Junior gets artwork accepted into Springville Artshow
NS track team overcomes challenges, several atheletes qualify for state
-- see story page 10
-- see story page 8
27 April 2021 www.nstimes.org Volume 13 Issue 8
Voice of the North Sanpete Hawks WELL SAID “Continually I see kids that have always felt like they don’t fit in anywhere all of a sudden find somewhere that they do fit in. I think it’s, in terms of connection or success in high school, important for students to fit in somewhere. It doesn’t matter where that is, but I think that every student needs a place.” -- NS Drama Teacher Alex Barlow on the importance of student involvement in extracurricular activites
BY THE NUMBERS
Students, teachers recognize importance of extracurricular activities BY
CARSON HADLEY
The bell has rung, the doors are closed, and custodians begin their nightly cleaning routine, preparing for the next day. Classes have been out of session for several hours, but the school is far from empty. In the gym and on fields, teams are hard at work, practicing, getting ready for their next game. In the auditorium, the drama department is busy rehearsing, preparing for opening night. Behind closed classroom doors, clubs meet, planning and organizing ac-
about 57 percent are involved in at least one extracurricular activity. Beyond that, about 29 percent of students are in-
tiv-
ities. For most students, school is over, but for some, it is only just beginning. This year, of the 734 students currently enrolled at NS,
volved in two or
BY
Percent of NS students involved in at least 1 extracurricular activity
28
Number of years Brenda Aagard has worked at NS
Number of freshman atheletes that qualified for state track
NS EVENTS Wednesday, April 28 Cheer Nationals Wed-Sun All day Girls Golf @ Skyline Mountain Resort All day Baseball @ Gunnison 3:30pm-7:30pm Softball @ Carbon 3:30pm-7:30pm Thursday, April 29 Boys Tennis Maeser @ NS 3:30pm-7:30pm Friday, April 30 Baseball @ Delta 3:30pm-7:30pm
CONTENTS Opinion..................4 Features.................5 Sports....................8 Arts......................10 Crossword...........12
See Connection, page 2
Drama takes 3rd at state competition
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more extracurricular activities. This is actually on par with the national average, according to a 2014 study by the US Census Bureau. Bill Pollock, a teacher and coach at NS, believes that being involved in extracurricular activities is important for students, and that it gives them a chance to connect to their school. “I think it gives them an identity, and that’s kind of the whole goal of this organization,” Pollock said. “As a high school, we want to have
photo provided by Sarah Anderson
NS Drama poses for a group picture following recent state competition.
NS prepares for normal gradutaion ceremony BY
ABBY BENCH
After years of getting second place, NS’s Drama department took first place in their region competition, which took place at NS on Mar. 19-20. They went on to take third at state this past weekend. “We worked really hard, we have a lot of really talented kids that participated, and I think we totally earned it. It was a really great feeling to win [region],” said senior Adam Cox. In the region competition Harrison Cook won Best Actor and Kaje Nielsen got Best Supporting Actor in a one-act play. The one act-play, “The Game” by Dennis E. Noble, took first place in both region and state. That group of Cook, Neilsen, Rory Anderson, and See Drama, page 4
Following successful prom, NS plans more dances
BRADLEY POWER
This year’s high school graduation ceremony is currently planned to take place on Friday, May 28. It will be broadcast, and there will be overflow seating in case maximum capacity is reached. Seniors must have 28 credits to graduate. The graduating class of 2020 was not able to participate in a traditional graduation ceremony last year due to COVID-19. Instead, the faculty organized a recorded commencement ceremony that was broadcast on Channel 10. Students drove through the school parking lot to pick up their diplomas and bid farewell to NS for the last time. “Navigating graduation through a worldwide pandemic was not ideal,” said Graduation Comphoto by Phaedra Lamb mittee Chair Rickie Stewart. “However, we worked After a year of no dances, students celebrate a successful junior prom. really hard to try to make it the best experience we BY MAREN BENCH dance. It is also a girls’ choice dance. See Graduation, page 2 The Last Chance Dance, which is Among all of the activities that like Senior Ball, will take place the have been taken away or reduced last week of school and is a semi-fordue to COVID-19, dances are one mal event. that students have seriously missed. “I think that the students missed Luckily, with COVID restrictions dances, and I think it’s just another lessening and the introduction of reason for them to be social and to BY KAYLEE ANDERSON the vaccine, dances have been able meet people they wouldn’t normally to spring back up at NS. meet,” said NS teacher Rickie StewIn a year full of unpredictable change, one thing This spring back started with the art. “Anything we can do to encourhas remained the same: end of year testing. announcement of junior prom and age activities and student involveMoving from the SAGE test, the state is now adwill continue on a roll with a Spring ment is not a bad thing.” ministering the Utah Aspire Plus to assess the sophFling dance hosted by the FFA and Students agree that dances omore and freshman classes. This test uses a combia Last Chance Dance hosted by the and the dates that accompany them, nation of preparatory ACT questions along with the SBOs. The Spring Fling is a Sadies have been something that has been Utah Core test items to predict ACT score ranges as Hawkins-type dance where the cou- sorely missed this year. See Testing, page 4 ples will wear matching t-shirts to the See Dances, page 3
State returns to standardized testing
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Connection, continued from page 1 an identity; we want to represent our community. So when they can be a part of that, I think it helps them connect to that.” In his four years of teaching, Pollock has been able to see that extracurricular activities can teach students lessons that normal teaching in the classroom can’t. “There’s a lot of things that you learn inside of an activity,” Pollock said. “I just recently went to the play, look how much time those kids spent practicing to perform, and that’s kind of the idea behind [extra curricular activities]. Whether it’s sports or clubs or whatever, the lessons are great. Committing to something, putting in the work, and the reward is being able to perform.” Jada Bailey, a junior at NS, plays volleyball and softball, and she says that playing sports helps her connect to the school through her teammates. “[Extracurricular activities] just help you to get to know them better as people and as teammates and as athletes,” Bailey said. “I feel like the connection that you make with them, not even just as teammates, but as friends and people, is more important than the sport itself. I feel like that bond and connection that you make is the main reason why it’s even fun.” Aside from connecting with her teammates, being involved in athletics also helps Bailey feel more connected to the community. “At our games, when everyone comes to watch, I feel like it really brings the community together, and being a part of that is really cool,” Bailey said. But it’s not just sports that help
students connect; other types of extracurricular activities such as band and drama also help students feel connected to the school and community. Alex Barlow, the drama teacher at NS, says that being part of the drama program helps students feel more connected because of the time and energy that they put into it. “I think [drama] helps kids get more connected to the school because it requires a lot of work and sacrifice on their part, to be part of a program that’s part of the school,” Barlow said. “I think it also helps them become more connected to the school because they are here, at the school, a lot.” Beyond feeling more connected to the school, studies have also shown that students who are more involved in their school also tend to do better in school overall. “It was revealed that students who participate in extracurricular activities are three times more likely to have a grade point average of a 3.0 or higher. This is higher than students who did not participate in extracurricular activities. This is regardless of their previous background or achievement. Students that participate in extracurricular activities also showed positive changes in students’ self-confidence, teacher perception, and greater confidence, and then developed positive school related adult attachments. Extracurricular activities increase a student’s connection to school, raise their self-esteem, and positive social natures,” according to a 2011 study by Erin Massoni of the College of DuPain. This trend holds true for NS, where the average GPA for students
graphic by Carson Hadley
Graph showing percent of students involved in extracurricular activites
who are involved in any type of extracurricular activity is 3.34, while the average for students who aren’t involved is 2.34. Bailey says that she sees this in her own life. “When I do play a sport, during that season, I’m always a better student just because I know that I have games that I need to get to and practice. So it makes me want to get my schoolwork done early and more on time so that I have time to play the sport,” Bailey said. “ It just helps me to stay on time and get things done.” Barlow says that he too has been able to see improvements in both students’ grades and overall well-being because of involvement in school. “They become connected to the program in more ways than I think just being in a class would. I notice that kids in extracurriculars, at least in the play, work a lot harder than they do in the actual classes and I think it’s because I care more, and they’re
more invested in what they’re doing,” Barlow said. “I think many kids that I know of, that if they didn’t do [drama] or they didn’t do another extracurricular or something that they just would, fall off the deep end and just not care. For some kids, it’s the only reason they come to school.” Extracurricular activities help students make connections with the school, with their peers and with the community as a whole. These connections last far beyond graduation and help students feel like they are a part of something bigger than themselves. “Continually I see kids that have always felt like they don’t fit in anywhere all of a sudden find somewhere that they do fit in,” Barlow said. “I think it’s, in terms of connection or success in high school, important for students to fit in somewhere. It doesn’t matter where that is, but I think that every student needs a place.”
Sophomore prepares for national FCCLA competition BY
ADELHEIDE JOHANSEN
NS Sophomore Hope Shelley is the only high schooler in Utah to move on to FCCLA nationals after taking first place in both region and state. Near the end of June, Shelley will be flying to Nashville, Tennessee to compete against 800 other students in the national contest. “I just feel like it’s super rewarding to put a bunch of hard work into something and get that opportunity,” Shelley said. Shelley has put in more than 40 hours preparing and presenting her project. She will have presented it more than five times before she competes at nationals, and she continues to improve every time. “I think she will do well
Shelley holds up an iPad, showing the results from state competeition.
at nationals because she has been working on this since November, and every time that she presents it, it gets a little better,” said FCCLA advisor Auralee Brooks. “She knows her material, she understands the principles and elements of interior design, and she com-
municates that very well.” With the background she’s gained from taking the interior design course at the high school earlier this year, she was able to showcase her knowledge of interior design and take home first place at region. There are about 25 different categories to enter, but this year Shelley entered in interior design. “They’re given a scenario and criteria to follow,” Brooks said. “So, [the judges] look at how well you follow those, the neatness of your presentation, if you have original ideas, your presentation skills, and they’re judging what you know about the principles and elements of design. I’ve taken students to nationals four or five times. They’ve all done well at nationals, but nobody’s ever taken first place. She’s up there
though—Hope is obviously one of the top because she’s coming to Nationals and she presents herself very well.” Although Brooks has only taken a few students to nationals, Shelley has proven herself to be a hard worker and has a good chance of doing well. “I think I made it because I put my heart into that project—I gave it my all,” Shelley said. “It was amazing, and with the help of my advisor, Auralee Brooks, we worked together to create something I think is pretty cool.” Brooks was there to help her every step of the way. Shelley considers her to be a great advisor and thinks that anyone else planning to join would see that as well. “Auralee is amazing; she is the greatest advisor and
will work with you and help you any problem you have. She helped me tremendously through everything I’ve needed, and she won region 3 advisor of the year,” Shelley said. Brooks has enjoyed advising FCCLA, but only had a small number of people join this year. She thinks that more students would participate if they knew just how beneficial it could be. It is great for learning new skills and looks great on future college and job applications. “I’d like to try something new in the FCCLA area,” Shelley said. “I feel like it’s been super beneficial and I just think it is all around a great program.” She has had a great experience with FCCLA this year and is excited to join again next year.
different than others, and that’s something we take great pride in.” The formal proceedings surrounding graduation— which include five student speakers, a formal commencement ceremony, and a retrospect speaker, along with speeches from administrators in the district—are something the NS community cares deeply about. “[Graduation] and prom are the two things that are still very traditional at our school,” said teacher Catherine Carney. “I’m glad that we’re moving back towards normalcy, and that we’re going to pack that gym.” Carney is the Senior Committee’s liaison with Jostens, and each year she reviews and procures the gowns needed for graduation. In recent years, the staff and administration have been allowed to participate in grad-
uation itself, which impacts their experiences significantly. “Teachers and staff now attend the ceremony,” Stewart said, “in their gowns as well, to celebrate the accomplishments of the students and to be able to congratulate them in person, which I think is important.” Teachers who have not received college degrees wear a simple black robe. Once a teacher graduates from college, they add a hood, and after receiving a master’s degree, they wear long sleeves and hoods to the ceremony. As of right now, masks will still be required to participate in the ceremony itself. In addition, each senior will be COVID tested twice in the week leading up to the ceremony. With these limitations, administrators and students alike are hopeful that everything will go smoothly as it would on a regular year.
“The ceremony has remained the same for the last 80 years,” Stewart said. “We take great pride in the formality of it, and it’s a great way to celebrate students for their accomplishments. We’re excited to put forth our best effort for our students, because they deserve it, especially after a year like this.” COVID-19 impacted the end of last school year terribly. Mercifully, NS is now able to hold a graduation that will provoke nostalgia and greatness from all those involved. “To get to the point where we can do some of these things, and celebrate them the way they deserve to be celebrated,” Stewart said, “that will always be the goal. To make sure that students understand how much we celebrate with them, and how much we want them to succeed.”
Graduation, continued from page 1
photo provided by Mayzie Talbot
Former NS Student Body Officers and administation pose for picture after last years modified graduation ceremony.
could and recognize kids for their accomplishments.” In a normal year, seniors have a final week full of activities leading up to graduation itself. Many of those activities (including a trip to Lagoon, the Senior Ball, and Hawkstock) were also lost. Fortu-
nately, the plan is currently to continue with graduation as typical for this year’s graduating class. “Plans for now… we will go ahead and gather the class of 2021,” Stewart said. “We will have our traditional ceremony, which for us looks very
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Dances, continued from page 1 “It’s just great memories and going on the date is fun, just getting to talk to people,” said senior Liz Madsen. “Whether it’s with your friend or with a crush, it’s just fun to go and do something.” Even with COVID-19 restrictions lessening, masks still are required at the dances, along with students needing to get tested forty-eight hours prior to the dance. If a student brings a date from another school, their date is also required to be tested before the dance and show proof of a negative test. “The goal is to keep everybody safe, as navigating through a world-wide pandemic with activities has not been easy,” Stewart said. “I think we always want to err on the side of caution to try to keep
people safe. We want to be part of the solution, not the problem.” The Student Body Officers and the FFA officers are optimistic about the turnout at these dances and hope that word will get spread around fast enough to get people to go. “I think it’s just something that will get most people involved,” said SBO Vice President Riley Madsen. “I think it’s something that most kids look forward to, just because we don’t really have anything else to go to.” Dances are also something that encourages students to be more social and involved with their peers.
“You talk to more people. On the night of dances, you tend to talk to more people than you’re used to,” Madsen said. “You get to meet new people and it’s a fun part of high school.” Having dances make a comeback at NS will hopefully help us to end this strange and weird year on a positive and optimistic note. “Just the thought of being able to do some of these things and having some semblance of normalcy for the last third of the school year is something that we can all celebrate and look forward to,” Stewart said.
Local colleges make changes regarding ACT and admission BY
MARY JONES
Last year, colleges waived the requirement of an ACT score in college admissions. This was due to the fact that the ACT was not widely accessible because of restrictions related to the coronavirus pandemic. Though the ACT can again be taken, many schools still do not require it or use it to determine scholarships. “SUU officially went to a completely test optional institution,” said Ammon Harris, regional representative for Central and Southern Utah at Southern Utah University. “So President Wyatt and Provost Anderson made the decision in response to the lack of test availability for students (particularly outside the state
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of Utah). We are trying to do our part to break down barriers for students to access education and believe that this will help open the doors a little more to higher education.” The change in ACT requirements assisted in increasing educational opportunities for students. As the requirement was lifted, college enrollment increased dramatically. “The change has brought a massive influx of students. We at SUU saw an increase in enrollment of 14 percent during a worldwide pandemic,” Harris said, “the highest amount by percentage than any other institution in the state and potentially the country. We know it’s not only because of this change, but it has helped open the doors.”
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Though this change has many positive factors, there is concern that students who had a higher ACT score and who took more challenging classes are now put at a disadvantage while those who had a lower score and took easier classes are benefited. “Take a student...with a 23 on the ACT and a 4.0; this is pretty good for them, they now look spectacular— before, they looked really good—but now they look spectacular, ” said NS senior Harrison Cook. “I guess that’s really what frustrates me the most about it, is that this student didn’t change anything about how they were doing anything, they didn’t retake the ACT to get a higher score, but they look better now just because college isn’t looking at something else.” For a lot of students, the ACT is really stressful to take. The amount of stress brought on by the ACT can cause students to get scores that don’t reflect their academic performance and college readiness. “It’s hard for me to take the ACT because when I go to take that test, I kind of have some testing anxiety and I’m
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said NS senior Kaylee Anderson. “I would have had a lot less money for scholarships if the ACT was counting. I feel like the ACT doesn’t really show you if you are college ready, because I’ve taken like a lot of concurrent enrollment classes and I’ve passed all of those, and I feel like I do well in them.” Whether or not the ACT score was high, a student’s GPA seemed to be the best indicator of academic performance. Nationally, students with a high GPA (3.8 and above) who had a lower ACT score, but had taken college classes in high school, did better. “After careful study both internally and looking at trends across the nation, we saw that the two best indicators of college success are High School GPA and class difficulty,” Harris said. “What I mean by this is, we saw that students who were entering college with high GPA but a
l o w ACT were performing significantly better (grades, retention and persistence rates, graduation rates, etc.) than those who had the inverse.” The ACT hasn’t seemed to be the best way of determining whether a student would do well in college. To do that, admissions would have to be on a more holistic basis. Even holistically, it is still difficult to show a student’s success in relation to their level of opportunity. “If you want a better way of having college acceptance and stuff, you just have to look at more of the person,” Cook said. “Even that is difficult because then you get a student from some less fortunate background who was never able to do extracurricular and…their parents never helped them get a good score on the ACT or keep up their grades. They want to learn, they want to go places, they’re intelligent, but they just don’t have the resources.”
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Testing, continued from page 1 well as gauge subject proficiency. End of year testing has never counted against the students, but was used to evaluate how the school was functioning. Schools used to receive a grade and were held accountable for their scores. Due to COVID however, the state is not using the ACT Aspire Plus test results for accountability. “The state is not using it for accountability purposes,’’ said Principal Christy Straatman, “which means in the past we have had a school report card that takes into consideration the ACT, our graduation rates and Utah Aspire Plus all those things combined give us a grade. The state is just going to look at it as a baseline of how the kids are doing this year. If we are lower than times past, maybe it will show us areas we need to work on to close gaps.” Although the state uses these numbers as a basis for how students are performing, many teachers see the testing as pointless, especially during such an unprecedented time. “It’s a waste of time,” Carney said. “I understand the state needs numbers to report to the federal government so
everybody can be on the same page, but everyone on the Wasatch Front was in and out and going remote.” Carney feels that there are better ways to assess student’s knowledge; that it is clear to teachers where their student’s stand. “I don’t need a piece of paper with a number on it to know that this student has lost more than the quarter we were off,” Carney said. “We know our students and by the time they go to test we know pretty much if they are going to be a one, two, three or four.” Administration decided that it was important to get student perspectives of how covid has impacted them and their learning, so there will be a questionnaire sent out along with core tests. “After they take the science test there is a little survey with questions about covid and how it has affected their education. They wanted the students’ side of it,” Stansfield said. The scores gathered from testing not only show how the school is doing as a whole, but it also shows individual areas teachers can improve on. “The teachers can go in and break
the scores down into standards,” Stansfield said. “You can see certain areas where they are lower. Then next year they need to beef up their standards.” While some people may view the standard breakdowns as beneficial, others think that it could be improved. “I need a score that says I’m this percent proficient,” said science teacher Kolby Henrie. “No teacher is going to pick apart every question from every test to see how they taught they don’t have time. They also claim half of the questions are specific to a certain subject but then my chemistry students, biology students, and earth science students all take the same test so how are they making it anything like a specific subject.” A more beneficial way for test results to be used by teachers is having the test done more than once a year. “I think that there should be tests at the beginning and at the end of the year,’’ Carney said. “I would rather see a pre and post with what they gain. Testing from year to year doesn’t show valid efficacy because we don’t keep it long enough to compare it.”
One positive side to this form of testing is how it prepares students to take the ACT. “I see usefulness in the ACT Aspire for students because it gives you a simulated score for all of your subjects and tells you how you are going to do on the ACT,” Henrie said, “but if I’m looking at data of how good I am doing as a teacher, ACT Aspire doesn’t tell me anything.” Despite being a useful resource, students have negative feelings towards the end of year tests, and feel that they haven’t been fully prepared. “I feel like I haven’t learned anything,” said freshman Sarah Church. “In previous years it feels like they were trying to prepare us more than this year. While the students may experience uneasiness about these tests, and teachers don’t see the point, administrators are confident in what has been accomplished. “I am optimistic because we have been resilient,” Straatman said. “I think our students have been resilient and we have pushed through covid. Learning has still happened in the classroom.”
Drama, continued from page 1 Ben Anderson also earned top honors at best ensemble, which is awarded to the top group in any category. “Everyone feels amazing about that,” Cook said. “There’s been this sort of ‘curse’ where [the one act does] well at region, but not very well at state.” Cook also took first at both region and state with his dramatic monologue from the play “Twelve Angry Men.” The drama department also swept in classical scenes at state: Kylee Davis and Rory Andersen took first, Kaje Nielsen and Adam Cox took second, and Shayley Fausett and Evan Barsic took third. At the region competition, Maren Bench and Shaylee Wilkey got second place for Contemporary Scenes, and Emily Wheeler took second in Humorous Monologue. NS’s main competition at region is Manti. Year after year, Manti has beaten them and gotten first at region.
This year however, NS was able to outperform Manti and take the lead. However at state, the tables turned with Manti taking first, Union took second, and NS ended in third place, just one point behind Union. Though the results are excellent, and every entry from NS received straight superior ratings, the team overall felt a little disappointed with the result. “Mildly disappointed,” Cook said. “Everybody got their hopes up that we would get first or second.” For scoring, each school has a total of 25 entries. Six categories with four entries per category and a one-act play. Each performance is evaluated by a panel of judges. “So you’re scored out of twenty-five and you’re also ranked in your round out of all the people you compete against,” said drama teacher and director Alex Barlow. “As far as sweepstakes sores go, they take all the scores
out of twenty-five for each piece and then add them all together.” At region, NS came out on top in sweepstakes after they combined the scores. It also helped that they placed in the top three of each category other than pantomime. Each of the actors and actresses that participated worked hard and performed to the best of their ability in order to win. “I think people were excited, but they were also a little overwhelmed. But they handled it well,” said Barlow. Putting in the hard work was extremely important then year, especially since region was more stressful than usual. Not only did they have to prepare to perform, but they had to be ready to host as well. “It was really stressful. It’s not something I want to do again for a while,” said Barlow. “It was kinda crazy to make sure you have all the judges and
all the rounds set up. It was intense but we made it through.” The musical added to the stress and workload of both the director and the students. Normally the musical is sooner in the year but, due to Covid, it was around the time of region. It was hard to be able to balance it all. “Right now is like the craziest time imaginable. I went straight from the end of ‘Beauty and the Beast’ to region,” Cox said. “You just have to choose, you have to prioritize at any given moment. You always have to be working on something. You can’t take days off.” Despite the stress and all the chaos, the drama department was able to pull it off. “My goals for us are to just do the very best that we can do,” said Barlow. “It can be very subjective so you never know. I am hopeful that we will do our best and whatever happens happens.”
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Voice of the North Sanpete Hawks
27 April 2021 www.nstimes.org
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EMT class gives students real-world medical experience
photo provided by Cami Hathaway
Seniors Graciee Christiansen (left) and Emma Whiteman (right) give a practice demonstration in their EMT class. Students in the class gain hands-on experience in both practice drills and emergency calls. by
JeSSica b l acK h a M
The students taking the EMT class at NS have the opportunity to gain hands-on learning experience by responding to calls with the local ambulance crew. It doesn’t matter if they’re hanging out with friends or driving home from practice; the second their pagers go off, they’re up and ready to go on one of the calls. “Going on calls is one of the best places for the students to learn,” said EMT certification teacher Cami Hathaway. “It helps them to really understand the material and see how what they’re learning in the classroom gets applied or how it gets adapted in a crisis situation.”
The students only get to be on call if they have all of their assignments done and their tests completed. Students must also pass tests with an 80 percent or better to show that they genuinely know the material and are prepared to be on duty. Junior Kasey Curtis is one of the only students eligible to be on call. He described what it was like to respond to his first-ever call. “I was just kinda hanging out after school when my pager went off,” Curtis said. “I rushed into Cami’s room, and she was all packed up and ready to go. That’s when it kinda hit me like, holy crap; this is actually happening...I’m really responding to a call.” Curtis has been preparing for this moment; nevertheless, the fact of how real it all
was triggered all sorts of emotions. “It was kinda scary since it was my first time and all,” Curtis said. “I was nervous because I wasn’t sure what I was exactly going to be doing. I’ve learned what you’re supposed to do and everything, but it’s nerve-racking because you don’t want to get in the way.” While Curtis and the other students learn all of the basics of handling certain situations in class, it can’t fully prepare them for adapting to abnormal circumstances. “You never know what you’re dealing with until you arrive on the scene,” Hathaway said. “We have the students come and watch and take notes on stuff like what type of medicine the patient is given or what their blood pressure is. We mainly want them to take what we’ve learned in class and see how it is actually used in real life. Most situations they deal with will be different from what we might have talked about.” Along with the students getting firsthand experience on the calls, their notes are pretty helpful because it provides the EMT crew with the information needed to fill out the reports. The more rides and different kinds of situations one can encounter will only be beneficial. “The first couple of calls I went on, I was definitely nervous,” said senior Graciee Christiansen. “It was hard for me to remember what to do right at that moment. But the more I went on calls and the more comfortable I became with it, the easier it got for me.” Christiansen has been on call the most out of the entire class. She uses both a pager and an app called “I Am Responding.” The app “I Am Responding” works very similar to a pager, except it gives you emergency notifications on your cell phone. Christiansen plays multiple sports at NS, and she has a hectic schedule. The shift coordinator works with Christiansen to ensure she’s not on call when she is not available. “I took this job because I can make it work with my schedule, which is so nice,” Christiansen said. “My supervisor is so good to work with my crazy schedule. Like, say if I have softball games on Tuesday and Thursday, she’ll make sure and arrange for me to be on call Monday, Wednesday, and Friday instead. It’s nice because this way, I won’t get a page in the middle of the game.” The EMT class has given the students at NS a fantastic opportunity to gain real handson learning experience on what it is truly like to be an EMT. “I am glad that I took this class,” Christiansen said. “I’ve learned so many basic life-saving skills that I can use for the rest of my life, and I’m grateful for the chance I’ve got to go on so many calls. I like how I know that I can continue this throughout college, and I can take what I’ve learned in this class and learn even more.”
Features
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Secretary shares 28 years of memories at the high school I’ve also done business stuff my whole entire life. I wanted to be an accountant, but I got married and had kids instead.” She made many memories being a sheep rancher and feels as though she is a farmer at heart. At one point they owned about 5,000 head of sheep. She and her
photo by Hope Shelley
Financial secretary Brenda Aagard (left) works with a student. Aagard loves interacting with students as part of her job at the school. by
Hope Shelley
After being a secretary at the high school for 28 years, Brenda Aagard has been through a lot of changes, but this year brought upon something she had never seen coming. With COVID, many things changed—not only in her job, but the environment she was in as well. Now with masks and social distancing, things are not the same as the past years she has worked here. Another change she has had to go through is having a whole new staff working in the office. Everyone she used to work with has now retired or moved on. So she was very nervous for this upcoming year, but they have adapted and they all get along and work very well together. “She holds this office together, especially since we’re all new. If we didn’t have Brenda, I don’t know what we would do,” said Tori Hansen, secretary at NS. “We all go to her a million times a day asking her questions because she has been here so long she just knows everything.” Change is a part of her job and she has had changes since the very first year of working at the school. Most aren’t as dramatic as this year, though. “Every year, there’s changes, ‘’ said Aagard, who now holds the title of financial secretary. “Sometimes the changes are good and we move forward with new
technology, and then sometimes I’ve actually seen, where we’ve made changes and then over the course of the years, we reverted back to what we used to do.” Even the personal responsibilities she has in the school have changed in many ways. “We used to do handwritten receipts when I started, and then we would have to turn around and enter them in the computer, which was old,” Aagard said. “This new accounting system is phenomenal. Everything is just in the system with an easy check and balance system. So I’m grateful for technology. We’ve come a long way.” Through the changes, she has gotten to know many different people and has seen many exciting things, including all the pranks. “Years ago, we had a custodian that everyone loved,” Aagard said. “One day I came at 7:30 in the morning. First thing I did was come and open my door. As I opened my door, I flipped on a light switch and there, right in my doorway, was the skeleton from the science lab. I screamed and backed into my wall and about knocked myself out. The custodians were down the hall waiting for the scream and they laughed.” Aagard enjoys many things at her job. She loves being in the high school environment and enjoys being around the staff and students.
However, one of her least favorite parts of her job is getting subs for classes. She has to wake up early and find subs on very short notice. With COVID, it’s been a bigger challenge because of teachers calling in sick and subs not wanting to do it anymore. Aagard is a mother of four daughters and a grandma of 17 grandkids. A few of her hobbies are biking, gardening, sewing, reading, and organizing things. Her favorite hobby is gardening and working on the lawn. Aagard has lived in Sanpete County her whole life. She attended school at NS while she was young and then she raised her children here. She lived in Mt. Pleasant all the way until she got married and moved to Fountain Green with her husband. She graduated from NS as a student body officer and Sterling Scholar. She also was on the drill team and played sports at the same time. So she was very involved in the school, even while she was young. Throughout her life, she has had to make different decisions that have brought her to where she is now. One of her main focuses was family. Her and her husband have now been married for 43 years. “We were sheep ranchers back when my kids were growing up,” Aagard said. “I didn’t work until my kids were older.
family have always loved the outdoors. “We actually used to wash ourselves off in the water troughs, like pioneer kind of stuff,” Aagard said. “The kids remember that, getting in the water and splashing around like it was a swimming pool.” Aagard is someone many people look up to and love. “She always puts others before herself,” said Jared Strait, Aagard’s grandson. “It doesn’t matter if you’re family or not, she just loves helping people. She is honestly a great example to me and someone I want to be like because of how generous she is with everything she has. She just gives freely.” One quality most people notice in her is how willing she is to help people. “She is always willing to help anyone, no matter what,” Emily Strait, Aagard’s granddaughter said. “No matter who they are or the situation they are in, she is willing to help them.” No matter if they are family, friends, NS staff or students, she is willing to help and be kind to them. “I love how sweet and kind she is,” Hansen said. “She has the biggest heart of anyone I’ve ever met. That’s what I like about her the most, is how she’s always being so kind to everybody and doing something for other people.” When she retires, she plans on traveling a lot more with her husband. She has been to Hawaii, France, Germany, and California. She isn’t sure how soon she will retire, but she knows that when she does, she will miss being at the high school. She believes working at the school is a world of entertainment if you attend all the events the school offers. And she enjoys going and supporting performances the high school puts on. She loves to be involved in the community. “She is definitely a person in the community that everyone looks up to and appreciates,” Hansen said.
Seniors reflect on precious years with peers and staff by
Michelle L ee
As the school year is coming to a close, seniors are finishing up their last moments and making their last memories as students of NS. “Every single day after school would get out or after a basketball game or after practice,” said senior Cole Mickel, “we were all together and none of us wanted to go home, so we’d always just find something to do. I’m going to miss that a lot.” While life has been hard at times—and as high school isn’t really an easy step in life to go through for young adults—in the end, the memories and people are what makes it worth the most. “Going to school here has not always been the best of times,” said senior Adam Cox, “but I’ve met some people here that I wouldn’t trade for the world. The people here are amazing.” As seniors prepare to leave the school and move on with life, mixed emotions come into play. “It’s exciting, but then at the same time, it’s kinda
scary,” said senior Graciee Christiansen, “because you don’t know what you’re going to be doing next year vs if you’re just here, you’re here.” High school is the last place young adults go through before they are sent into the world to learn for themselves—the last four years to enjoy life to the fullest possible with few worries. “[Enjoy] the day-to-day things,” said senior Zach Allred. “I’ll probably look back and I’ll be like, ‘Man, I wish I was still there.’” Seniors have worked hard through their years in school. Now, they look back and find things they wish they had done, or something they loved. “Make your time count,” said senior Shalyce Cook. “A lot of people say it flies by, and in the moment it does go slow, but I would get involved and do as much as you can because you’ll miss out on things if you don’t take the opportunities to be involved and participate. That’s where all the memories are made.” While grades are an important part of a high school
career, be sure to find the fun in the midst of everything. “I always stressed about grades,” Mickel said, “but when it comes down to it, have fun. It’s like your last four years to have fun. That’s like when you’re going to be with your friends and then after that, everything changes.” After spending a lot of time with teachers and staff members in the past four years, seniors have found that there is an amazing staff that works at NS that has made an impact on their lives. “[Mrs. Revoir] was always such a positive teacher,” Cook said. “She was always involved and I felt like I could just talk about anything with her.” However, out of the staff Cook has come in contact with, Revoir wasn’t the only one that made an influence in her life. “[Nan] was always so supportive and there for everything and she was willing to do anything for anyone,” Cook said. But Cook wasn’t the only one that has had staff members impact her life.
“Mr. Barlow is one of the teachers that you know just genuinely cares about all his students,” Cox said, “and he is one of those teachers you always know you can turn to.” Being a small school provides students with the connection to get to know their teachers on a personal level. “Bill [Pollock] still asks me how I’m doing and what I’m doing in my life,” Allred said. “He’ll always be your friend.” Being connected to the teachers and staff at NS isn’t an uncommon situation. “Coach Bird treats everyone like his own kids,” Mickel said. “He’s probably been the biggest influence on me, trying to help me do better and
be better.” Like Cook, Mickel couldn’t choose only one. “Heather Allred helped me a ton just even with helping me graduate,” Mickel said. “She’s set everything up for me and helped me a ton along the way and been the one that’s gotten me on a schedule.” While the time spent as students at NS seems long in the moment, it’ll go by fast. “If you get involved and start doing stuff, you’ll have more fun throughout high school,” Christiansen said. “Those might be your only memories, but you’ll still have memories of people that you’re friends with.”
Features
7
Hispanic students work to overcome language barriers, contribute to local community by
Caden Clawson
Despite a recent lack of foreign exchange students due to COVID-19, there are still students at NS that bring cultural diversity to the school and surrounding community. Denilson Carias and Gustavo Soto are two of these students. Carias came from Guatemala and Soto came from Mexico. Both received opportunities here that made them choose to come here. “My uncle gave me the opportunity to live here to go to school,” Carias said. “[He] has a business, so after school I can go and work for him.” The opportunities have been good, but there is a lot of change for them. “Think of yourself going to Mexico or Spain not knowing any Spanish,” said Rhett Bird, ESL teacher at NS. “You haven’t taken any Spanish and then you get thrown into the education system.” Figuring out every word for them is important. Though there are many Spanish speakers at NS, it’s still difficult for these students to learn and understand what is going on in class. Translating correctly is a huge necessity. “And so the biggest thing for them is translating,” said Bird. “If you don’t know something, you have to translate a word to try and get the whole picture to be able to do your homework.”
If Carias and Soto have to talk to someone who doesn’t know Spanish, they use a translator on their phone to be able to talk to them. The Spanish-speaking students have been a huge benefit for these students as they try to assimilate and learn a new language. “I think it gives them a level of comfort,” said Bird, “knowing that there’s people that can relate to them. We have a large Hispanic population, so to know that a lot of the kids can speak to someone in Spanish, that obviously helps.” Another difficulty they face is missing their families. Carias left his parents and family in Guatemala and Soto doesn’t see his mom. “I miss my family,” said Carias. “One day I’ll go back.” Though there are many challenges that have come with moving to the US, both students have found some important positives. “Everything has been really good here,” said Carias. “The teachers have been great to work with. If you don’t understand, they are willing to work with you. Just try and do things the right way while you are here.” Soto and Carias also like the community around them. “It’s really relaxing here or calm,” Soto said. “There’s not a lot of worries here.” Both of them enjoy playing soccer, and Carias is on NS’s boys soccer team.
photo by Siri Huntington
Senior Denilson Carias dribbles up the field in a recent soccer game. Carias is one of several students that has moved to NS from a foreign country.
“It’s really good, despite not being able to communicate with one another on the field,” Carias said. “But everyone’s been really good to me and it’s been fun.” While Soto isn’t playing on the soccer team, he’s found another pastime to fill his time. He goes and plays pool in Ephraim or Spanish Fork. “In Mexico going to different bars—because in a lot of the different bars, they had pool tables—is where I started playing,” said Soto. These sports give them opportunities outside of school to do other things beside work and school, and it gives them something they can do in the community. Their presence also gives community members the
opportunity to learn about new cultures. “I don’t know that I always jumped into getting to know their culture the way that they do things and celebrate things,” said Bird. “So I’d just say that it’s a great opportunity for us who live in this community to diversify ourselves and understand another culture.” Throughout their time at NS, Carias and Soto appreciate any help they can get from teachers and fellow students. “One thing that people can do is be more receptive to helping us if they see us struggling or needing help around the school,” said Carias.
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Sports
Voice of the North Sanpete Hawks
27 April 2021
www.nstimes.org
8
Many track students qualify for state
photo by Phaedra Lamb
Hope Christiansen jumps hurdles at recent track meet in Manti. by
Joshua Cox
The NS track team is doing well. Competing in six track meets so far, they have not only done well as a team, but also individually, because track really is a kind of individual sport. “It’s you against you,” said NS track coach Scott Butler. “If you make improvements through hard work and practice, the winning aspect just takes care of itself.” For a lot of the track members, this is definitely true. Tylee Henrie, a sophomore, broke a school record in the high jump, at 5 foot 1 inch. Laramie Roberts, a senior, is also doing well in the shot putt and the discus. With their scores, they both qualified for state. “I do a lot of training,” Henrie said. “Even though it sucks, it helps me so I can get
better and improve.” Because track is such a diverse sport, the training is different depending on what event you compete in. For Henrie, it’s practicing the high jump and going to the weight room to strength train. “The kids who consistently come to practice are always getting better,” said track coach Bill Pollock, “It’s fun to see them improving.” The team does have a lot of room to improve, and that’s exactly what’s happening. In fact, most members of the team get a personal best every track meet. “We have lots of brand new kids, lots of young freshmen,” Butler said. “So there’s going to be a pretty big improvement curve for a while.” But despite having a team so young, the future’s looking bright. “At our first big invitation-
al, at Snow Canyon,” said Butler, “I put four freshmen girls into a medley relay and they qualified for state, which is definitely not easy to do.” For those four girls, Ashlyn Anderson, Journey Toomey, Abri Benson, and Mari Briggs, their times are looking promising for years to come. But even though there are a lot of new students who are doing track this year and doing quite well, the NS track team is small compared to other schools. The track team has about fifty kids, while most schools have around one hundred kids. “There’s so many kids on the other teams,” Henrie said. “Then there’s our team that’s super small. ” Despite the small numbers, the team is bigger than it has been in several years. “From the time I started coaching track to now, there
has been an increase in numbers,” Pollock said. “So I’m really grateful to those kids who are willing to give it a try.” But why is the track team so small in the first place? “North Sanpete is still struggling to understand how doing track—the running, jumping and throwing—benefits all other sports,” Butler said. “So we don’t have near-
ly as many kids as we should have.” But despite most of NS not having caught on yet, the track team has done some incredible things along with qualifying for state. “A kind of a benchmark for track is qualifying for the BYU invitational,” Butler said. “The standards aren’t as stringent as they are for state, but we’ve maxed out our possible participation in that event, which is great.” They also expect to do pretty well at region, although competition is expected to be really tough. For the girls, our region is actually the toughest in the state. Delta is expected to take state this year, and Union, Manti, Juab, and ALA are also doing well this year. “We’ll be fighting and clawing for places in region to get to state,” Butler said. “We’ll do our research and place athletes where we think they’ll have the best opportunities for success.” Even with a difficult region meet coming up, track is doing well this year. With not many kids, it’s hard, but the team is making it work. “The kids competing are really doing well this year,” Pollock said. “They’re just getting better and better every week.”
photo by Phaedra Lamb
Freshman Ashlyn Anderson warms up for the 4 by 100 relay race.
Tennis carries on successful season by
Cael Howard
The NS tennis team has won a few games and lost a few so far this season. Currently at 5-4, the team still has a lot of regional games and time to improve. NS recently won their match against Maeser Prep on April 21. Top singles player Kasen Ericksen’s score for both of his sets was 6-0. “We’re good--we’re doing well,” said assistant coach Jeff Ericksen. First singles, Strait’s win to loss ratio is 6-3. Second singles Kason Ericksen’s score is 6-3. Third singles Spencer Olson has 2-7. First doubles Jake and Josh Cox’s score is 6-2. Second doubles Davin Anderson and Kaysen Smith are seated at 6-3. The varsity boys have stayed the same this whole season. No JV players have moved up to varsity. The tennis team has grown dramatically in size this year. With this growth, there are players from previous years and a lot of new inexperienced players. Luckily with the growth of players, assistant coaches Jeff Ericksen and
Ben Cox have joined to help out. “One of our strengths is our coaching staff; we have three good guys,” Erickson said. Boys tennis has grown in popularity at NS this year. The team has 29 players now. “We have a really big tennis team,” said sophomore George Swapp. With that growth, there are a lot of advantages but there also some disadvantages. For example, head coach Matt Braithwaite isn’t able to teach as many of the players one-on-one. That’s why they are fortunate to have assistant coaches to help with the larger number of players. An advantage is that the team has a plethora of different styles and good things they can copy from other teammates. Having three different coaches is an advantage also. The players can get three different perspectives on what they can practice on and what they’re doing really well at. The tennis players have a wide range of experience. From senior Davin Anderson having played tennis eleven years to some new freshman
players having never played competitively before. Each player starts the tennis season and leaves with an improved set of skills. This is the fourth season for seniors Olson, Anderson, and Strait; they’ve gained a lot of experience over that time. Strait, Ericksen, and Olson are the top three singles. Jake and Josh Cox, and Anderson and Kaysen Smith are the top two doubles teams for varsity. “It’s exciting to see the new kids come in and watch them go from not being able to hit the ball back over the net to being able to hit a ball right where they want it,” Strait said. The team’s leadership is in good hands, between the coaches and four team captains. Anderson, Strait, Olson, and Ericksen as team captains come to all the practices and get the pre-practice stretches going. They try to lead by example and do all that they can to help out teammates. When teammates hit a good shot in a match and win, they congratulate and compliment them on it. Even if teammates don’t do well, the captains will give en-
couragement and help them work on their strokes so they can win next time. “I try to give people advice on how to better their game,” Strait said, “but I feel like just being really supportive of every victory that your team has is a huge thing.” Tennis is in full swing and the players are excited to be able to play. It’s heading toward a great season with new players and new coaches. They really love the sport and have a lot of fun. The whole team is good natured and likes to work hard but have a good laugh. “Winning. I like winning,” Anderson said.
photo by Audrey Inglish
Kasen Ericksen hits a backhand slice against Union at home. Ericksen has a 5-3 record.
Sports
9
Ambitious senior excels on and off the field
photo by Siri Huntington
Gage Cox fields the ball in recent game against San Juan at home. by
sIrI huNTINGToN
The runners are lining up. The tension in the air is so thick, anything could set it off. Suddenly, senior Gage Cox is using his hand as a microphone to interview people surrounding him about how they feel about their race. Just like that, the tension is gone and people are laughing right along with him. “From off the bat, I’ve always just known him as the funny, outgoing kid. He’s just always been one of those types of people that goes out of his way to make other people laugh and make people happy,” said Cox’s girlfriend Jasyln Dahl. “He’s one of those people that you know he will be there for you even if you barely know him. He goes out of his way to make people feel
comfortable and make sure they are okay.” Not only does Cox go out of his way to bring others around him up, but he is also extremely dedicated, whether it is in one of the many sports he plays or in his school work. “He stands out and he really works hard at what he does. He wants to be one of the best and be the best that he can,” said Cameron Smith, one of Cox’s best friends. “He really tries to bring himself up and bring others around him up as well and help them achieve their goals and help support them when he can.” While Cox goes out of his way to reach out to others, he is diligent in all aspects of his life. This mindset is something that his family has encouraged throughout
his life. “A lot of my family are really go-getters, especially my parents. If they put their mind to something, then they are going to do it,” Cox said. “My whole family has been super supportive of me especially with sports and the things that I do. Having that support system is really important and having people cheer me on and make sure that I get to where I want to be is really cool about my family.” Having a positive support system is something that Cox has not always had, but when he realized he needed to play for himself and not to please his parents, he sat down and talked to them about this problem and the result was a change for the better. “It definitely changed the dynamic
of their support system. They were definitely more positive and that definitely had a better impact on my gameplay,” Cox said. “I know that no matter what I do, as long as I try my hardest, they are going to be proud. It was definitely a major turning point in my sports career.” Since then, Cox has really embraced his love of sports, especially baseball. He has become very dedicated, so much so that he won’t take himself out of a game even though he may be battling one of his many injuries. “I’ve never really been the type of guy to just be out because of an injury, so I’ve just kinda tried to play through it,” Cox said. While this definitely shows his dedication to what he does, it also hasn’t made it easy to do anything about the constant injuries as he is always participating in one sport or another. “If I don’t stay busy, I just end up loafing around, so it’s definitely good for me to stay busy like I have been,” Cox said. Cox has stayed busy by playing many different sports. Some of the sports that he has played are baseball, basketball, cross country, swim, and lacrosse. Playing baseball has especially
given him many opportunities to play different positions, travel, and to meet new people. One of the positions that Cox was able to play was catcher, which turned out to be his all-time favorite. “I just loved it. It was almost like being the captain of the field because you see everything,” Cox said. ”If the pitcher throws one in the dirt, you’ve got to block it, or if someone is trying to steal the base, then you’ve got to throw it. I liked making crazy plays, like crazy blocking plays. It was just really cool to be behind the plate.” Not only has Cox been able to play almost everywhere on the baseball field, he has also had the chance to travel with his past two club teams the Blackhawks and SkullCandy, the latter of which was sponsored by SkullCandy Headphones. He also had the opportunity to play for a USA Baseball team which gave him the opportunity to trav-
el to North Carolina. Cox has also had the chance to be in many parades while playing with SkullCandy. Before many tournaments he and his team would ride on floats and throw SkullCandy headphones and candy. They would then get to go on stage and throw more candy, headphones and stickers to the crowd, as well as hold up their team banner. Because of all of the teams he has played for, he has met some really cool people, some of which he plays against today. “Some of the Juab games are pretty fun, especially because a lot of the kids I know are from Juab so I’m able to sometimes talk to them when they are on base,” Cox said. “That’s really fun to talk to them a little bit and play against them. So those are the funnest times, when I play against people that I played on a different team with.”
Arts Band, choir earn high marks at region
Voice of the North Sanpete Hawks
27 April 2021 www.nstimes.org
10
photo by NS Times
NS choir performs at recent region competition. Both choir and band received excellent scores and will compete at state. BY
JACOB C OX
The NS band and choir received high marks in their region competitions last week, and now they have a decision to make about the state competition. At the region festival, the band received scores of 1, 1- , and 2 which is the equivalent of an A, A-, and a B. “I thought that the band played really well,” said band teacher Timothy Kidder, “We picked some challenging music and some long pieces, and they did a really fine job. It felt really good as we left
the stage.” And because they did well, they must now decide whether or not they want to go on to state band because there is a bit of a twist to the competition this year. Any school can enter the state band festival because they are doing it online. “I think we will enter the state competition just because we already know the songs,” Kidder said. “Making a recording of that and sending it in for state wouldn’t be difficult at all but we have to check with the administration and the band first and see if that’s something that they want to do.” The songs that they have prepared for region and
state band are “Fantasy on American Sailing Songs” by Clair Grundman, “Amazing Grace” by Frank Ticheli and “Our Director” by Fredrick Bigelow. “We haven’t really performed these songs yet,” Kidder said. “This was the first time we have actually performed and so there was a lot of anxiety, but overall, I think we did pretty well and we just worked hard on our songs and did well at region band.” And since they haven’t performed this year, it was definitely a new experience for them, but they pulled through and overall did great at region. “I think we did really well,” senior Colin Zanocco. “We put in a lot of effort in these songs and I think that we’ve been playing them really well and just putting in time and doing what we need to do and I think it’s paid off.” And while the band put in a lot of effort with Kidder for region, they aren’t the only ones putting in effort. The choir saw their hard work pay off as they received scores of a 1, 1, and a 1-, which is the equivalent of an A, A and an A-, and the women’s chorus received scores of 1-, 1- and a 2+ which is the equivalent of an A-, A-, and a B+. “The choir has been putting in a lot of work,” Kidder said. “We aren’t used to performing, but we have the ability to blow people away and we have really good singers. Each of the pieces I picked are really challenging. They each have their own thing that’s going to show off how good we really are.” And with how the choir performed, the songs certainly did have something that showed off what the choir could do. The choir will be one of the three in the region going to the state festival in Farmington. Manti, Delta and NS will be the three performing for the state festival, which is in person. The choir director for Utah’s Music Education Association chose to have the choir option for in person state.
Junior showcased in Springville Art Show BY
ATHENA DE GROFF
This year, seniors and juniors from 104 Utah high schools entered the 49th annual Utah All-State Art Show. Due to the unique circumstances of this year, students submitted their work digitally and there was an online jurying system. Furthermore, the entire show is available to view online, unlike previous years. This year, junior Casey Mitchell was admitted into the show with his digital photography piece titled “Mem’ry in Light.” Mitchell started taking photographs for his photography class last year, but the art form has always been a part of his life. “I was kind of raised on photography,” Mitchell said. “My dad’s a photographer, so I was always out in the field with him helping him do portraits and lighting and that kind of thing. I guess my whole life I’ve been doing photography.” Getting into the show has helped Mitchell realize that taking photos and entering more shows is something he wants to continue.
“I really didn’t think of myself as an artist and I still really don’t,” Mitchell said, “but it gives me the idea that if I’ve done it once, I can do it again, and so it’s kind of inspired me to keep going.” The Springville Art Show provides students from all over the state with the opportunity to enter their artwork and see how it compares to others’ work. This year, there were 892 entries, out of which 325 were accepted. “It’s nice because you have kids from here that are competing against the 5A schools down to the 1A schools, and they’re all competing at the same level,” said visual arts teacher Paul Allred. The Springville Art show is a great way to earn scholarships and gain experience for all juniors and seniors. “It’s good for scholarships,” Allred said. “It’s good for Sterling Scholar stuff, art scholarships, or even if you’re just a hobbyist––It can show you how well you do compared to other people.” Although art shows are a great way for students to showcase their work, it can be difficult to predict how
Junior Casey Mitchell was accepted into the Springville Art Show with his digital photography piece titled “Mem’ry in Light” (pictured above).
the jurors will respond to a piece. “You never know what the jurors are going to pick,” Allred said. “It’s somebody’s opinion in the end, so you need to have a thick skin, to a degree, and not take it personally.” The number of spots that each school gets to enter is determined by the number of juniors and seniors from the previous year. Next year
there will be another opportunity for NS juniors and seniors to enter the Springville Art Show. “I would say, if you’re thinking about entering, talk to Allred next year and see if he’s got any open spots,” Mitchell said. “It’s really awesome–– totally worth it.”
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Arts
11
Student shares thoughts on cast, performance of recent musical BY
K ENNA C OOK
Having seen our very own production of “Disney’s Beauty and the Beast: the Stage Musical” every night (an accumulative total of five times including the matinee), I think I have a pretty good idea of how it turned out. And I am happy to say that it was by far one of the best shows I have ever attended. Right from the opening scene, I was enthralled with the lively choreography and singing. Each scene had elaborate dances that went hand in hand with the current song. Each actor (including ensemble members) never broke character during the show. Some think that ensemble roles are the least important, but I would disagree, especially with this particular show. The ensemble made the show what it was; without them, the production would have been bland and nearly impossible to sit through. The number “Be our Guest” was made up (almost) entirely of ensemble members, including dancing forks, spoons, spatulas, whisks, china, napkins, salt and pepper. The ensemble made the production a magical experience. While the ensemble was absolutely wonderful, the lead roles weren’t any less exquisite. Each lead role had a clear, distinct personality and their excellent singing dexterity made the show a delightful experience. Every character was cast perfectly with a flawless performer. Six characters particularly stood out to me. The first two of the six were Babette and Lumiere. Their characters were played by Adam Cox and Emily Wheeler. Wheeler’s and Cox’s
characters blended perfectly, making the flirty and comedic duo the audience came to know. The second two were Gaston and Lefou, played by Kaje and Brathan Nielson, two brothers, making the pair even more well fitting. The two Nielsons added an impeccable comedic side to the show. The fifth was the Beast, played by Harrison Cook. The way Cook portrayed the Beast made his character utterly believable. You felt each emotion he felt, whether that emotion was anguish, despair or pure joy, you were alongside him through his troubles. Last, but definitely not least, was Belle. Kylee Davis (who played Belle) had a beautiful singing voice and all her emotions were spot on and believable. Something I especially liked in this rendition of ‘Beauty and the Beast’ was the superior character development as opposed to the Disney movie. In this tale, there were a few added details that made the show that much more wonderful. In the beginning of the performance, there is a duet between Belle and Maurice titled “No Matter What.” The song defines the relationship Belle has with her father. The final line of the song, “you’re all I’ve got,” shows how both characters are outcasts from the other villagers, creating the memorable bond between them. Another example of the character development in the show was the Beast. One of his lines, to be simply put, was heartbreaking. A few moments before the line is spoken, Belle is exploring the castle and finds her way into
photo by Kenna Cook
Belle, played by Kylee Davis, performs on stage with ensemble members.
the west wing where the enchanted rose is kept. The Beast finds her there, frightens her and drives her out of the castle. The Beast tries to apologize, but Belle is too frightened and races out of the castle. The Beasts responds: “There is so little of me left ....so little left…” That exchange shows a new side to the Beast’s character. The vulnerable side of his character is rarely shown in the movie, which was a detail that I really appreciated. The only constructive criticism I would have to offer would be concerning the climactic scenes. Some of the climactic scenes left me feeling unfulfilled. They lacked the intensity that could have strengthened the show’s impact. The scene where Maurice is attacked by wolves I would assume is supposed to be one of the main climactic scenes, although when watching that scene, it was somewhat of a letdown. I couldn’t quite put my finger on what kept it from the great poten-
tial it had. Although some of the scenes were a bit unsatisfying, the disappointment was promptly made up with the following acts. The song “Maison de Lune” was refreshing with its eerie melody and harmonies while the song “Something There” creates a loving and sweet atmosphere. Another admirable talent that multiple performers showcased was the ability to fly through the inevitable hiccups in the show. On opening night, not ten minutes into the show, Belle’s blue skirt fell off mid-solo, revealing her petticoat. Davis merely tossed it off stage and went on as if
nothing had happened. While watching the cast perform, I never would have guessed that they were high school students. Their acting and singing skills combined were phenomenal, and something I would expect to see at a college performance (having attended multiple college productions myself). All in all, the show was breathtaking and there was barely anything I would want to change about it. Every member of the cast gave a phenomenal performance. It was truly magical.
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Heard in the
Halls -“Windows is terrible. Their drugs are no good.” -“You’re an abusive pen owner.” -“We are all a little lesbian.” -“I had a sleepy brain problem.” -“Just keep drinking the foot juice.” -“I feel like a Native American drinking out of there.” -“I will adopt twins and name them Calendar and Collander.” -“I feel like a pillbug that has eaten too many pills.” -“The initial bite tastes like when you rake leaves.” -“These moose taste like a store.” -“I’m so much more than an ethereal being.” -“I can’t do my Sterling Scholar application because I’m a T-Rex.” -”Stop being an angel of death!”
NS Times Comic Contest Winners: Brathan Nielsen (right) Aidan Inglish (bottom)
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