Friday Night Lights

A big crowd at Ed Mayne Stadium for Wolverine Football!

School started this week so I am back to my normal (read: insanely busy) schedule.  I am still suffering a little bit from jet lag so I didn't feel as prepared to start the school year as I normally do but the kids still showed up at my door any way!  The good news is that I seemed to muddle through just fine and I have enjoyed getting to know my students.  The officers, of course, have hit the ground running and I am very proud of all of their hard work.  We had our Welcome Assembly yesterday and I think it went really well, especially considering that we had three days to prepare!

The spirit can made an appearance at the assembly.

Now that school is in session, I will be spending many of my Friday nights at football games.  Last night was our first game of the season against the American Fork Cavemen.  The Wolverines seemed to struggle a little bit because many of our stars from last season graduated and players are settling into new roles.  At one point, American Fork was up 17-0 and then Hunter came alive scoring three unanswered touchdowns.  However, American Fork scored twice in the fourth quarter to win the game 31-21.

The spirit can made an appearance at the game, too!

Even though we lost this game, it was still a lot of fun!  The officers made banners and used the spirit can to keep the crowd cheering.  Being at the game makes for a really long day but it is so fun to see the students outside of the classroom and I had a group around me most of the time.  Now that football season is here I want it to be fall!

Leadership Conference 2016

Less than an hour after I got off the plane from Chicago I was on the road to St. George to meet my student body and class officers for a leadership conference at Dixie State University.  I have never been more tired in my life but I had so much fun with this amazing group of students!  I had a great group of kids last year but I was in the middle of selling my house and my head just wasn't there.  This year I soaked it all up!  We had keynote speakers, workshops, activities, and service projects (and one or two midnight runs to McDonalds).  One night we were able to see Peter Pan at the Tuacahn Amphitheatre which was amazing, another night we had a barbecue and pool party at the Washington Rec Center, and on our last night we had a black light dance.  We dominated every roll call with our loud cheers and, by the end of the week, every other school knew who we were!  It was a wonderful opportunity for my new officers to get to bond with each other and plan for the 2016-2017 school year.  I am really looking forward to our year together.

Leadership Conference 2015

Leadership Conference 2014

A Job Well Done

The school year is soon coming to a close and this is always a bittersweet time for me.  I have to say goodbye to my current student body officers and my heart is certainly heavy at the prospect.  I have worked with many different student groups over the years but I have never had a group more committed or more dedicated than this one.  They have worked countless hours to make Hunter High School a better place and they have accomplished more in one year than I thought was possible.  There are so many memories from this year that it is hard to narrow it down but I think my favorites are when they brought the Spirit Can out for the first time in an assembly (it was definitely a big hit with the students), when we crowned a special needs student as our Homecoming Queen, and when we presented a check for $4,500 to a little boy with cancer named Carson through the Make-A-Wish Foundation.  Emily, Sam, Alex, Oriana, Cameron, Nesley, and Sam I am so proud of you and, even though I will miss you terribly, I am excited to see what this next chapter in your lives brings you!  I wish you much success in all of your future endeavors!

It's That Time of Year...

A favorite photo of the Student Council at Leadership Camp last July.

Last week I began the process of electing new Student Body and Class Officers.  It is definitely bittersweet.  While it is a lot of fun to get to know a new group of students who are enthusiastic and full of great ideas, it is always really hard to say goodbye to the group you have worked with all year and this group has been especially wonderful.  I'm not sure that I can let them go!   They have worked so hard and accomplished so much this year!  I have grown to love them so much and I am incredibly proud of them!  I know that it is time for them to move on to bigger and better things (I have no doubt that they will all accomplish great things) but I will certainly miss them!  While they have set the bar really high for the 2016-2017 officers, I am hoping that this year is just the beginning of some great traditions at HHS!

Spirit Week 2016

For the past month my student body officers and class officers have been working incredibly hard for spirit week.  They are friends with other student government groups from schools around the valley and have been helping to judge their spirit bowls.  They were really inspired by what other schools have done and wanted to go all out this year.  I told them that we could do anything they wanted as long as they were committed and willing to work hard!  They came up with some very elaborate plans and spent a considerable amount of time getting administrative approval for those plans.  They wrote a proposal and presented it to the administration with justification for everything they wanted to do.  They were so passionate about their ideas that the majority of them were approved (to my surprise).  Each class came up with a theme (Seniors in Space, Aloha Juniors, Sophomore Strong, and Freshmen on Fire) and picked a hall to decorate around that theme.  They spent three weeks during our student government class and after school creating decorations and we spent eight hours installing them last Friday.  Each class did an amazing job but the seniors blew everyone away!  I was so surprised that almost all of the decorations stayed up all week!  We also designed and sold shirts around the theme (thanks to my friend for making them!).  Our dress-up days were: Pajama Day, Tacky Tourist Day, Disney Day, and Sports Day.  We made pancakes for the student body before school on Monday which was a lot of fun once we got everything going (we blew all of the circuits in the Commons!).  Our spirit assembly was yesterday and it was a great success!

Freshmen on Fire

Sophomore Strong

Aloha Juniors

Seniors in Space

These students have made me proud so many times this year (go here, here, and here) but I can't even begin to describe how proud I am of them for all of their hard work and dedication to Hunter High this week.  Our principal has been at HHS for 26 years and he told them that he has never seen anything like this week!  They have definitely set the bar really high for future groups!

Note:  We had the officers from Taylorsville, Copper Hills, Granger, and Kearns come help us judge the competitions!  I want to give a huge shout-out to Kearns for staying to help us clean up after the assembly!  I have long considered the student government advisor at Kearns to be a mentor and his students went back to school with many positive comments about our assembly.  He took the time to email me and congratulate us on our successful spirit week.  That meant so much to me!

Make A Wish

Last week I had an absolutely incredible experience with my officers and the entire student body of Hunter High School!  At our Leadership Conference last summer, one of the workshops was on service.  I sent several of my students to this workshop and they were incredibly inspired by the presentation by Make-A-Wish Utah.  One of my officers, in particular, was really passionate about working with Make-A-Wish so we invited Daniel Dudley, a representative from the organization, to speak to our class.  My officers immediately began to plan for a week of activities to raise money to sponsor a wish.

Over fall break, Daniel arranged for us to visit the Make-A-Wish House.  I was amazed at my students' dedication to this project on a day off from school!  A typical wish costs approximately $5000.00 and my students committed to sponsor a seven-year old boy named Carson.  He has a brain tumor and his wish was to go to the Florida theme parks.  (We learned that Disneyland and Disney World are the most popular wishes).  I was a little bit concerned that we wouldn't be able to raise that much money but Daniel assured me that any money we raised would go to a fund and that Carson would get his wish!  My students, however, were convinced that they could do it!  We started our "Wish Week" last Monday and started collecting donations every day at lunch.  We hung a giant thermometer with various challenges which the officers would complete in our culminating assembly if certain dollar amounts were raised.  When each goal was met, the officers would fill in the thermometer.  By Thursday afternoon, all but two of our milestones had been met.  We also had a Dodge Ball tournament on Thursday with many of the clubs and organizations participating with teams (we also had several teams from our rival, Cyprus High School, participate).  Dodge Ball was a lot of fun and a great success because we raised $250 from registration fees!  On Friday we wore our Wish Week shirts and decorated the gym with blue balloons and streamers (blue is Carson's favorite color).

We introduced Daniel who spoke about what Make-A-Wish Utah is all about and then he introduced Carson, who didn't feel very well, and his family.  The students responded with a standing ovation! His Dad spoke about everything that Carson has been through and what the hope of having Carson's wish granted has meant to him and their family.  I have never heard our student body so quiet before.  I have chills just remembering that moment!  We have been talking about Carson all week but being able to meet him was really inspiring.  The officers took buckets into the crowd and had a "Miracle Minute."  We asked the crowd to donate as much money as possible in one minute.

We had several officers quickly count the money from the "Miracle Minute" and we raised over $1000 which met our next milestone!

Then we had the officers complete the challenges.  For raising $250, the freshmen and sophomore officers had to eat dog food!  (They came up with these challenges!)

For $500, all of the boys on student council had their legs waxed (this was hilarious because their reactions were so dramatic).

For $750, several officers had to eat mystery pies.  She got the mayonnaise one!

For $1000, several officers had to drink raw eggs.  (They were processed eggs because salmonella!)

For $2000, we all had to eat crickets!  This was the challenge that Carson was looking forward to the most!  (Just so you know, they are disgusting!)

For $3000, we had our football coach get dunked by ice!  He was a good sport!

After the challenges, we presented a check for $4500 to Carson and Make-A-Wish Utah!  I was so overcome by this moment because I doubted that we would be able to raise this much money!  My officers and the student body of HHS proved me wrong!

Then, Carson's Wish Team granted his wish with a special present from Mickey Mouse!

I was trying to keep my composure throughout the assembly but I absolutely lost it when Carson, who didn't feel well, took the microphone and told the crowd, "Thank you," in a tiny little voice!  I was not alone because all of my students throughout the rest of the school day told me that they cried during that moment as well.  All of the hard work was worth it!

KTVX was there to film the assembly and interviewed Emily, our Student Body President.  You can watch the segment here. (Emily is getting really good at speaking to the media.  Go here to see her interview on KUTV about our Homecoming Queen).

I am so incredibly proud of my officers and the whole student body of HHS!  It was definitely a magical experience to have our school be so unified in one goal.  We hope you have a great time at Disney World, Carson!

Note:  The Spirit Can made another appearance!  It has become extremely popular with students!

Also, go here to find out more about Make-A-Wish Utah.

Homecoming Queen

My Student Body Officers and Class Officers worked so hard this week getting ready for Homecoming.  One of their jobs was to ask clubs and organizations for nominees for Homecoming Royalty.  As usual, we had many football players, cheerleaders, drill team members, leads from the upcoming school musical, and other popular students nominated.  However, I also received a request from one of the special education teachers asking that one of his students, who is autistic, be nominated and I agreed.  At the beginning of the week one of my officers took pictures of each nominee and this girl asked if she could have her picture taken the next day because she wanted to curl her hair!  So adorable.  The student body voted each day at lunch and this teacher brought his whole class down to vote for their classmate.  By the middle of the week she had quite a few votes and then the momentum hit.  Students began campaigning for her so she ended up winning by a landslide!  It made me so proud of our student body!  Calling her mother to tell her that her daughter had won will always be one of my very favorite experiences!  Let's just say the tears were streaming!  She was crowned yesterday at the Homecoming Assembly and her whole family came to see her.  Her grandfather broke down in tears when her name was announced!

She was so excited!

I was so proud of the young man voted as King!  He made her feel so special and even bought her some pink roses.

I'm also proud of the other couples in the Homecoming Court who were so willing to let her have the spotlight.  Being Homecoming Queen is a big deal and I think these girls were very gracious!

I mentioned on Facebook that I was so proud of the students of Hunter High for electing a student with special needs and a friend from high school, who works at KUTV, saw my post.  He contacted me about having a TV crew come film the assembly.  Needless to say, my officers were very excited and Emily, the Student Body President, was even interviewed on camera.  We were able to watch the feature (go here to see it) during our student government class.  After we saw it Emily said, "All the stories before ours were all about bad things.  It was nice to see a story about something good.  There are still good things in the world."  Indeed.

The Homecoming Royalty was honored during halftime at the football game (which we won 42-14).  She was so excited to ride in the back of the truck and our King took very good care of her, telling her where to wave!

My officers have done so much work to make Homecoming a success this year (the Spirit Can was a big hit at the assembly once again) and I am very honored to work with them!