enter based on the categories and the following rules: all entries had to be completely edible with all candy being unwrapped, no lollipop sticks and no perishable food. All entries had to be original, meaning kits were not permitted. All entries had to also be freestanding and attached to a plywood base. The theme of the entry was left to the discretion of the creator.

The following entries won first place in their respective categories: • Group 1st: Desirae Mills • Senior 1st: Ruth Harris • Adult 1st: Teresa Oldham • Teen 1st: Quinnley Starr • Youth 1st: Caitlin Cottam • Child 1st: Elise Zamora Daybreak resident Shreeti Acharya brought her two-year-old daughter Ava to Light the Night in hopes of starting a new holiday tradition, something that the pandemic put a hold on last year. A recent movein to the South Jordan area from Salt Lake City, Acharya admitted that she enjoys all the activities and events that are happening all year long.

“I think they are doing great with the activities,” Acharya said l

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Bingham High senior receives congressional awards

By Julie Slama | j.slama@mycityjournals.com

W

hen Bingham High student John Evershed recently met U.S. Rep. Burgess Owens to be congratulated on earning the congressional bronze and silver medals, the former Oakland Raiders safety let the high school senior try on his Super Bowl ring.

“It was really big,” Evershed said. “I put it on my finger, and it had no grip. It would have slipped right off.”

Evershed not only posed with Owens’ ring, but also with his two medals after talking to him about the accomplishment.

Owens also shared with him a bit of advice.

“He told me to read. He said growing up, reading was the thing that really set him apart, helped him in school and in his wisdom,” Evershed said, adding that he planned to look into “The Five Love Languages,” a book that the representative recommended.

Hopefully he can find the time in his schedule. which already includes serving as the senior class secretary, a National Honors Society member, performing in Bingham High’s Madrigals, Acapella and theatre productions, studying for Advanced Placement classes and being a member of the South Jordan Youth Council.

Evershed also is working to earn the gold congressional medal, which traditionally is presented in Washington, D.C. The Congressional Award recognizes youths’ initiative, service and achievement through voluntary service, expedition and exploration, personal development and physical fitness.

With an adviser, Evershed set goals in each of the areas. To achieve his bronze medal, for example, he needed 100 hours of public service and 50 hours of personal development. The silver medal is double those numbers.

Youth can register for the program at 13.5 years of age and there was no doubt in his mind he would participate.

“I learned about the Congressional Award from my mom as she did it when she was growing up,” he said.

For his service, Evershed has been serving the city by being on the youth council, and helping with the community service projects involved with it from the annual summer festival to ushering at events. He also tutored students and helped with the school’s paper recycling program as part of National Honors Society. His service hours also came from his Boy Scout Eagle project of helping organize kits for victims of domestic violence and refugees.

Evershed already is on his way to earning his gold medal. He volunteered with a humanitarian effort for two and one-half weeks this past summer to build a school in the small town of Cusco, Peru.

“It was a great experience. I wanted to give more than I already had, outside of my community, and serve the people. I just felt so much love when I was there, and that spirit of love and service that I got from it was just

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A lz he i me r ’s Sp e c ial Ca re Ce n te r i n Sou t h Jo rda n Dignified Living in a Delightful Location

Bingham High senior John Evershed poses with the bronze and silver congressional medals he earned, and a third coin presented to him by U.S. Rep. Burgess Owens. (Photo courtesy of Emily Evershed)

so rewarding,” he said.

With personal development, he set a goal to improve upon his performing arts talent and participated in the school’s productions. He also is concentrating on improving his piano playing skills, an instrument he has played since he was 8 years old.

“That’s always been a goal of mine, to continue to work at the piano and to get better,” he said.

With his physical fitness goal, he took advantage of the time during COVID-19 to learn to play golf and took lessons.

“I was able to go every Monday to the course. It was something I wanted to do. My grandpa has always played and loved it. I’ve seen him and all his sons go golfing together and I’ve always wanted to be a part of that,” he said.

He also completed the hours by playing Junior Jazz basketball.

“I have a group of friends that we always get together during the winter to play.

It’s been really fun,” he said.

Also, during the COVID-19 summer of 2020, Evershed planned and organized an entire vacation for he and his family, from the driving to the meals and the expenses along the way. The family traveled to Colorado, seeing places they had never visited, such as Rocky Mountain, Black Canyon of the Gunnison, Great Sand Dunes and Mesa Verde na-

tional parks.

“I learned that I never really appreciated how much planning actually goes into these types of trips, like just planning the gas alone – knowing where the gas stations are and the prices. It was just that world of reality opened up to me. I’m just used to having the meals planned for me and everyone in the family so that planning process was really new to me,” he said.

Evershed said it wasn’t just accounting for the hours, but also writing and organizing his work toward his goals that he summarized and submitted. He worked with a program manager for the approval process.

“I’m really pretty close to my gold. I hope to have my paper submitted in January and be able to receive it in June,” Evershed said. “What I’ve already learned is just the love I have for service. I get such a good feeling when I go out, I serve my community. I see the smiles on people’s faces and that’s really rewarding to me. I also see the importance of goal making and goal keeping.

I wanted 200 hours of piano by the end of the year. So I really tried hard and worked hard at the piano. I was able to feel that sense of accomplishment really motivated me through receiving this award. I see this as a symbol of leadership in a way; I think the award will help me realize my potential in the world.” l

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New AAI aviation program launches students into realizing sky has no limits

By Julie Slama | j.slama@mycityjournals.com

A

merican Academy of Innovation senior Becca Wesley wants to learn how to fly and possibly become a commercial or private pilot.

“I’m learning what I don’t know about the sky, but I do know that flying makes me feel free,” she said.

Wesley is one of 18 students who are enrolled in AAI’s introduction in the one-half credit aviation workshop. The workshop, offered this first term of the 2021-22 school year, will lead into a full course next semester as part of the school’s new aviation & aeronautics six-term program.

The school has adopted the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association high school STEM four-year curriculum, which has two pathways: pilot and unmanned aircraft systems or drones. This fall, the workshop was taught by Ron Smart, a retired professor who also created the aviation sciences program, which he chaired, for Utah Valley University.

“He has been instrumental in designing everything he does, he has decades of experience, 40 years of experience,” academic director Ryan Hagge, who will now be teaching the course, said. “He has so many years of experience that he has already tweaked the curriculum a little bit and the AOPA was very willing to work with him. It’s kind of rare for

Page 6 | January 2022

AAI teacher Ron Smart helps sophomore Justin Wesley with creating and launching balloon helicopters during a class project in an aviation workshop, part of the school’s new aviation & aeronautics program. (Julie Slama/City Journals)

somebody like this to kind of stumble into and came for a tour. on their own and figure things out, not that your lab.”

“I loved the idea of innovation and hav- I’m hitting them with a ruler to make them Smart, who recently moved to the Day- ing kids learn in different ways and through pay attention and memorize something.” break area, said he learned about the school projects,” he said. “I like that they can think Smart, who will advise Hagge, came out

S outh Jordan City Journal

of retirement and offered to begin the program. He researched to find the curriculum, which is offered free to the school, as its base.

Hagge said that students who go through this program will receive post-high school credit in Aviation I, Aviation II and Mechanics I through the certified FAA program.

“Our goal with this is for him to train a couple of teachers that can take this on and keep going with the program,” Hagge said, adding that Smart plans to dedicate about five years to create the AAI program. “Ultimately, we want to get to the point where we’re offering private pilot licenses to graduates.”

Right now, the pathway is to certify students with drone pilot licenses so they could go to work in that field.

Students also will be able to tour Hill Air Force Base and see a F-22 cockpit, check out Salt Lake International Airport’s control tower, visit the Utah Air National Guard and Skywest Airlines, and take controls to fly a fixed-wing airplane and experience zero gravity.

Hagge added that the school also is working out aviation-related internship opportunities for students.

During this workshop, students have listened to those in aviation careers, learned the fundamental history of aviation, and are planning to start a statewide high school drone competition. They study technology, weather, physics, math, and aerodynamics.

They also were learning about rocket

propulsion, changing mass and momentum by creating and launching balloon helicopters to test Sir Isaac’s Newton’s third law of motion.

“They have to figure this out on their own; they have to learn it for themselves and by themselves. They need to have a foundation of where this career came from and how it works. They can’t understand what they’re doing unless they have that knowledge,” Smart said. “When they have a passion, it instills the opportunity to learn that they may not have even known. This can create a fire or spark in their learning and then, they will engage more to learn to be a pilot, an aviation engineer, a maintenance technician, or to be able to work for NASA. Basically, I’m here to help students realize the sky has no limits.”

Smart’s own interest in aviation began when he was 5 when he flew for the first time with his uncle. After six years with the U.S. Air Force and two years with the California National Guard, and earning his bachelor’s, master’s and doctorate degrees, he got into teaching at Sacramento City College. He also taught at University of Central California before teaching at UVU and serving on the Provo Airport Board.

According to the AOPA Foundation, and based on Boeing’s Pilot and Technician Outlook, more than 750,000 pilots will be needed in the world by 2039 and the number of pilot certificates issued by the FAA since 1980 has decreased by more than 60%, re-

AAI teacher Ron Smart checks on a sophomore Daniel Ogborn’s idea of how to test Sir Isaac’s Newton’s third law of motion during a class project in an aviation workshop, part of the school’s new aviation & aeronautics program. (Julie Slama/City Journals)

sulting in an increased demand for students to enter the field.

Senior Garrett Hodsdon is considering flight school.

“The first day I learned about this course, I knew I wanted to take it,” he said. “If I can become a private drone pilot, I can do that on the side to help pay for college.”

Sophomore Daniel Ogborn, who was

reviewing the factors of acceleration with freshman Jakob Kilngler, said he would like to be an aerodynamics engineer for NASA and learn to fly.

“It’s something I’ve always wanted to do, it’s been a dream of mine, to pilot a vehicle in the sky,” he said. “This class is a step I can take toward my career. I’m learning a lot.” l

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January 2022 | Page 7

Some of South Jordan’s best photos in 2021

Fifth-grader Ashlyn Gardner plays Mrs. Banks in South Jordan Elementary’s production of “Mary Poppins.” (Photo courtesy of Jennifer Gardner & Diane Witt Roper)

AAI food services staff members, as seen here with Tessah Kimball, make homemade food that is served to students for lunch. (David Kimball/AAI)

Singing a revised version of “Dragon Ships” to keep their strokes together, Early Light fifth graders learn about Vikings’ ships and their raids as part of the school’s Day in History. (Julie Slama/City Journals)

Left: Older adults who live in residential facilities had the vaccines come to them in January—others in the community age 70 and older had weeks-long waits for an appointment with the Salt Lake County Health Department. (Angelica Roman/Riverway Assisted Living) Right: Tanner Nelson swims the breaststroke at the Region 3 championships where he took first with a time of 56:34. Nelson also took first in the 200 individual medley. Nelson went on to take state in both the 200 freestyle and 500 freestyle, both in state record times. Photo by Pat McDonald)

Page 8 | January 2022

Senior star Averi Hanny, set to play for Utah Valley University this year, was instrumental to the Miners success last year. The senior went 18-4 from the mound while knocking in 31 RBIs. (Photo by Pat McDonald)

S outh Jordan City Journal

Bingham athletes compete at the region championship in May. A first-place finish on the girls’ side (with 199 points) and a second-place finish for the boys (155 points) powered Bingham High School to the overall region championship, with a total score of 354 points. (Justin Adams/City Journals)

Left: Goalie Christian Jones looks to block a shot against Riverton. The Miners would win the game 8-2. (Photo by Pat McDonald) Right: (Left to right) Jason McGuire, Dawn Ramsey and Don Shelton were all re-elected in the November election. (Photo courtesy South Jordan City)

Left: Girl-led troop 7092 visited Tracy Archery range in May where the girls learned not only archery but rifle shooting. (Photo courtesy of Autumn Jennings.) Right: Bingham High Minerettes perform their dance routine, one of the three categories they won, at the 6A state drill championships where they repeated as 6A state drill champions. (Photo courtesy of Clyn Robinson.)

S outh JordanJ ournal.com

Top: King Sexitmus the Silent King played by Jake Hendrixsen, and Lady Larken played by Chloe Warnas in the production of “Once Upon a Mattress.” (Photo courtesy of Jennifer Warnas). Bottom: Students in the play support Bruce, just as they did when ensemble member Kelsey Brown asked the Jordan School Board to raise the 25% capacity limit for the school’s April 13–17 performances of “Matilda.” (Photo courtesy of Julie Best Parsons/JBP Photography.)

January 2022 | Page 9

AAI’s Leo Hazembuller driving the car, Separation of Church and State, sponsored by Neighborhood Church, pulls into the lead at Daybreak’s Soap Box Derby. (Julie Slama/City Journals)

Senior libero Bella Breinholt celebrates her team winning a point. (Justin Adams/City Journals)

Left: JDCHS sophomore from South Jordan Ethan Stevens won the 3A state girls cross country title Oct. 27 at the Regional Athletic Complex in Rose Park. (Photos courtesy Ethan Stevens) Right: Elk Ridge ninth-grader Mone Ngata plays alongside others in the beginning percussion class, using a Skoog, a soft cube device that can be programmed to play notes to assist special education students to participate in music classes. (Julie Slama/City Journals)

South Jordan resident Durga Ekambaram works on her mural along the Jordan River Trail, painting a peacock, which is dominant in her native India. (Rachel Aubrey/City Journals)

Page 10 | January 2022

Bingham High’s unified soccer team breaks through their banner at the Salt Lake regional tournament. (Julie Slama/City Journals)

S outh Jordan City Journal

Continued from front page said. “Music is able to access different parts of us.”

A longtime student of music, Merrell has been able to provide creative ways to reach the residents with activities such as music jeopardy, name that tune, sing-a-longs, and the most recent addition of ukulele classes. At the beginning of 2021, residents began to be able to gather again and participate in a once-a-week community group session with the aforementioned activities facilitated by Merrell. In addition to group sessions, he also spends time with individuals doing one-onone sessions.

Helen Smart, who played piano in the Conference Center and the Joseph Smith Memorial building for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints for 15 years has been unable to play since May. “I would play the day after Thanksgiving when they turned the lights on at Temple Square,” Smart said.

A former homeowner in Daybreak, Smart moved into Sagewood in July after losing total feeling in her left arm. Merrell and Smart work together once a week, doing exercises to help strengthen her arm and finger movement.

“Lance is really good,” Smart said.

“He’s very down to earth and he wants to meet the needs of the individual.”

Smart has been able to regain some feeling in her fingers and said she can now play a

few hymns. She is working her way back to the level at which she once played. Both she and Merrell are optimistic she can achieve the level she once was at.

As much as Merrell wants to make a difference for the residents, he admitted that his elaborate one-on-one sessions could quite quickly become something as simple as singing a song together. Not only does Sagewood offer independent and assisted living, there is also a memory care component for residents that have to battle with Alzheimer’s and dementia. Merrell has learned to tailor his approach based on what the resident may need on any given day and said that it can be a Residents not only participate in singing activities, but learn instruments as well. (Photo courtesy of Lance challenge at times.

“As powerful as music is, it’s not a cure Merrell) to a disease,” Merrell said. “I go in with a plan knowing that I have to be open and adaptable.”

The future will continue to be musical for residents, some of which have requested that Merrell help them to form a Sagewood A new report has just been released which Fast and For Top Dollar.” choir. Residents also enjoyed singing festive reveals 7 costly mistakes that most homeowners To hear a brief recorded message about how songs during the most recent holiday season. make when selling their home, and a 9-Step you can order your copy of this FREE Special Families are welcome and encouraged to join System that can help you sell your home fast and Report, call residents on Tuesday nights for the weekly for the most amount of money. This industry 1-844-873-1717 and enter ID# 2100. You can music social. reports shows clearly how the traditional ways call anytime, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, or “This is a living, breathing [music] proof selling homes have become increasingly less you can visit the website gram,” Merrell said. and less effective in today’s market. www.MySellingMistakes.com to request your To learn more about Sagewood visit In answer to this issue, industry insiders FREE copy. www.kiscoseniorliving.com/senior-living/ut/ have prepared a free special report entitled Get your free special report NOW to find out south-jordan/sagewood-at-daybreak. l “The 9-Step System to Get Your Home Sold how you can get the most money for your home.

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January 2022 | Page 13

South Jordan Elementary students debate issues in mock legislative session

By Julie Slama | j.slama@mycityjournals.com

I

t was more than learning Utah’s capitol building was constructed from granite mined in Little Cottonwood Canyon or that skylights that allow natural light to illuminate its marble hallways reduce electricity use. Or that the carpeting in the House of Representatives is green while the Senate has blue. Or even that Utah’s supreme court, which was housed in the capitol, once limited speaking times by using a red-and-green traffic light developed by Salt Lake City Police Officer Lester Wire.

This was a civics lesson a class of South Jordan Elementary fifth-grade students won’t likely forget.

Sitting in the actual House of Representatives chairs, these young leaders presented and debated bills which they had created in small groups in their classroom prior to the visit.

The bills, ranging from eliminating pizza from school lunches to social media restrictions for minors were presented by a student in each group, speaking into the microphone at a representative’s desk. After being addressed by a mock Speaker of the House, each student who wanted to could speak in favor or against the issue. When it became necessary, the students even learned how to amend the bill, as was the case with extending school hours. Then, they selected

a button on the voting pads to cast their decision which was publicly displayed in the chamber.

Their teacher, Diane Witt-Roper, said this was “perfect timing” because they already were studying the history of government and why and how government works. It was the first time her class has participated in a mock session there in addition to a docent tour.

“It is fun to teach this age when they are starting to understand the aspects of life that you don’t always get your way and how you can compromise and what does compromise mean,” she said. “It’s not just go up to the capitol and walk around; it’s really kind of get to know more about the government aspect of it, which is what I’m teaching right now with fifth-grade curriculum.”

Fifth-grader Avery Gee, who spoke about how cyberbullying can result in “kids not feeling good inside,” said that she learned more about the procedures in introducing and amending bills.

“We had to consider if we wanted to support a bill or not and even if we want restrictions with those bills we introduced,” she said. “It was a fun experience to be able to speak out and share our opinions. It’s something I’ll remember.”

Her classmate, Evan Esplin, debated

Evan Esplin, a South Jordan Elementary fifth-grade student, addresses a bill in the actual House of Representatives during a mock legislative session on the hill. (Julie Slama/City Journals)

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several issues, including wanting to amend earthquake preparedness day to be four times per year instead of just once.

“It’s fun we got to see how it really works,” he said, adding that he believes that a bill should be introduced in the “real” House of Representatives about regulating the cost of college, making it free or less expensive.

“We need college to get a really good job, but not everyone can afford to go. If we make it cost just enough to pay professors and stuff that we need to pay, then, it would be more affordable to everyone and help to educate our society.”

Being able to think and speak their opinions and apply it to aspects of their lives, and valuing that opportunity, are some of the reasons state Rep. Susan Pulsipher personally invited the class to the capitol.

“I was impressed with their level of thinking and to see how they were able to quickly pick up on the process and debate issues and apply it,” she said. “They learned to follow the rules, which create opportunities for deep, thoughtful discussion in a respectful way and they were more effective because of those procedures. The best part was watching them think and gain this knowledge. I hope they now understand how our government

works, which is so important, and I hope they have that appreciation for it.”

Jordan Board of Education President Tracy Miller also was on hand to witness the students’ mock session.

“It’s awesome,” she said. “The kids understood the process. None of this was scripted; they came up with their own bills and arguments. They got to sit here in the real House of Representative seats and have these discussions and see the process, how it really works.”

Miller said that it was “a good mix of fun and serious legislation” that were presented with “robust” conversations.

“These kids are smart and have a lot more knowledge than people often expect,” she added.

Fifth-grader Gibson Wursten said it was an “amazing” first visit to the capitol.

“It’s cool to not only see this building, but to remember we presented bills at the Utah State capitol,” Gibson said. “We made decisions and can do that again in our future.” l

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Bingham senior captain Kaitlyn Oniki helped her school on, off the tennis court in 2021

By Brian Shaw | b.shaw@mycityjournals.com

F

or Bingham senior Kaitlyn Oniki, her dream of winning a state tennis title with doubles partner senior Jacey Robins fell just a bit short this year. On the flip side, Oniki did exactly what she set out to do in August, and that was to help her team win a region title.

“She played her best tennis of the year with her partner Jacey Robins in the year end tournaments,” said Bingham head coach Mark Smith. “They were the No. 3 seed going in to the region tournament having lost once to Riverton and twice to Mountain Ridge finishing 7-3 in region play and 10-3 overall.

They quickly disposed of both of those teams in the region tournament to take the region championship in first doubles.”

Oniki and her doubles partner won their first match at the 6A state tournament in convincing fashion over a team from Hunter, 6-2, 6-0.

In the second round, however, a formidable team from Lone Peak gave Oniki and Robins all they could handle at Liberty Park, and the Miner duo lost their first set, 7-5. In the second set of this win-or-go-home match, the partnership dropped that set as well, losing 7-5, 6-3.

Having qualified as the No. 1 first doubles team out of Region 3, it just wasn’t to be for the captain Oniki or the Miners who also placed Avery Pack and Olivia Dabo—their first and second singles players—as 1-seeds going into the state tournament. Neither Peck nor Dabo nor Allyson Tanner were able to make it out of the second round, unfortunately, in singles play.

But in life, as in tennis, it’s those sacrifices you make that ultimately determine your outcome, as pastor Marty Duren once said about being a doubles tennis player.

“Each member brings strengths to the game. These strengths should be understood in the context of what it takes to win,” said Duren. “When marriage partners act as if the partnership is simply two individuals sharing the same last name, neither will realize the ultimate joy of partnership.”

Oniki never thought once about herself, said Bingham head coach Mark Smith.

Which is probably the reason she won the respect and admiration of her teammates and held close relationships with all of them, all while staying competitive on the tennis court and leading Bingham to that elusive region title.

But being a leader on the tennis court is far from the only thing Oniki has done to help her fellow students. The friendships she made with people whose lives she touched outside the tennis court were just as monumental.

many at the school might consider to be an even more important job.

On a typical school day at lunchtime, Oniki will walk through Bingham’s halls first, then she will saunter into the lunchroom. Her mission: looking for kids who are eating alone that she can befriend.

“It’s just a really simple way, but a really impactful way, to show and spread kindness all throughout our school because everybody just needs somebody to be a friend to them, even if you don’t know them,” said Oniki in a TV interview on KUTV “Talkin Sports.”

Oniki and others in the student body are upholding a Bingham tradition that has stood since the mid-2010s, when a hall monitor by the name of “Momma Jo” Jolynne Ward noticed that some students were hiding in various parts of the school from plain view.

Thus began the Golden Gate Club, a group of students that Ward founded that provides social support to new and disenfranchised classmates, of which the senior Oniki is now a member. Its motto is to “be the person who smiles and the reason others smile!

We will make others day every day.”

The club continues to build on the vision that Ward had of a unified student body when she presented the idea to school administrators five years ago. Club members like Oniki will sit down with these kids and after getting to know them for a few minutes, invite them to connect with other kids at designated tables in the lunchroom.

Academics

From the lunchroom, where Oniki often shuffles between tables talking to kids from all walks of life, it’s just a short walk down the hallway to her classroom, where in her final year she strives to get one blemish off her academic record.

“Academics are also important to Kaitlyn as she carries a 3.997 cumulative grade point [going into] her [fourth] year of high school,” Smith said.

Oniki is so driven in her pursuit of absolute and total excellence, said her head coach, that she is “a bit frustrated by the one A-minus she received last year,” one that snuffed out her quest for a perfect 4.0 grade point average.

What an amazing accomplishment nevertheless, added Smith, who anticipates the National Honor Society recipient Oniki will also earn the Academic All-State award at the end of her 2021 season.

Athletics

In September, Oniki was the recipient of the America First Athlete of the Week award, for which she was honored at half-time of the Bingham-Weber football game.

Civics Oniki told Adam Mukulich on KUTV On top of being the varsity girls tennis “Talkin Sports” on Sunday, Aug. 15 that as captain for the Miners, Oniki has held what captain of the Bingham girls tennis team, her

S outh JordanJ ournal.com

Though Kaitlyn Oniki’s dream of a state title fell short, her success off the tennis court was significant.

(Photo courtesy Mark Smith)

athletic objective in her final year of high school was clear. “My goal is to help my team win region this year,” Oniki said.

Oniki accomplished that mission, capping a successful four years at Bingham.

Though she was never the most talented naturally, the drive and determination she showed was something that Smith will always remember most.

“She has worked so hard over the last three years and improved so much, pushing herself to be one of the top players on the team,” said Smith.

Takeaways

Sometimes in life, as in tennis, you don’t reach all the goals you set. Case in point: Oniki and Robins did not reach the state semifinals this year and achieve the ultimate goal that the team laid out before the season, a 6A state team championship.

As for the other goals the team set out to accomplish, all of those boxes were checked.

“Our team goal is always to have fun and work hard,” Smith said. “I just want the girls

to play to their potential, learn to work hard, feel the rewards of doing so and to enjoy the experience of being on a team together with their peers.”

And now that they will all head off to colleges following their high school graduation ceremony in May, Smith added that he is constantly amazed by how tight-knit they are, on and off the court, epitomizing the qualities that made them Region 3 champions for the first time in several years. Oniki will head off to Brigham Young University while her other teammates will go their separate ways.

“I will remember the competitiveness of these 10 graduating girls and how they cheered for each other’s success. They have so many talents,” said Smith. “They work hard and know the importance of their education. Kaitlyn was one of eight seniors that were awarded Academic All-Region and AllState honors. I will remember all that but I will mostly remember how fun they were to be around and just what good people they all are.” l

January 2022 | Page 15

Strong core of players returning to Bingham girls basketball team

By Josh McFadden | j.mcfadden@mycityjournals.com

L

ast season, the Bingham girls basketball The Miners were 18-5 overall and 8-2 in team reached the state semifinals. A lot Region 3 a year ago. That was good enough of key members of that squad are back for for a second-place league finish. A region ti2021–22, so optimism is high around the tle this season is within the team’s sights. program.

“Expectations are to improve each day

Bingham’s Chole Daniels looks to get the ball to a teammate during a game against Fremont on Dec. 3.

(Photo courtesy of Bingham athletics.)

and continue to be a team-first program,” head coach Skyler Beard said. “I know we have the talent and skill to make another run in the region and state.”

The Miners will face stiff competition in a challenging region. Last season, Herriman was a perfect 10-0 in Region 3, and Riverton was third behind the Miners. To achieve the team’s goals of winning the league and advancing in state, Beard said everyone on the squad has to play together.

“Coaches, captains and the team all have to buy in and be on the same page,” he said.

“The great thing about these girls is they enjoy playing together and work hard for each other.”

Beard expects big things from key returning players Sierra Lichtie and Chloe Daniels, both seniors, along with sophomore Brianna Badonie. Newcomers Ruby McLeish, Aya Cox, Jocelyn Ordyna, Ane Henderson and Halle Bayles should contribute to the team’s success this season.

Lichtie averaged a team-high 14.4 points and 8.2 rebounds a game a year ago as a junior, while Daniels scored 5.8 points an outing. Badonie played more of a support role last season but should make a bigger impact this year.

The Miners should be strong defensively again this year. Last season, the team surrendered just 40.7 points a game. Beard would like to see the girls get better on the offensive end after scoring 54 points a game in 2020–21.

Bingham got off to a 4-1 start this season, with the only loss coming to its nemesis Fremont—the same team that beat the Miners in the state semifinals a year ago. This time around, Bingham fell 54-40 on Dec. 2. Bingham beat Orem 59-34 on Nov. 23, Brighton 59-31 on Nov. 30, Skyridge 49-33 on Dec. 7 and Layton 57-32 on Dec. 9.

Through four games, Lichtie was averaging just over 14 points a game, and Badonie was scoring 10.3 points a contest. Ruby McIeish is scoring 9.8 points a game.

Beard wants to see his team playing well throughout the season. However, for the season to be a success, he knows that the Miners need to be at their best when it matters the most.

“We need to be improving each day and peaking at the right time to make a run in the state tournament,” he said. l

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January 2022 | Page 17

Find joy in winter by embracing outdoor activities

I

n just a few weeks, Punxsutawney Phil, the famous groundhog in Gobbler’s Knob, Pennsylvania, will emerge to predict when winter will end. For many people who hate the cold days, grey skies, and treacherous icy roads, they hope Phil does not see his shadow and predicts an early spring.

When Herriman residents were polled about how they feel about winter, 25% replied that they absolutely hate winter and are already counting down the days until spring.

The cold and darkness are some of the factors why winter months trigger the onset of seasonal affective disorder or SAD, a type of depression that is related to a change in seasons.

Herriman’s Celeste Barrow Bruening said, “About mid-October I start to notice a drastic change in my attitude and outlook on life. I get an overwhelming feeling of dread just thinking about the cold. I hate everything about it. Not necessarily the snow, just the cold. The short dark days are a struggle and the grey, cloudy atmosphere is depressing.”

According to Mental Health America, Bruening is not alone as SAD affects over 10 million Americans a year. If you experience symptoms of seasonal affective disorder, please consult a mental health provider.

With the milder Utah winters in recent years, even winter haters admit that the snow is necessary for summer water levels. Herriman’s Katie Jo Stratton said, “I don’t love the snow like I did when I skied. But I want it to snow like it did in the ‘90s so we can have all the water we need in the lakes to play!”

Although most Utahns recognize snow is necessary for our desert state, the darkness, the cold, and the dangerous driving conditions incite a teeth-chattering, snow-shoveling, white-knuckle-driving tolerance of the season.

However, many Utahns absolutely love winter and all of the beauty and outdoor recreation it brings. The Brown family from South Jordan look forward to winter every year as they are avid skiers. Amanda Brown even works at Park City Mountain Resort every season for the sole purpose of providing ski lessons for her four children who range in age from six to 12. Brown said, “Winter can be long and dreary if you allow it to be. We wanted to instill a love of the season in our children at an early age by enrolling them in ski lessons since they were very young. Now we look forward to it every year as we can get outside as a family and enjoy something active together.”

Kaysville’s Margot Marrs Pauni said, “I absolutely hated winter and counted the days until it was over, and then I learned to ski. It made a huge difference in my attitude and mental well-being. Now I look forward to winter.” Pauni has been skiing for over 3

Page 18 | January 2022

By Karmel Harper | k.harper@mycityjournals.com years.

If gliding downhill at 20+ mph while dodging other people and trees is not your thing, there are a multitude of other winter activities to try to experience Utah’s famous “Greatest Snow on Earth.”. Exploring our spectacular mountains is extremely popular during the spring, summer and fall, but winter hiking is in a class of its own. A trail that you have hiked many times during other seasons will look completely different when it is covered with snow and provides a new experience. Creeks will have frozen sections with icicles adorning rocky edges. Waterfalls will be partially or completely frozen, giving you a breathtaking and magical view. Trails such as Ogden’s Waterfall Canyon and Layton’s Adam’s Canyon offer awesome winter adventures with picture perfect vistas that Jack Frost will be proud of.

Herriman’s Rachel Dekker Moody said, “There is something magical about going for a ‘snow globe’ run early in the morning and hearing the crunch of snow under your feet and knowing you are the first footprints out for the day!”

Though cycling is typically a warm weather sport, winter riding has become popular since fat bikes emerged on the market. While standard mountain bikes have tire widths anywhere between 1.6” and 2.6”, a fat bike’s tires are 3.7” to 5”, allowing the rider to cruise through on snow-packed trails with greater traction and better handling.

Various local bike dealers rent fat bikes so you can give it a try. Visit www.cyclingutah. com for suggestions on the best fat biking trails.

Sledding or inner tubing is another popular winter activity, and you don’t even have to go up into the mountains to enjoy it. Even a local park or neighborhood with a good slope can serve as a decent sledding hill. Sugar House Park in Salt Lake City and Eaglewood Golf Course in North Salt Lake have awesome hills that are free to sled and tube on. Or visit a designated sledding park such as Soldier Hollow Nordic Center in Midway or Woodward in Park City.

Avid fishermen don’t need to pack up their poles for the season as ice fishing is popular in Utah. Frozen lakes such as Strawberry Reservoir and even local ponds such as Farmington Pond and Bountiful Pond attract anglers of all ages once the ice is thick enough. The website Best Fishing in America said, “The season typically starts in mid to late December in Utah, depending on the weather. There are years when the hard water doesn’t set in until mid-January, while other years, it can happen in late November.

A good rule of thumb is that 4 inches is thick enough for an average person, 5-6 inches is suitable for a snowmobile or 4-wheeler, and 8-12 inches will support a truck.”

Ice anglers use an ice auger with a 6-8”

Adam’s Canyon in the winter can be magical. (Karmel Harper/City Journals)

bit to drill a hole in the ice large enough to pull caught fish through. In addition to the appropriate fishing equipment, other gear such as ice tents and tent heaters can be used for additional warmth and comfort. The Watkins family from Davis County look forward to ice fishing every winter. Kaysville’s Shaylee Watkins said, “I love ice fishing because it’s fun to sit and snack out in a heated tent on the ice and get nice and comfy and kick your boots off.” North Salt Lake’s Challis Watkins said, “Ice fishing is like fishing but way better.”

It is important to be prepared before venturing outside during the winter months.

Tolerating the cold is much easier with proper clothing and gear. Dressing in layers is a good practice because you will warm up as

your activity level increases and you will be much more comfortable removing or adding layers as needed.

REI’s website suggests three basic layers: “1) Base layer (underwear layer): wicks sweat off your skin, 2) Middle layer (insulating layer): retains body heat to protect you from the cold, and 3) Outer layer (shell layer): shields you from wind and rain. Even if you don’t wear all three layers at the outset, it’s a good idea to take all layers on every outing. You can peel off layers if things heat up, but you can’t put on layers that you didn’t bring along.”

Other important gear includes warm head and ear coverings such as beanies and ear muffs, scarves, and waterproof gloves.

Proper shoes such as waterproof boots that

S outh Jordan City Journal

provide warmth and traction are a necessity.

For additional traction, particularly on steep icy terrain, use crampons or microspikes, a mechanism that typically consists of spikes and chains that fit over your shoes and can be easily slipped off and on the trails as needed.

Driving during the winter is a big reason why many people hate the season so preparing your vehicle for the cooler months is important. Tips for winterizing your vehicle include testing your battery and tire pressure as battery power and tire pressure drop when the air temperature drops, changing to winter tires, checking wiper blades and replacing if needed, and always keeping at least a half tank of gas. Tips for winter driving include

driving slower, increasing your following distance, and accelerating and decelerating slowly. But if it is snowing heavily, the best practice is to stay home if you can and avoid unnecessary risks.

Someone once said, “If you choose not to find joy in snow, you will have less joy in your life but the same amount of snow.”

With proper gear, clothing, and other preparations to keep you warm along with an adventurous spirit to try something new, perhaps the multitude of winter activities Utah offers can coax your inner Elsa out as you declare, “The cold never bothered me anyway.” l

South Jordan’s Amanda Brown revels in the snow with her son, 8-year-old Eli. (Photo courtesy of Amanda Brown.)

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January 2022 | Page 21

Autism: In the schools and workplace; local opportunities promise bright future

T

emple Grandin, perhaps the most famous person with autism, visited Utah in August and was impressed with the opportunities she saw for children and adults with autism.

“I’ve seen more good stuff yesterday and today than I’ve seen in a long time— you’re doing some stuff that’s really special,” she said after visiting the Utah STEM Action Center and seeing the creative design and building tools available to Utah students in the STEM Lab. Grandin believes hands-on learning is ideal for encouraging innovation—especially for kids with autism.

“I watched an autistic kid just blossom in there,” she said. “[He was] about 12 years old, acting really autistic. He started doing a 3D printer, he turned into a different kid.”

Grandin worries that many children get stuck in the “autism box” and that many capable autistic young people are wasting away their time, playing video games in their parents’ basement, when they should be in the workforce innovating, designing and building.

She said many visual thinkers could be successful engineers but they struggle to complete traditional engineering programs because of the math requirements.

“I get worried that my kind of visual thinker is getting strained out because we can’t do algebra,” she said. “But it’s my kind of visual thinker that will build the next Amazon warehouse.”

Grandin has written 13 books explaining the different ways autistic, or neurodiverse, minds process information. As an object visualizing thinker, Grandin transformed the meat processing industry with her revolutionary engineering designs. But she had to go through untraditional channels because of her autism.

Grandin will explore the different ways people think to come up with innovative ideas in a podcast, “How Do You Think of That with Temple Grandin,” which will launch early this year in partnership with the Utah STEM Action Center and Sheri Quinn Productions.

“Temple is interviewing a variety of people working on research projects and innovations, talking to them about their lives, the way they think, and the way that they incorporate STEM into their lives on a daily basis,” said Julienne Bailey, a program coordinator at the Utah STEM Action Center.

By Jet Burnham | j.burnham@mycityjournals.com

Auticon provides an autism-friendly work environment. (Photo courtesy of David Reeve.)

The podcast will also delve into the role of education and what teachers and counselors can do to drive innovation.

Grandin has strong opinions about the education of children with autism. In addition to hands-on classes such as shop classes, she said children with autism need life skills training.

“The big thing we’ve got to be doing with kids in the pipeline is learning life skills, learning work skills—not enough emphasis on that,” Grandin said.

Life skills training is what has made a difference for Amy Baker’s two sons with autism.

The boys struggled in mainstream classes with neurotypical peers because of their delays in social and verbal skill development, which are typical with autism.

The boys attended specialized schools, the Carmen B. Pingree Autism Center of Learning and Spectrum Academy Charter School. Spectrum Academy’s teachers use research-based

Autism takes front stage The workings of an autistic mind is front stage in Riverton High School’s upcoming production of “The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime.”

The protagonist of the Tony Award-winning play is a teenager with autism who is determined to solve a mystery.

“It’s from his perspective, so we are seeing life through his extraordinary brain and how he’s able to maneuver things and do things that seem impossible for him,” RHS theater teacher Erin McGuire said.

One of the cast members is autistic and McGuire is planning a sensory-friendly performance for autistic audience members. The play runs February 24-28. Visit rivertonhigh.jordandistrict.org for information and tickets.

Page 22 | January 2022

instruction methods and provide a variety of technological tools so that students are not held back by writing, reading, or verbal delays, Baker said. Their on-staff occupational, speech, behavior, and mental specialists worked with the teaching team to help Baker’s boys figure out what modifications they needed to succeed in the classroom.

In Spectrum Academy’s social skills classes, Baker’s sons learned and practiced how to respond in social situations, something that comes naturally to neurotypical students but not those whose brains are wired differently.

By the end of middle school, both of Baker’s sons were able to transfer to their neighborhood school in mainstream classes. They are now in their junior and senior years.

“They’re doing so well,” Baker said. “But they wouldn’t be where they are without being at Spectrum to learn those tools. Those life skills that they’ve learned at Spectrum have just changed every aspect of our lives. Socially, they are keeping right up with their peers, which is huge. They need social skills to be able to get along in the world.”

Jordan School District provides autism support classes at three elementary schools, four middle schools and one high school. The smaller class sizes and Individualized Education Plans help teams of teachers, paraprofessionals and therapists address each student’s academic needs, social skills development and behavior, said Angela Johnston, a special education teacher in one of Rose Creek Elementary’s three autism support classrooms.

In the autism support classrooms, students learn appropriate replacement behaviors to reduce disruptions to learning. Things that are small annoyances to neurotypical children can trigger a sensory overload tantrum in an autistic or neurodiverse child. When they become overwhelmed, they may respond with stimming behaviors (rocking, pacing, flapping, biting, yelling.) In the autism support classrooms, students learn to prevent and replace those behaviors.

“Our goal is for them to realize they’re starting to get overwhelmed and they come to us and ask us for a break, or say ‘I need to go for a walk’ or ‘I need to go get a drink of water’ or ‘Can I go to the sensory room?’ or ‘It’s loud in here, I need some headphones,’” Johnston said.

“Our goal is to get them to a place where they can use those strategies independently.”

Last year, Rose Creek Elementary created a Sensory Room, a former storage closet with low lighting, stocked with fidget toys, play-doh, pillows and a swing.

“It’s been a great place for kids to go just to get out of the classroom if they feel like they’re starting to escalate or they’re overwhelmed, if it’s too loud, or they’re feeling off that day and they need to just be somewhere quiet,” Johnston said.

Once students learn to prevent and replace behaviors, they are able to participate in mainstream classrooms, which is the goal of the program, said Johnston.

“We teach them appropriate replacement behaviors so they can be in a school setting and get to the point where we can have them main-

S outh Jordan City Journal

stream, or their parents can take them out into the community,” she said.

In her 20 year career, Johnston has seen an improved educational experience for autistic students due to research and innovations as well as more parents advocating for their children, and more schools providing specialized services. Utah’s private and charter schools for autistic students are in high demand; Spectrum Academy, which has grown from one campus to seven in the last 15 years, continues to have a long enrollment waiting list.

Job skills training is part of secondary school instruction for teenagers with autism.

Both Spectrum Academy and Jordan District schools begin transition planning in seventh grade. Throughout their middle and high school years, students explore career opportunities and learn job skills through school-based and community-partnership work experiences.

Special education students in grades 9-12 Students with autism at Spectrum Academy enjoy small class sizes and specially trained staff who use recan participate in part-time vocational instruc- search-based instruction methods. (Photo courtesy of Christina Guevara.) tion at JSD’s South Valley School in West Jordan, which also provides post high school life skills and job skills training for special educa- stigmatizing ‘box of autism’ because his mother They provide job coaches to help employers opted to keep him out of the special education understand how to support neurodiversity in the tion students ages 18-21.

Some students learn and practice job skills system. She did push his social skills devel- workplace so that they are inclusive and intewhile working in South Valley School’s green- opment and he was able to do well in school. grated. Many of the accommodations autistic house and woodworking, framing and engrav- But post high school, he struggled to find stable workers ask for are just good business practices, ing shops. Others fill jobs in the community. work that paid well. He was a skilled musician Aspinall said.

“Things we work with our partners on are SVS Principal Rita Bouillon said students with and computer programmer but found himself autism have abilities that fill a need in the job working temporary jobs in warehouses and call things like written instruction instead of verbal instruction, making sure that meetings have force and community employers are thrilled to centers.

There were always problems with the an agenda, that communication is concise,” he have such dedicated workers.

“These students have such great skills be- jobs—call centers were uncomfortably loud, said. “If you think about it, that is really not that cause they pay such attention to detail, they like and if there was a big crash in the warehouse, it much of an accommodation, that’s just good business practice.” doing repetitive work, and they like doing work affected his ability to work accurately.

“I’ve had lots of odd jobs because I hadn’t Grandin attended the ribbon-cutting for accurately,” Bouillon said. Many prefer jobs that are predictably the same every day such as quite found something that fit or I didn’t realize Auticon’s Salt Lake operations center when she gathering grocery carts, stocking shelves, mak- how to ask for accommodations to make some- was in Utah in August and praised the company thing that was a close fit a solid fit,” McKell for recognizing the skills and capabilities of eming pizzas, and working on assembly lines. ployees with autism. The majority of Auticon’s Bouillon said these first job experiences said.

Finally, in 2020, he found Auticon, which employees are autistic but Aspinall is quick to help young adults with autism learn basic job skills—how to be on time, follow directions, employs adults on the autism spectrum as tech- dismiss it as anything but good business stratdress appropriately, use public transportation nology consultants. egy.

Auticon has tapped into the autistic pool of and budget—that will translate to any future “This notion that this is altruistic is not accareer. In class, students role play how to ask employees to utilize their skill sets that are ideal curate,” he said. “It’s performance-based. This for a raise, request a day off, and arrange an ac- in the software development and data science isn’t altruism. Our team is bringing them a percommodation. They learn to advocate for them- industries. Aspinall said one autistic cognitive formance advantage. They are using what has selves and to educate others about autism so that strength is brutal honesty, which is an asset in been considered a barrier as a strength.” it is not a barrier. data science. He said an autistic worker is dediMcKell was hired by Auticon as a consulAutism is misunderstood by many and of- cated to the data and provides unbiased results, tant for Fidelity Investments and said the workten causes a frustrating cycle of unemployment while other people may have an interpretation place environment is the best he’s ever had beand underemployment. bias based on what they want the data to show. cause his employer understands what he needs “The autism community suffers from an Aspinall said people with autism who to do his job; it is normalized for him to wear 85% underemployment rate,” said David Aspi- have the hard skills for a job often don’t make noise-cancelling headphones or to take a break. nall, CEO of U.S. operations of Auticon, an in- it through the social skills portion of a job in“It’s unlike anything I’ve ever had beternational IT service provider. “Underemploy- terview. fore—in a positive way,” he said. “Just the mere ment is the notion that somebody who could be “The traditional interview process is one understanding that if I get overstimulated and an expert technologist is working in a role that of the reasons our community is 85% under- I need to take a break and walk away, they’re doesn’t make them the compensation that they employed,” Aspinall said. “There’s human bias, not only OK with that but they encourage that. deserve for their skills. The other version of un- where you’re in an interview and you get that If I’m too uncomfortable or bothered by somederemployment is an individual, an incredibly social spark with someone. That has zero bear- thing, I disengage and find my zen, so to speak, skilled technologist, that has gone from orga- ing on that individual’s ability to do the job, and then come back and I’m much more effinization to organization, never growing roots, especially in data science and software engi- cient than when I was overstimulated and trying never feeling fulfilled, because they’re not an neering.” to push through.” l autism-friendly environment.”

Auticon uses an autism-friendly recruitThat was the experience of Scott McKell, ment process—gamification to understand the a 30-something computer programmer from applicant’s technical skills, and a series of chats Hyrum, Utah. He said he felt he escaped the with job coaches to understand their soft skills.

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Local schools review social media policies, fundraising activities for inclusivity

By Julie Slama | j.slama@mycityjournals.com

T

his winter, many schools have been participating in fundraising opportunities to give back to their schools and their community.

Summit Academy High School in Bluffdale has held its Bears Give Back, an annual fundraiser, since the school opened in 2010. Throughout the year students perform several service projects such as giving winter wear to those in need, providing snacks to health care workers and supporting Be the Match, encouraging people to register to donate bone marrow or blood stem cells.

They also select a non-profit organization to support every winter. This year, the student body of 525 students were supporting the Leukemia Research Foundation, selected in part because a former athletic director is going through cancer treatments, said Principal Angela Grimmer.

She said that $8,000 had already been raised by Dec. 2, a month after the fundraising began. They planned to wrap it up before winter break and give the funds to the foundation in January.

This year, there have been questions that have arisen in regards to social media, starting with a post that was up for a couple hours before a teacher notified the principal and it was immediately taken down, said Summit Academy Executive Director Michael Clark.

Posted on the school’s Instagram account was a cartoon depiction of a Black male behind bars, indicating students could pay $5 to put a classmate in “jail” and $7 to get the classmate out. “Jail” was a portion of the school cafeteria that was behind streamers portraying bars; participation was optional, Clark said. The money raised was put toward the fundraiser.

“Everyone at Summit Academy High School is welcome and we want everyone to feel welcome; It’s really unfortunate and really sad that it happened. We love all of our students and all of our community, and we would never want to alienate or make anyone feel bad. We truly believe in educating all students, no matter what your background is, no matter who you are,” Clark said.

The marketing campaign process has been reviewed and revised, Clark said.

It began with an opportunity to have a digital marketing and media student apply his learning to a real-life fundraising event.

Clark said the student quickly searched “cartoon jail image,” and used one of the first images that popped up to complete the assignment for the post about the school lunch fundraiser. A teacher — “he didn’t consider the implications of it” — signed off on it before being posted, Clark said.

That lesson also became more “real life” with social implications.

“The teacher took that opportunity to really drill that into the class and help them

S outh JordanJ ournal.com

to understand that when we create an advertisement, we need to look at it with a critical eye from all different perspectives and lenses to make sure we’re not hurting or alienating anyone,” he said.

Clark said there have been discussions with students, some who were unaware of the controversy since the post was put up and taken down during a school day.

“We just tried to help them to understand sometimes things like this happen and people are hurt, and we need to apologize and fix it, so it doesn’t happen again. It was a good learning experience for them,” he said.

Grimmer said that in the future, students will have that same experience that not only allows them to create social media posts, but also the fliers and videos for the school’s weekly announcements.

“We’re going to allow our students to keep doing that and create that,” she said.

“The approval to actually be posted will come through me.”

The same rules regarding only principals posting on social media apply to all the Summit Academy campuses, Clark said.

In addition to the “jail,” students had other ways to contribute to the leukemia foundation, such as purchasing a muffin on Mondays, admission to a school dance, or students performing odd jobs in the community for donations to their fundraiser Although the student-driven idea was adapted from neighboring high schools and has been “pretty successful as they’ve been able to donate lots of money to different foundations and charities across Utah and across the country,” the “jail” idea won’t continue in the future, Clark said.

“We just discontinued it; sometimes these things, the political environment changes in the country, and so then these kinds of ideas kind of fade out,” he said.

“We’re going to let the students come together and try to think of something else that’s creative and different.”

Administrators say they’re looking to expand their online teacher training.

“I’ve also reached out to Utah Black Roundtable to see if they would come on campus with us and help us with some of these discussions,” Grimmer said. “Hopefully, we’ll be able to make some connections there and understand moving forward, how best we can be educational and be sensitive.”

Grimmer also said that she has had discussions with students about concerns and they’re wanting to organize a group to meet on the subject going forward.

“The one thing that is so fantastic about our students, and I think this comes from being a smaller school too, is they feel like they have the ability to really self-advocate and when they do things, they do not hesitate to come in and chat and start a group.

We run so many diverse clubs to involve all

of our students, so it’s always great to see student response,” she said. “This is really a good opportunity for us to learn and to reengage some efforts in new areas.”

Grimmer said that as more people and schools have learned about the post, there hasn’t been any negative response or schools wanting to disassociate with them.

Two area schools, Hillcrest High in Midvale and American Preparatory Academy in Draper, who both plan to proceed with their basketball games against Summit Academy, are also reviewing their fundraising methods and social media policies.

Hillcrest Principal Greg Leavitt said that while there are several ways students contribute to their fundraising of choice — this year the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network — one of the popular ways is to bid on a date with a student body officer.

“Our biggest one is pay for a date and actually, we shut that down this year,” he said. “There’s just too many students who are not comfortable with that old-fashioned type of idea and we have a lot of minority students…and people who aren’t into that, so I told them they needed to think of another way. They could pay to go on a group activity with Hillcrest High School SBOs– and they’ve always done the date thing as a group anyway, but it’s just the way they say

it makes it awkward for some students.”

It also takes away a popularity element, he said.

“It’s always surrounded with this kid will pay this much money for this student and they’ll only pay $10 for me. It just makes people feel awkward,” he said.

Leavitt said that the most active school social media account is the student body account, where student leaders will discuss with their adviser about what their message will say and look like before posting it. Early in the school year, they also had discussions ensuring that the posts are sensitive to the student body.

At American Preparatory Academy in Draper, communications director Dan Bazan said controls over their social media accounts are limited to himself and a select few others at each of the campuses.

He was aware of the Summit Academy post.

“A lot of times when we see things like this happen in the culture, our goal is to help our students understand what’s going on, and using what we’ve already taught them,” he said. “Our goal is for them to already know that all students, all humans, have value. Everyone has value and so we have to respect it.

The whole purpose of a classical education – is the flourishing of human rights and it’s to understand the differences.” l

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January 2022 | Page 27

Utah organization celebrates 10 years of empowering local women

By Hannah LaFond | h.lafond@mycityjournals.com

G

uests gathered at Venue 6SIX9 in downtown Salt Lake City in November for a black-tie gala to honor nine outstanding women. Those celebrated women were the 2021 graduates from WoWUtah.

“WoW” stands for “Women of Worth,” and the Utah-based nonprofit works to help women who have overcome difficult circumstances such as addiction, abuse or disease. The women selected for the program go through a year of workshops and training to help them gain self-worth and give them the tools they need for a fresh start. Each of the women is paired with a mentor, a volunteer who is there to help through the entire journey.

Along with teaching them valuable life skills, each participant is given a makeover. According to WoWUtah’s Facebook page, they are gifted a collection of business attire and casual clothing selected by a team of stylists. “So she can feel confident and beautiful in her personal and professional life.” They also give each graduate formal wear and shoes for the gala event.

While the program usually spans a year, the graduates at Friday’s event had been with WoWUtah for two years. Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, workshops and

classes that usually would have taken place in person switched to online. As a result, WoWUtah decided to keep the same participants for another year so they could better experience WoWUtah gala venue. the program.

Gala at- (Courtesy of WoWUtah) tendees enjoyed watching videos made by the 2021 graduates to highlight their achievements. Following their video, each graduate walked across the stage, just like in a classic school graduation. Then they were invited to say a few words about their experience, all of them finishing with the proclamation of “I am a woman of worth.”

Barbara Moeller, who graduated from the program in 2012, now sits on WoW’s Chair of Mentees. Speaking about her experience, she said, “WoW helped me to find out how amazing it is to be myself.

I had gotten lost under the pressures and circumstances in life. The program gave

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Members of WoWUtah’s board with founder Judee Guay and husband, Lewie Guay, at the center. (Courtesy of WoWUtah)

me the tools to defend myself against challenges that eroded my self-worth. The magic is being paired with a mentor for a journey of self-discovery. I not only found my worth again but learned to be responsible and accountable for how I comport myself.”

Along with honoring the 2021 graduates, the gala also celebrated the 10 years WoWUtah has been in operation. Judee Guay, who founded WoW and now works alongside COO Marie Jess to keep it running, spoke about the organization’s beginnings.

She started WoW after she got a second chance at life. Guay recalled her years spent in an abusive marriage and how hopeless she’d felt. Hopelessness, only made worse by autoimmune diseases she was suffering from at the time. But, slowly, she was able to put the pieces back together. She left the abusive marriage, lost 100 pounds, and started to heal.

Going through such a life-changing experience made Guay want to help other women overcome their struggles. So, she started WoWUtah in 2011. Though she had a vision, Guay said their first gala was nothing like the event that evening.

“If anybody had told me that 10 years later this would be here, I wouldn’t have believed them,” she said, looking out at the crowd.

The guests were also invited to participate in a silent auction to raise money for WoW’s continuation. The auction included prizes such as theater tickets, gift baskets, romantic getaways and several cakes. The evening presenter and a member of WoW’s advisory board, Ty Bennett,

joked that he’d won several cakes that his children had bid on for him.

Speaking of how WoWUtah has operated and will continue to operate on donations, Guay said, “[WoW] has been supported by volunteers, including the directors, executive board and advisory board. No one has received remuneration, and it will stay that way with all donations going toward the women being served now and in the future.”

After presenting the graduates, Guay and Jess took turns presenting awards to those who’d helped WoWUtah throughout its 10 years. One of the award recipients included Chad Hymas, a highly respected international speaker who is also on WoW’s advisory board. Hymas was given the Inspiration Award.

Sheri Thompson, who’d come all the way from Arizona for the event, was given the Soul Sister Award. Guay told The City Journals, “Sheri's incredible connection with her WoW sisters and the mentees is why she is so deserving of this award.”

They also surprised Bennett, the presenter, with the Legacy Award, for being with WoW from the beginning.

Guay finished by surprising her COO Jess, and her husband, Lewie Guay, with the Founder’s Awards.

After the awards, they finished the evening by inviting the women of WoW to perform a special musical number. They stood on the stage to sing “Breaking Free; Becoming My Best Me,” WoW’s official theme song, written by Nina Angela Lee, the president of Wow’s Executive Board.

WoWUtah will be helping another group of women in 2022. l

S outh Jordan City Journal

Measuring the impact of ranked choice voting

T

his election cycle, multiple cities in the Salt Lake valley opted to take advantage of a pilot program for ranked choice voting, made possible by the state legislature. As opposed to a traditional election, where voters must select one candidate, RCV allows voters to rank any number of candidates according to their preference.

Proponents of the method point to the benefits of making the switch, from encouraging more candidates to run and increasing voter turnout, to making elections more fair and less antagonistic. While some of these benefits aren’t easily measured, some of them can be. So, how did this round of RCV experimentation turn out?

To get a sense of how much RCV impacted local elections this year, The City Journals took a look at the numbers for a few key metrics. First reporters compared the number of candidates and voter turnout to the same races held in 2017. Then reporters asked the question: did RCV actually change any of the election results?

Number of Candidates There were eight cities which took part in the RCV pilot: Salt Lake City, South Salt Lake, Millcreek, Cottonwood Heights, Sandy, Draper, Midvale and Bluffdale. Riverton would have but only had one candidate for each election. Within those cities, there were 17 races that utilized RCV. (A couple races would have used RCV, but it ended up not being necessary because there were only two candidates.)

There were 73 combined candidates who ran in those 17 races, an increase from 63 candidates who ran for those same positions in the primary stage in 2017. However, that increase is almost completely accounted for by one city, Sandy, which saw an increase of three to eight candidates in its mayoral race and from two to six candidates in its race for an at-large seat on the city council.

Cottonwood Heights was another city that saw an increase in candidates, with five candidates competing in both its mayoral race and one of its city council races (compared to three in each race from 2017).

Salt Lake City saw the biggest decrease in its number of candidates, with two fewer candidates vying for its second district seat and three fewer candidates vying for its seventh district.

Voter Turnout How about voter turnout? Does giving people the chance to rank multiple candidates encourage more people to participate? Not according to this year’s races.

Of the 17 races we looked at, there was a total voter turnout of 115,851. That’s up just a little bit from 2017’s turnout of 115,008.

Recognizing that there are a number of possible variables that can impact turnout for a given race, here are a few of the outliers in this category. Remember, this is comparing

S outh JordanJ ournal.com

By Justin Adams | justin.a@thecityjournals.com 2017 to 2021.

A Bluffdale race for two seats on its council increased from 1,418 ballots counted to 3,344.

Salt Lake City’s first district race saw an increase from 1,621 to 3,381.

Despite having seven candidates vying for two at-large seats, Draper’s voter turnout dropped 20%, from 10,853 to 8,610.

Even in Sandy City, which had a hotly contested and crowded mayoral race, turnout decreased from 23,007 to 21,246.

Did it impact results?

Under RCV, the ballot counting process takes place over several rounds. After the first round, the candidate with the fewest votes is eliminated, and their ballots then revert to those voters’ second choices. This creates the possibility that whichever candidate receives the most first-place ballots, won’t actually win the election. You might have a candidate who receives the third-most votes in the first round end up winning the election because they built a broad base of support and was able to win the majority of the second place votes. So, did that happen in any of these elections?

For the most part, no. In almost all the races, the candidate who received the most first-place votes went on to win the election.

The one exception being Millcreek’s District 2 race, in which Jeremiah Clark held a narrow lead after the first round of votes, but ended up losing to Thom Desirant by nine percentage points.

So what?

Based on this initial look at some of these metrics, it might seem like RCV made a huge impact on this year’s elections. But Stan Lockhart, a spokesman for Utah Ranked Choice Voting, said that it’s too early to draw long-term conclusions about the effectiveness of RCV. “Twenty-three cities in Utah used ranked choice voting this year, and it was the first time for 21 of those 23 cities. We need to be careful in extrapolating too much,” he said.

In regards to measurables like number of candidates and voter turnout, Lockhart said those have always been driven more by local issues. If there’s something controversial that’s taken place at the city level, like a tax increase or a land use decision, that’s more likely to drum up interest in an election than a change to RCV. A better measure of RCV’s success, according to Lockhart, is how voters felt about the process…a question that Utah RCV teamed up with Y2 Analytics to help answer.

“I think the most important metric that we should focus on is voter satisfaction. How did the voter feel about the experience of ranking their vote. And the survey vote shows as high as 90% of the voters thought it was easy to use,” Lockhart said.

Additionally, 62% of poll respondents

Election assistant Becky Overacker helps first-time voter Zyon Bruce in Draper where they held ranked choice voting for the first time. (Mimi Darley Dutton/City Journals)

said they liked voting with a ranked choice ballot.

Learning curve Lockhart acknowledged that there can be a little bit of a learning curve when it comes to RCV, both for candidates and voters.

For candidates, the implementation of RCV opens up another component of campaign strategy that they normally wouldn’t think about: coordinating with other candidates and forming coalitions. For example, a group of two or more like-minded candidates can encourage their voters to rank them in the top three spots. Lockhart said he didn’t see a whole lot of such coordination in the races which used RCV. One exception was for one of the council races in Salt Lake City, where two candidates jointly paid for a postcard advertisement, where one candidate was featured on one side, and the other candidate on the flipside.

There’s also a learning curve for voters, who might not realize the power they have by taking advantage of the ranked choice feature.

If a voter only ranks one or two candidates and those candidates get eliminated, that voters’ ballot becomes “inactive.”

In a close election, a large number of inactive ballots represents voters who could have potentially swung the election one way or another. That’s exactly what happened in Sandy, where the top two candidates for mayor were separated by just 21 votes. However, there were over 4,000 inactive ballots (voters who had chosen to not rank either of the two finalists). If voting is all about using one’s voice, Lockhart suggested that fully ranking every candidate on the ballot is voters’ best way to maximize that voice.

“If those voters had ranked more candidates, they would have been more relevant in that round,” he said about that Sandy mayoral race. l

January 2022 | Page 29

JORDAN SCHOOL DISTRICT - Public Notices

SPECIAL EDUCATION CHILD FIND Every child is entitled to a public education regardless of disability. Children with disabilities may go without services because families are not fully aware of their options.

If you know of a child, birth to age 22, who is not receiving any education services or feel that your child may be in need of special education services, please contact your local school or call the Special Education Department in Jordan School District at (801) 567-8176.

SPECIAL EDUCATION RECORDS DESTRUCTION On January 31, 2022, Jordan School District will destroy special education records of students born prior to September, 1994. Former special education students who are 27 years old may request their records from the school last attended; otherwise, the records will be destroyed.

CARSON SMITH SCHOLARSHIP Public school students with an Individualized Education Plan (IEP) may be eligible for a scholarship to attend a private school through the Carson Smith Scholarship program.

Further information is available at http://www.schools.utah.gov/sars/Scholarships.aspx

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Larkin Sunset Lawn 2350 East 1300 South Salt Lake City, UT 84108 (801) 582-1582

Larkin Sunset Gardens 1950 East Dimple Dell Road (10600 S.) • Sandy, UT 84092 (801) 571-2771

Larkin Mortuary Riverton 3688 West 12600 South Riverton, UT 84065 (801) 254-4850

LarkinMortuary.com Page 30 | January 2022

S outh Jordan City Journal

Home Makeover: COVID edition

Life

Laughter AND

by

PERI KINDER

SOUTH JORDAN YARD SERVICES

Affordable Yard Care / Tree Trimming & Removal Flower Beds, Hedges, Railroad Ties, Mulching, Sod, Mowing, Concrete Senior Discounts

Call Dan:

801-518-7365

CONCRETE

T3 Concrete LLC

Specializes in Driveways, Walkways, Patios, Foundations, Retaining Walls, Basement Entrances Stamp & Color Concrete Call Mate’ for a FREE Estimate

801-918-8843

HEATING & AIR&CONDITIONING Water Softener Air Purification

One morning I woke up and I’d had enough. The pandemic had forced us to look at our walls and carpet 24/7 and every day the chips in the paint got bigger and the stains on the carpet got wider. Was that blood or pudding? I couldn’t tell anymore.

It was time to take action.

My husband tends to overthink in a death-spiral sort of way, so our conversation went from “What kind of paint/flooring should we get?” to “What if we spend two weeks with our dog in a tent in a blizzard?” I let him ruminate for a while before moving to the next phase.

We talked about painting the rooms ourselves and laughed hysterically for a couple of hours. We are not the DIY kind of people.

We once assembled a bookshelf together so I knew we needed to hire a professional; either a professional painter or a professional divorce attorney.

We reached out to our friend, Rick Hepner, who was delighted to paint our home, plus he got to enjoy our 4-year-old granddaughter following him around asking him what he was doing, why he was doing it, how long he’d be doing it and if he wanted to play Barbies.

While preparing the walls, Rick discovered ecosystems behind our furniture where sentient beings lived in and breathed only dust.

He waded through chest-deep dust like we were living in the Oklahoma Dust Bowl era, or

METAL EXTERIORS

ASPEN ROOFING

Specializing in metal roofs, wall panels, and exterior window treatments.

Call for a FREE estimate today

801-882-2332

www.aspen-roofing.com

PATIO COVERS & HANDRAILS ENJOY THE OUTSIDE THIS SUMMER

• Steel Covered Carports, Patios & Porches • Steel Handrails • Quality Decks

Call John today for a FREE estimate.

801-205-5999

Quality and Integrity for over 25 Years

HEATING & AIR CONDITIONING

Apex Clean Air

Installations & Repairs Free In Home AIR/WATER QUALITY TEST

Call: 801-797-2956 www.ShopCulliganSLC.com

DRYWALL REPAIR & PAINT

40 Years Experience

Call today for a free in home estimate.

801-449-1939 SIDING

One-Piece System, Professional Installation

CALL AND RECEIVE A $200 VISA GIFT CARD WITH YOUR LEAFGUARD PURCHASE!

Free Estimate - 385-300-0869

Call Dan:

801.518.7365

FENCE REPAIR

Call Today for a Free Estimate!

Call or text Jack

801-509-9007 Electric

HARVEY’S ELECTRIC 801-833-0998

All types of electrical work.

Residential and Commercial.

Over 10 years in business Licensed and Insured.

Call and ask about Breaker Box Labeling!

ROOFING

Call NOW For SPECIALS (801) 253-2566

Flat work, Driveways, Patios, RV Pads, Sidwalks, Etc.

METAL ROOFING

$650 OFF any reroof over 2,000 sq. ft.

801-696-7735

CONCRETE WORK

Reasonable Prices, Quality Work, Prompt Service

Metal Man Roofing Jack’s Fence Repair LONGEVITY, DURABILITY Most Fences are Repairable!

SAFETY, ENERGY 20 years experience - licensed and insured EFFICIENCY, LIFE-TIME WARRANTY SENIOR DISCOUNTS

801-272-7000

Siding – Soffit – Fascia – Raingutters

S outh JordanJ ournal.com

LEAFGUARD RAIN GUTTERS

Guaranteed not to clog for as long as you own your home.

If it clogs, LeafGuard will come out and clean it for you.

Capitol Exteriors

Focus on Quality & Honesty!

Textures, Water Damage, Patches, Trim, Basements

Call Mike for Free Estimate

maybe the sequel to Dune.

Once the dust was hauled away and the walls were beautifully painted, we turned our attention to the floors. Our carpet crossed the prairie in the back of a handcart, survived nuclear testing in Southern Utah and was definitely sprouting tentacles. Time to toss it before it murdered us in our sleep.

Then came the discussion of wood versus carpet. My husband is old school and likes soft carpeting, probably so he doesn’t break a hip if he falls. I like the clean line of wood. We compromised with me getting wood flooring in my office, and carpet everywhere else; except the bathroom. We’re not animals.

When it came time to move furniture out of the house, I threw things away willy-nilly.

I took bags of clothes and shoes and children to Goodwill. My husband followed behind me, taking things out of donation bags and hiding them. He has sentimental attachments to items like water bottles and lanyards and the blouse I wore when we saw the Blue Man Group in 2008.

Finally, the walls were painted, flooring was complete, furniture was moved back and everything was right with the world. But our dog was hyperventilating.

Before renovation (BR), she’d nap under the guest bed, which is now in another home.

She wandered the halls, forlorn and lost, carrying her bone from room to room, trying to navigate her apocalyptic new world.

Not only that, but the wood floor distressed her and she refused to walk on it. She slept on the couch until midnight. Then I heard her toenails clicking as she walked across the floor and threw herself onto her bed, sighing loudly, so we’d know she’d been inconvenienced.

For a while, we played The Floor is Lava to keep the carpet looking bright and new. But walls get scratched and carpet gets stained because life is a messy, dirty, grimy experiment where sometimes you don’t know if the stain on the carpet is blood or pudding, and your dog needs therapy, and your husband unpacks the donation bags. And I wouldn’t have it any other way.

All types of roofs

801-865-6382 TREE SERVICES

INTERMOUNTAIN TREE EXPERTS

Removals . Trimming . Pruning Licensed and Insured / 15 Yrs Experience

801-244-3542 FREE ESTIMATES

WATER SOFTENER RELIABLE SOFT WATER without the typical water softener problems

• Zero maintenance • No breakdowns • 2/3 LESS salt

For free in-home estimate:

visit www.KineticoUtah.com or call 801-890-5344

DECKS & HANDRAILS

Utahs Best Decks Building Utah’s BEST Decks for over 25 years with quality & integrity.

BestDecksInUtah.com Call John today for a FREE estimate.

801-205-5999

VEHICLES WANTED

We’ll buy your running & non-running, wrecked or broken car, truck or van.

(801) 506-6098 CarSoldForCash.com A Local Utah Company

FLAT ROOF SPECIALISTS

OLYMPUS ROOFING

801.887.7663 SERVING WASATCH FRONT SINCE 1973

PLUMBING/HVAC

24Hr Rooter Connectionz Drain, Sewer, Plumbing, Heating & Air Services. $49 OFF Any Service!

Call Today

801-758-2095 UtahsPlumber.com

January 2022 | Page 31

NO SURGERY. NO DRUGS. NO GIMMICKS. THE PAIN STOPS HERE ROBOTIC GUIDED LASER AND SPINAL DECOMPRESSION SYSTEM WITH NEW PROTOCOL FOR AUTO ACCIDENT INJURIES 86-94% successful in the treatment of serious spinal conditions!

• WHIPLASH • BACK PAIN • SPINAL DEGENERATION • HERNIATED & BULGING DISCS • SCIATICA • PINCHED NERVE • NEUROPATHY • FAILED SURGERY • SPINAL STENOSIS • ARTHRITIS

• AUTO ACCIDENT INJURIES and more

Join the hundreds of patients that have experienced complete relief from the frustrating pain of severe back, neck, and joint problems without surgery, without drugs, and without having to live feeling miserable.

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

My wife cried, "I have my husband back.”

—Steve M., Army Special Forces

Complete Spinal Exam, Consultation (X-rays if needed) & 2 pain relieving Treatments for $27

(801) 302-0280 AUTO ACCIDENT INJURIES ARE 100% COVERED BY AUTO INSURANCE. CALL FOR MORE DETAILS.